STRENGTH
━━ act two, chapter eleven.
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
TYSON GAVE THEM THE SHORT VERSION OF IT ALL: a hippocampus called Rainbow — sea monsters with horses for a head, glistening scales and silvery fish bodies — had saved Tyson sinking beneath the wreckage of the CSS Birmingham and pulled him to safety.
From there, the two had been searching the Sea of Monsters ever since, trying to find them, until Tyson caught the scent of sheep and found Polyphemus' island.
"Tyson, thank the gods," Percy called down to him, "Annabeth is hurt!"
"You thank the gods she is hurt?" Tyson asked, puzzled.
"No!" Percy yelled back.
Nabi, alongside Clarisse, hurried over to where Grover and Percy were knelt beside Annabeth — the gash on her forehead was worse than anyone had realized. Her hairline was sticky with blood; skin was pale and clammy.
Percy asked, "Tyson, the Fleece. Can you get it for me?"
"Which one?" Tyson said, looking around at the hundreds of sheep.
"It's the gold one inside that tree!" Nabi told him.
"Oh, pretty," Tyson mumbled, "yes."
He lumbered over, careful not to step on the sheep. If it were anyone else, Nabi knew they'd be eaten within seconds. It was probably because Tyson smelled like Polyphemus, because the flock merely cuddled up to him and bleated affectionately.
Tyson reached up and lifted the Fleece off of the tree, about to walk over when Percy shouted, "No time! Throw it!"
The gold ram skin sailed through the air, with Percy barely being able to catch it — just being near the Fleece was enough for Nabi to feel the potency of it; the sheer power it had. She never noticed how dull her bones felt until they were thrumming with life. Percy lifted it up and spread the Fleece over Annabeth like a blanket.
Nabi prayed silently that it would work.
The color returned to Annabeth's face. Her eyelids fluttered open as the cut on her forehead began to close. She squinted her eyes at Grover and muttered weakly, "You're not... married?"
Grover grinned. "No, my friends talked me out of it."
"Annabeth, be careful," Nabi said, "you should lay down properly."
"Yeah, lay still." Percy mumbled.
Despite everyone's protests, she sat up. Nabi noticed that the cut on her face was almost completely rejuvenated, already beginning to look a lot better. In fact, her complexion practically shimmered with health.
Meanwhile, Tyson was starting to have trouble with the sheep. A few of them were sniffing in their direction, whilst the rest tried to climb him, looking for food.
"Down!" Tyson ordered, "No, sheepies. This way! Come here!"
They heeded him, but it was obvious they were hungry, and they were starting to realize Tyson didn't have any treats for them. They wouldn't hold out forever with so much fresh meat nearby.
"We have to go," Percy said, "our ship is..."
The Queen Anne's Revenge was a very long way away. The shortest route was across the chasm, and they'd just destroyed the only bridge. The only other possibility was through the sheep.
"Tyson," Percy called, "can you lead the flock as far away as possible?"
"The sheep want food."
"I know! They want people food! Just lead them away from the path. Give us time to get to the beach. Then join us there."
Tyson looked doubtful, but he whistled. "Come, sheepies! Um, people food this way!"
He jogged off into the meadow, with the sheep hot on his tail. Percy told Annabeth, "Keep the Fleece around you, just in case you're not fully healed yet. Can you stand?"
Annabeth rose to her feet, but her knees buckled and her face turned pale. "Ohh... not fully healed."
Clarisse dropped next to her and pressed a hand against her chest, which made Annabeth gasp. The Ares girl frowned. "Ribs broken — they're mending, but definitely broken."
"How can you tell?" Percy asked.
Clarisse glared at him. "Because I've broken a few, runt! I'll have to carry her."
Before anyone could argue, Clarisse hoisted Annabeth up like a sack of flour and lugged her down to the beach. Grover, Percy and Nabi followed.
They got to the edge of the water as Percy willed for the Queen Anne's Revenge to raise anchor and come toward them. After a few anxious minutes, Nabi saw the ship rounding the tip of the island.
"Incoming!" Tyson yelled.
He was bounding down the path to join the rest of them, the sheep about fifty yards behind, bleating in frustration as their cyclops friend ran away without feeding them.
