FIRST IT WAS the stupid cow things — they were called katobleps, Kat was half right — and now it was giant turtles? Could they not get a break? Next thing you know, there'll be monster flamingos going after them. Which would be a shame. Kat loved flamingos. If you couldn't tell already.

Kat was kissing Jason, actually, when the ship lurched forward. She had fallen backward off of him and hit the ground. He'd caught himself on the bed just in time to not join her.

"Ow!" she groaned.

"You alright?" Jason was instantly on his feet, helping her stand.

"We were cockblocked, do you think I'm okay?" Kat patted his hand for helping her up as they started running out of his room.

"Stop using that word, Rina."

"No."

The ship rocked to port with a massive commotion, like telephone poles snapping in half. Kat caught herself on the wall just in time to avoid tripping again.

"The fuck is happening up there?" she muttered as she followed Jason, drawing Cortana on the way.

When they got up there, they were immediately greeted by Hazel and Frank on the ground. Jason jumped over them, so Kat followed, saying, "don't have too much fun down there!"

Piper was already on the quarterdeck, shooting food from her cornucopia and yelling, "Hey! HEY! Eat this, ya stupid turtle!"

Turtle?

Sure enough, it was a turtle. The size of an island, yes, but still a turtle. Its shell was like a landmass — hills of bone, shiny pearl valleys, kelp and moss forests, rivers of seawater trickling down the grooves of its carapace.

Its gold eyes were the size of wading pools, with dark sideways slits for pupils. Its skin glistened like wet army camouflage — brown flecked with green and yellow. Its red, toothless mouth could've swallowed the Athena Parthenos in one bite.

Yeah, Kat was so fucked. What the fuck.

Nearby, Frank fired arrows in its eyes as an attempt to drive it away. Key word being attempt, because that turtle was really gunning for something. Probably to kill them, because everything wanted to kill them.

Leo frantically worked the ship's controls. "Oars won't retract. Get it away! Get it away!"

Up in the rigging, Nico's face was slack with shock.

"Styx — it's huge!" he yelled. "Port! Go port!"

Hedge was the last one on deck. He compensated for that with enthusiasm. He bounded up the steps, waving his baseball bat, and without hesitation goat-galloped to the stern and leaped over the rail with a gleeful "Ha-HA!"

The boat shuddered. More oars snapped, and Leo yelled, "No, no, no! Dang slimy-shelled son of a mother!"

Kat watched as it snapped off half a dozen oars.

"Stop that!" Leo wailed.

Hedge clambered around the turtle's shell, whacking at it uselessly with his baseball bat and yelling, "Take that! And that!"

Jason flew from the stern and landed on the creature's head. He stabbed his golden sword straight between its eyes, but the blade slipped sideways, as if the turtle's skin were greased steel. Frank shot arrows at the monster's eyes with no success. The turtle's filmy inner eyelids blinked with uncanny precision, deflecting each shot. Piper shot cantaloupes into the water, yelling, "Fetch, ya stupid turtle!" But the turtle seemed fixated on eating the Argo II.

"Cortana, go for the mouth!" Kat ordered, and her sword flew toward the turtle. It opened its mouth — probably to try and eat her sword, which, gross — and Cortana flew in and presumably stabbed the inside of the mouth. The turtle opened its mouth and Cortana flew back to Kat.

"Good sword," she said. "Try again?"

Sadly, when Cortana tried again, the turtle refused to open its mouth. A shame. It flew back to Kat's hand.

"How did it get so close?" Hazel demanded.

Leo threw his hands up in exasperation. "Must be that shell. Guess it's invisible to sonar. It's a freaking stealth turtle!"

"Can the ship fly?" Piper asked.

"With half our oars broken off?" Leo punched some buttons and spun his sphere thingy. "I'll have to try something else."

"There!" Nico yelled from above. "Can you get us to those straits?"

Kat looked where he was pointing. About half a mile to the east, a long strip of land ran parallel to the coastal cliffs. It was hard to be sure from a distance, but the stretch of water between them looked to be only twenty or thirty yards across — possibly wide enough for the Argo II to slip through, but definitely not wide enough for the giant turtle's shell.

"Yeah. Yeah." Leo apparently understood. He turned his stupid sphere. "Jason, get away from that thing's head! I have an idea!"

Jason was still hacking away at the turtle's face, but when he heard Leo say I have an idea, he made the only smart choice. He flew away as fast as possible.

"Coach, come on!" Jason said.

"No, I got this!" Hedge said, but Jason grabbed him around the waist and took off. Unfortunately, the coach struggled so much that Jason's sword fell out of his hand and splashed into the sea.

