Sooo, I noticed I haven't been getting a lot of reviews lately. COME ON PEOPLE! WORK WITH ME! How bout 'dis, I'll give you guys this chapter, but you'll have to work for chapter 8! I want at LEAST 10 REVIEWS! That shouldn't be too hard, right? No. Good, now that that's done, on with the chapter!
ANNABETH POV:
The whole camp was gathered at the beach. We all had bags full of clothes, ambrosia, drachma's, and photos of family and friends because we never knew... we might not come back. Everyone was in a morbid mood...except the Athena cabin.
We were studying the Argo II, which was sitting in the water, waiting to take off into the sunset. We were looking at the magnificent architecture, but grimacing at the fact that the big bronze dragons head at the front didn't go well with the rest of the ship, as it was made mostly of wood.
The soldiers finally arrived and we saw that they had nothing but clothes. No photos, mementoes of good times they'd had with friends...nothing. Then I realized that they were all immortal and probably hundreds of years old, and that the only friends they had were other soldiers, so they didn't need pictures of people who are with them. My parents were long dead now; even my little brothers, but at least I still had normal friends.
We all boarded the beautiful ship. Ten minutes later we were off, the water slapping against the huge boat. I looked over and I saw Percy head to the bow. He stood at the very front, looking down at the bronze dragon's reflection in the water. I wanted to go over to him, but I was ashamed of my earlier display. I had never broken down like that in front of anyone before. And plus, he said he loved someone else. I wonder who that could be...probably some little bimbo in the soldiers. He likes brunettes... but I have to be strong.
I was about to steel myself up and walk over there when I saw Thalia come up behind him. She hugged him from behind and he turned around and smiled, instantly hugging her back.
No...No no no! This cannot be happening! He can't be falling for Thalia! How could she do this to me? She knows I still have feelings for him!
They hugged each other close and looked out at the water that was spraying into their faces; they were giggling. My heart broke and I let out a quiet sob. My brother Malcolm came up and hugged me.
"Annabeth? Are you alright?"
"No. No Malcolm, I'm not alright." I said through gritted teeth, I was desperately trying not to cry. My heart was shattered and I felt crushed to the point of oblivion. My ex was going out with our cousin, and couldn't care less about me.
Malcolm didn't say anything, just stood there and rubbed my shoulders as I watched the happy couple.
PERCY POV:
So I guess you could say me and Thalia were a couple now. We got some looks from passing people, but we just ignored them and happily clutched to each other. I saw Annabeth staring at us, but when I looked at her she blushed and turned away. I shrugged it off.
I saw twelve flashes of light out of the corner of my eye, and turned to see all of the Gods. Poseidon looked at me sadly and pleadingly. I had felt bad about decking him after a while, and I was ready to forgive them all, but I knew that we could never be the same way again. Things would always be different. I would never fully trust them again.
I looked and saw that even Hades had come. He was trying hard to fit in with his family, and he was doing well, but he was still kind of awkward. He stood slightly to the side and looked uncomfortable as the other gods conversed about random crap. You could tell they were tense though, they were slightly strained, forced.
I chuckled and went to the side of the ship. I loved staring at the water, it was crystalline and blue. It was like a mirror too, waves breaking through your face as you looked down at the water a couple hundred feet below. Yeah, the ship was that big. But this time, I saw something other than waves marring my reflection. I saw a big mouth, full of teeth. It was huge, and it seemed to be sucking in seawater. I noticed our ship started turning slightly sideways, going for a big circle.
Oh no... I thought.
I called out and all of the soldiers and demigods and Gods looked to me. I knew my face was probably scary, but I was a scary guy, and we had stuff to do.
"Charybdis!" I called, "Everyone, gather your weapons! Poseidon, I need you! Help me stop it!"
I tried to remember all I could about Charybdis...
In Greek mythology Charybdis is a sea monster, daughter of Poseidon and Gaia, who swallows huge amounts of water three times a day and then belches them back out again; destroying all the boats that sail around. It takes form as a huge vortex that lives on one side of a narrow channel of water, the Messina Straight.
But, she was supposed to be on one side of the Messina Straight! Scylla, another horrible sea monster, was supposed to be on the other side! We were very far away from that, it should have no reason to be here!
Dear Gods, this isn't gonna be good.
