As you set out for Ithaka (private)

Jana Kay walked down to the prow of the trireme, the wind blowing her braid to the side. The ship was powerful and had the advantage of rowing itself, which had helped them more than once on their trip. They had escaped Charybdis's maelström and Scylla's hungry jaws by a hair only thanks to the ship's dexterity and James' skills with the sea.
After a few unfortunate stops in monster-populated islands and an incident with coconuts (long story), the two were finally approaching their destination: Aeaea, home of the enchantress Circe. Which was the only reason Jana Kay would crawl out of her cabin, since she got seasick every time she set foot on the deck.
Grabbing on to the edge of the wooden railing, she squinted at the island with a hand above her eyes. "We're close, but maybe that's just my vision blurring. Again."

Being the son of a sea god had its perks, especially when you had to go on a long expedition at a dangerous sea to save said god. Well, not the god himself per say, but still. Navigating the beautiful, enhanced trireme was child's play as that feeling in my gut that only water-related demigods at sea knew showed me the way to our destination: the evil witch, Circe's island. It had taken us a long time to get here, especially since we had to go through the whole (well, not the whole, but a tiny bit of exaggeration never hurt anybody) Sea of Monsters and face some of its most powerful inhabitants. But Aeaea was finally in the horizon, which meant lunch break was over. Time for some serious business.

Finishing up my chicken sandwich, I stood up from my chair behind the steering wheel as I saw a certain sick-looking daughter of Demeter emerge from below deck. "Ahoy, pretty princess! Land ahead! Land ahead!" I called out as I jogged to her side with a playful grin on my face. "Thank you for travelling with Triton Express, we hope you had a pleasant trip."I bowed dramatically before her before pointing at the now clearer island ahead of us. "And no, your vision is not getting blurry, this is indeed our final destination. Well, unless you got puke in your eye again, dunno about that."I shrugged, a tease evident in my tone of voice, as I reached in my trusty, enchanted backpack to grab a granola bar and offer it to her. "Eat up, girlie, we are just now getting started."

She gave him a grateful smile. If James didn't have such a cheerful and funny attitude, she'd never have made it through the first three days. The bar crunched between her teeth and she chewed thoughtfully at the nearing sight of their destination. What would be waiting for them there? She had read up everything she could about Circe and asked around in the Hecate cabin for tips and advice. After all, one of the campers there had met Circe and even stolen books from her.
But nothing could prepare you for something like this, she realized now.

"Did your father say what the conch looks like?" she wondered. "Circe could've hidden it among other shells, like the Lestrange vault in Deathly Hallows."

"He didn't say much, no. Only that "I would know" so I'm guessing it's some deeper connection or something. And, doesn't she have a spa? Wouldn't a Lestrange vault be slightly suspicious in such a place?"I frowned confused as we sailed easily into a small mole at the back of the island. We had agreed beforehand that just barging in from the main gate would be just a tad bit fatal for us both so choosing the best hidden place was the way to go. And the mole was pretty hidden, surrounded by cliffs and tall trees for the most part, with a small, barely noticeable passage up the hills right above where we anchored.

"Reaching the island in one piece is nice and all but, if we want to remain in that form, I think we should move fast. Besides, we don't have much time. From what you told me, your mother thinks this is a pretty serious situation that needs to be dealt with immediately. So, what's the plan, captain?" I may have been the captain of the trireme for obvious reasons but Jana was always the one good with the plans so for me it was pretty much obvious that she was the actual leader of this so called rescue mission.

Jana finished her Granola bar. "I meant how the Hufflepuff cup was hidden in the Lestrange vault in Harry Potter 7. Lots of stuff in there, it could've taken years to find it. And when you touch the cup, it multiplied so you didn't know which was the right one." She looked up sheepishly. Constantly being cooped up in a room didn't do much for morale. "I'm sorry, I did a lot of overthinking in my cabin."

The ship approached the coast of the island. From here Jana could see the tall treetops and impressive cliffs of the east shore, far from the spa and resort. She licked her lips nervously. "Our mast is tall enough to reach the top of those cliffs. Let's leave the boat as close as possible and climb up. From there we will have a wee look at the terrain and decide on a tactic." Right now, their tactic was: Jana Kay poses as a demigod lost at sea and infiltrates the spa to gain infos. Improvisation from there.

I couldn't help but coo at her "nerd ramble"; I myself had never been as intrigued by the world of the supernatural seeing as my reality was quite super too, but it was always fun to watch the young daughter of Demeter get excited about all these other worlds. Besides, she got way too adorable, all shiny eyes and flushed face and the rest.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, there could be a trap seeing as we're in the territory of a witch. But I'm not so sure - I mean, having it here is enough protection on its own, isn't it?"I shrugged as I checked one last time to make sure the ship was secured but also ready to leave at any given time if we had to make a quick escape. "Since I'm a gentleman and all, ladies first. Plus, we're on land now so it's your element, so to speak. Plus, you're the leader and the one with the plan. Plus... Oh, you get what I mean, let's just move, shall we?"

OOC: Sorry for the terrible delay!!! It's been a hectic few days since stuff's been going on but I'm back for now so yay!

OOC: You're fine sweetie <3

BIC: With all the climbing lessons they took at camp, getting to the top of the cliff proved to be quick and easy. Once at the top, Jana Kay wiped her forehead and slapped the dirt off her trousers before looking out at the island underneath them. It was sloping downwards gently, lush forests extending around the land like hugging arms. Nestled at the bottom of the island, she could see a complex of glowing buildings and a set of pools worthy of a futuristic water park. It seemed rather empty compared to what she'd heard from campers -- but that had probably something to do with Percy and Annabeth letting a bunch of medieval pirates loose around the island. Shivering, she wondered if any of them were left.

"Looks peaceful enough to me," she finally said. "Let's start phase Alpha." She felt like a secret agent uttering those words, but giving their mission corny spy names helped getting rid of the tension, a lot. Jana Kay steeled her gut and looked at James. "See you in three days." She gave him a quick kiss and disappeared into the woods.

I was a little late to reach the top since I had never been especially good at climbing, even with all the training we were forced to go through. But the view once I reached the top would have stolen my breath if I had any left from the strenuous activity. I could immediately understand why Jana was in such awe - if it had such an effect on me, one can only imagine how all the greenery would enchant a child of the Earth.

"You know what they say, princess, looks can be quite deceiving. That chubby little middle-aged lady had looked cute to you too but she did end up as a giant monster that wanted to lunch on our 'delicious demigod flesh'. We can't be assured until we reach down there and see for ourselves what the situation is." I reminded her, the overprotective words making me feel slightly like my mom when she scolded me.

All too soon, she was gone, a brief smile the only goodbye I could manage. She knew I hated splitting up when we were on quests and she also knew that if we took too long with goodbyes I'd chicken out but it still hurt, some small part inside of me. Especially now - this was steadily proving the be the toughest quest we had ever been on, together or separately. I knew I could trust her though, after all, she was one of the strongest demigods of our generation. Previously it had been all about the Big Three but now it was Demeter's turn to shine. Stop your whining and get moving. The sooner you find the shell, the sooner you can both be safe again. So hurry your butt up, James, we have no time to lose. I took one last moment to gaze down the endless forest, hoping to spot the familiar head of blonde curls, before I turned to head to the opposite side. It was time to get serious and I had a conch to find.