A Quest of Eight; A Heroes of Olympus Fanfiction

Blizzard in July

Y/n's POV

I had never been on the Mediterranean before, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be freezing in July. We were two days out from Split, and dark gray clouds hovered in the sky. The waves weren't calm either. Quite the opposite actually. They sprayed cold water at the deck every so often, covering the rails and ropes with a slight layer of ice. And while my new powers could easily get rid of it, there was no point because it came back just as quickly.

I played with the splashes of water that sailed overboard, turning them to ice with one wave of my hand. With the current weather, it was easier than usual. When it was warmer out, I had to force the water to cool, and once its temperature dropped, then I could mold it to ice. It only took a few seconds, but with the water already freezing, the time was cut in half. With another gesture from my hand, the ice reverted back to water, and I sent it back into the sea.

"You're getting pretty good at that," Frank noticed.

"Thanks. I've been practicing," I share. "And with the current weather, it's like my powers are amplified."

"It's probably the scepter. It has to be," Nico murmured and stared down at the staff in his hands.

"I need to-" Hazel gagged and pointed to the stairs.

"Go ahead," Nico urged his half-sister. "We'll be okay up here."

"I'll walk you down," Frank offered and put an arm around Hazel's waist. Hazel got seasick on regular water, but when the waves were like this, it was a hundred times worse. Ever since we had lost Annabeth, but especially since Sciron, Piper, Hazel, and I had bonded a lot. We shared a lot of stories, complained about how gross the boys were, and even shed some tears over our friends plunging into Tartarus. Hazel and I even agreed to teach Piper how to sword fight, something the latter struggled with.

"I should put this thing away. If it's really causing the weather, maybe taking it below deck will help," Nico proposed and followed Frank and Hazel below deck.

"So much for the big team meeting. It looks like it's just us again," Leo pointed out.

What Leo said brought back flashbacks of the quest the four of us took together. It was only seven months ago that we were on an adventure to rescue Hera, and all of us seemed to have changed, if only slightly. Leo had really grown into being a son of Hephaestus, and while he was still fidgety, he'd figured out what to do about it. Now, he was constantly pulling things from his belt and tinkering with the control panel or the Archimedes sphere. Jason's hair had grown shaggier, the groove in his scalp from Sciron's bullet adding another interesting feature to him alongside the scar above his lip. He'd also worked through the confusion on whether he liked being Greek or Roman better and had become a more comfortable version of himself. Piper had always been fierce for a child of Aphrodite, but now she seemed even more ready for battle than ever. Her charmspeak ability had only grown stronger, and it had proven to be very useful. And me, well, alongside having a new ability surrounding ice, I had slowly moved to a leadership role on the Argo II. I had never been one to take charge, but with Percy and Annabeth gone, Jason and I took over their roles, and I had grown more confident in myself.

"We're close to Epirus now," Jason declared. "Another day or so if Nico's directions are correct."

"Yep," Leo confirmed. "By tomorrow morning we'll have reached the coast of Greece, and another hour inland and we're in the House of Hades."

"Guys," Piper started. "I've been thinking about the Prophecy of Eight. In Katoptris, I keep seeing that giant Clytius, the guy who's wrapped in shadows. I know his weakness is fire, but in my visions, he snuffs out flames wherever he goes. Any kind of light just gets sucked into his cloud of darkness."