Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard || The Ship of the Dead

A Pyromaniac Lends us a Ship

      I had seen a lot of crazy things in my life, but nothing prepared me for meeting Leo Valdez.
He was charcoal-stained, curly-haired, and suspender-clad, and a mischievous (maniacal?) grin seemed to be permanently plastered on his face. Blitz, Hearth, Alex, Samirah and I were introduced to the pyromaniac by my cousin Annabeth, who had requested to borrow some ship he'd made for one of their own quests awhile back. He'd gladly obliged, and lent us the Argo II, an ornate battle-ship. As Annabeth introduced us one by one, Leo flashed each of us a smile, occasionally cracking a joke or two about our names. ("Mango Cheese" seemed to be hilarious to him, but I had no idea why.) When Annabeth got to Alex, she stopped. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you--?"
Alex looked up, suddenly very aware of everyone's eyes on her. "Female," we said in unision. Percy snickered.
"This is Alex, she's fairly new to the group, but she's an excellent fighter. Or at least that's what Magnus has told me." Alex's head snapped up, and she looked at me funny. I couldn't quite gauge her expression.
Leo rocked back and forth on his heels. He seemed rather spastic. "Cool. Right. Nice to meet you all, you may address me as Captain Leo McShizzle Supreme. Don't wreck my ship." And with that, he lit his hands on fire.
Blitzen yelped, Hearthstone jumped, Samirah backed away instinctively, and Alex turned into a sugar-glider. My friends are totally normal. Percy laughed, extinguishing the flames with a flick of his wrist. Samirah was caught in the crossfire, her hijab now soaked in seawater. Alex quickly shifted back into human form, her face red with embarrassment. Leo said his goodbyes, and disappeared (yes, literally) with a dark-haired boy who seemed to be everyone's mode of transportation. Annabeth grinned at us. "Alright, then. Let's go capture us a god."

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      Percy Jackson really knew how to get our attention. Once we were all safely on board, waves propelled the boat forward. Alex nearly fell over the edge, and I grabbed her wrist, pulling her out of what would later be dubbed the "danger zone". "Sorry about that!" Percy's voice was muffled over the sound of seawater crashing against the Argo II. Sam hurried over to me, worry etching her face. "So we have a boat. We have a team. But we don't have a navigator. How are we actually going to find Loki, anyway? We have no idea where he is--" "I can sense him." Heads turned, including mine. Alex glowered at us. "It's not hard, Sam. The more of his power I harness, the more connected I am to him. I can sense his location, get snippets of what he's thinking. I could teach you."
Samirah's eyes narrowed. "No." Her voice was curt, and she promptly turned on her heel and swished away.
I could definitely see where Sam was coming from. Unlike Alex, she didn't want to have ties to Loki, and she definitely didn't want to be able to sense him. I understood that. Loki had never been a parent to her, nor had he helped her in any way. He lowered her self-confidence and tugged her around like a puppet. Who would want to harness that energy? Alex, on the other hand, had reasons for why she harnessed Loki's power. She was, in retrospect, making it her own, and she was going to be useful on our little expedition because of that. I couldn't side with one or the other, so I made my way over to Hearth and Blitz. They were huddled together, Hearthstone piecing through his bag of runes and Blitz sketching an idea for a new clothing line. They looked so content that I hated to disturb them. In fact, it was kind of cute. The dwarf and the elf really were the perfect team.
I sat down next to them, admiring Blitz's work. He was incredibly innovative. "Hey, guys. What's up?" Blitz looked up as if he hadn't even noticed me, but his eyes focused on something distant. Something behind me. His face paled, and he pointed a shaking finger at the thing that was slowly rising out of the water, its eyes glinting maliciously. "That."