This chapter has been edited by Gdiusx.

  For a brief moment, Rachel watched as Percy daringly flew ahead on Bckjack. A sigh tore out of her lips and she quickly busied herself with Tyson as they loaded the cannon and aimed it at where the creature on the cliff gred balefully at their captain. The moment her friend entered the strait, the rocky arms threw boulders at him. She nearly screamed his name in terror, but the experienced hero dodged the rocks easily and, with a wave of his sword, caused rge geysers to erupt from the sea to block the rocks he couldn't dodge. The Pegasus certainly lived up to its mythical nature as it dodged and flew at a speed and agility that would be impossible if not for some sort of magical power at py.

  “Get ready to fire, Tyson. We're entering the strait.” It still felt weird that the ship cruised by itself, controlled only by Percy's will. The smell of sea salt and the whipping wind had had her blood boiling in excitement, as she prepared for her first true battle. Unlike the arena in the Labyrinth where she was forced to watch Percy fight his monstrous brother Antaeus, she would not be a spectator here.

  “Yes, Rachel.” Since it would be nearly impossible to aim the cannon, let alone point it to a target so high up, they operated the swivel mechanism through a series of crankshafts to turn the ptform instead. The cannon was secured with many ropes, yet it was still heavy work, but thankfully, the ship was helping them along, or maybe Percy was the one doing it.

  Speaking of the boy wonder, the creatures – Golems for ck of a better term – had intensified their barrage on the Pegasus and its rider. The constant salvos of rocks truly gave meaning to the pce, the Cshing Rocks. Still, the spshing rocks caused waves along the strait, which would have veered the ship off course and crashed into the cliff if its captain was anyone apart from the son of Poseidon. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for their efforts to aim at the rocky jerks.

  “Dammit! Would they stop throwing shit in the water for just a few seconds?” To say the budding gunner was frustrated would be an understatement. The constant rocking of the ship and the impracticality of aiming the cannon, even with the swivel mechanisms that Tyson installed, was testing her patience.

  “I don't know if they will do so, Rachel. I can try asking them if you'd like?” Her partner in gunnery gave her that innocent look of his that she had begun to associate with when he was trolling with her.

  “No, Tyson. That's not what I – forget it. Let's keep trying.” Heh, a Cyclops acting like a troll. Rachel shook her head and focused again on the golem.

  But no matter how long they waited, they couldn't get a good shot lined up. Percy and Bckjack still occupied the two golems' attention, but she worried about him. A single pse in concentration could mean life or death for him and, in turn, for them.

  Rachel found herself biting her lips as she waited impatiently for the opportune moment. She stared at the golems so intently that she could barely see or hear anything else happening around her. A niggling feeling in the back of her neck told her to wait; That the chance would come. She needed only to trust her instincts, and the path to victory would be clear.

  It was a couple of minutes ter that the feeling intensified, and Rachel was absolutely certain that this was the right moment, even if the angle wasn't right.

  “Fire!”

  Tyson, bless his heart, didn't hesitate and pulled the striker cable, lighting the fuse, and Rachel knew it took about two seconds for the cannon to fire. In those two seconds, however, several things happened at once.

  The other golem had thrown yet another boulder at Percy, who couldn't dodge it, yet managed to deflect it with a mini-cyclone. The boulder crashed in the waters a few feet from them, causing the ship to suddenly lurch upwards just as the cannon unleashed its payload with a loud bang that echoed in the strait.

  Rachel held onto the ptform as the cannon's recoil was absorbed by the multitude of ropes and springs holding it in pce while she looked at the results, but deep down, she knew their aim was true. Yet even she did not expect what was going to happen next.

  The cannonball had struck the Golem's eye, and a massive explosion of green fire engulfed the cliff side. Rachel looked on in morbid fascination as the Golem-like creature released an earth-shattering roar of agony that sounded like a million ndslides happening at the same time. The cry was cut short when another green explosion followed the first, causing the cliff to shake violently.

  The ship swayed heavily as half the cliff colpsed onto itself, and the waves buffeted the vessel. In the sky, Bckjack had freaked out from the explosion and flew up as high as he could while the other golem stared at its sibling with what Rachel guessed was horror.

  “Tyson?” She turned bnkly to her partner, the sight of the cliff turning into molten va etched into her mind.

  “Yes, Rachel?” The Cyclops tried to look innocent, but he was fooling no one with how his lips were quirking.

  “What the hell was that?” Rachel was surprised that her voice sounded so calm and dispassionate. She should be screaming in shock at the overkill, but she wondered if it was a sign she had become a demigod with their apparent affinity for life and death.

  “I, uh… might have loaded a chain shot of Greek Fire bombs instead of a regur cannonball.”

  “By mistake, right, Tyson?” She implored her crewmate, who just stared at her bnkly. The smell of sulfur permeated the air, and the hot wind was starting to make her skin itchy.

  “By…mistake… right?” She repeated, yet at the Cyclops’ bad poker face and twitching lips, Rachel facepalmed. Before she could say more, fpping wings sounded above them, and they turned to find a grinning Percy dropping from Bckjack, first into the water, then jumping onto the deck.

  “That was absolutely incredible!” The boy had a few bruises on his arms, yet they seemed to be rapidly healing. “Good job, you two. Let’s get out of here before the other one recovers.” The ship lurched all of a sudden as the sails were fully unfurled, and they cruised at top speed through the strait.

  “Tyson, reload the cannon. We aren’t out of danger yet.” Percy called out as Bckjack nded on the deck, and he remounted him. “I will keep an eye on the other monster from the air or as much as I can against the invisible dickhead.”

  It had just dawned on her that Percy had been fighting blind against the two golems. Rachel quickly gnced behind and found that the other golem was too concerned with its friend to care about them. “Is that necessary? It looks distracted enough to me. We’re nearly at the end anyway.”

  Soon enough, they could see the end of the strait and the eerily green waters of the Sea of Monsters. “See?” Rachel grinned at her captain, “We’re just about clear through.”

  A roar behind them had Rachel sweating uneasily as she saw Percy’s constipated look. “You just had to jinx it, Rachel.” He sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose and turned to his brother. “Forget the cannon, Tyson. We can’t aim it behind us anyway, so just take Rachel and get to cover in the galley. Let’s go Bckjack.”

  The Pegasus didn’t need to be told twice and fpped his powerful wings, flying to the rear, just in time for Percy to block a thrown boulder aimed at the ship with a waterspout. Rachel and Tyson shared a hesitant look and decided to ignore the order to take cover and ran to the stern, where the smaller 30-pounder was ready to be used.

  Unfortunately, Percy’s pn to distract the golem failed as the monster had eyes only for the ship that hurt its friend; more specifically, it was gring at her. Rachel froze at the sight of the massive boulder coming straight towards them. She could vividly hear Percy screaming her name as he tried to send a waterspout to deflect the projectile, but the red-haired girl knew it would be too te. She stared morbidly as the boulder was a few feet from her…

  Only for Tyson to block it with his bare hands. The sheer force of stopping the rock caused the ship to shake and the floorboards to groan while the shockwave sent Rachel back a few steps.

  “No hurting Rachel!” The Cyclops roared furiously as he threw the easily five-ton boulder right back at the golem, crashing it into its face and stunning it for a moment.

  “Tyson, Rachel!” Percy nded again on the deck to check them for injuries. “Didn’t I say to take cover?”

  She couldn’t reply from shame at giving him trouble and causing him to worry.

  “I’m okay, brother. I don’t think the bad rock is done, though.”

  They turned back to the golem, which seemed to travel through the cliffs like a slimy sludge before stopping and sprouting more arms with rocks at the ready. Bckjack whinnied worriedly and quickly hid in his stable.

  “Fuck this shit.” Rachel gawked at Percy’s foul tongue. While she didn’t believe that the boy was a goody two shoes who would never cuss like a sailor, he was still the son of Poseidon and, thus, naturally, a sailor, so… yeah.

  Percy turned to the stern, facing the golem, his eyes closed and his arms raised. A sudden hum sounded out in the air, and Rachel shivered at the sheer power emanating from her captain. She looked around as she noticed the wind had stopped, and the sea had gone calm. Even the golem felt something was wrong as it looked around warily.

  “Rachel,” Percy’s voice was deep with a baritone quality, and she could almost taste the power dripping from him. “Where is the damn thing?”

