#ww-no.1

[rhosavirgoart]

It begins..... this gorgeous promptlist from @amonthofwhump

Day 1: Anchor.

[whumpersketch]

A month of whump for May has begun, and I'm attempting to do it! I'm also doing normal mermay drawings on my personal/art blog @undersketchdraws

[newandfiguringitout]

May 1st Anchor

So This is my contribution to the May writing Challenge, I hope to do them every day but bear with me. Also the only knowledge of ships and pirates comes from Pirates of the Caribbean so expect wrong terminology. I am also not the best at writing and such so don’t expect much. The keep reading thing is just to shorten it. 

Content Warning: Disassociation, bruises, kidnapped, unconventional restraints, pirates in general, dehydration, swearing

They tied him to the anchor, to the FUCKING anchor, to keep him out of the way after the second time he escaped the pirate’s brig. It had been oh so easy to pick those locks, the cheap kind with only a few tumblers, the one on the door had been even easier than the shackles. After that it had just been a matter of avoiding crew members until somebody decides - hey I'm gonna go check on that prisoner we got locked up - the bright fucker then had raised the alarm and everyone had gone on a manhunt for the stowaway. 

That was how he had ended up here, tied to the anchor, over the side of the Death’s Courage. Pretty name for a ship, especially suitable for a pirate ship.

The edge of the anchor wasn’t sharp, so he had that to be grateful for, but it dug painfully into his back in a way that was slowly driving him to the brink of madness. The whole situation was not made better by the fact that the sun existed. Well, the sun is important to everything, but it’s current presence beating down on him and blinding him, was not exactly a warm and fuzzy feeling. But it was warm and fuzzy. It was so fucking hot, and his head felt like it had been stuffed with an expensive wool. Wool that could be doing anything else, the wool could be some cape for some monarch or it could keep a sheep warm. But no, it was too busy stuffing his head. All that potential wasted on making him miserable. 

Deep down he knew his thoughts were being stupid and made no sense, but he was content to complain into his brain and let his thoughts drift. Silencing the irrational thoughts took too much effort. So he let himself drift and think of funny and stupid ways to put words together. 

Anything to distract him from the figuratively bruising headache and the literal bruising that would form in rings around his wrists and chest. He couldn’t blame the pirates for tying his hands behind the anchor before wrapping him in ropes, but damn it hurt. It wasn’t even the cut and dry hurt of a knife, it was a silent ache that screamed for attention it didn’t deserve but somehow still got.

He winced as the boat rocked and the pressure on his back increased. He’d have bruises there tomorrow, but couldn’t bring himself to care yet. He could care when he turned his brain back on. 

The pirates had the anchor lashed to the side of the ship and it rested on wooden supports where it could be pushed into the water with little effort. He tried not to think about how easy it would be for them to just shove it into the sea. It would go down fast, only stopping when it reaches the very bottom. It would drag him down and down and down until the water pressure alone would kill him.

“Havin’ fun down there?” The prisoner spared a glance up at the pirate, the man had a face, that much he could tell through bleary eyes, so he could only guess at the man’s expression.

He sent a wary glance at the sea before his eyes shot back up at the man, “The time of my life.” He had tried to cast the comment with his usual care-free tone, but had ended up betraying a smidgen of his misery. He was thirsty, hungry, his legs were cramping, headache pounding at his skull, eyes burning not to mention the thousand other pains that came with being tied to an anchor. In short, this was one of the worst brigs he’s ever been in. How long had he been out here, baked by the sun, chilled by the water and overall exhausted to the bone. 

He supposed that was the point of tying someone to an anchor. 

“Captain figured you should be fed, lest ye waste away.” He knew that sounded too good to not have a dagger hiding behind those words. But he couldn’t help the growl of his stomach at the thought of food. When was the last time he had eaten? 

The pirate disappeared behind the railing of the boat, and he had expected for them to free him so he could feed himself. But no movement came from the heavy chain and the pirate didn’t come back

He craned his neck to try and see what they intended to do to him. Just as he began to think they had been toying with him, he saw a flash of movement over the rail.

