Chapter 14: An Old Friend
I should have learned not to go to sleep by now, but I guess tiredness gets to us all. As soon as I fell asleep I found myself transported to the Underworld. I was coming here so often that I was beginning to consider the dark marble hallways and throne room almost cozy. The feeling scared me.
"I have failed," Christopher Nash said behind me. I was hovering over a marble column where the ceiling should have been, looking at Minos' throne. Christopher stood behind me. Minos was facing me, but neither appeared to notice my presence. Maybe they were getting used to me being here too.
"You don't need to tell me your failures Nash," Minos said without getting up. "I have eyes everywhere. You only need to tell me why you failed, and hope I'm feeling merciful."
"The Big-G God's servant defeated my best option in the area." Nash said.
"Ezekiel 37," Minos said, examining his fingernails nonchalantly. "A prophecy that a valley of Israelite bones would form flesh and rise up. A prophecy that you just fulfilled. This supposed Big-G God had nothing to do with it."
"You didn't see this angel," Nash said. "It's almost like he knew I would raise the valley; like he was orchestrating it. Like he was controlling me."
"NO ONE CONTROLS THE GODS!" Minos said, rising suddenly from his chair. A single lightning bolt flashed from his fingertips and zapped Nash's shoulder. He stumbled back. "THAT IS JUST A STORY ZEUS USES TO MAINTAIN CONTROL. NO ONE CONTROLS THE GOD'S! NO ONE WILL CONTROL ME."
Nash's rage entered his face. "You dare attack me in my OWN HOUSE?" he said, pulling his sword and advancing on Minos.
Minos began to laugh. "You going to strike me down Nash?" he said, suddenly containing himself again. "And if you do that, who is going to make you immortal? Who will protect you from the Gods' wrath?" Nash stopped short and sheathed his sword. The look of rage didn't go away though. "Remember your place, Nash," Minos said, rising into the air, the space beneath him crackling blue with lightning. "You are powerful, and you are a valuable servant. But you have sworn loyalty to me. You serve me."
"Apologies, my Master," Nash said, "but I fail to see how you're going to do that now. Jackson has the Bow and they travel on an untraceable ship."
Minos began to laugh and slowly descend, killing the lightning. "There is more than one way to track someone," he said. "You can follow them, yes. Or you can already know where they're going."
"But we don't know where they're going," Nash said.
"You don't," Minos said, coming to a rest on the ground.
"I do," a third voice said. A figure morphed from a throne shaped fountain right next to Nash's. The figure was a young man, shirtless, who was holding a twisted conch shell lazily under his right arm. His black hair was tidy, but otherwise exactly like my father's. That would have given his identity away to me even without the twin fishtails that took the place of his legs as he calmly walked forward into the space. The god Triton was imposing, even on land.
"Triton here placed the Doors of the Deep," Minos said. "He will ensure that Jackson receives a proper welcome when he arrives."
I awoke sweaty but safe in a restored hammock on the lowest deck. It had taken a while, but I was sleeping down here again without nightmares of the mine's explosion. Most of the deck had been fully repaired, but not all of the water had gotten out. I liked that; the smell reminded me of my fragileness. It reminded me of my mortality. When you can dip into the powers of three Olympians, you can forget that sometimes.
I stretched as I got out of the hammock and walked up to the gun deck and walked into the Captain's reception area where Tom Three the chef was cooking lunch with the food he had resupplied in Tel Aviv, but I was hardly interested in falafel for the third straight meal. Still, food was food.
"The Zombie king walks," Roberts said from the table. I hadn't noticed him sitting there, but he was sitting as far as possible from Tom and studying what looked like a map of the Mediterranean. The map was slightly wrong, with extra drawings and symbols throughout the sea.
"Zombie king? I think you're thinking of Airiana," I said, taking a seat to his right. Tom brought me a fresh falafel before I could turn it down. "Falafel again?" I said. "Can't I get a cheeseburger or something?"
"That's not kosher," Tom said, returning to dancing around his kitchen area. I swear he took up more of that room each time I walked in.
