"On a scale from Connor to Percy, how much trouble are we in?" Aurora asked with a sigh.

Percy threw the daughter of Persephone an unnecessarily dirty look. "Connor? What does he have to do with anything?"

Aurora had no idea why Percy hated him so much, but she simply just assumed that he had a bitter taste in his mouth about all sons of Hermes ever since Luke. It was understandable, to an extent, but Connor was the complete opposite of Luke. She missed him so much.

"You guys are in so much trouble. Jackson-level trouble." Clarisse answered. "Stoll level is like nothing."

Aurora elbowed Percy so hard he doubled over, but even his pain couldn't hide the smirk on his face. "You're not supposed to be proud of that," she sibilated, narrowing her eyes. Percy simply shrugged.

Aurora, Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson stood in a huddle formation. They had just finished a ship tour—that, frankly, none of them had asked for but appreciated Clarisse's efforts at saving them, so they complied—through dark rooms overcrowded with dead sailors.

Everywhere they went, dead Confederate sailors stared at them, their ghostly bearded faces shimmering over their skulls. They approved of Annabeth because she told them she was from Virginia. They were interested in Percy, too, because his surname was Jackson—like the Southern general—but, of course, the son of Poseidon ruined it by telling them he was from New York. They all hissed and muttered curses about Yankees.

Aurora spent her childhood in New York as well, but upstate, where there was nothing but open fields and greenery, as opposed to Percy's city-born self in eclectic, busy Manhattan. She kept this information close to her—she wasn't as stupid as Percy—but the dead still seemed to be interested in her, despite her having nothing that would satisfy or anger them.

It freaked Aurora out, reminding her a little too much of her trauma in the Underworld, not just last summer but throughout her whole life.

And unfortunately, because she was so closely related to the Underworld, the sailors sensed something in her. Perhaps it was Hades' mark still on her—she doubted his target would ever truly fade from her back—or her mother's status as the Queen of the Underworld, but they would trail closely behind Aurora, as if they were soaking up the death she supposedly radiated.

Aurora despised that.

Tyson was terrified of them. All through the tour, he insisted Aurora hold his hand, which she was fine with and more than happy to do.

Finally, they were escorted to dinner. The CSS Birmingham captain's quarters were about the size of a walk-in closet, but still much bigger than any other room on board. The table was set with white linen and china. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, and Dr. Peppers were served by skeletal crewmen.

Aurora's nose crinkled in disgust, hoping for a lemonade or Shirley Temple of some sort. Even a juice would be better. She just didn't drink Dr. Pepper, that's all. She only tolerated Coke when Percy forced her to taste some of his blue ones at camp. It wasn't that she had anything against it, she simply just leaned more towards fruity and sweet beverages.

"Do you have lemonade?" Percy spoke up, as if he wasn't afraid Clarisse would hurdle him off the ship.

The daughter of Ares stared at him with horror and disdain, her upper lip curling. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"Aurora doesn't drink Dr. Pepper." Percy muttered.

The said girl's head snapped around, and she tilted her head to the side with a slight smile. She didn't remember ever telling Percy that fact about herself, but who knew? Maybe she had made it obvious. Probably. Most likely.

"Well, if it's for Aurora," Clarisse conceded, and Aurora caught the bottle of lemonade with ease as Clarisse pelted it at her like a football.

"Thanks!" Aurora grinned, popping a chip into her mouth.

Clarisse's eyes flickered toward Percy unnoticeable to Aurora, before fixing an evil grin on her mouth and winking. "No problem, princess."

"So," Percy intervened, clearing his throat quickly—not even a second after Clarisse's words had been spoken. "What's happening with camp?"

"Tantalus expelled you for eternity," Clarisse informed him smugly. "Mr. D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he'll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV."

"Great." Annabeth grumbled under her breath.

"Did they give you this ship?" Percy asked.

"'Course not. My father did." She responded with pride.

"Ares?"

Aurora hit Percy in the arm, making a face of annoyance at the boy. "Who else?" She asked incredulously. Sometimes, he truly was such an idiot.

Clarisse sneered. "You think your daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing side of every war owe a tribute to Ares. That's their curse for being defeated. I prayed to my father for a naval transport and here it is. These guys will do anything I tell them. Won't you, Captain?"