“Just a moment sir,” a young voice called, very different from the grizzled pirate he’d seen before. A small head peeked over the side of the rail and gave him a cheeky grin. The boy couldn’t have been more than twelve, the child ducked out of sight and began to climb over the rail, down toward the prisoner. A rope had been fastened around his waist and woven between his legs to make a harness of sorts, some slack had been dropped over the side and he lowered himself down using both hands. Hanging from his belt were a couple of flasks and a canteen. 

Surprised and more than a little awed, the young man watched with fascination as the boy lowered himself and tied off the slack at the top of the anchor. Then climbed down to be standing barefoot on one of the three arms of the anchor. The child had ebony skin, short, curly hair and wore a smile bigger than his over-sized tunic. He stood in a ta-da pose with his arms raised above his head and balancing on the metal. 

His expression must have looked funny, because the kid burst out laughing.

He was nearly at a loss for words, but figured he should start the conversation,“I would applaud but,” he nodded at his torso, wrapped in rope, “I’m a little tied up at the moment.”

The truly terrible pun earned him a snort from the kid who moved closer, to a more balanced place on the metal contraption. 

“Name’s Rig.” the kid reached for one of his flasks and carefully undid it from his belt, apparently unbothered by the swaying of the ship. “But you can calls me Riggs or Riggy.”

“Dalton,” the prisoner replied, eyeing the flask in the kid's hand with keen interest. 

“I brought you some water and some porridge. Porridge is more water than porridge though, had to get it to flow out of the flask you see so I put some water in there.”

Dalton tried to swallow, but it was made difficult by the dryness in his throat. The kid kept grinning and let the stopper hang off the neck of the flask, bringing it to the captive’s lips. Dalton drank the lukewarm water greedily, trying to drink away the salty taste in his mouth. Riggy pulled the water away and Dalton tried to follow it with his mouth. 

“Not so fast sir, you’ll get sick,” he said the last half as if sharing a secret, low whisper and wide eyed. The moment only lasted a few brief seconds before the kid, Riggy, broke the stoic silence with a toothy grin. “I got you some porridge too sir,” he stopped the flask and returned it to his belt where he pulled out a slightly smaller one.

“Ole’ Gin makes the best porridge, all thick and creamy, but it doesn’t pour right so I watered it down. More like broth than porridge but it’s still porridge sir.” Riggy looked up at Dalton, (despite having gangly limbs the child was short) his eyes searching for .... approval? 

Dalton glances down at the flask, hunger at the forefront of his mind. “In my books porridge is porridge, and that right there,” he nodded to the flask, “sounds like a truly splendid meal.” 

Rig giggled, a pure and innocent sound, and brought the flask to the captive’s lips. A slightly warm, and significantly diluted, almost bitter tasting sludge flowed smoothly into Dalton’s mouth. He nearly moaned with delight. It was food. Food. Not solid, and definitely not tasty, but it was food. 

Rig fed him the porridge slowly, at Dalton’s request. He didn’t want to put too much in just to have it all come right back out. During the entire time Rig talked. 

“I’m called Rigs because I can climb all over the rigging and ropes over the whole ship. I’ve climbed to the top a the main mast from the poop deck without touching a plank of wood, 14 times. None of the others in the crew can say that cause they’ve never done it. I also know all of the knots Dannon knows and I’m trying to get Jimi Bones to teach me his. The knots he ties don’t come out even in the worst weather and nobody can untie ‘em, or at least figure out how to.” The boy could talk the beak off a parrot that's for sure, it was almost a surprise he wasn’t named Parriot or some equally witty and comical name. 

Dalton didn’t mind though. It was endearing watching the boy’s eyes light up as he described exactly how to get ‘Ole Gin to give the best rations or give descriptions of the sea battles they’d witnessed. 