"Suck it up Supermom," Airiana said, walking into the room and taking a seat on the opposite side of Roberts from me. So not everything was fixed yet, but Supermom was a start. Tom walked over and handed Airiana a cheeseburger. I decided not to mention it.
"What's the map?" I asked.
"Old treasure of mine," Roberts said. "Has the main monster's nests located on it. I've learned the inaccuracies and know where to avoid. It's why we've had so easy a time on our journey here."
"But we still don't know where we're going when we get out of the Mare," Airiana said. "Any ideas on that in your little book?"
"The book was destroyed in…earlier," I said. The explosion was still hard to talk about with the crew. "But I have some ideas. I know that Posiedon ordered Triton to hide the Doors. None of the Olympians knew where the Doors were, which means it's not in any of their domains."
"How could that be possible?" Airiana asked. "Posiedon has the Sea, Demeter the Land, Hades the Underworld, Zeus the Air. That's the whole planet. Someone is hiding information from us."
"Not all the world," I said.
"What am I missing?" Airana asked sharply.
"Posiedon rules the sea," Roberts said, tracing his finger across the coastline on his map. "But the nyads and spirits control the fresh water. They pay homage to Posiedon but are technically independent. He doesn't have free reign and knowledge of their territory."
"And since it's still underwater, none of the other gods know of it either. I agree with the Captain, the Doors are under a fresh water body," I said.
"Fantastic," Airiana said. "That narrows it down to, what, 20% of the world? We've got about ten days."
"This is the gods we're talking about," I said. "Triton wouldn't have trusted his location alone as being safe. He would have protected the doors further; ensure that only he could ever get to the door again."
"Protected them how?" Kim asked. She had just emerged from the Girl's Quarters, but it appeared as if she had been listening the entire time.
"Well the gods each have their own signature," I said. "Triton's signature is big scary monsters. Both he and his father are known for their monsters to send at people. We met one on the way here, Airiana destroyed it. We're looking for a deep, fresh water body, with a large monster guarding it."
"But how would we know of the monster?" Airiana asked. "The mortals wouldn't be able to see it. And not even Triton would risk using the monster and showing everyone the location. He'd run interference before any of us demigods would ever get there."
"The Mist is strong," Roberts said. "But it has its flaws. Not everyone would see it; indeed we might go decades between the Mist breaking down. But eventually the Mist would break, and a mortal would see."
"And there's only one place I can think of that would fit all of those descriptions," I said. "A fresh water body that has a rarely seen, yet still present, monster that doesn't seem to ever leave."
"You can't be serious," Airiana said.
"I am," I said.
"Where are we talking exactly?" Kim asked.
"Loch Ness," I said.
"I hate Scotland," Airiana said to no one in particular.
"We're approaching the Gates of Hercules," Roberts said, picking up his map and beginning to walk out of the room. "I'll take us out into deeper waters where it's safe before heading North. The English Channel is only slightly safer than this Sea. You sure know how to pick the quests Jackson."
"Just get us safely through the Gates," I said.
"Hey, that's my specialty," Roberts said. As soon as he finished, a large bang was heard throughout the ship and the whole thing lurched to port.
"Maybe hold your tongue next time!" I said, getting up from where I'd been thrown. I had landed on the far side of the room, next to one of the doors leading out to the gun deck. Kim hadn't been so lucky: she'd been hit in the head by a flying falafel.
"Get to the deck!" Roberts yelled, switching to captain mode like he was flipping a light switch. The crew followed without question.
I scrambled up to the top deck where there was no sign of anything wrong other than the crew scrambling around tightening ropes and loading the guns.
"Mortals, get below de-" Roberts started, but then stopped when he looked at our faces.
"You're not seriously going to try that again are you?" I asked.
Roberts smiled. "Weapons out friends," he said, returning to ordering around the crew.
"Any idea what hit us?" Kim asked, pulling her wand, but not putting it in any particular direction.
"One," I said. "I hope I'm wrong."
