xv. the truth

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ANNABETH, THE SELF-SACRIFICIAL GIRL, IMMEDIATELY THINKS THAT SHE WILL GO ALONE WITH HER INVISIBLE CAP. Over Thea's dead body, which she makes very clear. Either none of them go, or all of them go.

Tyson likes the idea of no one, but he eventually comes along when he realizes that everyone else is going. When they stop by the cabin to get their things, he insists on carrying all of the bags. It's easy for him, but the idea of someone else carrying her things is unsettling. But just in case something happens she pulls her jacket over her shoulders and puts her necklace around her neck. It's hard to obscure her sword, but Tyson manages to hide it behind himself as they walk. It just barely works.

Annabeth scouts ahead of them as they make their way through the halls, ducking for cover whenever glassy-eyed mortals pass by. Finally, they make it to the thirteenth deck, where the admiralty suite is supposed to be, but suddenly Annabeth is shoving them into a nearby closet. Thea nearly fights back against the invisible force until she hears Annabeth curse at her.

"You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" someone says.

It takes Thea a second to realize that they meant Aethiopian, not Ethiopian.

"Yeah, it's awesome," another laughs.

Thea stills as Annabeth squeezes her arm. She knows that voice, she knows it, she's heard it before at camp. Someone familiar, it has to be—Chris Rodriguez, of course.

"I hear they got two more coming," Chris laughs. "They keep arriving at this rate, oh man—no contest!"

Their voices fade down the corridor.

"That was Chris, wasn't it?" Thea whispers as Annabeth takes off her cap. "The guy from my—from Hermes cabin who disappeared."

Chris is unclaimed, like many demigods, including Thea. They got along well, Chris usually helped her in the stables, but then he disappeared in the middle of the school year. Thea was one of the few who left camp to look for him in the surrounding areas, but there was nothing. It was like he vanished into thin air.

Probably because he did.

"What's another half-blood doing here?" Percy whispers.

"We—we can talk about that when we're not sneaking around this ship."

He doesn't seem comforted by Thea's answer, but they all leave the closet anyway. Cold settles along her skin even though it's hot outside, she can't think about what that means, she can't.

They reach a window that overlooks the deck and a lump forms in her throat. Dozens of monsters are in a circle around a demigod that's attacking a straw dummy, a straw dummy wearing the same orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that she is.

Thea can only flinch and look away as he drives his sword upward, through the ribcage, and straw spills out. That could be her. That could be her any minute.

"Come on," Percy says, his voice strangely calm. "The sooner we find Luke the better."

At the end of the hallway are double oak doors and it makes her stomach churn. She knows from personal experience that fancy doors are not a good thing. When they're thirty feet away Tyson stops and promptly hands her her sword.

That is not a good sign.

"Voices inside."

"You can hear that far?" Percy asks.

Tyson closes his eye and concentrates until his voice comes out exactly like Luke's. "—the prophecy ourselves. The fools won't know which way to turn."

The Prophecy? What?

His voice becomes more gruff, like the guy they heard outside the cafeteria. "You really think the old horseman is gone for good?"

Tyson's laugh is a perfect impersonation of Luke's bitter laugh. "They can't trust him. Not with the skeletons in his closet. The poisoning of the tree was the final straw."

Annabeth shivers. "Stop that, Tyson! How do you do that? It's creepy."

His eye opend and he frowns. "Just listening."

"Keep going," Percy urges. "What else are they saying?"

The gruff man's voice again. "Quiet!" Then Luke's voice, this time whispering: "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Tyson says in the gruff voice. "Right outside."

Thea barely manages to jerk her friends backward three steps and raise her sword before the doors slam open. Luke is there, flanked by two hairy giants with their javelin's bronze tips pointed at Thea and Percy's chest.

"Well," Luke says with a crooked smile. "If it isn't my two favorite cousins. Come right in."

Tyson glances at Thea like hello, we were not included, are we about to be stabbed. The answer is debatable.

The stateroom is beautiful but painfully terrible.

Huge windows along the back wall that overlooks the ocean where something huge and scaled is swimming beneath the waves. Two plush sofas in the middle of the room, a canopy bed, and a mahogany dining table. Food covers the table, so many things she can't name them all.

