Perseus Jackson: Titan of The Hunt

CH6: Not so Smooth Sailing

(Percy)

As we boarded the ship I began to realize a problem, it was after watching Hazel walk Arion up the gangplank and then below deck, much to the horses protest at being cooped up below in the hold. When I remembered there was a giant golden feline with us now. If the lioness came aboard, there was no way she would fit below deck and her size meant she would take up a significant portion of the top deck which would be a problem if we got in a fight.

"Annabeth what are we going to do about Nemea?" I asked hoping she had some clue as to where we could store her new pet.

"What do you mean?" She responded rubbing her hand along the lioness's flank.

"Well we can't fit her on the ship; she is bigger than my mum's car and will get in the way if something was to happen." I explained and sure enough the daughter of Athena's head suddenly began to swivel repeatedly between Nemea and the Argo II.

"Perhaps she could run below us like Arion used to?" She proposed uncomfortably realising the quandary we were in.

"That won't work, she is not as fast as him and besides we will be traveling over the mountains. We will be flying as fast as we can and these mountains are probably full of Gaia's servants. I don't doubt she could win but the time wasted doing so would mean she arrived long after us. There would be no point her even trying." I answered to see the others now all aboard the Argo II and Leo heading down below decks towards the engine room.

"So the only choices we have are: To leave her behind or leave ourselves at risk of attack as we travel." She finally replied after thinking the situation through clearly.

"It's alright, we will stop here on the way back and pick her up or perhaps get the gods to bring her back to home." I answered optimistically and reached around Annabeth to stroke the purring lioness.

"I suppose we have no real choi-" Annabeth sentence was interrupted as I made contact with Nemea's head, basking us in golden light before it retreated leaving me holding a golden furball that seemed as shocked as we both were.

"Percy how did you do that?" Annabeth asked looking at the suddenly playful kitten in my arms.

"I honestly have no gods damn idea, I must have reversed the time spell I used before somehow." I answered guessing the only possibility.

"We need to hide her before the others notice what has happened, we don't need to be telling them about your new tricks yet. You saw how Jason reacted when he saw your shield, he is jealous enough of you as it is. All those months at Camp, people kept comparing him to you and saying you were better. Then we went to New Rome, only to find you took his Praetorship after less than a week of arriving, if they found out, so would the gods and we know how Zeus is likely to react.'

"Yeah, but I never really wanted these powers, they were a means to help us get out of there. I don't want to cause trouble and I would never betray Olympus, my gods damn flaw is loyalty. Why doesn't Olympus ever remember that?" I said indignantly as I passed the cub over to Annabeth who hid it under a jacket. Looking down at my tattered shirt I realised the cub had managed to accidentally tear it apart even more. Thank gods I at last had a chance to get some new ones and take a shower.

"I know that, Zeus is just paranoid of others." She said before kissing me unwittingly squashing the cub between us. Causing her to hiss in displeasure not that I was caring as I enjoyed the sensation on my lips.

"We will just tell them that Nemea is traveling overland and will have to meet us at Olympus." Annabeth said after pulling back and making sure the lion cub was hidden under the jacket as we stepped towards the gangplank.