Jasmine's POV
Well, Percy seemed to find something he was really good at. Not that he was bad at many things.
The Queen Anne's Revenge responded to his every command. He knew which ropes to hoist, which sails to raise, which direction to steer. We plowed through the waves at what I estimated to be about ten knots (a little over 11 miles an hour), which was pretty fast for a sailing ship. I still would've preferred a speedboat.
Regardless, it all felt perfect—the wind in my face, the waves breaking over the prow.
The damage Circe had done really affected the boys and Annabeth. They seemed to be questioning if what Circe told them about themselves, not showing off ourselves or our talents, unlocking our true selves, and that kind of crap. It seemed to damage their self-esteem. I could really go back and damage her spine.
I reassured them that they're all beautiful and talented and they are their true selves. I loved them all for that and I wouldn't change anything about them, otherwise, I wouldn't have been friends with them in the first place. Yeah, occasionally, at least with Annabeth, I like to have her dress up in something really pretty, but it doesn't mean that she's still not pretty in general.
They seemed to appreciate my comments, but their self-esteems still seemed to linger. I sighed. I'll have to work on those later, but there were other important things right now.
We sailed through the night.
I leaned onto Will for support as we kept a lookout, but sailing didn't agree with Annabeth. After a few hours rocking back and forth, her face turned the color of guacamole. I didn't realize she got seasick, then again, how often has she gone sailing? It's not something me or my family do. I helped her down below to lie in a hammock.
The boys and I watched the horizon. More than once we spotted monsters. A plume of water as tall as a skyscraper spewed into the moonlight. A row of green spines slithered across the waves—something maybe a hundred feet long, reptilian. I was curious to know, but I doubt the boys were interested.
Once I saw Nereids, the glowing lady spirits of the sea. Percy tried to wave to them, but they disappeared into the depths, leaving us unsure whether they'd seen him or not.
Sometime after midnight, Annabeth came up on deck. We were just passing a smoking volcano island. The sea bubbled and steamed around the shore.
"One of the forges of Hephaestus," Annabeth said. "Where he makes his metal monsters."
"Like the bronze bulls?"
She nodded. "Go around. Far around."
He didn't need to be told twice. We steered clear of the island, and soon it was just a red patch of haze behind us.
Percy looked at Annabeth. "The reason you hate Cyclopes so much . . . the story about how Thalia really died. What happened?"
It was hard to see her expression in the dark. She looked at me for support and I nodded.
"I guess you deserve to know," she said finally.
"Oh, he's deserved to know for a while now," I said.
"I know!" She nodded her head towards Will. "Did you tell him?"
He shook his head. "No."
"So he's going to learn about this now like Percy is," I said. "Get on with it."
Annabeth took a deep breath. "The night Grover was escorting us to camp, he got confused, took some wrong turns. You remember he told you that once?"
Percy nodded.
"Well, the worst wrong turn was into a Cyclops's lair in Brooklyn."
"They've got Cyclopes in Brooklyn?" Percy asked.
"I know, right?" I said.
"You wouldn't believe how many, but that's not the point," Annabeth continued. "This Cyclops, he tricked us. He managed to split us up inside this maze of corridors in an old house in Flatbush. And he could sound like anyone, Percy. Just the way Tyson did aboard the Princess Andromeda. He lured us, one at a time. Thalia thought she was running to save someone and then Luke. Jasmine thought she was running to save her parents. Luke thought he heard me scream for help. And me . . . I was alone in the dark. I was seven years old. I couldn't even find the exit."
She brushed the hair out of her face. "I eventually found Jasmine and Toothless. I remember we found the main room. There were bones all over the floor. And there were Thalia and Luke and Grover, tied up and gagged, hanging from the ceiling like smoked hams. The Cyclops was starting a fire in the middle of the floor. We drew our weapons, but he heard us. He turned and smiled. He spoke, and somehow he knew my dad's voice. I guess he just plucked it out of my mind. He said, 'Now, Annabeth, don't you worry. I love you. You can stay here with me. You can stay forever."
Percy shivered. Reliving that moment now, I really wished I kicked that Cyclops ass for trying to impersonate my parents. "What did you do?"
