madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-run away mangoes and Ariana Grande-

Teqi yelped and leapt out of her berth, narrowly missing smashing her head against the roof of her bed carved from the wall. She looked around the room, eyes wide with panic as a large ships horn rattled the Argo II, shaking books out of the shelves and the pegasus and toucan figurines onto the floor.

It was bright when she stumbled to her round window and rolled up the blinds, squinting when her tired eyes were assaulted by the sunshine streaming in. There was no boat behind the ship, so it must be at the front, most likely attacking the Argo.

"Whazza-"

Teqi whipped around, hand on her knife pouch, and she huffed. Leo shrieked like a little kid when the room was shook again, and Teqi braced herself on the wall, slipping her feet into her Doc Martins and throwing a jacket on top of her black pyjama top.

"What the fuck?" Leo shrieked again, falling completely out of the messy bed and sprawling on the floor, flames already sparking on his arms and his shirt was crumbling to ash. Teqi hissed at the heat that scorched her hand when she helped him up.

She sprinted out of the room, knives in hand and burning Leo following her down the hallway. Hazel ran out of her room as well, her frizzy hair was all blown to one side, as though she'd walked through a cyclone. 

"Who is it?" She asked, and the pair just shrugged, running up to the deck. Everyone was already there, Frank didn't seem to mind that his spiderman shirt was inside out, and Percy didn't seem to care about anything, because he was only wearing pyjama pants and a bronze breastplate.

The horn boomed again. It sounded like it was coming from several hundred yards away— from another vessel.

Annabeth groaned, huge bags under her grey eyes, and Jason lowered his sword when he saw the threat. It was literally the least dangerous thing in the sparkling ocean that looked like the beaches on a rich white girls Instagram.

About a hundred yards to port, a massive cruise ship glided past in the crystal water. Tourists waved at them from fifteen or sixteen rows of balconies. Some smiled and took pictures, wearing bikinis and cheap shirts from various tourist attractions. None of them looked surprised to see an Ancient Greek trireme, they looked happy. Maybe the Mist made it look like a fishing boat, or perhaps the cruisers thought the Argo II was another cruise ship.

The cruise ship blew its horn once again, and the Argo II had a shaking fit. Crates on the level below slid to the other side, making thumping sounds, and Teqi could picture the absolute mess in her room when she went back down to get some actual fucking sleep. Coach Hedge plugged his ears and glared at the tourists. "Do they have to be so loud?"

"They're just saying hi," Frank speculated, holding a hand up to block the bright sunshine.

"WHAT?" Hedge yelled back, his hands still over his ears. The ship edged past them, heading out to the vast sea. They wouldn't have to deal with giant killer shrimps. The tourists kept waving. If they found it strange that the Argo II w was populated by half-asleep kids in armour and pyjamas and a man with goat legs, they didn't let on. Maybe they were just being respectful.

"Bye!" Leo called, raising his smoking hand and waving at them. Teqi snorted, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and yawning. The first night of good sleep was interrupted by a bunch of sunburnt idiots.

"Can I man the ballistae?" Hedge asked hopefully, eyes wide at the thought of all the power he would possess.

"No," Leo said through a forced smile, very eager to not kill the mortals for no reason. Other then lost sleep.