I wasn't wrong. The white head appeared just off our starboard side, triangular and wide. It seamed to have grown since the last time I saw it. Its back was to the craft, with the shield-sized scales protecting against any sneak attack. If the slow rise was intended to inspire fear in the crew, it worked. By the time the leathery wings of the beast had risen above the edge of the deck, the crew was already backing away from the guns, which wound up being a good thing because the dragon decided to slap the boat with its tail when it got high enough.
"Leviathan again?" Airiana asked. "I thought we had killed that thing."
"Never believe a monster is dead until you see it in dust," Roberts said behind us. "You're lead My Queen."
"Yeah Flower Queen," I said. "What now?"
Airiana smiled, which was something I hadn't seen in a while. "We need to isolate the monster and get out of the Sea," she said. "Already the monsters of the Mare are coming to the call of the Dragon."
"Kim, you'll need to protect the sails if we're going to move," I said as Roberts left to relay instructions to the crew.
"I'll do what I can," she said, backing to the far port side of the ship and pointing her wand at the monster.
"And we get to fight this thing," Airiana said. "Any plans for that?"
"Hey!" I said, grabbing the monster's attention. It had risen to about a hundred yards in the air, still facing away from us. The monster's control in its slow rise was almost scarier than if it was flying around and burning things. Maybe if we were stealthy enough we'd be able to slip away without it noticing. Well, we could have before I shouted.
Leviathan turned quicker than I thought possible so that it was facing the ship. The sun gleamed off the broken weapons stuck in the monster's belly. It looked at me as if sizing me up. Then it reared back and belched in our face. I just managed to duck as something large and off-white came flying out of its mouth. I looked back to see Airiana staring disapprovingly at a large whale jaw fossil that looked mysteriously like the one she had summoned to entertain the dragon last time.
"I wasn't done with that," she said, pulling out Nico's sword, which sucked the light from the air immediately around it. Curiously, it seemed to make the dragon reflect less light, and therefore make it possible to look at it again. For a second, I thought it wasn't going to attack, but would just let us leave. I snuck a look to see where we were, but Gibraltar was still just on the horizon. We weren't free yet.
"You are a good monster," I said, throwing as much charmspeak as I could at it. "You'll let us pass on by. You're not even supposed to attack us."
"Alex, what are you doing?" Airiana asked without taking her eyes off the monster.
"Trying to keep it peaceful," I said. "At least until we get past that rock."
"Whatever Winston," she said. I flashed her a look of annoyance.
That was a mistake.
The Leviathan shook it's head as if coming out of a daze and breathed fire directly at our ship. Water appeared in golden greek letters in front of our sails, and erupted into steam as the fire hit them. The words didn't survive the encounter, but neither did the fire so it was a win overall.
"Give us speed!" Ariana screamed at Captain Roberts. He shrugged as if to say the ship was giving us all she had. The Gates of Hercules and the edge of the sea were only about 200 yards away at this point, but that was still plenty of time for this dragon to burn us to a crisp.
"Got another whale up your sleeve?" I asked, coming up alongside Airiana as she pulled her sword from the middle of the ship.
"I pulled that from somewhere other than my sleeve," she said, stabbing the deck with the sword. "And no, I'm trying to summon us more speed from much smaller ships." A second round of flame was stopped short by Kim's magic. A green tail appeared briefly over the starboard side before slipping back into the ocean.
"I hope that was your beastie and not his," I said.
"You could help you know," she said as I began to walk away. She was right, but I wasn't exactly sure what else I could do. Hera's powers were in peace, not in battle. I had destroyed all the mines in the area on the way in. I was no good with the cannons, and afterall those had failed miserably the first time. If charmspeak wasn't going to work, I really was at a loss for what to do. A Gladius wasn't going to do much against a dragon.
I ran to the edge of the deck and looked down into a horror show of monsters. "Nice beasties," I said, putting some charm behind my words. But I'm not sure the charmspeak worked considering how shaky my voice was. A monster, specifically a large anaconda like black snake, punctured the surface of the ocean and jumped up the side of the ship. I jumped back, tripping over my own feet and falling on the deck, but I didn't need to. As soon as the snake got to the top of the deck, it shrieked as if it was hitting a poisonous force field and recoiled back into the ocean. I looked back to see if Kim or Airiana had done anything, but they both were still in their same locations they had been. In fact a fresh batch of steam indicated that Kim was still battling the dragon pretty hard.