"We stabbed him in the foot."
I laughed. "And it was awesome, too."
Toothless nodded in agreement.
Percy and Will stared at us.
"Are you kidding?" Percy said. "You two were seven years old and you stabbed a grown Cyclops in the foot?"
"Totally," I said.
"Oh, he would've killed us," Annabeth said. "But we surprised him. Jasmine and Toothless distracted him long enough for me to run to Thalia and cut the ropes on her hands. She took it from there."
"Yeah, but still . . . that was pretty brave, Annabeth."
"Definitely," Will agreed. "I can see you two doing that now, especially Jasmine, but at seven years old . . . wow."
I smirked. "Oh, even then I was feisty."
"Very," Annabeth agreed. She shook her head. "We barely got out alive. I still have nightmares, Percy. The way that Cyclops talked in my father's voice. It was his fault we took so long getting to camp. All the monsters who'd been chasing us had time to catch up. That's really why Thalia died. If it hadn't been for that Cyclops, she'd still be alive today."
We sat on the deck, watching the Hercules constellation rise in the night sky.
"Go below," Annabeth told Percy at last. "You need some rest."
I agreed. His eyes were heavy.
"You should go too," I told Will.
"Yeah," he agreed.
"You too, Jasmine," Annabeth said.
I shook my head. "No."
"Jasmine—"
"No. You can't keep watch by yourself. Besides, we need to talk."
"About what?"
"I'll tell you when the boys are gone."
After the boys went down to sleep, I jumped up and tackle-hugged Annabeth. "Thank you for finally telling him."
She sighed. "I know I waited too long."
"Why, though? Percy's our friend. We've been through a lot with him before this happened."
"I know, I just . . . I don't know."
"Tyson?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
"I'm glad you realize how wrong you were to treat him the way you did because of a different Cyclops we faced six years ago."
"Too late, though."
"It's better late than never."
"I suppose not. Is that what you needed to tell me?"
"Of course not."
"Then what?"
I smiled leisurely and sat down, leaning against the railing. "Let's play a game."
Annabeth stared at me. "A game?"
"Yes, a game."
"What do you need to tell me with a game?"
"Nothing. Now sit down."
She rolled her eyes and sat across from me. "What game?"
"Simple: I ask quick questions and you answer as fast as you can."
"Ok . . ."
"So . . . What's your favorite color?"
"Silver."
"What's your favorite book?"
"Classical Architecture for the 21st Century."
I stared at her. "Really?"
"Yes, really. Do you want to know why?"
"Enlighten me."
"That was Cassandra's architecture book. It is one of the last things I have of her, one of the very first architecture books I read and wish I had shared with her. It's the closest thing I have to her."
Wow. Way to make me sound like a bitch, and not even a good one. "Aww. That is so sweet."
"Yeah," Annabeth said. "Next question."
"Ok," I continued. "Well, since you would like to become an architect someday, what would you like to build?"
Annabeth beamed. Uh oh. "Hmm. So many things . . ."
"Yeah, yeah. Pick one. Say, for camp."
"Well, we seriously need a temple. Here we are, children of the Greek gods, and we don't even have a monument to our parents. I'd put it on the hill just south of Half-Blood Hill, and I'd design it so that every morning the rising sun would shine through its windows and make a different god's emblem on the floor: like one day an eagle, the next an owl. It would have statues for all the gods, of course, and golden braziers for burnt offerings. I'd design it with perfect acoustics, like Carnegie Hall, so we could have lyre and reed pipe concerts there. I have actually asked Chiron he says we'd have to sell four million truckloads of strawberries to pay for a project like that, but I think it would be worth it. And—"
Annabeth clearly didn't get the concept of "quick question, quick answers". I should've known better than to ask that. I stared at Toothless sitting on my knee. He shook his head.
She was still rambling on so I decided to be silly. I summoned a ballpoint pen (It wasn't Percy's . . . I think) and put it in my mouth, pretending it was a cigarette and lit it up, puffing it a few times and then spitting it out and tossing it over the side because of its horrible taste (I've never smoked, tasted, eaten, or done anything with tobacco, for the record). I made a finger gun and pretended to shoot at my head and yanked my head back in response as if the bullet from it had made contact and blew my brains out, collapsing against the railing.