It was quite good fun to listen to his stories that only needed marginal prompting, and Dalton was exceedingly grateful that he didn’t have to contribute anything to the conversation. The metal still cut into his back, and his eyes still burned from the saltwater, but he had food in him and was now being given water liberally from the flask. The canteen hadn’t been unscrewed and it seemed they were both alright with that, Dalton didn’t care to drink unless it was to get drunk so he was content to listen to Rig’s tales. 

Suddenly Rig goes quiet, he glances around at the open ocean before leaning in close and whispering, “you ever hear of mermaids?” The boy’s dark eyes were wide and completely serious in a way that made it very clear the question was not rhetorical.

“Heard of them? Yes.” Dalton answered slowly, in a far too hushed tone, “But I have never laid eyes on one.” he had purposely left the conversational mermaid door open for Rig to gush about but the lad went disturbingly silent. 

“What have you heard?” The question was so open and almost urgent, that it worried Dalton. 

“Bits and pieces of lore,” he answered carefully, “half of it probably false.” He almost stopped there, but those wide eyes were staring up at him with curiosity so intense he continued. “I’ve heard that they lure men to their deaths with a ghostly song,” Rig’s eyes widened in fear, “but mermaids don’t do that, Sirens do.” the boy seemed to deflate with relief at the assurance.

“What else do you know?”

Dalton paused, this was a very unusual turn of the conversation, but the boy’s intensity slightly frightened him so he continued. “I’ve heard that they are not born half human, but are the souls of women thrown overboard or who died at sea. That they seek revenge against those who had wronged and killed them. I’ve heard that they have the beauty of an angel and that their song is the most lovely ever heard by human ears, and that their kiss will save a man from drowning. But I’ve only heard this, over rumor or myth, I wouldn’t count it to be true but there is no way to be certain what is true and what are the fancies of a bard.” Rig had stayed ghostly silent, listening intently to the words Dalton spoke. 

After a period of silence, Rig asked, “so you believe in them?”

“I would never say they were fable, but I wouldn’t go telling the world about them lest I see one with my own eyes.” He had said it in a way to treat it as a light hearted life lesson, ‘never believe something till you see it yourself’ type of thing, but it came off with far too much foreboding. 

Rig didn’t seem to notice and began speaking quietly, “I’ve heard that Jude Hewitt saw one,” he leaned in closer, “near Remsall Bay. Swimming like a dolphin, inky black hair flowing after her. Jyll Gold said he saw seaweed, until she saw it too. Said she’d never forget the hateful eyes that she swore were filled with the void itself.” Rig nodded all too solemnly before continuing. “They say that you don’t see them first, you hear ‘em, a voice so angelic you think you’ve died. The kind of voice you would follow into hell or a reaf. The kind of voice that kills you. The first thing you see is the hair. It billows around them like seaweed, you just see little tufts of color, floating like oil stains on the sea. Then they say, they bring their heads just above water. All you can see is the face of a goddess with hair flowing around them.” He paused. “That’s when the crew starts going overboard.” A haunted look crosses their face. 

It is gone in a flash of a grin across their dark skin. Dalton couldn’t help but return it with his own toothy smile. Even if the smile felt far too fake.

“I best be off then,” Rig stands from where he had been sitting on one of the arms, “best of luck to ye sir.” He tilts his invisible hat to Dalton, and begins climbing up the ropes with a practiced grace. 

“Just call me Dalton,” he called after him. 

Rig turned back to look at the man, “Will do Sir Dalton.” The captive let out a joyless laugh as the boy disappeared onto the deck. 

Dalton turned back to stare into the sea, Rig’s words stayed with him as his eyes wandered over the rolling waves. Mermaids staying far too long in his mind.

[whumpkitty]

Day 1 Anchor

Im testing some stuff, trying to see if the tagging system will work for me right now bc it’s been super screwy the last few weeks.

for @amonthofwhump’s may challenge, im a bit behind but if this posts properly I'll try to get back on track

part two can be found here

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus

TW: Impalement

Day 1 anchor

“Percy, are you sure about this?”

