Chapter 4
I Fight A Giant Porcupine
I took a deep breath, my heart racing. This thing was huge. It had to be at least half of a football field. The swirling water blocked my sight, so I couldn't see any details. But it was big. Annabeth was silent, so either she was shocked beyond words, or she was busy calculating size, vital points, and approximate time it would take to bring the beast down. I would put my money on option two.
"So," I said. "I jump on top of the huge tidal wave, stab this beast till it turns to dust, and you act as back up."
"Back up? If that thing is not a pile of ashes being swept out to sea in 5 minutes I'm jumping in after you."
"Alright," I said, my voice dry. "Well, here it goes."
The wave was below me, and I looked down at the dark, swirling water. I hoped Triton did as I said and was attacking the Ketos from below. If I had to swim down at him the plan wouldn't work. I swung my leg over, and took a deep breath.
Please, Dad, I begged, Don't let the monster be covered in poisonous blubber, or electrically charged hairs. I jumped.
My second free fall of the day wasn't any better. Worse, in fact. Swirling waves reached up beyond any wave should, and I could see a deep, dark blob. I was plunging into an undersea war, and I had only... my sword! Desperately I groped at my pocket and pulled out the pen. Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be hard, but remember I was freefalling at the time. I managed it, I uncapped the pen, and a celestial bronze blade grew in my hands. Riptide. I shouted, more to bolster my own courage then anything, and I plunged into the water.
Almost immediately I hit the skin of the Ketos. It wasn't electrically charged, or covered in a poisonous goop, but I was lucky I wasn't speared on contact. The whole of the Ketos was covered in spikes like some sort of under water porcupine. The next step, after thanking my Dad for not letting me die on a spike, was to orient myself. There was a sudden jerk, and a stumbled back. Okay, that was forward. I began to race across its back, dodging between spikes, heading for the... well, head.
When I got there, I stopped unable to help gaping the absolute ugliness of the thing. It had no ears that I could see, but then it was an undersea creature. It seemed the whole face was as wrinkly as a freeze dried t-shirt. there was another jerk.
Yo Boss, Blackjack called. How I could hear him from down there I still don't know. NYC is in view, you might want to hurry it up.
New York? Already/ How fast did this thing move! I ran out to where I thought the neck might be, and I plunged my sword into it. There was a rumble and the whole thing started to shake. I stumbled, nearly falling. I had a premonition of me dressed as Han Solo inside of a space slug. I drove my sword into the thing again, and the shaking intensified. then all at once, the water above me was rushing down. I broke through the surface, and gasped. Why? Because my city, my city, was covered in water. A storm was rampaging through the streets (I think I might have seen a few storm spirits. I can never remember their Greek name) and the sea was going wild. Outraged, I plunged my sword again and again into the thing. how dare this monster destroy my city. This thing had been ruining my day, and it wasn't going to keep doing that again.
I felt a sharp sting in my ankle, but ignored it.
It seemed like ages, but finally the monsters shaking began to cease. I heard a hiss, and the monster slowly began to crumble, it's edges breaking into dust. I ran, wanting to get off of the thing before all of it was gone. I reached the crumbling sides, and I leapt. I fell back into the water. My ankle was burning. I saw dolphins swim toward me, then I blacked out.
To Be Continued
