Crimson Rivers [1] - Percy jackson

Chapter 11: We Hitch a Ride with Dead Confederates

‘Flask!’ Percy screamed as we hurtled towards the water.

‘What? Annabeth must’ve thought he’d lost my mind. She was holding on to
the boat straps for dear life, her hair flying straight up like a torch. But Tyson understood. He managed to open my duffel bag and take out Hermes’s magical flask without losing his grip on it or the boat.

Arrows and javelins whistled past us.
I grabbed the Flask and hoped I was doing the right thing. ‘Hang on!’

‘I am hanging on!’ Annabeth yelled.

‘Tighter!’ Percy snapped

I hooked my feet under the boat’s inflatable bench, and, as Tyson grabbed
Annabeth, me by the backs of our shirts, I gave the Flask cap a quarter turn. Instantly, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the flask and propelled us
sideways, turning our downward plummet into a forty-five-degree crash landing. The wind seemed to laugh as it shot from the flask, like it was glad to be free. As we hit the ocean, we bumped once, twice, skipping like a stone, then we were whizzing along like a speed boat, salt spray in our faces and nothing but sea ahead.

I heard a wail of outrage from the ship behind us, but we were already out of
weapon range. The Princess Andromeda faded to the size of a white toy boat in
the distance, and then it was gone. As we raced over the sea, Annabeth and I tried to send an Iris-message to Chiron. We figured it was important we let somebody know what Luke was
doing, and we didn’t know who else to trust.

The wind from the Flask stirred up a nice sea spray that made a rainbow in the sunlight – perfect for an Iris-message – but our connection was still poor. When Annabeth threw a gold drachma into the mist and prayed for the rainbow goddess to show us Chiron, his face appeared all right, but there was some kind of weird strobe light flashing in the background and rock music blaring, like he was at a dance club.

We told him about sneaking away from camp, and Luke and the Princess Andromeda and the golden box for Kronos’s remains, but between the noise on his end and the rushing wind and water on our end, I’m not sure how much he heard. ‘Percy, Syrus’ Chiron yelled, ‘you have to watch out for –’

His voice was drowned out by loud shouting behind him – a bunch of voices whooping it up like Comanche warriors. ‘What?’ I yelled.

‘Curse my relatives!’ Chiron ducked as a plate flew over his head and shattered somewhere out of sight. ‘Annabeth, you shouldn’t have let them leave camp! But if you do get the Fleece –’

‘Yeah, baby!’somebody behind Chiron yelled. ‘Woo-hoooooo!’

The music got cranked up, subwoofers so loud it made our boat vibrate. ‘– Miami,’ Chiron was yelling. ‘I’ll try to keep watch –’

Our misty screen smashed apart like someone on the other side had thrown a bottle at it, and Chiron was gone. An hour later we spotted land – a long stretch of beach lined with high-rise
hotels. The water became crowded with fishing boats and tankers. A coastguard
cruiser passed on our starboard side, then turned like it wanted a second look. I guess it isn’t every day they see a yellow lifeboat with no engine going a
hundred knots an hour, manned by three kids.

‘That’s Virginia Beach!’ Annabeth said as we approached the shoreline. ‘Oh my gods, how did the Princess Andromeda travel so far overnight? That’s like –’

‘Five hundred and thirty nautical miles,’ Percy said.

She stared at me. ‘How did you know that?’

‘I – I’m not sure.’

Annabeth thought for a moment. ‘Percy, what’s our position?’

‘Thirty-six degrees, forty-four minutes north, seventy-six degrees, two
minutes west,’ he said immediately. Then he shook his head. ‘Whoa. How did I know that?’

‘Because of your dad,’ I guessed. ‘When you’re at sea, you have perfect bearings. That is so cool.’

He wasn’t sure about that. He didn’t want to be a human GPS unit. But before he could say anything, Tyson tapped his shoulder. ‘Other boat is coming.’

I looked back. The coastguard vessel was definitely on our tail now. Its lights were flashing and it was gaining speed. ‘We can’t let them catch us,’ I said. ‘They’ll ask too many questions.’

‘Keep going into Chesapeake Bay,’