(Ella's POV)
"Too bad, Cyclops," Luke said. "Looks like my grizzly friends together are more than a match for your strength. Maybe I should let them-"
"Luke," I cut in. "Listen. Your father sent us."
His face turned the color of pepperoni. "Don't-even- mention him."
"He told us to take this boat. I thought it was just for a ride, but he sent us here to find you. He told me he won't give up on you, no matter how angry you are." Percy added.
"Angry?" Luke roared. "Give up on me? He abandoned me, Percy! I want Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! You tell Hermes it's going to happen. Each time a half-blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker & we grow stronger. He grows stronger." Luke pointed to the gold sarcophagus. The box creeped me out, but I was determined not to show it.
"So?" Percy demanded. "What's so special..."
Then it hit me, what might be inside the sarcophagus. The temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees. "Whoa, you don't mean-" Percy started.
"He is re-forming," Luke said. "Little by little, we're calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges our cause, another small piece appears-"
"That's disgusting!" Annie said.
Luke sneered at her. "Your mother was born from Zeus's split skull, Annabeth. I wouldn't talk. Soon there will be enough of the titan lord so that we can make him whole again. We will piece together a new body for him, a work
worthy of the forges of Hephaestus."
"You're insane," Annie snarled.
"Join us & you'll be rewarded. We have powerful friends, sponsors rich enough to buy this cruise ship & much more. Percy, your mother will never have to work again. You can buy her a mansion. You can have power, fame-
whatever you want. Annabeth, you can realize your dream of being an architect. You can build a monument to last a thousand years. A temple to the lords of the next age! And Nora, you can join me...& help me by being by my side.."
"Go to Tartarus," I said.
Luke sighed. "A shame."
He picked up something that looked like a TV remote & pressed a red button. Within seconds the door of the stateroom opened & two uniformed crew members came in, armed with nightsticks. They had the same glassy-eyed look as the other mortals I'd seen, but I had a feeling this wouldn't make them any less dangerous in a fight.
"Ah, good, security," Luke said, "I'm afraid we have some stowaways."
"Yes, sir," they said dreamily.
Luke turned to Oreius. "It's time to feed the Aethiopian drakon. Take these fools below & show them how it's done."
Oreius grinned stupidly. "Hehe! Hehe!"
"Let me go, too," Agrius grumbled. "My brother is worthless. That Cyclops-"
"Is no threat," Luke said. He glanced back at the golden casket, as if something were troubling him. "Agrius, stay here. We have important matters to discuss."
"But-"
"Oreius, don't fail me. Stay in the hold to make sure the drakon is properly fed."
Oreius prodded us with his javelin & herded us out of the stateroom, followed by the two human security guards.
We exited the corridor amidships & walked across an open deck lined with lifeboats. I knew the ship well enough to realize this would be our last look at sunlight. Once we got to the other side, we'd take the elevator down into the hold, & that would be it.
Percy looked at Tyson & said, "Now."
Thank the gods, he understood. He turned & smacked Oreius thirty feet backward into the swimming pool, right into the middle of the zombie tourist family.
"Ah!" the kids yelled in unison. "We are not having a blast in the pool!"
One of the security guards drew his nightstick, but I knocked the wind out of him with a kick. The other guard ran for the nearest alarm box.
"Stop him!" Annie yelled, but it was too late.
Just before Percy banged him on head with a deck chair, he hit the alarm. Red lights flashed. Sirens wailed.
"Lifeboat!" He yelled.
We ran for the nearest one. By the time we got the cover off, monsters & more security men swarmed the deck, pushing aside tourists & waiters with trays of tropical
drinks.
A guy in Greek armor drew his sword & charged, but slipped in a puddle of piña colada. Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above us, notching arrows in their enormous bows.
"How do you launch this thing?" Annie screamed.
A hellhound leaped at me, but Tyson slammed it aside with a fire extinguisher.
"Get in!" Percy yelled. He uncapped Riptide & slashed the first volley of arrows out of the air. Any second we would be overwhelmed.
The lifeboat was hanging over the side of the ship, high above the water.
Annabeth, Tyson & I were having no luck with the release pulley. Percy jumped in beside us.
"Hold on!" he yelled, & then cut the ropes.
A shower of arrows whistled over our heads as we free-fell toward the ocean....
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Take care my lovely readers.❤️
Alice signing off.
XOXO.
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Daughter Of Lightning - Book 2 (A Percy Jackson x OC fanfic)
Hayran KurguA year ago Zeus's lightning bolt was stolen...which would've been the cause of the next world war. But Eleanor, Percy, Annabeth & their satyr friend Grover had managed to return it. Grover had headed off in search of the great Lord of the wild: Pan...
