"You are in so much trouble." Clarisse said as they finished up the ship tour they didn't want, through dark rooms overcrowded with dead sailors, the coal bunker, the boilers and engine, which huffed and groaned like it would explode any minute. They seen the pilothouse and the powder magazine and gunnery deck (Clarisse's favorite) with two Dahlgren smoothbore cannons on the port and starboard sides and a Brooke nineinch rifled gun fore and aft-all specially refitted to fire celestial bronze cannon balls.

Everywhere they went, dead Confederate sailors stared at them, their ghostly bearded faces shimmered over their skulls. They approved of Annabeth because she told them she was from Virginia, They were interested in Percy, too, because his name was Jackson-like the Southern general- but he ruined it by telling them he was from New York. They all hissed and muttered curses about Yankees. Of course Macaria received no love from the Confederates.

"Honestly, I feel pretty offended. Triggered even." Macaria said. Of course they didn't believe that her last name was Jackson too, muttered some words that caused all of them to become up and arms and Clarisse gave them a threatening look that stopped them from going any farther. If Macaria felt triggered then, then trust that after the words they said, she was ready to make them into dust. She scared them with some hell fire and a promise that her father would give them Hades.

Tyson was terrified of them. All through the tour, he insisted Annabeth and Macaria hold his hand, which Annabeth didn't look too thrilled about. Finally, they were escorted to dinner. The CSS Birmingham captain's quarters were about the size of a walk-in closet, but still much bigger than any other room on board. The table was set with white linen and china. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, and Dr Peppers were served by skeletal crewmen.

"Tantalus expelled you for eternity," Clarisse told them smugly. "Mr. D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he'll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV."

"Did they give you this ship?" Percy asked.

"'Course not. My father did."

"Ares?"

Clarisse sneered. "You think your daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing

side of every war owe a tribute to Ares. That's their curse for being defeated. I prayed to my father for a naval transport and here it is. These guys will do anything I tell them. Won't you, Captain?"

The captain stood behind her looking stiff and angry. His glowing green eyes fixed Percy and Macaria with a hungry stare. "If it means an end to this infernal war, ma'am, peace at last, we'll do anything. Destroy anyone."

Clarisse smiled. "Destroy anyone. I like that."

Tyson gulped.

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He's got the

coordinates and he's heading south. He has a cruise ship full of monsters-"

"Good! I'll blow him out of the water."

"You don't understand," Annabeth said. We have to combine forces. Let us help you-"

"No!" Clarisse pounded the table. "This is my quest, smart girl! Finally I get to be the hero, and

you two will not steal my chance."

"Where are your cabin mates?" Percy asked. "You were allowed to take two friends with you, weren't you?"

"They didn't … I let them stay behind. To protect the camp."

"You mean even the people in your own cabin wouldn't help you?"

"Shut up, Prissy! I don't need them! Or you!"

"Clarisse," Percy said, "Tantalus is using you. He doesn't care about the camp. He'd love to see it destroyed. He's setting you up to fail."

"No! I don't care what the Oracle-" She stopped herself.

"What?" He asked. "What did the Oracle tell you?"

"Nothing." Clarisse's ears turned pink. "All you need to know is that I'm finishing this quest and

you're not helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go …"

"So we're prisoners?" Annabeth asked.

"Guests. For now." Clarisse propped her feet up on the white linen tablecloth and opened another

Dr Pepper. "Captain, take them below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don't mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies."

Macaria didn't sleep much, whether it was the continuous children's rhymes that echoed in her head "Mary, Mary, quite contrary How does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockleshells And pretty maids all in a row And pretty maids all in a row." or her Father and Uncle's whispers that echoed in her ears, though she was unable to open her eyes. Sometimes she thought of her mother, sometimes it was about the guest that they were forced to take because Luke posioned Thalia's tree.

Alarm bells rang throughout the ship. The captain's gravelly voice: "All hands on deck! Find Lady Clarisse! Where is that girl?" Macaria immediately got up opened her door and then Percy's. "Get up, Yankee. Your friends are already above. We are approaching the entrance." The Captain said to Percy.

"The entrance to what?"

He gave them a skeletal smile. "The Sea of Monsters, of course." Macaira helped Percy stuffed his belongings into a sailor's canvas knapsack and slung it around himshoulder. They made their way upstairs and Macaria felt Ares presence nearby. Percy moved down to crept to the edge of the ventilation grate and Macaria followed behind him. SHe peered down into the boiler deck.

Clarisse stood directly below them, talking to an image that shimmered in the steam, she recognized him immediately as Ares. "I don't want excuses, little girl!" he growled.

"Y-yes, father," Clarisse mumbled.

"You don't want to see me mad, do you?"

"No, father."

"No, father," Ares mimicked. "You're pathetic. I should've let one of my sons take this quest."

"I'll succeed!" Clarisse promised, her voice trembling. "I'll make you proud."

"You'd better," he warned. "You asked me for this quest, girl. If you let that slimeball Jackson

kid steal it from you-"

"But the Oracle said-"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT IT SAID!" Ares bellowed with such force that his image shimmered.

"You will succeed. And if you don't …" He raised his fist. Even though he was only a figure in the steam, Clarisse flinched. "Do we understand each other?' He growled and the alarm bells rang again. Percy looked back and Clarisse turned her back, immediately then Ares eyes went up to hers and she felt a strong sense of fear.

She felt a sense of deja vu, a familiar sense of fear that she had from a figure in her childhood. Macaria ran up the stairs to join her friends on the spar deck.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth asked her.

