𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 - 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒚 𝒋𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒙 𝒐𝒄

✯¸.•'*¨'*• 𝑬𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 •*'¨*'•.¸✯

Annabeth volunteered to go alone since she had the cap of invisibility, but Phoenix convinced her it was too dangerous. Either we all went together, or nobody went.

"Nobody!" Tyson voted. "Please?"

But in the end he came along, nervously chewing on his huge fingernails. They stopped at their cabin long enough to gather their stuff. They figured whatever happened, they would not be staying another night aboard the zombie cruise ship, even if it did have million-dollar bingo. 

Phoenix made sure Ardere was around her neck along with the golden crystal and flame around her wrist.

Percy made sure he had Riptide and the vitamins and thermos from Hermes were at the top of his bag. 

Phoenix and Percy didn't want Tyson to carry everything, but he insisted, and Annabeth told them not to worry about it. Tyson could carry four full duffel bags over his shoulder as easily as Phoenix could carry a backpack.

The four snuck through the corridors, following the ship's YOU ARE HERE signs toward the admiralty suite. Annabeth scouted ahead invisibly. They hid whenever someone passed by, but most of the people they saw were just glassy-eyed zombie passengers.

As they came up the stairs to deck thirteen, where the admiralty suite was supposed to be, Annabeth hissed, "Hide!" and shoved them into a supply closet.

Phoenix heard a couple of guys coming down the hall.

"You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" one of them said.

The other laughed. "Yeah, it's awesome."

Annabeth took off her hat and looked at Phoenix who squeezed Percy's hand at the voice.

"I hear they got two more coming," the familiar voice said. "They keep arriving at this rate, oh,man-no contest!"

The voices faded down the corridor.

"That was Chris Rodriguez!" Annabeth said. "You remember-from Cabin Eleven."

Phoenix nodded.

Percy sort of recalled Chris from the summer before. He was one of those undetermined campers who got stuck in the Hermes cabin because his Olympian dad or mom never claimed him. Now that Phoenix thought about it, she realized she hadn't seen Chris at camp this summer, she never noticed him leave either 

"What's another half-blood doing here?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shook her head, clearly troubled.

They kept going down the corridor. Phoenix didn't need maps anymore to know she was getting close to Luke. She sensed something cold and unpleasant-the presence of evil.

"Percy, Phoenix." Annabeth stopped suddenly. "Look."

She stood in front of a glass wall looking down into the multistory canyon that ran through the middle of the ship. At the bottom was the Promenade-a mall full of shops- but that's not what had caught Annabeth's attention. A group of monsters had assembled in front of the candy store: a dozen Laistrygonian giants like the ones who'd attacked them with dodge balls, two hellhounds, and a few even stranger creatures-humanoid females with twin serpent tails instead of legs.

"Scythian Dracaenae," Phoenix whispered. "Dragon women."The monsters made a semicircle around a young guy in Greek armor who was hacking on a straw dummy. A lump formed in Phoenix's throat when she realized the dummy was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt.