xiv. no hesitation

*    *    *

THEA WAKES UP FROM A DREAM ABOUT HER MOM TO THE SOUND OF PERCY SCREAMING. She sits up and looks around as his screams fill the air, waiting for the other people in the Hermes Cabin to hear. None of them stir, not even Travis, who's an even lighter sleeper than she is.

...Why wouldn't they wake up to someone screaming?

Every fiber of her being tells her that it's a trick, that she shouldn't leave the safety of the cabin. If no one else heard it, it isn't real.

But then he screams again, harsh and guttural, and says that he can't hold the monsters off. It's the last straw and she hurries away as quietly as she can, snatching her sword along the way.

Percy is at the beach. She can't understand why he's there—why he's out after curfew—but she can't think about that. Even if it is a trick, she can't live with herself if she doesn't help him.

When she finally reaches him he's sitting in the sand, Annabeth and Tyson standing beside him.

"What's going on?" she pants. "Where's the monsters? Are you okay?"

"There's no monsters," Percy says. "It—it must have been a trick Hermes did. He came to talk to me . . . he thinks we should go on the quest."

"Okay."

He blinks. "Wait, really? That's all it took?"

"Well, yeah," she says, sticking her sword into the sand. "I was going even if Clarisse got the quest."

"...Oh." He glances at Annabeth. "Are you still going?"

"Well, obviously, someone has to keep you two idiots in line."

Thea rolls her eyes. "Admit it, princess. You looove me.

"Ugh, as if!"

"Can you two hush?" Percy whispers. "I'm trying to focus!"

"On what? Your will?"

"Thea, seriously—"

She does stop talking and lets him work. Percy calls for his father, for his help to get to a ship that is passing by. She waits anxiously as the Harpies approach and wonders if it is against the rules to kill them if they are attacked.

The surf splits apart and the heads of four white stallions burst from it. Hippocampi. Thea has never seen them before, they're incredible.

Their front halves are white stallions, but from the hips down they're scaled with glistening rainbow fins, the most beautiful creatures she has ever seen.

"Oh my gods," she gushes, gently petting the nearest one. It nuzzles into her hand, its damp hair turning her hand wet. "Who's the prettiest hippocampi ever?"

"We'll admire them later," Percy says. "Come on!"

As the Harpies screech, Thea grabs a duffel bag and her sword, slinging the bag over her shoulder as she climbs onto the hippocampus. The other hippocampi seem hesitant about her and keep their distance, but Thea doesn't mind. She has the prettiest one, anyway.

Thea doesn't ask why they are taking that ship, she trusts Percy's judgment. But seeing it loom ahead of them in the night, lit up like a haunting Christmas tree, makes unease course through her body. And the chill of the water spraying back onto her doesn't help.

It only gets bigger the closer they get. Thea anxiously holds onto her sword and the hippocampus, feeling entirely out of her depth at how massive the ship is. It's like the business buildings in Atlanta, except it moves across the water. She doesn't want to board it, she feels like it will be a repeat of the Titanic, but it's too late to turn back. No, she can't turn back.

The side of the ship says Princess Andromeda, which she thinks is a weird name, but she doesn't question it. She does start to question things once she sees the masthead. A three-story-tall woman wearing a Greek chiton, sculpted to look as if she's chained to the ship itself. Her face is full of terror, as if she's real and being forced to face waves for thousands of miles.

Thea suppresses a shiver as the hippocampi skim around the ship, trying to find a way for them to board it. Thea wants to object, say that they can find another way, but she doesn't. She isn't a coward, she'll board the stupid boat no matter how creepy it is.

There's a service ladder riveted into the side of the hull. Annabeth goes first, then Percy. Once Percy gets a few wrungs up she turns to Tyson, who is laughing giddily as his hippocampus swims in circles like a carnival ride.

"Tyson, shh!" she shouts over the waves. "Come on buddy, we gotta go."

"Can't we take Rainbow?" he says, his smile fading.

"Rainbow? Who's—"

The hippocampus whinnies.

"Okay, crap." She smiles at Tyson. "That's a cool name but we gotta go. Rainbow—Rainbow can't come with us, they live in the ocean. Say bye."

Tyson hugs Rainbow's mane. "Bye, Rainbow! I will miss you!"

She lets out a relieved breath as he finally starts to climb up the ladder. Thea looks down at the hippocampus she's riding. "Thanks."

With a gentle pet to its mane, she hurries up the ladder, nearly slipping in the process. Her sword is tied into one of the straps of the duffel bag, meaning that the duffel bag is hanging from only one shoulder nearly two stories in the air, her only weapon barely hanging on.

The second she steps onto the maintenance deck she's beyond relieved.

