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Yena had never been a big fan of school. In fact, she’d been kicked out of several and had to be reinstated into the college she was going to now. Despite that, the past few months had been a welcome distraction from the roller coaster ride during the summer.Sometimes, she would wonder if those events- finding out she was a Greek demigod, fighting monsters, and heading to the underworld- were just dreams, that maybe, she’d hallucinated it all.Every time she felt that way though, a reminder from her father’s realm would come. Whether that be pegasus droppings falling from the sky, dryads popping out from trees to tell her to not litter, or the occasional empousai disguising as a cheerleader to get close to her, it was clear to Yena that her entire world had changed since being claimed.It was now December, meaning that winter break was about to start. More importantly, something that Hades, god of the dead and father of one of Yena’s best friends, Chaewon, said could finally come to fruition.
“…there are special days in the year where major events happen. The summer solstice has already passed, so expect something during the winter. That is when monsters are strongest.”
Still, before Yena could figure that out, she had to survive one more day of school. Unfortunately, she’d have to go through today alone as Chaewon had a different class schedule and her other best friend, Yujin, wasn’t on campus. Apparently, the child of Poseidon had finished all her work and was on break a day early. Very atypical for the usually laid-back girl, but Yena wasn’t going to question her sudden change in work ethic.Nothing out of the ordinary had happened so far. She aced her historical dance class final, barely got out of English Literature alive, and questioned her life choices in Psychology. Now, all that was left was Global History. It wasn’t exactly her favorite subject, but it was part of the curriculum. They’d already taken their final exam (Yena would like to think she passed), which meant that this class should’ve gone by without a hitch.Of course, that very thought likely jinxed it. It started when instead of their usual short and perky professor, a tall European wearing a black coat, black suit, and black pants walked in. Being the class clown that she was, Yena couldn’t help but crack a joke.“Uh, sir, the funeral’s at the next building,” she said, getting a few laughs from her classmates.The man, on the other hand, was not pleased. He glared at her with two different-colored eyes, one brown and the other blue. It was very unsettling, as if he were staring right through her.“Excuse me child, has this school not taught you any manners?” he said in a serious tone. “You should treat all teachers, even substitutes, with respect.”“Substitute?” one of the students asked.“Yes, substitute. Professor Hong ran into a situation and had me sub for him on short notice. My name is Dr. Thorn.”“He couldn’t have just cancelled classes?” Yena muttered under her breath, but somehow, Dr. Thorn picked her words up.“Yah, Choi Yena. Do you really want to catch a case on the final day of the semester?” the man threatened.Yena wondered how he knew her name without her saying it, eventually assuming that it was just because he went through the class list before coming over. Still, the hairs on Yena’s arms were starting to stand. The vibes she was getting were not good.She decided to put her head down and go with the flow of the class. It was just an hour. Then, she’d be home free.Dr. Thorn began by going through the history of Persia. It was pretty interesting, going through the empire’s rise and eventual fall as well as its myths and legends, but Yena couldn’t focus as every few seconds, she would catch the man glaring at her direction like earlier.By the end of the class, Yena was sweating bullets. Her instincts were screaming at her to get out of there, but she couldn’t do that without making it obvious.“So, can someone tell me where Persia went wrong, how such a dominant empire crumbled?” he asked. “Do you have any thoughts, Yena?”“Uh… well, it was Alexander the Great right? With their internal political conflicts, their forces were not united enough to stop the Greeks from taking over. Alexander struck when they were at their weakest,” Yena replied. She’d actually heard from her demigod friends at Camp Half-Blood that he was a son of Zeus, which technically made them half-siblings, but that was beside the point.Dr. Thorn stroked at his goatee. “Close, but not quite. Their empire had already slowly begun to erode due to mystical creatures crossing over to their territory from other regions. Without a good defense, many soldiers fell, leaving an opening for Alexander to attack.”Silence took over the room with those words. Many of Yena’s classmates looked at each other confusedly, skimming their notes for that part that mentioned that information, but Yena knew they wouldn’t find it. Whatever Dr. Thorn was it wasn’t human.The bell rang shortly after, signaling the end of class. The students stood up and bowed before making their way out. Yena tried to mix in with the crowd, but Dr. Thorn called out to her,“Ah, Choi Yena. Please stay for a bit. There is something I need to check,” he said in a low tone. Yena wanted to ignore him, but she assumed that she’d put the mortals around her at risk if she tried to hide with them.“Yes, Dr. Thorn?” Yena asked when all the students were gone.The man studied her crossed arms. “You’re braver than I thought.”Yena took out a pen from her pocket and uncapped it. In a flash of light, a golden sword materialized in her hand- Lightbreaker.“What are you?”“Child, you need to brush up on your history.” Dr. Thorn chided as he shed his coat. Suddenly, Yena’s vision began to blur. The Mist that usually hid monsters’ true forms was dissipating. Dr. Thorn’s body slowly began to shift until a completely different being stood in front of her. It still had his face, but instead of a human body, it was a lion’s with a long, scorpion-like tail curled up like a cannon. It was as if the Chimera (which she’d fought last summer) had a crazy cousin.“Oookay, not what I was expecting,” Yena said as she took a couple of steps back, trying to size up her adversary.“Where are the others?” Dr. Thorn growled.“Why? Did Kronos send you to kill us?” Yena asked back.“Not all of you. I just need the child of Hades alive. The General said you and the child of Poseidon could be a snack as my reward,” he replied, licking his lips, which looked really unnerving given his face was on a lion’s body.“Well, I’d hate to disappoint you, but I’m afraid I’m off the menu,” Yena said before pointing Lightbreaker at Dr. Thorn and launching a lightning bolt. To her surprise though, the monster was quite agile, jumping out of the way easily. Yena fired another volley, but again, all her attacks were evaded.Dr. Thorn laughed. “This is what the demigods in South Korea are like? I would’ve moved here earlier had I known. You’re all easy pickings.”The scorpion tail on his back then quivered before launching a spike that hit Yena square in the shoulder. The child of Zeus’ body immediately screamed in pain as she pulled the projectile out.“Don’t worry… the poison won’t kill you. It’ll just slow you down enough for me to not worry about you fighting back.”Yena was panicking. She had to get out of there and warn the others. With the poison coursing through her bloodstream, she had to make a move quickly.Dr. Thorn began circling her, like an actual lion hunting a wounded gazelle. Yena had to dig deep. Her lightning wouldn’t work as an attack, but maybe…With a defiant yell, Yena pulled from the energy within her and caused a flashbang that temporarily blinded Dr. Thorn.Yena took her chance and ran out of the classroom. Chaewon was inconveniently having her final class across campus, but it would’ve ended by now, meaning the child of Hades was probably heading to their usual spot- the garden in the middle of the school.Every step felt heavier and heavier for Yena as she stumbled onwards, apologizing to people she’d bump into. Behind her, she could hear Dr. Thorn’s angry yell. He wouldn’t be that far behind, and since she was a demigod, he’d be able to find her quickly. Half-Bloods apparently have this smell that only monsters can detect. It was like an invisible sign floating above them that said, “Tasty demigod here”, and given her father was Zeus, that sign was probably flashing red with extra lights.C’mon, Chae. Where in the world are you? Yena thought before remembering something she’d been told about at camp.They’re called Iris messages. Chaeyeon had explained to her. Since using regular forms of communication is like sending a signal flare out to monsters, we use this magical way. All you need is some mist to make a rainbow and a gold drachma. Then, say the magic words, make the offering, and request who you want to see.She quickly fished through her pocket until she brought out a gold drachma she’d been holding on to in case of emergencies. She then scanned her surroundings until she saw a water fountain.Yena made her way towards it and used her sword to reflect the sunlight into the cool mist from the water stream to create a rainbow. She could hear a couple people gasp next to her. She didn’t know what her sword looked like to passersby, and at the moment, she didn’t really care.“Okay, here goes nothing… Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering,” she said as she tossed the drachma into the water. “Show me Kim Chaewon.”Slowly, an image of what looked like one of her best friends materialized in front of her. She was wearing ripped jeans and a checkered flannel shirt over a black top.“Unnie?” she asked in surprise. It wasn’t every day that a magical facetime video appeared in front of you after all.“East wing… monster,” Yena drawled, the poison spreading deeper into her nervous system. She didn’t know if she hallucinated it, but she could’ve sworn she heard Chaewon talking to someone else.“Wait up, Yena-unnie. We’ll be there soon. Just hang on!”“I’m… trying,” she muttered before waving her hand over the Iris message to end the connection.“There you are half-blood. It’s always the hunt that makes this fun,” Dr. Thorn suddenly said, his voice like cold steel. The entire hall was now vacated, probably his doing, using the Mist to make everyone avoid the area.Yena held up her sword defensively, but it shook in her hand, her strength all but sapped away.“A child of Zeus,” the monster hissed. “Maybe once word gets out I terminated you, Thalia Grace will finally face me again. I have a score to settle with her. The same goes for that Poseidon spawn, Percy Jackson. They’ll be next after I complete this mission,”Yena could barely make out what Dr. Thorn was saying, but she had to buy more time.“Oh yeah? So you’re just one of Kronos’ lackeys. You call him the General, so what does that make you? The Private? The pawn?” she taunted.“A pawn? Half-blood, you don’t know anything. The General will reward me handsomely for my efforts.”“Y-yeah… I’m sure he’ll promote you to a Major next.”While Yena thought that was a funny quip, Dr. Thorn clearly didn’t enjoy it as he launched a black spike that flew by her and pierced through the water fountain.“I will not be belittled anymore!” he yelled before charging.Yena closed her eyes, preparing for the worst. She felt awful at the thought of not being able to find Yuri and bring her back to her side, but she just didn’t have the strength to move anymore.For some reason though, nothing happened. Yena heard the clattering of what sounded like bones and Dr. Thorn groaning.She slowly opened her eyes to check, only to be left even more confused at the scene in front of her. There were, in fact, skeletons attacking Dr. Thorn.“Yena-unnie!” a voice called from next to her. It was Chaewon, and next to her was Kim Minju, a daughter of Athena.“T-took you long enough…” Yena chuckled before her whole world went black.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Chaewon couldn’t wait for class to be over. As a demigod, she had ADHD by default, something about it making it easier to fight monsters. Unfortunately, outside of that, it made it hard to focus on more than one topic at a time. The child of Hades impatiently tapped her foot on the ground, wanting to get out of the room as soon as possible to meet a certain someone who had promised to visit on the last day of the semester.By the time the bell rang, Chaewon didn’t even wait for her professor to finish her final remarks. She fixed her things and hurried her way out the door. It was slightly uncharacteristic of her, but today was a special day.After making her way through several hallways, Chaewon found herself at the agreed upon meeting place- the campus library. Immediately, she spotted a familiar brunette sitting at one of the tables, her stormy gray eyes enthralled by whatever book she was reading.“Minju-yah!” she greeted a little too loudly, grabbing the attention of several people in close proximity. The aforementioned girl looked up from her book and gave a lopsided smile. Chaewon gave some quick apologies to the librarian and other students as she made her way over.“Hello to you too, Chae,” the child of Athena giggled. Hearing herself being called by that nickname strangely made Chaewon’s heart skip a beat, but she tried not to let it show.Minju went to a different college, the Korea National University of Arts, so they hadn’t seen each other much. Chaewon had stupidly tried to use a computer to search for the school’s address, which caused a monster attack that she did not want to relive. Apparently, the reason why her mother never let her use a phone growing up was because regular forms of communication attracted monsters like moths to a flame. Since then, Chaewon had relied on Iris messages, but even that was still complicated because it was hard to predict what situation the callee would be in when sending one. There was another time when Chaewon sent an Iris message in the middle of one of Minju’s tests. Suffice it to say, even with the mist, it was hard for Minju to explain why a mirage of another college student just appeared out of thin air.So, yes. Finding the time to talk with Minju was tough, which made today’s meeting something Chaewon was looking forward to for a while. She’d never felt this way before. Usually, she’d be described as cold and serious to everyone outside of Yena and Yujin, but with Minju, she always felt a little warmer inside thinking of her.“Chaewon? Olympus to Chaewon?” Minju snapped her fingers in front of Chaewon’s face, snapping her out of her thoughts.“Y-yeah? What is it?” she asked.“Have you ever read this book?” Minju then showed off what she was reading- the Odyssey.“I mean, I’ve heard of it, but isn’t it just a le-” Chaewon cut herself off. If Greek mythology was real, then something like the Odyssey definitely happened. “You know what, never mind. What’s it about?”Minju smiled. “It tells the tales of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the Trojan war to reclaim his throne.”“So, what’s so interesting about it?”“Well, for starters, Odysseus’ patron goddess was Athena. She helped guide him through the war, even gave him the idea for the Trojan Horse.”Minju then went on to describe the story in depth, all the trials and tribulations Odysseus went through. Chaewon enjoyed this side of Minju, how she seemed so engrossed in explaining every monster he had to fight. She could honestly listen to her go on for hours. There was a part of her that wanted to imagine that they were just two regular college students living a normal life instead of children of gods living in a magical world.Unfortunately, reality decided to give her a quick reminder of the life demigods have to live. A ray of light flashed in front of them, and when Chaewon’s eyes readjusted, she was surprised to see Yena calling her.“Unnie?” The child of Zeus looked in awful shape. Her complexion was a light shade of green and there was a wound on her shoulder.“East wing… monster,” Yena muttered.“Wait up, Yena-unnie. We’ll be there soon. Just hang on!”“I’m… trying,” she replied before the connection was cut.Chaewon looked at Minju concernedly. “We need to go now.”~~~~Luckily, the library was closer to Yena than their usual hangout spot. It wasn’t difficult to find her either because of all the screaming. Chaewon and Minju went in the direction that all the students were avoiding, and that’s when they came face to face with one of the ugliest monsters Chaewon had ever seen, a beast with the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, and the face of a human.“A manticore…” said Minju.Chaewon scanned the scene until she saw Yena in a fetal position next to the fountain. The monster hadn’t seen them yet, and Chaewon used that to her advantage. The child of Hades quickly raised her arms, pulling from the ground until several sets of bony hands shot up through the cement and grabbed the manticore’s legs.“Yena-unnie!” she yelled as she rushed over. Yena mumbled something under her breath, but Chaewon couldn’t quite catch it. She then took an emergency ambrosia square out of her pocket and fed it to her friend in hopes of healing her.“YOU!” the manticore yelled when it saw her. “The General said he wants you alive, but he didn’t say what shape you had to be in when I delivered you.”The monster immediately fired black spikes towards her, but Chaewon managed to dodge just in time. She then took out her stygian iron sword and took a defensive position with Yena behind her.Minju was nowhere in sight, but Chaewon assumed she was probably using her cap of invisibility to sneak around.“Is the General Kronos? What does he want from me?” Chaewon asked to buy some time.The manticore chuckled. “You already know. You’ve been delaying yourself for too long. Join our forces, and you will survive the aftermath of my master’s plan.”Chaewon gritted her teeth, summoning more skeletons that the monster knocked away like they were made of sticks. “No way! I don’t want anything to do with him!”“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice in this matter. If you resist…” the manticore glanced backwards and wrapped his scorpion tail around thin air. The loud gasp that followed, though, made Chaewon’s heart sink. “...your friends will die now.”The monster then shook his victim until a hat fell on the ground, revealing Minju struggling against its tight grip. “Invisibility cap? I’ve seen that trick before.”“Chae! Get Yena to safety. I’ll handle this,” said Minju.Again, the manticore laughed. “You’ll handle me? Don’t even dream about it.”Chaewon looked back and forth between Minju and Yena. She couldn’t possibly choose between saving one or the other.“So, child of Hades,” the manticore growled. “What will it be?”Before Chaewon could think of a reply though, a lightning bolt shot past her shoulder and hit the monster square in the chest. Chaewon turned back to see Yena slowly standing up.“Yah, you weren’t planning to leave without giving me an A, were you? I get you’re a substitute, but still,” she said in a displeased tone.“You must really have a death wish…” the monster said. The attack seemed to annoy it more than it actually did damage.Minju tried to use the confusion to break free, but the manticore’s grip only tightened, not allowing her to reach for her dagger.“Put her down!” Chaewon demanded angrily.“Then drop your weapons and surrender! There is no help coming, not even the Hunters, who are preoccupied with other matters.”“No! Chae, don’t listen to him!” Minju butted in.Chaewon was frozen. She was already feeling a little drained from summoning skeletons, and she wasn’t sure how much Yena had actually recovered.Just when Chaewon was about to relent, an arrow came out of nowhere and pierced the manticore’s shoulder. The monster wailed in pain but kept Minju in its grasp.“Who dares?”Chaewon was equally confused as she didn’t see an archer anywhere. Yena, on the other hand, immediately improvised.“Yah, you think Chaewon and Minju would come here without calling for help? You were so bad at doing your job that you let our reinforcements catch up!” the child of Zeus said with as much faux bravado as she could.“Impossible… the camp is too far and should also be too busy to help,” the manticore muttered.Yena pointed her sword at the monster. “It’s your turn to decide now, Dr. Thorn. Let our friend go or be overwhelmed!”The manticore, who Chaewon assumed was Dr. Thorn, grunted, the arrow still buried in his shoulder. It didn’t seem like he wanted to believe Yena’s threat, but the way his stance and posture changed, it appeared he was worried.“You’ll be on our side sooner or later, child of Hades,” he growled. “Until then, we’re going to have to keep your friend as insurance.”Chaewon’s eyes widened as she realized too late what the manticore was planning. Dr. Thorn fired a bunch of black spikes at once to create cover. Chaewon and Yena dodged them, but that gave Dr. Thorn a chance to turn and run.“MINJU!” Chaewon screamed as she tried to give chase, but once Dr. Thorn turned a corner, he disappeared into thin air.Behind Chaewon, Yena had collapsed again from exhaustion. Though her complexion was back to normal, the child of Zeus was now running a fever.Chaewon needed to get Yena back to camp, but she didn’t have the energy to shadow travel that far. Instead, she gathered their things and focused on the next best place.~~~~When Chaewon opened her eyes, she was tucked into her bed at home. Next to her, sitting on a chair, was her mother.“Chaewon-ah? Are you okay?” the older woman asked once she noticed her daughter stir.“W-what happened? How long was I out?” Chaewon slurred.“I should be the one asking you that. You’ve been unconscious for two hours. You and Yena just suddenly appeared and collapsed in the living room just as I was about to head out.”“W-where is Yena?”“In another room. She was running a fever, so I made her some samgyetang.”That should’ve made Chaewon feel relieved, but that’s when the events of the day came back to her. She scanned her room until she noticed Minju’s Lotte Giants baseball cap sitting on her study desk.“M-Minju… oh my god. The monster took her…” she tried to get out of bed but stumbled. The effects of shadow travel, even for shorter distances, always took a toll on her.“Wait, slow down Chaewon. Start from the top. What happened?”Chaewon then quickly went over what had happened this past afternoon. Sometime in between, Yena had entered the room, looking a lot better than she did earlier. The child of Zeus also shared her version of events, how Dr. Thorn was her substitute teacher for the day and how he said that the child of Hades was the target.“That sounds dreadful,” her mother said. “I think you two should get back to camp as soon as possible. I can have a car ready for you in half an hour.”“Thanks mom…”“Yes, we appreciate it,” Yena added. “Could you give me and Chaewon a minute?”Chaewon’s mom nodded. “Of course. I’ll go call the driver. You two need to eat dinner before you leave though, okay?”When she left, Yena looked at Chaewon with concern. “I’m sorry. I wish we could’ve saved Minju. I should’ve known Dr. Thorn would’ve tried something after I made that threat. I shouldn’t have let myself be overpowered either.”Chaewon waved her off. “Don’t be sorry. I don’t think he would’ve kept his end of the bargain if we surrendered. For now, we need to focus on tracking Minju down.”Of course, Chaewon was anxious and angry about the situation that transpired. Today was supposed to be a great day just hanging out with Minju. Chaewon supposed she was also to blame for allowing herself to get complacent and not think about the gods for a while. Still, no matter how upset she was right now, she realized she needed to stay calm. She wouldn’t be able to save her friend without a proper plan.“Do you have any idea whose arrow that was though?” asked Yena.“No, but whoever it was wanted to help, so I don’t think we should worry about them for now.”“What about Yujin?” Chaewon then asked to change the topic. “You said that Dr. Thorn only wanted me, right? But he wanted to kill you two?”Yena nodded. “We should send her an Iris message. Let her know to meet up with us along the way to camp.”“Speaking of camp, the manticore said something else that stuck with me. He said the Hunters and Camp Half-Blood should be preoccupied with something.”“The Winter Solstice is coming up, right?” Yena replied. “Maybe the next phase of Kronos’ plan is under way. Why else would Dr. Thorn choose now of all times to substitute for my class.”Chaewon thought for a bit. Her father did mention to expect something by this time. Before she could speak again though, a ray of light began to shimmer in front of the duo.“Another Iris message? From who?” she wondered. A second later, the image of Eunbi appeared, and things didn’t appear to be going well behind her. She could hear screaming and the sound of swords clanging.“H-hello?? Yena? Are Chaewon and Yujin with you too?” the voice of Eunbi asked in a rush.“Just Chaewon. Unnie, what’s going on?” Yena replied.“There’s been an attack at camp. Monsters suddenly appeared at the border and got through. We need your help! Bring Yujin too.” The child of Hephaestus then turned to swing her sword towards an attacking blemmyae.“Yes, unnie. We’re about to head out now actually. Hang in there until we arrive!” said Yena.“Alright, we’re counting on you,” and with that, the Iris message dissipated.Yena then turned to Chaewon. “I guess that answers one question. We need to go now.”So much was going on that Chaewon thought her head was going to explode. After being silent for so long, Kronos had finally made his first play, and they needed to catch up if they wanted to stop him.