  She quickly took his hand and pointed it towards the golem. The monster had apparently figured out the danger was caused by Percy and was about to throw another boulder at him.

  “Thanks. I suggest you grab onto something.”

  Rachel barely had the time to grab Tyson and hold onto one of the rowboats secured on the deck before all hell broke loose. The water level in the strait receded, the skies darkened, and the wind howled. Tyson held her by the shoulder in worry while they both looked on as Percy shook with effort, his face sweaty with the veins in his neck bulging. The son of Poseidon opened his eyes and released a loud yell, unleashing a catastrophe that had Rachel shaking in her boots.

  A tsunami. An effing massive wave, hundreds of feet high, was rushing towards them. The wind had reached hurricane levels, yet the ship did not so much as creak in protest as the full sails caught the wind and almost flew through the strait. The millions of tons worth of water didn’t so much as crash into the golem, who had looked stupidly at it instead of melting back into the cliff, but completely shattered it to pieces.

  “Hold on tight! Our ride is here.”

  They held onto the ropes even tighter as the wave approached. Just before it would have turned their ship into splinters, Percy raised his hands, and a waterspout unched the ship into the air to ride the wave instead of crashing into it. Distantly, Rachel heard a familiar baritone voice in the wind, chuckling in pride and amusement as the destructive tsunami carried their ship to the end of the strait… and continued.

  The red-haired gunner didn’t know how long they traveled as she looked around at the sea as it flew underneath them. She could see several isnds whiz by and what looked like an entire school of massive sea snakes looking at them curiously. “Uh, Percy? How long will the wave keep going?”

  The boy didn’t respond, and Rachel felt worry. She hesitantly let go of the ropes and carefully made her way to their captain as he stood ramrod straight. A brief look at his face made her worry even more.

  He was bleeding from his nose and breathing harshly, and his eyes were unseeing. “Percy, are you alright?”

  The demigod of the sea twitched at her voice and gave a tired smile, “I think I need a nap.”

  “Not yet, Percy. You need to nd the ship first, or we will all be dead!”

  That seemed to give him enough energy to raise his head and look around him. The son of Poseidon sighed in exhaustion before adopting a determined look.

  “Tyson, are you there, brother?”

  “Yes, brother.” The Cyclops had also approached them when Rachel wasn’t looking.

  “I can barely move my legs, and need to see where we are before we nd.”

  “Gotcha.” Tyson carried Percy to the ship’s bow, and Rachel followed them. It had just dawned on her that the reason the wave wasn’t stopping had to do with Percy still powering it. She had no idea how divine powers actually worked, but she could see the drain on her friend from maintaining the tsunami.

  Their youngest crew member lowered his brother on the deck to lean on the railings. Percy took a deep, shuddering breath before slowly exhaling. Rachel could already feel the ship slowing down from a hundred miles an hour to something more manageable. With another breath, the wave shrunk some more, and the ship lost more altitude. The process was repeated a few more times until they were finally at sea level, and with the st of his breath, Percy had the ship’s sails furled, and the anchor dropped.

  “I seriously need a nap,” was the st thing he said before colpsing, but Rachel was there to hold him.

  “Now what?” She turned to Tyson, hoping he would have an answer. Rachel had no idea if Percy was hurt internally or just tired, not to mention the inner workings of demigod physiques eluded her. Heck, she barely knew how to treat a regur injury on a normal person.

  The Cyclops grabbed Percy’s other arm for support and hummed in thought.

  “Percy would usually heal with water. Dad says that the sea will always take care of its children, but Percy takes it on an entirely different level.” Slowly, a mischievous smile grew on the rge boy's face, “Since he will scold us for not listening anyway, should we toss him overboard?”

  A wide grin appeared on the girl's face.

  P*O*D

  Percy felt something nudging him as he woke up from his brief nap, finding himself face to nose with a worried-looking Hippocampus. He recognized him as one of Rainbow’s friends who had stuck around for their quest, though, unlike his friends, he felt it had a more bluish tint to its scales rather than rainbow-colored. His st memory was nding the ship on the sea before he colpsed. Percy instinctively patted its nose in assurance; the fish-horse hybrid shook its head as its worried look intensified and moaned pitifully as it tried to have him mount its back before it looked meaningfully at something behind him.

