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This chapter is for ChildOfWisdom, my b-reader :D This is a very long chapter with a terrifying cliffhanger! :O

DFTBA!

-Silverhand9028

Tom's POV

Oh gods.
Summer.

She was screaming, soaking wet, tears in her eyes and chained to a rock, but I'd never been happier to see anyone in my life. I don't know how she wasn't lying, stone dead, at the bottom of Tartarus, but that didn't matter. I ran towards her, and she caught my eye. In her hand she clutched a double-bow that sparkled silver – Artemis' bow. We had all three of the prophesied relics on this beach… good news, right?

As I neared the rock, however, something moved beneath my feet. I heard the waves churning, the sand shifting, and somebody (probably Lilly) screaming in horror. I grabbed Summer's arm, but she was staring at the sea, trembling.

"What?" I murmured. What was happening?

I turned my head to look at the waves… and gasped with absolute terror. Rising from the churning, frothing sea, coated in seaweed, barnacles grey-green scales was the largest, ugliest, scariest sea monster I'd ever seen. Its head was a foul, mangled mess of huge tusks, torn scales and glowing green eyes. A massive fish tail stuck up from the ocean behind it, capable of smashing the Titanic in two. And the stench… think rotten fish, combined with raw sewage and blood, cascading down your nostrils. Ew.

"Do I recognise that?" Percy muttered from behind me.

"What is it?" shrieked Lilly. I really hoped another breakdown wasn't on its way.

The beast glared at us with green flashlight eyes.

Veronica stepped forward, unsheathing her sword. "I think… it's Cetus."

"Who?" Aston piped up.

There were so many of us, this was beginning to get confusing.

"A sea monster," Annabeth added. "In the old days, Queen Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter, Andromeda, was more beautiful than Poseidon's sea nymphs. Poseidon got jealous and sent Cetus here. There was only one way to stop it… sacrifice Andromeda. So her parents chained her to a rock."
Cetus roared. It was quite far back in the sea, yet it began to slowly swim forwards. Gulp. I thought of the myth, of the beautiful princess, chained to a rock whilst this vast brute came to devour her.

Summer.

No, no, no, no. Oh gods no.

"How was she saved?" I asked.

"Perseus used the head of Medusa to turn Cetus to stone," Veronica replied.

"Anyone have the head of Medusa handy then?" I asked.

Silence.

"Just our luck. Could anything get worse?"
So, naturally, everything got a lot worse.

Cetus stopped swimming towards Summer, which was better. So of course, fate (who clearly hates us) decided to dash our hopes and open a second fissure in the ground. And what leapt out of it? Surely not a huge host of monsters, including Lamia, the Cretan bull, four angry Cyclopes and Miss Avia's harpy horde?
Yup.

My least-favourite music teacher appeared, flying from the crack, cackling. Puke-hair and lemon-locks, those birdbrains we had faced in Camp, followed suit, then the Cyclopes from New York, a great white bull and my least favourite snake lady, Lamia.

"Seriously?" groaned Toby.

"So basically hell is against us?" Lilly muttered. I remembered that Tartarus was clearly our enemy, and that was where all monsters dwelt when 'dead'. Now, of course, Tartarus had released them onto us. Hooray.

Leon adopted his 'son-of-Ares war head'. "Annabeth, Bella and Veronica, take Lamia. Magenta, Jack, Aston: the Cyclopes'. Toby, Lilly and I will handle the harpies. Nico, get your hellhound and take care of the Bull. Percy, sea monsters of Poseidon. That's your expertise, right"

Percy shrugged. "You got it."

"Then do what you can to stop Cetus." He glanced sideways at me. I could tell he had left me out deliberately. "Tom… Summer's all yours."

I turned to my demigod girlfriend – if that's what she was. She had stopped screaming, and her blue eyes stared at me. I was done telling the story of how I failed her. This was the first chapter of how I kicked monster butt and saved her life!
Stuff that up your pit of hell, Tartarus.

I yanked my sword free from its scabbard and tapped the watch that became my caduceus shield. "Let's do this!" I yelled. "For Camp Half-Blood!"

Then we ran to battle.

