Percy Jackson The Complete Collection (35 page)

He picked up something that looked like a TV remote and pressed a red button. Within seconds the door of the stateroom opened and two uniformed crew members came in, armed with nightsticks. They had the same glassy-eyed look as the other mortals I’d seen, but I had a feeling this wouldn’t make them any less dangerous in a fight.

‘Ah, good, security,’ Luke said. ‘I’m afraid we have some stowaways.’

‘Yes, sir,’ they said dreamily.

Luke turned to Oreius. ‘It’s time to feed the Aethiopian drakon. Take these fools below and show them how it’s done.’

Oreius grinned stupidly. ‘Hehe! Hehe!’

‘Let me go, too,’ Agrius grumbled. ‘My brother is worthless. That Cyclops –’

‘Is no threat,’ Luke said. He glanced back at the golden
casket, as if something were troubling him. ‘Agrius, stay here. We have important matters to discuss.’

‘But –’

‘Oreius, don’t fail me. Stay in the hold to make sure the drakon is properly fed.’

Oreius prodded us with his javelin and herded us out of the stateroom, followed by the two human security guards.

As I walked down the corridor with Orieus’s javelin poking me in the back, I thought about what Luke had said – that the bear twins
together
were a match for Tyson’s strength. But maybe separately…

We exited the corridor amidships and walked across an open deck lined with lifeboats. I knew the ship well enough to realize this would be our last look at sunlight. Once we got to the other side, we’d take the elevator down into the hold, and that would be it.

I looked at Tyson and said, ‘Now.’

Thank the gods, he understood. He turned and smacked Oreius ten metres backwards into the swimming pool, right into the middle of the zombie tourist family.

‘Ah!’ the kids yelled in unison. ‘We are
not
having a blast in the pool!’

One of the security guards drew his nightstick, but Annabeth knocked the wind out of him with a well-placed kick. The other guard ran for the nearest alarm box.

‘Stop him!’ Annabeth yelled, but it was too late.

Just before I banged him on the head with a deckchair, he hit the alarm.

Red lights flashed. Sirens wailed.

‘Lifeboat!’ I yelled.

We ran for the nearest one.

By the time we got the cover off, monsters and more security men were swarming the deck, pushing aside tourists and waiters with trays of tropical drinks. A guy in Greek armour drew his sword and charged, but slipped in a puddle of piña colada. Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above us, notching arrows in their enormous bows.

‘How do you launch this thing?’ screamed Annabeth.

A hellhound leaped at me, but Tyson slammed it aside with a fire extinguisher.

‘Get in!’ I yelled. I uncapped Riptide and slashed the first volley of arrows out of the air. Any second we would be overwhelmed.

The lifeboat was hanging over the side of the ship, high above the water. Annabeth and Tyson were having no luck with the release pulley.

I jumped in beside them.

‘Hold on!’ I yelled, and I cut the ropes.

A shower of arrows whistled over our heads as we free-fell towards the ocean.

‘Flask!’ I screamed as we hurtled towards the water.

‘
What?
Annabeth must’ve thought I’d lost my mind. She was holding on to the boat straps for dear life, her hair flying straight up like a torch.

But Tyson understood. He managed to open my duffel bag and take out Hermes’s magical flask without losing his grip on it or the boat.

Arrows and javelins whistled past us.

I grabbed the Flask and hoped I was doing the right thing. ‘Hang on!’

‘I
am
hanging on!’ Annabeth yelled.

‘Tighter!’

I hooked my feet under the boat’s inflatable bench, and, as Tyson grabbed Annabeth and me by the backs of our shirts, I gave the Flask cap a quarter turn.

Instantly, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the flask and propelled us sideways, turning our downward plummet into a forty-five-degree crash landing.

The wind seemed to laugh as it shot from the flask, like it was glad to be free. As we hit the ocean, we bumped once, twice, skipping like a stone, then we were whizzing along like a speed boat, salt spray in our faces and nothing but sea ahead.

