Before the Battle Begins
Clarisse climbed down from the seat beside Ares’ motorcycle and followed him at once, a faint sense of happiness stirring in her chest; after all, her own father had come to lend her a hand. Something not many campers, or rather none at all, could say had ever happened to them.
Ares walked ahead with a firm stride, his gaze fixed toward a nearby pier.
At the dock, several people appeared to be waiting. Looming in front of them stood a massive metal ship; a war vessel, somewhat rusted, yet still undeniably imposing.
“I pulled it out of a sea grave and gave it a few upgrades. Cannons, artillery, celestial bronze ammunition. You could burn a city to the ground with this,” Ares said with evident excitement.
Clarisse’s eyes shone with quiet pride.
“Any doubts?” Ares asked as he turned to look at her.
Clarisse studied her father for a moment before shifting her gaze toward a group of people standing in formation off to the side of the pier.
“Who are they?” she asked.
Ares did not even look at them.
“Losers. They’ll be your soldiers. I dragged them out of the grave too,” he said, as if he were talking about little more than trash.
Clarisse widened her eyes in surprise, then understanding dawned on her.
“Those who fall in battle still owe service to Ares,” she said.
“Unfortunately, I never get to keep the winners.” Ares curled his lips into a mocking smile. “Either way, this is your moment to shine and show the pride of being my daughter.”
“Yes, sir. I won’t disappoint you, and I’ll bring back the Fleece—”
“I don’t care about the Fleece.” Ares’ hard stare made her shudder for an instant, confusion mixing with the pressure in his gaze.
“You can grab it along the way, but the mission I’m giving you is far more important,” Ares said in a serious tone, staring straight into her eyes from behind his dark glasses.
“You may not know this, but Olympus is searching for its champion,” he began.
“Are you referring to that battle Director Tantalus had been talking about?” Clarisse asked.
“Oh, you know. That’s the least of it. Whoever faces that brat in combat will be the champion chosen by Olympus to represent it; a position of great respect, pride, and honor. And it won’t be long now. You might even have the chance to claim that glory yourself… perhaps by ending everything before the competition even begins,” he said, a faintly violent smile crossing his face.
“Before it begins?” Clarisse asked.
“All you have to do is kill the brat. The Fleece is irrelevant. Your mission is his death, and Olympus will reward you generously by granting you the title of Champion of Olympus,” Ares said with complete seriousness. “It’s been a very long time since a chosen champion existed. The last one… well, that doesn’t matter now.”
“But… what about the tournament?” Clarisse asked.
“Hah. That thing almost never actually happens. The champions kill each other long before it ever begins. Do you really think the gods would risk everyone watching their champions lose? Of course not. In the few times the tournament was even held, there was only one occasion where the champions truly faced each other under the gaze of the gods,” Ares said mockingly.
“And the camp?” Clarisse asked again.
The question clearly irritated him. His impatience was obvious, and there was even the faint smell of something burned coming from his glasses.
“Are you worried about others when glory is right in your hands?” he said sharply, no longer sounding like a father helping his daughter, but someone issuing a direct order. “You should already know what will happen if you fail,” he added coldly.
“No, of course not. On my honor, I won’t disappoint you,” Clarisse said quickly, a hint of fear slipping into her voice.
“Of course you won’t. After all, you are my daughter for a reason,” Ares said, smiling as he gave her a firm pat on the shoulder.
“Daughter…” Clarisse murmured softly.
Ares nodded, then cast a glance at the soldiers, who straightened even more, as if they understood exactly what was expected of them without a single word. Then Ares turned away, walking off at an unhurried pace, a faint smile still on his face.
Clarisse and the soldiers boarded the metal ship in orderly fashion, barely exchanging any words, and set sail toward the Sea of Monsters.
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Meanwhile, Ares, already seated on his motorcycle, watched calmly. Then he noticed the sidecar attached to the vehicle and kicked it away, sending it flying. Just before starting the engine and leaving, a sudden pain struck his chest, forcing him to clutch at his heart. A golden glow briefly enveloped his body, riddled with cracks, before fading once more.
“Damn drifter. I’ll make you pay for this,” he growled, before revving the engine and vanishing at full speed.
…
“There’s a bad smell,” Tyson said as Annabeth and Percy moved through the cabins, searching for a place to hide for the moment; after all, they were stowaways on a vacation ship, and their clothes stood out far too much.
“I don’t smell anything,” Annabeth said, glancing at Tyson for a moment.
“He means the smell of monsters,” Percy explained. “Isn’t that right, Tyson?”
“I see… what exactly do you smell?” Annabeth asked seriously.
“Something evil,” Tyson replied, nodding firmly.
“Great. All the information we needed, perfectly clarified,” she muttered, earning a brief look from Percy.
Eventually, they found what appeared to be an empty suite, which the three of them entered without hesitation to change their clothes. Thanks to Hermes, who had thought of everything when he gave them their backpacks, they had plenty of spare clothing. He had even left them a pouch of money and another filled with gold drachmas. He had not forgotten Tyson’s toolkit either, which in theory should have been back home, at the forge.