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Yujin-ah, what are you doing? You're going to be late for your date!" a woman's voice said after opening the door."Mom, how many times do I have to tell you? It's not a date!" Yujin replied as she continued to dry her hair. Ever since she told her mother about her plans for today, she'd been pestering her nonstop."You seem to be putting a lot of effort into making yourself look pretty though," she said with crossed arms."Mmm.""And you said the first thing Wonyoung wanted to do after getting back from vacation was meeting you?""Okay?""You two. Alone. Watching a movie.""Yes, mom, what's your point? Friends can't do that?"Her mother chuckled. "Suuure they can. But from what I hear from time to time from Yena and Chaewon, there seems to be something else between you two.""Please don't listen to anything those two knuckleheads say. They're just teasing," Yujin said, cheeks reddening."If you say so. Just make sure to be back by 10, okay?"Yujin nodded. "Yes, mom. What do you take me for?"Her mother raised an eyebrow."Okay, don't answer that. I'll be off now. Bye!""Stay safe, Yujin! May the gods be with you."May the gods be with you. Those words stuck to Yujin as she got into the elevator. Just a few months ago, she wouldn't have believed that the Greek gods and monsters just lived among them. She would've thought you were crazy if you even suggested that. Yet, one cross country trip to the underworld later and everything changed.When she'd finally had a chance to talk about it with her mother, she apologized for keeping it a secret. She just wanted to keep her away from that life. Yujin understood that.Now that the cat was out of the bag though, her mother had become a bit more lax. Yujin was finally allowed to join the swim team again. They'd visited the beach too, things that she'd been barred from doing growing up. Monsters would still occasionally show up, but the second she would unclasp her necklace and brandish her scimitars, they'd usually back off.Yujin was strong now, and the only thing tougher to her than slaying monsters was passing college classes.Once the elevator dinged and she got out, her mind wandered back to the other things her mother had said. Wonyoung had sent an Iris message a couple weeks ago that she'd be back from her vacation in the USA by today and asked if she'd like to watch a movie together before returning to camp for the winter.Yujin couldn't have said yes quicker. Since their escapades during the summer with the others, they hadn't talked much. Yujin just assumed it was Wonyoung being her usual snobby self, so she was very surprised by the sudden offer. When she mentioned it'd just be the two of them, her heart inexplicably began to beat faster.So, yes, she'd tried to dress a bit cooler today. Yes, she made an effort to finish all her projects and exams early to have time today. And yes, maybe, she was looking forward to seeing the child of Aphrodite for the first time in months, but that didn't mean this was a date, right?Her friend Nako once told her that the children of the love goddess had that effect on others, messing with their emotions just from being in the same vicinity. But why did Yujin feel so giddy over their upcoming meeting when Wonyoung wasn't even near her yet?These thoughts followed Yujin until she arrived at the mall Wonyoung had specified. She went ahead and bought the tickets and popcorn. All that was left to wait for her.Several minutes passed by with no sign of Wonyoung. Had Yujin gotten the time wrong? She was sure Wonyoung said to meet at 5pm. An even worse thought crossed her mind- was she being played?The movie was starting soon, so Yujin took out a golden drachma from her pocket to send an Iris message."Hmm? Who are you planning to call, Yujin? Is someone else coming?" a high-pitched voice asked from behind her.When Yujin turned, she was greeted by the person she'd been waiting all day for. She was wearing a checkered skirt and a pastel pink long-sleeved blouse. Yujin initially thought she was a celebrity because of the dark shades she was wearing."Wonyoung! H-hi!" the child of Poseidon greeted.Why in the world is she so beautiful??? She thought to herself as Wonyoung took off her shades."It's been a while. You have the tickets, right?" she asked energetically."Yes, of course. Yah, I thought you weren't showing up for a second," Yujin replied.Wonyoung giggled. "I'm just fashionably late. Everyone knows the movies don't start on time anyway. Now, come on! I've been wanting to watch this movie."~~~~Yujin had to admit the movie was interesting. It was called "Project: IZ" and was about some super-powered humans trying to save their friends who were kidnapped. She felt particularly connected to one character that could control water just like her.Somewhere in the middle of the movie, Wonyoung leaned close and whispered to Yujin."Gods, why can't those two just get together already? They're sooo obvious," she complained, referring to that same character Yujin had thought about with hydrokinesis and another girl who had telekinesis."I don't know... they seem to argue a lot," Yujin replied skeptically."Yah, you know nothing about love. That means they're into each other!" Wonyoung said a bit too loudly, earning some shushing from other moviegoers.Yujin giggled to herself, absentmindedly moving her hand to reach for some popcorn only to come into contact with something warm. When she glanced down, she realized it was Wonyoung's hand, and both girls immediately recoiled."Sorry," Yujin whispered, suddenly embarrassed. The child of Poseidon tried to focus her attention elsewhere, which led to her eyes landing on something strange happening on her left.A girl wearing a mask and padded jacket had been approached by a couple of female theatre staff. They seemed to be trying to take her away, but she was resisting. It was dark, so Yujin couldn't exactly get a clear view, but for half a second, her vision blurred. In that moment, the staffs' skin turned green, and their legs were replaced with twin serpent trunks.Monsters... Yujin thought before standing up, much to the annoyance of the audience."Unnie, what are you doing?" Wonyoung asked. Yujin then pointed at the commotion happening next to them. The girl was now yelling as well."Yah! Get away from me! I have a ticket right here!" she said."It'sss okay. Jussst come with usss..." one of the women whispered. The other woman then yanked the girl out of her seat and began dragging her away."Wonyoung, follow me," Yujin decided before making her way towards the exit."What about the movie? Ugh." Wonyoung complained but ultimately ran after her.~~~~When they got out to the hallway, Yujin could finally see the two monsters clearly. Their skin was scaly and emerald green. Their serpent trunks for legs moved like they were walking with skis."I think those are Scythian Dracanae," Wonyoung realized."You can have a higher purpossse. Join usss in our caussse..." one of the snake women hissed while gripping the girl's hand."Y-you're hurting me..." she grunted, unable to break free."Yah! What do you think you're doing?" Yujin shouted to get their attention.The dracanae then finally noticed the duo's presence, their eyes widening."More demigodsss?" one of them mused."Not just any demigodsss..." the other replied as she smelled the air. "One of them is the sssea god'sss child,"Yujin wondered if her demigod stench just smelled like fish because how did they know her father?"Interesssting. The reward for their capture shall be immenssse.""You're not taking us anywhere." Yujin then took off her necklace and revealed her two scimitars. Beside her, Wonyoung unsheathed her celestial bronze dagger."Demigods? What are you talking about? Who are these snake women? Where did you get those swords?" the girl asked frantically.Yujin raised her hand calmly. "It's going to be okay. We're going to help you out. C'mon Wonyoung. It's just two monsters."The dracanae looked at each other and laughed. "The General has contingenciesss for sssituationsss like thisss."With the snap of a finger, Yujin is pulled down hard to the ground. "Yah, what the?""Unnie!" Wonyoung shrieked as she jumped backwards. When Yujin looked at the ground, she saw a clay hand wrapped around her ankle. Next to her, where Wonyoung had been standing, several more hands had sprouted through the tiles.Yujin swung one of her blades, slicing the hand gripping her off. She stumbled back next to Wonyoung who was holding her dagger out defensively.Two large statutes, maybe seven or eight feet tall, slowly pulled themselves out of the ground. They were very muscular, had six arms each, and looked very angry."What are these?" Yujin asked. Her foot was in pain, but she tried not to let it show."I don't know!" Wonyoung replied. "I don't pay enough attention in monster class!""Give up now," one of the dracanae demanded, holding up her own sword. The dracanae beside her then let out a low decibel growl.Yujin gripped her scimitars tightly. "Wonnie, I think they're calling more reinforcements. We have to get out of here with that girl quick."Wonyoung nodded, waiting for her move. Yujin studied the clay monsters' movements looking for an opening."Now!" she then yelled as she charged one of the giants. Yujin deftly spun away from three of its left side punches and sliced through its three right arms like they were made out of sand.The monster was now off balance, allowing Wonyoung to sneak up from behind and stab it in the leg. With a painful howl, the monster fell to its knees and melted into the ground where it came from.This obviously did not sit well with the other clay monster who already had one of its hands cut off. It yelled angrily, picking up pieces of the floor to form projectile boulders in its remaining five hands.Wonyoung managed to avoid the ones thrown in her direction, but Yujin wasn't so lucky. When she tried to jump out of the way, her ankle buckled, stalling her just long enough for a boulder to hit her and send her flying into a wall.Yujin's mind was foggy. She could vaguely hear Wonyoung scream her name. The clay monster glared at her, one more boulder in its hand, but before it could throw it, Wonyoung gave a command."Smack yourself with it!"The monster's hands were shaky as it looked at the rugged bundle of debris in its hand. It appeared it was trying to fight Wonyoung's charmspeak, but it ultimately complied, bringing the boulder to its face with such force that the monster disintegrated on the spot.Yujin then watched as Wonyoung turned to the two dracanae. One of them charged, but the child of Aphrodite ducked the attack and stabbed her in the back."The reinforcementsss are coming. You're better taking thisss girl and letting usss have the child of Possseidon," the remaining dracanae said nervously, now looking very intimidated.Yujin wanted to stand up and say that she wasn't just a take-out bag they could leave with, but she didn't have the energy."Off the table!" Wonyoung shouted. Yujin had never seen the girl this angry. Maybe she'd have a couple blow ups when the shoes she wanted weren't on sale or the blouse she was planning on getting was sold out, but this was a scary type of angry.The dracanae, sensing she was at a disadvantage, quickly took her sword and held it over the girl's neck. "Then you leave me no choice. Give her up or I kill the girl!""Woah, woah! Please don't kill me!" she shrieked.Wonyoung looked back at Yujin, indecisiveness written all over her face."Choossse now!" the dracanae demanded.Yujin glanced around until she saw a water fountain right behind the snake woman. She only had one shot at this, so she focused hard, channeling the liquid until she released her energy. The fountain let out a strong torrent of water right into the dracanae, causing her to lose hold of the hostage.Wonyoung took the chance and pulled her away towards Yujin."Okay, I don't know who you are yet, but please help me get Yujin to safety. Then we'll explain everything!" Wonyoung pleaded.Yujin studied the girl, who was still wearing a mask. Her eyes darted in another direction, probably her thinking if she could get away alone."You're not getting away on your own. They'll chase you even after they get us," Yujin groaned."Fine, but you better tell me everything," she replied before getting on Yujin's right side and pulling her up, Wonyoung supporting her left."Thanks... I'm Yujin by the way. My friend here is Wonyoung,"The girl removed her mask, and the first thing that Yujin noticed was how pretty she was. "I should really be the one thanking you. My name's Karina."Yujin didn't know how long she'd been staring, but Wonyoung had to cut in to get her attention back."No time for more introductions! My chauffeur should be parked where I left him. There should be ambrosia squares in the car. We need to get back to camp," she huffed as they began helping Yujin limp along.A few minutes later, she could hear the loud growls of more monsters arriving on the scene.Yujin sighed to herself.
See mom? Not a date.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Any luck contacting Yujin?” asked Chaewon as their vehicle barrelled down the highway to camp.Yena shook her head. “No, I keep getting static,”Yena didn’t quite understand how an Iris message could fail. It’s not like they were using a cellphone tower to get a signal. It wasn’t like a person could choose not to answer one either.Maybe there’s some magical interference? She thought before a darker thought whispered in her mind. Or maybe she’s knocked out.Whatever the case, with or without the child of Poseidon, they needed to return to Camp Half-Blood in order to help Eunbi and the others.“We have to be ready to fight once we step out, okay?” said Chaewon as the silhouette of Half-Blood Hill started to become visible in the distance.“You sure you’re going to be okay?” asked Yena. She wasn’t feeling the effects of the manticore’s poison anymore, but from what she knew, summoning skeletons and shadow travelling usually weren’t things the child of Hades could recover from within a couple hours.“I’m about 80%,” she replied. “It doesn’t matter how tired I am though. They need all the help they can get.”On that, Yena could agree. She tried to put the worries she had for Yujin’s whereabouts in the back of her mind for now and focus on the upcoming battle. As they got closer, she could see the tiny figures of campers fighting against a wide variety of monsters. If that’s what the situation at the hill was, she didn’t want to think about how bad it was inside the camp itself.~~~~A few minutes later, they finally arrived at the secret drop-off by the side of the road. The duo got out, thanked the driver, and ran the rest of the way on foot.“Yena! Chaewon! Took you two long enough!” a high-pitched voice called as soon as they came out of the foliage.It was Nako, child of Ares. Despite her diminutive size, she could pack a real punch. Her magical weapon was currently in javelin mode, which gave her a lot of extra reach as she fought with a laistrygonian giant. When the monster got tired of being fended off, it charged. Nako smirked as if she was expecting it and drew her javelin back, changing it to sword mode. Before the giant could react, Nako slid and cut through one of its legs, stopping right in front of Yena and Chaewon.“Something happened with the border,” she said as the giant crumbled to dust behind her. “Before we could notice, the monster army was already on top of us.”“Where’s Seunggi-sunbaenim? Or Eunbi-unnie,” Yena asked.“Last I saw, they were both fighting by the central hearth. I’m not too sure how the middle of camp is doing. I was sent out here with a team to prevent any more monsters from getting inside.”“What about Mr. D? Shouldn’t he help stop this?” Chaewon then asked.“Some meeting at Olympus. He could probably end this all, but we need to hold out until then. I’ll clear you a path to camp. Go help the others. We’ll be fine out here.” Nako replied.The duo nodded and followed the child of Ares’ lead. Yena knew Nako wasn’t one to be messed with, but seeing her laugh while cutting through monsters, there was no doubt that she was the war god’s child. She was a whirling dervish, no fight lasting longer than a couple seconds. Yena wanted to help out, but it looked like she didn’t need to.“This is as far as I can take you!” Nako eventually said when they made it to the top of the hill. Along the slope, more fights were still breaking out that Nako had to help with.“Thanks, Nako. Stay safe,” said Chaewon.Nako chuckled. “It’s these monsters that should try to stay safe. They really thought they could step on our turf without being turned to dust.”“Remind me never to make Nako angry,” Yena said as the tiny girl bounded off to terrorize more monsters.~~~~As expected, the situation within the camp was even messier than the one at the border. Yena looked around frantically for who to help first, but there was just too much going on.Some Apollo kids had made a barricade around their cabin and were raining arrows on monsters of all shapes and sizes. Yena thought she’d seen a lot during her journey last summer, but there were a lot that she didn’t even know the names of.In the corner of her eye, she saw silhouettes rustling through the tall grass and pulling unsuspecting campers down. Over at the Hephaestus cabin, dog-headed creatures with spears were trying to break in. At the Hermes cabin, Yena saw Chaeyeon and Chaeryeong bobbing and weaving through a swarm of six-armed clay monsters. All of this was observed within a couple seconds, her battle sense starting to tingle.“Yena! Chaewon!” the voice of Eunbi called in the distance. She was at the Hephaestus cabin, being cornered by the dog-headed monsters.At the same time, Chaeyeon finally recognized their presence and called for support as well.“Chaewon-ah, help Eunbi. I’ll help Chaeyeon.”The child of Hades nodded and darted over to Eunbi’s position.Yena charged towards the Hermes cabin with her sword ready. By the time the clay monsters turned around, Lightbreaker had cut through a couple of them.“Yah, uglies! Your fight’s with me now!” she yelled as she stepped in between them and the cabin that she once called home for a couple days.“Chaeyeon, you and Chaeryeong go and round up the other campers to the Big House. We can’t be so spread out!”“What about you???” The Hermes head counselor asked in between dodging giant boulders. “You can’t handle the Gegeines on your own, can you?”Yena smiled. “Watch me.”The child of Zeus then focused her energy before releasing a lightning blast that chained through all the clay monsters, reducing them all to dust.“Oookay. Gather everyone at the Big House. Got it,” said Chaeyeon before dashing inside the cabin to tell the others.Yena then moved on to the tall grass where some Demeter kids were being ambushed.“Hitomi, right?” she asked a blonde-haired girl who was tending to another camper’s wounds.“Yes. We’re fighting Karpoi. They’re grain spirits, so they blend in with the grass,” she replied.“Why not just cut through, so they can’t hide?” Yena suggested.At this, Hitomi scoffed. “Do you expect a child of Demeter to kill plant life?”Yena wanted to argue with her but felt like it would waste too much time. Instead, she waded into the tall grass with her sword ready.“Yah! Grass goblins, come and get me!” she yelled. Suddenly, she heard several figures rustling in the grass around her like sharks.“What are you doing??” Hitomi asked worriedly.“Buying you some time!” Yena replied just before something bit hard on her leg. She yelled in pain, swinging her sword downwards and hearing a satisfying chop. Unfortunately, the other karpoi didn’t seem to appreciate it.The grain spirits all began to attack at once, Yena barely being able to hold them off. It was as if they could sink into the ground and appear somewhere else at will. While she managed to defeat a few of them, she was quickly covered in cuts and wounds. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold them off.Focus Yena. You could beat some giants but not a pack of grain spirits? She said to herself.“That’s enough!” she then heard Hitomi shout. In the blink of an eye, the grass around her grew into long tendrils snapping up all the karpoi on the field. The child of Demeter then closed her fist causing all the karpoi to be squeezed until they blew up into clouds of grain.“Unnie, are you okay?” Hitomi asked after rushing towards her.“W-why didn’t you do that earlier?” Yena heaved.“I realized that if they were grain spirits, I could sense them like I do plants,” she replied with an apologetic smile before handing her an ambrosia square.“I just had one a couple hours ago. Will it be okay?” Yena asked as she held the golden snack in her hand. She didn’t really feel like spontaneously combusting today after everything that’s happened.Hitomi’s cheeks puffed up at the question, as if she were considering the risks. “Hmm, I’m not sure. Just hold onto it just in case. We’ll get you to the Apollo cabin first to treat your injuries.”She then called over a couple of her siblings, Jisun and Minho, to help carry her. Yena looked around and saw that the chaos had started to die down just a little bit. Still though, there were a lot of monsters, especially near the Hephaestus cabin where she’d sent Chaewon.Hopefully, Chae’s okay. She thought.~~~~Things were not going okay for Chaewon and Eunbi. At first, it appeared that her arrival had turned the tide. She’d taken out her stygian iron sword and sliced through a couple of the dog-headed monsters- Cynocephali, Eunbi had called them.She’d joined forces with the Hephaestus children, turning the whole attacking army to dust in minutes. Just as they cut down the last cynocephalus though, more monster roars filled the night air. Soon, a pack of hellhounds, a legion of laistrygonian giants and a swarm of harpies descended upon them.“Yah! Why are they focusing us so hard?” Eunbi asked as she pierced a giant with a bronze spear.Chaewon was confused too. Even some monsters that were harassing other cabins had turned around and gone towards them.That’s when the words of Dr. Thorn came back to her.
The General wants you alive…
“Eunbi-unnie, you need to gather everyone and head to the Big House,” Chaewon said.The older girl’s eyes widened, likely knowing what Chaewon was about to suggest.“Oh, no. You are not sacrificing yourself,” she said before bashing her shield across a hellhound’s face.“Kronos is after me. I can pull away all of the monsters for you guys to fortify a defense at the Big House,” Chaewon reasoned after stabbing a giant in the back.“They won’t stop with just you! Let me give you a fighting chance!” Eunbi argued as she dodged a couple of dive-bombing harpies.Chaewon realized there was no arguing with the child of Hephaestus.“Fine, let’s go then.”Chaewon then ran across to the central hearth and yelled as loud as she could. “YAH, YOU WANT THE CHILD OF HADES? I’M RIGHT HERE!”All around her the battle slowed down as monsters turned to see Chaewon taunting them. With a lot of angry roars, they all converged on her. Chaewon planned on summoning a skeleton army, but when she tried, nothing would happen. She must’ve still not had enough energy.Instead, it was Eunbi to the rescue. The child of Hephaestus yelled defiantly before blasting fire out of her hands and burning a row of unlucky monsters to a crisp. Chaewon was in shock. She wanted to ask when she learned how to do that, but there were more pressing matters.“We have to lead them away from the Big House,” she said to which Eunbi nodded.The duo ran out of the cabin areas and towards the beach. The army of monsters chasing them only seemed to grow. Whatever bounty Kronos had put on her head must’ve been a tempting one. Maybe a lifetime supply of Monster Donut?Eventually, they spotted the shoreline, which also meant they were running out of places to go.Once they arrived at the beach, the duo stopped and turned with weapons ready. The monsters watched them with hungry eyes, patiently waiting for the right time to strike.“Don’t suppose you have any IOUs from Poseidon?” Chaewon asked, feeling the ocean breeze blowing behind her.Eunbi shook her head sadly. “Can you summon skeletons now?”Chaewon shook her head as well. “I’m still out of juice. I used up a lot this afternoon.”“I guess we fight, then.”“For as long as we can.”“For the love of Diet Coke, where is Mr. D when you need him?” Eunbi murmured as the first monster lunged.Chaewon easily cut through it. The next monster then attacked. Then, another and another. A couple minutes later, an empousa got a lucky scratch across Chaewon’s shoulder. Next to her, Eunbi was slowly running out of energy too. Her celestial bronze armor was protecting her, but it was also weighing her down. With one more direct hit from a laistrygonian, she fell to her knees.This is it… Chaewon thought. It should’ve been just her. At least she knew Kronos wanted her alive, but Eunbi? She was afraid of what they would do to her.She was now surrounded by hellhounds, ready to pounce on her. Chaewon gritted her teeth to make a last stand, but before anything else could happen, a flash of light blinded her.Chaewon’s vision was now blurry as she looked around. All the monsters had been reduced to dust, and standing in the middle of everything was… Mr. D?“Heroes these days. Always need to be saved,” he tutted as Chaewon’s world faded to black.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“What in the world happened here…?” Yujin muttered after they arrived at the base of Half-Blood hill. It looked like there’d been a battle. Patches of fire and stray weapons were scattered all over the place.“Are you sure we have the right place?” asked Karina. Yujin and Wonyoung had tried their best to explain her new reality to her, but the view in front of them probably wasn’t making the best first impression.“You guys said this is a safe haven for people like me.”“Something must’ve happened. We should head in and check” Yujin replied before leading them up the hill.~~~~The situation within camp wasn’t any prettier than the one outside. Many campers were gathered by the Big House, so that’s where they went first. Inside, the entire first floor had been turned into a makeshift hospital. There were plenty of beds on the second floor, so Yujin wondered why they’d need to do this.“Maybe there are that many people injured…” a voice in the back of her head said.“Yujin? Wonyoung? Where have you been???” a familiar voice asked worriedly.Coming out of the crowd of demigods was her best friend Yena, child of Zeus. She was covered with bandages but looked fine aside from that.“Sorry, unnie. Wonyoung and I were…” Yujin froze, unsure of what to say. She didn’t want to give the wrong idea, but it was true that they agreed to meet alone.“-we were planning on seeing a movie when a group of monsters attack,” Wonyoung suddenly said.Yujin looked at the child of Aphrodite skeptically, but she looked back with an expression that said, “What? Where’s the lie?”.“Oh, I see. Well, I’m glad you’re both okay,” Yena replied in a surprised tone.“Well, it wasn’t just us. The monsters were actually going after her,” Wonyoung then stepped aside to reveal Karina who had been observing the whole scene curiously.Yujin could’ve sworn she heard some campers around her catch their breaths and whisper among themselves.
“Woah…”

“Who’s this angel?”