There's a set of double doors that she manages to pry open with her sword after several minutes of swearing. She hides her sword the best she can behind her back, thinking that if they blend in amongst the crowd and be stowaways, her sword can't show. But after walking nearly the entire ship, she hasn't seen a single person.

"I don't know a lot about cruise ships, but isn't there supposed to be people on them?" she whispers. "We've walked by, like, fifty rooms, and I haven't heard any noise. I don't like this."

Percy nods in agreement. "It's a ghost ship."

"No," Tyson says, fiddling with the strap of his duffel bag. "Bad smell."

Thea feels a pit form in her stomach. "You smell monsters, don't you?"

He nods shakily.

"What do you smell?" Annabeth asks.

Tyson stares at the floor. "Something bad."

"Great, that clears it up."

Thea glares at Annabeth. "It's not his fault, lay off." She glances at Tyson. "Do you have the things Charlie gave you?"

Tyson nods, some of the tension seeping out of him once he pulls the things out of his pocket. It's pieces of scrapped machines that Charlie's siblings were making and he had given them to Tyson to fiddle with. He's surprisingly good, and it always seems to calm him down.

"What about Beckendorf?" Percy asks. "Did you tell him you were planning to leave?"

"Oh no, I'd never do that," she says. "If he knew he would come with us. He'd never let me go alone."

"Isn't he going to be worried if you disappear?"

"He'll know," she says, gripping the bag's straps tightly. "He's—he's like my brother. He'll know what I was thinking."

Charlie is going to be angry, angry that she left, angry that she didn't tell him, just angry. She's dreading when she makes it back to camp and has to see him. If she makes it back to camp.

They finally reach the swimming pool area. There are rows of empty deck chairs that look like they have barely been used. The water sloshes back and forth with the motion of the ship, but the way it glows in the light makes her uneasy.

She glances longingly at the lit-up restaurant two floors above, but something makes her want to steer clear of it. Something about the ship feels familiar, like a fog hanging over the area. She can't pinpoint it, but it's still just as terrifying.

"We need a hiding place," Percy says. "Somewhere to sleep."

Thea's shoulders slouch at the mention of sleep. She can function on little-to-no sleep after being on the run for so long, but she had woken up after midnight to Percy's fake screams—she wants to sleep, it is time to sleep.

They explore a few more hallways, Thea stealthily turning the door handles just enough to see if they are locked or not like she used to do at motels, up until they finally find an open room on the ninth floor. The door is wide open, and Thea objects, saying that it's weird, that there shouldn't be a note and champagne just lying out in an empty room, but Percy reasons that it's Hermes. Thea doesn't want to stay in that room, but they won't go with her to a supply closet, so she has to stay with them in the creepy room.

They all open their duffel bags and sit criss-crossed on the floor as they do so. Hermes had packed the bags for them and thought of everything. She isn't sure how he had gotten it, but she doesn't care to think about that. There's the necklace Charlie made for her out of screws and nails and a chain, her jacket, and her favorite t-shirt, the one from Waterland.

"I'll be next door," Annabeth says. "Don't dri—"

"Um, what?" Thea shakes her head sharply. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Why would we split up? And you all alone?"

Annabeth stares at her like she is an idiot. "Thea, I meant us go together. Boys in one room, girls in the other."

"Okay, that makes more sense." She shakes her head as she shoves everything back into the bag. "But we're not doing that. We don't split up, okay? Not on creepy cruise ships straight out of hell. Just—let's all stay in one room. We've done it before, it won't be weird."

Tyson is preoccupied with his bits of metal that he doesn't notice how Annabeth glances at him. Percy, thankfully, isn't noticing either and is too preoccupied with his bag.

"Seriously?" Thea hisses. "I know, he's a cyclops, and it freaked me out too—I almost lost like my whole arm to one before—but it's fine. Tyson—Tyson's fine for now. He's okay. I think we can trust him for now."

Annabeth's jaw clenches tightly, the muscles working, but she finally sits down with her knees pulled to her chest. "Fine. But where are we supposed to sleep? There's one bed and a couch. And the floor is disgusting."

She's right, the floor is filthy, and sticky like someone has dragged a slug across it. It reminds Thea of the cheap by-the-hour motels she used to stay in.

Tyson is already settling in on the couch with a scratchy blanket he found in the linen closet, his big body stretched out across it.

"Um, it's a king bed, so—"

Annabeth glares at both of them. "We build a pillow blockade and don't touch, understand?"

Thea rolls her eyes. "Fine."

*    *    *

THEA IS UNDERWATER. She grasps at her throat, eyes wide, only to realize she can breathe. Because it's a dream. Of course she can breathe.

