In which our trio put their planning into action. And I am sure several people will be yelling 'KISS!'
Replies:
Thickneck: Sadie would die of laughter I think. Carter would just be like 'But I like Annabeth and Piper. How am I supposed to threaten to kill them if they hurt her?'
ant-death: Oh I have that all planned out don't you worry.
Undeath9087: Yep, no gay shit here lol!
Guest: He heard Percy and Pipers voices but he didn't see either of them. And you'll have to wait and see.
fugy: She's actually got somewhere to channel any frustration and such, she's still a troublemaker and always will be but she's also actually got a nice happy life unlike cannon Percy had when he was young.
12problems89: Well here ya go!
Percy and Piper didn't move an inch as they soothed Annabeth. And it had to be hard on her, Percy knew that much. She'd been incredibly strong, stoic even, about spending so long without contact with Chiron. She'd been so terrified of reaching out, she hadn't been ready, but that hadn't meant that she didn't miss Chiron.
If Percy was being honest she felt incredibly proud of how well Annabeth had done, the courage making the call must have taken. And the fact that she'd managed to hold it together during the call too.
Once Annabeth had stopped crying and pulled herself together they headed back into the cabin, Piper gently guiding Annabeth by the elbow- since she was still a little bit shaky.
Percy quickly got to work, getting the daughter of Athena some water before making them all some sandwiches- it was while she was slicing up some cheese for the sandwiches that she felt it- felt the slight shift, and her back straightened slightly as she dropped the knife on the counter.
"Perc-" Piper started to question her but Percy was already moving, sprinting to the control section of the ship.
"Not now!" she called quickly, "We're close, I can feel the sea ahead of us! We're not there yet but it's right up ahead."
"Which means we're either about to reach the Sympleglades or Scylla and Charybdis." Piper breathed out, clearly picking up on the reason for Percy's haste.
"Can you see which?" Annabeth asked quickly, pushing herself to her feet and moving towards Percy.
And Percy was peering out of the windows, her eyes narrowed. The air outside was hazy and humid- it reminded her of the steam from an iron. If she squinted she could sort of make out some dark fuzzy splotches in the distance.
"What is it?" Piper whispered the question- as if speaking in more than a faint whisper would somehow provoke some sort of disaster. Which Percy could understand, the atmosphere was heavy- and Percy was very glad that they were inside. Though she might have to go outside in a moment.
"I'm not sure yet." she pressed her lips together tightly, focusing her senses on what was ahead. She could feel... something, water churning violently, "I think it's Scylla and Charybdis."
"Okay." Annabeth took a deep breath, "At least we know what we're dealing with and we have a plan."
"That we do." Percy muttered the words as the dark splotches ahead of them came into focus. 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. "Are we agreed that this is what we do? We're on a time crunch, I assume you don't want to waste time finding the nice and friendly rocks?"
"We can do this." Annabeth's voice was tight, slightly nervous. "We have that plan. And it's a really, really good plan." as she spoke she was pulling her bracelet from her pocket- and Piper instantly started helping her slide it on- though with enough time Annabeth could do it herself- she was getting a lot better with it with practise, it was just putting it on in a rush that was a problem.
"You focus on keeping the boat towards that side." Percy pointed towards the north. "Piper and I will handle protecting the boat and Scylla you need to make sure Charybdis doesn't suck us up because I am not sure that I'll be able to control the water enough to get us out if she starts sucking us in."
"Of course." Annabeth took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching the fingers of her right hand before she gripped the wheel tightly, a look of determination on her face. "I won't let you guys down."
And with that Percy and Piper turned, rushing out onto the deck, Percy pulling out her wand as she moved towards the prow of the ship whilst Piper moved towards the centre, sitting down on one of the benches- a smart idea since that way she could grip it tightly if the ride got bumpy- otherwise she'd run the risk of being thrown overboard. Which was the last thing Percy would have ever wanted.
And Percy got to work quickly, carving glowing symbols into the wood of the deck, sprinting from the prow, to the sides to the rear, working fervently. And once the symbols were carved Percy took a deep breath, chanting lowly under her breath- and she felt a rush of relief as the hieroglyphs flared to life, lines of soft white light shooting between each of the point and rising up and over them, forming a protective dome.
Once that was done Percy darted towards Piper, leaping over the bench and sitting down next to her, staring ahead as they forged forward towards the monsters. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Piper shot Percy a tight smile, reaching out- and Percy caught her hand, squeezing it gently.
"We're going to be fine. We always are aren't we?" Percy's smile was crooked- and something about it must have been funny because Piper let out a soft almost shaky laugh.
"Yeah, yeah we are." And with that they slipped into a strangely comfortable silence- and 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 boat shuddered and lurched forward and to the side slightly. Every time she exhaled, they rose in the water and were buffeted by ten-foot waves- fortunately the pull didn't seem to be too strong- they were close enough to the other side of the rocks that they weren't likely to get sucked in- though if they were knocked even five foot closer it might be a different story.
