I don't remember falling asleep, but I jerked to alertness, nearly landing on my face as I fell out of my chair, at the sound of all our alarm bells going off. I stood up, thankful that no one had been around to witness me jump out of my seat.
Outside the glass that separated the helm from the deck, I saw undead soldiers running around, relaying orders to each other. Underneath me, I felt the cannons getting deployed, the ship rumbling slightly as they moved into position.
I exited the helm, finding Clarisse on the spar deck with a pair of binoculars, telling the captain, "Full steam ahead!"
Percy was standing next to her, squinting at the black splotches out on the horizon – Scylla and Charybdis. Not that they were easy to make out if you didn't know about them. The sky was an overcast gray, and somehow the humidity got worse overnight. But even though the water was deceptively calm, I knew we were about to get into a lot of trouble.
The engine, which was at least eight feet below us, could be heard from up on the deck, groaning as we picked up speed. I frowned, knowing that the pistons of this ship weren't made for deep water or lengthy missions. During the Civil War, ironclads had been used on quick and dirty missions, usually only going deep enough so that the entire hull was submerged; so the fact that it had survived this long in the open ocean was a miracle in its own right.
Tyson picked up the strain on the engine, too, saying that the ship wasn't made for deep water.
As we began approaching Charybdis, I armed myself with my bow. It wasn't my preferred weapon, not by far, but when you needed to take out a person sitting in the middle of a massive whirlpool, I think it's better to shoot an arrow than try to throw a knife. Plus, if we were going to tangle with Scylla as well, I could shoot her while taking cover in the stairwell.
Beneath my feet, I could feel the deck heating up, like it was about to catch fire – heat from the boilers as they worked overtime. Smoke poured out of the smokestacks, leaving behind puffs of black clouds as we chugged on towards Charybdis. The Ares flag Clarisse had put up when we first got on board was whipping loudly in the wind, which had started to rapidly pick up.
As we got closer to the two guardians of the Sea of Monsters, Charybdis' roar got louder and louder. Percy had muttered under his breath that the whirlpool sounded like the galaxy's largest toilet was getting flushed. I couldn't help but smile at that.
As far as I could figure out, there was no method in Charybdis' timing of her whirlpool. The maelstrom would suck in water for about three minutes, destroying everything within a half-mile radius of where Charybdis was sitting. When the whirlpool stopped, Charybdis would exhale, her breath echoing across the ocean, causing for waves at least ten feet high to bash against the side of the ship, sending us backwards.
This couldn't be good for the engine, I thought to myself, before getting violently tossed into the ship's railing. I gasped as all the wind was knocked out of me, forcing myself to keep a grip on the railing so I wouldn't fall off. The sound of roaring water filled my ears.
We were getting sucked in by the whirlpool.
"Full-reverse!" Clarisse shouted over the noise. Waves were crashing onto the deck, but the iron plates of the hull and the helm were so hot that the water steamed the second it made contact with the metal. "Get us within firing range! Make ready starboard cannons!"
The dead Confederates ran back and forth, desperately trying to prepare the cannons while also pulling the propeller to reverse. The entire ship was shaking under the immense pressure the propeller was under, but it did nothing to keep us from continuing to get pulled in. If we kept taking this kind of a beating, none of us were going to make it out alive.
A sailor burst up from the hold, his clothes smoldering. His beard was on fire, but unlike Hephaestus, the fire would burn up his body. "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 into range!"
"We're going 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, a frantic look in his eyes. "It's too dangerous!"
He patted Percy's hand. "Only way, brother. I will fix it. Be right back."
"Yeah, I'm going to go down there, too," I said, following behind Tyson and the smoldering sailor back down to the boiler room. The ship lurched again, tossing me into the wall, but I righted myself and ran into the boiler room.
The boiler room was a total war zone.
Fire was coming from all the vents, having already vaporized the majority of the Confederates that had been down here trying to keep the ship intact. Smoke filled the air, making it hard to breathe, but I picked up a rag and tied it around my mouth and nose as a filter.
Tyson hunched over the ancient engine, opening the control panel and beginning to realign all types of gears and wires. I grabbed some of the tools from the fallen soldiers and got onto my knees next to Tyson, the two of us working in perfect unison as we tried to delay the ship from falling apart.
Another jolt caused the entire ship to shake, but at least Tyson and I had managed to keep us from getting pulled even closer to Charybdis' razor sharp teeth. Then I heard someone shout, "Scylla!" above deck.
