Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

Edited by Mellie Erdmann.

Chapter Eleven: Clarisse Blows Up Everything

Harry was a tad worried about the diabolical grin on Clarisse's face, but considering it wasn't aimed at him he wasn't seriously worried. The evening sky was grey and gloomy, the air hazy and humid. Squinting, Harry could make out some fuzzy dark splotches in the distance.

"What are those?" he asked.

Distracted by her shiny new cannon, Clarisse didn't hear the question. Harry could tell it would be another hour until they reached the splotches. Louder he asked, "Hey, blood brat, could you wake up the others? We're going to be at the entrance soon!"

"Wha?" went Clarisse, running her hands over the cannon to see in how good of condition it was.

"I think the others need to wake up," Harry repeated. "We're nearly there."

"Oh, yeah." Clarisse turned her head and screamed, "WAKE UP YOU LAZY BUMS!"

"Uh…" blinked Harry.

After a minute Annabeth staggered out of the hut. "What's going on?"

"Clarisse's waking up people skills need improving; she's worse than Aunt Petunia at it," Harry mumbled to himself. Out loud he said, "We're getting close to the Sea of Monsters. Could you wake up the Kanes?"

"Oh, sure," Annabeth nodded, retreating back into the hut. Five minutes later she, Carter, Sadie, and Muffin all exited the hut. Uneasily they waited in silence until the dark splotches came into focus.

To the north was a huge mass of rock- an island with steep cliffs over a hundred feet tall. Roughly a half a mile south of the cliff the other patch of darkness turned out to be a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.

"A hurricane?" gulped Carter. Annabeth looked like she wanted to agree with Carter's assessment but Clarisse snorted at the comment.

"Not hardly. Charybdis."

"Bless you?" tried Sadie.

Wan, Annabeth said, "This is crazy. Hairball, what were you thinking?"

"Hey, it was Percy's demigod watery instincts that told me to do this," Harry replied wryly. "I'm just listening to them."

"Then Percy is a seaweed brain."

Clarisse rolled her eyes at the blonde girl. "It's the only way into the Sea of Monsters. Straight between Charybdis and her sister Scylla."

She pointed at the cliffs' top on the last word. Harry gulped a bit.

"What do you mean it's the only way?" Sadie questioned. "The ocean is wide open! Just sail around them."

"It doesn't work that way," Clarisse responded. "If I tried to sail around them, they would just appear in my path again. If you want to get into the Sea of Monsters, you HAVE to sail through them."

Annabeth, clutching at straws, said, "What about the Clashing Rocks? That's another gateway. Jason used it."

"Hey, there' not much you can do against rocks. Monsters, on the other hand…" Clarisse patted the cannon.

"Uh, where did that come from?" went Carter.
"Ares," Harry told him. "Clarisse burned some ambrosia in a vitamin bottle lid to get it."

Carter looked very, very lost and even Sadie seemed a bit bemused by the explanation. Muffin only yawned.

Running her hands through her messy curls, Annabeth said, "Okay, I dreamed of Grover. He's in deep trouble with the Cyclops, and the Fleece is on the island. If we have to do this, I suppose we have to do it the crazy way."

"Excellent. Harry, set a course for Charybdis."

"Okay," nodded Harry, tilting the rudder expertly. "So… what exactly is Charybdis again?"

Curtly Annabeth lectured, "She sucks in the sea and spits it back out again. Her sister, Scylla, lives in a cave up on those cliffs. If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and start eating people off the boat."

Harry looked around at his friends and his acquaintance Carter. "Okay then. Charybdis it is."

"Sweetness." Clarisse said with relish, "Charybdis just sits there at the center of her whirlwind. We're going to steam straight toward her, train the cannon at her, and blow her to Tartarus!"

"I like that plan," beamed Sadie. Carter went, "I don't."

As the reed boat approached the monsters, the sound of Charybdis kept increasing. Her roar reminded Harry of a flushing toilet only a billion times louder. Each time Charybdis inhaled, the boat shuddered and lurched forward. Each time she exhaled, they rose in the water and were buffeted by ten foot waves. Harry supposed only magic was keeping the boat from capsizing or being torn apart.

Annabeth told them, "As near as I can figure, Charybdis takes three minutes to suck up and destroy everything in a half-mile radius. To avoid her, we would have to be right next to Scylla's cliffs."

"Maybe that thermos of wind Hermes gave me could help?" Harry suggested. Everyone looked over at him. Annabeth went, "Wait- did you mention that before?"

"He told me when I was looking for something to use for putting my sacrificial life in- and about the magic vitamins," Clarisse informed her. "No idea if he told you."

"More wind will probably make things worse- but you're in the body of Poseidon's son. Maybe you could try controlling the water?" suggested Annabeth, opting to change the subject as the boat neared the monsters.

"Um, I could try." Harry closed his eyes and tried to focus. But Charybdis was too powerful and noisy; he couldn't get the waves to respond at all. Feeling like a failure Harry opened his eyes and shook his head.

"This is totally going to backfire, blood brat. It's Charybdis," went Annabeth. "This isn't going to work!"

Before Clarisse could retort Charybdis let loose a huge roar, the boat lunching forward and throwing everyone to the deck. They had entered the whirlpool.

"Hairball, get me within firing range!" screamed Clarisse over the raging waves. Focusing his power, Harry got the boat moving towards the focal point of the whirlpool. Charybdis appeared only a few hundred yards away through a swirl of mist and smoke and water. There was a black hunk of coral topped by a fig tree grounding Charybdis to the spot. Just below the waterline laid Charybdis: an enormous mouth with slimy lips and mossy teeth, it had braces made of corroded scummy metal with fish and driftwood and garbage stuck between the bands.

The entire sea around her was being sucked into the void- sharks, schools of fish, and even a giant squid. Harry felt worst about that last one until he realized their boat would be next. Just then Clarisse began firing the cannon. The first shot ricocheted off an incisor; the second disappeared down her gullet; and the third one hit a band and flew back over their heads.

As Clarisse waited for the cannon to magically reload, Harry realized it was hopeless. There was no way she could do enough damage before Charybdis swallowed them.

"Sadie, cup your hands and fill them with sea water!" Carter yelled. Confused, she did so. Meanwhile, Clarisse was shooting the cannon at Charybdis again to little avail.

"I have no idea if this is going to work," admitted Carter as he started to spin the water in his sister's hand. When it was properly swirling, Carter spoke again rapidly as the boat drew closer and closer to mouth of Charybdis. "I name you Charybdis!"

And he smacked Sadie's cupped hands with his free hand, sending the water flying. Just as Charybdis was about to start spitting out everything, she exploded into millions of water drops. As the boat hurried by, Annabeth went, "What in the name of Mount Olympus was THAT!"

"Execration," Carter got out before toppling down. Clarisse grumbled, turning her cannon on Scylla, "You Egyptian magicians are such wimps, collapsing after the least bit of use of your powers."

"Hey! I fainted after blowing up a metal giant bull and Carter blew up Charybdis!" Sadie thought this over. "Hm, maybe Egyptian magic focuses on blowing up stuff. That'd be awesome."

Blasting away at the cliffs housing Scylla, Clarisse conceded, "Okay, if that was true, I'd totally become an Egyptian magician. I'd blow up everything. Starting with Chris."

"Who's-" began Sadie, but she fell silent at Annabeth's and Harry's hasty head shaking. Soon they were past Scylla and an already reforming Charybdis. They had arrived in the Sea of Monsters.