Percy went below deck and poured himself some fresh water from the barrel in the kitchen. Then he heard a shout from up above.
"Prissy, get your ass up here!" Percy rolled his eyes but went back up nonetheless.
"What?" he asked Clarisse when he came up. She just pointed a shaking hand out over the water. Percy turned and what he saw turned his blood cold. They had made great time and had finally reached the outskirts of the Sea of Monsters. However, in order to enter, they had to pass through two giant rock formations. What was truly frightening was the large spout of water and whirlpool right in front of them. There was no way around it. They had to go through it to make it to the rock formations.
The worst part was the second Percy looked at the water, the whirlpool ended and the spout of water recessed. Percy looked at the others.
"That can't be good." They shook their heads. Percy and Luke let the sails down slightly to be able move at a cautious speed. Clarisse didn't open the canister with the wind in it for fear it would make things worse for them. Suddenly the water exploded in front of them and a giant creature leaped out in front of them. It was a massive monster that didn't even seem to be any sort of combination. It wasn't a hydra or a leviathan. It just looked like a giant human organ.
"Man the cannons!" shouted Clarisse. To all of their surprise, the ship maneuvered itself into battle formation, cannons locked and loaded and pointed directly at the monster. The creature released such a loud roar that the demigods had to cover their ears in pain. "Fire!" Instantly the cannons came to life. The fire spewing from the ends like a symphony. The ship had truly been enchanted for the creature collapsed in a spray of dust and the seas were calm once more.
"What the Hades was that?" cried out Percy. Luke had been teaching him all about Greek curses. This felt like the right time for one.
"I think that was the Charybdis, the child of Poseidon and Gaea," said Clarisse. Her eyes never strayed from the ocean. They were approaching the rock formations. "If it was it means that wasn't even the worst part. Scylla is said to live across from her. Those most be their giant rocks." Percy was confused. He had never heard of a Scylla. Thankfully Luke asked about it before he could look like an ignorant idiot again.
"What's the Scylla?" asked Luke. Percy didn't nod. He didn't want to look stupid.
"A legendary sea monster. According to legend when sailors tried to avoid Charybdis, they would go too close to Scylla and she would devour them. Apparently she was a naiad that Poseidon fell in love with but his wife got jealous and poisoned her," said Clarisse. Percy nodded but inside his stomach clenched. Hearing those words jogged his memory a little and he seemed to recall seeing a picture of Scylla in a book back at camp. It had looked so terrifying that he refused to believe it actually existed. Not everything in Greek mythology was real… was it?
However scared the demigods were they knew they had no choice. They had to make it into the Sea of Monsters and the only way would be to go through Scylla's rocks. The Birmingham continued forward. The wind died down and even the waves seemed to be calm. The closer they got to the rocks the tighter their stomachs clenched. The tension became so thick that the demigods began sweating profusely. They kept as still as possible. None of them wanted to take their weapons out for fear that it would attract the monster.
"Hmmm," came a low hiss. "Little demigods passing through. Tastyyyyy." The voice sent shivers down Percy's spine. Clarisse tried to find the canister but it was on a table too far away. She would never be able to reach it without drawing the Scylla towards her and her spear was below deck. Luke's hand itched closer and closer to his side where his sword was sheathed. A shadow overhead leaped from the rocks and landed onto the ship. Percy felt his stomach fall.
Scylla was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. She had the head of a beautiful woman but instead of legs she had twelve tentacles like a kraken. And to make matters worse she had five dog heads on her waist growling and foaming at the mouth.
"What brings such tasty looking halflings to me?" she asked. Her voice was even more terrible than her appearance. It sounded like fingernails being dragged across a chalkboard followed by forks scraping on a table. Percy physically shivered. "Oh don't be scared, child. I will make your death quick." She smiled a terrible smile. Her teeth were the whitest Percy had ever seen but they did not look human. They looked like the fangs of an empousai. There was no point in trying to hide. Luke unsheathed his sword, Backbiter. Clarisse ducked behind some boxes, hoping to make it below so she could get to her spear. Percy turned his watch and twisted his wrist. His gleaming sword and shield sprang to life. What he didn't expect was for the Scylla to flinch and hiss at it.