Perseus Jackson stood on the deck of the Argo 2 and stared out across the glimmering water, eyes reflecting the waves. The son of Poseidon sighed, and turned towards his girlfriend.

“Honestly? No, but I don’t really know what else we can do right now.”

“He’s right,” Piper stepped forward and motioned towards the water. “Katoptris said that there was something here that we need, and I only saw Percy going into the lake. Besides, it’s not like anyone else can breathe underwater,” she glanced at Percy, who nodded at her. “I don’t like it either, but if it’s something that can help us stop Gaea, then it’s worth the risk.”

“But-! It’s not like the visions that Styx-damned dagger show you are ever safe! They always end up with someone getting hurt, and I can’t-!”

“Hey, it’s okay Annabeth, I’ll be right back, nothing’s going to happen,” Percy reached out and placed a hand on Annabeth’s shoulder, but she stepped back, shrugging him off. The daughter of Athena wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering as she looked out across the water herself.

“I don’t know… I just have a bad feeling about this…”

Percy sighed and eyed the water. The Argo 2 was hovering over an enormous lake, not very far from where they had last run into a flock of Stymphalian birds. The water was strangely green, shimmering strangely in the late afternoon light. Even though it was a lake, there were decent sized waves crashing against the rocky cliffs that ringed it. As Percy watched at the water, a chill ran down his spine, like there was someone watching him. He shook himself, and flashed a grin in Annabeth’s direction.

“Come on, I’ve done stuff a lot harder than free diving in a lake. It’ll be fine!”

Annabeth still looked concerned, but she nodded. A few minutes later, Percy found himself hanging from the last rung of the ladder on the Argo 2, staring at the water. It was even greener up close. He shuddered, the weird chill spidering up his back again. He looked back up at the ship, before closing his eyes and jumping into the water.

It was cold as Styx. Holy mother of Hera it was absolutely freezing. Percy gasped as he registered the cold and he spent a moment just floating and shivering. He shook his head.

I’ll warm up if I start swimming. He peered around himself in the murk, wondering what exactly he was supposed to be looking for, before he shrugged and started swimming off in a direction.

As he moved through the water, Percy noticed that there seemed to be no life in the lake at all. Which was strange. Actually, it was more than strange. There weren’t any fish, or crabs, or even those tiny little bugs that sometimes float around in the water and are super annoying to get out of your hair. There wasn’t even any plant life. Not an ounce of seaweed, not a patch of seagrass. And yet the water was still a bright emerald green. That was… odd. Percy paused for a moment, closing his eyes and concentrating. Normally he could tell when there were fish or other sea creatures nearby - it was a sort of prickling sensation on his skin, that Annabeth told him must be him sensing their electromagnetic pulses, or something. But right now he felt nothing. The lake was truly and utterly empty.

Percy’s eyes snapped open as a breath of frigid water ghosted across him. He whirled in the direction of the sudden current, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Percy blinked upon realizing just how dark it had gotten in the lake. The sun must have gone down above water, and despite Percy’s heightened vision it was getting difficult to see.

He pulled Riptide out of his pocket and uncapped the pen. It expanded out into his sword, the Celestial bronze glowing faintly. Immediately, Percy doubled over in pain. The moment his sword appeared, a grating scream echoed throughout the water. Shrill and rising in pitch, it tore at the demigod as he wrapped his arms around his head in a desperate attempt to block the noise out. It reverberated in his bones, turning over and over in the water, coming in waves that grew more and more horrible. Percy pitched his own voice to the din, screaming. It felt like his head was going to burst, oh gods make it stop make it stop make it stop..!

All of a sudden, it cut off, and Percy was left shuddering in the dark water. He uncurled slowly. He had dropped Riptide, and it had not yet reappeared in his pocket. He looked around himself, shaking, trying to find his sword or what made the screaming, when a creaking from behind him drew his attention.

A deep groan sounded through the water right before a shattering boom blasted through Percy. Right before Percy’s eyes, a huge ship, likely sunk decades ago, judging by the state of decay, emerged from the darkness. It bore down on him, a hulking shape in the water, sharp spines of wood and metal jutting out of it in every direction. Another crack of wood shot through the water, and Percy cried out, trying to harden the water around him to protect himself from the wreckage. The water swirled around him, freezing cold and Percy swore it laughed at him.