Toothless found this all hilarious, laughing his adorable laugh so hard that he fell off my knee. I laughed just as much as he did at his silliness and we laughed together.
After all of that, Annabeth was still rambling on about her idea for a design, clueless to everything I just did, so I just decided to summon the book I was currently reading to my hands and started reading it.
A few minutes later, I noticed how quiet it was and looked up from my book to find Annabeth glaring at me.
"Are you finished?" I asked.
"That's rude," she replied.
"That's rude? I said quick questions, quick answers. Not a fucking essay."
She rolled her eyes. "Just ask your next question."
"Fine." I put my book down. "Who's your bestest friend in the whole wide world?"
"Toothless."
He perked up at the mention of his name.
I glared at her.
Annabeth smirked. "Fine. It's not you."
"Are you trying to make me mad?" I asked.
"Just trolling. Next question."
"You didn't even answer!"
"It's obvious. Next question."
"Who do you like more: Luke or Percy?"
"Percy."
I gasped. Annabeth looked just as surprised.
"You said it!" I said.
"I didn't mean to," she admitted.
"But you did!"
"You bitch. You asked me those questions on purpose so you could ask that one!"
"You bet your liking-Percy-more-than-Luke ass I did. And I'm so happy!"
Annabeth lunged at me and put her hand over my mouth. "Would you be quiet? Do you want to wake the boys?"
I pushed her hand off. "No." I opened my mouth and acted like I was screaming for delight with no sound coming out.
Annabeth shook her head. "I'm going to throw you overboard."
"Good luck trying."
She opened her mouth to respond, but then stopped and looked past me. "Oh."
I turned around and spotted an island ahead of us—just a dark spot in the mist. I heard a sound coming from it . . . music.
My eyes widened. "Uh, oh. We need to move."
"No," Annabeth said. "We need to wake the boys."
"What? Annabeth—"
She went down below without an explanation. What the hell was she planning?
"Toothless, keep watch."
I followed her down below and woke up Will while Annabeth woke up Percy, who was tossing and turning in his hammock.
"Is something wrong?" Will asked, sitting up on his hammock.
Ah!" Percy sat bolt upright in his hammock.
"Percy, you were having a nightmare," Annabeth told him. "You need to get up."
"Wh—what is it?" He rubbed his eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Land," she said grimly. "We're approaching the island of the Sirens."
"I want you to do me a favor," Annabeth said. "The Sirens . . . we'll be in range of their singing soon."
I remembered stories about the Sirens. They sang so sweetly their voices enchanted sailors and lured them to their death.
"No problem," Percy assured her. "We can just stop up our ears. There's a big tub of candle wax below deck—"
"I want to hear them."
Percy blinked. "Why?"
"That's what I'd like to know," I said.
"They say the Sirens sing the truth about what you desire," she said. "They tell you things about yourself you didn't even realize. That's what's so enchanting. If you survive . . . you become wiser. I want to hear them. How often will I get that chance?"
"I hope there won't be another chance," Will said.
Coming from most people, this would've made no sense. But Annabeth being who she was, seeking anything to make her wiser like any typical child of Athena, I guessed the Sirens would appeal to her, too.
She told us her plan. Reluctantly, we helped her get ready.
As soon as the rocky coastline of the island came into view, Percy ordered one of the ropes to wrap around Annabeth's waist, tying her to the foremast.
"Don't untie me," she said, "no matter what happens or how much I plead. I'll want to go straight over the edge and drown myself."
"Are you trying to tempt me?" Percy asked.
"Yeah," I said. "Because right now that seems like a good idea."
"Ha-ha," she replied.
We promised we'd keep her secure. Then Percy took two large wads of candle wax, kneaded them into earplugs, and stuffed his ears. Will did the same and I put some in Toothless'. I, instead, took my phone out with my earbuds and put those in my ears, playing a song on full blast, drowning out the Sirens singing, using some of the wax on the outside to keep them from falling out.