I heard a wail of outrage from the ship behind us, but
we were already out of weapon range. The
Princess Andromeda
faded to the size of a white toy boat in the distance, and then it was gone.

As we raced over the sea, Annabeth and I tried to send an Iris-message to Chiron. We figured it was important we let somebody know what Luke was doing, and we didn’t know who else to trust.

The wind from the Flask stirred up a nice sea spray that made a rainbow in the sunlight – perfect for an Iris-message – but our connection was still poor. When Annabeth threw a gold drachma into the mist and prayed for the rainbow goddess to show us Chiron, his face appeared all right, but there was some kind of weird strobe light flashing in the background and rock music blaring, like he was at a dance club.

We told him about sneaking away from camp, and Luke and the
Princess Andromeda
and the golden box for Kronos’s remains, but between the noise on his end and the rushing wind and water on our end, I’m not sure how much he heard.

‘Percy,’ Chiron yelled, ‘you have to watch out for –’

His voice was drowned out by loud shouting behind him – a bunch of voices whooping it up like Comanche warriors.

‘What?’ I yelled.

‘Curse my relatives!’ Chiron ducked as a plate flew over his head and shattered somewhere out of sight. ‘Annabeth, you shouldn’t have let Percy leave camp! But if you
do
get the Fleece –’

‘Yeah, baby!’ somebody behind Chiron yelled. ‘Woo-hoooooo!’

The music got cranked up, subwoofers so loud it made our boat vibrate.

‘– Miami,’ Chiron was yelling. ‘I’ll try to keep watch –’

Our misty screen smashed apart like someone on the other side had thrown a bottle at it, and Chiron was gone.

An hour later we spotted land – a long stretch of beach lined with high-rise hotels. The water became crowded with fishing boats and tankers. A coastguard cruiser passed on our starboard side, then turned like it wanted a second look. I guess it isn’t every day they see a yellow lifeboat with no engine going a hundred knots an hour, manned by three kids.

‘That’s Virginia Beach!’ Annabeth said as we approached the shoreline. ‘Oh my gods, how did the
Princess Andromeda
travel so far overnight? That’s like –’

‘Five hundred and thirty nautical miles,’ I said.

She stared at me. ‘How did you know that?’

‘I – I’m not sure.’

Annabeth thought for a moment. ‘Percy, what’s our position?’

‘Thirty-six degrees, forty-four minutes north, seventy-six degrees, two minutes west,’ I said immediately. Then I shook my head. ‘Whoa. How did I know that?’

‘Because of your dad,’ Annabeth guessed. ‘When you’re at sea, you have perfect bearings. That is
so
cool.’

I wasn’t sure about that. I didn’t want to be a human GPS unit. But before I could say anything, Tyson tapped my shoulder. ‘Other boat is coming.’

I looked back. The coastguard vessel was definitely on
our tail now. Its lights were flashing and it was gaining speed.

‘We can’t let them catch us,’ I said. ‘They’ll ask too many questions.’

‘Keep going into Chesapeake Bay,’ Annabeth said. ‘I know a place we can hide.’

I didn’t ask what she meant, or how she knew the area so well. I risked loosening the Flask cap a little more, and a fresh burst of wind sent us rocketing around the northern tip of Virginia Beach into Chesapeake Bay. The coastguard boat fell further and further behind. We didn’t slow down until the shores of the bay narrowed on either side, and I realized we’d entered the mouth of a river.

I could feel the change from salt water to fresh water. Suddenly I was tired and frazzled, like I was coming down off a sugar high. I didn’t know where I was any more, or which way to steer the boat. It was a good thing Annabeth was directing me.

‘There,’ she said. ‘Past that sandbar.’

We veered into a swampy area choked with marsh grass. I beached the lifeboat at the foot of a giant cypress.

Vine-covered trees loomed above us. Insects chirred in the woods. The air was muggy and hot, and steam curled off the river. Basically, it wasn’t Manhattan, and I didn’t like it.

‘Come on,’ Annabeth said. ‘It’s just down the bank.’

