Daughter of Wine

Jason

It's finally done. The Argo II is ready to go. The entire camp stares in awe at the massive Greek trireme. It looks exactly like the schematic on the wall that we saw months ago. Piper is beside me, her mouth hanging open. I don't think she's seen the ship in a while either. 

Calli is at the bow of the ship, watching the way, shouting instructions and directions to the Hephaestus campers who are pulling the trireme out of the bunker. 

Leo is off to the side, grinning like a maniac. Once the ship is out, Calli teleports down beside him, wrapping her arm around him excitedly. 

Chiron emerges from the crowd of campers with Annabeth at his side. Even he looks pretty impressed. "Heroes!" He calls to get everyone's attention. "Today, the first of the eight from the Great Prophecy shall set sail to embark on their quest. But first, I'd like to acknowledge the incredible work of Cabin Nine. They built this themselves, in just six months." 

The camp applauds enthusiastically. 

Chiron nods to Piper and I. "Demigods, today is the start of your journey. It is going to be difficult, and dangerous, and deadly. You are to sail to the Mediterranean sea to stop the giants from destroying the roots of the gods at the original Mount Olympus in Greece."

"Can't wait!" Leo nods. "All aboard!" 

Piper and I grab our packs and head over to him and Calli, Annabeth following behind us. A rope ladder drops from the side of the ship. I'm incredibly nervous, and incredibly sad to leave camp. Today had seemed so far away. It felt like it was never going to happen. But here we are, boarding the ship. The quest is beginning. I look to Piper. She looks beautiful, but also terrified. 

Once we're all aboard, we all move to the bow, where Festus whirrs his teeth in greeting. I can't help but smile at the figurehead. 

Calli holds out her hand, and I see something shift in the trees. The ship begins to move, but a bottle comes swinging out of the treeline and smashes against the hull. The whole camp cheers. 

"Dude, why are you breaking stuff on my ship?" Leo asks her. 

"It's good luck." Calli insists. "An offering to Poseidon to bring smooth seas." 

"Oh." Leo gulps. "Then I guess it's okay." 

"We can use all the good luck we're going to get." Annabeth agrees. "Jason, are you sure about our heading?"

"Our...heading?"

"The direction we're going." She clarifies. 

"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm pretty sure." I shift nervously. I don't know how things are going to go with the Romans. 

"Look, I'm telling you guys. Please, let's just paint a little greeting on the bottom of the ship!" Leo insists. "It'll be friendly, and they won't attack us." 

"We're not painting 'Wassup' on the bottom of our ship." Annabeth grits her teeth. 

"No." Calli agrees. "But look, we have massive speakers on this ship. When we land in Camp Jupiter, we blast that song Back in Black by ACDC." 

"Why would we do that?" Annabeth pinches the bridge of her nose. 

"Because." Calli replies like it's obvious. "We look like badasses, and it fits because Jason is back. In orange, not black, but there's no song called Back in Orange."

"We're not doing that either." Annabeth decides. 

"Okay, hear me out." Leo tries again. "We paint the bottom of the ship, and we blast the music-" 

"No!" Annabeth exclaims. 

"Fine." Leo mutters. 

"Buzzkill." Calli huffs, crossing her arms. 

Calli is so odd. Sometimes, she's serious and intense and terrifying, other times, she can be so... carefree. I have no idea how she and Annabeth are such good friends, but I've seen them together. They get along great. I'd expect Annabeth to want to strangle her after just a few minutes, but I've never seen them argue over anything. 

"So, Berkley Hills." Piper changes the subject. "To Camp Jupiter, where the Romans have Percy Jackson. Do they know we're coming?"

"They have to have some idea." Annabeth says. "We can't be the only ones that know about the Great Prophecy. I'm sure they've figured out that we have to go to Greece. And they have Percy with them, so they must know about Camp Half-Blood."

"Leo and I are going to send them a message to let them know we're coming." Calli chimes in. "So that hopefully they don't blow us out of the sky." 

"Hopefully." Piper mutters. "Great."