“So pretty…”
Noticing their new friend become a bit self-conscious, the child of Poseidon cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention on her.“There were some monsters I’ve never seen before. Scythian Dracanae? And some six-armed giants. We’re lucky that we got out of there in one piece. It seems like something crazier happened over here though. Is everyone okay?”Yena’s expression became somber at the question. “Chaewon and Eunbi are still out cold. I just found out that Seunggi-sunbae was hurt too. As for the other campers… we’re still doing a headcount, but I don’t think we made it out unscathed.”Yujin’s heart sank. If they’d only gotten back a bit sooner…“Don’t blame yourselves for that. I know what you’re thinking Yuj. Chaewon and I wished we could’ve gotten back sooner too, but the reality is we would’ve been overwhelmed if it weren’t for Mr. D arriving in time. Someone messed with the camp’s magic border, which allowed the monster army to sneak in and ambush us.”“What? Who would do such a thing?” asked Yujin.“Probably Seoyoung,” a new voice interjected. It was Sakura, head counselor of the Hecate cabin.“Since we lacked the resources that the camp on Long Island had and the number of monsters wandering around Korea at the time was low, our camp’s border was created by the children of Hecate. The original members used magic to create a bubble around camp,” she explained.“Given that Seoyoung is one of us, she likely found a way to break through.”Yujin considered this. “Then that means…”“We need a new way to protect camp,” Sakura completed her sentence.The mood in the Big House was quiet. Yujin thought she’d be able to hear a pin drop.“I think we should save these discussions for when Chaewon and Eunbi-unnie wake up,” Yena said to break the tension, likely not wanting the atmosphere to get heavier.“Uhm, I hate to butt in, but what in the world is going on???” Karina suddenly said. “Greek gods? Magic? What are you all talking about?”“Ah, sorry for that,” Yena said apologetically. “My name is Yena. What’s yours?”“Karina.”“And your godly parent?”Karina sighed. “How many times do I have to say, I only have my mother.”Yena looked at Yujin with a raised eyebrow as if asking, “Dude, didn’t you give her the rundown?”“Karina, I know it’s hard to believe, but your missing parent is likely a Greek god, just like all of us here.”“Maybe you can continue that conversation while showing her around camp?” Yena suggested. Yujin realized now that they were probably causing a scene with everyone around them being tended to by the Apollo children. It was strange, seeing Yena take up a leadership role for once. It wasn’t like the goofy and unserious Yena she was used to. Without Seunggi or Eunbi around, she probably felt the responsibility of being the daughter of Zeus.“Sure, unnie,” she nodded, clapping her friend on the shoulder before showing Karina out.~~~~Wonyoung had excused herself to go check in on her siblings, so right now, it was just Yujin and Karina. It was a bit awkward. She’d only spent one summer at camp, and now, she had to show someone around as if she were a veteran. Unfortunately, all the other cabins were busy taking care of the monster attack aftermath, so as the lone Poseidon kid at camp, she was the only option.“Sorry about the mess…” Yujin tried to break the ice. After leaving the Big House, they’d visited the stables, the lava climbing wall, and the camp gardens. Their final stop was the central hearth area where all the cabins were. She remembered her first time seeing all of the unique buildings lined up next to each other. Right now, though, it wasn’t much to look at. Campers were rushing around cleaning up the debris and putting out the remaining fires.“I’m sure the place usually looks better,” Karina replied, trying to be polite. “Which one’s mine?”“Well, since we don’t know who your godly parent is, you get assigned to the Hermes cabin until then.”“Uh… are you sure we can’t just pick? That cabin looks pretty packed.”Karina clearly didn’t look very enthused, and Yujin couldn’t blame her. She had the same initial reaction as well. The Hermes cabin was always the most cramped and didn’t really have the pizzazz that some other cabins had.“I know, but those are the rules. Besides, the head counselors are really nice!” she tried to explain.“What about you? Where do you stay?” she asked curiously.Yujin then pointed at a sea-green cabin across from them. “The Poseidon cabin. Right now, it’s just me though.”Karina’s eyes widened at this. “All that space just for you??? Why can’t I just stay over there with you?”“W-what?” Yujin was quite taken aback by the sudden question. She didn’t know why, but she could feel her heart pick up its pace.“I mean, isn’t it a bit unfair that you get a cabin all to yourself while the rest of us have to squeeze into the same one?”“N-no! It’s not that. I get your point, but-”“Ah, is it because of your girlfriend? You think she’d get mad if I stayed over?” Karina pestered. She really knew how to keep a girl on her toes.“Girlfriend? You mean Wonyoung??? We’re not-”Once again, Karina cut her off. “Oh, please. You two just so happened to be watching a movie together before coming to save me? I’m thankful for you girls saving me, but I’m also sorry if I ruined your date.”“Y-yah! It wasn’t a date. We were just hanging out. It’d been a while since we saw each other. That’s all.” Yujin didn’t know if she was just tired, but she could’ve sworn that as Karina talked, a pink aura began to envelop her.“Oh, really?” she raised an eyebrow, her tone shifting. “So, are you saying you’re on the market right now?”“H-huh?” Yujin was full-on blushing now. What was getting into her?“I mean, you’re really pretty, you know? The way you burst out of the theatre too, you were like a knight in shining armor.”“Thanks? But really, it’s just the rules. Until your godly parent claims you, you have to stay in the Hermes cabin.”“I mean, no one has to know, right?” Karina’s words washed over Yujin. Suddenly, she thought maybe she could offer her a place to stay just for the night.Just as she was about to cave though, a familiar voice cut in.“Yah, okay, that’s enough.”When Yujin turned around, she saw Wonyoung, arms crossed and tapping her foot on the ground.“Karina-unnie. Hyunjin and Nagyung will show you your bed,” she said in a cold tone.“What do you mean, Wonyoung?” asked Yujin confusedly. “Shouldn’t she go to the Hermes cabin.”Wonyoung sighed and pointed up. It was only now that Yujin had noticed the crowd that had come closer to look at a white dove that had appeared over Karina’s head. The pink aura that was surrounding her earlier then turned into a thick red haze.“Here we go…” Wonyoung muttered sarcastically.Once the haze cleared, the entire crowd gasped. It was still Karina standing there, but her entire appearance changed. Her long black hair that had become messy during their trip over was now wavy and braided with golden ribbons down one side. Her face now had make-up that accentuated her features perfectly, and her wrists were adorned with golden bracelets. Finally, the padded jacket and jeans she had been wearing were replaced with a Greek-style white sleeveless gown- not exactly the best outfit for the weather in Seoul, but that didn’t stop campers, male and female alike, from ogling over her.“W-what happened to me?” Karina asked confusedly.“That would be Aphrodite’s blessing,” Wonyoung replied. “It’s our mother’s little gift for when she claims one of her children. Now, head over to the cabin. You’ll catch a cold in that outfit.”The two Aphrodite kids Wonyoung had called earlier, Hyunjin and Nagyung, quickly walked to Karina’s side and acted like bodyguards ushering her away while her new fan club followed.“You really almost let her charmspeak you into letting her stay at your cabin,” Wonyoung tutted when everyone was gone.“How was I supposed to know her mother was Aphrodite? She said her mortal parent was her mom!” Yujin argued back.Wonyoung raised an eyebrow in return. “And you think that would’ve stopped her? Yujin, the Greek gods are some of the most promiscuous beings in history. I don’t think something as trivial as gender would’ve stopped the goddess of love.”Yujin had to admit she dropped the ball with that statement. Her two best friends were crushing over girls too.“Okay, point taken, but I really wasn’t going to let her stay over.”“Sure you weren’t. A beautiful girl like her wouldn’t have wormed her way into your heart? You already look smitten with her. Did you only notice her in the theatre because of her looks?” Wonyoung replied in a tone that Yujin couldn’t quite decipher. Was she angry at her?“Huh? Wonyoung, she was wearing a mask. I don’t know what you heard, but I don’t like her like that.” Yujin was confused. What could she have done to irk Wonyoung like that?“Anyway, I heard Chaewon and Eunbi are up. We should head back to the Big House. Mr. D should be back from a short errand soon as well.”Wonyoung then turned around and walked away without hearing Yujin’s response. The action made her heart sink just a little bit.Ugh, Aphrodite kids. So confusing. Yujin thought before following.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Chaewon opened her eyes, she found herself at a dock. Immediately, she could tell it was a dream. She’d learned with the help of Hyewon how to spot the signs. Apparently, as a child of Hades, it would be easier for her since sleep was like the border between life and death.First, the world would seem hyper-focused on one area, everything else around it becoming blurry. In this case, the clearest thing in her view was a large cruise liner getting ready for departure. That usually wouldn’t set off any alarms but the laistrygonian giants loading crates onto the ship definitely did.Another sign she was probably dreaming was that aside from her hearing, her senses would feel dull. This was because usually, dreams are meant to send a message to a demigod. Chaewon was right next to the ocean, yet she couldn’t smell anything. She tried to touch the crates next to her but couldn’t feel the wood.“Where in the world am I?” she thought to herself.“Look around for clues,” Hyewon had said. “Whatever you dream won’t immediately show what you’re looking for. You need to find the answer on your own.”Chaewon scanned the area until she saw a warehouse with a sign on top. Unfortunately, due to her dyslexia and the dream world blurring it out, she could only make out a few syllables.
Je…Freight…and…Trans….
Chaewon wanted to look around more, but that’s when she heard a familiar voice cut through the air.“Get those supplies onboard! We’re behind schedule!”It was Park Seoyoung, the demigod commanding Kronos’ army, and standing next to her was her friend, Jo Yuri.“We’ll be fine, Seoyoung. As long as we follow the directions, we’ll get there before them,” the child of Apollo replied.Seoyoung then glared at her. “So you’ll take responsibility if your old demigod pals get the fleece first? You already failed to get it once!”The fleece? Chaewon thought.She wanted to move closer to get a better look, but in her haste, she accidentally nudged a crate off balance.Seoyoung immediately turned in her direction. “What was that?”Since it was a dream, Chaewon didn’t know if she was visible, and judging by the fact that Seoyoung wasn’t reacting to her standing in the open, she probably wasn’t.The child of Hecate turned back to Yuri. “Make sure the child of Athena is secured. We need her to survive the journey.”Chaewon’s eyes widened. “Child of Athena? Minju?”She wanted nothing more than to run up to Seoyoung and demand her friend’s return, but she was stopped by Yuri turning in her direction this time. Like Seoyoung, it felt like she was looking right at her.“Understood. Will go check on her now,” said Yuri, as if she were talking to her instead of Seoyoung.~~~~Chaewon woke up for real this time in a cold sweat.“Oh good, you’re finally awake!” someone at the other side of the room noticed. It was Hayoung, cabin counselor of the Apollo cabin.“Second time I’ve been knocked out today…” Chaewon mumbled.“Well, let’s try and not make it happen a third time. Your body can only take so much ambrosia and nectar,” Hayoung replied before handing her a cup of water.“Eunbi! Where is she?” Chaewon asked. The dream she’d just had was still so fresh in her mind that she almost forgot how they managed to escape that monster horde alive.“Right here, Chaewon.” Eunbi’s voice groaned.Chaewon turned to her right to see the child of Hephaestus resting on a bed next to her. Fortunately, she didn’t seem too banged up either.“How did we end up here? I remember the beach and Mr. D. Was I hallucinating?”“No, you weren’t. Mr. D showed up at the last second and burnt up the rest of the monsters,” Hayoung explained before sighing. “Gods and their flare for the dramatic…”“We should meet the others. Is Yena okay?”Hayoung nodded. “Yup. Yujin and Wonyoung arrived a bit ago as well. I’ll go get everyone. You two should rest for a couple minutes more.”When the older girl left, Chaewon tried to follow her advice, but she couldn’t bring herself to close her eyes. Her recent dream just kept replaying in her mind.“You okay?” Eunbi asked.“Yeah, just had a dream…”Eunbi sat up on her bed after hearing this. “Something useful?”“Mhm, I’ll share it when we’re all gathered up.”~~~~“Looks like everyone’s here,” Yena announced as Chaewon and Eunbi walked into the rec room. The child of Zeus walked up to Chaewon and gave her a playful punch on the shoulder. “That was a stupid plan you pulled, but it bought everyone time to regroup, so thanks.”“Heh, you would’ve done the same thing,” Chaewon replied as she scanned the room. Most of the cabin counselors were here like Hayoung, Nako, Sakura, and Chaeyeon. In the main chair, Mr. D was casually sipping on a glass of Diet Coke. It was the first time she’d seen everyone gathered in one place since last summer.What stood out more though was the absence of a certain individual.“Huh? Where’s Seunggi-sunbae?” Chaewon asked.Everyone turned to Mr. D expectantly, as if they all had the same question.“He’s on forced leave for now,” he announced.“What? Didn’t he get hurt?” Yena asked.“Yes, but when word got out that the camp was broken into, someone had to take responsibility, right?” Mr. D replied as if it were obvious.“Take responsibility? He’s not the one who broke the barrier. It was Seoyoung!” Chaeyeon jumped in.“Has that been confirmed? Even if that were the case, was it not Seunggi who advocated giving Seoyoung another chance when you all wanted her gone?”Those words silenced the room. Chaewon wasn’t familiar with everything that had happened on camp before her arrival. All she knew was that Seoyoung practiced forbidden magic and even killed the previous cabin counselor of the Athena cabin.“So what? He’s being investigated?” Yujin asked to break the silence.“We shall see. Tomorrow, I’ll be bringing a substitute activities director to stand in his place for the time being. If Seunggi is proven innocent, he’ll be right back.”Mr. D glared around the room, as if daring someone to talk back. When no one did, he waved his hand, signaling them to move onto the agenda.“Alright, I guess to start things off, what exactly happened? Can you explain it, Sakura?” Eunbi asked.The Hecate cabin counselor nodded. “I went to the border to check. It wasn’t just tampered with. Someone completely shattered it. Only a child of Hecate has the magic potential to do that.”“So it was Seoyoung after all?” said Yeji, the current Athena cabin counselor, while giving a not-so-subtle glare in Mr. D’s direction.“That’s an easy assumption, but how do we know it wasn’t an inside job?” Nako interjected, looking at Sakura accusingly.The older girl just rolled her eyes. “Again with this, Nako-chan? If you must know, every living being carries a unique magical signature. You can use the same spells, but the aftermath always leaves something behind.”“And how are we sure you aren’t making this up to cover for your sibling?” the short girl replied.“Yah, Nako-chan, what’s up with you?” Hitomi, the Demeter cabin’s counselor, chided.Chaewon thought it was a bit unwise to willingly get in the way of one of Nako’s outbursts, but the child of Ares surprisingly calmed down.“We lost a couple siblings in the fight, you know? I think I can be a bit upset,” Nako replied, slamming her fist into the table.“I’m sorry, Nako, but I’m telling the truth. I didn’t sense the magical aura of any of the Hecate kids at camp. It was someone else,” Sakura said with finality.Before another angry exchange could break out, Eunbi clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention back.“So Seoyoung is our number one suspect. That means Kronos is starting to make his move.”“I agree,” said Chaeyeon. “Breaking the barrier leaves us vulnerable to more attacks.”“Which means our first step should be finding a way to rebuild it,” her sister, Chaeryeong, added.Sakura shook her head. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple. It would take a long time to rebuild the barrier through the magic used in the past. With the winter solstice approaching, I don’t think we’d be able to make it strong enough before the next attack. We need another way.”“Anyone have any suggestions, then?”Chaewon then remembered what Seoyoung had said in her dream.
So you’ll take responsibility if your old demigod pals get the fleece first?
“How about the fleece?” she ended up saying aloud.All eyes now turned to the child of Hades. Even Mr. D had become interested.“The fleece? As in the Golden Fleece?” Yena asked, her face going pale.“Uh, care to catch me up? Is this item supposed to be important?” Yujin cut in, being the least knowledgeable on Greek mythology.“It’s exactly what it is - a golden fleece. The item itself is imbued with very powerful magic. The camp in the States uses it to shield their place from monsters,” Sakura explained.“Wait, but isn’t the USA pretty far?” Yujin continued to ask. “I don’t think they’re just going to hand it over either.”“No, we won’t have to go that far. Magical items such as the fleece, like monsters, are not one of one. As long as the sheep is reborn, it can be claimed again,” said Eunbi before turning back to Chaewon.“Is that what you saw in your dream?”“Not exactly…”Chaewon then went on to explain her vision, from the giant ship to Seoyoung to Minju being held onboard.With all the chaos that went on, the news of her disappearance apparently hadn’t reached everyone, which led to Chaewon and Yena having to explain their meeting with the manticore. By the time she finished, Chaewon was out of breath. It reminded her of the times she had to give presentations back in high school.“Hmm, so they’re going after the Golden Fleece in hopes of strengthening Kronos,” Sakura summarized.“But isn’t the fleece in Munhyeon-dong? That’s in Busan again, not the ocean,” Yena said.“Huh? How did you know?” Eunbi asked before catching the child of Zeus’ eyes, a silent understanding passing between them.Chaewon was out of the loop, and it seemed everyone else aside from Sakura, Chaeyeon and Hyewon were just as confused. What did Yena know?“Years ago, there was a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece from there. It wasn’t successful. If Kronos’ army is going by water, that means it must’ve moved since then.” Eunbi explained curtly.“Don’t tell me they’re going where I think they are…” Chaeyeon said in a low tone.Eunbi nodded. “Unfortunately, just like the legends, I think they’re going into the Sea of Monsters.”The Sea of Monsters? That sounded familiar to Chaewon for some reason.Before anyone else could get a word in, Mr. D stood up.“Well, it looks like you have your direction. You can all continue this discussion tomorrow. It’s past curfew,” the god of wine said with a yawn.“But Mr. D, we can’t waste more time than we already have. They already have a head start!” Yena complained.“Then you better wake up bright and early,” he replied coldly. “I’ll be back with the temporary activities' director. He will decide who will go on this next quest.”And with that, Mr. D’s form began to shimmer, a clear warning that everyone should look away. When the light returned to normal, he was gone.“I guess we should do what he says, guys. Get some rest. We don’t want the cleaning harpies to attack us on the way back, do we?”Everyone in the room groaned and began to file out until all that remained with Chaewon were Yujin and Yena.The latter stretched her arms before resting them behind her head. “Looks like another adventure is on the way. And to think we just got back.”“Are you sure?” asked Yujin. “I have a bad feeling about whoever Seunggi-sunbae’s replacement will be. What if we don’t get picked for the quest?”“Well, me and Chae have good reasons to go, and you’re literally a child of Poseidon. Why wouldn’t you be chosen?” Yena argued before a smirk appeared on her face. “Or do you want to stay behind to get to know Karina more?”“Karina?” Chaewon asked, not familiar with the name,“Yah! How’d you find out about it already?” Yujin barked back, cheeks reddening.“She asked you out in front of a bunch of campers. How could I not find out? Is Wonyoung jealous? I noticed you two sitting apart a while ago.” the duck continued to tease.“C’mon, it’s not like that, unnie! Aish and leave Wonyoung out of this.”Chaewon, annoyed at being ignored, simply sighed and grabbed both of her friends’ ears.“Let’s head to bed already before you two rip each other’s hair out.”“Yah! Chaewon, I’m sorry!” Yena exclaimed.“Yes, we’ll stop fighting!” Yujin added.But Chaewon wasn’t hearing it as she pulled the two out of the Big House.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Yena was hoping that she wouldn't get any dreams, but she'd come to realize that the Fates have a terrible sense of humor. She remembered going to sleep in her cabin with the statue of her father staring at her judgmentally, so when she woke up in a ship, she wasn't exactly surprised.Of course... she thought to herself. She assumed she was in the bowel of the ship. She was surrounded by pipes billowing smoke, and the floor was uneven as the waves rocked the vessel."You know this is wrong, Yuri. Can't you help me out here?" a voice suddenly echoed.Yuri? Yena thought. The child of Zeus immediately bolted her way through the halls in search of who had spoken. Eventually, she found a door and peered through its window.Inside, she saw her friend, Minju, tied up to a steel post. Yena couldn't see the face of the girl standing in front of the child of Athena, but she had enough context clues to know it was Jo Yuri."I told you back then, Minju. You wouldn't understand what the gods put me through. This trip is personal for me," she replied in a low tone."Then make me understand! We were worried about you, Yuri. Yena has spent so much time looking for you!" Minju yelled frustratedly.Yena felt her cheeks redden at the sudden mention of her name. It was true. She had been looking all over for Yuri. Every time she had a break at school or was free on the weekends, she'd scour the city for clues as to where she could possibly be.Yuri also appeared to be shaken by what Minju had said. "Don't bring her into this...""Just let me go, Yuri. We'll help you..."Yena wanted to burst into the room and plead with Yuri as well, but at that moment, she heard footsteps approaching from behind her.Before Yena knew it, someone had reached through her and opened the door. Yena grabbed at her stomach in panic until she remembered that she was technically invisible to them right now. It was Seoyoung, and she was accompanied by two of those dog-headed monsters, cynocephali.At that moment, Yuri turned back to Minju and slapped her across the face."Help me? You couldn't if you tried," she said in a shaky tone."That's enough, Yuri. Head back upstairs," Seoyoung ordered. Yena looked at Yuri's expression and she could've sworn she saw guilt. As it was, the child of Apollo nodded and made her way out. Yena tried to grab her hand, but it only went through her. For a second though, Yuri hesitated, grabbing at her wrist before continuing to walk away."Such a pretty face. Are you sure you aren't a child of Aphrodite?" Seoyoung spoke again.Yena turned back, realizing that she needed to gather as much information as possible before she woke up. Seoyoung was kneeling on one foot in front of Minju, wiping away some blood dripping from her nose as a result of Yuri's slap."What do you want?" Minju said in a steely tone."You should know the story as well as anyone, Minju-yah. As long as you tell us what we need to know about the Sea of Monsters, you'll extend your life expectancy."Seoyoung then stood up and walked out of the door, leaving the cynocephali to guard it. At the same time, Yena was shaken out of her dream by a loud horn.~~~~Yena opened her eyes, turning to take a look at the clock on the wall.
