Sons of the Big Three

Dragons

Disclaimer: Been reading the Septimus Heap books again, and I think that Marcia would be someone like Athena: smart, stubborn and scary :)

Will’s POV:

I smiled as I watched my sister and my best friend head down, before concentrating on the surrounding area.

Desmond walked one round about the ship, stopping right beside me. ‘Going to be a long night,’ he spoke quietly. I didn’t disagree with him, but I knew that the night was my territory.

I grinned back. ‘We’ll be fine,’ I reassured him, and he looked at me with horror on his face. ‘What? What’s wrong?’

‘You just jinxed us,’ he replied, and I chuckled. I didn’t believe in that superstition.

‘Really, Desmond?’ I scolded. He pouted. ‘It’s just a stupid idea someone had one day. You can't serious believe-‘

There was a shudder and suddenly Annabeth was yelling frantically. Leo charged up the steps towards Annabeth, while Desmond was pointing at me and shouting that I was the cause of everything.

‘Oh shut up!’ I finally screamed at my annoying cousin. Joel was hanging over the crow’s nest laughing at the pair of us, while Liam and Calvin were rolling on the ground. Annabeth and Leo, like me, didn’t see the funny side.

‘Will you all be quiet?’ Annabeth raised her voice, her tone dark, and everyone was silenced by that, although I knew that Annabeth was pretty scary herself. ‘Leo, do you know what happened to the ship?’

Leo was listening to the clicks and creaks coming from the front of the ship. ‘Festus doesn’t seem to know what hit us,’ Leo concluded. ‘Something hit us suddenly; a ballista of some kind. We need to stop and land soon to repair the damage.’

Annabeth cursed. ‘How soon?’

Leo listened for a second. ‘We should have just enough time to get to New Rome before the ship starts to break apart.’

‘Breaks apart!’ we new demigods echoed Leo’s words. I think I wasn’t the only one worrying for my safety at the moment.

Leo winked. ‘Technical term,’ he chuckled.

Annabeth punched his arm. ‘Don’t scare the new demigods,’ she told him sternly.

‘Yes Miss Chase,’ he said dutifully like a naughty student to a teacher. ‘Or is it Mrs Jackson yet?’ he asked cheekily, and I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

Annabeth’s eyes lit up, and I imagined a bomb going off somewhere, as her gaze made me break out a sweat. ‘Valdez, you are dead,’ she growled.

Leo waved at us. ‘Gotta go invent a chicken nugget smoke screen,’ he yelled quickly while rushing down the decks, and Annabeth glared at the retreating demigod.

She turned to us and we immediately backed away and continued to wait at our own posts, while I saw her smile at our reaction. I shivered. I had seen scary things, but Annabeth would always be the scariest.

There was a roar and we all whipped our heads about as something rose in the darkness, huge and foreboding. Festus blew fire, lighting up the monster for a second, before the fog started to fall again on us.

‘Dragon,’ Annabeth yelled. The beast let out another bellow and I could see light coming out from somewhere in front of us. ‘Scatter!’

I dived to the side and rolled as a blast of fire rolled past, and I counted myself lucky that Annabeth had warned us. ‘Leo!’ Annabeth spoke over the intercom. ‘You might want to come up here. Jason too.’