"Not good," Tyson murmured, tightening the bronze rings around the pistons, increasing the amount of strength they could give off. "Too old, too much damage."
Suddenly, the rest of the metal in the room began to glow a dangerous shade of red, indicating that we had long since passed this metal's heat capacity. I barely had time to yell, "Tyson!" leaping towards him and wrapping my arms tightly around his large chest before the engine room exploded.
My ears rang as the ship blew up around us, large chunks of metal cutting into my flesh. Within seconds, sea water was flooding our collapsed room, pouring in after the walls burst apart like a box that had just been torn open.
In my arms, Tyson had fallen unconscious, bleeding heavily from a nasty cut on his forehead. One of the gears from the engine must've cut him, I thought, cursing to myself as my head finally submerged into the pitch black water.
Honestly, I don't know how the hell I'm still alive. That shockwave should've killed us like anybody else, because being fireproof doesn't mean you're shockwave proof. My head was pounding, feeling like someone was playing whack-a-mole with me as the mole. I couldn't hear anything other than my pulse roaring in my ears, as if someone had shoved cotton balls in my head.
The debris surrounding us made it impossible for me to get my bearings, the sunlight nowhere in sight. I had to disentangle the two of us from some rigging from the ship, which had prevented me from being able to use my legs to swim.
Luckily for Tyson, as a son of Poseidon, the water helped heal the gash on his forehead, but he was still unconscious. With the same rigging I'd just gotten us out of, I made a makeshift backpack, tying the steel rope under Tyson's armpits and around his chest before tying a double knot around my waist, therefore securing Tyson while giving me a full range of motion.
I swam out of the debris, the ringing in my ears eventually subsiding, though my migraine persisted. Seriously, I should get Apollo to write me an Olympus-grade prescription for migraines seeing that I get them every time people hijacked my mind, which happened more often than I'd like.
I was quickly beginning to tire. My body was still in a state of shock from the explosion, running on adrenaline and fear alone. The second one of those things ran out, I knew I was going to pass out. My overexertion wasn't going to help matters, either.
Before anyone says anything about the ambrosia and nectar I carry with me in my bag, let me say one thing: it's not waterproof. Although I had the godly food on me, I couldn't access it without soaking all my books and notes, something I wasn't willing to do. Plus, I was too weak to make any kind of air bubble, and Tyson and I were deep under the surface, too far for me to swim with my fading energy.
Just then, I felt something brush by my foot, sending another burst of adrenaline through me. I pulled out my sword, its faint bronze light illuminating just enough for me to see about a foot in every direction.
"Who's there?" I asked, my voice completely wrecked from the amount of smoke I'd inhaled despite the rag over my mouth and nose. Maybe it slipped without my noticing. "Reveal yourself!"
Sorry for frightening you, a gentle voice said. I've been following the young Cyclops ever since we departed at that large cruise ship.
"Rainbow?" I asked, turning around in a slow circle, trying to find the hippocampus. He showed himself in front of me, his silvery skin appearing a dark gray amidst all the darkness.
At your service. He bowed his head in respect.
"We lost some of our friends," I told him. "They're here in the Sea of Monsters."
Do you know where they were headed?
"Polyphemus' Island."
They seek the Golden Fleece?! Rainbow neighed nervously.
"We need it to save our home and some friends," I explained to the hippocampus. "Without it, all demigods will be hunted to extinction."
That doesn't sound good. Hop on. I shall help reunite you both with your friends.
I sighed in relief, feeling a huge weight lift off my shoulders. "Thank you, Rainbow," I said gratefully, seating myself on his horse upper body. He also allowed me to turn the rigging into a seatbelt, so I undid all the knots and retied the rigging so that Tyson and I were securely fastened to Rainbow's back without causing the hippocampus any discomfort.
Rainbow shot off, sending out messages to other sea life in the area to be in search of demigods within the Sea of Monsters. I rested my head against Rainbow's neck, passing out instantly.
0o0o
When I came to, Tyson was also awake, cheerfully talking to the fish pony as he said. He'd also switched our positions, so he was sitting closer up to Rainbow's head while my hands were wrapped around his waist.
"Tyson?" I asked blearily, my throat sore from smoke inhalation. "Where are we?"
"Dunno," he answered. "Rainbow said some fishes saw brother and Annabeth here last night."
Don't go above the surface, Rainbow warned me. We are next to the beach of the Sirens. While you can't drown, they will devour you should you reach the shore.
