Percy Jackson, the Son of Olympus: The Sea of Monsters

| Chapter XIV || Land? No Thanks |

We were moving a centimetre a second, but we were moving. By the time we reached the island, my vision was hazy and I nearly fell on my face as I stumbled out of the boat and splashed my way up onto the sand. Tyson did the same, one hand on the boat to steady himself. He would've fallen over otherwise.

Only when I saw him struggling did I turn back and help him with the boat. No matter how tired I was, I couldn't forget the boat. It might float off and we'd be stuck here forever. That would be even worse than our current predicament. I couldn't afford to be so brainless.

Once the boat was on shore, deep enough in the sand that it would wash away, we collapsed. I got sand in my mouth and up my nose, but at the moment, I didn't care. I kissed the ground. Or...I would have if I hadn't seen the tree closest to the beach - more specifically, the fruit growing on it.

"Tyson, look!" I croaked weakly, pointing in the general direction of the tree. "Bananas!"

"Bananananas?" he slurred once again, "Where?" Turning his huge head looked like it took more effort than moving a forklift. As soon as he saw the bunches of yellow fruit, his eyes widened and his face split into a smile. I nearly winced as I saw new cracks appear on his lips at the effort, but he didn't seem to care. He jumped up with newfound energy and ran over, grabbing a branch and pulling it to the ground with ease.

He plucked a whole bunch right off the tree - then and there - and began chomping them down, peel and all.

By the time I'd managed to stand and join him, there were two left of the second bunch he'd pulled down, which he graciously offered to me after a less-than-graceful belch.

"Th-thank you..." I said, my voice finally going as I stuffed the soft fruit into my mouth in chunks. I didn't usually eat bananas because I found their taste too plain, but now, they were like heaven. I swore that after I got off this island, with Percy and Annabeth and Tyson all safe, I would never underestimate the power of a banana.

As we finished eating, the two of us stumbled further into the jungle in search of fresh water. A spring was not hard to find, and soon we gulped down half of the clear pond in front of us, startling away at least five birds from nearby trees with our loud and desperate splashing.

Finally satisfied, I leaned back against a tree, closing my eyes to shade for the first time in nearly forty-eight hours. I could almost forget the situation I was in - with a cyclops no less - and just fall asleep right then and there—

Roar!

My eyes shot open.

What was that? What had just happened? Had I imagined it?

"Tyson?" I asked, but the cyclops was snoring away under another tree. Maybe that was what I was hearing. His snores were quite loud. Closing my eyes again, I tried to tune him out, when—

Roar!

There it was again. This time, I jumped up, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was making the sound. Tyson was up as well, so I knew that it definitely wasn't him.

"Do you hear it, too?" I asked.

He nodded, his one eye flicking from side to side nervously. I took a moment - only a moment - to check him over. The colour had returned to his face, so he was no longer the sickly green that he had been out on the open ocean. That was good.

ROAR!

Now I definitely heard it. The roar echoed through the trees, following by heavy footsteps. Footsteps that shook the very ground beneath my feet. The leaves around my rustled, and I heard the scampering of small paws as the wild animals fled the scene.

Well, there it is.

That was the only thought in my mind as Godzilla pushed aside two trees, turning to focus one beady eye on the two of us.

"That's Godzilla, right?" I asked Tyson, my voice barely above a squeak.

He shrugged. I guess he didn't know what Godzilla was because that thing definitely looked like Godzilla. It was a sixty-foot tall lizard, at least. It walked slowly but purposefully as its large clawed feet smashed into the ground with each step, crushing bushes and leaving huge footprints in the mud. Goddess or not, with my powers gone, my arrows would do nothing but annoy the beast. We had to escape.

(Why did I come on this quest again? Right. Percy.)

"Run?" I asked next.

"Run!" the big guy squeaked.

We ran.

Screaming for our lives, Tyson and I sped through the tree back to our boat. I grabbed as many bananas as I could on the way back, but I couldn't even stop to fill my waterskin. We were back on the beach and back in the boat within seconds, Tyson running us into the water and away, using large pieces of driftwood to paddle into the open ocean once more.

ROAR!

I guess that was Godzilla telling us to "Leave and never come back!" Well. I never would. No worries there, buddy.

***

Published: Saturday, January 13, 2018

~CSP2708~