Percy whited out for a moment at the impact. All the air (water?) was knocked from his lungs as the ship powered through the water, carrying him down with it. The demigod was pinned to the front of the ship, kept in place by the sheer force of the wreck as it sank farther. His chest heaved with the effort of trying to bring water into his lungs, despite the speed at which the liquid was moving past him. He dizzily raised his head and had just enough time to register the lake bed coming up toward them before the ship crashed into the ground.

-----------------------

[whumpallday]

Month of Water Whump: Day 1 - Anchor

‘Tis May everyone! And I’m way excited for these challenges because I can flesh out one of my mermaid characters... She’s my favorite. xD Thanks to @amonthofwhump for the prompt list and the set-up of the challenge! 

So this one is actually a flashback... Apparently my anti-social mermaid doesn’t deal with anchors very much. *shrug emoji*

TW: Blunt force trauma, broken bones, verbal abuse.

A young Caelaupa swam through the streets of Arcraede, gentle tendrils bumping against her tail. She was headed out, out to the open water where there weren’t other mer’s to giggle at the way she looked. 

She swam out, casually avoiding the small watchtower and started swimming along the sand. There wasn’t much out here, except Arcraede. Home and school of the sirens, whenever a new arrival was created, they were sent to Arcaede to learn to control and utilize their Lilt. A siren who didn’t know how to control the bloodlust was a siren that could doom their race. 

Small thoughts made her way through her mind as she swam until she reached her little cave, out of sight and out of mind from the others. Caelaupa picked up a tiny shell knife, then turned and went out again into the open water to hunt for shells. 

All was going well, until she found... something. It definitely wasn’t a shell, it was about twice as big as her. She swam around it, tilting her head. It was hard, like rock, but colder. There was also a rope, going up to the surface. She couldn’t see quite that far, so she settled for examining it, poking it, and trying to figure out what it was.

“Well if it isn’t little Caeloopy. Are you completely gone, or do you just like breaking rules?” 

Caela turned around quickly, pupils turning into slits and ear fins flaring in surprise. About 10 feet away, Seleina and her friends were swimming. Why they were out here, she didn’t know, but she’d tried to get away from them. 

She wasn’t really sure what to say. What rule had she broken? “H-hi Seleina.” 

Seleina swam up, circling the anchor and peering down at Caela. “It’s an awful shame really, you shouldn’t be playing around human stuff. You know the rules.”

Caela jumped. “I-it’s human?” Her fins pressed against her head slightly, and her eyes were worried. 

Seleina laughed, “Of course it is. You don’t think a mer would do something like this? Kinda sad you got pinned underneath.” 

Her brow furrowed and she backed away from the anchor slightly. “But I... I didn’t... I’m just fine.” 

The two friends that had stayed back suddenly swam forward, pushing Caela towards the anchor as Seleina pushed the anchor towards Caela. 

The two met in the middle, and the heavy anchor came down, smashing into Caela’s tail and pushing it down into the seabed. There was a small snap, and Caela cried out. 

Seleina laughed, then cut the rope connecting it to whatever was above with Caela’s small knife. “It’s too bad. No one’s going to be looking for you until dinnertime. What is that, one, two days?” She laughed, then flicked her tail, starting to swim away. 

Caela tried to push herself up, looking towards them frantically. “No- no please- please don’t- don’t leave me- please don’t leave m-me like- don’t leave me like this!” There were predators around here. Tiger sharks frequented the area, and if she was pinned like this, she was a sitting meal. 

The only response was a rude gesture, and then the trio disappeared from sight. Caela turned, trying frantically to ease any of the weight, pushing against the heavy metal. She could feel her bones, the ones that had broke, inside, pushing into things they weren’t supposed to be touching. Weren’t supposed to be hurting. 

