Daughter of the Sea || HoO

CHAPTER TWENTY- EIGHT

Until she met an exploding statue, Tori thought she and her friends were prepared for anything.

Tori watched as Annabeth paced the deck of their flying warship, the Argo II, checking and double-checking the ballistae to make sure they were locked down. Tori did her part, and confirmed that the white "We come in peace" flag was flying from the mast. Annabeth reviewed the plan with the rest of the crew—and the backup plan, and the backup plan for the backup plan. Most important, she pulled aside their war-crazed chaperone, Coach Gleeson Hedge, and encouraged him to take the morning off in his cabin and watch reruns of mixed martial arts championships. The last thing they needed as they flew a magical Greek trireme into a potentially hostile Roman camp was a middle-aged satyr in gym clothes waving a club and yelling "Die!"

Everything seemed to be in order. Even that mysterious chill Tori had been feeling since the ship launched had dissipated, at least for now. 

The warship descended through the clouds, but Annabeth couldn't stop second-guessing herself. What if this was a bad idea? What if the Romans panicked and attacked them on sight?

The Argo II definitely did not look friendly. Two hundred feet long, with a bronze-plated hull, mounted repeating crossbows fore and aft, a flaming metal dragon for a figurehead, and two rotating ballistae a midships that could fire explosive bolts powerful enough to blast through concrete...well, it wasn't the most appropriate ride for a meet-and-greet with the neighbors.

Tori had tried to give the Romans a heads-up. She'd asked Leo to send one of his special inventions—a holographic scroll—to alert their friends inside the camp. Hopefully the message had gotten through. Leo had wanted to paint a giant message on the bottom of the hull -WASSUP? with a smiley face, which Tori fully supported - but Annabeth vetoed the idea. She wasn't sure the Romans had a sense of humor.

Too late to turn back now.

The clouds broke around their hull, revealing the gold-and green carpet of the Oakland Hills below them. Tori and Annabeth gripped one of the bronze shields that lined the starboard rail. Her other three crew mates took their places.

On the stern quarterdeck, Leo rushed around like a madman,checking his gauges and wrestling levers. Most helmsmen would've been satisfied with a pilot's wheel or a tiller. Leo had also installed a keyboard, monitor, aviation controls from a Learjet, a dubstep soundboard, and motion control sensors from a Nintendo Wii. He could turn the ship by pulling on the throttle, fire weapons by sampling an album, or raise sails by shaking his Wii controllers really fast. Even by demigod standards, Leo was seriously ADHD

Piper paced back and forth between the mainmast and the ballistae, practicing her lines. For a child of Aphrodite, Piper tried hard to play down her beauty. Today she was dressed in tattered jeans, worn-out sneakers, and a white tank top with pink Hello Kitty designs. Her choppy brown hair was braided down the right side with an eagle's feather 

"Lower your weapons," she murmured. "We just want to talk." 

Her charmspeak, along with Tori's, had gotten powerful over the spring. 

Over the spring, let's just say Tori may have slightly abused her charmspeak. She may have "convinced" the Apollo cabin to blast Barbie Girl at full volume at 6:00 a.m, and she made Travis and Connor give her their dessert. Chiron drew the line when she "convinced" the Demeter cabin to grow her weed. Tori was on dish duty for a month, and she got an eight hour lecture from the centaur about how drugs are bad. 
(A/N: Don't do drugs kids, but if you do, please be safe. :) )

Tori figured that Piper was best suited for the speaking job. If it was up to her, she would probably make everyone do the Macarena. Nothing says friendship like dancing.