Sequel: The Hurtful Truth

Chapter 8: The Andromeda

Stella's POV

"We're definitely not in Florida" Annabeth said looking around. "I think we're in Olympus" Tyson said walking up by Annabeth. "Hail to you great Zeus! Forgive our trespass on Olympus. We're seeking transport to Florida" he said referring to the Capitol building. "Hey! Stop! Stop it!" I whispered to Tyson. "Zeus? Zeus?" He yelled making people look at him strangely. "Whoa, stop it, stop it, stop it! This isn't Olympus, okay? This is the Capitol building. We're in Washington, D. C. Okay?" Percy asked Tyson. "Oh" Tyson said nodding his head. "It looks like Olympus" he continued. "Right down to the dudes with power who only care about themselves" Grover said walking up. "We need to find a bus station" Percy said walking away. I followed him. "First we need to get some money" Annabeth said. "I know just the place" I said remembering the coffee shop I went to with Luke on a mission.

-Time Skip-

Annabeth went to get the money while the rest of us went to get our coffee. "Can I get five venti half-caf no whip lattes?" Grover asked him. "And an extra shot of nectar" I whispered to the lady. Her eyes glowed green and she told the guy the order in greek. "Nectar?" Tyson asked us. "If you haven't had, you haven't lived buddy" Grover said. We walked over to the isle where we get the coffee. "Hecatonshire" I greeted the guy with 8 arms. "Hey" he said fixing 5 cups in only seconds. "Whoa! I see you got your hands full" I said holding out my fist. We did our little handshake. "Room for cream?" He asked. "Sure" I said. He handed the cups and we got them, me getting some sugar. "Nectar. Double shot" Grover said drinking. "This might be the most fun I've ever had" I heard Tyson say. Wow he doesn't get out much. "Ever!" "Yeah well anythings got to be better than living in the woods, right?" Percy asked. "Living in the wood would have been fine if you were there" Tyson said. "Everything is better with a brother" he told Percy. "You know technically we don't have the same mom" Percy said. "So we're still brothers! I know! How cool is that?" Tyson asked energetic. "Arctic" Percy muttered. "It's too sweet, don't you think?" Annabeth asked me and Grover. "No, nectar a never too sweet" Grover told her. "Ah get off me" Grover said, making us look back. "Stella! Look out!" I heard Percy say. I looked back and saw a guy coming up behind me. "Stay away" I warned him. He kept on charging at me. I hit him with my back-pack and hit his gut making him fall over. "Grover!" Annabeth yelled trying to get Grover, but the man threw her into the ground. Percy and Tyson ran over to the men, while I helped Annabeth up. "Damn!" Percy yelled. "Was that Chris Rodriquez?" I asked. "How did they do that?" Tyson asked. Percy went on about Luke and half- bloods turning. "Luke has Grover" he told us.