6 A.M.???
She slowly made her way to the bathroom, washing her face and changing into a new orange Camp Half-Blood shirt.When she stepped out of her cabin, a bunch of the other campers were already gathered around the central hearth with varying levels of annoyance written on their faces. With how many people occupied the other cabins, some campers were out there still in their pajamas. She looked over at the Hypnos cabin, and everyone was standing with their eyes closed."Yena, what's happening?" The voice of Yujin called. Chaewon was already next to her looking equally confused."I'm not sure. I mean, Mr. D did say be up early.""Yeah, but six in the morning??? Do gods not sleep?" Yujin complained.Suddenly, bright light shimmered on an elevated stage next to Yena's cabin. When the light died down, Mr. D was standing there with a strange man wearing an orange jumpsuit next to him.He was pale with a thin frame that made it look like he had been starved. His eyes were sunken, his fingernails were dirty, and whatever hair was left on his head was gray."Glad you're all up!" Dionysus greeted before motioning towards the man. "This will be your temporary activities' director, Tantalus."Murmurs quickly began spreading amongst the campers."Tantalus?" Yena whispered."Don't look at me! I don't know much mythology!" Yujin said before turning to Chaewon."He's a former Greek king. Son of Zeus," she explained."Lovely..." Yena muttered."But why is he wearing a prisoner's outfit?" asked Yujin."Well, that's because he was sent to the Fields of Punishment... for serving Zeus and the other gods human flesh.""WHAT?" Yujin and Yena exclaimed at the same time.The noise was enough to get the attention of Mr. D who nudged Tantalus to the front. The former king glared at him distastefully but followed anyway."DEMIGODS!" he yelled loudly to get everyone's eyes on him."It is so nice to be back on the surface world. Dionysus and I go way back, and I'm very thankful that I've been given another chance to supervise in the stead of your convicted former director.""Yah, Seunggi-sunbae hasn't been convicted!" Yena shouted back which probably wasn't a good idea. Tantalus stared at her for a bit too long for her liking before speaking again."A child of Zeus, huh? Well, sister. I was just going by what I was told," he said with a shrug that only irritated Yena more."Anyway, I hear from Dionysus that I'm supposed to select the demigods who shall go to the next quest? Interesting. Let's all have some breakfast first. I'm starving. I look forward to torturing- I mean interacting with you all during the winter. You all look good enough to eat..."And with that totally awkward line out of the way, everyone went back to their cabins to prepare to head to the dining pavilion.~~~~"I still don't get this stupid rule..." Yena whispered after she took a seat at her table. It was as long as all the other cabins', but she was the only one there."Yeah, we're the only ones from our respective cabins. Can't they let us sit together?" Yujin whined from behind her."Seunggi-sunbaenim is more lenient, but we can't be too sure with Tantalus," Chaewon replied from Yena's left. The three had positioned themselves at their tables such that they would all be within speaking distance to each other without actually sitting together, which in hindsight, only made the rule look dumber, but they had to make do with what they could.Tantalus was sitting at a table with Mr. D while the dryads began serving everyone's breakfast. Yena took a sip of coffee from her goblet. One neat thing about camp was that the goblets they drank from were enchanted to fill up with any beverage you could think of (non-alcoholic, of course. Even Mr. D was forced to drink Diet Coke).Once they received their food, Yena walked up to the bronze brazier in the center of the pavilion and tossed in a portion of her food. It was customary to offer food to the gods, but Yena always wondered if they liked the smell of burnt food.Let us find Yuri and take her back, Yena thought to herself while offering hers. The events of her dream were still fresh in her mind. She had to go on this quest."What's going on with Tantalus?" Yujin asked when they were all seated again. When Yena checked, she raised an eyebrow as well.Tantalus was eyeing his plate like it was prey he had to hunt. In the blink of an eye, he lunged for the bulgogi, but the meat just as quickly danced out of reach. He then turned towards his goblet, but the water had evaporated the moment he touched the cup."So his curse is real..." Chaewon said."The curse?""As punishment for disrespecting the gods, Hades planted his spirit in the middle of a lake with a fruit tree next to him. Every time he would try to reach for the fruit, the wind would blow it out of his reach, and whenever he tried to bend down and sip the lake water, the liquid would dry up.""That explains why he looks so starved and parched," Yena commented."Yah, unnie, how do you even know all of these facts?" Yujin wondered to which the child of Hades smiled sadly."It helps being friends with a child of Athena."At the mention of Minju, Yena's dream came back to her."Wait, I actually had a dream last night. I was on the ship!" she said."Really? Did you see Minju and Yuri?"Yena nodded and proceeded to explain what she'd seen, minus the part about Yuri slapping Minju because she felt it would hurt Chaewon to hear."Again with the Sea of Monsters... that's the story of Odysseus, right?" Yujin clarified."Wait, that's why it sounded familiar!" Chaewon suddenly said. "Before the manticore attack, Minju was telling me about that story and the journey of Odysseus back to his homeland, Ithaca."Yena turned to Yujin in surprise. "How did you of all people remember that?"The child of Poseidon feigned offense. "I listen in class too... sometimes! But really, isn't it a famous story?""Yes, it is. If the fleece really is somewhere in that place, we're going to have some trouble.""Well, to be fair, nothing that's called the Sea of Monsters could ever be safe, right?" Yena quipped just as she heard Tantalus stand up and tap his clean spoon to his empty cup."Listen up, children. I just thought of a wonderful way to choose our new questers!"Yena thought to herself what he could possibly suggest. Capture-the-flag was a crowd favorite. It could also be a race on the lava climbing wall. What Tantalus ended up saying though was something she'd never heard of."We will be doing a chariot race!""Does he mean the ones from the Gladiator movies?" wondered Yujin.That's what it sounded like to Yena, but she wondered why everyone was murmuring amongst one another.After a few moments, Eunbi raised her hand. "I remember hearing from the camp in New York that those were banned. Are you sure about this?"Tantalus waved his hand dismissively in response. "It's only as dangerous as you make it. I heard from Dionysus that they do them occasionally now after I left. I'd like to think I made quite the impact."His words weren't really reassuring, but it did get some campers to change their tones. To Yena, racing with horses did sound fun. Given that Seoyoung and her crew were already ahead of them though, she worried about them being left behind."How much time do we have to prepare? From what we know, Kronos' army has already set sail. We can't afford to waste too much time," the child of Zeus decided to bring up."Hmm, can you all be ready by tomorrow morning then?"When no one spoke up, Tantalus clapped his hands together. "Splendid! I wish you all the best of luck, and remember..."He then stared at Yena again. "You can only go on the quest if you win."

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The rules were quite simple. Each chariot was required to have two people- one to guide the horses and one to play offense/defense. To win, you just needed to get through three laps around the camp’s biggest lake.“So, either of you know how to race a horse?” Yena asked Chaewon and Yujin. When both girls shook their heads, the child of Zeus sighed.“We’re doomed.” The three of them had somehow ridden pegasi before normal horses.“I thought you could speak to them though, Yuj,” Chaewon brought up.“I can communicate with them, yes, but they usually say mean things!” Yujin replied. She’d learned first hand that among animals, horses probably had the biggest potty-mouths.“How about we focus first on how we divide ourselves,” Yena then said. “Each chariot is a max of two, so one of us will need to find a partner.”Most cabins would be sending two demigod teams, but given that the three of them were solo-livers, Tantalus had allowed them to create an alliance with another cabin. The catch was that each cabin could only be represented once to avoid any collusion.“How about you and Chaewon-unnie?” Yujin suggested. “I can go try and convince someone to partner up.”“You mean Wonyoung?” Yena said with an eyebrow raised. “I get that you’re close, but are you sure you can win with the Aphrodite kids?”“Aish, unnie. It’s not like we have many options. Other cabins have already either chosen their representatives or partnered up with others. I’m sure the Wonyoung’s cabin hasn’t yet. They hate sports competitions.”“Alright, if you say so. Just try your best to win okay? At least one of us has to be selected for the quest. Maybe the winner can even pick who they go with.”“Don’t worry, unnie. You can count on me!”~~~~“Yujinnie! I was waiting for you to come back and see me,” Karina greeted after Yujin had knocked on the Aphrodite cabin’s door. She was still under the effects of her mother’s blessing, which meant she looked very attractive right now. According to what she’d heard, the effects would last from a couple days to a full week.“Yujinnie?” the child of Poseidon asked back in surprise.“Well, I am older than you, right? Can’t I give you a cute nickname?”Yujin groaned. “I’m not here to play games, unnie.”“And you think I am?” Karina replied in a serious tone. When they first met literally the day before, she had been very closed off and shy around them. Once they entered camp though, it was like her personality flipped. Was part of Aphrodite’s blessing making them a total flirt?“Aish, just tell me where Wonyoung is.”“Hmm, I think she went out to check something at the big house we went to yesterday. What was it called again?” asked Karina.“The Big House,” Yujin said flatly.“A little bit on the nose but yeah, she went there a while ago. What do you need her for anyway?”“I need a partner for the chariot races tomorrow, and it looks like all the other cabins have their teams ready.”At this, the older girl’s eyes lit up. “Oh, the game the weird man was going on about earlier? Why can’t you just partner up with me? I’ve had lessons before riding horses. I’m sure I could learn how to be your chariot driver if you need me to!”It was a tempting offer. Yena had told her to try and get someone experienced, but Yujin wasn’t sure if she and Karina would make a good team.Just before she could reject her though, a familiar voice spoke from behind.“Sounds like a good idea. It would be good for Karina-unnie to get more acclimated to camp as well.”When Yujin turned around, she saw that it was Wonyoung, once again glaring at her judgmentally.“But, Wonyoung-”“Great!” Karina cheered and grabbed Yujin’s hand. “Let’s go check on the stables then. We can pick out the fastest horses.”Yujin looked at Wonyoung one more time as she was dragged away, her friend shaking her head.~~~~“Oh, what about this one?” Karina said as she stroked the mane of a brown horse who whinnied in disapproval.“He says if you keep scratching him with your nails, he’ll bite,” Yujin replied a bit apathetically. She couldn’t get Wonyoung’s disappointed face out of her mind.Immediately, Karina recoiled her hand. “You can talk to horses???”“Yeah, it’s a Poseidon thing.”“That should make it way easier then! Just ask which one is the most competitive of the bunch.”“I guess…” Yuijn then looked at the rest of the horses in the stable. “You heard her. Any of you want some extra carrots for the rest of the week?”~~~~
The next day…
When Yujin saw the other cabins lining up at the starting line, she knew they were going to be in trouble. Yes, Karina did prove to be a good chariot driver in practice yesterday, but Yujin had been so focused on the horse part that she neglected the chariot part. According to Tantalus, the use of weapons and projectiles against opponents was allowed. The other cabins had made sure to soup up their chariots to be sturdier and more intimidating as a result. Meanwhile, Yujin and Karina just had a regular wooden carriage that they’d painted pink and blue.It seemed Yena and Chaewon had considered this though, their chariot’s wheels having a bit more cover and their carriage covered in bronze shields. Something else Yujin found cool was that instead of regular horses, Chaewon had summoned some skeletal ones to pull their chariot. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a unique set up as Nako and the Ares cabin had those to go along with their blood red chariot, the same one she and Chaewon had used to get to camp way back in the summer.The chariot that stood out the most had to be the Hephaestus cabin’s. It was solid celestial bronze and was being pulled by what appeared to be robot horses with steam billowing out of their noses. Eunbi, who was the driver, raised an eyebrow when she noticed Yujin and Karina.“Uh, are you two going to be okay?” she asked with a tinge of concern.“Y-yeah, of course, unnie. We have a few tricks up our sleeves,” Yujin tried to reply confidently, but she was pretty sure the older girl didn’t buy it.“I’m willing to bet your chariot won’t even make the first lap,” Ryujin from the Nike cabin laughed from behind them. Their carriage was sleek and covered in white and gold. In addition, out of all the horses present at the starting line, their Palomino horses had to be the prettiest of the bunch.“Seems like we’re the underdogs today,” Karina quipped. Given that Aphrodite’s blessing was still active, she looked a bit silly; her makeup was still flawless and the special dress she was wearing stuck out from the armor they had to put on for safety.Yujin sighed. “Let’s just focus on staying alive then. You ready?”“As ready as I’ll ever be.”After everyone had settled into their spots, Tantalus walked up to face them.“I expect a good race from you all. Remember that the main objective is to win and you can use any tricks you want. Whoever wins gets a chance to be on the quest. Stand by!”Yujin could feel her hands shaking as Tantalus counted it down.“Three… two… one… GO!”~~~~Yujin almost fell off the chariot right off the bat. As soon as Tantalus gave the go signal, all the chariots blasted off, and Yujin hadn’t been holding on as tightly as she should’ve.“Sorry!” Karina apologized after hearing the thud of Yujin hitting the deck.“It’s fine… just keep going!” Yujin said after finally getting up. Honestly, the feeling of the wind blowing by them was exhilarating. One positive of having a plain chariot that Yujin hadn’t noticed was that they were significantly lighter, which meant significantly faster than their opponents. By the second turn, they were actually leading the pack.Things only really started to spiral once they got to the third turn where the path had become a lot narrower. Looking behind them, Yujin could see skirmishes break out between other chariots, and it didn’t take long after for the first victims to be taken. Nako had shifted her magical weapon into a long spear and jabbed it into the spokes of Dionysus cabin’s chariot, which sent it and its riders flying off the track.“We’re coming for you, Yujin!” Nako yelled.Nearby, Yujin saw Chaewon and Yena being bombarded by arrows from the Apollo chariot. Yujin wanted to help, but according to the rules, that would count as collusion.“Yujin? How’s it looking back there?” Karina asked as they approached the final turn.“Pretty ugly. We just have to stay ahead!” Yujin replied just as a javelin whistled by her ear. When she turned, she saw the Nike cabin’s chariot gaining on them.“Yah! You could’ve killed me with that!”“Don’t be a baby! The tips are blunt!” Ryujin yelled back as she prepared to throw another one.Yujin took out her scimitars just in time to block it.“Just give it up!” said Ryujin, her chariot now side by side with theirs after crossing the finish line, indicating the first lap was done.Yujin scrambled to think of ideas as the Nike chariot slammed into their carriage.“Yah, hold them off! Our chariot can’t handle the damage!” Karina warned.“What does it look like I’m doing?” Yujin fired back after blocking another javelin. They were now approaching the next turn.“Fine, I’ll shake them off myself!”The next time Ryujin ordered her driver to slam into their chariot, Karina pulled back on the horses, putting them behind on purpose. Not being able to stop their momentum, the Nike chariot veered off the road and crashed into a tree.“Oh my god, that was genius!” Yujin exclaimed. She laughed as she heard Ryujin’s frustrated screams fading out in the distance.They still weren’t out of the woods though as replacing Nike in second place was the Hephaestus chariot.“Nice move girls, but our horses aren’t going to make the same mistake!” Eunbi said before pressing a button on her control panel. Suddenly, spikes grew out of their chariot’s wheels.“Speed it up, Karina!” Yujin yelled as Eunbi’s team closed in. If those spikes were made of celestial bronze too, their chariot would be cut up like butter for sure. Right now, they were on the narrow path, so there wasn’t enough space, but Yujin knew once they got back into the open, Eunbi would guide her chariot right next to theirs. She needed a way to slow them down before it happened.That’s when Yujin felt the familiar sense of water bubbling in her gut.
That’s right… Tantalus said anything goes, so might as well.
Yujin wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but she focused her energy into the lake they were racing by. With a defiant yell, she released it, sending a torrent of water blasting right into the Hephaestus chariot’s horses.It seemed that Eunbi had the wherewithal to have some level of anti-water measures for her mechanical horses, but with the water blast being so heavy, one of the robo-horse’s heads was knocked clean off.“Yah! It took me all night to make that!” she complained as their chariot slowed down due to the lack of horsepower.Yujin and Karina crossed the finish line into their final lap and were starting to get a bit confident.“Who would’ve thought?” the child of Aphrodite said with a laugh as they continued to keep the lead.Yujin smiled but quickly shook it off as the image of Wonyoung’s judging face appeared in her mind.
Stay focused, Yujin.
“Yah, don’t think I’m letting you off that easily!” the voice of Nako suddenly yelled from behind.Yujin was surprised because they weren’t in view earlier. That’s when she heard their horses starting to pant.One of them neighed at her, “You better keep your promise, daughter of the sea! “Yujin realized that compared to the skeletal horses that likely didn’t feel fatigue, their horses could and were starting to slow down.The Ares chariot was now dangerously close, Nako’s weapon in spear mode again. If Yujin hadn’t seen that trick earlier, she probably wouldn’t have been able to react in time. The child of Poseidon summoned her scimitars and caught the spear just before it could pierce through their wheels.The two struggled as they approached the narrow path turn. One side had to give, but neither demigod let go.“I’ll give you credit! I underestimated you two!” Nako complimented as she shrunk her spear back into sword mode. The sudden change surprised Yujin, whose scimitars ended up clanging together now that there was nothing in between. “But you’re not winning this race!”Yujin lost balance, but Karina had maneuvered their chariot well enough to give them the slight edge heading into the thin path. Yujin assessed the situation. Going into the final turn, they were in the lead with the Ares right behind them. In third were Chaewon and Yena who were desperately trying to shake the ranged attacks of the Apollo kids.Yujin was worried. Her friends’ carriage was in bad shape, looking like a porcupine with the amount of arrows embedded in it. When she made eye contact with Yena, she could tell she wanted her to finish the race, but Yujin couldn’t let herself.“Karina! When we get out of this section, veer right! We need to help Yena and Chaewon-unnie!”“But I thought that was against the rules?” the older girl replied.“Yeah, but I don’t want them getting hurt!”Karina didn’t look like she was on board with the idea, but she did as instructed. As soon as they got out of the narrow path and into the final stretch, Karina guided the horses away from the center, giving Nako a chance to steal the lead. They also allowed Yena and Chaewon’s chariot to slip by, the child of Zeus looking at her confusedly as they blew by.Once the Apollo cabin was near them though, Yujin sprung the trap.“Now!”Karina then positioned their chariot right next to Apollo’s. Their attacker, Hayoung, was too busy shooting arrows at Yena chariot that she didn’t notice Yujin’s scimitars until they had cut through their chariot’s back wheel.“Yah! Not fair!” Hayoung complained as her carriage spun off the road.Yujin pumped her fist, urging their horses to give one more push to the finish line. Unfortunately, by the time they crossed, it was clear who the victor was.Nako was celebrating with all the Ares kids while Yena and Chaewon were sitting on the ground, exhausted.Yujin ran up to them immediately and helped them up.“I’m sorry, girls. I threw the race,” she apologized with a bow. With how determined the two had been for them to win, Yujin expected them to be upset.Instead, Yena chuckled. “Don’t sweat it, Yuj. I know you were just trying to help us.”Chaewon nodded as well, adding, “Yep, looking at our chariot now, it definitely wouldn’t have lasted if you hadn’t stepped in.”“Maybe there’s a consolation prize for second and third?” Yujin said hopefully just before Tantalus’ shrill voice filled the air.“COLLUSION! CHEATING!” he yelled as he rushed towards them.“Have you no honor?” he asked, looking at Yujin. “The art of chariot racing requires battles to be won on your own.”“But weren’t we racing against all the cabins??” Yujin replied, which only made Tantalus more upset.”“Yes, but when you are engaged in combat, your opponent chooses to battle you and no one else. You must take pride and return their energy instead of relying on help!”Tantalus then turned to the crowd of demigods watching the scene.“Congratulations to the Ares cabin. Yabuki Nako, is it? You have the grand honor of going on this quest. I will allow you two companions, but they CANNOT be from the colluding teams. They are disqualified!”“WHAT?” Yena, Chaewon, and Yujin exclaim at the same time.“You had the win in your hands, child of Poseidon,” Tantalus then said to Yujin. “You must learn that every choice has consequences.”With that, he turned and walked away leaving Yujin and her friends dumbfounded.Yujin gritted her teeth.
You are not keeping us from this quest.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“That little weasel…” Yena muttered.“Yah, unnie, I get you’re mad, but Nako did win the race,” Yujin chided.“No, not her. Him.”She then pointed at the scraggly old man who was standing in front of the Big House. Ever since Tantalus had arrived, it seemed like he was going out of his way to make things difficult for her. How someone with his history could be Mr. D’s substitute activities’ director was a mystery to her.As if wanting to rub in her loss more, he forced everyone to head over to the Big House to watch Nako meet the Oracle too. Oddly enough though, the child of Ares’ companions did not accompany her to the attic. Instead, they were standing next to Tantalus, a bit uncomfortable.After the chariot race, Nako was given half an hour to select her quest companions. She ended up picking Eunbi and Hitomi. Yena understood Eunbi because she was a natural leader and could help maintain the boat at sea. Hitomi, though, was a surprise. She didn’t know the camp lore, but the teasing from some of the campers did not go unnoticed to her. Back in the meeting last night, it was also Hitomi who managed to calm Nako down.Given that as a demigod, the right to a quest was something you trained your whole life for, the two accepted it. Still, Eunbi did look at Yena and her friends apologetically.“It’s started…” Tantalus said as a green light began to shine through the attic window.Nako may be a tough cookie, but Yena felt a bit sorry that she had to go there alone. The Oracle’s room was creepy and ominous. She still had the occasional nightmares about the experience. It was definitely in her top three of places to not visit at camp.After about five minutes, the light in the attic finally died down. The crowd watched in anticipation as Nako stepped out, green wisps of smoke still swirling around her. She didn’t look happy. The child of Ares then walked past everyone, Eunbi and Hitomi quickly following.“Alright, everyone! Let’s wish our three questers good luck. The camp’s survival depends on their success,” Tantalus said that last bit with a smirk, as if he was hoping for their failure.“Now, with the camp in a delicate state, I will be enforcing a strict curfew starting tonight. No one is allowed to leave until they return! We can’t have stray demigods being attacked by monsters, can we? Just know that anyone who is caught violating these new rules will immediately be expelled! Now run along now.”The crowd groaned in reply; several complaints being muttered. Ultimately though, no one wanted to take that up with Tantalus directly.“He’s not serious, is he? It’s not like we’re kids!” Yujin whined as they walked back to the cabin area.“What’s the plan, Yena? He said he’d expel anyone for trying to leave too,” asked Chaewon.After some moments of silence, Yena sighed. “I don’t know. I guess we should wait and see how strict he’s going to be with these new rules.”~~~~Evidently, Tantalus hadn’t just been exaggerating about the curfew. Sure enough, right after dinner, the cleaning harpies began nagging everyone to head back to their cabins unless they wanted to be eaten.Yena now found herself laying on her bed thinking of where Nako and the others were. They’d left earlier in the afternoon for the Seoul docks to search for clues on Seoyoung’s path.Though the three of them seemed very capable, Yena couldn’t help but worry. She didn’t want to sit around and do nothing.After being unable to fall asleep, Yena decided to sneak out and head to the beach, a pack of soda with her. She knew it wasn’t allowed, but she needed the time and space to think.Staring out into the dark sky now, Yena focused on the moon, one of Artemis’ symbols. She didn’t know what the Hunters were so busy with right now, but having the help of a god would be really helpful right about now. Yena was still troubled by her dream the other day. They needed to save Minju and take Yuri back with them.“The moon’s not going to be much help right now,” a new voice suddenly said, almost causing Yena to choke on her drink. Standing next to her was a Caucasian man with curly brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a flannel shirt with jeans and honestly looked super out of place.Yena was aware that mortals couldn’t just waltz into this area, but maybe the broken border allowed this guy to slip in. Still, it was strange. Where could he possibly have come from, and how was he speaking perfect Korean?“May I join you?” he asked before sitting down next to her and grabbing one of her sodas.“Well, you didn’t really give me a choice,” Yena replied, suddenly on edge,The man opened the can and sipped on the drink. “Ah, that hits the spot. This place is nice, a lot of peace and quiet.”“Uhm… who are you?”“Oh, I suppose you wouldn’t recognize me in my casual form. I’d actually grown very fond of it, you know?”Yena’s confusion didn’t go away, but one thing seemed clear. This guy wasn’t human. Her hand hovered towards her pocket where her sword was, an action that didn’t go unnoticed.“Swords aren’t the answer to everything, sis.”