Annabeth nodded sarcastically, letting us know the earplugs were a real fashion statement. Percy made a face at her and turned to the pilot's wheel while I mouthed "You can go drown now."
The silence was eerie. I couldn't hear anything but the music from my playlist rushing in my head. As we approached the island, jagged rocks loomed out of the fog. Percy willed the Queen Anne's Revenge to skirt around them. If we sailed any closer, those rocks would shred our hull like blender blades.
I glanced back. At first, Annabeth seemed totally normal. Then she got a puzzled look on her face. Her eyes widened.
She strained against the ropes. She called our name—I could tell just from reading her lips. Her expression was clear: She had to get out. This was life or death. We had to let her out of the ropes right now.
She seemed so miserable it was so hard not to cut her free.
I forced myself to look away holding Toothless and Will's arm for comfort. Percy urged the Queen Anne's Revenge to go faster.
I still couldn't see much of the island—just mist and rocks—but floating in the water were pieces of wood and fiberglass, the wreckage of old ships, even some flotation cushions from airplanes.
How could music cause so many lives to veer off course? I mean, sure, there were some terrible, just absolutely terrible songs out there, but still . . . A song that tells you the truth about what you desire most is understandably irresistible.
For one dangerous moment, I understood Annabeth's curiosity. I was tempted to take out the earplugs, just to get a taste of the song, the beautiful music. I could feel the Sirens' voices vibrating in the timbers of the ship, pulsing against the music in my ears.
Annabeth was pleading with us. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She strained against the ropes as if they were holding her back from everything she cared about.
How could you be so cruel? She seemed to be asking me. I thought you were my friends.
Tears welled up in my eyes, making my vision blurry. The look of utter betrayal on her face really hit me to the core. I wanted to help her, but I didn't know how. I certainly couldn't do what she wanted me to. How do you fight a song? With an even better song, that's what. The real question was, what's a better song? I could not stand looking at her anymore and turned away, crying into Will's shoulders.
That was a big mistake.
When I couldn't stand it any longer, I looked back and found . . . a heap of cut ropes. An empty mast. Annabeth's bronze knife lay on the deck. Somehow, she'd managed to wriggle it into her hand. We'd totally forgotten to disarm her. And she forgot to remind us to.
"Shit," I cursed.
I got Percy and Will's attention. We rushed to the side of the boat and saw her, paddling madly for the island, the waves carrying her straight toward the jagged rocks.
We screamed her name, but if she heard us, it didn't do any good. She was entranced, swimming toward her death.
Percy told us something I couldn't hear through my earbuds then he jumped over the side.
He sliced into the water and willed the currents to bend around him, making a jet stream that shot him forward.
He came to the surface and spotted Annabeth, but a wave caught her, sweeping her between two razor-sharp fangs of rock.
He had no choice. He plunged after her.
I summoned a couple binoculars to my hands, handing one of them to Will, and we both watched as Percy tried to save Annabeth. I should've jumped in to help him, but what better person to save her in water than a son of Poseidon?
Percy dove under the wrecked hull of a yacht, wove through a collection of floating mines. He had to use all his power over water to avoid getting smashed against the rocks or tangled in the nets of barbed wire strung just below the surface.
He jetted between the two rock fangs and entered into a half-moon shaped bay. The water was choked with more rocks and ship wreckage and floating mines. The beach was black volcanic sand.
He looked around desperately for Annabeth.
There she was.
Luckily or unluckily, she was a strong swimmer. She'd made it past the mines and the rocks. She was almost to the black beach.
Then the mist cleared and I saw them—the Sirens. Imagine a flock of vultures the size of people—with dirty black plumage, gray talons, and wrinkled pink necks. Now imagine human heads on top of those necks, but the human heads keep changing.
Their mouths were greasy and caked with the remnants of old meals. Like vultures, they'd been eating with their faces, and it didn't look like they'd been feasting on Monster Donuts. To be honest, the ones on Ice Age looked much better
Annabeth swam toward them.
Percy couldn't let her get out of the water, and he seemed to know that too. The sea was his only advantage. It had always protected him one way or another. He propelled himself forward and grabbed her ankle.
