Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians nor do I own The Heroes of Olympus.
Story: Champion of Olympus: The Sea's Wrath
Chapter 7: All or Nothing
On board the Thalassa
Annabeth's POV
We sailed for three hours before Tyson came to see me.
"Annabeth, there is a strange strait up ahead, I sense that there are strange creatures nearby. I walked to the front of the boat with Tyson. I peered through the set of binoculars that Chiron had given me for the trip. When I looked through the lenses, I saw the narrow strait up ahead. The size of the cliffs, and the unusual flow of the water seemed familiar, and then I knew. This was the Strait of the Damned, the same strait that Odysseus sailed through with his men. We were about to face two of the worst monsters in all of ancient Greece, Charybdis and Scylla. We would need all the good fortune we could muster.
"Clarisse" I yelled. The tall daughter of Ares approached us.
"What's going on brain?" Clarisse asked sarcastically. I ignored her tone.
"Ahead is the Strait of the Damned, the entrance to the Sea of Monsters, and beyond it Charybdis and Scylla." I said. Clarisse's eyes grew wide.
"Just great, if the cliff doesn't crush us the two monsters will tear us apart." Clarisse said sarcastically.
"You want to turn back?" I asked. Clarisse began to laugh.
"Hades no, I want to kick some monster ass." Clarisse yelled. I had to smile at the daughter of Ares reaction, a typical child of the war god.
"Brain child, you worry about getting us through the strait, I'll worry about the monsters." Clarisse said. I nodded, then I ran to the bow of the boat with my binoculars and wrist watch.
I peered through my binoculars, and waited for the cliffs to open again, I timed how long it took them to open, how long for them to start to close, and finally how long it took them to close completely?
"Tyson, how fast do you think the boat can go with this current wind speed and sea currents?" I asked. I saw Tyson close his eyes, and I knew he was feeling the sea and the wind.
"Five knots" Tyson said.
"Can you will the water to move us faster?" I asked.
"For a short time, maybe five minutes at ten knots." Tyson said. I thought through all the calculations, and I had the timing down. "Get the boat within thirty yards of the cliffs, and anchor us, until I order full speed ahead." Tyson nodded, and ran toward the controls. I walked to the rear of the boat to see Clarisse setting out harpoons, her electric spear, two sets of bows and arrows, and a large double bladed axe.
"What's your plan?" I asked. Clarisse looked up from sharpening a harpoon blade.
"We take on Scylla, we have no chance against Charybis, that monster would send us to the bottom. At least with Scylla, we have a fighting chance." Clarisse said. I looked at her, but she was right, this was the best plan that we had. We would have to fight off Scylla and avoid Charybdis.
"Tyson" I yelled. Tyson walked out of the control room. "What's our status?"
"The boat is in position." Tyson said.
"Good, on my mark set sail though the opening, and then when I give the next signal use your powers to speed us through. Also, when we get through, I need you to pilot the boat away from Charybdis, and get us passed Scylla as fast as you can, got it?" I asked.
"Yes" Tyson said as he walked back into the control room. I walked back to the bow of the boat, and looked through the control room window. Tyson watched me closely for my signal. I looked back toward the cliffs. The cliffs were made of a light gray stone that were almost silver in color. They rose up from the sea for at least one hundred feet. They were shear cliffs that almost looked like they had been carved in half. I could hear and feel the cliffs start to rumble and creak as they opened up again. I waited until the width of the opening was just big enough for the Thalassa. I gave Tyson the signal, and the boat started to move through the opening between the two cliffs. The cliffs were still pulling apart, and we reached about the halfway point through the strait when the cliffs began to close in on us. I had to time this perfectly, or we wouldn't make it. I waited and waited, I could feel sweat slide down my forehead. I waited as long as I could, I made the next signal, and the boat moved forward at twice its previous speed. The walls continued to close on us, we were only twenty yards from the other side of the strait. I looked at Tyson, and I could see the strain on his face.