"We're out of the Mare," a voice said over my left shoulder. I turned to see Captain Roberts standing there offering me a hand up. "The monsters can't follow us outside their realm. Not without orders."
"That's helpful," I said, taking his hand.
"Tell that to our friend here," Kim shouted. I turned to look where she was just as she ducked, barely missing a white tail that was raking across the deck.
"Looks like one of the monsters can leave the lake," I said.
"He's under orders, which is why he can't destroy the ship," Roberts said.
"Except for the sails," I reminded him.
"Right," he said.
The dragon was going full on crazy mode now, flying at speeds no cannon could have hoped to tracked. Airiana had pulled her sword out of the ship, and we did noticeably lose speed, but she hadn't started to do anything else. We appeared to be powerless against the monster. It was down to Kim it seemed.
The dragon pulled around for another ramming of the ship. It appeared to be attempting to capsize the ship. After all, that wouldn't damage the ship, but it would damage us demigods pretty well. Suddenly the word Wall showed up in golden letters in the dragon's path. The dragon slammed into an invisible force and jerked upward over the ship.
"Good one," I said, pulling out Sabertooth just in case. "See if you can force it down onto the ship.
Leviathan rounded its flight and headed back toward us. It pulled low over the ocean headed directly toward our stern. Kim pulled the wall trick again about seven feet off the stern while Airiana and I set up right at the edge. I twisted Sabertooth into a gladius and steadied myself for the attack. Leviathan hit the wall and recoiled upward directly in front of us. Airiana and I extended our swords and hit the monster square on the shoulders. We hit the shield-like scales, but the monster screamed as it passed us by. The monster hit us with enough force to throw both of our weapons halfway across the ship. They both hit near the center mast; mine switched back to toothpick mode. I ran for the weapons.
That's when I realized that the cry had not been a cry of pain. It had been a roar of victory.
As soon as the monster got to sail height it had blasted the ship with fire, igniting all of our sails immediately. Kim was putting them out as best she could, but the damage was certainly done. We were slowing down; once again dead in the sights of the Leviathan. Even when it couldn't destroy our ship it was extremely dangerous. I understood why it had generated such fear in ancient times.
The dragon had spun back around and was coming in low at our bow. Kim was distracted trying to put out the fires in our sails, literally making it rain on the deck. Airiana seemed to be frozen to the spot in shock that the last plan didn't work. Roberts was trying desperately to hold the ship on course. No one else seemed to have noticed the new attack.
I bolted for the center of the ship, running faster than I ever thought possible, grabbing my toothpick of a weapon along the way. I tried to focus in on Airiana, Kim, and the crew; fixating on my need to protect them. I got to the bow about a minute before the dragon.
Hera, I thought. Mom, if you care about me at all let this fly straight. For your chosen child, for my friends. It's our only hope. I felt a tug in my gut and let my toothpick fly.
Sabertooth extended into a javelin almost instantly and flew downward toward the beast. Leviathan looked up just as the spear impaled his upper shoulder directly between two of his large scales. His cry of pain brushed me back a few inches as he recoiled and lost his lift, falling into the ocean beneath the ship. He didn't come back up.
"Is it gone?" Kim asked apparently finished with the sails, but I didn't have the heart to answer her. I looked down and walked back toward the center of the ship, toward the lower decks.
"For now," Airiana said solemnly. "And it's not the only thing that's gone. Sabertooth went with it."
"But doesn't it come back to him, reappear after a while?" Kim asked.
I stopped but Airiana answered. "It's not Riptide," she said.
"That monster's not done with us yet," I said. "The prophecy says it'll follow us to the cold. I just hope the weapon is still with it when it shows back up." Then I left down the stairs to spend some quality time with my hammock.