She pushed for about an hour, then collapsed down, panting and going limp, exhausted. The anchor was solidly on her tail, and she couldn’t get it to budge. She could feel each heartbeat, throbbing through her tail and towards the tip, which was starting to go numb. She wouldn’t be able to swim for days, and she’d get punished for sneaking out. 

If they even found her. 

[nywcgirl]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: White Collar Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke Additional Tags: ww-no., water whump 2020, Alternate Universe, merman Neal, Near Drowning, Accident Series: Part 17 of May whump 2020 Summary:

Peter enjoys his sailing trip, until he doesn't

[whumpkitty]

Day 1 Anchor Pt 2

for the MerMay whump challenge, hosted by @amonthofwhump continuation of part 1 Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus TW: Impalement

Annabeth nervously paced on the deck of the Argo 2. It had been two hours since Percy went down into the lake, and so far no one had heard anything. Piper was watching Katoptris, Leo was doing repairs on the ship, and Hazel, Frank and Jason were helping him. Annabeth knew that, yes, rationally speaking, this wasn’t the most dangerous thing Percy had ever done. But the feeling of unease that first started when Piper told them about her vision had just grown when Percy disappeared in the water, which also was decidedly not behaving like lake water, and excuse Annabeth for worrying about her boyfriend who seemed to attract trouble wherever he went.

She paused in her pacing for a moment, chewing on her lip anxiously. Annabeth glanced towards the water once, before storming towards the mast where Leo was perched hammering something.

The sudden boom that ripped through the air shook the ship and Annabeth nearly fell over. Leo yelped from above her and she heard startled cries from the other demigods. Annabeth whirled around, almost tripping over herself as she ran back to the railing.

The water, a once shining green, relatively undisturbed, had turned into a swirling mess. The water sloshed angrily against the cliffs, tearing chunks out of the stone and turning the water cloudy and dark. A trail of deep black blossomed out from the far side of the lake, trailing farther and farther out into the middle of the lake.

Another boom made Annabeth jump and cling to the railing of the ship.

“What the Hades is happening?” Leo’s indignant yelling drew next to the daughter of Athena, just as the other demigods appeared on deck.

“What’s going on?” Jason had his sword out, ready to fight. “Are we under attack?”

Annabeth shook her head, unable to tear her eyes away from the black stain spreading across the water. Piper gasped as she saw the lake.

“Oh my gods, is-? What’s -?”

“Percy’s in trouble,” Annabeth gasped out, feeling lightheaded. “Percy’s in trouble, we have to go get him,” she started moving towards the ladder that still hung from the side of the ship when a hand grabbed her around the wrist. She looked back to see Jason, a worried look on his face.

“Annabeth, you can’t go underwater. Frank and I will go,” the blonde looked back at Frank, who nodded. The two boys raced over toward the ledge of the ship. They leapt off, Frank gliding down as some kind of bird while Jason did his Superman thing. Annabeth watched as they hit the surface of the now black water.

Please be okay, Seaweed Brain.

-----------------------

Percy groaned. Oh gods, everything hurt. He cracked his eyes open to see complete blackness. He squinted, trying to make out anything that could explain why everything hurt so damn much. His eyes slowly adjusted and he was able to see jagged bits of rusted metal and rotten wood surrounding him. He groaned again as he remembered how he got in this position. The shipwreck. The screaming.

The ship must have folded around him when it hit the bottom for him to have survived. Percy glared around himself, trying to make out more of his surroundings. He moved to sit up when a searing pain in his leg made him cry out and sink back. The ship’s anchor had somehow gotten tangled up in the wreckage of the bow. It was laying over him, and by some miracle had not fallen flat and crushed him. However, one of the flukes was stabbed straight through his thigh. As soon as he noticed the pain, Percy was overwhelmed with the smell and taste of iron in the water and he gagged.