"Nothing, nothing." Macaria said to her but she knew they didn't believe it.

Clarisse came up the stairs a little after her. She grabbed a pair of binoculars from a zombie officer and peered toward the horizon. "At last. Captain, full steam ahead!"

Macaria paused. "Shouldn't we avoid this entrance?" She asked Clarisse.

"Why?" Everyone besides Clarisse asked just then… To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea-an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile south of that, the other patch of darkness was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.

"Hurricane?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Clarisse and Macaria said. "Charybdis."

Annabeth paled. "Are you crazy?"

"Only way into the Sea of Monsters. Straight between Charybdis and her sister Scylla." Clarisse

pointed to the top of the cliffs.

"What do you mean the only way?" Percy asked. "The sea is wide open! Just sail around them."

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Don't you know anything? 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."

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

"I can't blow apart rocks with my cannons," Clarisse said. "Monsters, on the other hand …"

"You are crazy," Annabeth decided.

"Watch and learn, Wise Girl." Clarisse turned to the captain. "Set course for Charybdis!"

"Aye, m'lady." The engine groaned, the iron plating rattled, and the ship began to pick up speed.

"Clarisse," Percy said, "Charybdis sucks up the sea. Isn't that the story?"

"And spits it back out again, yeah."

"What about Scylla?"

"She lives in a cave, up on those cliffs. If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and

start plucking sailors off the ship."

"Choose Scylla then," Percy said. "Everybody goes below deck and we chug right past."

"No!" Clarisse insisted. "If Scylla doesn't get her easy meat, she might pick up the whole ship.

Besides, she's too high to make a good target. My cannons can't shoot straight up. Charybdis just sits there at the center of her whirlwind. We're going to steam straight toward her, train our guns on her, and blow her to Tartarus!"

It almost made Macaria want to believe her, but she felt a sense of dread that she knew wasn't going to work. The engine hummed. The boilers were heating up so much Macaria could feel the deck getting warm beneath her feet. The smokestacks billowed. The red Ares flag whipped in the wind.

As they got closer to the monsters, the sound of Charybdis got louder and louder-a horrible wet

roar like the galaxy's biggest toilet being flushed. Every time Charybdis inhaled, the ship shuddered and lurched forward. Every time she exhaled, we rose in the water and were buffeted by ten-foot waves. Undead sailors calmly went about their business on the spar deck

Annabeth stood next to Percy , gripping the rail. "You still have your thermos full of wind?"

He nodded. "But it's too dangerous to use with a whirlpool like that. More wind might just make

things worse."

"What about controlling the water?" she asked. "You're Poseidon's son. You've done it before."

"I-I can't," Percy said miserably.

"We need a backup plan," Annabeth said. "This isn't going to work."

"Annabeth is right," Tyson said. "Engine's no good."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Pressure. Pistons need fixing." Before he could explain, the cosmic toilet flushed with a mighty roaaar! The ship lurched forward and Percy was thrown to the deck. They were in the whirlpool.

"Full reverse!" Clarisse screamed above the noise. The sea churned around them, waves crashing

over the deck. The iron plating was now so hot it steamed. "Get us within firing range! Make ready starboard cannons!"

Dead Confederates rushed back and forth. The propeller grinded into reverse, trying to slow the

ship, but we kept sliding toward the center of the vortex. A zombie sailor burst out of the hold and ran to Clarisse. His gray uniform was smoking. His beard was on fire. "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

in range!"

"We're going in 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. "It's too dangerous!"

"I'm immune as well." Macaria told Percy and released Percy's hold. "Don't worry Percy. We're stronger than we look."

"Only way, brother." Tyson said with a detmeined and confident look on him. "We will fix it. Be right back." They followed the smoldering sailors down the hatch. Macaria grabbed onto Tyson as the waves seem to grow stronger and toss them through the ship. She could feel the effects of the guns blast. Tyson effortless fixed the Boiler room. The hum of the engine got stronger and steadier, the birbrations of the the ship changed and Macaria knew that he had done it.

Macaria heard a giant snap, she guessed it must've been Charybdis' mouth. It was absolute calm and Water washed over Carybdis. Macaria watched in horror as Charybdis opened her mouth.

Charybdis was surrounded by mist, smoke, and water. She anchored herself to a black reef, with a small fig tree on top. Charybdis herself had slimy lips and mossy teeth, each tooth being about the size of a rowboat. Her teeth were also covered in bands of corroded metal (similar to braces), with pieces of fish, driftwood, and floating garbage stuck between them. Her mouth is nothing but a huge black maw with bad teeth alignment and a serious overbite.

The mouth exploded open, spitting out a wall of water, ejecting everything inedible, including he cannonballs, one of which slammed into the side of the CSS Birmingham with a ding like the bell of a carnival.

Macaria screamed as fire rushed out from around the deck. She watched painfully as the sailors melted and varpozied by the heat, though the fire had no affect on her or Tyson. She felt something heavy hit her head and she heard ringing in her ears as she fell onto the ground and slammed onto the sideof the ship.

Something as quick as lightning, something brown and green shot from the sky. "Scylla!" She heard asailor above deck yell as another column of reptilian flesh shot from the cliffs and snapped him up. The screams only continued and then Macaria felt the side of the ship break apart just as-

KAROOM!

The engine room blew and sent chucks of ironclad flying in either direction like a fiery se of wings. Macria hit the water and she felt her body sink down into the ocean.

Macaria wondered if this would be the end. If Tyson managed to survive the explosion. If Percy was alive… what about Annabeth… Clarisse…. She watched as the light from above the ocean faded.