53Tah dah! My new chapter.
But, not everything I have to say is very happy. As a warning to anyone reading this, I might not be able to update this story for a while, due to certain events. Sorry.
Don't worry about that yet though. Just enjoy the story!
Ten minutes later, after we finally got Nico decently caught up on current events, we were back to our normal, demigodly stalkerish activities. This time, we were lounging in the lower deck again, watching the twins and Woody while at the same time trying to enjoy a nice game of go-fish.
"Do you have any twos?" Nico muttered, his eyes flashing darkly on his pile. Thalia shrugged.
"I don't know. Percy?"
I glared sullenly at them. "Go fish."
The boat suddenly churned back and forth on a wave. Nico sighed.
"We all know that you're the son of the great sea god, Percy." he complained tiredly. "Now hand over that pile."
"Shhhh." I shushed them. The boys were saying something about hummus. And that reminded me of Annabeth for a second.
Long story.
"Why would there be hummus on a nineteenth century Louisiana steam ship?" Cody had jibed at Woody.
Woody spoke in an obvious tone. "Uh, maybe it was Greek night?"
Both Nico and Thalia's heads snapped up at the word Greek. "What was he talking about?" Thalia hissed.
"Don't worry about it." I muttered back.
"Come on guys." Zack suddenly announced. "We're going diving."
My eyebrows rose. Now there was something I could help him with.
"For the compass?" Cody exclaimed disbelievingly.
"Or hummus!" Woody reminded.
Zack rolled his eyes. "Yes, the compass. I think that might be something that the people missed."
Cody stood up grudgingly. So did Woody.
"I think there are some diving lessons downstairs." I suddenly piped in. The three boys stared at me.
"Percy, what are you doing?" Thalia whispered under her breath. I ignored her.
"What?" Cody asked me. I pretended to look embarrassed.
"I couldn't help overhearing your conversation-"
Nico snorted quietly. "Sure you couldn't."
"-and I just so happen to be going there right now myself."
Zack looked at my suspiciously. "Haven't I seen you around?"
Major uh oh.
I shrugged, trying to hide my nervousness. "Maybe. It's not that big of a boat."
Looking back at Nico and Thalia, I noticed two distinct expressions. Disbelief, and then utterly undisguised disgust at my presence being exposed to the boys.
Guess who was who.
"Thank you." Cody chimed in. "Do you know where it is exactly?"
Um…
"Sure I do!" I piped cheerfully. As I stood up, I could sense the hesitancy in Thalia and Nico at whether to follow me or not. I slowly shook my head at them. This was something only I could do.
As I towed Zack out of the room, I desperately tried to read the ship's overall layout. The only problem was the vast amount of rooms. "Uh…" I muttered as I, once again, turned into a hallway that led to a kitchen. I could feel Zack's gaze upon my back. If I didn't get this right soon, he would never trust me.
"So, what's your name?" I asked as I met another dead end.
Silence, and then, "Zack. Zack Martin."
I nodded, and then finally found the door that seemed right. Sure enough, there was a big sign "Scuba Lessons!" scrawled on the top in bold red print.
"I'm Percy. Percy Jackson."
Awareness suddenly flashed in Zack's eyes. "Weren't you on the news some time ago?" he questioned.
Doubly major uh oh.
"Uh…yeah." I replied, opting for the honest approach. The more truthful I seemed, the better.
"You…" Zack struggled to remember the past. "Oh yeah. You were that wanted fugitive that went around America destroying monuments. And then the police finally realized that you were being held captive by a crazy kidnapper. Hey, man, did they catch the guy?"
I tried to rearrange my face into a more somber expression. "No, they haven't yet." I half whispered. And then I spun around to pay for the lessons as if it were a touchy subject.
Huh…maybe my acting skills were looking up.
Throughout the lesson, the instructor taught us the basics. Like how to put on the dry suit, when to check the regulator, and what not. It wasn't that hard really. The only problem that could happen would be if you snipped the pipe that gave you air. And I have the advantages of being the Son of Poseidon to help me with that. So in theory, I wasn't worried. The sea was my place, my home turf.
Zack, on the other hand, looked downright distraught. He kept picking at his suit, checking and rechecking his supply gauge, and fidgeting with his mask. What he did seem to be slightly happy about was the fact that diving regulations required a partner. And guess who that person was gonna be?
Me. Just my luck. Now I could help him find the stupid compass and help Nico get rid of the ghost captain.
"Ready?" the assistant instructor asked me as he got ready to press the switch that would send me and Zack into the water.
"I guess so…" I said, staring suspiciously at the man. I don't know what, but there was something off about him. I could have sworn that I saw him trying to tangle my air tubes while I was getting ready. Twice. An incredibly stupid monster, perhaps? I wasn't sure, but promised myself that I'd deal with him later.
"Good bye then." he grinned as the place where we were sitting sealed off like and air lock, and we were spit out into the dark waters below. (1)
The sensation of having water around me was comforting, the only disturbance being the heavy tank of gas strapped on my back. I was beginning to wish again that Chiron had taught me how to manipulate the Mist, because it would have been so much easier to swim around without all the useless equipment.
I signaled the OK sign to Zack, thumb and forefinger touching together to form an O, with the rest of my fingers sticking straight up. Zack, still getting use to the gear, finally managed to signal back to me after a brief second of confusion.
And with that, we were off to the shipwreck.
(1) I'm pretty sure that cruise ships don't have this kind of scuba diving door. But when I started to search it up online, I couldn't find anything about scuba diving in cruise ships.(Don't give me that look. Why don't you try and find something about it yourself!)
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