Eyes squeezed shut, Percy slowly sat up, grimacing as every movement pulled at the torn flesh. He still couldn’t see very well through the murky water. The demigod reached into his pocket and was overwhelmed with relief when his fingers curled around Riptide. He uncapped it and the sword sent a faint glow over his surroundings. The anchor was fairly small, and thank the gods for that, or else it might have sheared his leg off entirely. The metal was completely rusted apart, but despite Percy’s best efforts, it wouldn’t shift. He choked back a sob.

The others must have heard the ship cracking, right? Percy shuddered and looked up towards the surface. He cried out as the movement jostled his leg. Whimpering slightly, Percy clung to the anchor. He could still taste his blood in the water. Maybe it was the cold, but Percy felt sluggish. He shuddered, eyes trying to focus on the wreckage as black spots crept into his vision. His head bobbed in the current and he thought he heard a voice laughing. Percy vaguely noted that it looked like he had been wrong about there being no fish, since there was something yellow and purple coming towards him. He took a moment to wonder whether he should be worried about that, but gods he was… really tired. If the fish wanted to eat him it would just have to wake him up later.

-----------------------

Jason waved his sword through the water in a wide arc, trying to orient himself in the murk. Frank had transformed into a giant goldfish when they entered the water, which at the time did not seem particularly useful, but Jason realized now was pretty smart, considering his scales had a pale glow to them. Frank swam through the water a little ways away from Jason, avoiding the miniature tornado the son of Jupiter had formed around himself.

The two had landed about where the black streak started out from and they had found a torn up lakebed with a good amount of debris from what looked to be a sailing ship. The only problem was, there was no ship. Jason felt the unease rising in him as the two followed the trail of destruction along the bottom of the lake. Whatever had made it was big, and Jason did not want to think about what that could mean.

Frank suddenly came to a stop in front of him. The goldfish made an odd burbling noise before heading straight down. Jason swallowed and followed him. He gasped when the wreckage of a ship emerged from the darkness. It was crushed to pieces, spread across a large expanse of the lakebed.

Well, guess we know what made that boom.

The pair approached the ship. Frank morphed into a shark to fit better, leaving Jason to hold his sword out in front of him as a rudimentary light.

“Come on Jackson, you better be down here…” the blonde muttered under his breath. As they swam closer towards the front of the ship, Jason noticed a faint glow. He motioned to Frank, who nodded as best he could. Jason pulled his sword back and crept out from behind a splintered segment of wall.

Percy was clinging to an anchor like his life depended on it, Riptide unsheathed and lying next to him in the wreckage. Jason sighed with relief and moved towards the other demigod. Percy lifted his head and Jason noticed the glazed over look in his eyes a moment before the son of the sea god shivered and his eyes rolled back in his head.

Jason dove forward, registering the anchor embedded in Percy’s leg and the red tint to the water around them as Frank came into view. Jason nodded towards the anchor and together, he and Frank managed to drag it out of and off of Percy.

The blonde grabbed Percy under the shoulders. As the air pocket moved around him, the teen groaned. Jason and Frank powered through the water, breaking through the surface of the lake two hundred meters or so from where the Argo 2 was hovering. Frank morphed back into a bird while Jason adjusted his grip on Percy, flying up towards the ship.

The others had gathered on the deck and the moment they landed Annabeth pulled Percy away from the blonde.

“What happened?” Hazel watched, eyes wide, as Annabeth started cleaning the wound with nectar while Piper ran below deck to get bandages.

“There was a shipwreck down there, and he got pinned under the anchor somehow,” Jason explained.

“He’s lost some blood, but you’ll be fine, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth muttered, almost to herself, as she finished cleaning the wound. Piper reappeared and thrust a roll of bandages at Annabeth, who promptly wrapped them around the hole in Percy’s leg. The son of Poseidon stirred, groaning slightly as his eyes blinked open. They found their way over to Annabeth and he grinned at her.

“Told you… it’d be fine.”

She choked back a sob, half relief and half exasperation and threw her arms around his neck. She released him after a moment and he blearily looked around at the demigods standing around him, before finally settling on Piper.

“Piper… I think your dagger is trying to kill us…” he slurred as the others laughed around him.