The cliffs were now only ten feet from each side of the boat, and they were closing quickly. I prayed to my mother, and closed my eyes as I heard the walls crash together. The boat lurched forward awkwardly almost knocking me off my feet. I looked behind me to see the two large cliff walls closed behind us with only two feet to spare. I saw Tyson sigh in relief as he gave me a happy smile. I returned his smile, but it was short lived. I turned toward the bow of the ship to see the large whirlpool that was Charybdis only forty yards away on our starboard side, and on the port side only fifty yards away I could see the monster Charybdis with its multiple heads, and snapping jaws. Uh oh, here we go.
Poseidon's Palace - Atlantis
Percy's POV
"I will need some godly assistance to monitor our bodies during the ritual." Poseidon said.
"Call Athena, she's smart enough to help us if something goes wrong." I said. Poseidon gave me an astonished look.
"You're asking me to bring Athena, my enemy, to my palace?" Poseidon asked incredulously.
"Yes" I said plainly. He was about to argue, but I guess the look on my face changed his mind.
"Alright, I'll go get her, she'll need me to bring her here anyway." Poseidon said bitterly as he disappeared into a sea green mist. He reappeared two minutes later with Athena beside him. She looked around in wonder, then she saw me.
"Perseus." Athena said as she ran toward me.
"Hey, sis" I said.
"Poseidon have you and Percy reconciled?" Athena asked. I looked at my adoptive sister's worried expression.
"To a point, we have decided to be friends." I said. Athena sighed, then she looked at Poseidon skeptically.
"Why am I here?" She asked.
"There is a ritual that I must perform, I will need to enter Percy's dreams, and help him break though the barrier that is keeping him from connecting with the sea and his powers." Poseidon said. Athena narrowed her eyes at the sea god, but he just gave her a rueful smile.
"An ancient Atlantean ritual. We need you to monitor us while we are in the trance." Poseidon said.
"Why me?" Athena asked.
"We need an immortal, preferably a god to do this, plus Percy said that he trusts you." Poseidon said. Athena gave me a happy smile.
"What do you say sis?" I asked.
"I'll do it, for Percy." Athena said. I gave her a thankful smile. Poseidon whistled loudly, the massive doors to the throne room opened, and in came three mermen. One was pushing a celestial bronze tank filled with sea water. The second merman pushed a similar tank, while the third one pushed a large crystal sitting on a pedestal with wheels.
"What is all this?" Athena asked.
"The ritual requires that the two participants be in sea water, not fully submerged, but partially. It also requires the use of an Atlantean power crystal, this will be the main source of the power needed for the connection." Poseidon said. Athena nodded. "Here take this it will explain the ritual, and what needs to be done." Athena took the rolled up parchment. She unrolled it, and read it carefully. When she finished, she had a surprised and wary look on her face.
"That bad, huh?" I asked. Athena turned her attention away from the parchment, and looked straight into my eyes.
"This will be dangerous, are you sure you want to do this?" Athena asked. A small smile crossed my lips.
"I'll be fine, don't be such a worry wart sis." I said jokingly, but Athena didn't look amused.
"Just be careful little brother." Athena said, then she gave me a hug. I looked behind her to see Poseidon with a surprised, and amused look on his face. We broke apart, and I walked over to Poseidon, rolling my eyes as he smiled at me. The two mermen positioned the tanks end to end with the crystal between them. I climbed into the tank on the right, the water was cold, but I ignored it. I saw Poseidon climb into the other tank, we both laid flat in the tank with the water level just under our chins. I saw movement above me, and then Athena walked passed my tank, and stood next to the crystal. She began to chant in an ancient language, but it wasn't Greek, then I realized this had to be ancient Atlantean. Suddenly, I saw a glow emanate from the crystal, the aura began to cover the tank, and I felt my skin begin to tingle. My eyelids began to feel heavy, and a wave of relaxation seemed to sweep over my body. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I felt more relaxed than I ever have before. Then everything went black. A small light appeared ahead of me, I moved towards the light until I was standing in a bright white room.