"They probably won't follow us into the water," Percy told them, "all we have to do is swim for ship."
"With Annabeth like this?" Clarisse protested.
"We can do it." Percy insisted, "Once we get to the ship — we're home free."
They had almost made it, too.
All of them were wading just past the entrance to the ravine, when they heard a tremendous roar and saw Polyphemus, scraped up and bruised but still very much alive, his baby-blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashing toward them with a boulder in each hand.
"You'd think he'd run out of rocks..." Percy muttered.
"Swim for it!" Grover cried.
Clarisse plunged into the surf. Annabeth hung onto her neck and tried to paddle with one hand, the wet Fleece weighing her down. Nabi decided that it'd be quicker if she helped Grover.
"Lift up your arms!" Nabi ordered.
"What?" Grover gave her an incredulous look.
Nabi spread her wings, and he blinked. Then, he complied and lifted his arms up — she grabbed him by the armpits and flew across the water. She dipped a little in the air, struggling to carry him. Physical strength wasn't exactly Nabi's forte.
"Blaaahh!" Grover bleated, "Don't drop me!"
"I'm trying!"
"Trying to drop me?!"
"No, but at this point," Nabi huffed, "I just might!"
"Sorry!" Grover said, blushing, "I've been stress eating more tin cans than usual... because of the wedding and all."
"Of course." Nabi grumbled.
She'd managed to successfully get her and Grover onto the ship, whilst Clarisse and Annabeth were almost there. Though, Percy and Tyson had gotten a little occupied with Polyphemus.
Nabi couldn't really tell what Polyphemus was roaring about to Percy and Tyson, but she saw him throw his first boulder — Tyson swatted it aside with his fist. Polyphemus charged into the surf, but his foot was still wounded. He immediately stumbled and fell on his face.
That would've been funny... except he started to get up again, spitting salt water and growling.
"Percy!" Clarisse yelled, just about to make it to the ship with the Fleece, "Come on!"
Nabi watched as Percy drew his sword, with Tyson getting into a ready stance — that told her all she needed to know.
Polyphemus advanced carefully, limping worse than ever. But there was nothing wrong with his throwing arm as he chucked his second boulder.
Percy dove to one side as Tyson smashed the oncoming rock into rubble. Then, the sea rose. A large tidal wave lifted Percy up, like he was riding it, and he blasted forward to kick Polyphemus in the eye.
The attack was powerful enough to send him flying onto the beach. Polyphemus spluttered, "Destroy you, Fleece stealer!"
"You stole the Fleece!" Percy yelled, angrily, "You've been using it to lure satyrs to their deaths!"
"So? Satyrs good eating!"
"The Fleece should be used to heal! It belongs to the children of the gods!"
"I am a child of the gods!" Polyphemus swiped at Percy, but he sidestepped. "Father Poseidon, curse this thief!"
The cyclops was blinking hard now, like he could barely see. Percy smirked and backed up, with Polyphemus frantically grabbing the air. "Poseidon won't curse me. I'm his son, too. He won't play favorites."
Polyphemus roared. He ripped an olive tree out of the side of the cliff and smashed it where I'd been standing a moment before. "Humans not the same! Nasty, tricky, lying!"
Nabi helped Grover with getting Annabeth aboard the ship. Clarisse had managed to get on by herself, and was waving frantically at Percy, telling him to come on.
Tyson worked his way around Polyphemus, trying to get behind him.
"Young one!" The older Cyclops called out, "Where are you? Help me!"
Tyson froze.
"You weren't raised right!" Polyphemus wailed, shaking his olive tree club, "Poor orphaned brother! Help me!"
No one moved. Even Nabi and the rest of them on the boat watched, unblinking, afraid of what would happen next. All she could hear was the ocean and her heart beating. Then Tyson stepped forward, raising his hands defensively. "Don't fight, cyclops brother. Put down the—"
Polyphemus spun toward his voice.
"Tyson!" Percy shouted.
The tree struck him with such force it made Nabi wince in sympathy. Tyson flew backward, plowing a trench in the sand. Polyphemus charged after him, but Percy cried, "No!"
Nabi spread her wings.
