Hey friends! Alex here! Wow, this makes it what, three chapters today? Go, me! Sorry for any verb tense agreement mistakes—for some reason, when I wrote this, my brain was thinking in present, not past, tense. Funky. I tried to catch all of 'em, but if I missed one, I'm terribly sorry.

On with the story!

Enjoy!

—Alex

(Malcolm's POV)

I ran below decks to warn Will. I took the stairs two at a time. Unthinkingly, I barged in without a second thought. "Will!" I called. "We need you above—oh." Will was half-asleep, sitting up in his bed. Percy and Annabeth were on the floor next to the bed. Emphasis on were. They shot up onto their feet, panting heavily.

"Malcolm—" he started, then noticed the terrified guinea pigs on the floor. "Man, what did you do?" He asked, then sat on the floor next to our friends.

"I-I'm sorry," I said, nearly panicking. I was still terrified from my dream. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah." he said, still grumbling from being woken up. "Just calm Annabeth down, alright? It's not good for them to be in this state a lot, or for a long time."

"Yeah, yeah, of course." I slid down next to him, and gently grabbed Annabeth. "Sorry, Will," I said after a bit, "I just needed to tell you something."

"What?" He said, suddenly alert. "What is it?"

"We're nearing the entrance to the Sea of Monsters." I said finally.

Will shook his head. "Ah, geez. What entrance did Irida choose?"

"Why do you think Irida chose the entrance?" I muttered, but he just waved for me to go on. "The Clashing Rocks," I said finally.

"Good." Was all he said. "I don't like being eaten. I've heard it hurts."

I glared at him. "Just get your butt upstairs," I grumbled, and set Annabeth on the ground.

When I got upstairs, the Clashing Rocks towered over us. "Any idea how to get through?" I asked Irida.

"Somewhat. It is not the greatest idea, though." She replied, her gaze locked on the cliffs.

"What is it?" I asked nervously.

Irida looked at me. "Oh, ye of little faith. I plan on throwing a fish or something through the cliffs, and when they smash together, bang! One of you boys below deck will fire a cannon ball or two at the rocks, blowing a hole big enough for the Rainbow to sail through."

"I hate to be the devil's advocate here, but don't we have to catch a fish first?" I said hesitantly.

"I said or something. A shield or a frisbee would probably work, too. Now, go fetch!" she said, waving towards the armory.

"You go fetch," I grumbled, but went to grab a shield anyways. I looked until I found the perfect one. "Hey, Irida," I called jokingly, "catch!" I threw the disc at her. She caught it awkwardly.

Just then, Will came rushing on deck. "What do you want me to do?" He asked.

Irida and I looked at each other. "You throw the shield into the rocks when Irida tells you, okay? I'm going to be shooting the cannons below." He looked skeptical as to what was going on, but he grabbed the shield.

I raced below deck to the cannons. I grabbed one of humongous cannonballs on the rack. They were huge celestial bronze balls, with something sloshing around inside. Grunting, I carry it to the cannon and load.

I felt the boat come to a shuddering stop, and I heard a loud boom in the distance. I looked through the cannon window, and I saw the two cliffs smashed together. I aimed and fired the cannon. I saw the bronze ball streak through the sky, and blow a ship-sized hole in the rocks.

"Row, row, row!" I heard Irida yell faintly through the deck.

I felt the boat lurch forward. When I peeked out the window, the rocks ahead were slowly pulling apart. The ship pulled through the cliffs, the grey towering over our multicolored yacht. The rocks rumbled, and started to close in. This was it. The moment where the Fates decided if we lived or died. I screwed my eyes shut. The rocks smashed shut with a large THUMP. A few seconds passed. I wasn't smashed or drowning, so I guessed I wasn't dead. I let out a yoop of joy. I heard laughter coming from the deck above.

"Malcolm!" I heard a voice call from above. "It worked!"

I dashed up the stairs, two at a time. Will have me a high five, and Irida gave me a hug. I could almost hear Will smirking behind me, and I hoped I wasn't blushing as hard as I felt. When Irida released me, I gave Will a withering glare.

"So, uh, where do we go next?" I asked our little questing crew.

"Circe's Island," Irida said, like the answer was obvious.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, yeah, but where? Which way?"

Irida thought about it. "Rainbow, give me a map of the Sea of Monsters." She called finally.

Will and I snickered. "You think that's actually—" Will started, but was cut off by a map falling on his head. "Ow."

Irida and I burst out laughing. "You were saying?" She said smugly, and picked up the map.

"Where'd you learn how to do that?" I asked her.

"I don't really know. I just asked Rainbow for a blanket and pillow last night, jokingly, and a pillow and blanket plopped on my head." She said, shrugging.

"Hmm." I said. "So, what's on the map?" I continued, looking over Irida's shoulder.

"Hey, wait for me!" Will called, and looked over Irida's other shoulder.

"Let's see...there's the Clashing Rocks, so we must be here…" she said, pointing to a place on the map. "Scylla and Charybdis...there!" She said suddenly. "Circe's Island."

"How do we know that isn't the old one?" Will pipped up.

"Because here," Irida said confidently, "here is C.C's Spa and Resort. That is Circe's old lair. Rainbow," she called suddenly, "is this map up to date?"

A series of rumbles came from below deck. "Morse code?" I said. "Really?"

Irida shushed me. "Uhuh. Huh. Hmm. Wow. Okay, thank you, Rainbow."

"What'd the ship say?" Will asked, his head still on Irida's shoulder.

"Rainbow says that the map was just printed." Irida snapped.

Will held his hands up in surrender. "We should be there by the afternoon," Irida continued, like nothing happened. "Rainbow, what's our estimated time of arrival for Circe's Island? Uhuh….Okay….Thank you, Rainbow."

"What'd she say?" Will asked.

"We will be there at about 8:20, at night, their time."

"Well, when does the sun set?" I asked, quizzically.

"Oh, let me see, I totally know when the sun sets in a random place at a random time in a mythological sea!" Irida retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I am not your human Siri! Geez! If you want something, ask Rainbow yourself! I'll interpret the Morse code for you lazy bums."

Will and I held up our hands in surrender. "We're sorry, Irida. We only thought the boat—Rainbow, sorry—responded to you." I said, quite reasonably. "You're the captain, after all."

She seemed to like that idea. "Just ask Rainbow your question," she sighed.

"Hey, Rainbow," Will called out, "when does the sun set in the Sea of Monsters?" The usual response came, in the form of rumbling below deck.

"Irida?" I prompted.

"Nine o'clock is when the sun drops below the horizon."

"That only gives us an hour to defeat an immortal sorceress who's been turning men to guinea pigs since before we were born!" Will exclaimed. "How're we gonna do that?"

We stared at him, and Irida opened her mouth to respond. "Well—"

"It was rhetorical!" He said quickly.

"What do we do now?" I asked, before Irida could murder Will for interrupting her. She hates being interrupted.

She looked at me evilly. "Well, we are going to need breakfast soon. If you boys don't have anything better to do, I suggest you start on that."

1,300! Much better than the last two!

Have I mentioned I love Irida? Besides the fact I created her.

I'm too tired to write anything else.

Bye, friends!

—Alex

Next time on Circe's Revenge:

"Percy?" He said, almost hesitantly. "Are you—do you feel alright?"