Sis?
The man stood up and dusted off the sand from his clothes before snapping his fingers, causing a shimmering light to envelop him. Yena knew this trick and immediately looked away. When the light cleared, a different person was standing in the man’s place. He was now taller and more muscular with blonde hair. Instead of flannel, he was wearing a black shirt under a linen jacket. It was the complete opposite of the plain guy who was there just a second ago. The most notable new feature he had, though, was a golden quiver slung on his shoulder.Yena stood up when the realization hit her. “Apollo…”The man extended his hand for her to shake as he said, “Pleasure to finally meet you.”“What’re you doing here?” Yena wondered.“Well, I was in the area and heard a quest was about to be undergone.”Yena hung her head at those words. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I wasn’t chosen.”“And that’s going to stop you?”Yena raised her head at this. She desperately wanted to go, but Tantalus had threatened to expel anyone caught leaving camp.Apollo hummed to himself, a habit Yena had noticed from Yuri when they were thinking about something.“You know why I like the form you saw me in earlier?” he suddenly asked.“Because it’s inconspicuous?”Apollo chuckled as he shook his head. “No, if there’s one thing about us gods you should know is that we love being recognized. A few years ago, I was cast down from Olympus and forced to earn my right as a god back. I didn’t have any of the powers I usually had, and I was stuck in that form you just saw, Lester Papadopoulos.”“Though I did manage to find my way back, the trials I faced stuck with me. You mortals deserve a lot of credit for going through life every day with the frail bodies you have.”“Uhm… thanks?”“My point is, I could’ve just sat and wallowed in the punishment I was given. Why should I have cared if the entire Greek pantheon and prophecy as we knew it fell into the clutches of Nero and Python? Instead, I was motivated by a few demigods to fight and do the right thing. Yes, I became a god again, but one thing I learned from mortals is that it helps to have something you’re fighting for.”“So you want me to go on this quest anyway because it’s the right thing to do?”“‘The right thing to do’ is solely up to what you believe in, and I’d like to think you and I have a similar goal that can motivate you to go after the fleece.”“Okay, let’s say I want to go. How do you expect me to get through the Sea of Monsters? I don’t exactly have a boat.”At this, Apollo snapped his fingers again, conjuring up three orange duffel bags. “That would be up to you and your friends. The child of Poseidon should be able to help you reach the ship at the very least.”“The ship?”Yena followed Apollo’s gaze until she saw a large cruise liner cutting through the sea in the distance, its lights giving it an eerie glow against the dark water.“Ah, before I go, I have one more gift,” Apollo said, taking a silver thermos out of his pocket and handing it to her. Yena looked it over, noting the Ancient Greek scenes inlaid into it. The metal was cool to the touch on one side and steaming hot on the other.“Hermes thinks he had all the remaining stocks of these, but I held onto one just in case. It contains winds from all four corners of the earth. Good for a quick getaway, but please don’t uncap it all the way unless you want to capsize. Winds can be restless, as I’m sure you know.”Yena held the thermos a bit more gingerly after hearing that. “Thank you, Apollo, but why are you helping me and not Nako? She’s the one on the quest right now.”“Because you might be able to do something while on this journey that isn’t on her to-do list.”Apollo’s words from a bit ago come back to her.“A similar goal that can motivate you to go after the fleece…”“Yuri. You want me to save Yuri.”Apollo nodded. “She has the right spirit but is being influenced by Kronos and his minions. She doesn’t mean to harm any of you.”“Why can’t you just step in and save her yourself? You’re a god, aren’t you?”“Yena, I’m sure you know this by now, but us gods cannot interfere with the affairs of mortals directly. Don’t tell dad I said this, but you demigods are the middle ground between both realms. In some ways that makes you almost as powerful as us. Do you understand what I mean?”“Not really…” If Yena was being honest, everything was going so fast that she didn’t have the brain capacity to decode cryptic messages. All she knew was that Apollo was giving her a choice to save Yuri that was tempting to take.Apollo gave a knowing smile. “Well, you’ll understand soon enough. Now, I really must be going.”“Wait, I haven’t even decided yet. I need to talk it over with Chaewon and Yujin.”“They’ll be here soon. I’d say you have about five minutes until the harpies notice you’re here and eat you.”As if on cue, Yena began hearing the voices of her friends calling her name from the forest.“I wish you luck, Yena, and for what it’s worth, may the gods be with you,” Apollo said, his form beginning to shimmer again until he was gone.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Yena was still processing what just happened when Chaewon and Yujin found her.“Unnie, are you okay? We heard you calling for us,” said Yujin.“Huh? That wasn’t me,” Yena replied confusedly.“Care to explain what all of this is then?” asked Chaewon, gesturing towards the duffel bags on the ground.“It’s complicated, so I need you two to listen carefully. We won’t have much time.”Yena then proceeded to explain her meeting with Apollo. By the time she finished, she could hear the patrol harpies squawking in the distance.“Yena, we should do it,” said Chaewon, which surprised her given she was usually the rational one.“Wait, but Tantalus said we’d be expelled if we tried to sneak out,” said Yujin. “I know you two are experts in that, but I’m not trying to make it a habit.”Chaewon then looked at the younger girl with a serious expression. “If we fail, we probably won’t have a camp to return to anyway.”Yujin looked hesitant, but eventually sighed. “Sure, it’s not like you girls can get to that ship without me anyway. Why not?”“So you have a plan?” asked Yena.At this, Yujin hesitated. “I have a hope…”The child of Poseidon then stepped into the water.“Hey, um, dad? You feeling generous?” Yujin called.Yena looked at Chaewon who was also staring back at her worriedly.“We’re in a bit of a hurry, Yuj. Speed it up.” Yena whispered, the sound of the harpies getting closer.“We need to get to that ship!” she said a little louder. “It’s to save the camp. Could you help us out before we get eaten?”There was nothing for a few seconds, the only sounds coming from the waves crashing into the shore. Yena was almost going to suggest fighting the harpies when Chaewon pointed about fifty meters into the water where three white lines appeared.As they neared the shore, their forms broke through the water, revealing the heads of three white stallions.Yena was confused, and it didn’t clear up as the creatures finally made it to the beach and pulled themselves onto the sand. They were only horses from the front; their back halves were shaped like fishes, their scales glistening and their tail fins shining in different colors of the rainbow.“Hippocampi,” Chaewon realized. “I never thought I’d see the day…”“We can admire them later. We have to go now!” said Yena while grabbing one of the duffel bags and getting on the closest one.“Yah! There they are! The rule breakers!” a harpy screeched in the distance. Luckily for them, harpies weren’t exactly the fastest monsters. They usually saved their energy for short bursts of speed.When all three of them had mounted their steeds, Yujin asked the hippocampi to head to the ship. They whinnied in what Yena hoped was agreement before turning towards the ocean and speeding off.They cut through the water quickly, the camp fading into the dark behind them. Yena hoped they were doing the right thing, but there was a part of her that was worried they’d left everyone on their own.~~~~The hippocampi managed to catch up to the cruise ship rather quickly. As they got closer, Yena realized just how massive the vessel was. It was at least ten stories tall with several open-air decks and balconies. She could just make out the name plastered on its side- Queen Helen.“Something about this place feels familiar…” Chaewon mumbled almost inaudibly with the sound of the waves crashing next to them. Yena shared a mutual feeling. She had an inkling, but didn’t want to say it aloud until she was sure.“How do we get on?” she asked instead. Fortunately, the hippocampi seemed to understand and navigated their way towards a service ladder near the front of the ship.“You girls go first,” said Yujin.Yena slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and grabbed onto the ladder. After climbing a few rungs, Chaewon followed. When Yujin had finally gotten on, the hippocampi whinnied their farewells and dove back down into the sea.The ladder led to a maintenance deck that was empty for now. They were surrounded by deflated lifeboats and lifejackets, which Yena figured had to have been a safety violation.The only way out was a set of locked double doors that Yujin managed to pry open with her scimitars and some cursing.~~~~Yena was going to suggest they sneak around, but to their surprise, no one was around. It was like they were on a ghost ship.“Where is everyone…” she wondered. They’d now passed several corridors and arrived at a balcony overlooking a promenade. Nothing.“Something’s wrong… this feels off,” Chaewon commented, her eyes darting around for any sign of trouble.The trio then went to the cabin areas, not a single sound being heard from behind the doors. After a few more minutes, Yujin let out a yawn.“We should find a place to rest,” Yena finally suggested.“Are you sure?” asked the youngest.“We’ll sleep in shifts. We don’t know yet if there’s anything to worry about here.”Chaewon and Yujin nodded.They continued to explore the ship until they found an unlocked suite on the sixth floor. Inside, there was a queen-sized bed and a large couch. On the nightstand was a large welcome basket filled with fruits and beverages. On the handle was a greeting card that said, “Enjoy the cruise!”.“This feels a little too convenient, don’t you think?” Chaewon said.“We don’t exactly have much of a choice. We need some rest,” Yena replied.~~~~After making themselves at home, Chaewon asked another question that Yena did not exactly know the answer to.“So, where exactly do we go from here? We don’t exactly have a map.”“The Sea of Monsters, right? We try to get there before Seoyoung does and take the fleece first.”“But we don’t even know where that place is, unless we have a map lying around,” Chaewon replied.At this, Yujin, who had plopped herself onto the couch, sat up straight and said, “36 degrees, 18 minutes north, 124 degrees, 5 minutes east.”Yena and Chaewon both stared at the child of Poseidon.“How did you…”Yujin shook her head. “I-I don’t know.”“Yuj, what’s our position now?” Yena asked.Immediately, Yujin answered, “37 degrees, 17 minutes north, 126 degrees, 21 minutes east.”“Woah. It must be because of your dad. When you’re at sea, you must have perfect bearings,” Chaewon realized.“Great. Looks like I’m a walking GPS.”“Tomorrow, let’s find a way off this ship and to the coordinates you mentioned.” Yena said, committing the numbers to memory.“I’ll take first watch then. You and Yujin need more rest than me,” Chaewon suggested. Yena didn’t know if Chaewon volunteered because she was well rested or because children of Hades were natural night owls, but she was too exhausted to argue.Yena laid down on the bed and immediately fell asleep. Unfortunately, with sleep came dreams, and she just so happened to have her worst one yet.~~~~She found herself on an island in the middle of the ocean. It was decently sized as she couldn’t see the other side of it from the coastline she was on. The first thing she noticed was how much of a paradise it was. Different types of plants and flowers sprouted all over the place. Every so often, she’d spot animals like deer and squirrels scampering between bushes. The ones that were most prevalent though had to be the sheep. They were everywhere she looked, and it made Yena wonder if someone owned them.What caught Yena’s attention the most though had to be the large oak tree in the distance with a shining item hung around it.The fleece. Yena realized.She wanted to go get a closer look, but at that moment, she felt the earth rumble beneath her feet.Yena thought it was an earthquake, but she was quickly proven wrong when she noticed a shadow beginning to cover her.Standing in front of her now was a giant, fifteen feet tall at the minimum. Yena took a step back instinctively. The monster had arms as thick as pine trees and was wearing an oversized tattered shirt that said, “GRAND SHEEP EXPO 2011”. Where it could’ve gotten clothing, Yena had no clue.The major feature it had that helped Yena narrow down what type of monster it was though had to be its singular dirty yellow eye. A cyclops.Yena watched in horror as the one-eyed monster picked up one of the sheep and ate it in two bites.“Agh, that hits the spot,” he grumbled to himself. “Moving here sure was a good idea. No heroes for miles to take what is mine.”Wanting to get away, Yena tried to turn around, but kicked over a rock by accident. When she looked back to see if she’d been noticed, she came face to face with the cyclops, crouched down and staring right at her.“Who’s there?” he growled, showing a mouth full of jagged yellow teeth. Yena was lucky smell didn't really translate through dreams because she just knew the cyclops' breath would've been awful.Yena didn’t move an inch, realizing that the cyclops somehow hadn’t registered here standing mere feet away. After a few agonizingly long seconds, the cyclops got up and lumbered away.What’s wrong, demigod? Afraid of facing Polyphemus? A chilling voice asked from behind her. Kronos.Yena blinked and found herself in a familiar place. It was the clearing within the Fields of Asphodel that she’d been to with her friends last summer.If you can’t beat that oaf, how do you expect to defeat someone more powerful? His disembodied voice taunted. Yena wanted to fight back, but she didn’t know how. After all, Kronos wasn’t currently whole. She hoped it would stay that way.
Maybe when you fail this quest, you’ll understand how much of a waste it is slaving away for those gods. Your friend was sent on this journey before and look what happened to her.
Yena tried to scream not to speak on Yuri, but her mouth wouldn’t open. In fact, she couldn’t move a single joint in her body.
Let’s see how you fair… demigod.
Kronos’ laugh then filled Yena’s surroundings. It sounded like knives scratching chalkboards.Just when Yena felt her ears were about to explode, she was awoken by Chaewon.“Unnie, what happened?”Yena felt her arms to make sure they were all intact. Her head hurt and she was sweating profusely, but she was awake. She was still in the suite with her two friends.“Bad dream…”Chaewon looked at her concernedly. “I was just waking you for the next shift. You want to rest a bit more? I can wake Yujin instead.”Yena thought back to her visions and shook her head. “No, I’m good, Chae. I can handle it. I’ll explain the dreams in the morning.”“Alright, but if anything happens-”“I’ll wake you both. Don’t worry. You’ve been up the longest of us three.” Yena said.The child of Hades didn’t look too assuaged, but eventually, she fell asleep as well.Yena got up and stretched, Kronos’ words still ringing in her ears.

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Chaewon was awoken by the sound of the ship’s horn blowing. She was surprised at the lack of dreams, but didn’t complain. This vessel was eerie enough already. She still couldn’t put her finger on why it felt so familiar.Next to her, Yujin had woken up as well. Yena, on the other hand, had dark circles under her eyes.“Ugh, what time is it? Unnie, why didn’t you wake me up to take over keeping watch?” Yujin asked with a yawn.“I think I saw what we’d be up against,” the older girl said quietly.“What?”Yena turned to face them. Whatever she saw must have truly frightened her. “I can’t remember his name. Puny Femurs?”Chaewon and Yujin looked at each other confusedly.“He was a cyclops, those monsters with one eye. He’s the one who has the fleece that Kronos is after.”The name Yena was trying to say finally came to Chaewon. Minju had mentioned him when she talked about The Odyssey. “Polyphemus?”“Y-yes, that’s him.” Yena confirmed.“That’s going to be a problem…”“Why? Who is he?” Yujin asked.“Well for starters, cyclopes are giant man-eaters. Polyphemus specifically is a famous one Odysseus fought. He’s way more powerful than others we could encounter.”Chaewon was brainstorming, trying to recall how the hero had defeated him in the past but was interrupted by the PA system of the ship turning on, followed by the voice of a very energetic person.“Goooood morning, passengers! We’ll be cruising at sea for the whole day today. Sunny skies are forecasted, so feel free to get a nice tan or join the limbo party by the pool after breakfast. After lunch, we will also be having our million won GO tournament at the Kraken Lounge. Don’t miss it! Finally, for our special guests, feel free to head to the promenade for combat practice!”“Did he say combat practice?” Yena asked when the PA system turned off.“Maybe we should check what type of boat we’re really on,” Chaewon replied.The three girls then took turns freshening up in the suite’s bathroom. While waiting for her turn, Chaewon looked through the duffel bag Apollo had gifted for the first time. There were spare clothes, toiletries, some rations straight from the camp’s store (yes, they had a gift shop), a Ziploc bag filled with ambrosia squares, and a pouch filled with a mix of regular Korean currency and golden drachmas. That was it for Yena and Yujin’s bag, but there was one more item in hers that she was surprised to see- Minju’s cap of invisibility.“This should come in handy,” Chaewon mumbled.~~~~After everyone had gotten ready, they stepped out of their room and were surprised to see that the halls were now full of people. Many of them appeared to be tourists from families to couples to the elderly here for the cruise. Crew members in white uniforms would greet everyone they passed.As they kept walking though, it became apparent rather quickly that something was wrong with them. Every passenger and crew had the same blank expression on their faces, as if they were in a trance. What’s more, Chaewon felt a strange energy every time a big crowd would walk by.“This… is strange,” Yena commented before bowing back at a crew member who had greeted her.Eventually, the trio arrived at the dining hall hoping to grab a bite to eat. Unfortunately, that’s also where they saw their first monsters.Two dog-headed humanoid creatures, cynocephali, were lined up at the buffet with plates in their hands. The Mist must have been strong because the passengers all around them paid them no mind.“You know what? I think I lost my appetite,” said Yujin before the three ran past to look for a place to hide, settling on a restroom nearby.“We need to get out of here…” Chaewon whispered.Her friends nodded in agreement. They were just about to make their move to the lifeboats when a familiar voice caught their attention.“Why are you so worried? We have our guide if we run into any trouble.”It was Seoyoung. Chaewon was sure of it. That meant…“We’re on the ship,” Yena muttered before turning to face Chaewon. A silent understanding passed between the two.If Seoyoung was here, Yuri and Minju wouldn’t be too far away.“I don’t like that look you two have,” said Yujin.“We can’t leave yet, Yuj.”They were so close. Chaewon couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. As Seoyoung’s voice retreated, the trio carefully emerged from their hiding place.“Yena-unnie, which way do we go? We need to save Minju first.”At this, the older girl’s expression shifted. “In my dream, I was already below the ship. I don’t know the way from here. Wouldn’t it be easier to find Yuri first, so she can lead us to her?”“Yah, but we don’t know-” Chaewon caught herself before she finished her sentence, but Yena could tell what she was insinuating.“What if she’s actually a traitor? Chaewon, she’ll be on our side. I’m sure.”The two appeared to be at an impasse, both girls wanting to rescue a different target. Chaewon felt like she was just playing it safe. Yuri would probably be close to Seoyoung, which would make getting to her more difficult.“I didn’t mean it like that, unnie. I just think Minju is in more immediate danger. You were the one who told us she was tied up.”“What if we split up? You have Minju’s cap of invisibility, right? I could use it to approach Yuri without being seen,” Yena asked, seemingly digging in her heels even more.“Unnie, that’s too risky. In my dream, an army of monsters was on this ship. We need to stick together.”Still, Yena looked hesitant. They were running out of time to decide, prompting Yujin to finally interject.“I agree with Chaewon-unnie. We can get Yuri-unnie afterwards. At least we know she’ll be fine. We can’t say the same for Minju-unnie.”Yena didn’t look thrilled, but she eventually agreed, following her and Yujin down the hall.~~~~Now that they knew monsters were on board, the trio made sure to keep their weapons at the ready in case anything came up.They first made a detour back to their suite to pick up their duffel bags. If they were going to be getting off the boat, they couldn’t afford to leave their supplies.They then retraced their steps back to the stairs that led below the ship. Once they got to the promenade area though, Chaewon froze. Below the balcony they were standing on, the empty area was now filled with monsters of all kinds. There were laistrygonian giants, hellhounds, dracanae, cynocephali, harpies, blemmyae and so many more. They were surrounding a guy covered in Greek armor who was slashing and piercing a mannequin wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt.“That’s Wooseok…” said Yujin with a shocked expression.Now that Chaewon thought about it, she hadn’t seen the child of Ares at camp recently. She then remembered something Chaeyeon had mentioned last summer, how Kronos’ power grew with the number of demigods he could convince to join his side. Yujin had also mentioned something similar when she and Wonyoung brought Karina to camp. The dracaena wanted her to join their cause.“Let’s go before they see us,” Yena urged, snapping Chaewon back to reality. She gave one last look to Wooseok, who had just cut the mannequin’s head clean off much to the delight of the monstrous crowd, before moving.~~~~“It should be around here somewhere…” Yena mumbled as they made their way through the thin corridors. After getting below deck, the three wandered around the seemingly endless halls. For some reason though, there weren’t any monsters wandering around.“Maybe they’re all upstairs eating,” Chaewon thought, shuddering at the idea of what some of the other monsters would be snacking on.“There!” Yena finally said when they turned a corner towards a dead end.They all rushed towards the door, but when they opened it, they didn’t see anyone in the room. It looked like a regular storage room.“Don’t tell me…” Yujin muttered as the PA system turned back on.“You didn’t think you could just walk around this ship without me finding out, right?” the voice of Seoyoung taunted.Chaewon looked around and finally noticed the security camera in the corner of the room. How many more had they been caught on since they arrived the night before.“Where’s Minju!” Chaewon demanded, staring right at the camera.“Don’t worry about the child of Athena. We need her right now. You should be more worried about yourselves,” Seoyoung fired back. A few moments later, Chaewon could feel the floor rumbling.“Uh, girls?” Yena called their attention, pointing down the hall they’d come from where a bunch of monsters were heading right towards them.“Good luck!” Seoyoung said sarcastically before the PA system turned off again.Chaewon took out her stygian iron blade, her two friends unsheathing their weapons as well. This was about to be a mess.~~~~In this closed off environment, the trio couldn’t fight as freely as they could. They had to take turns jabbing and slicing through the many types of monsters that were trying to kill them. The one positive of the corridor’s size though was they didn’t have to fight any of the bigger monsters like the laestrygonians. Still, Chaewon knew that solace would be temporary. Once they got back to the open deck, the giants would be waiting.“We need to get to the service deck!” Yena said as she used chain lightning to zap a row of blemmyae to dust. This gave them their first opening to make a run for it.Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, it was too late, a group of Gegeines, earthborn, had just finished throwing the last of the lifeboats in the room as well as the service ladder overboard. They made quick work of them, but they were now stuck in that room with no options.“Now what?” Chaewon asked Yujin after they cut down the last earthborn. Yena had gone to the double doors to fuse them shut using electricity, but just as she finished, loud banging started being heard from the other side.“I don’t know how long that’ll hold,” the eldest said, sounding out of breath from the effort of using her powers on top of fighting with her sword.“You think we can jump?” Yujin suggested as she stared down towards the ocean.“Yah, Yuj, maybe you would survive, but Chae and I definitely wouldn't if we jumped from this high!” Yena replied.Chaewon agreed, but she didn’t see any other options. The monsters breaking into their room were now leaving dents in the door. They didn’t have much time.That’s when she saw it.“Wait, what’s that?” Chaewon asked, pointing to a medium sized boat racing towards the Queen Helen.Yujin followed her gaze and when her eyes landed on the vessel, she looked in disbelief.“Wonyoung???” she exclaimed.Equally confused, Chaewon squinted to get a closer look and finally registered the tall girl waving at them.“How did she-, agh, never mind. That doesn’t solve the problem of us being too high!” Yena yelled.Wonyoung’s boat was now positioned next to the cruise ship. All they needed now was a way to get down safely.“Wait, remember back in Seokga’s palace where I made that water bubble? What if I made another one that could cushion our fall?” Yujin suggested, speaking so fast that Chaewon almost couldn’t discern what she was talking about.At that moment, a monster’s fist finally broke through the double doors.“Looks like we have no choice. Yujin, we trust you,” Yena said as she took the child of Poseidon’s hand. Chaewon gulped and did the same. It wasn’t that she was scared of heights, but she really didn’t want to become a pancake splatting on the ocean today.“Alright, girls, here we go!” Yujin hugged both of them closely before leaping off the side of the Queen Helen.Chaewon braced for the impact, but just as Yujin had said, a bubble began to form on the ocean surface that ultimately broke their fall. The impact still hurt, but it felt better than dying on the spot.