Clarisse asked, "What are you doing?"
"Helping them."
If any of the others had wings, they'd do the same thing, right? She flew back, her bracelet swiftly transforming into her sword — both Percy and her barrelled toward Polyphemus at the same time.
Percy lunged with Riptide, slashing the cyclops with in the back of the thigh. Nabi managed to jab him in the stomach, and Polyphemus bleated out in pain, "Blaaahh!"
Angrily, the cyclops swung at Percy with his tree. He dove, but still got raked across the back by the jagged branches, bleeding and bruised and exhausted.
Polyphemus swung the tree again, this time in Nabi's direction. She flew higher and dodged it as Percy grabbed the branch whilst it passed. He was lifted into the air. At the top of the arc, Percy let go and fell straight against the giant's face — landing with both feet on his already damaged eye.
He yowled in pain. Tyson tackled him, pulling him down. Nabi took that as an opportunity to slice under Polyphemus' legs, and just as Percy was about to aldn the finishing blow...
He looked at both of them. Nabi knew he couldn't bring himself to. It just wasn't right.
"Let him go," Percy told two of them, "run."
With one last mighty effort, Tyson pushed the cursing older Cyclops away, and they ran for the surf.
"I will smash you!" Polyphemus yelled, doubling over in pain. His enormous hands cupped over his eye.
Tyson and Percy plunged into the waves, with Nabi flying back onto the ship. Polyphemus screamed, "Where are you?!"
He picked up his club and threw it into the water — Percy summoned a current to carry him and Tyson, and they started gaining speed. They were about to reach the ship, when Clarisse shouted from the deck, "Yeah, Jackson! In your face, Cyclops!"
Nabi had never wanted to zip her mouth up more in her entire life. She hissed, "Clarisse, stop!"
"Rarrr!" Polyphemus picked up a boulder. He threw it toward the sound of Clarisse's voice, but it fell short, narrowly missing Tyson and me.
"Yeah, yeah!" Clarisse taunted, "You throw like a wimp! Teach you to try marrying me, you idiot!"
"Clarisse!" Percy yelled, unable to stand it. "Shut up!"
Nabi attempted to cup a hand over Clarisse's mouth, but it was too late. Polyphemus threw another boulder, and this time, Nabi watched as it sailed and crashed through the hull of the Queen Anne's Revenge.
You wouldn't believe how fast a ship could sink.
The Queen Anne's Revenge creaked and groaned and tilted over — Nabi flew up, flapping in a panic for a slight moment as she watched everyone else attempting to swim.
As the ship went down, it acted like a sinkhole, pulling down everything around it. Even Clarisse, who was probably the strongest swimmer, wasn't making any progress.
Grover frantically kicked with his hooves. Annabeth was hanging onto the Fleece, which flashed and gleamed in the ocean. Percy and Tyson had dove underwater, too.
For a horrifying moment, Nabi had thought there was no way out of it. They were going to fail. They weren't gonna be able to save the camp. They weren't even gonna make it home.
But then, shapes shimmered in the darkness below — three horses with fish tails, galloping upward faster than dolphins.
They were hippocampi.
The sea creatures whisked into the wreckage, and a second later, burst upward in a cloud of bubbles — Grover, Annabeth, and Clarisse each clinging to the neck of a hippocampus.
Nabi almost let out a gasp of surprise, but knew Polyphemus would've heard and chucked another boulder straight at her face. So, with Grover letting Tyson on and Percy with Annabeth, she hastily landed down and plopped herself behind Clarisse on their new ride.
They broke the surface of the water and raced away from Polyphemus' island. Behind them, Nabi could hear the cyclops roaring in triumph, "I did it! I finally sank Nobody!"
She hoped he never found out he was wrong.
Eventually, as they rode across the sea, the island began to shrink until it fully disappeared.
"That was stupid of you." Nabi muttered, wrapping her arms around Clarisse's waist and laying her head against her back.
Clarisse just grumbled, but Nabi didn't know if it was a protest or an agreement. She was too exhausted to care.
Nabi didn't know much about hippocampi, but she trusted Percy's water powers — he was definitely the reason they'd been summoned, after all. She managed to relax after a while, no longer worried about the threat of Polyphemus in the distance.
