"YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE," Clarisse said.
They'd just finished a ship tour they didn't want, through dark rooms overcrowded with dead sailors. They'd seen the coal bunker, the boilers and engine, which huffed and groaned like it would explode any minute. They'd seen the pilot house and the powder magazine and gunnery deck (Clarisse's favorite, obviously) with two Dahlgren smoothbore cannons on the port and starboard sides and a Brooke nine-inch rifled gun fore and aft—all specially refitted to fire celestial bronze cannonballs.
Everywhere they went, dead Confederate sailors stared at them, their ghostly bearded faces shimmering over their skulls. They approved of Annabeth because she told them she was from Virginia. They were relatively interested in Percy, since his last name was Jackson—like the Southern general—but then he ruined it by telling them he was from New York. They all hissed and muttered curses about Yankees.
They also kept nodding at Naomi respectfully, which was freaky. Annabeth explained was probably because her mother was the queen of the dead, which made her like the gesture even less than Clarisse did.
Tyson was terrified of them. Naomi felt bad and offered to hold his hand throughout the tour, which he did the entire time. She was sure they were a funny sight—a girl who was barely five feet tall trying to comfort a boy almost two feet taller than her.
Finally, the group was escorted to dinner. The CSS Birmingham captain's quarters were about the size of a walk-in closet, but still much bigger than any other room on board. The table was set with white linen and china. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, and Dr. Peppers were served by a skeletal crewman.
"Tantalus expelled you for eternity," Clarisse told them smugly. "Mr. D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he'll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV."
"Did they give you this ship?" Percy asked.
"'Course not. My father did."
"Ares?"
Clarisse sneered. "You think your daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing side of every war owe a tribute to Ares. That's their curse for being defeated. I prayed to my father for a naval transport and here it is. These guys will do anything I tell them. Won't you, Captain?"
The captain stood behind her looking stiff and angry. "If it means an end to this infernal war, ma'am, peace at last, we'll do anything. Destroy anyone."
Clarisse smiled. "Destroy anyone. I like that."
Tyson gulped.
"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He's got the coordinates and he's heading south. He has a cruise ship full of monsters—"
"Good! I'll blow him out of the water."
"You don't understand," Annabeth said. "We have to combine forces. Let us help you—"
"No!" Clarisse pounded the table. "This is my quest, smart girl! Finally I get to be the hero, and you three will not steal my chance."
"Where are your cabin mates?" Percy asked. "You were allowed to take three friends with you, weren't you?"
"They didn't... I let them stay behind. To protect the camp."
"You mean even the people in your own cabin wouldn't help you?"
"Shut up, Prissy! I don't need them! Or you!"
"Clarisse," Percy said, "Tantalus is using you. He doesn't care about the camp. He'd love to see it destroyed. He's setting you up to fail."
"No! I don't care what the Oracle—" She stopped herself.
"What?" Percy said. "What did the Oracle tell you?"
"Nothing." Clarisse's ears turned pink. "All you need to know is that I'm finishing this quest and you're not helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go..."
"So you're going to hold us prisoner?" Naomi asked.
"Guests. For now." Clarisse propped her feet up on the white linen tablecloth and opened another Dr. Pepper. "Captain, take them below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don't mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies."
❊
Naomi barely felt like she'd gotten any sleep when she woke to alarm bells ringing throughout the ship.
There was a flurry of activity in and around the berth, and Naomi rushed to get dressed. When she reached the spar deck, Annabeth and Tyson were already there.
"What's going on?" Naomi asked, accepting the hair tie Annabeth offered with a grateful smile. She gathered her hair and tied it up, the orchid behind her ear not budging at all.
"We're almost in the Sea of Monsters," Annabeth told her.
Naomi felt a shot of apprehension course through her. "Awesome."
Percy joined them after a few minutes. As soon as she saw his face, Annabeth asked, "What's wrong? Another dream?"
Percy nodded, but he didn't say anything more.
Clarisse came up the stairs right after him. She grabbed a pair of binoculars from a zombie officer and peered toward the horizon. "At last. Captain, full steam ahead!"
Naomi tried to look where Clarisse was looking, but she couldn't see much. The sky was overcast, the air hazy and humid. If she squinted, she could just make out a couple of dark fuzzy splotches in the distance.
The engine groaned as they increased speed.
Tyson muttered nervously, "Too much strain on the pistons. Not meant for deep water."
