First Person: Lucy
I woke to the ship rocking. I felt a lot better than I had before, refreshed even. It smelled like herbs. Kaze shook my arm, and I saw a robotic cat on his shoulder that was looking at me with the same concern he had.
"Hey," I said. "You okay?" He nodded.
"That's what I should be asking you."
"I'm…surprisingly good." He smiled.
"I remembered the herbs you taught me." He grabbed a bowl off the nightstand that had the remains of a herbal paste in it, though it looked a bit different. "I added some nectar too."
"That was smart. You're a real alchemist." He nodded proudly. "Who's your friend there?" He looked to the robotic cat.
"I don't know. I made him unconsciously."
"What are you gonna name him?" He shrugged, and the little cat steadied itself on his shoulder with grace. It clicked and whirred in a cute way, and moved pretty smoothly. Kaze was a descendant of both Hermes and Hephaestus, meaning he had a lot of good inventor blood in him. Then it transformed into a little humanoid robot with a gun in his hand. It fired off a little blast onto the wall next to my bed, and I saw that there were two little burn marks. "Kill. Kill. Kill." Kaze tapped him on the head quickly and he reverted to a cat.
"He does that." I smiled before I noticed the pile of weapons he'd gotten from the Romans. I sighed, but really, I didn't mind. I was used to Kaze stealing things, and better he have them than the Romans. That did leave the question of what we were going to do with them. When I got my strength back, I might want to add an armory to my room. His little cat made a robotic purr and rubbed its head against his neck.
"He's adorable. How about Neko? Cat." The little cat mewed in contentment. Kaze looked surprised.
"He's never mewed before. Neko it is." Suddenly the ship lurched from an attack, and Neko transformed into a metal ball. I sat up and Kaze followed me out the door of my room.
"What the heck is happening?!" I shouted.
"I don't know!" Emily admitted. The ship tilted starboard.
"We need to get up there!" We moved down the hall, joining the others as we scrambled up the deck.
"What's going-?" Percy began before we all saw what was attacking the ship. "Gah! Shrimpzilla!" The thing was the length of our ship. In the moonlight, it looked like a cross between a giant shrimp and a cockroach, with a pink chitinous shell, a flat crayfish tail, and millipede-type legs undulating hypnotically as the monster scraped against the hull of the Argo II. Its head surfaced last - the slimy pink face of an enormous catfish with glassy dead eyes, a gaping toothless maw, and a forest of tentacles sprouting from each nostril, making the bushiest nose beard I'd ever had the displeasure to behold. Leo was making his way to the helm, and Hazel was clutching the rigging, looking dazed from seasickness, and Frank hurried to her side, but she gestured that she was all right.
"Ve!" I called. I couldn't see him anywhere. "Where is he?" I asked Kaze.
"He came up here for guard duty."
"Over here!" He called. He had his lance drawn and was hovering over to us from over the railing, probably having been thrown off the ship from something. "What the heck is this thing?!" He demanded. The monster rammed the ship and the hull groaned. Annabeth, Piper, Jason, and Emily tumbled to starboard and almost rolled overboard. Leo reached the helm, and his hands flew across the controls. Over the intercom, Festus clicked and clacked about leaks below deck, but the ship didn't seem to be in danger of sinking - at least not yet. I hurried up to Leo and began to help him, and Leo toggled the oars. They could convert into spears, which might be enough to drive the creature away, but it looks like they were jammed. Shrimpzilla must have knocked them out of alignment, and the monster was within spitting distance, which meant we couldn't use the ballistae without setting the Argo II on fire as well.
"How did it get so close?!" Annabeth shouted, pulling herself up on one of the rail shields.
"I don't know!" Hedge snarled. He looked around for his bat, which had rolled across the quarterdeck.
"I'm stupid!" Leo scolded himself. "Stupid, stupid! I forgot the sonar!" Leo designed the hull to resonate every few seconds, sending waves through the Mist and alerting Festus to any nearby monsters, but it only worked in one mode at a time: water or air. He must've forgotten to switch the ship's detection system from radar to sonar when we left Charleston Harbor. The ship tilted farther to starboard. Either the monster was trying to give us a hug, or it was about to capsize us.
"Sonar?!" Hedge demanded. "Pan's pipes, Valdez! Maybe if you hadn't been staring into Hazel's eyes, holding hands for so long-"
"What?!" Frank yelped.
"It wasn't like that!" Hazel protested.
"It doesn't matter!" Piper said. "Jason, Zy, can you summon lightning?" Jason struggled to his feet.
"I…" He only managed to shake his head. Summoning the storm earlier had taken too much out of him. I pointed my finger at monster's face, and my finger sparked before releasing a zap of lightning. It hit the monster in the eye, making it screech, but that only seemed to anger it. I was suddenly extremely drained, leaning against the console, on the verge of passing out again from that one small blast. Kaze was at my side and moved me to sit down before drawing his swords and rushing to strike the monster at his alarming speed. His blades made cuts across the large beast in every place I could see, but he was also unable to do fatal damage, only making the monster more alert and angry, going more on the offensive against us.
