The Lost Prince

⇀ seven

HE THOUGHT THAT his day could not get any better as he watched the beautiful brown haired girl in front of him. Jason could tell that she was struggling to find an answer, and for a split second, he felt scared that she might decline. Of course, it wasn't uncommon for slaves to decline the offer. But somehow, he knew Piper was different.

"Well? We haven't got all day, lass." Thalia huffed from behind him. He was the only person allowed to call her that; her real name. Thalia. Thalia Grace—the captain of Aegis, the Hunter of the Seven Seas, feared by the wise and the dangerous. Then there was her sidekick brother Jason, the pathetic blond boy with nothing but his wits and good looks.

That pretty much summed up his entire existence.

Piper looked extremely uncomfortable standing in front both of them, Jason almost felt sorry for her. It was his idea of recruiting her, after all. He had asked the other slave, Reyna, almost exactly three and a half years ago, but she had adamantly declined.

"Yeah," she whispered. Then she cleared her throat. "I'll join," she said a little louder.

Jason's eyes immediately lit up, his face relaxing with relief. He nodded at her, as if he was saying that she made a good choice—not a wise one, but good enough that she would gain a little freedom during her time aboard the ship that used to belong to Beryl Grace. He took note of the tone Piper had used. She sounded doubtful, as if she was signing her own death warrant. In a way, she sort of was.

Thalia clapped her hands from behind Jason. "Brilliant! Now, Jason, show her how to reef the sails right after ye teach her how to swing the lead," She gave him a small wink. "I'll be in my quarters when ye need—"

Goosebumps rose up his arms, and his hand instinctively went to the hilt of his gladius. "Thal," he murmured. "He's here."

"I know that!" his sister snapped before whirling around and swiftly leaping onto the deck, racing for the helm.

"Jason," Piper squeaked, looking genuinely terrified as she inched closer towards him. "What's going on?"

The sky darkened, responding to the commands of the Grace siblings. Lightning flashed everywhere, and thunder boomed overhead. Then the Roman demigod hastily clambered down the wooden steps. He couldn't see, as their surroundings were darkening.

"There!" someone yelled, but the sound was faint and seemingly drowned out in the chaos, but Jason heard him. His head snapped towards the voice almost instantly. The blond was pretty sure that the voice had been masculine, because there was a faint outline of a girl standing feet away from him. She was looking at something over his shoulder.

"Sail ho!" he roared, his voice echoing within the ship.

Another bolt of lightning appeared, and the girl in front of them came into focus: blonde hair, startled grey eyes, and tanned skin. Then a massive wave hit the side of the ship, accompanied by a cannon from the other vessel, and the princess of Athens was gone. He risked a look over the rails, and sure enough, the daughter of Athena was sinking slowly, seemingly unconscious.

"Annabeth!" he heard Piper shriek in alarm. Jason had to restrain her when she decided she wanted to dive into the sea.

A maniacal laugh came from the man who stood on the prow of the pure black ship, which was now sailing right beside the Aegis. Thalia was with her brother in a flash of white and yellow.

The two ships were dangerously close to each other now, but no one dared to use grappling hooks to invade the other. There was unspoken tension between the captains, formed by an unknown feud in the past. The two have always been at each other's throats, attacking whenever one of them could.

"Buon giorno, signorina é signor Grace." the Ghost King called out in a taunting tone, removing his white-brimmed black tricrone and giving them a mock courtesy. "It's a pleasure to see you again,"

Thalia yelled several nasty Latin curses at him in response.

The other boy only smiled in pure amusement as he put his hat back on. He let out a tsk-ing sound.

"Is that how you treat your beloved cousin, Thalia?" he drawled, purposely emphasizing on her name. The daughter of Zeus was seething.

"Shut your face, di Angelo."

But Nico only gave her a small wink, which enraged the Greek demigod even more. Then his brown eyes scanned the deck.

Jason was confused. Why was the son of Hades scanning their deck? Other pirates only do that when ever they're looking for something in particular.

Then it hit him like a brick.

"The slaves!" the son of Jupiter yelled, looking to his right just in time to see them jump off the side of the ship and onto the Midnight. Thalia looked like she had just been slapped across the face. Then her expression hardened, and a pistol was pointed at the head of the other captain.

"Are you going to shoot me, Thals?" Nico chuckled, not a trace of fear in his face. "Are you going to shoot me like how your dad ordered one of his men to shoot my mom right in front of my own eyes?"

Pure hatred flowed out of di Angelo's words. It stung, because Jason never knew that. Even Thalia looked shocked with the new information. Both of them had never really met their dad, but they looked up to him—the King of Olympus, Lord of the Skies, the almighty Zeus. The siblings never thought they would come across a story wherein they were told that their immortal father ordered someone to be killed in cold blood, right in front of a child; the son of the woman who was executed, nonetheless.

Jason finally understood where Nico's unadulterated hatred came from.

Words failed to escape Thalia's lips, and she realized too late that the ship was already gone. The sea was calm aagain, as if the Graces haven't encountered their rival pirate captain; as if they weren't just told a tale they never knew existed. The Midnight was gone, along with its captain and the escaped prisoners, not a trace to reveal that they were ever there in the first place.