¹𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 ━ 𝗽. 𝗷𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗼𝗻

031

⋆ ˚｡⋆ʚ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐎𝐍𝐄 ɞ⋆ ˚｡⋆
─── ❛ all that i wanted was to be wanted ❜ ───

PERCY HAD FINALLY found something he was really good at.

the queen anne's revenge responded to his every command. he knew which ropes to hoist, which sails to raise, which direction to steer. they plowed through the waves at what percy figured was about ten knots. he even understood how fast that was. for a sailing ship, pretty darn fast.

it all felt perfect—the wind in his face, the waves breaking over the prow.

isabella didn't know shit. she was still baffled by everything that happened with circe, she decided to trust percy to get them to a safe place, hopefully where grover was.

she looked over at percy, isabella knew that he was still shaky for the whole 'turning-into-a-literal-animal' thing, but she decided not to ask him about it. she knew how a person could respond to being attacked with questions after a traumatic experience.

they sailed through the night.

isabella tried to help percy keep lookout, but sailing didn't agree with her. after a few hours rocking back and forth, her face turned the color of guacamole and she went below to lie in a hammock.

percy watched the horizon. more than once he spotted monsters. a plume of water as tall as a skyscraper spewed into the moonlight. a row of green spines slithered across the waves—something maybe a hundred feet long, reptilian. he didn't really want to know.

once he saw nereids, the glowing lady spirits of the sea. percy tried to wave at them, but they disappeared into the depths, leaving him unsure whether they'd seen him or not.

sometime after midnight, isabella came up on deck. they were just passing a smoking volcano island. the sea bubbled and steamed around the shore.

"one of the forges of hephaestus," isabella said. "where he makes his metal monsters."

"like the bronze bulls?"

she nodded. "go around. far around."

percy didn't need to be told twice. they steered clear of the island, and soon it was just a red patch of haze behind them.

the boy reached for something in his jeans' pocket—the necklace that hermes gifted to isabella. he frowned. how the hell hasn't this necklace fallen into the sea?

he took a look at it, it was silver, there was a figure of a rose it kinda shone. weird. he looked over at isabella, she was playing with her hair while looking at the sea and the monsters that were close enough for her to catch a glimpse of.

percy glanced at the necklace once again. it would be stupid to ignore the god's orders, he had already gone through two days without giving it to her. but, that was a gift from travis's dad, was that a sort of heads-up for isabella to actually date travis? percy didn't like that.

"what you got there, charal?"

that freaked the hell out of him.

"ummm," he looked at her, feeling as if the necklace was burning his hand. "this is a gift for you."

isabella gasped, she accepted the necklace and inspected it. a smile on her face.

"what? where... when! i mean, for how long have you had this?"

percy bit the inside of his cheek. "it's not from me..." isabella's expression changed dramatically, a frown adorned her face. "it's from hermes."

"hermes? why?"