  “Danger, lord!”

  By now, Percy was fully awake and, noticed he was in the sea, refreshed and energized. There was almost nothing that would cause a Hippocampus to fear the seas, so the fact something was doing so was a major red fg. Instantly, the son of Poseidon felt Riptide in his pocket and unsheathed it as he swiftly turned around – to see a massive snake-like figure swimming towards him.

  “Ah, crap.” The two lines of massive fangs attached to a serpentine head with a rge jewel on its forehead were enough to have him scramble on the azure-scaled Hippocampus’ back. They both swam off as fast as they could to where he could feel the ship had drifted, the anchor trailing uselessly due to the depth of the sea. A gnce behind him, and he realized that the sea snake was not as rge, nor as fast, as he thought, and upon further reflection, it might not be the best idea to lure it to the ship.

  “Hey, uh… gotta give you a name. Anyway, turn around, buddy. We can take on that oversized eel.” At his confident voice, the Hippocampus turned around and charged back at the monster. Percy gripped its back tightly with his legs while flourishing Riptide in his hand. He didn’t even need to tell his steed what to do, for the moment he mounted his back, some sort of bond was established between them. Just as the snake was about to bite them, the Hippocampus did a barrel roll and appeared under the monster, perfectly angled for Percy to stab upwards into the sea snake’s unprotected belly.

  They heard a screech of pain above them, but Percy knew this wasn’t enough to kill the beast. With a nudge of his legs, his steed swam as fast as it could while he dragged Anaklusmos down the length of its body, releasing a deluge of blood and guts that stained the sea red. They didn’t even make it to the end of the monster’s body before it disintegrated along with its body parts. An expectant grin came to Percy’s face as he searched for a spoil, and it widened as he saw a gleaming silver scale rger than his entire body. Grabbing the spoil, he nudged the Hippocampus back to the surface.

  “Good job, Cobalt. You were awesome.” The two other Hippocampi were swimming around the ship protectively but quickly swam over when they saw him.

  “Thanks, Lord. An honor to help.” The Hippocampus whinnied happily at the praise and the name. Percy patted its scaly fnk as they breached the surface, the rge scale in hand.

  “Percy!”

  He turned to the shout to find his brother waving from the deck of the ship. “Are you okay now, brother?”

  “Yeah.” Percy guessed that Tyson was the one who had the idea of dropping him in the sea to recover, “Let’s go, Cobalt.” The Hippocampus took him as close to the ship as it could, and Percy jumped onboard through a waterspout while his new friend swam pyfully with his two friends.

  “Tyson,” he nodded to his brother and saw Rachel with a bashful look that wouldn’t meet his gaze. “Rachel. Gd to see you both in one piece.”

  “Uhm, yes. O-one piece, nothing of us is missing.” Rachel stuttered with an awkward smile, much to his confusion. “We are also gd you’re alright. You worried us with that stunt of yours, I didn't know you were powerful enough to create such a camity.”

  “It was mostly because I was on the sea. I'm sure Dad helped as well.” Percy waved off the praise before frowning at the girl and his brother. “More importantly, I need you to listen when I ask you to do something. If Tyson had not blocked that rock, it would have turned you into paste, Rachel.”

  “Sorry.” The girl said in a small voice, guilt and shame obvious in her voice. “We just wanted to help. You saw how much damage that cannon and the Greek Fire did; we could have done the same with the stern cannon as well.”

  “True, you could have. Yet, you failed to understand that when I tell you to take cover, it's because I know something you can’t handle will happen.” His frown deepened at the girl; despite the clear regret written all over her face, he needed to send the point home. “I have more experience fighting monsters than both you and Tyson combined. As the leader of this quest, I expect my orders to be heeded unquestionably in the heat of battle. Doubly so as the Captain of this vessel, am I understood, Rachel?”

  “Yes, Percy.” He continued to stare at her until he was sure the point was driven and smiled gently.

  “And you Tyson? Do you think I am not reliable enough to be counted on?”