After changing, the three of them headed out again to explore, as Tyson was still picking up the scent of monsters. However, there was no need to search for long. As soon as they reached the pool area, they spotted, at a glance, what looked like three Laestrygonians, a bear-man, and a Hellhound the size of a brown bear, all sitting at a table and devouring the food meant for the guests.
Meanwhile, the people around them did not seem to notice anything at all. Of course, the monsters were hidden by the Mist, but even so, it was unsettling to see them moving among the crowd as if nothing were wrong.
“Oh… this is worse than we thought,” Annabeth said, frowning.
Percy, meanwhile, seemed to sense something. Without saying a word, he grabbed both of them and pulled them behind a drinks bar.
“Did you see what they have in the cargo hold?” a voice said suddenly.
Another answered right away.
“Yeah. It’s really horrible.”
Annabeth looked at Percy in surprise, while he frowned slightly, feeling that the voice sounded familiar.
“I heard they have two more on the way,” the second voice added as the two of them walked off.
“That was Chris Rodriguez,” Annabeth said immediately, her expression serious and clearly startled.
“Who?” Percy asked, confused.
“Chris Rodriguez. Did you forget? The other demigod Clarisse chose as her partner,” she explained at once.
“Oh… sorry. I wasn’t really paying attention back then. I was busy trying to process a betrayal and all that,” Percy said calmly, not looking at her.
His words seemed to sting Annabeth slightly; not because of what they implied, but because of how easily Percy said them, on purpose.
“I… well, I’m sorry, but… ah, that doesn’t matter right now. If he’s here, what happened to Clarisse?” she asked, clearly worried.
“Oh, right. She’s your partner. You should have gone with her—”
Before Percy could continue, Annabeth cut him off.
“Can you stop that for now, at least? We’re in a dangerous situation,” she said, shaking her blonde hair in frustration.
Percy let out an amused smile, though something did not quite sit right inside him. Then he turned toward Tyson.
“We should leave the ship. All of this is really strange. Go get our things,” he said. “Since we lost the lifeboat, we’ll need to find another one,” he added.
Tyson nodded and hurried off.
Percy and Annabeth stepped out of their hiding place and began searching for the area where the lifeboats were located, first having to circle around the massive pool in front of them.
“Why would Hermes send you here? There has to be another reason. He should know there are monsters on board. It doesn’t make sense,” Annabeth said, thinking carefully.
“Annabeth Chase?” a voice suddenly called from behind them.
Both of them stopped and turned around at the same time.
There stood a young woman, radiant and quite beautiful, with light brown hair. She was reclining casually on a chair by the pool, sunbathing, as if she had been reading a magazine just moments earlier. She slowly lowered her sunglasses to get a better look at them, revealing light green eyes.
“I’m Alison,” she said, noticing Annabeth’s slightly confused expression.
“Yes… Alison Sims,” Annabeth replied, surprised and unsettled.
Alison stood up almost immediately, clearly delighted, and gave Annabeth a somewhat awkward hug.
Percy raised an eyebrow slightly, watching the young woman closely.
“It’s been a long time,” Alison said cheerfully, before looking at Percy. “You must be Percy Jackson.”
That made Percy narrow his eyes.
“Oh, all demigods know who you are,” Alison added, noticing his expression.
“She’s a daughter of Apollo,” Annabeth clarified.
“I see…” Percy murmured. “You’re not at the camp anymore?” he asked.
“Oh, I was,” Alison replied. “But let’s just say I graduated, or something like that. Now I travel the world fighting monsters.”
Percy’s gaze drifted slightly above Alison’s head. He lingered there for a moment before looking back at her.
“That must be… great,” he said, his dry tone clashing with the situation.
Annabeth noticed both Percy’s tone and the moment his gaze had strayed.
“Are you here because of the monsters on the ship?” Annabeth asked, watching Alison carefully.
“What monsters?” Alison replied in surprise, as if she had just heard about them. “Where are they?” she added seriously.
“Didn’t you see them? They just walked by,” Percy said with a faintly mocking tone.
“No, well… I have trouble with the Mist,” she explained, as if she were used to giving that answer. “I need to focus a bit more than most people to see through it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t defend myself.” She frowned. “Wait, I have companions on board. I’ll go get them so we can deal with this,” she said, starting to walk away.
“So you’re going to ask us to surrender right away, since we’re no match for you because there are more of you,” Percy said seriously, watching her back. Alison stopped for a moment.
“That’s what you told Grover, right?” Percy added.
“What?” Annabeth said, startled.
Suddenly, a dagger flew toward her face at such speed that she barely managed to react, ducking on instinct. Immediately, she had to roll aside as more daggers slammed violently into the floor.
Percy, almost instantly, drew Riptide and struck the dagger headed for his neck, knocking it aside with ease.
Alison looked at them with a mocking smile.
“Luke won’t be very happy if I bring him your heads,” she said as she pulled two more daggers from her back. “But he’ll get over it.”
At the sound of Luke’s name, both Annabeth and Percy changed expression at the same time.