And then the ten-foot-long golden casket on a velvet dais in the back of the room. Ancient Greek is engraved on it along with scenes of heroes dying grisly deaths. It turns the room frigid. There's a language, different than Ancient Greek, but one she can read all the same. Her brain immediately supplies that the closest translation is crooked one.

"Well," Luke says, spreading his arms proudly. "A little nicer than Cabin Eleven, huh?"

"Cabin Eleven has two open spots so it's a bit spacious," Thea mutters. "Just in case you were wondering."

He laughs humorlessly, a wolfish grin that shows off his sharp canines. "Always had a smart mouth, didn't you? Wonder where you got it from."

"Wanna tell me?" she edges.

"Hm, I don't think so."

Luke looks intimidating with the scar across his eye and Backbiter against the couch, but Thea still wants to break his nose.

"Sit," he tells them. None of them sit. "Oh, where are my manners? These are my assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them."

The bear twins still have their javelins pointed at Thea's heart. They don't scare her, there's only one thing in this room that scares her.

"You don't know Agrius and Oreius's story?" Luke asks. "Their mother . . . well, it's sad, really. Aphrodite ordered the young woman to fall in love. She refused and ran to Artemis for help. Artemis let her become one of her maiden huntresses, but Aphrodite got her revenge. She bewitched the young woman into falling in love with a bear. When Artemis found out, she abandoned the girl in disgust. Typical of the gods, wouldn't you say? They fight with one another and the poor humans get caught in the middle. The girl's twin sons here, Agrius and Oreius, have no love for Olympus. They like half-bloods well enough, though . . ."

"For lunch," Agrius growls.

Oreius laughs, slightly high-pitched, and continues until it sounds like he's falling into a fit. Thea feels sad for him.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Agrius growls. "Go punish yourself!"

Oreius whimpers and sits in a too-small chair at the dining table and begins to bang his head against the table. It makes the silver plates rattle and Thea's stomach flip.

Luke doesn't spare him a glance as he settles onto a sofa and props his feet up on the coffee table. Thea can hear her mother in her head saying "get those damn feet off the table." "Well, Percy, we let you survive another year? I hope you appreciated it. How's your mom? How's school?"

"You poisoned Thalia's tree."

The blond sighs. "Right to the point, eh? Okay, sure, I poisoned the tree. So what?"

"How could you?" Annabeth bursts, sounding so angry Thea thinks she'll truly burst. "Thalia saved your life! Our lives! How could you dishonor her—"

"I didn't dishonor her!" Luke snaps. "The gods dishonored her, Annabeth! If Thalia were alive, she'd be on my side."

"Liar!"

"If you knew what was coming, you'd understand—"

"I understand you want to destroy the camp!" she yells. "You're a monster!"

He only shakes his head. "The gods have blinded you. Can't you imagine a world without them, Annabeth? What good is that ancient history you study? Three thousand years of baggage! The West is rotten to the core. It has to be destroyed. Join me! We can start the world anew. We could use your intelligence, Annabeth."

"Because you have none of your own!"

His eyes narrow. "I know you, Annabeth. You deserve better than tagging along on some hopeless quest to save the camp. Half-Blood Hill will be overrun by monsters within the month. The heroes who survive will have no choice but to join us or be hunted to extinction. You really want to be on a losing team . . . with company like this?" Luke points at Tyson.

"Don't talk about him like that!" Thea snarls.

"Traveling with a cyclops," Luke chides. "Talk about dishonoring Thalia's memory! I'm surprised at you, Annabeth. You of all people—"

"Stop it!"

Thea doesn't have to guess the general idea of what he's saying, but she doesn't like that he's about to make Annabeth cry. All she can do is put a hand on the girl's elbow.

"Leave her alone," Percy says. "And leave Tyson out of this."

Luke laughs. "Oh, yeah, I heard. Your father claimed him." Luke only smiles at Percy's surprise. "Yes, Percy, I know all about that. And about your plan to find the Fleece. What were those coordinates, again . . . 30, 31, 75, 12? You see, I still have friends at camp who keep me posted."