Naomi wasn't sure how he knew that, but it made her nervous.
After a few more minutes, the dark splotches ahead of them came into focus. To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea—an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile south of that, the other patch of darkness was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.
"Hurricane?" Annabeth asked.
"No," Clarisse said. "Charybdis."
Annabeth paled. "Are you crazy?"
"Only way into the Sea of Monsters. Straight between Charybdis and her sister Scylla." Clarisse pointed to the top of the cliffs, and Naomi got the feeling there was something up there that she did not want to meet.
"What do you mean the only way?" Percy asked. "The sea is wide open! Just sail around them."
Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Don't you know anything? If I tried to sail around them, they would just appear in my path again. If you want to get into the Sea of Monsters, you have to sail through them."
"What about the Clashing Rocks?" Annabeth said. "That's another gateway. Jason used it."
"I can't blow apart rocks with my cannons," Clarisse said. "Monsters, on the other hand..."
"You are crazy," Annabeth decided.
"Watch and learn, Wise Girl." Clarisse turned to the captain. "Set course for Charybdis!"
"Aye, m'lady."
The engine groaned, the iron plating rattled, and the ship began to pick up speed.
"Clarisse," Percy said, "Charybdis sucks up the sea. Isn't that the story?"
"And spits it back out again, yeah."
"What about Scylla?"
"She lives in a cave, up on those cliffs. If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and start plucking sailors off the ship."
"Choose Scylla then," Percy said. "Everybody goes below deck and we chug right past."
"No!" Clarisse insisted. "If Scylla doesn't get her easy meat, she might pick up the whole ship. Besides, she's too high to make a good target. My cannons can't shoot straight up. Charybdis just sits there at the center of her whirlwind. We're going to steam straight toward her, train our guns on her, and blow her to Tartarus!"
She said it with such relish Naomi almost believed her.
The engine hummed. The boilers were heating up so much Naomi could feel the deck getting warm beneath her feet. The smokestacks billowed. The red Ares flag whipped in the wind.
As they got closer to the monsters, the sound of Charybdis got louder and louder—a horrible wet roar like the galaxy's biggest toilet being flushed. Every time Charybdis inhaled, the ship shuddered and lurched forward. Every time she exhaled, they rose in the water and were buffeted by ten-foot waves.
Undead soldiers calmly went about their business on the spar deck. Maybe they were used to fighting a losing cause, or maybe they didn't care about getting destroyed because they were already deceased. Neither thought made Naomi feel any better.
Annabeth gripped the rail and looked at Percy. "You still have your Flask full of wind?"
Percy nodded. "But it's too dangerous to use with a whirlpool like that. More wind might just make things worse."
"What about controlling the water?" she asked. "You're Poseidon's son. You've done it before."
Percy closed his eyes, his brow pinched in concentration, but nothing happened.
"I—I can't," he said miserably.
"We need a backup plan," Annabeth said. "This isn't going to work."
"Annabeth is right," Tyson said. "Engine's no good."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Pressure. Pistons need fixing."
Before he could explain, the whirlpool sucked them in with a mighty roaaar! The ship lurched forward and they were thrown to the deck.
"Full reverse!" Clarisse screamed above the noise. The sea churned around them, waves crashing over the deck. The iron plating was now so hot it steamed. "Get us within firing range! Make ready starboard cannons!"
Dead Confederates rushed back and forth. The propeller grinded into reverse, trying to slow the ship, but we kept sliding toward the center of the vortex.
A zombie sailor burst out of the hold and ran to Clarisse. His gray uniform was smoking. His beard was on fire. "Boiler room overheating, ma'am! She's going to blow!"
"Well, get down there and fix it!"
"Can't!" the sailor yelled. "We're vaporizing in the heat."
Clarisse pounded the side of the casemate. "All I need is a few more minutes! Just enough to get in range!"
"We're going in too fast," the captain said grimly. "Prepare yourself for death."
"No!" Tyson bellowed. "I can fix it."
Clarisse looked at him incredulously. "You?"
"He's a Cyclops," Annabeth said. "He's immune to fire. And he knows mechanics."
"Go!" yelled Clarisse.
"Tyson, no!" Percy grabbed his arm. "It's too dangerous!"
Tyson patted his hand. "Only way, brother." His expression was determined—confident, even. "I will fix it. Be right back."
He followed the smoldering sailor down the hatch.
The ship lurched again—and then Naomi saw Charybdis.