"What sorcery is this?" she hissed. "Who are you, demigod?" Percy just smirked. Humble be damned.
"You're worst nightmare." With that he charged the beast. The Scylla shrieked and met him head on. Luke, not wanting to be left out, charged the Scylla from the side. Clarisse finally made it to her spear and soon was fighting along with her friends. The electricity from her spear quickly numbed the tentacles of the monster, but unfortunately it did little in slowing her down.
Percy ducked underneath a tentacle, slicing upwards. It didn't completely sever the appendage but it caused a sickly green ooze to come pouring out. The Scylla screamed and clawed at Percy. Raising his left arm, Percy blocked her claws from scraping his neck, but one of the dog heads caught his right arm and bit down hard. Percy yelled in pain, dropping his sword. Using the Scylla's pleasure as a distraction, Clarisse and Luke simultaneously stabbed and cut the Scylla. She shrieked and clutched her wounds. She backed up further and further away from the demigods before tripping over the side of the ship and plummeted into the water.
"Luke! Get Percy down below and help him! I'll get us the Hades away from here," shouted Clarisse already running to the helm. Luke picked up the little demigod and carried him below deck. Percy was in tears from the pain. The dog had bitten clear to the bone. Blood was pouring down his arm, puddling on the floor. Luke placed Percy carefully on the table in the kitchen and ran to find the ambrosia and nectar that they had packed. He finally found some in Percy's bag but when he turned Percy was convulsing. His body was shaking and foam began to pour out from his mouth. Luke ran to his side and popped an ambrosia square into his mouth followed by some nectar. Percy tried to spit the godly food and drink out but Luke clamped his hand over his mouth and tickled Percy's throat.
"Come on, Perce! Eat!" Soon Percy's seizures calmed and Luke saw that his arm had stopped bleeding. Believing him to be safe to leave alone, Luke searched the kitchen for some towels. He found one and dunked it into the water barrel before wrapping Percy's arm in it. Percy finally calmed down and Luke could tell that the little demigod had fallen asleep. Luke collapsed onto the bed staring at his friend.
He heard someone coming down the steps and turned to see Clarisse coming towards him, her face deathly pale.
"Is he alright?" Luke nodded.
"He'll be fine. I got him to finally eat some ambrosia and nectar. His arm stopped bleeding. Poor guy." Clarisse nodded to herself.
"Well we finally passed the rocks. We are in the Sea of Monsters. Now we just need to find where the Golden Fleece is." Luke walked over to where a small window was facing outwards. The sun was setting in the distance.
"We should get some rest. We don't know what kind of trouble we are going to run into tomorrow. We nearly lost Percy today and that was just getting here." Clarisse agreed and helped Luke put Percy into his bed. Locking the door to keep any unwanted visitors away, the demigods all fell fast asleep.
Percy's eyes opened and he knew instantly that this was another memory not a dream. He was laying in an open field surrounded by corpses and blood.
"Gabriel!" he heard faintly to his side. He felt himself turn to look at who was calling him. A figure in full armor came running up to him. "Gabriel! Are you alright?"
"I'm-I'm," Percy's body coughed up some blood. "I'm alright, Apollo. Just give me some nectar." Percy saw the sun god pull out a canister full of nectar and poured down some his throat. He didn't taste anything but he guessed it was since he wasn't in control of his body. His body stood up shakily, Apollo wrapping Gabriel's arm around his shoulder.
"You need to rest, Uncle." Percy felt himself shake his head.
"No. Time for rest will come later. The battle is not over yet." Percy could just make out the sound of swords clashing and men screaming off in the distance, but he didn't see anything.