The captain stood behind her looking stiff and angry. His glowing green eyes fixed Aurora with a hungry stare. "If it means an end to this infernal war, ma'am, peace at last, we'll do anything. Destroy anyone."

Clarisse smiled. "Destroy anyone. I like that."

Tyson gulped.

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He's got the coordinates and he's heading south. He has a cruise ship full of monsters—"

"I know! You think you know everything, don't you. But I already know, and I'll blow him out of the water!"

"You don't understand," Annabeth tried to argue. "We have to combine forces. Let us help you—"

"No!" Clarisse pounded the table. "This is my quest, wise girl! Finally I get to be the hero, and you three will not steal my chance."

"Where are your cabin mates?" Percy pressed. "You were allowed to take two friends with you, weren't you?"

"Clar," Aurora touched Clarisse's hand. On her left was Clarisse, and on her left was Percy. Next to Percy was Tyson, and across from the brunette was Annabeth. "Where's Chris?"

"I don't want to talk about it!" The daughter of Ares snapped, flinching at Aurora's touch and drawing her body away from her friend's. "I let them stay behind. All of them. To protect the camp."

"You mean even the people in your own cabin wouldn't help you?" Percy continued, his voice taking on a taunting tone that Aurora despised. "I mean, Aurora chose—"

Aurora stomped on Percy's foot, causing his sentence to be cut off by a loud yelp. "That's enough, Jackson." Aurora hissed under her breath.

"Shut up, Prissy! I don't need them! Or you!" Clarisse exclaimed angrily.

"Clarisse," Aurora tried for a gentler tone, "I'm sorry, but Tantalus is using you. He doesn't care about the camp, he doesn't care about our lives. He wants to see camp destroyed. I... we think he's setting you up to fail. I am so—"

Clarisse interrupted her with a scream. "No! I don't care what the Oracle—" She stopped herself before it was too late.

"What?" Percy demanded. "What did the Oracle tell you?"

"Nothing." Clarisse's ears turned pink. "All you need to know is that I'm finishing this quest and you're not helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go..."

"So we're prisoners?" Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Guests. For now." Clarisse propped her feet up on the white linen tablecloth and opened another Dr. Pepper. "Captain, take them below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don't mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies."

Clarisse dismissed Aurora's friends with a wave of her hand. The strawberry blonde watched as Annabeth retreated, Tyson following the blonde like a puppy. Percy got up to leave, but hesitated as he noticed Aurora's unmoving body. His eyes searched hers, asking her for the answers. His lips pressed together, his chest deflated, and he walked away.

As soon as everyone was gone, Aurora turned back to Clarisse with a weak smile. "Hi," she said quietly.

Clarisse didn't respond.

"Is everything okay?" Aurora continued, despite the lack of response. Her forehead creased with concern. "You can talk to me, you know."

The daughter of Ares nodded silently. "Tomorrow."

Aurora's frown deepened, but she didn't say anything else. She knew when it was time to talk, and when it wasn't. "Okay. Sweet dreams."

ೀ⋆｡🌷

Aurora woke to alarm bells ringing throughout the ship. The captain's gravelly voice rang loud and aggravatingly agitated: "All hands on deck! Find Lady Clarisse! Where is that girl?"

Aurora let out a piercing shriek in fear as the captain's ghostly face appeared above her. "Get up, Yankee. Your friends are already above. We are approaching the entrance."

"How do you know that I'm from New York?" Aurora retorted. She distinctly remembered refusing to tell them.

"Your little friend told me."

Aurora groaned. Why was Percy shit talking her with a bunch of ghosts?

He gave her a skeletal smile. "Do you know that you smell like death?"

"That's great," Aurora brushed his comment off.

"Only a little, don't worry." He inhaled, his ghostly figure flickering at the motion.

She scooted away from him, scowling with disgust. "O-kay. Where are we going, anyway?"

"The Sea of Monsters, of course."

"Oh, of course." Aurora repeated. She stuffed her very few belongings that had survived the Hydra into a sailor's canvas knapsack and slung it over her shoulder.

On her way upstairs, Aurora froze. She heard a loud, threatening voice, and she bolted towards the edge of the ventilation grate and peered down into the boiler deck.