"How lovely," I said sarcastically, glancing up at the shimmering sunlight that passed into the water. I was seriously tempted to go up and listen to the Sirens, but I wasn't going to give Tyson and Rainbow the trouble of trying to keep me alive, so I told Rainbow that we should try searching for Polyphemus' Island.
For being in the middle of the Sea of Monsters, there were shockingly few monsters in the sea. We passed next to some of Hephaestus' forges, which Tyson wanted to check out but stopped after I'd remind him that our friends needed us.
The only trouble we really faced was coming face to face with a huge skolopendra. I mean, skolopendrae were known for their abnormally long length, an adult averaging thirty-five feet in length, but this one was at least fifty feet long. Thousands of its nasty red tentacles jutted out of its pink, slimy body as if a millipede had been turned inside out.
The skolopendra stank something awful – a mixture of rotten eggs and bleach and garbage that had been left out in the sun for a week. It couldn't roar, but seeing it open its pink maw wide enough to easily swallow a sperm whale was enough to make my blood run cold. Its black beady eyes were easily the size of a tractor wheel, taking note of everything in its surroundings.
We'd been planning to skirt around the skolopendra, wanting to avoid conflict as much as possible, but of course, that's not how things turned out.
Rainbow had swam deeper than the skolopendra in the hopes of avoiding detection, but as soon as we were directly underneath its ugly belly, which was coated in a thick layer of sea salt and green slime, it snapped its body downward, encasing us in a circle of tentacles.
"Bad snakes!" Tyson shouted, slapping at the tentacles that were trying to pry him off of Rainbow's back. Luckily for us, our harness was still intact, so we couldn't be separated unless a tentacle snapped us in half.
I scowled and pulled out my hunting knives, knowing that the more of skolopendra's soul went into the blade, the weaker it'd become. I offered Tyson one of my daggers, but he shook his head, saying that he didn't like hurting sea creatures. I then shadow-traveled a wooden club to my hand and passed it to Tyson, who accepted this weapon.
"Keep the tentacles away from Rainbow's face!" I told him, slicing a handful of tentacles that had wrapped around the hippocampus' tail. But for every tentacle I slashed, two more took its place, like I was fighting the Hydra instead of one of the most loathsome sea serpents in all of Greek mythology.
"Leave Rainbow alone!" became Tyson's war cry, bringing his club down so harshly against the tentacles it was a wonder it hadn't snapped.
We need to get out of here! Rainbow said in a panicky voice.
"We're trying here," I muttered, cutting away a tentacle that had wrapped around my ankle.
Then, I had a crazy idea. Before Tyson or Rainbow noticed what I was doing, I undid the knot keeping me on Rainbow's back and swam upwards. The two were so focused on not getting brought into the skolopendra's mouth that I was able to slash my way out of the tentacle circle we'd been trapped in.
From the outside looking in, there were far less tentacles, clearly indicating that this skolopendra wanted to eat us. How did the others kill this thing in the books? I asked myself, using the water currents to push me forward as I dragged my knives against the other side of the skolopendra's skin, cutting into the sea salt and slime that had been protecting its ugly underbelly.
Fire, I remembered, ducking as tentacle that tried to wrap itself around my throat. Greek fire.
But we didn't have Greek fire with us, and I'd never been able to summon it before. My emotions had never been strong enough to transform my normal flames into Greek fire. But I knew if I didn't do something soon, we were going to turn into skolopendra-chow.
"Rainbow, dive!" I shouted, my voice getting drowned out by the flurry of bubbles that were being created by flailing tentacles. "As deep as you can, then get out of here!"
What about you? Rainbow asked. What will you do?
Don't worry about me, I replied, pushing in my knives further, causing for black oil to pour from the wounds. I can take care of myself. Listen to Tyson's orders.
"Andy, no!" Tyson shouted. "Brother will need your help!"
"He needs yours more! Rainbow, leave, now!"
I watched as Rainbow's silver body submerged out of sight before noticing a flurry of bubbles, the same kind that would surround major currents. The skolopendra whirled around, searching for its prey. Its beady eyes focused on me, its tentacles spreading out like thousands of snakes around its body.
"Hey, you overgrown worm!" I shouted, focusing its attention on me. "If you want a snack, you'll have to come and get me!"
I waited until I was about to get snatched up before pushing my hands downward, the water shooting me at breakneck speed towards the surface. I gasped when I felt myself break through the surface, not accustomed to the lack of pressure that came with being in the air.
