CHAPTER XVI:The Show-off Son Of Apollo.

We drafted battle plans, but finally we drafted a plan that might actually work. Half of us would distract Stheno and Eurayle, and the other half would try to not get killed and find the artifacts.

I grabbed my dagger and sword and kept them close. Adam stood balanced on the ships mast. His hair glowed, and he kept his arrows in reach. My brother put a crossbow on his back, and pulled out a dagger. A brutal weapon design with one goal in mind, death. It was a cold steel blade lined with celestial bronze. Capable of all sorts of self defense. Penny held a bronze sword with the Omega symbol etched into the handle. On her arm a steel shield was strapped to it. It bore the symbol Athens, A beautiful white owl.

We all jumped over the side of the ship quickly swimming to shore (Olivia immediately put distance between her and the ship). I ran to the left with Penny and Olivia. Olivia held on tightly to a celestial bronze sword decorated with seashells, and a dagger made of coral. The dagger itself was a nasty piece of work, it had a serrated splinter design. Each spike had celestial bronze shard in it. The tip was worked on by Hephaestus himself. It shot out sandstone, and seashell parts so she could use her powers away from water. We ran around the island as the sounds of fighting and hissing snakes, from the gorgon sisters, faded.

"Over here!" I yelled running to a cave.

I could feel waves of power coming from it. Different god's presence became overwhelming. I could feel Zeus', Athena's, Aphrodite's, and Ares'. The conflicting power tore at me. I felt love, bloodlust, wisdom, and an overwhelming static on the air that made my hair stand up a bit.

I walked into the cave with Penny at my side. We found an area filled with artifacts and weapons. I found a small bronze cylinder with the mark of Zeus etched into it in Platinum, Zeus' lightning bolt. I put it in my pocket, and continued searching. I found a set of daggers belonging to Ares, a book on love magic belonging to Aphrodite, books with the mark of Athena on the spines, a trophy taken from Typhon, and the artifact I recognized right away.

"Penny. I think I found the main source of power here." I said as Penny took several empty sacks off a dusty shelf.

"Yeah, what is it?" Penny asked looking over and she saw it "Is that-".

"The shield of Aegis." I said cutting Penny off.

I picked it up and looked at Medusa's face which was encased in the bronze shield from when she was originally slain by Perseus. While it wasn't to strong weapon wise it was a powerful artifact. You see not many artifacts belong to two gods. While the Aegis technically belonged to Zeus, it was made by Athena as a gift. It had both god's powers radiating from it. I felt Athena's power wash over me in waves, as well as the same staticky feel from Zeus' power.

Penny and me started putting artifacts and weapons into the bags as Olivia walked in "Are we almost done here?" She asked.

I handed her the sack of books and nodded. We ran out with Penny and the bags to the Argo. Sand crunched under our feet, and I could see the fight between Seth's group and the gorgons raging on still. Seth had raised a legion of dead Romans to help fight, Mino carried his sword and Aegis replica, while Adam launched a series of golden arrows. Seth saw me and raised another legion of Roman soldiers to distract Stheno and Eurayle.

"RETREAT!" Seth yelled running back to the ship.

Mino and Seth retreated back to the ship and Adam climbed down from the mast as they set foot on the deck.

My group got the bags on the Argo, and helped Mino and Seth get on board. Olivia willed the ship out to open sea as the dead Athenians rowed. Seth sat down against the side of the ship. He slowly passed out as the ship continued forward. Adam collapsed next to him, and Mino sat against the mast and passed out as well.

"I guess the blessing of Apollo took a real toll on Adam." Olivia said.

"And my brother and Mino went over their power limit." I said.

The ship continued to move through the water back to Florida where we would receive our next orders, and give the artifacts to Hermès.