‘What is?’ I asked.

‘Just follow.’ She grabbed a duffel bag. ‘And we’d better cover the boat. We don’t want to draw attention.’

After burying the lifeboat with branches, Tyson and I
followed Annabeth along the shore, our feet sinking in red mud. A snake slithered past my shoe and disappeared into the grass.

‘Not a good place,’ Tyson said. He swatted the mosquitoes that were forming a buffet queue on his arm.

After another few minutes, Annabeth said, ‘Here.’

All I saw was a patch of brambles. Then Annabeth moved aside a woven circle of branches, like a door, and I realized I was looking into a camouflaged shelter.

The inside was big enough for three, even with Tyson being the third. The walls were woven from plant material, like a Native American hut, but they looked pretty waterproof. Stacked in the corner was everything you could want for a campout – sleeping bags, blankets, an
ice
chest and a kerosene lamp. There were demigod provisions, too – bronze javelin tips, a quiver full of arrows, an extra sword and a box of ambrosia. The place smelled musty, like it had been vacant for a long time.

‘A half-blood hideout.’ I looked at Annabeth in awe. ‘You
made
this place?’

‘Thalia and I,’ she said quietly. ‘And Luke.’

That shouldn’t have bothered me. I mean, I knew Thalia and Luke had taken care of Annabeth when she was little. I knew the three of them had been runaways together, hiding from monsters, surviving on their own before Grover found them and tried to get them to Half-Blood Hill. But whenever Annabeth talked about the time she’d spent with them, I kind of felt … I don’t know. Uncomfortable?

No. That’s not the word.

The word was
jealous
.

‘So…’ I said. ‘You don’t think Luke will look for us here?’

She shook her head. ‘We made a dozen safe houses like this. I doubt Luke even remembers where they are. Or cares.’

She threw herself down on the blankets and started going through her duffel bag. Her body language made it pretty clear she didn’t want to talk.

‘Um, Tyson?’ I said. ‘Would you mind scouting around outside? Like, look for a wilderness convenience store or something?’

‘Convenience store?’

‘Yeah, for snacks. Powdered doughnuts or something. Just don’t go too far.’

‘Powdered doughnuts,’ Tyson said earnestly. ‘I will look for powdered doughnuts in the wilderness.’ He headed outside and started calling, ‘Here, doughnuts!’

Once he was gone, I sat down across from Annabeth. ‘Hey, I’m sorry about, you know, seeing Luke.’

‘It’s not your fault.’ She unsheathed her knife and started cleaning the blade with a rag.

‘He let us go too easily,’ I said.

I hoped I’d been imagining it, but Annabeth nodded. ‘I was thinking the same thing. What we overheard him say about a gamble, and “they’ll take the bait” … I think he was talking about us.’

‘The Fleece is the bait? Or Grover?’

She studied the edge of her knife. ‘I don’t know, Percy. Maybe he wants the Fleece for himself. Maybe he’s hoping we’ll do the hard work and then he can steal it from us. I just can’t believe he would poison the tree.’

‘What did he mean,’ I asked, ‘that Thalia would’ve been on his side?’

‘He’s wrong.’

‘You don’t sound sure.’

Annabeth glared at me, and I started to wish I hadn’t asked her about this while she was holding a knife.

‘Percy, you know who you remind me of most?
Thalia
. You guys are so much alike it’s scary. I mean, either you would’ve been best friends or you would’ve strangled each other.’

‘Let’s go with “best friends.” ’

‘Thalia got angry with her dad sometimes. So do you. Would
you
turn against Olympus because of that?’

I stared at the quiver of arrows in the corner. ‘No.’

‘Okay, then. Neither would she. Luke’s wrong.’ Annabeth stuck her knife blade into the dirt.

I wanted to ask her about the prophecy Luke had mentioned and what it had to do with my sixteenth birthday. But I figured she wouldn’t tell me. Chiron had made it pretty clear that I wasn’t allowed to hear it until the gods decided otherwise.