However, I overshot how much force I needed, sending me flailing in the air. After reminding myself of my crazy plan, I screamed, feeling my entire body catch fire. The fire was red, though, not hot enough yet.
I remembered every awful thing that I'd ever seen or had been done to me in my life, allowing for that repressed rage burn through me. This time when I fell back into the water, the fire surrounding me was lime green and still burning, meaning I'd finally summoned Greek fire for the first time.
I rushed towards the monster's head, lobbing fireballs at its eyes and mouth in an attempt to burn the skolopendra from the inside out. After a few more Greek fire pills made its way down the skolopendra's throat, it seized like someone had grabbed the end of a jump rope and shook it around violently before escaping into the depths below.
When I finally extinguished the flames, I felt immense fatigue set in despite being completely surrounded by salt water. Summoning that Greek fire had taken everything out of me, but I knew today's events were nowhere near over yet.
If Rainbow had listened, he and Tyson should be far away by now, hopefully reaching Polyphemus' Island within the next few hours. As for me, well, I was surrounded by water and shadows, both of which I could travel through.
I chose the former, fading into mist within the ocean, imagining myself back on Rainbow's back. Sure enough, when I opened my eyes, I was seated on Rainbow, who had been making small talk with Tyson in an attempt to distract him.
She's a strong demigod, young Cyclops. She will be fine, Rainbow reassured him.
"Yup, I am," I said, causing for Rainbow to stop abruptly in his tracks. I slammed into Tyson, who didn't even budge from the impact.
"Andy, the big snake didn't kill you!" Tyson cheered happily, clapping his hand together in enthusiasm. I showed him that I still had all my limbs, which made him even happier. "Rainbow kept us safe. We're almost there."
"That's good. Do we have an ETA?"
"A what?"
About an hour, Andy. That's enough time for you to get some rest.
"I don't need to sleep," I protested, tying myself back into the makeshift harness. "I literally only woke up a few hours ago."
"You smell like smoke," Tyson pointed out innocently, gesturing to the scorch marks on my clothes. I guess my clothes weren't fireproof when Greek flames got involved. "And I got rest, too. Finished healing then."
"I'm fine."
Young one, I sense a drop in your energy. You did something with the skolopendra that has weakened you. Rest so that you may be at full strength when facing Polyphemus.
"Not all Cyclopes are good like me," Tyson said seriously, sounding more mature than I'd ever heard him before.
Please, sleep. I shall wake you when we arrive.
"Please," Tyson pleaded, pulling a puppy dog gaze with his one brown eye.
I sighed, knowing that they were going to insist for the rest of the journey. "Fine," I conceded, resting my head against Tyson's back. He didn't seem to mind; in fact, he smiled. "But I better be woken up if anything goes wrong."
"Don't worry," Tyson said. "Night-night."
I shut my eyes and was instantly pulled into a dream.
I was standing in a cave on some island gods-knows-where, the shouts of a screaming woman filling the air. I ran in further wanting to help before dropping dead in my tracks, my mouth dropping open.
Sprawled out on the floor was a heavily pregnant woman, clutching at her swollen stomach while she screamed. Nine nymphs stood around her, telling her encouraging words and dabbing at her forehead with damp wool cloths. One of the nymphs was holding the woman's hand, and judging from the way she was trying not to scream out, I could tell she regretted that decision.
"Don't just stand there!" the nymph covered in white flowers hissed, snapping her fingers in front of my face to get my attention. "Help the queen!"
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, slowly beginning to back up as the pregnant woman began screaming again.
"You must be the medic the earth mother summoned. Now do your duty and help Queen Rhea!"
"You have the wrong person."
"Gaea never makes mistakes," the second nymph seethed. "Help the earth mother's daughter."
"Please," the woman, Rhea, whimpered, tightening her grip on the third nymph's hand.
I nodded, not wanting to bring down the wrath of the nymphs or Gaea on me even if this was only a dream. Speaking of which, I had no idea why I was here or how this was relevant to what was going on in the real world, but I sat myself in front of Rhea and helped her deliver her baby.
Now I knew why Will had left the infirmary right after delivering Chuck – labor and delivery was disgusting. There was so much blood, too, and the thing is that's to be expected. At least Rhea knew what to do with her newborn son after I cut the umbilical cord with one of my daggers.
Note to self, sanitize dagger in lava ASAP.