"Over here Percy." A voice said, I turned toward my left, and standing by the far wall of the room was Poseidon. I walked over toward him carefully, still looking around at the white room.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"This is a part of your mind that's been closed off, I think this is where we'll find our answers." Poseidon said. Poseidon put his arm around my shoulder, and led me to the opposite wall. The wall immediately opened up as we approached it, we looked inside to see a long hallway with the same white walls. Like the first room the walls seemed to glow from within.
"Where are we going?" I asked as I turned my head to look around the room.
"That way." Poseidon said as he pointed in front of us toward a large black metal door at the end of the hall way. The door was definitely metal as it shined in the light, but then I noticed that there was a window or opening in the door that was square and about two feet wide. The opening held four steel bars, it looked like the door of a prison cell. We approached the cell door, and I saw movement through the barred window. Poseidon and I carefully approached the door, but before we could look in a hand grabbed the barred window, and I was confronted by the familiar face of a teenage boy with sea green eyes, it was my face and my eyes. I stepped back in surprise. Poseidon looked at the boy in the cell warily.
"Who are you?" Poseidon asked. The boy just stared at Poseidon in wonder.
"Dad?" The boy said.
"Percy?" Poseidon asked in return.
"It can't be, I'm right here." I said, Poseidon and the boy looked at me, and then the boy yelled.
"Perseus, why have you done this?" The boy yelled, he was almost in tears. I froze, what in Hades is going on here, I thought.
"Percy, how did I do this?" I asked. The boy, Percy just stared at me in shock.
"You don't know?" He asked bewildered. Suddenly, a dark mist washed into the room, and we all stopped to stare at it. The mist settled between Poseidon and I, then it morphed into a man in a black cloak, but his eyes, they were gold. The cloaked man looked directly at Poseidon, and he froze at the sight.
"Kronos" Poseidon spat out the name like it was poison. The cloaked figure laughed ominously, and I instantly remembered the voice from the pit in Tartarus.
"Well, is that anyway to greet your dear father, my boy." Kronos said in a voice dripping with venom. Poseidon's scowl grew until he looked like he was about to explode.
"How are you here?" Poseidon yelled. Kronos began to laugh again, but stopped abruptly as he considered Poseidon's question.
"You mean, how can I be in Perseus's mind when he has Hera's abilities?" Kronos asked mockingly.
"Yeah thats right." Poseidon answered.
"My dear daughter's powers are strong, but when you have as much help as I, well you can get around your puny Olympian powers." Kronos said.
"You imprisoned him?" I asked as I pointed toward the cell that housed Percy. Kronos turned towards me.
"I see the blessing of Athena was not lost on you boy. Yes, Percy is imprisoned by me, but of course you helped, well your anger and sadness did at least." Kronos said. I did this, I imprisoned a part of myself, I couldn't believe it, but then I knew Kronos had helped.
"You tricked me into doing this." I accused. Kronos's eyes glowed, but I couldn't see his face, but I knew he was smiling.
"Well, of course I did child. My monsters have not been powerful enough to kill you, and that fool Luke failed with the poison. However, I never imagined that I would be so successful in getting you to hurt yourself. I guess its only fitting that in the end the Champions of Olympus's greatest enemy was himself. How ironic, I just love it." Kronos said as he continued to laugh loudly.
"Stop, leave my son now." Poseidon yelled as the room began to shake. Kronos turned toward Poseidon, and I could feel the power he controlled.
"No, I like it here. Its time for you to leave boy, say hello to your siblings, and tell them that I will be coming for them soon enough." Kronos said as a sudden burst of power shot from his gold eyes. The beams of power hit Poseidon in the chest, he screamed in pain as his body began to glow, and then he faded away in front of me.
"You you killed him?" I asked.
"No, not yet, I just threw him out of your mind. You see, we need to discuss your involvement in the war to come. I want you on my side." Kronos said.
"I will never join you." I yelled.
"Never is a long time boy, believe me, I know." Kronos said grimly. I was in trouble now, and I had no idea how to defeat him.
AN: Sorry for the delay, I've been out of town.