‘So what did Luke mean about Cyclopes?’ I asked. ‘He said you of all people –’

‘I know what he said. He … he was talking about the
real
reason Thalia died.’

I waited, not sure what to say.

Annabeth drew a shaky breath. ‘You can never trust a Cyclops, Percy. Six years ago, on the night Grover was leading us to Half-Blood Hill –’

She was interrupted when the door of the hut creaked open. Tyson crawled in.

‘Powdered doughnuts!’ he said proudly, holding up a pastry box.

Annabeth stared at him. ‘Where did you get that? We’re in the middle of the wilderness. There’s nothing around for –’

‘Fifteen metres,’ Tyson said. ‘Monster Doughnut shop – just over the hill!’

‘This is bad,’ Annabeth muttered.

We were crouching behind a tree, staring at the doughnut shop in the middle of the woods. It looked brand new, with brightly lit windows, a parking area and a little road leading off into the forest, but there was nothing else around, and no cars parked in the lot. We could see one employee reading a magazine behind the cash register. That was it. On the store’s awning, in huge black letters that even I could read, it said:

A cartoon ogre was taking a bite out of the
O
in
MONSTER
. The place smelled good, like fresh-baked chocolate doughnuts.

‘This shouldn’t be here,’ Annabeth whispered. ‘It’s wrong.’

‘What?’ I asked. ‘It’s a doughnut shop.’

‘Shhh!’

‘Why are we whispering? Tyson went in and bought a dozen. Nothing happened to him.’

‘
He
’s a monster.’

‘Aw, c’mon, Annabeth. Monster Doughnut doesn’t mean
monsters! It’s a chain. We’ve got them in New York.’

‘A chain,’ she agreed. ‘And don’t you think it’s strange that one appeared immediately after you told Tyson to get doughnuts? Right here in the middle of the woods?’

I thought about it. It did seem a little weird, but, I mean, doughnut shops weren’t real high on my list of sinister forces.

‘It could be a nest,’ Annabeth explained.

Tyson whimpered. I doubt he understood what Annabeth was saying any better than I did, but her tone was making him nervous. He’d ploughed through half a dozen doughnuts from his box and was getting powdered sugar all over his face.

‘A nest for what?’ I asked.

‘Haven’t you ever wondered how franchise stores pop up so fast?’ she asked. ‘One day there’s nothing and then the next day –
boom
, there’s a new burger place or a coffee shop or whatever? First a single store, then two, then four – exact replicas spreading across the country?’

‘Um, no. Never thought about it.’

‘Percy, some of the chains multiply so fast because all their locations are magically linked to the life force of a monster. Some children of Hermes figured out how to do it back in the 1950s. They breed –’

She froze.

‘What?’ I demanded. ‘They breed what?’

‘No – sudden – moves,’ Annabeth said, like her life depended on it. ‘Very slowly, turn around.’

Then I heard it: a scraping noise, like something large dragging its belly through the leaves.

I turned and saw a rhino-size
thing
moving through the
shadows of the trees. It was hissing, its front half writhing in all different directions. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing at first. Then I realized the thing had multiple necks – at least seven, each topped with a hissing reptilian head. Its skin was leathery, and under each neck it wore a plastic bib that read: I’M A MONSTER DOUGHNUT KID!

I took out my ballpoint pen, but Annabeth locked eyes with me – a silent warning.
Not yet
.

I understood. A lot of monsters have terrible eyesight. It was possible the Hydra might pass us by. But if I uncapped my sword now, the bronze glow would certainly get its attention.

We waited.

The Hydra was only a metre or so away. It seemed to be sniffing the ground and the trees like it was hunting for something. Then I noticed that two of the heads were ripping apart a piece of yellow canvas – one of our duffel bags. The thing had already been to our campsite. It was following our scent.

My heart pounded. I’d seen a stuffed Hydra-head trophy at camp before, but that did nothing to prepare me for the real thing. Each head was diamond-shaped, like a rattlesnake’s, but the mouths were lined with jagged rows of sharklike teeth.