"I'm sorry, Uncle, but as the god of healing you need to listen to me." Percy sighed.
"Fine. But I will not go willingly," he said. Apollo laughed.
"Relax, Uncle! There is only one giant remaining and Zeus and Poseidon are doing their best to defeat him." Percy just smiled.
"Only one? Just how many have we killed?" Apollo scoffed.
"We, killed only two. You killed four all by yourself." Percy's eyes would have widened in shock if he had any control.
"Hmm," he said. "I guess then that the time for celebration has come." Apollo grinned.
"There is always time for celebration. And women. And wine. And women." Percy just smiled at his so called nephew. Suddenly a roar came from the distant battle. "That can't be good." Percy and Apollo turned to find a giant come lumbering towards them, it's eyes red with bloodlust.
"Gabriel! I will kill you for killing my brethren!" Percy turned to Apollo.
"Go, Apollo. I will handle it." Apollo looked like he wanted to argue, but at the look in Percy's eyes nodded and flashed away. Percy turned to face the giant. Porphyrion. Percy didn't know where the thought came from but he knew that was the name of the giant. Percy dropped to battle stance and pulled out a sword and shield. Percy wasn't really that surprised to see that it was his current sword. It was the exact same blade and shield as the one he had gotten from Chiron.
Percy didn't have much time to think about it, however, as Porphryion came charging towards him, sword in hand. Percy grew to godly height and stood toe to toe with the giant. Porphryion brought his great sword down in a large arc. Percy blocked the blow and made to stab the giant's midsection. Porphryion was too quick, though, and blocked the strike. Percy backed away for a second. He looked all over the giant's armor looking for a weak chink in the defense. The giant lunged for him and he saw his opportunity. Percy held up his hand and using sheer godly power, distorted the giant's sense of balance causing it to collapse mid charge. Still dazed the giant tried to stand up but Percy used the shield to slam into the giant's knee.
Porphryion dropped to one knee, screaming in pain. Percy jumped into the air quickly, and with a downward strike, similar to Porphryion's, he brought his sword down quick and hard. The giant's head rolled of its body. Percy stood back up and sheathed his sword and put his shield on his back. Percy finally noticed the armor he was wearing. It was of the same gold as his sword and shield. He couldn't see his helmet, so he didn't know what it looked like. Percy flashed away from the battlefield and found himself back in the room from his first memory. Percy found that he no longer had his armor on.
Percy walked over to the corner of the room and found Zeus and Poseidon nursing their wounds.
"I see you survived the battle, brothers." The two gods looked up and smiled at their brother.
"All thanks to you. You single handedly defeated almost all of the giants." Percy just shrugged.
"I did what needed to be done." Zeus and Poseidon nodded. "I will leave you two to rest. I have some matters to attend to." With that Percy felt himself flash to another room. This time it looked like a bedroom. Must be Gabriel's palace, he thought. The room wasn't extravagant as Percy expected a god's room to look like. There was a fireplace on one side and a table with one single chair on the other. Above the door was a circle with a sun and moon in it both equally large. It was the symbol of balance. On the wall hung Percy's shield and on a mantle beneath it was the sword. However, when Percy, or rather Gabriel, walked over to it he noticed it looked different. The sword had a word carved into it. Ισορροπία. Percy's mind, being wired for ancient Greek, translated it as Isorropia, Balance.
Percy walked over to the table and found food waiting for him. He moaned knowing that he wouldn't be able to taste any of it since he wasn't in control. It looked so damn good though. Just as Percy sat down to eat a knock came from the door.
"Gabriel," came a sweet voice from behind the door. Percy felt himself smile and got up to open the door. Just as he arrived though, Percy felt his mind pull away from the memory.
Percy woke up once more in his bed on the Birmingham. He heard Luke and even Clarisse snoring beside him. He stifled a laugh. It sounded as if they were trying to out snore each other. Percy felt his eyes go goopy again and rubbed them with his good arm. His eyes finally felt clean, but Percy knew that he probably had more gold in them now.