Puke-hair was the first to die – killed, believe it or not, by Lilly. "Get your claws off my friend!" she yelled, throwing her knife and hitting the chicken woman in the throat. Ouch. Leon, spear drawn, and Toby, clutching his blade, followed. Magenta fired a silver arrow, Percy dove into the sea and Veronica launched herself at Lamia. I, meanwhile, only had eyes for Summer. Desperately, I charged towards her.

"Tom…" she whispered, as I leapt onto the rock.

"Summer, we need to get you out of these."

"Tom, I…I…I lo-"

"No offence Summer, but this really isn't a good time."

I heard Cetus utter a loud noise and Percy shriek.

"I know… Tom, I'm sorry. For everything."

I felt tears tickle my eyes, but I gripped my sword and tried to chop the chains away.

"It's not bloody working!" I swore.

An explosion of dust, accompanied by a scream, stole my attention – Aston and Jack slaying a Cyclops.

"Tom, Celestial Bronze isn't strong enough," Summer nodded her head towards the heavy chain. "You need something sharper."

I heard Percy – manly, strong, demigod Percy, Hero of Olympus and Son of Poseidon – shrieking like a 5-year-old girl as Cetus shook its great, ugly head and flung him into the waves. To be fair to him, Percy rose up on a jet of water and stabbed him in the head, yet the brute seemed unaffected. Cetus roared in ire, baring a cavernous mouth, where three-foot long fangs hung like stalactites.

The beast chomped down on Percy. The demigod heaved himself out of the way, but the monster's mouth caught his sword. Riptide was snapped in two like a twig.

"No!" Percy gasped. "I loved that sword!"

The way Cetus destroyed godly weapons of Celestial Bronze…

'Celestial Bronze isn't strong enough. You need something sharper'. I looked at Cetus' fangs, gleaming white and painfully sharp looking, despite the seaweed and – was that blood? – that clung to them.

"I must be going crazy." I murmured under my breath. "Summer, stay here." Stupid request really, she was chained to a rock.

I turned my back on her and ran towards the sea.

I saw Mrs O'Leary on the way, staring down the Cretan Bull. The great monster had bloodied her fur. There was a gaping wound along her side that the Bull's horn had made. Nico stood beside her, summoning skeletal soldiers to fight. Every time an undead warrior charged, the Bull destroyed it instantly.

Bella was trying to spear Lamia, who had coiled her snake-tail around Veronica and was trying to drag her into the sea. The surprisingly fast snake woman hissed as Annabeth chased after her.

Lilly was on Leon's shoulders and I noted they had swapped weapons. As Leon ran, stabbing and slashing at Miss Avia, his ginger girlfriend used the spear to lunge at her.

The emerald sea lay before me, the otherwise tranquil water disrupted by the hideous sea monster and Percy Jackson himself, trying to find holes in its armour-like scales.

"Percy!" I yelled. "A little help?"
A wave of the elder demigod's hand and I felt a tidal wave pushing me upwards. "Get me towards its mouth!"

Percy was distracted by Cetus' horned head slamming towards him, but after dodging the attack he yelled. "Why in Hades do you want to do that?"

"I need its teeth," I replied, "to break Summer's chains!"

The sea spray was soaking my jeans and hoodie, and I noticed that Percy was completely dry. My thoughts were shattered as Percy held out his arm. The tidal wave that held me propelled me forwards, towards the gaping jaw. I swung my sword towards one of the ivory-coloured fangs.

"Ya!" the bronze blade clattered off it in a shower of sparks, making nothing but a miniscule dent. "Seriously?" I sighed.

Meanwhile, my friends were up to their arms in vicious monsters.

Lamia had Veronica in a headlock as she snaked along the shoreline. The daughter of Athena's sword lay clattered on the sand as the snake-beast tried to get her mouth close enough to bite…

Annabeth, thankfully, was chasing after the surprisingly fast monster. Bella crouched behind some rocks, clutching a two-metre long spear, waiting to ambush the serpentine beast.

"Get off me!" snarled Veronica, wriggling and kicking.

"Hold still, then my venom will be less painful when it kills you," Lamia hissed.