He pulled Annabeth back into the surf. She was screaming. She kicked him in the face, but he held on to her.
He willed the currents to carry them out into the bay. Annabeth pummeled and kicked him, making it hard to concentrate. She thrashed so much they almost collided with a floating mine. Percy needed help. He'd never get back to the ship alive if she kept fighting.
They went under and disappeared. Then their heads broke the surface, Annabeth seemed to have stopped but started to fight Percy again.
He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back down under the water.
Annabeth's POV
There were three people sitting on a picnic blanket in Central Park. A feast was spread out before them. One of them was my dad. He was holding hands with my mother. She was dressed casually—in blue jeans and a denim shirt and hiking boots. Next to them sat Luke.
The three of them were talking and laughing, and when they saw me, their faces lit up with delight. My mom and dad held out their arms invitingly. Luke grinned and gestured for me to sit next to him.
Behind the trees of Central Park was Manhattan, but not Manhattan. It had been totally rebuilt from dazzling white marble, bigger and grander than ever—with golden windows and rooftop gardens. It was better than New York. Better than Mount Olympus. And I had designed it all. Everything I wanted . . . I needed it right now.
It was bad enough that Jasmine and the boys refused to let me go see them. So I helped myself with my trusty knife and went overboard into the (slightly cold) water. But, of course, Percy just had to come in after me. Why?! I wanted to be with my parents and Luke in a city I created!
He pulled me back into the surf. I screamed and kicked him in the face, but amazingly he held on.
The currents carried us out into the bay. I pummeled and kicked him. I thrashed so much we almost collided with a floating mine (which would've been his fault).
We went under and I stopped struggling. The music stopped. Suddenly, I wasn't angry anymore. Just confused. Something wasn't right . . . Then our heads broke the surface. I heard the music again. The anger came back and I started to fight Percy again to let me go.
He grabbed me around the waist and the waves pushed us down
We shot into the depths—ten feet, twenty feet. I couldn't hear the music anymore, but I also couldn't breathe. I fought and struggled for breath like any normal person that wasn't a child of Poseidon as bubbles rose around us.
There was a flurry of white, a tickling sensation all around me, and when my vision cleared, Percy and I had a huge bubble of air around us. Only our legs stuck into the water.
I gasped and coughed. My whole body shuddered, but when I looked at Percy, I understood exactly what had happened.
I had become enchanted by the Sirens music, just like I knew I would. They had shown me my heart's desire, things I didn't believe I even wanted . . . until now. The renovation of Manhattan . . . my parents . . . even Luke . . . . Oh, gods.
I started to sob—horrible, heartbroken sobbing. I put my head on Percy's shoulder (umm . . . let's say that was because he was here right now instead of Jasmine), but he didn't seem to mind and he held me.
Fish gathered to look at us—a school of barracudas, some curious marlins. They suddenly swam off.
"I'll get us back to the ship," Percy told me. "It's okay. Just hang on."
I nodded to let him know I was better now. "Thank you for saving me."
I'm not sure if he heard that or not, as he still had the wax in his ears.
He made the current steer our weird little air submarine through the rocks and barbed wire and back toward the hull of the Queen Anne's Revenge, which was maintaining a slow and steady course away from the island. Jasmine, Will, and Toothless were watching us from the stern.
We stayed underwater, following the ship, until Percy judged we had moved out of earshot of the Sirens. Then he surfaced and our air bubble popped.
Jasmine and Will dropped a rope ladder over the side of the ship, and we climbed aboard.
They all kept their earplugs in, as there was still music lingering from the Sirens. We sailed until the island was completely out of sight. I sat huddled in a blanket Jasmine wrapped me up in and held me on the forward deck. After a while, I looked up, still sad, and mouthed, safe.
They took out their earplugs. No singing. The afternoon was quiet except for the sound of the waves against the hull. The fog had burned away to a blue sky as if the island of the Sirens had never existed. I kind of wish it never did.
"You okay?" Percy asked me.
"I didn't realize," she murmured.
"What?"
"How powerful the temptation would be."
"I didn't realize it either," Jasmine said. "But then again, music is a very tempting thing."