She appeared only a few hundred yards away, through a swirl of mist and smoke and water. The first thing Naomi noticed was the reef—a black crag of coral with a fig tree clinging to the top, an oddly peaceful thing in the middle of a maelstrom. All around it, water curved into a funnel, like light around a black hole.
Then she saw the horrible thing anchored to the reef just below the waterline—an enormous mouth with slimy lips and mossy teeth the size of rowboats. And worse, the teeth had braces, bands of corroded scummy metal with pieces of fish and driftwood and floating garbage stuck between them.
"Lady Clarisse," the captain shouted. "Starboard and forward guns are in range!"
"Fire!" Clarisse ordered.
Three rounds were blasted into the monster's maw. One blew off the edge of an incisor. Another disappeared into her gullet. The third hit one of Charybdis's retaining bands and shot back at them, snapping the Ares flag off its pole.
"Again!" Clarisse ordered. The gunners reloaded, but it was hopeless. They would have to pound the monster a hundred more times to do any real damage, and they didn't have that long. They were being sucked in too fast.
Then the vibrations in the deck changed. The hum of the engine got stronger and steadier. The ship shuddered and they started pulling away from the mouth.
"Tyson did it!" Annabeth said.
"Wait!" Clarisse said. "We need to stay close!"
"We'll die!" Percy said. "We have to move away."
Naomi gripped the rail with white knuckles as the ship fought against the suction. The broken Ares flag raced past them and lodged in Charybdis's braces. They weren't making much progress, but at least they were holding their own. Tyson had somehow given them just enough justice to keep the ship from being sucked in.
Suddenly, the mouth snapped shut. The sea died to absolute calm. Water washed over Charybdis.
Then, just as quickly as it had closed, the mouth exploded open, spitting out a wall of water, ejecting everything inedible—including their cannonballs. One of them slammed into the side of the ship with a ding like the bell on a carnival game.
They were thrown backward on a wave that must've been forty feet high. They were spinning out of control, hurtling toward the cliffs on the opposite side of the strait.
Another smoldering sailor burst out of the hold. He stumbled into Clarisse, almost knocking them both overboard. "The engine is about to blow!"
"Where's Tyson?" Percy demanded.
"Still down there," the sailor said. "Holding it together somehow, though I don't know for how much longer."
The captain said, "We have to abandon ship."
"No!" Clarisse yelled.
"We have no choice, m'lady. The hull is already cracking apart! She can't—"
He never finished his sentence. Quick as lightning, something brown and green shot from the sky, snatched up the captain, and lifted him away. All that was left were his leather boots.
"Scylla!" a sailor yelled, as another column of reptilian flesh shot from the cliffs and snapped him up. It happened so fast it was like watching a laser beam rather than a monster. Naomi couldn't even make out the thing's face, just a flash of teeth and scales.
Naomi summoned Hemlock, but there was no way she could move fast enough to hit the monster.
"Everyone get below!" she yelled.
"We can't!" Clarisse drew her own sword. "Below deck is in flames."
"Lifeboats!" Annabeth said. "Quick!"
"They'll never get clear of the cliffs," Clarisse said. "We'll all be eaten."
"We have to try. Percy, the thermos."
"I can't leave Tyson!"
"We have to get the boats ready!"
Clarisse and a few of her undead sailors uncovered one of the two emergency rowboats while Scylla's heads rained from the sky like a meteor shower with teeth, picking off Confederate sailors one after another.
"Get the other boat." Percy threw Annabeth the thermos. "I'll get Tyson."
"You can't!" she said. "The heat will kill you!"
Percy didn't listen. He ran for the boiler room hatch, but he barely made it halfway. Scylla had somehow caught him by the knapsack, and was lifting him up toward her lair.
"Percy!" Naomi screamed.
"Come on!" Annabeth yelled, grabbing Naomi's hand and half-dragging her to the lifeboats. They managed to jump into one and get it down to the sea, hitting the surface of the water with a splash.
Up above, Percy managed to swing his sword behind him and jab it in Scylla's eye. She grunted and dropped him.
As he fell, the CSS Birmingham exploded.
KAROOM!
The engine room blew, sending chunks of ironclad flying in either direction like a fiery set of wings.
The lifeboats had managed to get away from the ship, but not very far. Flaming wreckage was raining down.
Annabeth cursed furiously. "Hold on!" she shouted, and twisted the cap of the flask hard. White sheets of wind blasted in every direction.
Chaos ensued.
❊