-Time Skip-
"Luke is going after the Fleece. That's why he needed a satyr" Percy said.
"But what does Luke even want with the fleece?" Annabeth asked. "I don't know" Percy said. "But if we're going to get Grover back, we need to find Luke. Stella do you know where he could be?" He asked me. "But we don't even know where he is" Tyson said. I saw a UPS truck drive by. "I know someone who does. Come on" I said to them, getting my back and walking to the UPS store. "What are we shipping ourselves overnight express to the Sea of Monsters?" Percy asked me. "You want to find Luke? His dad will know where he is" I told them walking in. "Olympic Parcel Service. Come on" I said holding the door open. "Like it? He'll love it. Yes Hephaestus does do quality work. Everyone else these days, hacks" a man said to an old lady. "Excuse me, we're looking for Hermes" Annabeth said to the man. "Yeah and I'm sorry to be the God of obviousness but I'm with a costumer". The man went on with the lady. She left and gave the others dirty looks. "Now you" the man said. "You are here about Hermes?" He asked. "His son actually, it's kind of important" I said nodding my head and bitting my lip. "Yeah I could tell when you walked in here, all rude-like" he said putting the shield away. "His sons name is Luke Castellan" Percy said to the man. "What has that way-ward son of mine gotten himself into now?" The guy muttered to himself. "Wait you're..." "Hermes, a little insulted you didn't recognize me, especially you Stella. My feelings might have been hurt if it wasn't such a self-confident individual" he said walking towards us. "I don't know if you know this, but I'm killing these shorts" he said gesturing to himself. "Sir we're looking for Luke, because he attacked Camp-Half Blood" Percy said. "And kidnapped our friend" he added. "And we really need your help, and we don't have a lot of time" Annabeth finished for him. "It's really cute how you finish each other's sentences" Hemes said. "Follow" he continued, motioning us to come in the other door. "Like this tie? I just bought it. Hermes, of course" hermes said and was handed his staff. "Check it out. State of the art sorting processing and packaging facility. If you can box it, we can ship it at the the speed of.... Well me" he said laughing showing us around the factory. "We have plans to expand next year. We're finding we have space issues. So picture this, only bigger. Don't touch that" he said to Tyson warning him. "We're the fastest-growing Olympian industry. It took a while to get up and running, but Rome wasn't built in a day, trust me I was there" "Excuse me, sir, were in a bit of a hurry" Percy said to Hermes. "Relax my friend. Take it slow" Hermes told Percy. "Oh come on! Give it a break!" I heard a familiar voice say. "Easy for you to say, Your Eminence" another voice said to the first. "Actually, Martha, it's not easy for him, he's the God of freaking speed" I heard George say. I looked at the staff and saw the two snakes. "Except he's not the one whose butt is stuck to a big silver stick forever!" Martha yelled at George. "Hey guys, what did I say? When you meet new people, protract your S's. It makes it more dramatic. It makes an impression" Hermes told the snakes protracting his S's in the sentence. "Ugh! I'm personally insulted. Snakes don't talk like that. It is a stereotype and its offensive. Hello Stella" she said. "Mmm-hmm! Bad enough some of our relatives are hanging out with Medusa, turning people into stone"George said looking at Percy. "Alright" percy said. "Ooh I love your hair. I wish my hair would do that" Martha said making both Annabeth and Tyson touch their hair. "Yeah, that will happen" George said sarcastically. "Why don't you guys make yourself useful? Demi-Google Luke Castellan, These guys are looking for him." Hermes said the snakes. "Why?" "Do they have a death wish?" The snakes asked. "It doesn't matter. Just...." Hermes said handing the staff to a guy. "Didn't even say 'please' " Martha said irritated. "Told you! We should have taken that job with Hercules" George said. "There an acquired taste" Hermes said to the others. "Luke I don't know what to do about him. I've tried reaching out to him, but the kids angry. He's resentful. And he holds a grudge like nobody's business. Just like his mother come to think of it" Hermes said to us, which I totally agree with. "Yeah he's not my biggest fan either" Percy said. "Well, if your going to cross paths or, Zeus forbid, swords with him, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have a thing or two to help you out" Hermes said getting something out of a box. "Collectors item, mint condition" he told us showing us the bottle. "From Hercules Bust Heads, Season One" Hermes said sounding proud. "Hercules Bust Heads?" Tyson asked. "Best TV show ever. So of course, cancelled" Hermes told us upset. "Got this off Deity-Bay. You twist the caps off this, you release the winds from the four corners of the Earth. Now you tell me that isn't cool" Hermes said handing the bottle to Annabeth. She started to untwist the cap. "Whoa! Not in here! Not in here" Hermes screamed taking the bottle and twisting it back up. "By the gods, George was right. You do have a death wish" Hermes said handing the bottle back to Annabeth. "Now your also...." He said looking back to see if she tried anything. Annabeth put her hands up in surrender. "Your also going to want one of these" He said and brought down some kind of tape sealer. "Um, thanks. Mythical box sealer?" Percy asked holding it. "You wound me, truly I am wounded." Hermes told Percy. "I hold in my hands a Matter Eliminator. Trademark pending. Anything you outline with this...not in here...disappears" Hermes told us. "Whoosh! Gone. Instant hole" Hermes said with hand motions. "Demi-Google Luke he said, except how am I supposed to type without fingers?" I heard George say, angry. "You were supposed to use the mouse!" Martha yelled at George, also very angry. "I'm a snake, I eat mice". "All right, thank you. Have you found Luke?" Hermes asked the snakes. "Did he just say 'thank you'?" George asked. "I'm sure it was just s lapse" Martha sassed. "Luke's on a yacht called the Andromeda" Martha told us. "It's passing Chesapeake Beach as we speak" she finished. "Thank you" Percy and I said. "Your ssso welcome. There happy?" George asked Hermes. "Yeah shh" Hermes said making the snakes go back to their original selves. "Thank you very much" Percy said handshaking Hermes. "Thanks Hermes" I said giving him a hug. "Hey listen.. Um.. If you see Luke, please explain to him for me, that parents, they make mistakes sometimes. He has every right to be angry at me. Just tell him not to be angry with the world" Hermes asked Percy and I. "I'm not really sure if there's anything that I can say that will change him" Percy said. "Stella, just try. He will listen to you" Hermes told me. "If it's one thing I've learned in 3000 years, it's you can't give up on family" Hermes told us, I looked over to where the others were, and remembered all the fun times I used to have as a little kid. "Thanks again" Percy told Hermes and walking away with me.