“Get in!” Wonyoung screamed as she threw an inflatable buoy in their direction. Yujin grabbed it and pulled them until all three of them were sprawled on the deck.“Step on it, captain!” Wonyoung commanded. The request was met with the sound of the engines revving up again, but Chaewon knew they were still going too slow. Looking up, she could see the monsters glaring at them from the service deck. If just one of them jumped down to them now, many others could follow.“Everyone, hold on!” Yena yelled after bringing out the thermos Apollo had given her. Chaewon’s eyes widened. All Yena had said yesterday was it contained powerful winds. Could they be strong enough to get them out of this spot?“Wait what is what???” Wonyoung asked confusedly.“Just trust her!” Yujin replied, grabbing hold of her.Chaewon made sure to grab onto the railing too as the child of Zeus opened the metal canister about 25%.Immediately, strong winds burst out of it, propelling their boat forward. The monsters on the Queen Helen yelled at them to come back, but by that time, they were already a couple kilometers away.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Yena had told Yujin about the power stored in that little thermos, she thought the older girl was overreacting. With all the weird and wacky things she’d experienced in the past six months though, she should’ve known better.It took only thirty seconds for the winds to finally run out, but Yujin could feel how far they’d gone.“You girls good?” asked Yena when their boat finally came to a stop. Her hands were still shaking from trying to control their heading.“Yeah… I’m fine,” Chaewon replied.“Yah, Yujin, you can let go of me now,” Wonyoung said, startling the child of Poseidon. She’d almost forgotten she had grabbed onto Wonyoung before Yena let the winds loose, and she was still gripping onto her hand tightly now.“Ah, sorry… wait, how did you find us anyway?” she asked back, hoping her red cheeks weren’t obvious.Wonyoung stood up and dusted herself off. “Do I not get a ‘thank you’?”At this, Yena stepped in. “We appreciate the assist, Wonyoung, but like Yujin asked, how in the world did you find us and where did you get this boat?”“I was just out walking at night when I saw you girls being chased by the harpies,” she said with a shrug.“Despite the curfew?” Chaewon commented.“You act like you’re the only ones allowed to break the rules,” Wonyoung deadpanned. “Anyway, I saw you were going after a boat, so I sent an Iris message to my dad asking if he could send one of his yachts over. After that, I asked my mom for a little help to catch up.”“Aphrodite has ocean powers?” asked Yujin.Wonyoung sighed again like she was talking to some kid. “Your dad’s not the only one who came from the sea, Yujin. Before there were any gods, there was only the sky and the earth, Ouranos and Gaea. From those two came the Titans, Kronos and his siblings. As most Greek myths go, Kronos loathed his father and with the help of his mother, lured him down to earth and cut him up into little pieces. Those pieces were then thrown into the ocean, where their divine essence fused with the sea and created my mother, Aphrodite.”Yujin’s head was spinning from this information. She really needed to do more research on the whole Greek pantheon.“Okay, patricide aside, let’s get back to the matter at hand. Where do we go from here?” Wonyoung asked.Yena and Chaewon both turned to Yujin expectantly.“Do the thing, Yuj,” the eldest said.“What thing?” Wonyoung questioned.“Ugh, fine,” Yujin focused on the ocean until a set of numbers came to her. “36 degrees, 15 minutes north, 123 degrees, 4 minutes east.“Apparently Yujin has perfect bearings at sea,” Chaewon explained when Wonyoung’s eyes widened.“Still, that puts us a few kilometers out from China!” Wonyoung replied, pointing at where on the map that would be. “No way we were blown that off course.”“Well, time and space kinda works differently in the Greek world, right? Let’s just redirect and head towards the other coordinates Yujin mentioned last night. We don’t know how far behind Seoyoung we are now,” said Yena. Yujin could’ve sworn she noticed the older girl glare at Chaewon as she said that though.“Fine, I’ll go tell the captain.”“Speaking of which, do we really want to bring a mortal where we’re going?” asked Yujin.At this, Wonyoung smirked. “Don’t worry about Captain Na. He’s been through worse.”~~~~“I knew your dad was loaded, but this is wild. He just so happens to have a yacht on call?” Yujin commented as they sat in the helm station. It was only them and Captain Na inside. Yena and Chaewon were out on the deck keeping watch for anything suspicious Yujin had relayed the coordinates to the captain who only nodded in reply.“Three, actually. This is the smallest one,” Wonyoung said casually as if she were talking about model boats and not a yacht that had room for four small beds below deck.“I thought your dad wasn’t really around though. You’re telling me he just let you borrow this, no questions asked?”“Well, he looked busy when I called him. I think he just said yes absentmindedly.”Yujin didn’t know how to reply to that. She knew Wonyoung’s father wasn’t very active in her life. Even during Wonyoung’s recent vacation to the States, she spent more time with her nannies than her dad. It made Yujin sad thinking about it.“So, how long do you think it’ll take us to get there, Yujin?” Wonyoung asked to change the topic.“Who knows? Nautically speaking, at our speed, it should take us maybe a day or two, but that’s only if we don’t run into any distractions.”“Because I’m sure it’s going to be smooth sailing in the Sea of Monsters…” Wonyoung replied sarcastically. It made Yujin think about the other question she’d had the whole time.“By the way, why did you follow us anyway?” she eventually said.Wonyoung looked back at her with an unreadable expression. Ever since the incident with Karina, the child of Aphrodite had been moody towards her. Out of all of the people Yujin would expect to come and save them, Wonyoung wasn’t that high on the list.“Didn’t I tell you, kelp brain? Someone has to keep you alive.”This got Yujin to crack a smile for the first time in a while. “I also recall you saying you liked the peace and quiet without me around.”“Yah, do you want me to throw you overboard or not?” Wonyoung replied, causing Yujin to laugh.“Thanks for coming, Wonnie. I really thought we were goners there,” Yujin said, hoping her sincerity would show.Wonyoung’s expression softened. “Tell me what happened on that ship. Why did you girls run off in the first place?”Yujin went on to explain everything, from Yena meeting Apollo and her dream about Polyphemus’ Island to seeing Seoyoung on the Queen Helen along with other demigods from camp. She also mentioned how Minju and Yuri were on the ship too.“Okay… tell me if I got this right. We have to somehow get to the cyclops's island first and steal the fleece from him? All this while going through whatever more challenges there are in the Sea of Monsters?”Yujin nodded. “Sounds about right.”“Maybe I should’ve stayed out of it after all,” Wonyoung said exasperatedly.“And yet, here you are.”“Here I am…” the younger girl murmured.“Are you sure you’re going to be alright here? Tantalus said he’d expel anyone who left camp,” Yujin said concernedly.“I mean, I can’t exactly turn back now, right? I was on that quest with Minju and Yuri too. It wouldn’t feel right for me to stay behind.”Yujin chuckled. “Look at you. Your heroism is coming out.”“Don’t push it.”Yujin raised her hands up in surrender. It was fun getting to talk to Wonyoung after how cold she had been acting towards her the past couple days. Could that all really have been because she was jealous of Karina?“Hey, Wonyoung-”Before she could finish her sentence, the sounds of yelling outside the helm station grabbed her attention.“What’s happening out there?” Wonyoung wondered.The two got up and opened the door to see Yena and Chaewon glaring at each other with weapons drawn.“Yah, what are you two doing??” Yujin asked.“I’m telling you, Chae. If we just went to get Yuri first, she could’ve told us about the trap and we could’ve saved them both!” the child of Zeus argued, sparks seeming to fly off her.“And I’m saying that we don’t know whose side Yuri is really on! Even if she wanted to help us, she was probably near Seoyoung. Last I checked, Minju’s invisibility cap only works on one person, and we don’t know if Seoyoung had some magic spell to detect us. It was too risky!” Chaewon yelled back, the aura around her sword getting darker.“It would’ve been fine if we planned it out!”“We can’t always do things your way, unnie!”Just when the two began to charge at each other, Yujin stepped in, unclasping her necklace to reveal her two scimitars and block their weapons.“Get yourselves together!” Yujin yelled. She could feel the power coming from both sides and didn’t know how long she could hold them off.“YAH, STOP! PUT YOUR SWORDS DOWN!” Wonyoung ordered, her voice sending a wave over everyone. Both Yena and Chaewon took a step back and dropped their weapons. It appeared her charmspeak had worked.Yujin mouthed a thank you towards the child of Aphrodite before looking at her two friends.“Girls, please don’t fight. We’re in this together, right? Yena-unnie, I know it was a trap, but we couldn’t have foreseen that. Chaewon-unnie, even if it was risky, I think that part about Yuri was uncalled for. We were in an impossible situation back then, but we can still save them both.”“I didn’t forget that you sided with Chaewon, Yujin. You don’t have to play both sides,” Yena huffed before going below deck.Meanwhile, Chaewon sighed and walked towards the front of the yacht.“Girls-”Yujin wanted to go after them both, but Wonyoung grabbed her shoulder.“Give them some time to think.”“What happened between them?” Yujin asked with slumped shoulders.“If I had to guess, it’s probably a combination of two things. First, the big three gods don’t really like each other and have this sibling rivalry going. That habit can seep down to their children. That’s how we got the World Wars, right?” Wonyoung replied.“But those two are best friends! I’ve never seen them that heated towards each other,” Yujin argued. Yena and Chaewon always stood by each other's sides no matter what. Despite them having very different personalities, Yujin could tell they had a very close connection.Wonyoung hummed to herself before speaking again. “Well, that leads to the second point. Love.”Yujin raised an eyebrow. “Love?”“Don’t play dumb, Yujin. Don’t you remember what they were arguing over? It was about Yuri and Minju. They both wanted to save the girl they liked.”“Yah, they wouldn’t be upset over something like that… would they?”Wonyoung scoffed at this. “You underestimate the power of love. Some of the greatest conflicts in human history started off because of someone’s love. I’m sure they’ll be fine later after they blow off some steam.”“How are you so sure?” Yujin asked.“Because, we children of Aphrodite are good at managing emotions,” the younger girl said rather proudly.“You could’ve fooled me with how you manage your own,” Yujin quipped.“Yah, what is that supposed to mean?” Wonyoung said with red cheeks.“You’ve been ignoring me the past few days, then all of a sudden, you decide to get this boat and follow us,” Yujin replied, finally voicing the thought that had been on her mind since Wonyoung appeared.“Minju and Yuri are my friends too! I couldn’t let you go out and save them without me,” the child of Aphrodite argued.“That still doesn’t explain why you’ve been cold to me recently. It only started when Karina showed up.”Wonyoung pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a deep sigh. “Aish, if you can’t figure that out, maybe you’re a lost cause after all.”The child of Aphrodite then walked off to the helm station, leaving Yujin alone on the deck.“So much for working together,” Yujin muttered as she gazed off into the vast ocean.
Dad, I hope you can give us a bit of luck where we’re going.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Yena was awoken by the sudden shaking of their boat. She didn’t know how long she’d been asleep, but she was definitely feeling well rested now.Now that her head was cooler, Yena sighed, remembering the fight she had with Chaewon. She knew she had been childish at that moment. Chaewon was only giving her opinion, but she took it personally.Frankly, Yena was embarrassed and didn’t want to face her friends just yet. It was only when the boat hit by another strong wave that Yena thought that maybe she should check what was going on up top. She stepped out of her bed and was surprised that her foot landed in a wet puddle.“That can’t be good,” she thought before scrambling up the slippery stairs.When she emerged onto the deck, the first thing she noticed was the weather. It was raining heavily, thunder echoing throughout the air. Waves were crashing into the ship’s hull causing seawater to come aboard. Everyone was rushing around with buckets trying to keep them from sinking.“Yah, unnie! Don’t just stand there! Help us out!” Chaewon ordered when their eyes met.Yena shook her head to focus. There would be a time to apologize later. What mattered right now was staying alive. She quickly grabbed a bucket of her own and followed her friends’ actions.“What’s happening?” she asked after making her way to Yujin.“We’re getting close to the entrance, and it’s being guarded,” the child of Poseidon explained before an even bigger wave slammed into their vessel, dousing them in the process.Chaewon looked into the distance and spotted what Yujin was referencing. To their left, a massive rock spire almost a hundred feet tall with countless caves scattered around rose out of the sea. About a kilometer from that, a dark whirlpool the size of a small island churned. That must have been what was causing the strong waves.“Uh… you sure we can’t just, I don’t know, go around them?” Yena asked nervously.“It doesn’t work like that, Yena-unnie. This is the first test. If we went around, they’d just magically appear at our new heading.” Chaewon interjected, joining the two at the front of the boat.“They?”“Scylla and Charybdis. They’re the guardians of the Sea of Monsters. Sail too close to the former and hundreds of snake heads will descend onto us and pick us off. Sail too close to the latter and you get sucked into its mouth.”“So you’re saying the only way to get through is right through the middle?” Yena guessed.Chaewon nodded, but she didn’t look very confident. “That’s the idea at least.”“The idea? Oh, we are so going to die…” Wonyoung said after coming out of the helm station.“Did you at least tell Captain Na the plan?” asked Yujin.“Yeah, he’ll try his best, but no promises,” the child of Aphrodite replied with a grim expression.~~~~As they got closer, Yena still couldn’t see Scylla hiding within the many cliffside caves dotted around the rock spire. On the other hand, though she couldn’t see Charybdis either, Yena could definitely hear her now. In the distance she’d thought it was a loud thunder, but now, she realized it was the sound of Charybdis sucking in all the water within a kilometer of it, as if it were the world’s largest toilet. Yena didn’t know what Scylla was like, but she was starting to think she’d rather pick a fight with her instead.“Would be really nice to have that wind thermos right now,” Chaewon murmured. Yena couldn’t help but agree. Unfortunately, they used all its contents to escape the Queen Helen. In hindsight, Yena could’ve probably saved some of it.“Are you sure we can make it?” Yujin asked before the ship lurched forward.“We don’t exactly have another choice. Full steam ahead, Captain!” Wonyoung ordered.Yena tried to time Charybdis’ cycle of destruction. It took roughly three minutes for her to inhale everything in her vicinity. Right after, she’d exhale, which was what was causing them to be hit by ten-foot waves.If they managed to just skirt around the edge of that whirlpool towards Scylla’s side, they could have a chance. Yena immediately went to the helm station to relay her idea.~~~~After a few minutes, their ship was finally within striking distance. Everyone had gathered into the helm station for safety.“Remember, make sure to time it right near when Charybdis finishes sucking in water,” Yena advised.“Easier said than done,” Wonyoung muttered as she observed the stopwatch she was using tick away.It was risky, but any plan that could give them even a 1% chance of surviving was a good one at this point.Yena counted up in her head until she reached a hundred and fifty.“GO!”Captain Na went full throttle on the engines. The idea was to allow themselves to be slightly sucked into the whirlpool and use Charybdis’ exhale to boost their way out.For a moment, it looked like it was going to work. They were cutting through the water as fast as they could, but about halfway through the maelstrom, something went wrong.“We’re not getting enough speed! The engines are failing!” Captain Na yelled as their yacht stalled.“Everyone hold on to something!” Wonyoung yelled. They were slowly getting pulled into Charybdis’ waiting mouth. Looking out the window, Yena noticed a black reef with a fig tree on top. It was a bit strange, but Yena’s thoughts shifted once she noticed what it was anchored to just below the surface- a giant mouth filled with jagged teeth the size of kayaks.It was terrifying. Everything was being sucked into Charybdis from schools of fish, sharks, even a giant squid. If they didn’t do anything quickly, their boat would be next.“YAH, Captain, do something!!!” Wonyoung shrieked.“I’m… trying,” he replied back, trying his best to hold the ship’s steering wheel in place.“Guys, I have an idea! Trust me” Yujin suddenly said before opening the door and heading out onto the deck.“YUJIN, ARE YOU CRAZY???” Chaewon shouted. She tried to follow her, but the ship rocked back again, causing everyone to stumble to the ground.Yena looked up from the floor and saw Yujin standing at the center of their ship, holding her hands out.“She’s trying to keep the waves away.” she realized.Yujin had mentioned earlier that when she tried to control the water near Charybdis, it didn’t work because she wasn’t powerful enough. Now, it appeared the child of Poseidon had found one last burst of strength to at least keep them from being sucked in all the way.After about ten seconds though, Yujin fell to one knee, a clear sign that she was losing her energy.“YUJIN!” Wonyoung called desperately, but just as it looked like they were going to be sucked into Charybdis’ maw completely, her mouth slammed shut. The water went calm. Yena looked around to see the stopwatch on the ground counting past one hundred eighty seconds.Before anyone could recover their bearings though, Charybdis’ mouth opened up again, ejecting anything that didn’t sit right with her from bones to pieces of metal and trash.Their vessel was hurled out of the whirlpool with such force that Yena was afraid they would capsize. Luckily, they didn’t, and everyone appeared to be fine.“Wait, where’s Yujin?” Wonyoung asked. She was the only one outside the helm station when they blasted away.“Oh no…”Wonyoung rushed out onto the deck to check as their boat floated aimlessly.“The engine’s busted,” Captain Na said after trying out the ship’s instruments.“You think it can be fixed?” asked Chaewon.“I’ll have to check the back. Give me a bit,” he said before stepping out as well.At the same time, Yena heard Wonyoung call out to them. “Girls, I found her! She was knocked into the room below deck.”“That was a close one…”Yena let out a sigh of relief. It looked like they’d gotten away from the worst of it. That is, until a blur of brown and green shot down from the sky right at the spot Captain Na was walking. When it retreated, all that was left were the captain’s shoes.“Oh my gods… Scylla,” Chaewon murmured. Everyone was shocked. Then, from behind them, a snakelike head burst through the helm station window, barely missing Yena and Chaewon.“Take cover!” Yena screamed.From across, Wonyoung took an unconscious Yujin back down below deck while more of Scylla’s heads rained down on them. Yena took out Lightbreaker and warded away a few of them, but their skin was too thick to cut through.“Yah, unnie, I’m sorry!” Chaewon suddenly said when they found each other’s backs against each other while their weapons were drawn.“About what?”“Our fight earlier! I shouldn’t have said that about Yuri!”Yena realized that Chaewon was probably saying this because she thought it was over, and who wouldn’t think that? Scylla’s heads were breaking through the sides of their boat. If they didn’t get eaten, they’d sink into the ocean.“No, it’s my fault, Chae. I know I was being selfish,” Yena replied back.“Heh, who would’ve thought we’d go out like this?” Chaewon said as she poked one of the snake heads in the eye.“At least, we go out together…”Just when Yena was about to run out of stamina though, a loud explosion rang through the air. Scylla’s heads retreated, following that sound.Yena turned to look out the window and was shocked to see another ship about a hundred feet away heading straight for them. It was triple the size of theirs with cannons shooting flaming fireballs at Scylla and the mountainside she was hiding in.“Nako???” Chaewon said, pointing at a short figure at the head of the vessel fending off Scylla with a large sword. It was the child of Ares, no doubt about it.The ship eventually slowed down once it got to them, a ladder dropping from its side. Standing at the top was Hitomi, child of Demeter.“Come on! Get up!” she rushed.Yena didn’t need more motivation. While she grabbed the bags, Chaewon helped Wonyoung carry Yujin up the ladder. After they all finally spilled onto the deck, Hitomi turned on a walkie-talkie and spoke into it.“They’re on, Eunbi-unnie. Let’s get out of here!”At this, the ship suddenly made a grinding noise before its speed increased. Scylla was still attacking, shaking the ship as her many heads tried to pierce through the hull. Fortunately, Hitomi had led them to safety in a room below deck. A few minutes passed and the roars of Scylla and Charybdis became distant echoes.“You girls okay?” Hitomi finally asked after giving them all some time to rest.“Alive is all that matters…” Yena groaned just as the door swung open.It was Nako with Eunbi right behind her.“Well, look who we have here?” she asked in a surprisingly unwelcoming tone.“Nice to see you too, Nako. Thanks for the save,” Yena said.“Welcome to the USS Magpie. From here on out, you follow my orders.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Wait, what do you mean ‘your orders’?” Yena asked.Nako looked at her confusedly. “It’s my quest, right? Just because you got to lead one last summer doesn’t mean you get to call all the shots.”Yena looked like she wanted to say something else, but Chaewon put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.“Thanks for the save, Nako. We wouldn’t have all made it out without you guys,” she said instead.“Not everyone got out,” Wonyoung mumbled sadly. She was right; Captain Na had been swallowed up by Scylla. Chaewon suddenly felt a pang of guilt for her wording.Nako, on the other hand, was a bit more brash. “That’s what happens when you bring a mortal into a place like this. What were you even thinking?”“Yah, Nako-unnie, that’s not fair. She and Captain Na saved us from Seoyoung’s ship,” Yujin interjected, defending Wonyoung.“Sounds like you three need saving more often than I realized. Well, look around! My crew was decimated by Scylla too. Sometimes you step in drakon dung and all you can do is deal with it.”“Nako-chan, that’s enough. You should go check on the rest of the ship,” Hitomi advised, likely sensing the tension in the room rising. The child of Demeter then ushered the short girl out before a heated argument happened.“I’m sorry about Nako. She’s just stressed,” Eunbi apologized on the Japanese girl’s behalf.“Stressed?” Wonyoung questioned, her voice still sounding hurt from the Japanese girl’s words.“It’s her first time leading a quest, and on top of that, her father is not the warmest parental figure. There’s a lot of pressure on her to do well,” Eunbi explained.“She talked about losing some crew. What kind of ship is this exactly?” asked Yena.“Like Nako said, this is the USS Magpie, a ship that sank in the Korean war. Vessels and their fallen crew lost due to war are honor bound to serve Ares. So, when Nako prayed for a boat to head into the Sea of Monsters, Ares brought it up from the depths. So yeah, pressure.”It was only when Eunbi mentioned it that Chaewon realized the strange feeling she’d gotten when they flopped onto the deck a few minutes earlier. She’d registered uniformed soldiers running around frantically, but they would then randomly flicker in and out of view. It was kind of familiar to the feeling she got on the Queen Helen.“But enough about that, let’s rewind a bit,” Eunbi said while waving her hand, wanting to address the elephant in the room.“How on Gaea did you four end up in the Sea of Monsters?”Yena took charge of explaining with Chaewon and Yujin adding in things she might’ve missed. Wonyoung also mentioned her side of the story and how she ended up following them.By the time they were done, Eunbi, who was usually an even keeled and calm person, looked like her head was spinning.“Wow, okay then…”“Yeah, it’s a lot,” Yena sighed.“I think the main thing we should talk about is the Queen Helen. You’re positive you saw Wooseok and some other demigods from camp there?” Eunbi asked.“I’m sure. He tried to throw a goblet at my face last summer. I’d recognize his smug face anywhere,” Yujin said with disgust.“That’s bad… Kronos is growing his army,”“But what does the fleece even have to do with that?” Yena asked.“It has the power to accelerate Kronos’ regeneration. He tried to get it before the War of Manhattan too but failed,” Eunbi replied. “We need to speed things-”A loud screeching from below deck cut Eunbi off, the whole ship rumbling as a result.“That can’t be good…” Wonyoung mumbled.“I’ll go check it out. You four just get some rest. There’s a lot of free rooms on the ship.” Eunbi said before taking her leave.“Yeah, as if we’re just going to stand here,” Yena said, following Eunbi without a second thought. Yujin tried to follow but groaned when she tried to stand up straight.Wonyoung immediately came to her aid, setting her down and rummaging through one of their bags. “You need some ambrosia.”“I’ll follow Yena-unnie. You two stay here,” Chaewon decided.~~~~“Where could she be?” Chaewon wondered as she made her way through the ship.All around her, ghosts dressed in tattered navy-blue jackets milled around checking on the vessel. Similar to other ghosts she’d seen, they’d look solid when she stared at them directly, but once they were just out of her sight, they’d vanish.After a few more minutes of walking, Chaewon was about to give up and head back to Yujin and Wonyoung when she heard something behind a door that was slightly ajar.“How soft can you be, Nako? This was your quest, and now, you let those three onto your boat? They’ll be calling the shots by the end of the day,” a deep voice scolded angrily.“But dad, we couldn’t just leave them there!” the voice of Nako argued back.