She would know since she can't go a day without listening to any.
"I saw the way you rebuilt Manhattan," Percy told me. "And Luke and your parents."
Jasmine raised an eyebrow at me. I blushed. "You saw that?"
"What Luke told you back on the Princess Andromeda, about starting the world from scratch . . . that really got to you, huh?"
I pulled my blanket around me. "My fatal flaw. That's what the Sirens showed me. My fatal flaw is hubris."
Percy blinked. "That brown stuff they spread on veggie sandwiches?"
Will facepalmed and Jasmine laughed while I rolled my eyes. "No, Seaweed Brain. That's hummus. Hubris is worse."
"What could be worse than hummus?"
"What's wrong with hummus?" Jasmine asked. "It's actually really good."
I shook my head. "I'm surrounded by idiots. Except for you, Will." He smiled at the compliment with a chuckle. "Hubris means deadly pride, Percy. Thinking you can do things better than anyone else . . . even the gods."
"You feel that way?" he asked.
I looked down. "Don't you ever feel like, what if the world really is messed up? What if we could do it all over again from scratch? No more war. Nobody homeless. No more summer reading homework."
"I'm listening."
"You don't like summer reading homework?" Jasmine asked me.
"When you're dyslexic, it's a bit hard to read the books our teachers suggest."
"True. I hate reading books I didn't choose. But they can still be interesting."
"Right. Anyway, Percy, the West represents a lot of the best things mankind ever did—that's why the fire is still burning. That's why Olympus is still around. But sometimes you just see the bad stuff, you know? And you start thinking the way Luke does: 'If I could tear this all down, I would do it better.' Don't you ever feel that way? Like you could do a better job if you ran the world?"
"Um . . . no," he replied. "Me running the world would kind of be a nightmare."
"I don't think so, Percy," Jasmine said.
"Then you're lucky," I said. "Hubris isn't your fatal flaw."
"What is?" he asked.
"I don't know, Percy, but every hero has one. If you don't find it and learn to control it . . . well, they don't call it 'fatal' for nothing." I looked at Jasmine. "What do you think yours is?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. I wouldn't say it's entirely hubris because I definitely think I can do things better than certain people, especially the gods, but I don't think it's my official fatal flaw. How about you, Will? What do you think yours is? Personally, I think you're flawless."
He smiled. "I guess you would, otherwise you wouldn't be dating me."
"Nope."
"But in all honesty, I couldn't say what mine is either. Maybe you? Can a person be someone's fatal flaw?"
"Oh, yeah," I agreed. "If I could have more than one, Jasmine would be the second one."
"What?" Jasmine asked. "What about me is a fatal flaw to you two?"
"You're crazy and weird, and you try to make us as crazy and weird."
"And we love you for it," Will finished.
She smiled. "Aww."
Toothless spoke something.
"Yeah, I would definitely be your fatal flaw," Jasmine admitted.
"So was it worth it?" Percy asked me. "Do you feel . . . wiser?"
"Yeah?" Jasmine said. "Do you?"
I gazed into the distance. "I'm not sure. But we have to save the camp. If we don't stop Luke . . ."
I didn't need to finish. They got the idea. If Luke's way of thinking could even tempt me, there was no telling how many other half-bloods might join him.
I looked ahead of us and my eyes widened. "Guys."
They turned.
Up ahead was another blotch of land—a saddle-shaped island with forested hills and white beaches and green meadows—just like Percy had shown us from his dreams.
I didn't have Percy's nautical senses, but I was fairly certain what our coordinates were: 30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west.
We had reached the home of the Cyclops.
I laughed so hard proofreading at the part between Annabeth and Jasmine. It's always those things I enjoy writing between them.
What do you guys think your fatal flaw is? Honestly, I don't know what mine could be.
I wanted to update this on Saturday because it was International Best Friends Day, but I didn't feel in the mood to do so.
Please review, and please check out my wiki for this story at WhenWorldsCollide . wikia . com (no spaces). I also have a Discord server! Please check it out at discord . gg / bMFV9g6 (no spaces). Make sure you let me know who you are!