-Time Skip-
We ran to the docks at the Chesapeake Beach. I ran and saw Luke's ship. It looked familiar to the one in some of my dreams. "That's it, that's Luke's yacht" Percy said pointing to the ship. "What do we do? Swim?" Annabeth asked. "But it's water. Dad will help" Tyson said happily. He claimed down the stairs and put his hand in the water. "Hey dad! We're trying to save Camp Half-Blood and rescue a satyr named Grover. And we could really use your help getting to that ship out there" he said to the water. Nothing happened and Percy looked at us knowing that their father wouldn't answer. "Poseidon?" Tyson asked. "Dad?" Tyson asked again. "It was a nice try, big guy, but don't be upset when he doesn't...." Percy said stopping when something was in the water. "Answer" Percy finished confused at what the creature is. "It's a hippocampus" Annabeth said amazed. It twirled out of the water and flipped back into the water, splashing everything. It whined playfully at Tyson. "Hi girl" Tyson said, only to be sprayed with water. "Boy" he corrected. The creature saw us and I petted it in the middle. "Come here" Tyson said holding out his hand. It jerked away from him making me almost fall over the platform. "Sometimes you just have to ask" he told Percy. "That's all I've been doing" Percy said and stared at the hippocampus. It came closer and nuzzled it's head playfully on Percy. Percy petted the hippocampus, and got on after me. It was Tyson, Annabeth, me, the Percy, on the hippocampus. "Are you ready?" Tyson asked. "Yeah" Percy said and we headed off to the boat. It was pretty fast and we started to get splashed whenever it would jump out of the water. Annabeth put her hands in the water looking at Percy. I just started into the sky, loving the colors of it. T started to get dark really fast. By now we were near the ship, and I examined it. It was a medium sized yacht. We headed towards the back entrance, and we got off. "Thank you" I said to the creature and petted him one more time. Tyson was still with the hippocampus. "Thank you, Friend" he said. "Tyson, we got to go" Percy whispered, Tyson gave some sugar to the hippocampus, and we all headed inside the yacht. "Have you seen it?" A voice asked. "No, man" another one said. "It took him long enough to find it" another voice said. They all are familiar, they were my friends. "That's Ethan Nakamura, Chris Rodriquez, and Selina Beauregard" told the others, hiding behind the crates. "Luke's been recruiting" Percy told us. Tyson's bag made noise whenever he moved. "Shh" Annabeth whispered to him. "This is a nice boat" he said admiring it. We then went into a discussion on how we were going to find Grover. "Follow me" Percy said and we headed up the stairs, but stopped. I heard some grunts and looked down, seeing a monster on the boat. I shook Annabeth's legs with Tyson, afraid to be eaten. The creature smelled the air and Annabeth whispered "it's so time to go. Percy!" She said getting his attention. We ran at the side of the yacht. Tysons bag still made lots of noise and we kept on running until the front of the boat. A monster came out and snarled at us, growling at us. It backed us up, and we were surrounded by the other turned demi-gods. "Chris?" I asked "hey" he said. "What have you done with grover?" Percy asked him. "Grover? Grover is the least of your worries" Chris said.