  “Of course not, brother! I never doubted you, but I’m strong and can take care of myself.” For once, his brother had a bit of defiance in him, which Percy approved of. He had always had trouble with confidence, and knowing your strength was important. However…

  “Yet, you did not think about Rachel and forgot that she was not as strong as you. Yes, you protected her.” He quickly interrupted the younger boy, “but what if you were a few feet too far from her? Her death would have been on you, Tyson.”

  Percy sighed as his younger brother looked devastated. It was so surreal for him to be the voice of reason when usually he was the reckless one. Then again, this was probably the only time he was an experienced member of a quest. Typically, Annabeth would be the voice of reason and rationality, or there would be older members like Zoe and Thalia.

  “I’m sorry, brother. I promise to follow your orders from now on.”

  “That’s not it, little brother.” Percy shook his head as it seemed Tyson didn’t get the point. “It's always possible that I might give bad orders and commands, whether due to ck of information or confusion. At that time, it would be up to you to think of yourself, your friends, and your surroundings before committing to an action.”

  All of this was just common sense to him as he was just repeating the lessons that Chiron had drilled into him and the Campers, but in this case, with two non-campers, those lessons were a godsend.

  “Understood, brother. I will be more careful in the future.” Seeing the sincerity on the Cyclops’ face and the admonishment on Rachel’s, Percy decided that was enough chewing them out.

  “So long as you trust me to lead you well, we’re cool.”

  “So, what’s that you have there, Captain?” Rachel grabbed the chance to change the subject as she pointed at his spoil.

  “Oh, this? Something I got from killing a giant sea snake. Now, who had the bright idea to drop my unconscious ass in the Sea of Monsters?”

  Both of his quest mates immediately pointed at each other shamelessly.

  “Hey, you were the one who said he recovered quickly from the sea, Tyson!”

  “B-but, you agreed to it. You were so eager to help that you threw him overboard without even looking!”

  “What? I so did not do that! You were the one who was smirking at the idea that you suggested, and tossed him with your stupid strength. I barely helped hold him.”

  The back and forth between his crewmates continued for a while, and Percy couldn’t help but smile at the two. They were messing with him and used him as the butt-end of a joke, but he didn’t mind so long as it was a chance for them to bond, especially after the scolding he gave them. Eventually, he coughed for their attention, interrupting their argument on who could have tossed him further into the sea, with Rachel dangerously eyeballing that damn cannon. That they were both smiling and stifling their giggles was summarily ignored.

  “Anyway, Tyson,” he handed him the silver scale. “See if you can make something out of this. If not, it could always be used as a glorified mirror. Oh, and could you grab the moonce from my cabin? I think it's about time we get a heading to our destination.”

  “Yes, brother.” The Cyclops took the scale to the lower decks for storage.

  “Uhm, Percy? Do you know where we are? Which heading should we take now for Ogygia?”

  The seas were calm for now, but Percy knew from experience that could change on a dime. He could tell exactly where he was and where the isnds he visited from his st stint here were.

  “Over there is Circe’s isnd,” Percy pointed to the north-west. “Last time we were there, we freed a pirate crew after getting captured by the mad witch. I would rather not see the aftermath after a year.”

  “Circe? As in the immortal sorcerous?”

  “The very same. If I had to guess, she probably cut her losses and rebuilt her spa somewhere else.” Percy pointed to the east, “over there is Polyphemus’ isnd. There’s a Siren’s isnd along the way, and let me tell you, they are ugly as sin.”

  The red-haired girl giggled as they waited for their st crewmate to join them. Soon enough, Tyson appeared with the moonce in his hands.

  “Here you go, brother.”

  “Thank you.” Percy took the moonce and moved to the railing of the deck, where the three Hippocampi waited eagerly. “Alright, boys. Ready for a bit of tracking?”

  Rainbow and Cobalt whinnied eagerly, though the st one gred at him.

  “I’m not a boy, lordling.”

  “Ah, sorry, girl.” He rubbed his head awkwardly, “Anyway, up you go.” He opened the gangway, allowing the three of them to jump onboard and sniff at the pnt. It was sadly wilted due to the shining sun, so it took them a few minutes to get a full whiff of it until they were confident enough to track it to its origin.

  “Okay, lord. You can put it away now. We don’t want the smell to distract us.” Rainbow and the rest jumped into the sea and swam around the ship, trying to catch a heading. Percy hurried to his cabin and pced the moonce in the Captain’s safe, where its smell would hopefully be stifled.

