haunting ＊ percy jackson

ix. impromptu therapy sessions

Amos wasn't sure if it was the shock or the adrenaline, but the fact that he hadn't gotten seasick was honestly a blessing. The speed their little lifeboat was traveling at was honestly impressive, though he supposed they had Hermes and the thermos he'd given Percy to thank for that. They had tried to send an Iris Message to Chiron, since it was the responsible thing to do, though that hadn't necessarily been successful.

They had used a small rainbow to make the call, one that only appeared due to the misty sea spray that splashed behind them, stirred up by the large gust of wind from the thermos. Annabeth — prepared as always — was the one to throw the drachma in, and while the teenagers weren't really sure what they'd see, they certainly weren't expecting to see Chiron partying.

What followed was probably the worst IM Amos had ever experienced. While the demigods were trying to yell over the sound of rushing winds and splashing water, Chiron was trying to yell over the sound of blaring music. They could only make out fractured sentences from the centaur — Amos was almost certain he had said something about Miami, but why Chiron had said it was a mystery to them all. All in all, it was pretty ineffective. In the end, calling their former mentor had been no help, leaving the teenagers feeling just as lost as they had before the call.

Thankfully, it wasn't long after that they finally spotted land. "That's Virginia Beach!" Annabeth exclaimed, her eyes lighting up at the familiar sight.

"Virginia?" Amos questioned with wide eyes. "How fast can boats go? We just left New York!" He looked around, slightly mystified by the whole thing. Sure, he had gone on the quest last summer, and that had them traveling across the country, but during that quest, it felt like they'd been traveling for ages! Now, after only one night's sleep and a few hours in the day, they were hundreds of miles away from Camp Half-Blood.

"We were probably going twenty knots an hour," Percy said, like it was the most natural thing for him to know. He didn't even notice when Amos and Annabeth shot him confused looks, almost like he didn't notice he had even spoken to begin with. "We've traveled five hundred and thirty nautical miles." For a moment they were all silent. "Wait, how do I know that?" Percy blurted out, turning to his friends looking more confused than they were.

Annabeth's stare went from confused to calculating like Percy was an experiment she wanted to test out. "Percy," She said slowly, her brows furrowed in thought. "What's our position?"

"36 degrees, 44 minutes north, 76 degrees, 2 minutes west... Whoa."

Unable to help himself, Amos smiled, amused by the whole situation. "That's so cool!" He exclaimed. "You're like a real-life version of Aquaman or something."

Percy flushed, feeling a whole slew of emotions. He wasn't quite sure if it was embarrassment or sheepishness, or something else entirely. All he knew was that Amos' words had turned him an embarrassing shade of red, not to mention the way he saw Annabeth snickering out of the corner of his eye. He wished he could stick his head underwater, using the cool waves to calm the heat he felt in his face. That would be too obvious though, so instead Percy settled for an awkward smile and stifled laughter as he tried his best to seem normal. (He also took it upon himself to stretch his legs and kick Annabeth lightly. Not so funny now, is it? )

Amos, as always, remained mostly oblivious. Jokingly, he nudged Annabeth, "I guess we lucked out by being friends with him, huh? At least we know we're always safe at sea with Percy around."

Smirking lightly, and giving Percy a much harder kick to the shin, she nodded. "Yeah. Seaweed Brain is good for something, who knew?"

Softly, Tyson poked Percy's shoulder. "Why are you red-"