She swims around and tries to figure out where to go. She can't tell which way is up or down, which way leads to the surface, or which leads her to a certain death. She's panicking, sucking in water even though it does nothing, begging herself to wake up from the confusing nightmare.

And then she feels something familiar. An Aura. She swims quicker, her heart pounding in her chest. It's s Kronos, or it's a monster, it's something—

A scaled hand clasps her wrist and begins dragging her down into the ocean.

*    *    *

THEA WAKES UP to an Australian man on the intercom. She tunes out most of the words, her heart still beating too fast in her chest for her to comprehend much of anything. She lets out a groan as she flicks her braids out of her face. She looked to a hair tie—or anything to wrap her head with—but there was nothing. She'll have to find something, she doesn't like fighting with her hair in her face, especially since it's gotten heavier with the braids.

"Thea," Percy whispers. "Thea, come on, it's time to get up."

"Two more minutes."

"We let you sleep in."

"One more minute."

He groans and rolls her off of him, making her roll straight into the pillow barricade. She tries not to think about the fact that she must have been sleeping on Percy as she gets to her feet.

"Did you know that you're both sleep cuddlers?"

Thea blinks. "We're what?"

"Yeah, we're what?" Percy says.

"You two try to . . . 'cuddle' in your sleep," Annabeth says. "I'd shove you two towards each other so you'd stop breaking the pillow wall and you'd break it again."

Tyson nods in agreement. "Percy does like to hug as he sleeps."

Percy's face is bright red. "Guys! Let's just—let's go eat or something!"

Thea has to hold back a laugh as she follows them out the door. But one thing she can't help but think about is that she hasn't outgrown it. She thought she had, because her mom always said that she did it in her sleep, but she thought that since her mother died it would stop.

There are people. Crew members in crisp white uniforms, senior citizens, people. It sends a wave of relief through her that's quickly squashed. Because if there are that many people, why hadn't they seen or heard at least one the night before?

"I'm gonna go talk to one of them," Thea whispers, shaking off Annabeth's hand as she approaches a middle-aged couple. Her friends stand anxiously by the deck chairs.

She runs through her options of what to say in her head and quickly settles on things she knows already exist.

"Hi," she greets politely. "Do you know where the buffet is? I know it was around here, but I just keep making the wrong turns and—"

"We are on a cruise," the man says. "We are having fun."

"Yes," his wife says, her face emotionless, eyes blank like marbles. "We are having a blast. We will sit at the pool."

Thea does her best to keep calm as she walks back to her friends. The couple is still standing in the same spot, unmoving.

"So, what'd they say?" Annabeth asks.

"Something isn't right," Thea whispers. "They just kept saying they were on a cruise, they were having fun. And right after I asked if they knew where the buffet was. It was like—like they're playing on a loop, like a broken VHS tape."

"Like the Mist is controlling them?"

"Maybe, but it felt different, the Mist doesn't make people follow orders, it plays with their mind—"

"Guys," Percy whispers.

"What if it's . . . him?" Thea whispers. "I had a weird dream, and right after we felt that weird sensation last night—"

"It couldn't be him," Annabeth says. "It's impossible."

"Well, he fucking talked to us last year and like possessed me so—"

"We don't know that was him—"

"Who else could it be?! Another old being that can possess people?"

"Well, obviously—"

Percy elbows Thea so sharply in the ribs that she knocks into Tyson. "Oh my gods, will you guys just look?"

They follows his gaze . . . only to find a hellhound eating at the buffet a floor above, its massive paws in the egg bowl. It's young, but still big enough to tear them all apart in mere seconds.

She can hear Scythian Dracaena behind them in the hall, farther down, and her heart clenches. She hates those monsters, they're the worst.

"We need to get out of here," Annabeth whispers. The Dracaena slither past, the crowd of mortals thankfully obscuring their demigod scent. "We need to get off this ship."

"—only a matter of time. Don't push me, Agrius!"

"I'm not pushing you!" another person growls, their voice painfully deep. "I'm just saying, if this gamble doesn't pay off—"

"It'll pay off," the first person snaps. "They'll take the bait. Now, come, we've got to get to the admiralty suite and check on the casket."

Thea pulls a family toward them by their wrists where they stand robotically in front of them, obscuring them from sight. "We need to go," she hisses. "Now."

"Leave now," Tyson agrees with a whimper.

"We can't," Percy says.

"We have to find out what Luke is up to," Annabeth agrees "And if possible, we're going to beat him up, bind him in chains, and drag him to Mount Olympus."

Thea pales at the mention of Luke and the fact he's on the ship. Luke is worse than monsters, than giants—because he's a demigod, like them, and he's entirely devoted to a cause that she can understand.

But if it comes to killing Luke or her friends being killed, she won't hesitate.