Umbra

Chapter 33

They were blasted out of bed.

Emilia was already awake after tossing and turning all night, worrying about Hylla's dream and wondering if her mother was done fighting or cooking up something particularly horrible to send her way. Eris could give Emilia the sensation she'd lost everything to break her spirit if she tried.

(She hated acknowledging it might not be so difficult for Eris to shatter her mind if she made it seem that she'd lost everything.)

She'd been doing her eyeliner with her mirror propped up on her knees when a ship horn blasted so loud and suddenly that she flinched and made a sharp line across her temple. Frustrated, she started to clean it, only succeeding to smear it.

Then, the horn boomed again and with a loud curse, she rushed out of bed, not even bothering to change out of her pajamas. If something was wrong, she'd fight wearing the ridiculous taco pajamas that Leo got her when they were in San Francisco.

Everyone was as hastily dressed as her. Frank's Vancouver Winter Olympics shirt was inside out. Percy wore pajama pants and a bronze breastplate. Hazel's hair was all blown to one side and Leo had somehow set himself on fire, his T-shirt in charred tatters and arms smoking.

About a hundred yards to port, a massive cruise ship glided past. Tourists waved at them from fifteen or sixteen rows of balconies. Some smiled and took pictures. None of them looked surprised to see an Ancient Greek trireme. Maybe the Mist made it look like a fishing boat, or perhaps the cruisers thought the Argo II was a tourist attraction.

The cruise ship blew its horn again, and the Argo II had a shaking fit. Coach Hedge plugged his ears. "Do they have to be so loud?"

"They're just saying hi," speculated Frank. Emilia flung a shadow to cover Hedge's mouth before he could yell at the ship. The ship edged past them, heading out to sea. The tourists kept waving. If they found it strange that the Argo II was populated by half-asleep kids in armor and pajamas and a man with goat legs, they didn't let on.

"Bye!" Leo called, raising his smoking hand.

"Can I man the ballistae?" asked Hedge.

"No," Leo said through a forced smile.

Hazel rubbed her eyes and looked across the glittering green water. "Where are—oh...Wow."

Without the cruise ship blocking their view, the demigods could see a mountain jutting from the sea less than half a mile to the north. This was the sort of impressive thing Emilia had been looking forward to– a massive fist of blinding white rock thrust into the sky.

On one side, the limestone cliffs were almost completely sheer, dropping into the sea over a thousand feet below. On the other side, the mountain sloped in tiers, covered in green forest like the shape of a sphinx, with a massive white head and chest, and a green cloak over its back.

"The Rock of Gibraltar," said Annabeth in awe. "At the tip of Spain. And over there—" She pointed south, to a more distant stretch of red and ochre hills. "That must be Africa. We're at the mouth of the Mediterranean."

"We're here," muttered Emilia worriedly.

"What now?" asked Piper. "Do we just sail in?"

"Why not?" said Leo. "It's a big shipping channel. Boats go in and out all the time."

Annabeth gazed at the Rock of Gibraltar, a brooding expression appearing as if she anticipated trouble. "In the old days, they called this area the pillars of Hercules. The Rock was supposed to be one pillar. The other was one of the African mountains. Nobody is sure which one."