Dad… Ares.
Chaewon steeled herself and took a peek around the door to see a large man in a biker gang outfit glowering over Nako, the god of war himself.“Yes you could’ve! They’ll only keep you from achieving the glory you’ve been working so hard to acquire. I will not believe in an Ares kid that doesn’t understand the sacrifices needed to win wars.”“I promise, dad. It’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it!” Nako said in a higher pitched tone.When Eunbi had mentioned the pressure the Japanese girl was feeling from this quest, Chaewon had initially thought it was an overreaction, but now, it definitely had some validity.“You better. I did not raise this ship just for you to use it as a lifeboat,” Ares replied before his form began to shimmer. Chaewon knew by now what that meant and closed her eyes to avoid being eviscerated by Ares’ true form.At the same time she regained her vision, a loud boom caused the ship to shudder. Chaewon then turned just in time for the door to swing right into her face.“Yah, what are you doing here?” Nako asked.“No, ‘sorry’?” Chaewon mumbled.“There’s no time for that. Scylla must have damaged one of the engines. Let’s go!”~~~~Chaewon followed Nako until they reached the ship’s helm station where the ghost captain was having a hard time keeping control of the ship.“I’m afraid we won’t be able to keep sailing for much longer,” he advised.“Well, look around! We don’t exactly have any land near us, do we captain?” Nako yelled back. “Keep the wheel steady. Where is Eunbi?”“Right here!” the child of Hephaestus said as she burst into the room followed by Yena. While Eunbi looked clean though, Yena was covered in soot.“What happened down there???”“Our rudder is jammed, and it caused the engine to overheat,” Eunbi explained.“And what does that mean?” Nako continued to ask.“It means… the ship’s going to blow unless we stop soon,” Yena said through a cough.Chaewon looked around desperately for an answer, and that’s when she saw it- an island in the distance that she could’ve sworn wasn’t there before.“Over there!” she yelled, pointing at the landmass. Nako looked just as confused as her but gave the go signal anyway. It was their only option.It took a few stressful minutes, but their ship eventually made landfall, everyone making their way off the ship just in case it decided to explode.Smoke continued to billow from the ship’s stern, but nothing ultimately happened.“I’m going to check on the ship. Should have it fixed in an hour if I focus,” Eunbi announced after deeming the situation stable again.“An hour?” Yujin, who was still struggling to stand, said aloud.At this, Eunbi smirked. “Don’t underestimate a child of Hephaestus.”~~~~While Eunbi began fixing up the ship, Chaewon joined Yena, Yujin, and Wonyoung to check the island for any supplies they could use. They originally didn’t want to go, but Nako had given the order, saying they had to pull their weight.The island looked like any other one, palm trees dotting the coastline and a bunch of foliage further inland.Things started to change though when they arrived on the other side of the island. After trekking past a small forest, Chaewon was surprised to see a large collection of beautiful white buildings occupying the rest of the land.“Welcome!” an attendant holding a clipboard greeted with a bright smile. She was wearing a sleek blue business suit, had flawless makeup, and had her hair tied up in a ponytail. On her suit pocket, there was an emblem with the name “C.C.'s Seaside Salon and Spa”.“Is this your first time visiting?” she then asked.“Uhm…” Yujin mumbled.“I’ll take that as a yes!” she said as she scribbled something down on her clipboard.“What exactly is this place?” Yena questioned only to be ignored as several other attendants quickly lined up behind the first woman.“You girls will do so well with a makeover! Let me show you in!” she then announced before having them all ushered in.~~~~“Miss C.C.! We have new customers!”Chaewon didn’t know what to expect given that they were in the sea of monsters, so she held onto her sheathed sword. Looking at the others, they seemed to be getting the same idea.They were now standing in an open room covered with windows and mirrors. Chaewon wondered if people ever accidentally bumped into them when they walked around. At the center of the room, a woman was staring out into the ocean horizon.“That’s wonderful to hear.”When their hostess turned, Chaewon could hear everyone catching their breaths and for good reason. This woman was gorgeous. She was wearing an emerald dress embroidered in what appeared to be actual gems. This complimented her already sharp green eyes. Long dark hair cascaded down her, braided in thin threads of gold.“And you’re all women too? Perfect!”Before Chaewon could question that statement, C.C. moved on to focus on them individually.“You look perfect already, but how about we change your makeup a bit,” she commented to Wonyoung.“And you, maybe a wolf cut would suit your hair,” she then suggested to Yujin.When she got to Chaewon, her brows furrowed, as if she were trying to get into her head. “Have you tried going blonde? Maybe get some extensions?”“On the other hand, have you tried pink?” she asked Yena.“Yah, you are not touching my hair,” the child of Zeus replied, holding her locks defensively.C.C. pouted. “Really? Are you sure? I think it would suit you really well! Tell you what. If you don’t like the end result, I’ll change it back for free! I’m just trying to bring out all of your potential.”Chaewon felt like that was a classic salesman trick, but for some reason, she found herself nodding along.C.C.’s voice washed over her like a calm river. Suddenly, she felt inadequate about her looks. She had always wanted to try a new hair color. She’d also been thinking about growing her hair out for a long time.The only one who seemed untrusting was Wonyoung. “Excuse me, I like my makeup the way it is.”“Oh, c’mon, Wonnie. Wouldn’t hurt to try it out~” Yujin said in a daze.“It looks like we’re in agreement then,” C.C. said as she clapped her hands together.“Hyunseo! Show them to the parlor area!”At this, one of the younger attendants stepped to the front and directed them out of the room and past the spa area.The entire place looked beautiful, so much so that Chaewon almost forgot they were in the middle of the Sea of Monsters. The small buildings all had Greek designs and were supported by marble columns. Tropical birds of all shapes and sizes were perched on top of the structures, chirping melodically.It was like a paradise, and C.C. humming as she followed them only enhanced the ambience. Her voice was like sweet honey.Eventually, they reached the salon area and were all seated. Something about the place seemed off though. Vials of varying colors were set along the table in front of them. Meanwhile, in the back corner of the room, Chaewon could’ve sworn she heard a different animal chirping once C.C. entered.“Don’t worry everyone~ Just relax. I assure you; I’ll give you an experience that’ll make you wish you’d never leave.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Once C.C. gave the go signal, more attendants rushed into the salon, each of them being tended to by at least four women in matching uniforms. One would cut their hair, one would massage their feet and shoulders, one would give them a manicure, and another would prepare makeup to put on their faces."Oh, sweetie, did you cut your hair yourself?" one of them asked Yujin as they snipped away."How did you know?" Yujin replied in surprise. Ever since she was young, she'd cut her own hair to save money. This was actually the first time she'd been in a parlor this fancy.The attendant tutted. "You have so many split ends. This will not do at all!""It adds to the personality," Yujin argued. All things considered though; the experience was great. The masseuses really made her joints feel better than they'd ever been. Yujin was practically melting into her seat.Next to her, she noticed Chaewon and Yena both getting their hair dyed. It looked cool, but before she could ask for the same treatment, Wonyoung began making a commotion on her left."Yah, what kind of cheap foundation is this? Don't you have any Clio or Innisfree?" she complained."Are you saying my recommendations don't suit your taste?" C.C. asked with a curious expression."No! I told you, didn't I? I know my face better than anyone."C.C. pouted at this, grabbing a cup of what looked like juice from the counter and handed it to Wonyoung. "That's a shame to hear. Maybe we can try a new hairstyle? Some clothes?""Aish, don't bother. We need to go soon anyway, right girls?" Wonyoung said after taking a sip."Just a few more minutes! The color hasn't set in yet," Yena said.That was strange. Yena had been the one who wanted to go on this quest the most. Come to think of it, Yujin couldn't recall where they were actually supposed to go."You heard your friend. Stay for a bit longer~" C.C. urged with her melodic voice. Suddenly, Yujin was overcome with another wave of fatigue. Her mind felt like it was moving through molasses, the only thing registering being to follow whatever C.C. suggested."Are you all serious?" Wonyoung asked incredulously. "Eunbi-unnie and the others should've fixed the ship by now. I thought you wanted to save Yuri and Minju? We can't waste more time!""You really are a whiny brat," C.C. muttered under her breath just loud enough for her to hear."What did you just call me? What are you trying to pull here?" Wonyoung answered, her hand floating to her pocket where her dagger was sheathed.C.C. sighed, the atmosphere in the salon dampening."You need to get out of here..." the attendant who had been doing Yujin's nails, Hyunseo, whispered in her ear before being told off by one of the older women."I was going to be nice and let you all work here, but you in particular will have to live a new life."Yujin didn't know if her eyes were playing tricks on her, but Wonyoung was slowly getting shorter."Y-Yah...what did you do to me?" the child of Aphrodite asked, dropping the cup in her hand as she continued to shrink. Yujin watched in horror as Wonyoung's arms began to shorten as well, gray hair starting to grow all over her body."You didn't like the makeup I suggested, so maybe you'll enjoy a full makeover instead.""GIRLS, SNAP OUT OF IT! I KNOW WHO SHE IS NOW! SHE'S-" Wonyoung's yelling was cut short, replaced suddenly by a high-pitched squeal. On the ground where the tall girl was once standing was a grey rabbit.Yujin wanted to get up but was pushed back into her seat by C.C.."Ah, ah. You don't want to be next, do you?"Wonyoung the rabbit bounded towards C.C., but with one gesture, an attendant swooped in and picked her up."H-Huh? What happened? Yujin, where's Wonyoung?" Chaewon asked, her voice sounding far away."There's nothing for you to worry about," C.C. insisted. "Why don't we get you all fitted for your uniforms?""Our uniforms...?""Yes, that's why you came to my island, right? To work at my business?"Again, Yujin felt a wave of fatigue pass over her, but this time, her mind was a bit more focused. She knew what this was now- charmspeak. That's what Wonyoung was warning about."Work... yeah, I always wanted a job..." Yena slurred, clearly not feeling herself.C.C. clapped her hands together. "Excellent! Let's hurry along then!"Yujin stood up, pretending to still be under her spell. She needed to find out where Wonyoung was.As the other attendants led Chaewon and Yena away, Yujin felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned, she realized it was Hyunseo. Her eyes looked scared, as if she didn't know if she was doing the right thing."I can help you find your friend..."Yujin looked around to see if anyone was still listening, but everyone had already filed out. She probably had thirty seconds until they realized she wasn't with them."What's the catch?""You need to take me with you. I heard you have a ship. Circe will treat you girls like slaves if you stay here," Hyunseo said.
Circe.
Of course. Yujin didn't know much Greek mythology, but that was a famous name. She was an infamous sorceress. When in the world did she find time to open up a spa and salon?"Yah, what's it gonna be?" Hyunseo asked again, shaking Yujin out of her thoughts."Show me where Wonyoung is."~~~~Hyunseo led Yujin down a winding staircase, the only light coming from green torches. It was an eerie area that juxtaposed the paradise on the surface."How did you end up here?" Yujin asked as the younger girl didn't look like she was older than eighteen."Boat incident. I was swept away and landed on this island. I've been stuck ever since," Hyunseo explained as they finally got to the bottom of the staircase where the attendant who'd taken Wonyoung was stepping out of a room.Before she could react, Hyunseo jabbed her in the stomach, immediately causing her to crumple to the ground. Yujin's eyes widened. There had to be more to this girl than she was saying."Your friend should be in here," Hyunseo said as walked into the room.It was dark, so Yujin couldn't see anything, but that didn't stop a putrid smell from filling her nose, followed by a chorus of chirping and growling. It was as if they'd walked into a zoo.Hyunseo rummaged around until she found the light switch, and when she flipped it, Yujin was not prepared for what she saw- hundreds of animals from dogs to cats to hamsters all in cages."What in the world...""Circe enjoys turning people she doesn't like into animals. Some she keeps around the spa, but the others, she keeps down here.""We need to get them all out," Yujin said."No, we don't have time! Besides, I only have a small bottle of Circe's antidote," Hyunseo replied, holding out one of the vials Yujin had seen on display in the salon. Immediately, all the animals began making noise, likely realizing what was in the young girl's hand."Ugh, still, we can't just leave them here."Hyunseo sighed. "Alright, but we have to find your friend first."Yujin nodded and began scanning the room for Wonyoung. Eventually, she spotted a cage with a bunch of rabbits, all of which were now vying for her attention... all but one."That's her alright," Yujin decided, pointing at the rabbit at the back who seemed to want nothing to do with her."You sure?" asked Hyunseo."I'm sure."Yujin carefully opened the cage, letting all of the rabbits run out so she could grab the one she was aiming for."Wonyoung? It's you, right?" she asked, holding the rabbit so she could make eye contact.The rabbit hummed in annoyance, chirping in Hyunseo's direction."Still as bratty as ever," Yujin chuckled before bringing her over to drink some of the pink liquid.The rabbit suddenly began shaking, its ears shortening and its body growing until Wonyoung was standing back in front of her."Took you long enough!" she immediately whined."You were way cuter as a bunny," Yujin teased."Excuse me?" Wonyoung replied, her cheeks reddening. It looked like she was about to launch another insult back, but she was stopped by Hyunseo clearing her throat."I hate to interrupt your little reunion, but we have to go save your other friends now!""Yeah, of course. How about the animals though?" Yujin asked.At this, Wonyoung stepped in. "Leave that to me."~~~~"Well, well, look who was snooping around, and with one of my attendants too," Circe said when Yujin and Hyunseo arrived back at the salon area."I'm very disappointed in you, Hyunseo. You know I have to punish you, right?"Yujin unclasped her necklaces to reveal her shimmering white scimitars and stood in front of the younger girl defensively."Where are my friends?" she asked angrily."Demigods, always so demanding," Circe replied in a tone of distaste. "Your friends will be way happier here."She then stepped aside to reveal Chaewon and Yena in their new hair colors as well as the attendant uniforms all the other women were wearing. Their eyes were glassy, as if they were still under Circe's charmspeak.Yujin gripped on her swords tightly. "Why are you doing this?"Circe hummed as she stroked her team. "Let me ask you this back then. Why are you doing the gods' bidding? Your friends told me about it. Why are demigods as powerful as you three on this childish errand.""What? Because the world will end if we don't!" Yujin replied confusedly.At this, Circe let out a laugh. "Such a narrow view. Kronos will only destroy the people who stand in his way. Out here in the Sea of Monsters, nothing will change. Here, I offer women a chance to be free from the influence of men, so why not put the swords down and submit.""Yah, what difference does it make if we have to work under you? Man or woman, no one is going to tell me what to do!" Yujin yelled."Really? What if I order your friends to kill each other right now?" Circe asked with a maniacal grin.
What...
With a snap of a finger, Yena and Chaewon faced each other and both drew their weapons. Yujin knew how bad the fallout of this could be given their fight from a couple days ago."So, what'll it be? You should be thankful that I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself. I happen to really dislike your father Poseidon after his son ruined my last resort," Circe said in an irritated tone."How about everyone SNAP OUT OF IT," a voice shouted from the stairwell. A few seconds later, the child of Aphrodite finally appeared, and she did not look happy.Yujin let out a sigh of relief. "Took you long enough, Wonyoung.""W-What's happening?" Yena suddenly said, grabbing at her head."You dare try to give orders over me?" Circe sneered."I'm sorry to disappoint you, but my mother invented that technique," Wonyoung said with a smirk."YAH! Don't think I'll let you off this island alive. Your swords mean nothing against my magic!" Circe raised her hands, blue fire beginning to curl around her arms like serpents as they snaked their way over to them."If you weren't happy being a rabbit, I suppose a beetle will suffice, one that I'll crush under my heel!"Yujin, Wonyoung, and Hyunseo were now surrounded by the flames, and Yujin could feel herself weakening. Wonyoung, though, remained resolute as the floor began to rumble under them."W-What?" Circe questioned."Let's just say you have a few customers that want a consultation..." Wonyoung said with a smile as a horde of animals burst out of the stairwell, all very irked from being transformed.Yujin watched in awe as they overtook the salon area, Circe and her attendants screaming and running away from eagles, wolves, and snakes among other creatures."Yena-unnie, Chaewon-unnie! You okay?" Wonyoung asked after making her way over to them."Y-Yeah... thanks to you two," Chaewon mumbled."Don't forget about Hyunseo. She's the one that led me to Wonyoung," Yujin said, clapping the younger girl on the shoulder."The other attendants followed Circe's orders so easily. How come you were able to resist," Yena wondered.Hyunseo let out a small laugh as she glanced at Wonyoung. "Probably because I'm a child of Aphrodite too."The taller girl's eyes widened. "We're half-sisters? Oh my gods!"Wonyoung immediately ran up to Hyunseo and engulfed her in a bear hug. It was strange given how cold she was towards Karina, but it was still a sweet moment nonetheless. Unfortunately, that moment was shattered by the sound of a ship's horn in the distance."Yah, that's the Magpie!" Chaewon said."Huh? No way Nako would leave us, right?" Yena asked.A look of doubt flashed across Chaewon's face as if she knew something they didn't."Let's not waste any time then. Let's go!" Yujin decided before leading everyone out of the salon.~~~~"YAH, YABUKI NAKO!" Yena yelled when they arrived at the shore only to see the ship already sailing away."When I get my hands on that tiny girl," Wonyoung grumbled."I have another idea, but we have to move quickly," Hyunseo suggested.Before anyone could question her though, the younger girl bolted back towards the salon area.~~~~The place was a mess already. Fires burning from torches that were knocked over. Circe and her attendants were nowhere to be seen, which was for the best.After making their way through the full area, they reached a pier on the complete other side of the island lined with ships and boats of different sizes."These are what people came to this island on. After Circe turns them into animals, she just leaves them here," Hyunseo explained."Which one do we take?" asked Chaewon.Yujin scanned their options. There were speedboats, rowboats, fighter jets, and even a submarine. The vessel that caught her attention though was a large three-masted ship with dark sails. Painted at the front was a name- The Black Pearl."That one!""Yah, are you sure we can handle it?" Wonyoung questioned."Just trust me!" Yujin said as she helped everyone on. Eventually, all that was left was Hyunseo."Come on, Hyunseo. Let's get you out of here," Yujin said but the child of Aphrodite didn't move."U-Unnie, I'll take that boat," she said, pointing to a smaller sailboat to their left."Huh? Are you crazy?" Yujin said incredulously.Hyunseo shook her head. "You girls seem to be on your own quest, and I think it's best if we split up here. Can you just promise me one thing, unnie?""What is it?" Yujin didn't know why, but her heart hurt. Hyunseo was so young, and she didn't want to leave her behind."You're a child of Poseidon, right? Can you ask your dad to grant me safe passage to where I want to go?""Of course... but are you sure? We can protect you.""Where you're going, I think it'll only be more dangerous," Hyunseo chuckled. "Thank you, unnie. I hope we meet again."~~~~"Yujin, what's going on? Where's Hyunseo?" Wonyoung asked.Yujin simply pointed off to the distance where the younger girl's boat was already on its way to who knew where."Yah, you let her go alone? What if she gets eaten by a sea monster!" Wonyoung said protectively."It'll be fine. She said she wanted to leave us on our quest. I promised that I'd tell my dad to give her safe passage through the seas," Yujin explained.Wonyoung didn't look happy, but before she could say anything else, Yena called from the bow of the ship."Yujin, you're going to want to get things moving!" she warned.In the distance, Yujin saw Circe, her clothes tattered and her hair in a mess. She did not look happy."We're not going to leave in time," Chaewon realized."No. I got this," Yujin said, closing her eyes and focusing on the ocean currents and the parts of the ship until a word came to her. "Mizzenmast!"The next few seconds were a blur as the entire ship began to move on its own. Ropes would tie themselves together, sails began to extend, and other mechanisms below deck began to creak."Yujin, how are you..."Yujin didn't know how. All she knew was that she needed to get the ship sailing and with the flex of her hand, the rudder turned, forcing the Black Pearl to lurch forward."YAH, YOU COME BACK HERE!" Circe yelled when she arrived at the dock, but her screams quickly became distant echoes as they sailed back into the Sea of Monsters.