"Coach!" Jason complained.

"What?" Hedge said. "I was softening him up!"

The turtle head-butted the hull, almost tossing the whole crew off the port side. Kat heard a cracking sound, like the keel had splintered.

"Just another minute," Leo said, his hands flying over the console.

"We might not be here in another minute!" Frank fired his last arrow.

Piper yelled at the turtle, "Go away!"

For a moment, it actually worked. The turtle turned from the ship and dipped its head underwater. But then it came right back and rammed them even harder.

Jason and Hedge landed on the deck.

"You alright?" Kat asked. The parallels.

"Fine," muttered Jason. "Without a weapon, but fine."

"Fire in the shell!" cried Leo, spinning his Wii controller.

Kat thought the stern had exploded. Jets of fire blasted out behind them, washing over the turtle's head. The ship shot forward and threw her into a mast.

She groaned, holding onto the mast instinctively as the ship bounced over the waves at incredible speed, trailing fire like a rocket. The turtle was already a hundred yards behind them, its head charred and smoking.

The monster bellowed in frustration and started after them, its paddle feet scooping through the water with such power that it actually started to gain on them. The entrance to the straits was still a quarter mile ahead.

"A distraction," muttered Leo. "We'll never make it unless we get a distraction."

"A distraction," repeated Hazel.

Nearly right after she said that, her stupid — sorry, super — speedy horse appeared on the quarterdeck as if by magic.

Hazel climbed on his back. "Piper, I could use that charmspeak of yours."

"Once upon a time, I liked turtles," Piper muttered, accepting a hand up. "Not anymore!"

Hazel spurred Arion. He leaped over the side of the boat, hitting the water at a full gallop.

Hazel and Piper zipped around the monster's head, Hazel slicing with her sword, Piper shouting random commands like, "Dive! Turn left! Look behind you!" None of it was really doing much, but it was a distraction, and that's all they needed.

Soon the monster had completely forgotten the Argo II. Hazel kept stabbing at its head. Piper kept yelling commands and using her cornucopia to bounce coconuts and roasted chickens off the turtle's eyeballs.

As soon as the Argo II had passed into the straits, Arion appeared on deck a moment later with Hazel and Piper in tow.

The rocket fire had extinguished, though smoking bronze exhaust vents still jutted from the stern. The Argo II limped forward under sail power, but their plan had paid off. They were safely harbored in the narrow waters, with a long, rocky island to starboard and the sheer white cliffs of the mainland to port. The turtle stopped at the entrance to the straits and glared at them balefully, but it made no attempt to follow. Its shell was obviously much too wide.

Hazel dismounted and got a big hug from Frank. "Nice work out there!" he said.

Her face flushed. "Thanks."

Piper slid down next to her, and Kat pulled her in a one-armed embrace. "Leo, since when do we have jet propulsion?" asked Piper.

"Aw, you know . . ." Leo tried to look modest and failed. Cocky brat. "Just a little something I whipped up in my spare time. Wish I could give you more than a few seconds of burn, but at least it got us out of there."

"And roasted the turtle's head," Jason said appreciatively. "So what now?"

"Kill it!" Hedge said. "You even have to ask? We got enough distance. We got ballistae. Lock and load, demigods!"

Jason frowned. "Coach, first of all, you made me lose my sword."

"Hey! I didn't ask for an evac!"

"Second, I don't think the ballistae will do any good. That shell is like Nemean Lion skin. Its head isn't any softer."

"So we chuck one right down its throat," Hedge said, "like you guys did with that shrimp monster thing in the Atlantic. Light it up from the inside."

Kat hummed. "Cortana did some damage inside its mouth," she added helpfully.

Frank scratched his head. It lowkey looked ridiculous with how tall and buff he was now. Seriously, what was with that? "Might work. But then you've got a five-million-kilo turtle carcass blocking the entrance to the straits. If we can't fly with the oars broken, how do we get the ship out?"

"You wait and fix the oars!" said Hedge. "Or just sail the other direction, you big galoot."

Frank looked confused. "What's a galoot?"

"Guys!" Nico called down from the mast. "About sailing the other direction? I don't think that's going to work."

He pointed past the prow.

A quarter mile ahead of them, the long rocky strip of land curved in and met the cliffs. The channel ended in a narrow V.

"We're not in a strait," said Jason, a little ominously. "We're in a dead end."

"This is a trap," Hazel declared.

Everyone looked at her.

"Nah, it's fine," assured Leo. "Worse that happens, we make repairs. Might take overnight, but I can get the ship flying again."

