Blaze of Glory - a PJO fanfiction

9. Mare Monstrorum

This is War - 30 Seconds to Mars

- Time skip sponsored by Monster Donut -

Life above the CSS Birmingham was pretty uneventful. It was just me, Clarisse, and a bunch of dead confederate soldiers who didn't like me very much, considering I was from Connecticut, which was in the north. They kept calling me a Yankee. Currently, I was below decks, helping the engine to be more efficient as we chugged down a river somewhere in Virginia.

All of the sudden, I heard a cannon fire with a great boom. I looked into the hallway and spotted a zombie soldier. "You!" I yelled, pointing at the soldier. "What was that?" The soldier shrugged, muttering something about me being a Yankee before continuing down the hall. "Gods! Do I have to do everything myself?"

"Losers," I heard Clarisse say as I made my way up from below decks. "But I suppose I have to rescue you. Come aboard." And there, standing on the riverbank, was none other than Annabeth Chase, Tyson the cyclops, and the hero himself, Perseus Jackson.

"I'll give them a tour?" I asked Clarisse. She raised an eyebrow.

"No thanks lighter," she responded. "For one, I'm not letting you go anywhere alone with him because he looks like he wants to kill you, which I normally wouldn't complain about, but I unfortunately need you to show me where the Fleece is. And secondly, I know that if you two start fighting, he's gonna lose, and I really don't need his father mad at us on our sea quest."

I nodded, "Valid points." Percy finally makes his way up, he looks at me and immediately turns at me with a scary look in his eyes. "On second thought," I told Clarisse. "I'm gonna go... do something... not here..." I give Clarisse a two fingered salute before hurrying below decks.

- Time skip brought to you by the author's 674 song, 39 hour playlist -

"He has a cruise ship full of monsters–" I heard as I stood in the doorway of the captain's quarters.

"Good!" Clarisse told Annabeth. "I'll blow him out of the water." I walked into the room, pulling out a chair and sitting down across from Percy and Annabeth.

"Blow who out of the water?" I questioned, turning to Clarisse.

Percy cut in, "Your best friend and his cruise ship full of monsters, of course!" He scoffed. "I can't believe Tantalus let you come on this quest."

"I wasn't asking you, fish-for-brains. I was talking to Clarisse." I paused. "Wait... how do you know about the Princess Andromeda?"

"Because," he said. "Earlier today Annabeth, Tyson, and I were on your little ship." I muttered under my breath that it was actually a pretty big ship. "And we talked to Luke, and can you guess what he told us?"

"Why don't you enlighten me, Percy?" I said, leaning forward with a blank face. Fuck. Luke, you better not have jeopardized my position.

"He told me the exact coordinates that I got from the Grey Sisters, he said he knew about our plan to find the Fleece, and do you know what else he said? He said that he had friends in camp. Spies."

I scoffed at him in disbelief. "It's not me, if that's what you're thinking," I said. "I've been either unconscious or with Clarisse on the Birmingham the entire time since I even heard those coordinates." Clarisse nodded in agreement, much to my surprise.

"She's right," Clarisse agreed. "As much as I hate to say, I don't think lava girl over here is our spy." She gestured to me, and I nodded in thanks. "Spies are usually more likable, and less suspicious."

"Hey!," I said. "But, I guess now that that's settled, can I actually eat my dinner in peace?" Clarisse looked at me like I was crazy.

"With those hands?" she asked incredulously, pointing at my hands, which were apparently unfit for eating dinner. "Wash them first." I shrugged, holding my hands up as if in surrender. They immediately lit on fire, and just as quickly stopped. Everyone stared at me in silence.