Percy Jackson, the Son of Olympus: The Sea of Monsters

| Chapter XX || The Plan |

*August 30 XXXX*

***

"Never."

That was the first word that came out of Percy's mouth as he faced Luke and the army of monsters behind him. A challenging word, to be sure, but he somehow felt at ease despite their large disadvantage in numbers. Maybe it was because Artemis was behind him, and, now that they'd left the sea of monsters, all her godly powers were back.

At any rate, refusing Luke was a bad idea, because he just sent his monsters forward, quickly overwhelming the demigods and dragging them down to the docks where their ship, the Princess Andromeda, was docked.

How had they missed that on the way in? Their own ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge was only a few docks down, and the Andromeda was one of the largest ships at the port. Percy almost smacked himself in the face for his mistake.

Better question, though: how would they get out of this situation? Maybe... No. That might not work. Percy wracked his brain, trying to come up with a viable strategy that would get them and the fleece away from Luke. Could Annabeth...?

Percy smiled.

"I won't take no for an answer," Luke warned darkly. "Give me the fleece." He gestured to his monsters, a few of which began to move forward.

The fleece was, of course, disguised as Annabeth wore it like a jacket, so Luke couldn't tell which of us had it. That was good, but Percy knew that their luck wouldn't last forever. He, of course, was notorious or having the worst luck of anyone. Despite being friends with many of the gods, Lady Luck was never on his side. He knew that it was probably because she liked to bet against him as the fan favourite.

"No need for that," Percy interrupted, causing the monster minions to freeze in surprise. Luke and even his friends looked surprised. "Bring us below to your dungeon or whatever," the son of Poseidon continued, whilst putting his hands in the air as a 'surrender'.

"Percy, what are you doing?" Artemis asked him telepathically.

"I have a plan," he replied. "Can you pass it on to the others?" It was times like these that he was grateful that Artemis was such a close friend of his. That she was there with them, or else they would have no way out. At least... no way that he could see.

"Of course. Just promise me that it'll work," she answered, as he knew she would. His plans – typically – were very messy, but they always managed to pull through and succeed.

"I promise that it will work," he replied, secretly grinning as the monsters began to lead them away, holding the demigods and satyr by surrounding them in a tight circle and shuffling forward along the deck of their boat. Percy could see that the others of their quest were just as confused as Luke, who was eyeing him suspiciously. Obviously, their captor was suspicious; he had a right to be, though. He was on the outside of the group of monsters, walking along the edge of the deck, his feet crossing over one another as he walked. Percy wished that he would just trip, but that would likely not happen.

Percy then told her the plan, and the goddess did her best to relay it to the others. Unfortunately, not many of them were used to conversing in such methods, so those members of their party jumped a little, making the monsters tense, but the moment quickly passed. However, this caused Luke's eyebrow to raise, and Percy could almost see the gears turning in his enemy's head.

"Okay, Percy, I told them," Artemis finally said as they reached the docks. "Now what?"

"We wait for our chance. Annabeth is a daughter of Athena, so I trust that she'll pick the right time to do what she has to do. I've never been good at calling moments of action."

Artemis' face made no outward change, but Percy could tell that she was amused by his self-depreciating statement. "No, you haven't been. Ever."

"Hey!" he whined, wishing to continue her delightful distraction, "You're supposed to tell me that it's not true! What kind of friend are you?"

"An honest one," she quipped.

Just then, they were inside, and made their way down the narrow hallways to the boat's "brig". Because of course, any boat of Luke's – cruise ship or no – would have a brig. Good thing it was a cruise ship, though, because once they got there, Percy was pleasantly surprised. It was much nicer than any brig he'd seen before, and when living with his father in the underwater kingdom, he'd explored a lot of sunken ships.

"Are you ready to do your part?" Percy asked his silver-eyed companion. She was, as always, one of the main components to his plan. Annabeth was another, but when it came to his plans, Artemis was always number one – it was a bit of a habit at this point.

"I'm always ready. You just make sure that you don't screw up this oh-so-brilliant plan of yours," she replied good-heartedly.

"Alright, alright," he replied with a mental sigh.

"Did you just sigh in your head?" Artemis turned to him suddenly to ask, raising an eyebrow. The others saw this movement and frowned, though the monsters, who were struggling with the lock on the outside of their separate cells, didn't pay them any mind.

Luke hadn't followed them down, so, if Lady Luck would be on their side for once, he wouldn't remember who Artemis was and that she was a goddess, meaning that their cells were useless.

Percy couldn't remember if Luke had ever met Artemis. He certainly had never had a conversation with her, but hopefully, he wouldn't recognize her from the council meetings that he'd visited on Olympus during the Camp Half-Blood field trips – back when he was a loyal camper and not a back-stabbing jerk.

Finally, the monsters left. The locks were haphazardly put together, so even without her godly powers, Artemis easily reached through the bars and broke one of them open, making quick work of the others once she was freed.

"Great work!" Percy congratulated, "Now let's get this show on the road!"

Artemis sent him a small smile and disappeared, her body fading from the dungeon as if she'd never been there in the first place.

***

Published: Tuesday, July 3, 2018

~CSP2708~