  Once he returned, he saw Rachel shaking her head in exasperation. “It's so strange to hear you speaking to animals. I saw you doing it with Bckjack earlier, but to see it again with horse-fish?”

  “They’re called Hippocampi, Rachel.” He tutted jokingly, “Speaking of, where is Bckjack?”

  “Someone say my name?” The Pegasus called from his stall in the stables. Bckjack was busy munching on peanuts as he looked questioningly at him.

  “Nevermind, you earned your rest, Jack.” Percy turned to Tyson, who was cheering Rainbow on. The Hippocampi were jumping into the sea in excitement.

  “Found anything?”

  “Yes, lord! It's this way.” Rainbow led his friends to the southwest, and Percy quickly raised the anchor and prepared the ship to sail.

  “Looks like we’ve found our heading, guys. To Ogygia, we go!”

  “Yeah!” Rachel and Tyson cried out with excitement, while Bckjack snorted and went back to his food.

  .

  .

  .

  The midday sun shone brightly overhead as they sailed for a few hours without problems, except for when sea monsters attacked. It was only twice more, and both times, they were some sort of sea serpent simir to the one he killed, though sadly, they didn’t drop any spoils. Rachel grumbled about him stealing her chance to fight when he dove underwater to battle them, but he was sure she was joking. The way she fiddled with her revolvers and idly checked her ammo made him rethink his assessment of her. Wasn't she satisfied with blowing that cliff to kingdom come?

  Currently, Percy and Rachel had a table set up on the main deck by the mainmast, where they were just finishing lunch. Five boxes of Pizza had been devoured by the hungry questers, two for Percy and Tyson each and one for Rachel. While he wouldn't mind eating pizza every day, he was reminded of Rachel’s worries about their food variety.

  It probably won’t be a problem, he thought as he drank his can of Coke.

  “… Percy, did you hear what I just said?”

  Rachel's face was not amused when he turned to her, roused from his thoughts.

  “Sorry, what?”

  “I was saying the cannons are barely useful as they are.” The exasperation was evident in her voice. “Even with Tyson's help, we could only operate one cannon at a time. We need to find a more efficient way to use them; otherwise they’re just taking a lot of space.”

  Speaking of the Cyclops, Rachel had asked him for something while he was busy watching over the pizza in the ovens. Tyson had eaten his lunch quickly and had been in the workshop ever since, as evidenced by the smoke coming from the mainmast. It surprised him to learn that the mainmast also doubled as a giant chimney with vents connecting the workshop, engine room, kitchens, and more to it.

  Suffice it to say, Percy hadn't a clue how any of that was possible and how it didn't compromise the ship's ability to sail. Maybe his Dad really magicked the ship into being and gave fuck all to the ws of physics.

  “Did you doze off on me again?” A grumpy voice brought him from his thoughts. While the dip in the sea had refreshed him from his earlier stunt, Percy was still tired.

  He smiled apologetically to the girl, “sorry, I got distracted by something. I wouldn't worry about the armaments, Rachel. We're nearly at the end of our journey, and I just don't see us fighting anything that would require artillery in the first pce.” Percy stood from the lounge chair, stretching, and then walked to the railing, a pensive look coming to his face. Was it arrogance for him to state so? It was true that he had been shouldering most of the burden of fighting so far, and it was only natural to assume he would continue to do so.

  “This doesn’t sit well with me, Percy. You’re leaving things to chance, and getting overconfident in your powers.” Rachel argued, and he was starting to get a little annoyed. “Didn’t you warn your brother about not knowing the strength of those around you?”

  “This is different, Rachel. I hate to brag, but I am the Son of Poseidon. I can already sense everything around me in the sea for a few hundred feet. Don’t worry yourself, nothing will happen while I’m onboard.”

  “If you say so,” the girl wasn't convinced, and Percy would concede that she did make a point, but the fact still stood. He had no pns to sail the sea indefinitely and pick fights left or right, so why worry about the ship’s armaments? What could he even do about it, repce them with ser guns? Regardless, any discussion regarding the ship would be shelved, at least until Calypso joined.

