𝙩𝙪 𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨 - p. jackson [₂]

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒙𝒙.

𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐏𝐈𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊.

she seemed pretty tempted to jump overboard at the sight of our missing friends, but i somehow managed to keep her back.

the four of them emerged out of pink bubbles, and a smaller bubble let out a picnic basket.

"a little help?" leo called out, the four of them trying to make it to the ship ladder.

"oh, right!" percy muttered.

flicking his wrist lazily, he let a wave of water carry them up and deposit them on the deck of the argo ii.

"so, who wants a brownie?" leo asked, putting the picnic basket forward.

once they'd all changed into dry clothes (piper and i had sewn frank some new pants), we gathered on the quarterdeck for food.

hazel and frank took turns recounting their fish farm adventures, while theo and leo fussed about the workings of the helm controls.

"incredible," jason said at the end of the story. "these are really good brownies." 

"that's your only comment?" piper asked, exasperation laced in her tone. 

jason, for his part, looked surprised. "what? i heard the story. fish centaurs. merpeople. letter of intro to the tiber river god. got it. but these brownies—"

"i know," frank said, his mouth full. "try them with esther's peach preserves." 

"and i thought thor had questionable taste," i muttered, leaning away from the group.

"pass me the jar, man," jason said. 

percy, for his part, wanted to hear every detail about the aquatic camp. he kept coming back to one point: "they didn't want to meet me?" 

"it wasn't that," hazel said. "just... undersea politics, i guess. the merpeople are territorial. the good news is they're taking care of that aquarium in atlanta. and they'll help protect the argo ii as we cross the atlantic." 

percy nodded absently. "but they didn't want to meet me?"

 "oh gods," annabeth sighed. "ethan is supposed to be the one who's all obsessed about himself and vain. it's not a big deal. we have more important things to worry about."

"she's right," hazel said. "after today, nico has less than two days. the fish-centaurs said we have to rescue him. he's essential to the quest somehow."