"Spies, you mean."

He only shrugs. "How many insults from your father can you stand, Percy? You think he's grateful to you? You think Poseidon cares for you any more than he cares for this monster?"

Tyson makes an almost growl noise in his throat, but that only makes Luke chuckle. "The gods are so using you, Percy. Do you have any idea what's in store for you if you reach your sixteenth birthday? Has Chiron even told you the prophecy?"

"I know what I need to know," Percy says, sounding slightly unsure. "Like, who my enemies are."

"Then you're a fool."

Tyson smashes the nearest dining chair into splinters. "Percy is no fool!"

Before Thea can stop him, he charges forward, moving to smash both fists down onto Luke's head in a sure fatal move. But the bear twins intercept him, grab an arm each, and slam Tyson down onto the floor so hard that the whole deck shakes.

"Too bad, Cyclops," Luke says as Thea grips her sword. "Looks like my grizzly friends together are more than a match for your strength. Maybe I should let them—"

"Luke," Percy cuts in. "Listen to me. Your father sent us."

That's the wrong thing to say, it only makes Luke's face grow red with rage. "Don't even mention him."

"He told us to take this boat. I thought it was just for a ride, but he sent us here to find you. He told me he won't give up on you, no matter how angry you are."

"Angry?" Luke roars. "Give up on me? He abandoned me, Percy! I want Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! You tell Hermes it's going to happen, too. Each time a half-blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker and we grow stronger. He grows stronger."

"You're a demigod!" Thea yells. "He won't care about you, he doesn't care about any of us!"

"You really don't know, do you?" Luke laughs. "Funny. I would've thought you were smarter than that."

Annabeth shakes her head miserably. "You're insane."

"Join us and you'll be rewarded. We have powerful friends, sponsors rich enough to buy this cruise ship and much more. Percy, your mother will never have to work again. You can buy her a mansion. You can have power, fame—whatever you want. Annabeth, you can realize your dream of being an architect. You can build a monument to last a thousand years. A temple to the lords of the next age!"

He turns to Thea. "Althea, Kronos would pardon your mother. Only he can bring her back since the gods don't think she's worthy."

She nearly drops her sword as her eyes begin to burn. "You're lying," she hisses. "Fuck you, Luke! Go to Tartarus!"

He sighs. "A shame, I really did mean it."

He picks up a remote and presses a red button on it. Within seconds the door to the stateroom opens and two uniformed crew members come in, armed with batons and glassy eyes. She doubts that their lack of mind will make their batons hurt any less.

"Ah, good, security," Luke says. "I'm afraid we have some stowaways."

"Yes, sir," they say dreamily.

Luke turns to Oreius. "It's time to feed the Aethiopian drakon. Take these fools below and show them how it's done!"

"Who are you calling a fool!" Thea yells, going to move forward before Annabeth grabs her arm. "You're the one on a cruise ship full of people who want to eat you!"

Oreius herds them out of the room, javelins poking their backs, with the help of the crew. Thea tries to struggle, but it's no use. There's nowhere to go, anyway. She'll drown if she jumps over the side. At least not without help, she can't take Oreius with his javelin poking into her spine.

But Tyson can. He isn't a match for both of the twins, but with his strength, he can get Oreius down long enough for them to make a run for it.

Percy tells Tyson to go, and thankfully he understands, and manages to smack Oreius thirty feet backward into the swimming pool.

Thea lets out a yelp as one of the men's batons connect with her arm. She drops her sword and grabs a deck chair, smashing it over the back of his head. He drops like a bag of sand.

Thea grabs her sword as they start hurrying down the deck. "Lifeboat, they have to have those, right?!"

They find one ten feet away, behind some deck chairs, and they hurry to pull the cover off. Monsters are starting to assemble, they don't have any time for this.

As they struggle with the release pulley, Thea shoves a crew member back. "Hurry!"

Percy punches a woman square in the nose. "Annabeth, hurry!"

"I'm trying!"

Thea grabs Percy and shoves him into the boat, Riptide barely making it in with him. She jumps in beside them, yells for them to hold on, and slashes the ropes.

And then they plummet toward the ocean, hundreds of feet below.