Clarisse was standing right below her, talking to an image that shimmered in the steam from the boilers—a muscular man in black leather biker clothes, with a military haircut, red-tinted sunglasses, and a knife strapped to his side.

Ares.

Aurora felt someone tap her shoulder, and her fist was two centimeters away from Percy's nose until she—thankfully—recognized him.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Percy asked, his eyes wide as he saw the flickering image of his least favorite god behind her. "What is he doing here?"

"What, you're following me now, Jackson?" Aurora retorted.

"Are we really doing this, Miller?" The only response Percy received was a hand clamped over his mouth and a signal to be silent.

"I don't want excuses, little girl!" Ares growled.

"Y-yes, father," Clarisse mumbled. Aurora had never seen her look so small before.

"You don't want to see me mad, do you?"

"No, father."

"'No, father,'" Ares mimicked. "You're pathetic. I should've let one of my sons take this quest."

"I'll succeed!" Clarisse promised, her voice trembling. "I'll make you proud."

"You'd better," he warned. "You asked me for this quest, girl. If you let that slimeball Jackson kid steal it from you—"

"But the Oracle said—"

"I don't care what it said!" Ares bellowed with such force that his image shimmered. "You will succeed. And if you don't ..."

He raised his fist. Even though he was only a figure in the steam, Clarisse flinched.

"Do we understand each other?" Ares growled.

The alarm bells rang again. Aurora heard voices coming toward me, officers yelling orders to ready the cannons.

Aurora had never been filled with so much rage before in her life. Her remaining fist clenched as she removed her hand from Percy's mouth. He exhaled shakily. When she turned around, Percy's eyes were clouded over. He shuddered, as if involuntarily, but he wasn't looking at anything. His eyes were heavily lidded, as if he was reliving a memory.

"Hey, Perce," Aurora grabbed his shoulders, her hazel eyes full of concern. "You okay?"

The son of Poseidon nodded, shaking his arms as if he was getting rid of chills. When he opened his eyes again, they were bright and alive again, that same pretty color of sea green. "Yeah. You gonna talk to her?"

"I have to," Aurora murmured. Percy nodded once again. He looked like he wanted to linger for a second longer, but Aurora turned around and she heard his quiet footsteps walk away.

Aurora continued down the stairs. "Clarisse?"

Thankfully, the girl didn't look angry to see Aurora. She attempted a smile—one of the rare, raw ones—but her upper lip was quivering ever so slightly. "Hey, Miller."

"Talk." Aurora ordered, raising an eyebrow as if she hadn't heard anything earlier. She knew the last thing Clarisse wanted was pity, or sympathy, or even empathy.

Clarisse took a deep breath, her inhale shuddering. Aurora smothered her surprise as tears pricked her eyes. There were very few people that were allowed to see the daughter of Ares be vulnerable, and Aurora was lucky enough to be part of that group. Her voice was shaky. "My father is the worst man alive, and I'm his favorite daughter. But I'm still not his son."

"Clar—" Aurora started, but just as quickly as the tears had begun, they stopped by command. Clarisse held up a hand, her nose sticking in the air and her body already moving forward.

"Chris left. He heard about Luke's boat while we were traveling, and you know how he was unclaimed, and he just..." Clarisse inhaled, her movements slowing as her shoulders slumped. "He left to join Luke. He thought this quest would bring him closer to his godly parent, but he wasn't claimed. And Luke drove a hard bargain. I kicked the other kid off of this quest before we took off. That's why I'm alone."

"Oh my gods," Aurora whispered. She grabbed Clarisse's elbow, forcing the girl to meet her blazing gaze. Aurora knew how much Clarisse liked Chris, though she would never admit it. She had a soft spot for him, a crush that Clarisse had never had previously. And for him to leave, betray not only her but their camp... it was awful. "I'm staying on this boat with you. You can't convince me not to."

Clarisse let out a harsh bark of laughter. "If you stay, I'm throwing you overboard. You're going with Jackson."

"I am not—"

"Yes you are. End of discussion. See you, Miller." And just like that, Clarisse was gone. Aurora stood there in shock, extremely confused as to what had just happened. She didn't even have the chance to argue back. She followed the girl up the stairs, her head ducked and her thoughts racing.