  Calypso… thinking about the kind Titaness brought a smile to his face, that quickly turned into a frown. He was close, he just knew that Ogygia was close and he would see her again. Yet, Percy feared that he wasn’t any closer to finding a way to free her. All his pns were on how to get there, but as for after they arrived at the isnd? Percy had no clue. He just hoped Calypso would have a better idea, as this time, he had no world ending quest to finish or friends to save. He had a whole year to strategize with her on how to free her. Even if Rachel decided to leave, he was confident that he could ask his Dad to return her home. Still, it all came back to Calypso’s abilities, of which he had heard a lot about.

  He wasn't sure if she counted as a goddess or not, but there was no denying the tales of her prowess. Especially her magic powers said to rival that of Circe or Medea or even Hecate depending on the story. While interesting, her powers and abilities weren't what had drawn Percy to her. Remembering her warm smile, the gentleness in which she cared for him, her almond-shaped eyes that were a beautiful shade of honey. The caramel-colored hair with the scent of cinnamon, as well as her face with its timeless beauty… It brought an unbidden smile to his face as he stared off at a familiar-looking volcanic isnd.

  The fact that she was also a complete knockout babe was certainly a bonus.

  Percy chuckled to himself as he focused on the approaching isnd. The Hippocampi were leading them a bit off course, but they would still pass very close to it. Cobalt, sensing his curiosity, had his friends stop and turned to him curiously, awaiting his orders. He recognized the volcanic isnd as one of Hephaestus' forges, which immediately made him shy away from approaching it, especially as he noticed flocks of some kind of birds of prey flying around the isnd. His previous experiences with the forge god's experiments did not endear him to visiting it.

  “What is it?” Rachel had snuck up to him while he was distracted, and Percy filled her in while sailing the ship around the isnd.

  “Well, if you believe it's unsafe and not worth visiting, then we'll follow your orders, Captain.” Percy smiled at the girl, grateful she had taken his earlier remarks well.

  He was about to tell the Hippocampi to keep going, but a short scream from the isnd’s direction grabbed his attention.

  “Did you hear that?”

  “Was it a girl's scream? If so, then yes.” Rachel squinted at the isnd for a moment. “There, by the coast, behind those rocks, there's a boat.”

  Having learned from his earlier mistake, Percy grabbed a pair of binocurs he hung near the helm and focused on where Rachel was pointing. There was a boat alright, and he could see two girls on it fighting off some kind of tentacled sea monster with spears. For some reason, the boat looked familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he had seen it before. The girls seem to be struggling, yet they had already managed to hurt the monster as evidenced by the blood on the water. Eventually though, Percy wagered the monster would just tip the boat over and be done with it.

  Suddenly, the monster in the deep sent many of its long gray tentacles flurrying everywhere before it grabbed one of the girls and dragged her underwater.

  “Reyna!” The anguished scream of the remaining girl reverberated across the sea and tore at his heart.

  “Percy. You have got to help them!” He didn't need Rachel's egging to come to a decision.

  “Call Tyson and prepare for a fight.” He tossed the binocurs to her and jumped into the sea, swimming as fast as he could towards where he st saw the girl. Soon enough, he found her struggling mightily against the tentacle, and Percy found out what the monster was.

  A giant squid. Or no, it was a Kraken. Like every Greek monster, the original Kraken had plenty of time to reproduce and create baby Krakens of its own. This one must be a juvenile, for despite it being nearly the same size as the Sea Queen, the original Kraken was said to be rger than an isnd.

  The Kraken had dived away from the other girl, who was busy fending off something else that Percy couldn’t perceive from underwater. Thinking the girl might need help, he directed the ship to move to her position while furling the sails. He would rather not lose control and send the ship to ground on the rocky shore.

  Turning back to the Kraken, he paused. Maybe it could be reasoned with? He swam as close as he could while staying out of its reach. “Release her at once, and nobody gets hurt.”

  The Kraken roared unintelligibly at him, and Percy noticed its eyes were red with rage. Great, it was a feral one. The girl was rapidly losing strength, her dark eyes looked at him pleadingly for help. Without a thought, Riptide was in his hands, and for the first time in a while, Percy activated his shield before charging at the Kraken.

  Bub3loka