Wildflowers, Percy Jackson ₁

005, not like us

CHAPTER FIVE

₊˚࿐࿔ 𖥧‧₊⚘ ❀༉. 𓏲｡

Annabeth volunteered to go alone since she had the cap of invisibility, but Sylvie freaked out and that convinced Annabeth it was too dangerous. Either they all went together, or nobody did.

"Nobody!" Tyson voted. "Please?"

Sylvie could commune in Tyson's fear heavily, but in the end, they chose the first option. Tyson nervously chewed on his huge fingernails the entire time. 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 they did have million-dollar bingo. Sylvie made sure her fingerless glove was on her right hand, and that Cereal was tucked behind the waistband of her shorts—it probably wasn't safe for Sylvie to have the blade just out like that, right against her skin, but basically nothing about this mission was safe, so there wasn't much Sylvie could really do about that.

She 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 Sylvie could carry a backpack.

They 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 we 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.

Being shoved up against Percy, Sylvie 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 was still invisible, but she squeezed Sylvie's arm hard. Sylvie got the feeling she should know that second guy's voice. Unfortunately, if it was because he was from camp, Sylvie was clueless. She barely knew anyone at camp.

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

The voices faded down the corridor.

"That was Chris Rodriguez!" Annabeth took off her cap and turned visible. "You remember—from Cabin Eleven."

Sylvie whispered, "No. No, I don't remember."

She figured the statement wasn't for her, though. Percy didn't look confused like Sylvie; instead, a face of understanding was dawning on his features. "What's another half-blood doing here?" he asked.

Annabeth shook her head, clearly troubled.

They kept going down the corridor. Sylvie didn't need maps anymore to know they were getting close to Luke. She sensed something cold and unpleasant—the presence of evil.