He got out of bed, his stomach growling. He went to the kitchen, and saw the table covered in his blood. He felt terrible about it and took a towel from a cabinet and cleaned the table off. Deciding it was clean enough for eating, he grabbed some food from the fridge. Beside the fridge was a little stove. Percy thought for a moment and then turned the stove on. The flames rose a little higher than an inch and Percy scraped some of his food onto the small flame. For Gabriel. Instantly he felt refreshed and felt his right arm tingle. Gingerly, he removed the towel Luke had put on him and found his arm fully healed.
Percy smiled, inspecting his arm. It was good as new. Percy finally sat down and started eating. Several minutes later Luke and Clarisse woke up oblivious to the chuckling eleven year old watching them.
"Nice hair, Clarisse. You're drooling, Luke." Percy said not able to hold his laughter back anymore. Clarisse glared at him but went into the bathroom to wash up. Luke just rubbed his cheek with the back of his wrist.
"What are you so cheerful, Golden boy? Don't you realize it's morning?" Percy just smiled innocently at him. Luke grumbled but got out of bed and changed clothes before Clarisse came back in. The two demigods got their food, made their offerings, and sat down by Percy.
"Prissy, what happened to your arm?" Clarisse said, eyes wide. Luke stopped eating and grabbed Percy's arm.
"How did it heal so fast? It was disgusting just a few hours ago!" Percy just shrugged, thinking of how to explain it.
"I sent an offering to Apollo and I guess he took pity on me and finished the healing process." Luke and Clarisse seemed to accept his answer since they just returned to their food. Luke looked up to tell Percy something when he noticed his eyes.
"Gods, Perce! Your eyes changed again!"
"Let me see," demanded Clarisse. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Your eyes are almost completely gold!" Percy gave them his best confused look and shrugged.
"I don't feel any different." They gave him imploring looks but decided not to press him any further. They ate in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. After eating, Clarisse pulled out her map and put it on the table for them to look at. She pointed at their location.
"We are currently anchored right her, just a bit away from the Scylla's rock." The demigods shivered as they remembered the monster they faced yesterday. "This is the largest island within the Sea of Monsters. Chiron and I think that this is where the Golden Fleece is located." Percy and Luke agreed, not really having any evidence to argue against her with.
The three made their way back up top and Clarisse took control of the helm. She looked at the compass that Ares had provided with the ship and they began to sail towards the island. The island that Clarisse had chosen was located in the center of the Bermuda Triangle. It wasn't on any mortal maps, and Clarisse had searched through many maps at camp before finding this one.
It was still early and they hoped that by being quiet they could avoid running into any more monsters like the Scylla and the Charybdis. Soon they found the island Clarisse had marked. Unfortunately, it was elevated and the cliffs were covered in sharp, jagged rocks.
"Look!" called out Luke. He pointed to a smaller island right beside the larger one. Clarisse and Percy turned to look and found that the smaller island seemed to connect to their target and made a natural ramp leading up to where they needed to go. Clarisse sailed them towards the small island and laid anchor. The demigods got on a little dingy and rowed to shore. When they arrived they found scattered remains from sailors, demigods, and interestingly enough satyrs from the unlucky few that found themselves here. The demigods pulled their weapons out to ease their nerves. Percy didn't bother taking his shield out, just Isorropia. He stared at his sword and was shocked to find ισορροπία inscribed on the blade. It just keeps getting weirder and weirder. The funny part was that Percy was starting to feel different within as well. He felt like he had a lot of power built up inside. Must be my godly side, he thought.
The small island had a small land bridge between it and the larger island. The demigods began making their way to the top. The closer they got the worse the air started to smell. Eventually it got so bad that Luke threw up his breakfast.
"What the Hades is that smell?" he practically shouted while wiping his face off with a leaf he found on the ground. Percy looked around before he found the source.