She felt herself stifle a yawn, and her eyelids were already quite heavy. All it took were a couple slow, short blinks and Nabi pulling Clarisse in closer to fall fast asleep.
【 🦋 】
"PSST, NABI, WAKE UP."
Nabi made a disgruntled sound, her vision coming into focus — Grover and Clarisse were hovering over her, whilst Annabeth was shaking Percy awake. She could feel how sore her entire body was. Nabi didn't know if it was the curse or just the amount of crazy stuff that had happened, recently.
She wheezed a little when she sat up, and her vision, for a short minute, was being engulfed by a white light. It was probably a bit of both.
In the distance, the sun was setting behind a city skyline. She could see a beachside highway lined with palm trees, storefronts glowing with red and blue neon, a harbor filled with sailboats and cruise ships.
"Where...?" Nabi rubbed her eye.
Clarisse said, "We're in Miami, but the hippocampi are acting all weird."
Sure enough, their fishy friends had slowed down and were whinnying and swimming in circles, sniffing the water. They didn't look happy.
One of them sneezed, and it was actually pretty cute. Not the fact that they had no clue what was going on, though. That wasn't cute.
"This is as far as they'll take us." Percy explained, "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own."
Grover whispered to Nabi, "I knew climate change would be the world's doom."
"Mhm..." She agreed, nodding.
Nabi wasn't all that psyched about it, but they thanked Rainbow and his other hippocampi pals for the tremendous help.
Tyson even cried a little. He unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he'd made, which contained a tool kit and a couple of other things he'd salvaged from the Birmingham wreck. Then, he hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he'd picked up on the island, and said his farewells.
Once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, they swam for shore. Well, everyone except Nabi.
"I'll never stop complaining about how easy you have it." Annabeth mumbled.
Nabi stuck her tongue out as she flew over them.
Soon, they were back into the mortal world. They wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage; taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers. If anybody noticed them — six kids dripping wet and looking like they'd just had a fight with a monster — they didn't let on.
Now that they were back among mortals, Tyson's single eye had blurred from the Mist. Grover had put on his cap and sneakers. Even the Fleece had transformed from a sheepskin to one of those stereotypical, high school letter jackets.
Percy grinned at her. Nabi asked, "What?"
"Nothing," Percy chuckled, "you just have a comedically large backpack."
Nabi huffed, but retracted her wings.
Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the Miami Herald. She gasped, "Di immortales! June eighteenth — we've been away from camp ten days!"
Nabi's eyes widened.
"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.
But everyone knew it wasn't. Time traveled differently in monstrous places. Grover cried, "Thalia's tree must be almost dead! We have to get the Fleece back, tonight."
Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. Nabi heard the tremble in her voice as she muttered, "How are we supposed to do that? We're hundreds of miles away — no money, no ride."
"We have to think..." Annabeth muttered.
Nabi said, "Shadow travelling—"
"No." Everyone said at the same time.
Nabi made an aggravated noise. "But what else is there? It's risking one life over risking the entire camp. That's a risk I'm willing to take."
"Nabi, I swear on the River Styx if you try shadow travelling, right now, I'll drown myself." Clarisse said.
Thunder rumbled. Welp, there goes that plan.
She could tell that everyone else was sulking, unable to do anything other than wallow in their pessimistic thoughts. It seemed like they'd never succeed.
"This is just like the Oracle said." Clarisse scowled, "It's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered—"
Annabeth exploded. "Percy's fault?! Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest—"
"Just stop," Nabi snapped, "both of you!"
They all turned to her, surprised.
"Look, I'm sorry, but we can't have gone through all of this, only to run out of time because we're too busy bickering over something stupid!" Nabi swallowed a lump in her throat, "This is all stupid! Just shut up for a moment and think of something better than yelling at each other, gods!"
Normally, Nabi could keep her cool. But from fighting with Clarisse, to meeting her grandmother, to almost losing her friends on multiple occasions?
Yeah, it was a little understandable.
"Clarisse," Nabi said, and Clarisse's head shot up, "can you tell them what the Oracle said?"
