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—JUDITH wasn't exactly sure when she'd fallen asleep. She'd taken up post against a bigger mast, having made a pile of stray ropes and nets into a nest. It was surprisingly comfortable, but left her with a crick in the neck.
She ignored the flashes of her nightmare than ran through her mind, willing them away, but she knew they would be back the next time she closed her eyes. She dreaded the thought and scratched underneath her arm guards anxiously. Sitting up in her spot, she felt the sting of a sunburn on her cheeks, letting her know the sun had been up for a bit. She let her eyes adjust to the sudden onslaught of light and created a visor over her eyes with a hand.
"I was just going down to wake you," Annabeth said, walking past her to presumably wake up Percy from his own sleep at the helm. One of them had been tasked with lookout and failed, and Judith hoped it wasn't her. "Don't worry, I've been up on watch."
Judith didn't even know why she was worried, Annabeth wouldn't have allowed them to go without a lookout for long. She gave a thumbs up and stretched out her limbs.
"Yeah ..." Annabeth trailed, glancing Judith up and down. "You alright?"
Judith stared over the side of the ship at the calm waters, making sure her face was stone set. "Fine."
"Okay ..." Annabeth didn't look convinced, but she must have known that pressing further would get her no where, so she moved on. She nodded out to a little sliver of land on the horizon. "We're coming up on Sirens."
Judith nodded, her mind flying to the myths surrounding them. She had a feeling that Annabeth was beyond interested.
"Better wake him up then." She gestured you Percy. As Judith watched her walk over to the boy, Percy started to twitch and whine. Before Annabeth even reached him as she cautiously stepped closer, the boy bolted upright looking frightened.
"Percy, I think you were having a nightmare. You need to get up," Annabeth said, helping his hand find the ship's wheel to assist him up.
He was still disoriented and stumbling as he stood. "Wh — what is it? What's wrong? I fell asleep?"
So it was Percy that failed his job as look out. "Sirens, I guess," Judith said with crossed arms. "Killer voices, I've heard."
"Uh, yeah, what she said. I want you guys to do me a favor actually," Annabeth said lowly. "The Sirens ... we'll be in range of their singing soon."
"No problem. We can just stop up our ears," Percy was quick to assure her. "There's a big tub of candle wax down below —"
Annabeth stopped him short. "I want to hear them."
