The Sea // pjo

Chapter Nine // Another Terrible Reunion With the Relatives

    We agreed, after a bit of time of Percy, Annabeth, and I arguing, that either everyone went together into the ship or nobody went at all.

    Tyson voted for the latter.

    But we eventually ended up heading back out. We stopped by the cabin to grab our stuff, all shoved back into the duffles.

    Annabeth then had a brilliant idea to have Tyson carry all the bags, which Percy did not want.

    He kept fighting about it until I finally looked at him and snapped, "I will literally leave your sorry butt here if you don't shut up and give Tyson the duffel bag."

    My brother glared at me, but Tyson could carry all the bags at once like we would all carry backpacks.

    We snuck through the ship, avoiding people as much as we could, with Annabeth scouting ahead with her invisibility cap.

    We managed to get to deck thirteen (where the admiralty suite was supposed to be; our final destination, by the way) when Annabeth suddenly hissed, "HIDE!"

    We were promptly shoved into a supply closet just as a couple guys came down the hall.

    "You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" One of them asked.

    The other laughed loudly. "Yeah, it's awesome."

    The second voice sounded just vaguely familiar, and when Annabeth tensed beside me, I had a feeling she knew who it was.

    "I hear they got two more coming," The familiar voice exclaimed. "They keep arriving at this rate, oh, man—no contest!"

    The voices continued but faded as they moved further down the hall.

    "That was Chris Rodriguez!" Annabeth whispered as she took off her cap. "You remember Percy—from Cabin Eleven."

    I remembered his name but not his face, but I had a more pressing question, "What is he doing here?"

    Annabeth shook her head, her brows furrowed.

    We did not dwell on it any longer as we continued down the hall. As we walked, my body grew cold as I felt the air change, getting saturated with something.

    Something dark and evil.

    "Percy...Sally..." Annabeth stopped in front of me. "Look."

    I looked around her shoulder, and my gut twisted.

    There was a group of monsters in front of the candy store:  a dozen Laistrygonian giants, two hellhounds, and a dracaenae, female, humanoid creatures with two serpent tails instead of legs.

    "Scythian Dracaenae," Annabeth breathed out. "Dragon women."

    The monsters all cheered for a young guy in Greek armor, hacking away at a straw dummy wearing a Camp Half-Blood shirt.

    "Come on..." Percy murmured. "The sooner we find Luke, the better."

    At the end of the hall, we found two oak doors, and when we were about thirty feet from them, Tyson stopped and said, "Voices inside."

    "You can hear that far?" Percy asked him, raising his brows.

    Tyson closed his eyes, and when he opened his mouth, an impersonation of Luke's voice said, "—the prophecy ourselves. The fools won't know which way to turn."

    My gut dropped, and I took a step away from my half-brother as his voice changed again, sounding similar to the guy Luke was talking to earlier, "You really think the old horseman is gone for good?"