Hellfire

17: International Waters

SEVENTEEN

The skolopendra took Jason and his friends some time to kill. Once they did, the waves did a good job of scattering its remains to keep it from reforming.

The ship was in bad shape. The mast had been snapped in half. One of Festus' eyes was missing. The sail was in tatters. They were missing several oars. Their ballistae had taken some rough hits, too. Jason doubted whether or not they would ever be reusable again. More importantly, however, they were missing almost half their crew.

Hazel's eyes were red. Her arm was positioned awkwardly at her side; Jason wondered if she had broken it during the fight. Annabeth was searching the seas like she was waiting for Percy to surface the way he did in Charleston, during the Giant War. She was covered in cuts and bruises. Piper was trying to get pieces of debris out of a large cut in her leg. She winced in pain every few seconds. Leo was nowhere to be seen, but Jason knew he was below deck, trying desperately to repair his beloved ship.

He offered Piper a square of ambrosia. "Eat this," he said.

"Thanks," she mumbled. Piper took a bite of the square and took in the surrounding wreckage. She didn't look at Jason. He realized they hadn't talked about the recent problems in their relationship. Piper couldn't possibly still be mad at him?

Judging by her silence, Jason decided yes. Yes, she could.

He offered Hazel some ambrosia and nectar. She took it wordlessly. "Hazel," he said hesitantly. "Your arm. I can make a splint, if you want."

She shook her head. "It's fine."

Jason walked over to Annabeth. There was a shooting pain in his side, but he ignored it. He had to keep going. He had to make sure everyone that was left was okay. "Annabeth." He handed her the canteen of nectar. She took a sip, her eyes never leaving the water. "I'm sure Percy's fine," Jason said. "He's a son of Poseidon, isn't he? That's his domain down there."

He wished he believed what he was saying. Despite seeing firsthand how truly powerful Percy Jackson was, he knew Jackson wasn't all he seemed. Lately, Percy had seemed... shaken. Different. Unhinged, even. And what was with that creepy black glow he had when he jumped into the water? Jason had seen his eyes. Percy had kind eyes. When he'd jumped, they had been wild. Not at all the eyes that Jason and his friends were used to seeing.

"He's been so angry lately," Annabeth said. Her eyes were full of tears. "He's different. Something happened when he, Piper, and Nico got taken. He hasn't talked to me about. He won't."

"Annabeth-"

She shook her head. "We were in Tartarus. He... Yeah, he was different down there, but so was I. We had to be different. It was Tartarus. We got back, we beat the giants, Gaea was gone... We were fine. Normal. New Rome was amazing." Her grey eyes hardened. "And then we got called for this stupid quest."

Jason shook his head. "That's not true. Percy was fine before he got taken. We all were. Now..." Jason looked around at their broken ship and broken friends. "Now, it gets dicier. We just have to push through."

Leo ascended from the engine room. His face was black with grease and his hair singed. He had a large cut on the side of his face. His expression was grim. "Ship's going to be fine," he said tonelessly. "Fixed what I could. It'll take a day or two for us to sail, but when we get to Denmark, it'll be fine. Celestial bronze will help."

His eyes were empty. His pinkie finger was ablaze.

The ship fell silent.