"Right there," he pointed. The demigods went over to look, pinching their noses and holding their breath; not that it did really any good, the smell was so bad. They backed away till they were able to breath albeit not pleasantly. "It looked like poop," said Percy.
"Yea but not like any poop I've ever seen. And I know poop." Clarisse just rolled her eyes and smacked Luke on the back of the head eliciting a yelp. Percy just laughed at his friend. They continued up towards the top and when they finally made it they found what had done all the pooping. Surrounding the island was a giant herd of sheep. At the center of the island was a giant oak tree and hanging on one of its branches was the Golden Fleece. The demigods smiled at each other and began walking towards the tree.
As they walked closer to the sheep they noticed that they weren't normal. The sheep had beady red eyes and seemed to foam at the mouth just as the dog heads of the Scylla had done. Percy paled slightly remembering the pain he had felt just a couple hours ago. The sheep crept closer to them stopping the demigods in their place. A loud laugh came from the other end of the island.
"Puny demigods! You come looking for gold sheep fur? My sheep will eat you. Come! Let them eat you!" Finally from behind a large boulder emerged a huge figure. Percy immediately thought of the giant from his dream but it wasn't as big.
"Cyclops," muttered Luke, beside him. Percy could hear the hostility in his voice. He made a mental note to ask his friend about it later. If there even was a later. Clarisse didn't seem to be fazed by the sheep, however, and pointed her electric spear at the flock.
"If you want us, you'll have to come get us!" With that she yelled and charged the sheep. Percy brought out his shield and followed her, swinging right and left. Luke was behind him slicing any sheep that survived Clarisse and Percy's onslaught. Wool, blood, gore, and limbs were flung to and fro as the demigods hacked and stabbed the maneating creatures. The battle, if it could even be called a battle, was over in a couple of minutes. All of the sheep were dead and the demigods' swords were bright red with blood.
The cyclops roared in anger.
"My sheepy! You kill my sheep! I eat you!" The cyclops came lumbering towards them. The demigods dropped to ready positions and fanned out making a triangle. The cyclops slowed down confused as to who to attack first. Deciding that Luke looked the tastiest he renewed his attack. Luke stared at his friends as if asking them to do something. Clarisse charged towards the cyclops's side like she had done to the Scylla. Percy stayed behind and thought about his memory.
If I am Gabriel, I must have his power as well. Percy decided he would need to try and see if it was true. The cyclops was simply too large for them to bring down on their own. Percy lifted his arm up and closed his eyes in concentration. Focusing all of his attention on his target he let loose a primal yell. Luke and Clarisse stopped their fighting in surprise. They looked at Percy and their jaws dropped in awe. Percy, the little eleven year old camper from the Hermes cabin, was bathed in a golden light. Pure, unadulterated power came flowing out of him towards the cyclops. The monster tried to swing his arms at Luke but lost his footing and toppled to the ground. Percy's arm dropped from fatigue, but Clarisse and Luke wasted no time in stabbing the Cyclops in the back. The monster disappeared in a shower of golden dust.
Luke and Clarisse rushed to Percy's side keeping him standing up.
"Perce, that was-that was-,"
"Amazing!" finished Clarisse. Luke nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Percy just smiled wearily at them.
"Just felt right. Though it doesn't really feel too good right now." The others laughed and helped Percy stand up. Percy returned his sword and shield to his wrist and felt rejuvenated by the feeling of the watch on his wrist. He looked at his friends and smiled. "Come on. Let's get that fleece and get the Hades out of here."
A/N: Hey guys I'm back with another update to the story. Sorry this one took so long. Thursday mornings are busy for me, but I managed to write this chapter. This is really my first time righting about a "battle" so I know it is far from perfect. Any critiques and suggestions are welcome! Thanks for the great reviews. Hope you are all still enjoying reading this story as I am writing it. I plan on having another chapter come out later today.
Also, the poll will be closing right before I post the next chapter so if you haven't voted yet, please visit my profile page and vote. Thanks!