And Percy's gaze moved upwards, focusing on the tall cliffs above, dark and menacing. She felt Piper squeezing her hand.
And then it happened- Percy hadn't expected Scylla to be as fast as she was- Percy didn't even get a really good look at her as one of her heads shot down from the cliffs above, just a flash of green, brown and razor sharp teeth speeding towards them, colliding with the protective shield.
The force of the blow made the shield ripple and the boat shuddered slightly, not a comfortable feeling, but it held. Percy felt a flood of relief at that.
It didn't last long- a moment later more heads were flying down, battering the protective shields, the boat rocking violently with the force of the blows- and Percy could feel them almost- a dull sensation each blow made, even as she tried to push more magic into the shields.
It didn't help that they were being attacked from all over.
Percy forced herself to focus, closing her eyes- and her timing was terrible because it was at that moment that one of the heads managed to breech the shield, punching it's way through- and Piper let out a scream as slimy teeth snapped at her, and Percy lunched, shoving her to the side just in time, yelping in pain when the teeth caught her shoulder- and she could hear Piper crying out, startled as she was knocked off the bench and onto the hard wood of the deck.
"Ha di!" Percy twisted as she yelled the word- and she groaned as the head attacking her exploded.
Yeah, yeah that was not fun. In fact it was gross, getting all of the Scylla guts all over her.
"Fuck." she groaned, resisting the urge to clutch at her shoulder-and really what was it with her and shoulder injuries, she seemed prone to them.
But she forced herself to ignore the pain, pushing herself up so that she was on her knees- the shield was falling apart, collapsing. That was... yeah that was not good. More heads were descending upon them and Percy took a deep breath, focusing before she screamed, "Subat!" and the hieroglyph flared brightly in front of her- in a way that reminded her very much of the battle with Apophis, of a much more dangerous and powerful being she'd been fighting against.
Still, she pushed herself, pushing as much of her power into the spell now as she had then.
And Scylla fought it. She hadn't expected the spell- why would she, but she did fight it- and Percy forced herself to focus despite the throbbing pain in her shoulder, and then Piper was on her knees next to Percy- and she could just hear Piper's voice over the roar of Charybdis- which was louder than ever now.
"Sleep!" and Percy could feel the raw power, the magic in that command- and she watched as Scylla's giant scaly head pulled back, receding- she could feel the resistance wavering, waning until it faded away completely- and Percy slumped sideways into Piper's side, letting out a relieved breath.
"We did it."
"You saved my ass." Piper's voice was tight, "Percy-"
"You saved mine too. Couldn't have done it without you-" Percy turned her head, her gaze meeting Pipers- her eyes looked dark today- almost black in the darkness around them, deep and endless- and they were so close to one another, Percy realised.
Her mind felt slow, sluggish. That was annoying, she couldn't think clearly. Couldn't understand the strange feeling bubbling in her chest-
And she didn't have time to think on it for long because a moment later there was a shuddering jerking sensation and the boat lurched to the side.
Piper crashed into Percy, losing her balance- and Percy toppled too, falling backwards with her head smacking hard against the bench- her vision blacked out for a second before returning, fuzzy and blurred.
She could distantly hear Piper screaming, could feel Piper's arm hooking around her tightly, her other arm curling around the bench, trying to anchor them to the boat Percy realised- and the boat was lurching- she could feel the engines straining against something. Gods but it was hard to focus- infuriating too.
It took her longer than it should have to realise that the blows from Scylla must have knocked them closer to Charybdis- too close, and the monster was trying to suck them in.
Percy screwed her eyes shut, desperately trying to reach out, to seize control of the water, to help Annabeth get them away from the monster- but it was impossible to focus, it just made her head hurt even more.
And they couldn't even move- if they tried to stand up, with the violent way the boat was pitching from side to side they'd certainly be tossed overboard.
Annabeth would have to get them out of this on her own or not at all.
And it felt like a lifetime, all Percy could feel was the lurch of the ship, Piper's tight grip around her, the other girls face pressed into the crook of her neck, the spray of the violent sea hitting them- and it wasn't even enough for it to heal Percy, which was very annoying in her opinion.
Eventually though the boat seemed to steady- though Percy and Piper didn't move for several minutes- and when Percy did open her eyes again she realised her arms had somehow moved to clamp around Piper tightly, and she blinked slowly at the suddenly clear sky up above them- the sun shining brightly- though based on it's position Percy imagined it was heading towards the evening.
"I think we made it." her voice sounded hoarse and weak even to her own ears as she slowly loosened her grip on Piper, and Piper lifted her head, her face was ashen- and her eyes were slightly red, though Percy was so not going to comment on that fact as Piper pushed herself up so that she was kneeling and looked around.
"Holy shit." her voice was shaky. "You're right Percy. We made it past Scylla and Charybdis-" she paused, "Oh gods- oh gods your shoulder and your head- are you okay?"
"I- get me inside and we can talk about that."