Forged Destinies

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Ch. 14

When Percy appeared on the deck of the ship, Jason, Piper, Annabeth and Zoe were all standing together, discussing the best way of finding the goddess. When their eyes turned to him, he suddenly felt very self conscious, like they were all discussing how Zoe had froze him with just a little sexual innuendo.

"What?!" He barked, but the minute he said it, he felt like an idiot. Why in the name of the gods would they be talking about that? "Uh, I mean," he felt himself turning red in embarrassment. "Where are Nico and Hazel?"

Zoe had an eyebrow arched and a smirk tugging at her lips, well aware of why he was all flustered.

"Helping Leo. I told them to stay behind, the five of us can handle this."

"Right," he rubbed the back of his head. "So then, let's get moving."

Annabeth gave him a strange look, wondering why he was all worked up. But she just shrugged her shoulders and headed for the gangplank. Jason followed right behind, Piper a little ways behind, checking her weapons as she walked.

Zoe waited for him to start to follow the others before bumping him with her hip, a devious smile on her face.

"I never knew how easy it is to fluster the mighty Percy Jackson." She whispered so only he could hear.

He gave her a slight glare then took a step to the left, right into the shadow of one of the ship's masts. He vanished from sight only to reappear from another shadow on the other side of her, giving her a playful bump back and almost knocking her off the top of the gangplank. He grabbed her hand and caught her before she could fall, his lips quirking into his own teasing smirk.

"Head on a swivel there, dearest. Sometimes you just don't see things coming."

She gave him a playful scowl as she regained her footing and followed behind him. Halfway down, she reached her arm forward and pressed two fingers into a spot on his left side, six inches below his armpit. To most people, it looked like a small poke in the ribs. But as soon as she touched that spot, Percy's body went rigid and a cold shiver went down his body.

Zoe snuck past him and laughed softly to herself, "I'd been wondering if that spot still did that. I guess the Styx left it's mark on you for good."

When Zoe reached the ground, she found Annabeth giving her an odd look. Piper and Jason were both feigning interest in the side of the ship.

"What?" Zoe asked turning her expression stern.

Annabeth just stared at her for a minute and then at Percy, who was just reaching the ground. She shook her head, "Nothing. You two, you're just acting..."

Zoe's eyes narrowed and her expression morphed into one she knew quite well; warning, don't push it.

"Nothing," Annabeth turned her head to roll her eyes, "You two just seem unfocused."

"We literally just walked off the ship. Jeez Annie, when we find Nike, I promise she'll have my undivided attention."

"I hope so," Annabeth said turning to start walking. "I have a bad feeling about this."

No one asked what she meant, though Percy wanted to ask when she had had a good feeling about anything on this quest but he decided it was best to just let the conversation end.

They walked for close to forty minutes before reaching Olympia. Percy hadn't really thought about what to expect but found himself a little awestruck by what lay before them.

Directly in front of them lay the ruins of what appeared to be the world's oldest athletic complex. There was an unordered arrangement of various buildings. Almost all were ancient ruins. The only exceptions were a huge modern museum and what appeared to be a gift shop. To the west, he could see a hippodrome where they held chariot races in ancient times. He could see the Gymnasium in the distance as well and in the background loomed Mount Kronos.