There was only one thing she was sure of: she hated Ares.

"My nautical senses tell me we're somewhere off the coast of northern Florida," Percy whispered in her ear as Aurora approached the deck. Annabeth and Tyson were a couple feet away, leaning over the railing and searching the ocean for anything useful.

Aurora let out a snort, a fit of giggles following involuntarily. "Your nautical senses?" Aurora teased, raising her eyebrows incredulously. "You make it too easy."

Percy shrugged, the left side of his mouth quirking up in a half smile. "You looked like you needed a laugh."

"Thanks, Octonaut." Aurora mocked. "Should we call you Captain Barnacles now?"

"Oh, shut up." Percy countered, rolling his eyes. "That's what I get for being nice."

"Wait, nevermind." Aurora turned towards him with an even brighter smile. "You're totally Kwazii—"

"Fuck you."

"No, I'm kidding." Aurora smothered her laughter and grabbed Percy's arm as he brushed past her haughtily in a fit of false-anger. "Stop. I'm actually kidding. I'm sorry. Thank you."

They stared at each other for a beat, and Aurora cleared her throat at an attempt of some solemnity. "Seriously."

Percy sighed. The right side of his mouth joined the left, completing the smile. "Fine."

Aurora grinned and started to walk towards Annabeth and Tyson, Percy joining her. Their steps lined up. "Do you think Chiron is Professor Inkling?" She whispered, another burst of laughter following her statement as Percy shoved her to the side.

"How do you even know this stuff?" Percy asked. "You were at camp for your entire childhood."

"Okay, I got there when I was five, though. I had four full years of perfect television watching."

"That's really..." Percy faltered, and Aurora felt a wave of self consciousness wash over her. "After this quest, I'm taking you home and we're binge watching Brooklyn 99."

"I watched The Adventures of SharkBoy and LavaGirl. You know that."

"No. That does not count." Percy snapped back, shuddering at the memory of them in the movie theater of the Lotus Casino.

The engine groaned as the ship increased speed, and Tyson muttered nervously, "Too much strain on the pistons. Not meant for deep water."

Percy's eyebrows furrowed with confusion, and Aurora leaned toward him and whispered, "Those are his nautical senses."

"Shut up."

After a few more minutes, two huge, dark splotches ahead of them came into focus. To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea—an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile south of that, the other patch of darkness was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.

"Hurricane?" Annabeth asked worriedly.

"No," Clarisse said. "Charybdis."

Annabeth paled. "Are you crazy?"

"Only way into the Sea of Monsters. Straight between Charybdis and her sister Scylla." Clarisse pointed to the top of the cliffs, and Aurora made a face of distaste. She really did not want to do this.

"What do you mean the only way?" Percy asked. "The sea is wide open! Just sail around them."

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Don't you know anything?"

Aurora shook her head to answer for Percy. He really doesn't, she mouthed, and Percy jabbed his elbow into her ribcage.

"If I tried to sail around them, they would just appear in my path again. If you want to get into the Sea of Monsters, you have to sail through them." Clarisse continued grimly.

"What about the Clashing Rocks?" Annabeth said. "That's another gateway. Jason used it."

"I can't blow apart rocks with my cannons," Clarisse said. "Monsters, on the other hand..."

"You are crazy." Annabeth decided.

"Watch and learn, Wise Girl." Clarisse turned to the captain. "Set course for Charybdis!"

"Aye, m'lady." The ghostly figure responded.

The engine groaned, the iron plating rattled, and the ship began to pick up speed.

"Clarisse," Percy said cautiously, "Charybdis sucks up the sea. Isn't that the story?"

"And spits it back out again, yeah."

"What about Scylla?"

"She lives in a cave, up on those cliffs. If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and start plucking sailors off the ship."

"Choose Scylla then," Percy concluded with faltering confidence. "Everybody goes below deck and we chug right past."

"No!" Clarisse insisted. "If Scylla doesn't get her easy meat, she might pick up the whole ship. Besides, she's too high to make a good target. My cannons can't shoot straight up. Charybdis just sits there at the center of her whirlwind. We're going to steam straight toward her, train our guns on her, and blow her to Tartarus!"

Clarisse said it with such relish that Aurora almost wanted to believe her. But she didn't question the