Clarisse hesitated. Then, she took a deep breath and recited her prophecy:
"You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,
You shall find what you seek and make it your own. But despair for your life entombed within stone,
And fail without friends, to fly home alone."
"Ouch..." Grover mumbled.
Ouch was right. All of Nabi's frustration melted away instantly, she knew how much the quest meant to Clarisse — it was her time to finally shine. Yet, the Ares girl probably felt horrible, having her quest stolen by Percy and the others.
"No," Percy said, "no... wait a minute. I've got it."
He patted his pockets, searching them until he asked, "Does anybody have any cash?"
Everyone shook their heads, morosely. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed.
"Cash?" Tyson asked, hesitantly, "Like... green paper?"
"Yeah." Percy nodded.
"Like the kind in duffel bags?"
"Yeah," Percy said, "but we lost those bags days ago—"
Nabi watched, astonished, as Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out a Ziploc bag full of cash.
"Tyson!" Percy exclaimed, "How did you—"
"Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow," Tyson said, "Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside... sorry."
He handed Percy the cash. Then, Percy ran to the curb and haled a taxi — letting out a family of cruise passengers. Percy yelled, "Clarisse! Come on, you're going to the airport. Annabeth, give her the Fleece."
Nabi didn't know who was more stunned at his words. All of them were as Percy took the Fleece letter jacket from Annabeth, tucked the cash into the pockets of it, and put it in Clarisse's arms.
Clarisse stammered, "You'd let me—"
"It's your quest," Percy said, "We only have enough money for one flight. Besides, I can't travel by air — Zeus would blast me into a million pieces. That's what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help, but you'd have to fly home alone. You have to get the Fleece back safely."
Nabi could see her mind thinking hard, a little suspicious at first. It seemed like she couldn't believe Percy of all people would actually trust her.
"He's right," Nabi said, and Clarisse relaxed a little as she gave the girl a reassuring look, "it's your quest."
Clarisse turned to all of them, an earnest look on her face. "You can count on me. I won't fail."
Nabi surged forward to give her a hug — she hated that they were parting right after they'd reunited, but it would only be for a short while. She leaned in and lifted her head up to whisper into Clarisse's ear, so close that the girl could feel her smile against her ear.
"Go be the hero, Saviour Girl."
If she saw the way Nabi's eyes drifted to her lips, or heard the erratic thump of her heart, then Clarisse stayed silent about it. She murmured, "I'll make you proud."
"I always am." Nabi said, "C'mon, you gotta get going."
They both nodded, and soon, Clarisse was inside of the cab as it peeled out in a cloud of exhaust — the Fleece was on its way.
"Percy..." Annabeth said, "that was so—"
"Generous?" Grover offered.
"Insane," Annabeth corrected, "you're betting the lives of everybody at camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back by tonight?"
"It's not insane." Nabi shook her head, "If there's anyone that can get that Fleece back safely, it's her."
Percy said, "Yeah, she deserves a chance."
"Percy is nice." Tyson said.
"Percy is too nice..." Annabeth grumbled.
"Come on," Percy said, "let's find another way home."
Nabi thought that they could finally catch a breath. They'd retrieved the Fleece, and it was being sent straight to camp, after all. But when Percy turned around, a sword was pointed at his throat — a familiar face standing in front of them.
"HEY GUYS," LUKE SMIRKED, "WELCOME BACK TO STATES."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
𝗥𝗜𝗞𝗔'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗦!
જ⁀➴ okok .. mr kronos traitor pulling up 🤨 i swear nabi and clarisse only gotta say bye for like a split second dwdw !! i think it's hilarious that nabi uses her wings to get out of situations bcoz that's js too real ,, like if i could fly u bet i would 100% use them ?? duhhh 🙈 also think it's so silly that the wlw pining has officially begun guys
someone plz tell me to stop writing all of my chapters within three hours past the ungodly hours whilst it's exam season 😔 i am literally my worst enemy ... BUT ANYWAY i just wanted to let those who don't already know about it ,, that i've published the new pjo fic ! u should totes go check it out my lovelies !! that's all i have to say rlly, but ofc thank u thank u thank uuu for all ur comments and lovee <33 can't wait to see you in the next chapter guys i !!