NEVER BE THE SAME . . . percy jackson

forty one: the boat ride.

AFTER DRINKING THE most shitty, horrible tea she's ever drank, Brooklyn scrambled after Percy and Hazel to find Frank, who Iris said had gone outside to fight the basilisks.

But when they'd arrived outside, Frank was just standing in the clearing, holding his spear.

"Are you okay?" Hazel asked.

Percy turned in a circle, looking for enemies. "Iris told us you were out here battling the basilisks by yourself, and we were like, What? We came as fast as we could. What happened?"

"I'm not sure," Frank admitted.

Hazel crouched next to the dirt. "I sense death. Either my brother has been here or . . . the basilisks are dead?"

"You killed them all?" Brooklyn grinned. "Sick."

"Thanks a lot, Dad," Frank grumbled, clearly not sharing her enthusiasm.

"What?" Hazel asked. "Frank, are you okay?"

"I'll explain later," he said. "Right now, there's a blind man in Portland we've got to see."

* * *

After they'd gotten on the boat, Brooklyn had laughed as she took the "masculine accessory bag" from Percy, ignoring his scowl. The purse was rainbow tie-dyed with a peace symbol stitched in wooden beads and the slogan Hug the Whole World. Iris had quickly stuffed it with vitamin-enriched pastries, dried fruit leather, macrobiotic beef jerky, and a few crystals for good luck. Then she'd shoved it at Percy before they'd left.

After a while, Brooklyn got tired of looking at it and threw it to the other side of the boat. It miraculously didn't fall into the water, so she decided that that was a win.

Even if she felt like she was losing right now. It was a ridiculous thought, Brooklyn Hayward didn't lose.

But her mind was going stir crazy, even with that stupidly horrible tea she'd been forced to ingest. Her memories, the ones that she'd just gotten back, were fading. She had started to feel better at Camp Jupiter, remembering random names, and even her dream last night with Jason had been good for her memory. But now even Thalia's name was getting dimmer, which was completely stupid. At R.O.F.L., when she'd tried to send an Iris-message to Thalia, Fleecy had just shaken her head sadly.

It's like you're dialing somebody, she said, but you've forgotten the number. Or someone is jamming the signal. Sorry, dear. I just can't connect you.

They'd tried. Percy had tried to call Annabeth, hell, Brooklyn had tried to call Jason — but none of them worked. It was fucking stupid.

Still, she had to concentrate on the quest. The sight of that enemy army had shown her what they were up against. It was early in the morning of June 21, now. They had to get to Alaska, find Thanatos, locate the legion's standard, and make it back to Camp Jupiter by the evening of June 24. Four days. Meanwhile, the enemy had only a few hundred miles to march.

Percy guided the boat through the strong currents off the northern California coast. The wind was cold, but it felt good, clearing some of the confusion from Brooklyn's head. Still, she felt cold, but she didn't have any jackets or whatever so she was just suffering, sitting there like a grumpy cat.

Meanwhile, Hazel and Frank traded stories about the events at Rainbow Organic Foods. Frank explained about the blind seer Phineas in Portland, and how Iris had said that he might be able to tell them where to find Thanatos. Frank wouldn't say how he had managed to kill the basilisks, but Brooklyn got the feeling it had something to do with the broken point of his spear. Whatever had happened, Frank sounded more scared of the spear than the basilisks.