𝒞𝒶𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝒸 | ᴘᴇʀᴄʏ ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ¹

1. Starting off summer with a bang

⋆༺𓆩⚔𓆪༻⋆

I am a forest fire

And I am the fire 

And I am the forest

And I am a witness watching it

⋆༺𓆩⚔𓆪༻⋆

⚔ Percy thought Helena would have loved the sunset that was in front of him right now.

Now, he knew it wasn't really the time to be thinking about that but ever since he—somehow—won her back, he found himself thinking about her during his every waking moment.

It was nearly dark by the time he and Beckendorf spotted their target.

The Princess Andromeda glowed on the horizon. Seeing the ship again twisted Percy's gut into knots. He'd almost died twice on the Princess Andromeda. Helena had gotten hurt onboard as well. Now it was heading straight for New York.

He could see the remnants of a battle, scorched floorboards and missed golden dust, onboard and couldn't help the proud smile that worked its way onto his face. 

Helena and Ethan had probably made their job ten times easier.

Those two really were something. 

"You know what to do?" Beckendorf yelled over the wind.

He nodded. They'd done trial runs at the dockyards in New Jersey, using abandoned ships as their targets. Percy knew how little time they would have. But he also knew this was the camp's best chance to end Kronos's invasion before it ever started.

"Blackjack," Percy said, "set us down on the lowest stern deck."

Gotcha, boss, he said. Man, I hate seeing that boat.

Three years ago, Blackjack had been enslaved on the Princess Andromeda until he'd escaped with a little help from Percy and his friends. Percy figured he'd rather have Helena braid his mane while singing the My Little Pony theme song than be back here again.

"Don't wait for us.".

But, boss—

"Trust me," Percy said. "We'll get out by ourselves."

Blackjack folded his wings and plummeted towards the boat like a black comet. The wind whistled in Percy's ears. He saw monsters patrolling the upper decks of the ship—dracaenae snake-women, hellhounds, giants, and the humanoid sea-lion demons known as telkhines—but they zipped by so fast none of them raised the alarm. They shot down the stern of the boat and Blackjack spread his wings, lightly coming to a landing on the lowest deck.

Good luck, boss, Blackjack said. Don't let 'em turn you into horsemeat!

With that, he flew off into the night. Percy took his pen out of his pocket, uncapped it, and Riptide sprang to full size.

Beckendorf pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. Percy thought it was a map or something. Then he realised it was a photograph. Charles stared at it in the dim light—the smiling face of Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite. They'd started going out last summer, after years of the rest of camp saying, 'Duh, you guys like each other!'

Even with all the dangerous missions, Beckendorf had been happier this summer than Percy had ever seen him.

"We'll make it back to them," Percy promised.