NEVER BE THE SAME . . . percy jackson

seventy three: the brownies.

AFTER LEO, FRANK, and Hazel killed the shrimp and nearly the ship as well, Annabeth, Coach Hedge, and Buford the table rushed around repairing things so that the ship wouldn't sink. Percy, despite being exhausted, searched the ocean for their missing friends. Jason, also exhausted, flew around the rigging like a blond Peter Pan, putting out fires from the second green explosion that had lit up the sky just above the mainmast. Piper looked at her freaky magical knife in order to find the others. Brooklyn had tried to help by putting out the fires that she could get.

By the time the sun rose, none of them had slept. Percy had scoured the seafloor and found nothing. The Argo II was no longer in danger of sinking, though without Leo, they couldn't do full repairs. The ship was capable of sailing, but no one suggested leaving the area — not without their missing friends.

Piper and Annabeth sent an Iris-Message to Camp Half-Blood, warning Chiron of what had happened with the Romans at Fort Sumter. After that, the demigods paced the deck in silence, staring at the water and hoping for a miracle.

Then it came — three giant pink bubbles bursting at the surface off the starboard bow and ejecting Frank, Hazel, and Leo. Piper cried out with relief and dove straight into the water.

Brooklyn snickered at her, before turning to grab some breakfast.

Once Leo, Hazel, and Frank got on board and changed into dry clothes ( poor Frank had to borrow a pair of too-small pants from Jason ) the crew all gathered on the quarterdeck for a celebratory breakfast — except for Coach Hedge, who grumbled that the atmosphere was getting too cuddly for his tastes and went below to hammer out some dents in the hull. While Leo fussed over his helm controls, Hazel and Frank related the story of the fish-centaurs and their training camp.

"Incredible," Jason said. "These are really good brownies."

"That's your only comment?" Piper demanded.

He looked surprised. "What? I heard the story. Fish-centaurs. Merpeople. Letter of intro to the Tiber River god. Got it. But these brownies—"

"I know," Frank said, his mouth full. "Try them with Esther's peach preserves."

"That," Hazel said, "is incredibly disgusting."

"Pass me the jar, man," Jason said.

Hazel and Piper exchanged a look of total exasperation. Brooklyn just shrugged and stuffed her mouth with the brownie. This thing was really fucking good.

Percy, for his part, wanted to hear every detail about the aquatic camp. He kept coming back to one point: "They didn't want to meet me?"

"It wasn't that," Hazel said. "Just . . . undersea politics, I guess. The merpeople are territorial. The good news is they're taking care of that aquarium in Atlanta. And they'll help protect the Argo II as we cross the Atlantic."

Percy nodded absently. "But they didn't want to meet me?"

Annabeth swatted his arm. "Come on, Seaweed Brain! We've got other things to worry about."

"She's right," Hazel said. "After today, Nico has less than two days. The fish-centaurs said we have to rescue him. He's essential to the quest somehow."

She looked around defensively, as if waiting for someone to argue. No one did.

"Nico must have information about the Doors of Death," Piper said. "We'll save him, Hazel. We can make it in time. Right, Leo?"

"What?" Leo tore his eyes away from the controls. "Oh, yeah. We should reach the Mediterranean tomorrow morning. Then spend the rest of that day sailing to Rome, or flying, if I can get the stabilizer fixed by then . . ."