The nymphs started fussing over Rhea's baby, cleaning him up and swaddling him in a sky blue blanket before setting him back on Rhea's chest. I was left to clean up Rhea, which wasn't pretty or sanitary seeing that latex gloves hadn't been invented yet.
Another note to self, sanitize hands in lava, too.
"What will you name him?" the nymph whose hand had been broken by Rhea asked, wincing as she massaged her purple-tinged digits.
"Zeus," Rhea said, her face still beaded with sweat after giving birth. "For he shall shine a light on a bright future."
"A beautiful name," the fourth nymph said.
"We shall keep his safe, my queen," said the fifth.
Then Zeus began to cry, his wails echoing off the walls of the cave. The rest of us winced, but Rhea was the most concerned, her face pale as she tried to calm her son down. I knew that if he kept crying like this, he'd be discovered, forced to share the same fate as his other siblings.
"Mother Gaea," the sixth spoke sweetly, "could you please provide us with something to disguise your grandson's cries?"
From the dirt, three elfish looking men appeared. They all had long red beards that flowed down to their chest and a rat's nest of ginger hair on their heads. They wore leather kilts, like our armor, studded with silver domes along their waists. Their faces were grimy and dirty, their skin covered in an array of crisscrossing scars.
The three of them noticed the crying baby and broke out into a weird dance which I can only explain as a mixture of someone dancing to Rasputin and the funky chicken at the same time. However, while I was staring in confusion at the newcomers, baby Zeus was eating up the show, his cries immediately transforming into gurgling and laughter.
Rhea sighed in relief, smiling as Zeus's chubby little hands grabbed her finger. "Thank you, Mother."
"Who are they?" the seventh nymph asked.
"The Kouretes," I answered, earning myself three yellow smiles in my direction. They were less popular than I'd originally thought.
"Always a pleasure to serve the queen and prince," the middle Kourete said, sounding much more refined than I expected. Seriously, would you expect a giant who just broke it down and squatted so low that everything under his kilt was exposed to speak like they were a civilized member of society?
I saw the remaining two nymphs bring in a magic goat – Amaltheia, if I'm not mistaken – filling a wineskin and bringing it to Rhea to give to Zeus.
The image shifted again, pitting me next to the six original Olympians as they hid behind a stone wall, enemy fire shooting overhead. This time, I was completely invisible to them, much to my relief. I don't think they'd take to learning about another child of Kronos too kindly, especially if this was the first Titan War.
My curiosity getting the better of me, I peeked over the wall, an arrow whizzing right past my head. Standing in the middle of the entire army decked out completely in armor was none other than Kronos. He was standing at his mortal height of about seven-five, his gold eyes glinting cruelly, his lips pulled downward into a fierce scowl. His black hair was trimmed sort, but even from here I could make out his curls.
Did that mean in this timeline I got my hair from Kronos? Gods, I hope not.
He also had a long pointy beard that was a perfect triangle. When I say a perfect triangle, I mean I could go up to his beard with a protractor and be able to solve for every angle without a problem. Needless to say, it was an unnerving look. In his hand, he held his infamous scythe, the mixed blade shining dangerously in the sunlight.
"Surrender, my children!" Kronos shouted from Mount Othrys. "We shall give you a merciful death!"
"Yeah, right," Poseidon snorted, clutching his trident tightly in his hand, the spearheads glowing with energy.
"He'll enjoy torturing us," Hera agreed.
"Especially me," Zeus added.
"Well, aren't you special?" Demeter drawled.
"He has a point," Hades said. "Zeus was the only one of us who evaded getting eaten."
"Don't remind me," Hestia pleaded, shaking with fear. She'd been the firstborn, meaning she spent the most time in Kronos' stomach, which couldn't have been a pleasant memory.
"If we want to defeat Father," Zeus said, "we must use trickery. That's the only way to topple the Crooked One."
Hera had opened her mouth to say something, but before I could hear anything, I felt someone gently shaking my shoulders, telling me to wake up.
I woke up with a start, my hands still trembling from having to help the Queen of the Titans give birth to my half-brother. Which made me wonder, what would Rhea think of me should we ever meet? I knew she was a recluse and in hiding, but if she ever met me, I couldn't help but wonder how that might turn out. Seeing that there was a pretty solid record of immortal stepmoms having a general dislike for their stepchildren, she'd probably hate me on the simple principle that I exist.
"Andy, you okay?" Tyson asked, snapping his fingers in front of my face a couple of times.
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine," I said.
"Good, because Rainbow said we're here."
0o0o
Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you all have an amazing 2019!