Chapter 28
Frances's POV
It took me a while to convince the others to give Polydora a second chance, but at least they were convinced. For now, Polydora is released from the stack room and is now in the clinic, resting peacefully. She relayed a while ago her vision about me, her, and Dianne, and I felt Leo's eyes on me the entire time.
Clarisse was busy planning out the upcoming battle with Charybdis and Scylla, which we will undergo in less than an hour. The cannons were now ready for action, what we really need right now is a battle plan. And one thing for sure, Clarisse was no good in planning.
"So here's what we're gonna do, we're going to near Charybdis and make her go boom with the cannons and afterwards we'll sail across them, easy peasy," she told us. For a fact, I know this plan was not going to work. Based on the myth, Charybdis may suck this ship in a matter of 3 minutes, there's no time for us to load all the cannons and fire it at her continuously, and even if we do manage to do that, those cannonballs are not going to kill her easily.
"Clarisse, I thought that you've already encountered them?" asked Leo. "Percy told me that you used this plan before and failed. Why use this plan again?"
"I want to prove that Waterhead that MY plans can also work," replied Clarisse.
"Clarisse, this is not about proving the plan, it's surviving!" I told her. "I think that we should choose Scylla instead of Charybdis."
"But Scylla is too high on the cliffs to make good target. She could also eat the entire crew and even the ship!" complained Clarisse. Sometimes, her pride can make her too much.
"I haven't even finished my plan yet," I said. "We should all go below deck and chug right past Scylla. We don't need to waste any of the cannons and we don't need to risk our lives and the ship."
"How are you sure that your plan will work? You're only new here! Besides you're Roman," Clarisse told me, which hurt a little. But if I want my plan to work, I have to fight for it.
"Clarisse, sometimes I think that your pride is getting to you," I said. "You should never forget that all of us are equal here. If you want, we could have a little democracy here. Those who want to undergo Clarisse's plan, raise your hand."
Clarisse raised her hand immediately followed by Dianne.
"Those who want to undergo MY plan to survive, raise your hands," I said.
This time, Leo went first to raise his hand, Nico followed. I also raised my hand. I was surprised that even Captain Iron Cranium raised his hand in the corner.
"Clarisse, I'm not going to be all leader-y here. You are still our leader. In fact, all of us are leaders here. But leaders do what is best for everyone and not for one's self," I said,
"Spoken like a true demigod," Clarisse smiled. "Alright everyone, go below deck and prepare auto-captain. Set our course for Scylla."
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By 5:28 am, all of us were below deck. Even Captain Iron Cranium and a few Skeleton Warriors. Six skeleton warriors remained on deck to serve as a sacrifice for Scylla, for her not to eat the entire ship.
Below deck, there were two windows I could use to look if we near Scylla.
By 5:29 am, I could feel a strange sensation, as if something was rocking me back and forth, as if I was on a surfing board and was about to tip over. I then saw a sight. She appeared only a few 30 meters away, through a swirl of mist and smoke and water. The first thing I 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 mael-strom. All around it, water curved into a funnel, like light around a black hole.
Then I 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.
Charybdis was an orthodontist's nightmare. She was nothing but a huge black maw with bad teeth alignment and a serious overbite, and she'd done nothing for centuries but eat without brushing after meals. As I watched, the entire sea around her was sucked into the void— sharks, schools of fish, a giant squid.
Good thing, we decided to avoid her and chose Scylla instead. Charybdis could destroy this ship in a matter of seconds. Wait a minute, if that was Charybdis, that means we have arrived at Scylla's lair.
I looked out the window and saw another column of reptilian flesh that shot from the cliffs. I heard it slam the floor on the deck above. All of us below deck tensed. I hope this plan works.
"Ahhhh!" I heard the screams of the skeleton warriors as they were eaten by Scylla. Poor them.
I looked out the window again and saw Scylla's six scaly heads with very sharp teeth. Each head held a dead skeleton warrior in between its teeth. I quickly looked away and closed my eyes. I wish this would go by so fast.
I then felt an arm around me.
