νεκρός || Annabeth Chase x Fem!OC

Vol. 1-9: I like psychoanalyzing strange women

ANNABETH

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The cruise ship was now looming in front of us- our ride toward Florida and the Sea of Monsters.

I tried to ignore how sick I was feeling. I mean, I was leaving camp. I could be expelled, and then where would I go for safety? This was my home, and it was dying. On top of that, we're traveling to the Sea of Monsters, and for those of you that don't know, you don't leave the Sea of Monsters. So, once again, I'm playing with fate. Go figure.

Riding the hippocampi was actually surprisingly easy, almost easier than a pegasus. We cut through the waves beautifully, blasting a salty mist on my face. Tyson looked absolutely thrilled with his hippocampus. Percy seemed to be at home.

The only one that seemed to be off was Tempest.

I noticed immediately how nervous she was when the hippocampi first showed up, and I was surprised one even took her at all, since she mentioned horses not liking her. Maybe these don't count since they're part fish. But even now, she didn't seem very comfortable. She was rigidly straight all of a sudden and digging at something in her pocket. Then she fed a green jolly rancher to her hippocampus and it seemed a little happier.

I nearly laughed. She was basically paying a cabbie fare.

As we got closer to the cruise ship, I realized just how huge it was. I felt as though I were looking up at a building in Manhattan or San Francisco. The white hull was at least ten stories tall, topped with another dozen levels of decks with brightly lit balconies and portholes. The ship's name was painted just above the bow line in black letters, lit with a spotlight. It took me a few seconds to decipher it: Princess Andromeda.

Attached to the bow was a huge masthead- a three-story-tall woman wearing a white Greek chiton, sculpted to look as if she were chained to the front of the ship. She was young and beautiful, with flowing black hair, but her expression was one of absolute terror. Why anybody would want a screaming princess on the front of their vacation ship, I had no idea. Especially Andromeda, considering the fact that her parents chained her to a rock as a sacrifice.

"How do we get aboard?" I shouted over the noise of the waves, but the hippocampi seemed to know what we needed. They skimmed along the starboard side of the ship, riding easily through its huge wake, and pulled up next to a service ladder riveted to the side of the hull.

Tempest didn't wait for anyone to give her the okay. She slid off her hippocampus and onto the ladder, fed it four more jolly ranchers, and it disappeared into the waves. She noticed me staring and just glared at me for a minute before moving a few more rungs up.

Percy glanced at me. "She's weird."

"You just summoned fish-horses so we didn't get eaten by chicken ladies," I told him, and I climbed onto the ladder right after Tempest. I got a few rungs up before Percy finally joined us.

Finally it was just Tyson in the water. His hippocampus was treating him to 360° aerials and backward ollies, and Tyson was laughing so hysterically, the sound echoed up the side of the ship, no doubt alerting enemies, Hey! There's three half-bloods and a Cyclops trying to break in!

"Tyson, shhh!" Percy said. "Come on, big guy!"

"Can't we take Rainbow?" Tyson asked, his smile fading.