Annabeth sprinted forwards, yelling: "Hey! Snake-woman!" and throwing rocks, but Lamia slithered away at startling speed, heading towards the rocks…

"Ya!" Bella leapt out and dashed forwards. Lamia barely had time to scream before the spear sunk into her flesh and sent her dissolving into dust. Veronica stood and rubbed her head.

"Good one," she grinned.

"Mooooo!" the Cretan bull stomped his hooves and charged.

"Woof! Woof!" Mrs O'Leary leapt forwards, growling.

The horns of the huge beast nearly pierced the hellhound's flesh, but Mrs O'Leary dodged and dug her huge claws into the bull's hide... which barely grazed it. Yapping fiercely, the hound jumped at the beast, which deflected her pounce with a turn of its head.

SLAM.

The bull used its hefty horns to force Mrs O'Leary onto the ground with a thump. The dog whined as the angry monster lowered its ugly head, ready to charge, and…

A blade of shining Stygian Iron pierced its hide. An angry moo, a vicious growl, and another stab, straight into the brute's heart, causing it to explode in a dusty blast.

Nico wiped the monster dust off his leather jacket and patted Mrs O'Leary's side appreciatively.

Percy yanked me away from Cetus' jaws as the terrible sea serpent clanged shut its mouth. We were suspended above the ocean on a churning wave.

"Careful," he warned. A deranged yell from behind me signaled the end of another Cyclops.

Opening its heavily fanged portcullis and sending a forked tongue winding out of it, Cetus narrowed its green eyes.

"How do we get those damn fangs out?" I moaned, wiping my sweaty brow.

Suddenly, a shriek pierced the air. I glanced behind me to see Magenta standing in front of a terrified Summer as the two remaining Cyclopes lumbered towards her.

"Tom!" Percy tried to regain my attention, but it was too late. Cetus, sensing my distraction, had charge through the sea and rammed a horned head into our wave.

"No!" Percy and I were flung backwards and landed in the water. Spluttering and choking, I surfaced and spat out saltwater. I was knee-deep in the sea.

"Tom?" Percy, still dry, stood before me. "You okay?"

I nodded shakily. Before me, Cetus - a colossal bulk of seaweed-covered scales and dripping bloody horns – approached rapidly.

"Oh gods," I muttered.

My sword was still, perhaps by Hermes-style magic, in my shaking fist. Percy was weaponless but summoned a swirl of water in his hands.

"Scared?" he asked.

"Terrified."

"Me too."

I heard an agonizing groan from a dying Cyclops, and the scream of a stabbed Harpy. Cetus blocked out the sun, so close to the shore that I could see a line of gills and some fins the size of the Big House.

"Don't let it get onto the shore," I begged Percy, "keeping Summer alive is more important than letting her die."

I glanced behind and caught her gaze. The son of Poseidon nodded. Cetus was right in front of us, and noticed the two demigods before him. The gargantuan monster reared up out of the ocean, hissing violently.

"Stand back…" Percy warned.

We darted away, just in time. Cetus leapt up, dolphin-style, and thrashed down, landing with its front part on the beach. The wave it created forcefully knocked me over, but I stood to see Cetus' mouth dangerously close to Summer.

No…

I charged at Summer, wading through the sea, onto the shore. I was dripping wet and damp sand had crept into every fold, hole and crevice of my clothing, but that wasn't important to me. All I noticed was the huge, ugly sea monster that was halfway up the beach, its maw wide open and easily big enough to fit Summer in. I could barely see the daughter of Apollo, trembling beneath the shadow of Cetus.

"Summer!" I screamed, letting out all of my fear, anger, desperation, affection and love in one word.

I don't know if she heard me, but I sprinted over to the rock, where she was chained with steel. Cetus was there before me; I grabbed her and pulled her away from the beast – as much as I could with the heavy chain protesting – but almost as soon as I had grabbed her, the sea serpent let out a primal hiss and brought its mouth down, ready to devour Summer and I at once...

Grabbing her tighter, I felt her wrap her arms around me as we prepared to feel those three-foot fangs closing down on us, signaling the end…

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-Silverhand9028