At the mouth of the inlet, the turtle roared. It didn't appear interested in leaving.

"Well . . ." Piper shrugged. "At least the turtle can't get us. We're safe here."

That was something no demigod should ever say. The words had barely left Piper's mouth when an arrow sank into the mainmast, six inches from her face.

The crew scattered for cover, except for Piper, who stood frozen in place, gaping at the arrow that had almost pierced her nose the hard way.

"Pipes, are you trying to get killed?" asked Kat.

But no other missiles rained down.

Frank studied the angle of the bolt in the mast and pointed toward the top of the cliffs.

"Up there," he said. "Single shooter. See him?"

The sun was in her eyes, but Kat spotted a tiny figure standing at the top of the ledge. His bronze armor glinted.

"Who the heck is he?" demanded Leo. "Why is he firing at us?"

"Guys?" Piper's voice was thin and watery. "There's a note."

Kat hadn't seen it before, but a parchment scroll was tied to the arrow shaft.

Hazel stormed over and untied it.

"Uh, Hazel?" Leo said. "You sure that's safe?"

"Let the gorgeous, gorgeous girls be angry, Leo, come on," commented Kat.

Hazelread the note out loud. "First line: Stand and deliver."

"What does that mean?" Hedge complained. "We are standing. Well, crouching, anyway. And if that guy is expecting a pizza delivery, forget it!"

Ooh, pizza. Pizza sounded really good. If they survived this, of course.

"There's more," Hazel said. "This is a robbery. Send two of your party to the top of the cliff with all your valuables. No more than two. Leave the magic horse. Don't use the magic sword. No flying. No tricks. Just climb."

"Climb what?" asked Piper.

Nico pointed. "There."

A narrow set of steps was carved into the cliff, leading to the top. The turtle, the dead-end channel, the cliff . . . Kat got the feeling this was not the first time the letter writer had ambushed a ship here.

Hazel cleared her throat and kept reading aloud: "I do mean all your valuables. Otherwise my turtle and I will destroy you. You have five minutes."

"Use the catapults!" cried the coach.

"P.S.," Hazel read, "Don't even think about using your catapults."

"Curse it!" said the coach. "This guy is good."

"Is the note signed?" asked Kat.

Hazel shook her head.

Leo studied the cliff top and muttered under his breath. "That's not a good trajectory. Even if I could arm the catapult before that guy pincushioned us with arrows, I don't think I could make the shot. That's hundreds of feet, almost straight up."

"Yeah," Frank grumbled. "My bow is useless too. He's got a huge advantage, being above us like that. I couldn't reach him."

"I don't know how fast Cortana would get to him," Kat frowned. "And if he's an immortal, it probably wouldn't work. It's a 50/50."

"And, um . . ." Piper nudged the arrow that was stuck in the mast. "I have a feeling he's a good shot. I don't think he meant to hit me. But if he did . . ."

She didn't need to elaborate. Whoever that robber was, he could hit a target from hundreds of feet away. He could shoot them all before they could react.

"I'll go," volunteered Hazel.

The weasel that's been following her around for, honestly, way too long, scampered along the railing and jumped on her shoulder, ready to hitch a ride.

Everyone stared at her.

Frank gripped his bow. "Hazel—"

"No, listen," she said, "this robber wants valuables. I can go up there, summon gold, jewels, whatever he wants."

Kat raised an eyebrow. "If we pay him off, you think he'll actually let us go? It'd work on me, that's for sure."

"We don't have much choice," said Nico. "Between that guy and the turtle . . ."

Jason raised his hand. The others fell silent.

"I'll go too," he said. "The letter says two people. I'll take Hazel up there and watch her back. Besides, I don't like the look of those steps. If Hazel falls . . . well, I can use the winds to keep us both from coming down the hard way."

Hazel's horse whinnied in protest.

"I have to, Arion," Hazel said. "Jason . . . yes. I think you're right. It's the best plan."

"Only wish I had my sword." Jason glared at the coach. "It's back there at the bottom of the sea, and we don't have Percy to retrieve it."

The name Percy passed over them like a cloud. The mood on deck got even darker.

"Give me a—" Kat started, but Hazel stretched out her arm, and Jason's blade flew out of the water and into her hand.

"Metal," commented Kat.

"Here," Hazel said, handing it over.

Jason's eyes widened. "How . . . that was like half a mile!"

"I've been practicing," she said. "Now, if there are no other objections, we have a robber to meet."

omg daily updates are back ( they're not i have sm stuff to do the next few days but i'm almost done w school!!! )

<3 maybel