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“Looks like she’s not following,” Chaewon announced as their ship continued to cut through the open water. Circe’s island was now just a dot in the distance.“Well, out of the frying pan and back into the oven,” Yena mumbled. Just because they got out of that predicament, didn’t mean that they were suddenly safer. The closer they got to Polyphemus’ island, the more dangerous it would probably become.Yena was still incredibly upset that Nako and her team had left them for dead, but she figured that bringing that up now probably wouldn’t be good for the overall morale.“Yujin-ah, you doing alright?”, she decided to ask the child of Poseidon instead. The puppy was standing at the center of the vessel controlling its every movement. Yena had been very surprised at the new abilities the younger discovered while out at sea and wondered what latent powers she herself had.“Yeah! Can you believe I could do this? It’s crazy!” Yujin replied before waving her hand to adjust the ship’s sails.“Heh, show off. Do you even know where you’re going?” Wonyoung commented, but Yena could see the smile growing on her face as she said it.“Hmm, I’m just following the coordinates from before. We’re actually not that far anymore. As long as we don’t run into any issues, we should get there in about twelve hours?” Yujin answered.“Which probably means a bit longer,” Chaewon sighed, running her hands through her now blonde hair in frustration.“You should all probably get some rest. It’s been a long day,” Yujin advised.Yena wanted to object. She and Wonyoung had just saved them after all. Unfortunately, her body didn’t agree. Being under a charmspeak spell for that long was not good for her head.As she walked down some steps that led to the crew quarters, Yena passed by a mirror and stopped in her tracks. She’d completely forgotten that she now had pink hair, though it was probably closer to magenta. She had to admit that Circe was right about one thing- the color did suit her.~~~~Yena should’ve known that she’d have another bad dream.As soon as her eyelids shut, she found herself back on the Queen Helen, specifically the promenade area. It was dark out, the only people on the deck being Seoyoung, Yuri, and Minju. The latter was tied to a metal pole, struggling to break free.“Thank you for getting us this far, Minju-ssi,” Seoyoung said. “We wouldn’t have gotten past Scylla and Charybdis or known to skirt around Circe’s island without you.”“If you’re that thankful, maybe untie me, so I can put a dagger through you,” Minju grumbled.“Very funny. Let’s see if you keep that mood after we get to the final trial,” Seoyoung sneered.At this, Minju’s eyes widened, her attention turning towards something on the horizon.Seoyoung laughed. “You have two choices- tell us how to defeat Polyphemus and steal the fleece… or be our little sacrifice.”Yena looked in the direction Minju had turned to and saw a rocky coastline through the mist. It didn’t look like much, but the child of Athena certainly didn’t agree with her thoughts.“Yah, are you serious???” Minju asked, to which Seoyoung shrugged.“I’ve always been curious how powerful the sirens’ voices were. You can be my test.”The sirens. It rang a bell, but Yena wasn’t too sure. What she could definitely understand from that little exchange though was they must’ve been bad news.“Seoyoung, are you sure about this? She could still prove to be useful,” Yuri whispered in a low tone that Yena could barely hear.Seoyoung raised her eyebrow. “Are you really questioning me, Yuri?“N-No! I was just wondering why we couldn’t just keep her until we got to Polyphemus. She could be our leverage against the others,” Yuri explained quickly. It made Yena think that maybe Yuri was trying to keep Minju alive on purpose.“We have an army of monsters at our disposal. Whether she tells us or not, the fleece will be ours. I just want to have a little more fun,” Seoyoung replied with a laugh.“But-”“Do you want to be the one to jump overboard instead?”At this, Yuri quieted.“You’re still soft, Yuri,” Seoyoung said distastefully. “I know it was you who helped your friends escape Dr. Thorn. It was your arrow.”Yena was stunned. Yuri was the one who saved them earlier that week?The child of Apollo took a step back, but Seoyoung matched her and grabbed her wrist.“You didn’t think I’d find out? Don’t forget what your role in all of this is.”“I’m sorry…” Yuri mumbled.Suddenly, Seoyoung got an evil glean in her eyes. “You know, I have the perfect punishment for you…”The child of Hecate leaned in closer and whispered something that Yena couldn’t hear, which she found very inconvenient. If the Fates were going to throw her into nightmare visions often, they could at least give her an omnipotent view.Whatever it was though, it wasn’t good as Yuri turned to Minju who was just out of earshot from the exchange with a guilty expression.Seoyoung snapped her fingers, two cynocephali coming to her side with one holding a tub of candle wax.“Show Yuri to the bait,” she then commanded. One of the dog-headed creatures nodded its head and pointed its spear towards Yuri, forcing her over to Minju’s side.“Yuri, what’s going on?” Minju asked as the child of Apollo began untying her from the pole, but keeping her wrists knotted.“I really didn’t mean for everything to turn out this way…” is all Yuri replied, the cynocephali beginning to plug her ears with the candle wax Yena had seen earlier. She still didn’t understand what was going on.Seoyoung raised a hand and said, “Stop the ship.”The surrounding air went quiet. It was giving Yena an eerie feeling. The silence held for a few seconds, everything seeming normal until Yena noticed Minju begin to twitch. Her eyes then grew cartoonishly large before trying to make a run for it. Yuri, though, held the ropes firmly.Maybe it was because it was a dream, but Yena felt like there was something she was missing that was making Minju act strangely. The only thing she could pinpoint was a faint buzzing noise.“LET ME GO, YURI!” she pleaded.“N-No… Minju, snap out of it!” the child of Apollo replied.Yena now understood what was happening. For whatever reason, something was making Minju want to jump overboard. She watched in horror as the brunette kept struggling to get off the ship, Yuri not giving up an inch.Meanwhile, Seoyoung had taken a seat on the balcony overlooking the promenade and laughed. “Why don’t you just let go, Yuri-yah? It would make things easier for everyone!”Yena wondered if Seoyoung had forgotten that Yuri’s ears were filled with wax, meaning she probably couldn’t hear her.“YAH, YURI! IT’S NOT FAIR! STOP HOLDING ME BACK!” Minju continued to scream.“I’m trying… to… save you…” Yuri grunted, hooking her own legs around the metal pole to keep some leverage on Minju.Yena tried to shout and get their attention, but it was no use. In this dream, she was nothing but a watcher.“I need to wake up,” she realized.The child of Zeus looked around for anything that could shock herself away and eventually landed in the direction Minju was trying to escape too.“Figures…”Yena took a deep breath and ran to the Queen Helen’s edge before leaping off into the ice cold water.~~~~Chaewon couldn’t sleep. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t get her eyes to close.After tossing and turning on her bed for a few hours, she decided to get up and search the rest of the ship for anything useful.It was definitely a pirate ship. She could tell immediately when she saw the white skull and crossbones etched into its sails. Chaewon had watched a lot of pirate movies growing up and though they were fun, she couldn’t wrap her head around the things they faced while at sea. She questioned how people could come up with such ridiculous stories.Now though, she realized that some of those directors had to be demigods passing down their stories. It reminded her of when Minju described the Odyssey to her, and that’s when it hit her. She’d been pulling information on it subconsciously so far, but she never thought to use it to her advantage.Scylla and Charybdis, Circe’s Island, Polyphemus; Those were all present in the story Minju had told her. Now, Chaewon thought of which trial they hadn’t faced yet and landed on one Minju had described in heavy detail. If they really were going to run into them, she had to get everyone prepared before it was too late.~~~“Yujin, have you seen anything weird recently?” Chaewon asked after emerging onto the deck. It was the dead of night, the only things illuminating their surrondings being the moon and the stars.“You mean aside from your and Yena-unnie’s new hair?” Yujin joked.“I’m being serious, Yujin.”“Alright, my bad. Past few hours have been uneventful. Wonyoung spotted one of Hephaestus’ forges, some mini volcano floating in the ocean with flames flying out of it. I made sure to steer clear. Aside from that, just some giant sea serpents that said hi.”Chaewon thought that Yujin was messing around again at that last addition, but the child of Poseidon didn’t look like she was lying.“Okay, so we haven’t gotten to it yet,” Chaewon muttered to herself, but it was loud enough for Yujin to notice.“Gotten to what, unnie?”Before Chaewon could reply, Wonyoung called from the front of the ship. “Yuj! There’s a rock formation straight ahead. I think we should go around!”Chaewon immediately ran to where Wonyoung was and looked into the distance. It was a bit foggy, but after focusing her vision, her suspicions were confirmed.“That’s Siren Island…”Wonyoung turned to Chaewon in an instant. “Sirens? As in the ones that cause sailors to jump overboard with their singing?”Chaewon nodded and brought out some candle wax she’d found in a drawer below deck. It’s what she’d wanted to show Yujin earlier.“Uh, you want me to do what?” the child of Poseidon asked when Chaewon had come back over.“Put these in your ears. It can help us get past the sirens,” she explained.“But what do they even do?”Wonyoung sighed before explaining. “They’re sea nymphs whose singing is so addictive that it can convince you to jump off your ship and swim to your death.”“Oookay, noted. So, Chaewon-unnie, you mean that if we plug our ears with that wax, we won’t be able to hear them?”Chaewon nodded and handed them each a large wad of candle wax. “Put these in while I go wake up Yena-unnie.”~~~~When Chaewon arrived at Yena’s door, she knocked gently, receiving no reply.“Ugh, why does she always sleep like a log?” she asked herself as she turned the doorknob and entered.As expected, the child of Zeus was still out cold. She carefully approached her friend, but just as she tried to wake her, Yena’s eyes opened.She then sat up so quickly, Chaewon couldn’t get out of the way, causing their heads to collide.“Yah, unnie-”“NO TIME! MINJU’S IN DANGER!” Yena shouted.From above deck, the two girls heard Yujin call out to them. “Uhm, girls? There’s a ship up ahead, and you’re not going to believe it.”“We’re here…” Yena muttered.“Wait, unnie, what are you talking about? What do you mean Minju’s in danger?”The older girl then looked at her directly with a grim expression.“The ship up ahead is Seoyoung’s, and they’re making Minju jump."

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“WHAT?” Chaewon exclaimed, still not fully processing what her older friend was telling her.Yena tried her best to explain as quickly as possible, how Minju was the only one who wasn’t given candle wax ear plugs on the Queen Helen and how Yuri was the only one keeping her from jumping overboard.“But why would Yuri do that? I thought she-” Chaewon caught herself before she finished her sentence.“She’s still on our side, Chae. That arrow back during the manticore attack? It was hers.”The child of Hades felt a pang of guilt grow within her. Though she had apologized to Yena a couple days ago, she still couldn’t get her doubt of Yuri completely off her mind. To think that now, the only thing standing between Minju and a gruesome demise was the child of Apollo, Chaewon felt terrible.“Yah, Chaewon, did you hear me? What’s the plan?” Yena’s voice pierced through the younger girl’s thoughts. She needed to focus if Minju were to stand a chance.“First take this and plug your ears. We need to put them in before we get into the sirens’ range.”“But how will we communicate?”“We’ll figure that out later. For now, we need to be in our right minds if we want to save Yuri and Minju.”The child of Zeus nodded and did as Chaewon instructed. It wasn’t exactly the best fashion statement, having two wads of white candle wax sticking out of their ears like antennas, but there weren’t any better options.After a few minutes, the two emerged from the deck to see Yujin and Wonyoung, also sporting the new fashion fad of the Greek world.The child of Poseidon appeared to yell something before being smacked by Wonyoung, who pointed to her ears to remind her that they couldn’t hear each other.Yujin facepalmed, changing communication strategy by pointing to their north where the Queen Helen was looming larger and larger.Chaewon racked her brain for solutions, but the fact that their ears were plugged only made things more difficult. Conveying a cohesive plan would be almost impossible.Eventually, she decided to just go back to the basics. Korean was one of those languages where reading lips was slightly easier.“Minju.” Chaewon mouthed slowly, the other nodding in understanding.She then pointed at their ears and made a cross with her arms, indicating that the child of Athena was in danger.The two younger girls’ eyes widened in worry. Wonyoung pointed to Siren Island and made a swimming motion.Yena shook her head in response before mouthing “Yuri” and hugging Chaewon to show that she was being held back.Yujin turned back to the ship and pointed at her necklace. The question was clear.
“Do we fight?”
Chaewon shook her head. There were too many monsters and demigods on the ship for just the four of them to take on.As they inched closer to the island, Chaewon began to notice the carnage caused by the water nymphs. Wrecked ships were scattered all along the coast, likely all pulled off course by their melodious voices.From what Minju had told her back then, there was a legend that people who heard the sirens’ song would be shown what their hearts truly desire. The voices may be the same, but what each person would hear was completely different. The thought gave Chaewon a chilling feeling, that the last thing all of these victims saw were their greatest desires only to die shortly after.A sudden tap on the shoulder brings Chaewon back to reality. The others were staring at her expectantly, which was something new. Usually, they’d all confer with Yena first, but given it was Minju’s life that was on the line, there seemed to be a silent understanding between her, Yujin and Wonyoung that it would be the child of Hades’ call.Before she could think of a plan though, Chaewon noticed Yujin’s expression change to a shocked one. It all happened in a split second. The child of Poseidon dove at Chaewon to push her out of the way just as a giant mud ball crash landed onto the deck.Chaewon turned back to the Queen Helen, which was now right on top of them, the cruise liner making their three-mast pirate ship look like a bathtub toy. On the deck above them, an earthborne was picking up dirt from a bucket and molding it into the projectile that had almost just killed her.Wonyoung then frantically pointed at the skies where a flock of Stymphalian birds and harpies were flying towards them.It appeared the option to avoid confrontation was off the table.The girls each took up defensive positions, their swords slashing through the air to protect themselves. Chaewon made eye contact with Yujin, hoping the younger girl would understand what she was asking.
We need to get out of range.
For a second, it appeared her point had gotten across. Yujin raised both of her hands to command the ship to pull to their port side, away from the Queen Helen and away from Siren Island.All they had to do now was keep the flying monsters at bay, but at that moment, Chaewon saw something that made her heart sink.Just as they were starting to speed up, she saw a figure jump from the starboard side of the Queen Helen.
No…
Chaewon didn’t know what came over her, but the next second, she had jumped into the ice-cold water too.~~~~Yujin had just finished putting in the orders to move the Black Pearl away from their adversaries when the unthinkable happened. Chaewon had leapt overboard.Because Yena and Wonyoung had their wax plugs on and were distracted by the number of monsters raining down on them though, they hadn’t noticed.It took the child of Poseidon peering into the distance to realize why. A small dot was frantically swimming towards Siren Island.
Minju…
Yujin was on the verge of panicking. She had to somehow save Chaewon and Minju, defend the ship from their attackers and somehow steer said ship out of danger. Unfortunately, point three could not be done until point one was solved.The only thing they had going for them was that Stymphalian birds and harpies weren’t as big of a threat as some other monsters on the opposite cruise liner. She thanked the gods that earthborne and laistrygonian giants couldn’t fly.It took exactly five seconds for Yujin to eat her words. Despite not having the size and strength of the monsters she’d named, their attackers definitely had more brain power.The harpies, unaffected by the sirens’ songs, changed tactics and chose to only aim for their heads, specifically their ears. If they managed to break their wax plugs-And then it happened. A harpy had snuck up behind Wonyoung in silence and plucked the wax away. The child of Aphrodite looked back at Yujin with a terrified expression before her face began to twitch.A few moments later, Wonyoung pulled out her other wax plug and made a beeline for the side of the ship.Yujin screamed Wonyoung’s name. She tried to give chase but was attacked by another swarm of Stymphalian birds.When she had finished slicing them to pieces, she looked around desperately for Wonyoung who was nowhere in sight.Now, three of their friends were in the water swimming towards their deaths.Yujin turned back and saw Yena who had also just witnessed the same thing. The older girl mouthed one word to her.“GO!”The child of Zeus then raised both hands and caused lighting to rain down from the sky, zapping all of their opponents to dust.Yujin didn’t need to be told a second time. The child of Poseidon ran to the edge of the Black Pearl and took a daring leap.~~~~Given they were in the Sea of Monsters, Yujin’s immediate worry aside from the Sirens were the possible sea serpents and aquatic life below the surface.As such, she sent out a mental warning throughout the waters for nobody to get any ideas. While sailing for the past few hours, Yujin had realized that her reputation as the daughter of Poseidon had spread throughout the seas. Several creatures from regular sharks, whales, and whales to large sea serpents and hippocampi had passed by their ship to pay their respects.She made sure to let everyone know that if anyone messed with her friends, they were messing with her.It didn’t take her long to catch up to Wonyoung. Though she was lanky, the child of Aphrodite was clearly not the best swimmer. Meanwhile, Yujin had bent the current around her to give her a speed boost.When she arrived by Wonyoung’s side, Yujin reached over for the younger girl’s shoulder. The second she made contact though; a sudden flash of light engulfed her vision.After everything cleared, she found herself in an unfamiliar place. It was a mansion on the urban side of Seoul. She was seated at a fancy dining table with all sorts of expensive dishes, and sitting around her, there were three people. One of them, Yujin recognized from the pictures Wonyoung had shown her- it was her father, a well-built man with slicked back hair in his early forties. Next to him was a beautiful woman, almost like an older version of her friend. The aura around her was elegant but powerful. It had to be the goddess of beauty herself, Aphrodite. Yujin then turned to see who was next to her and was shocked. It was… her.Everyone around the table was laughing as they ate and looked at her glowingly. Yujin realized at that moment that she was seeing things from Wonyoung’s point of view, the visions that the sirens were showing her.The child of Poseidon blinked hard and found herself back in the dark waters with Wonyoung thrashing in her arms. She tried to hold her back, but the younger girl refused to give up. The only time she let up was when a large wave engulfed both of them and pushed them under the water.
“That’s it…”
Just like last summer in Seokga’s palace, Yujin willed the water around them and created an airtight bubble. Wonyoung gasped, trying to regain her bearings, but once she met Yujin’s eyes, she looked away in what the older girl could only sense as shame.“Wonyoung-”Before Yujin could finish her sentence, the child of Aphrodite held up a hand. The spell looked broken, but she didn’t want to remove her own wax plugs just yet.Instead, she let Wonyoung close her eyes and rest in their floating little bubble.A school of tuna had swum closer, seemingly interested in the air bubble that had popped up out of nowhere, but Yujin waved them all off.
“All right… one down. Two to go.”
~~~~Chaewon had never considered herself an amazing swimmer, but she was athletic enough to push through the cold currents. After jumping overboard, she realized she was probably doing something really stupid. A big sea creature from below could easily snap her up in an instant; a strong wave could wash her away forever, but at that moment, Chaewon only cared about Minju.To close the distance between her and the child of Athena, Chaewon had to swim under the broken hull of a military ship and squeeze through a large number of floating metal balls that she realized halfway through were explosive mines. One wrong move or flow of the current, and she’d be done for.After diving under a jagged rock wall, scraping her legs on a stray barbed wire, Chaewon resurfaced at a crescent shaped cove. The beach was black, covered in volcanic sand.She looked around desperately for Minju until she spotted a mop of brown hair moving through the waters in the distance, approaching the black beach.Chaewon looked further towards her destination, and that’s when she saw the Sirens. Some legends described them as beautiful maidens, but the creatures perched on the rocks scattered around the cove were far from pretty.Imagine a flock of human sized vultures- dirty black feathers, sharp talons, and slim pink necks. Now imagine human heads on top of those necks that would keep shifting from person to person.Chaewon couldn’t hear them, but she could tell they were singing. As their mouths moved, their faces changed into people she knew- her mother, Yena, Yujin, and Seunggi to name a few, all people she wanted to see right now. Their expressions were inviting her forward, but no matter what face they had, the sirens’ ugly mouths would remain the same, remnants of their previous meals still evident.Minju swam toward them, still too far out of reach. Chaewon needed to think of something quickly.She scanned her surroundings for anything that could be useful, and that’s when she noticed the bones scattered around the coastline.The child of Hades may not have had any advantages in the water, but she did have power over the dead.Just as Minju arrived on the shore and the sirens were ready to pounce, Chaewon gave a defiant yell and commanded all the souls lost in this godforsaken place to rise. Skeletons wearing tattered soldier, pirate, and conquistador outfits suddenly got up and attacked the sirens, who were caught off guard.With all of the nymphs preoccupied, they couldn’t sing, giving Chaewon a chance to tackle a dazed Minju to the ground before she could get closer.“Minju-yah! Kim Minju!” she yelled.Eventually, the child of Athena’s eyes cleared, recognizing the figure on top of her.“Chaewon?” she assumed Minju said, given she couldn’t hear a thing.Chaewon couldn’t help it anymore. She hugged Minju tightly, tears flowing down her cheeks.“I thought I was going to lose you…” she mumbled.Minju, who was also teary-eyed, replied something Chaewon couldn’t quite understand. Before she could ask though, the child of Athena’s eyes widened as she saw something behind Chaewon.When Chaewon turned, she realized it was Yujin and Wonyoung floating on the surface in an air bubble. The younger girl was unconscious while the child of Poseidon was motioning for them to come over quickly.Chaewon realized the skeletons probably couldn’t hold off the sirens forever, and without any ear protection for Minju, they needed to get out of there.The two bolted across the black sand, their wet clothes weighing them down. Once they got into Yujin’s vicinity, the younger girl expanded the bubble a bit more to accommodate them.She then willed the currents to direct them to safety.Behind them, Chaewon saw the last of her skeletons being ripped to shreds by the sirens’ talons. With their prey now gone, the nymphs returned to their rocky posts and resumed their chorus. Chaewon prayed for the safety of the next group of people unlucky enough to stumble upon them.~~~~By the time they got out of the cove, the Queen Helen was long gone, their own ship now floating alone in the waters.Yujin created a waterspout to float them up towards the deck where their bubble promptly popped. She and Chaewon immediately went to cup the ears of Wonyoung and Minju while the boat began sailing forward.When they were sure they were out of range, Chaewon and Yujin let go and collapsed on the deck. The child of Poseidon then moved the still unconscious Wonyoung down to the bedrooms while Minju worked on removing Chaewon’s wax plugs.“Thanks for the save…” the child of Athena said once Chaewon could hear.“I’m just glad… you’re alive.” Chaewon sighed, her energy drained from the skeleton summoning. Using her powers like that always left her drained.“Looks like my storytelling helped you get this far,” Minju chuckled before taking a look around, her expression slowly shifting to a confused one.“Wait, Chae, where’s Yena-unnie?”“Huh… she’s right…” Chaewon did a 360 and didn’t see the child of Zeus anywhere.A few seconds later, Yujin emerged from below deck with a worried face as well.“Unnie, one of the duffle bags is gone. I wanted to give Wonyoung some ambrosia.”Chaewon and Minju then looked at each other, realizing what might’ve happened.They didn’t know how, but Yena must’ve gotten onto the Queen Helen before it left to save Yuri.