"Are you alright?" Leo's voice said. Wait a minute, Leo? I opened my eyes and saw that it really was Leo.
His arm went around me and all I could think of was - "Get your arm off of me!" I told him.
"Sorry," he said. "Just wanted to comfort you. You seemed quite uncomfortable."
I ignored him. Dianne was probably watching us, AND I have to get my love for him away.
"Frances?" said Leo. "Did I do something to you?'
"Just get away from me!" I told him. "Can't you see that you're clearly not helping?!"
I then got up and transferred to the other window.
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Leo's POV
What have I done to her? She was avoiding and ignoring me, I could tell. What happened? This started yesterday after I saved her life. After we talked to Polydora. After she had a talk with Dianne.
Oh no.
Oh no. This cannot be happening.
This must not be happening.
Dianne must not have told Frances my feelings for her.
But maybe she did, and that's what makes Frances act this way towards me. Oh, I'm such an idiot. Why did I even tell Dianne? First, I've developed a conflict between the both of them. Second, Frances is now avoiding me. What could be next?
I wanted to drift away my thoughts about this and think about the ongoing battle with Scylla (which is, I think the hardest battle ever, because you have to keep quiet below the deck), but I can't. I want to fix my problem with the 2 Smiths, especially Frances.
But how?
My thoughts seemed to overflow inside my head of emptiness. Minutes passed and I can't think of anything - AND we're still below the deck.
"Clarisse? How much more are we going to stay below here quiet as mice?" I nearly shouted at Clarisse who was beside Frances.
"Shush, Leo," she told me in a loud whisper. "You HAVE to be quiet until we hear the captain's orders."
I sulked down in that corner where the window was and looked out. It was rather very cloudy outside - just like my thoughts and feelings. It was so cloudy that I couldn't see anything - so I closed my eyes and took a really short nap. After about 15 minutes, Captain Iron Cranium announced that we had safely passed Scylla's lair and that we may now go over deck, one by one.
Of course, he went out first, and when he made sure it was safe, the other skeleton warriors followed and soon, I got out of the silent hole.
It was almost 6:15 am and I've got nothing to do but wait until we arrive at the next destination, Circe's Island. I wondered what it was like to be there. Percy and Annabeth told us that us males should dress up as females if we didn't want to be turned into guinea pigs. Wow...
Anyway, I am now sitting on a sofa in my cabin doing nothing. Except think about Frances.
I'm guessing that she hates me. She hates me because I've hurt her sister's feelings. She hates me because I love her and I didn't do the same for her sister who loves me.
Why do I even fall for girls who are not in my league? Or girls who hate me? Or girls who are kind-of stubborn? Or girls who don't fall for me the same way?
"Maybe because Aphrodite cursed you as a son of Hephastus," I heard a voice say. Damn! Perhaps I've been saying my thoughts out loud.
I turned around and saw Nico smiling widely.
"You heard my thoughts," I said.
"Well, you DID say them out loud," he told me, sitting beside me. "What's wrong Leo? Care to share the problem?"
"I think you already know, Ghost Boy," I told him with a wide smile. Usually, when I call him that he scrunches his nose and gets annoyed, but now, surprisingly, he chuckles a little and nods.
"Yeah, I do," he said. "And correct me if I'm wrong, it's about Frances."
I nodded. "Why do you even care?" I asked him.
"Nothing," he said, leaning on a corner. "It's just, Frances, even though we have just met, I think she'd be a good friend. And it's true - she really is."
I smiled. Nico was right.
"Why don't you make a move on her?" Nico said. Did he really just say that?
"I tried, okay?" I replied. "It's just, you know how she really loves Dianne, and Dianne likes me, and she doesn't want Dianne to get hurt. probably she doesn't even like me, even a bit."
"Wow! Is that really you, Leo?" Nico asked me in a surprised me. "For once, your self esteem is low and you are pessimistic. Perhaps she really IS someone."
"Yeah..." I said. "And I hope that she'd like me too."
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Sorry for the very very very very very very very very llllllllllllllllllllllloooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggg update! That's all I have to say.
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Lea V.