Then the monster's tendrils lashed across the deck so fast, I barely had the chance to process what was happening before they were upon us. One slammed Percy and Veon in the chest each, sending them crashing down the steps. Another wrapped around Piper and Emily's legs, dragging them, screaming, towards the rail. Dozens more tendrils curled around the masts, encircling the crossbows and ripping down the rigging. Kaze was caught with a shout of surprise, his blades clanging against the deck as he was wrapped in numerous tentacles, enough to completely engulf him. He was squeezed tightly, making sure he couldn't use his speed and had no wiggle room.
"Kaze!" I called. I tried to stand, leaning on the walls and railing as I passed to try and get to him. Veon came running back up and flew over to the mass of tentacles holding Kaze, slicing it with his lance and striking as hard as he could to cut through. When Kaze's hand came into view, he grabbed it and used his lance to pull as hard as he could, and Kaze was freed. He took a deep breath, clearly having been suffocated, and his eyes were wide in panic. Veon dropped him next to me and I hugged him as tightly as the tentacles had in relief.
He moved with Jason to help try and free Piper and Emily, but even though both weapons cut through the tendrils no problem, more took their place near instantly, and it was all they could do to fend them off and hold their ground. Veon summoned a few Kako to help, but they weren't able to restrain the tentacles with their size and numbers, and they had no ability to slash. They were slow, but they did have the ability to try and eat a good deal of the tentacles and turn them into more tar.
"Nose-hair attack!" Hedge announced, snatching up his bat and leaping into action, but his hits just bounced harmlessly off the tendrils. Audrey summoned her trident to fend off the wave of tentacles coming after her, joining Annabeth as she unsheathed her dagger. They ran through the forest of tentacles, dodging and stabbing at whatever target they could find. Frank pulled out his bow. He fired over the creature's entire body, lodging arrows in the chinks of its shell; but that only seemed to annoy the monster. It bellowed and rocked the ship. The mast creaked like it might snap off. We needed more firepower, but we couldn't use the ballistae. We needed to deliver a blast that wouldn't destroy the ship.
I had no access to my lightning, my strength, my summons, or speed in my current condition. At best, I might be able to enhance a weapon. I reached for my gun in my holster at the back of my belt, but I paused when I wrapped my fingers around the handle. If I had a bow, I wouldn't even need to waste my powers. Using a bow empowered me, not the other way around. There was a perfectly good bow in my room, with arrows that were to my liking. I'd studied it a hundred times over in temptation. I was a critic when it came to bows and arrows, especially if I was going to be using it. Veon made the bow the perfect height for my long arms and fingers, he made it a longbow, my preferred model, and he made the arrows perfectly weighted and fletched, along with the right length for the bow and my draw preference. How he knew me so well, I don't know, and how he made that bow so perfect was the biggest mystery I'd ever faced. And the biggest temptation.
"Kaze, I need my bow and quiver."
"Onesan?"
"In my room. You saw them. Get them for me now."
"But Onesan, didn't you say-?"
"I know what I said! Get them for me now!" He stared a moment before nodding and disappearing only for a second, returning with the weapons in hand. I took the quiver and hooked it on my belt at my right between my bag and my guns. I grabbed an arrow first before bracing myself. I snatched up the bow as quickly as I could and nocked the arrow. Though my left hand began to spasm and cramp, everything within me yelling to get away from it, I forced my hand to keep a grip on it with whatever will I could muster.
Coach Hedge danced through the tentacles with his nimble goat hooves, smashing away with gusto and bounding toward the controls, taking them as Leo raced toward the mast. The monster pushed against the Argo II, and the deck lurched 45 degrees. I managed to keep my balance, but it forced me to have to re-aim. Despite everyone's efforts, the tentacles were just too numerous to fight. They seemed able to elongate as much as they wanted, and soon they'd have the Argo II completely entangle. Percy hadn't appeared from below, and the others were barely holding their ground against nose hair. If I had my full strength, I'd probably be able to strike this thing down with an explosion of lightning, or summon something like Leviathan to take it down, but right now, all I had was my bow and a hope.
"Frank!" Leo called as he ran towards Hazel, who was opening a supply box that really shouldn't be touched. I guess this was an emergency. "Buy us some time! Can you turn into a shark or something?" Frank glanced over, scowling, and in that moment, a tentacle slammed into the guy, knocking him overboard. Hazel screamed. She'd opened the supply box and almost dropped the two glass vials she was holding. Luckily, Leo caught them. Each was about the size of an apple, and the liquid inside glowed poisonous green. Audrey ran, slicing through any tentacle that got in her way gracefully with her trident, before leaping off the railing and diving after Frank. Leo handed Hazel one of the vials, before they began making their way to the port rail.
Now or never. They needed a distraction. I aimed for the giant Shrimpzilla without thinking much about a specific target, and let my hands do the work. Pulling back the string seemed to give me power instead of straining my arms, and I realized just how much I missed this feeling. It was so empowering, and that warning the bow was giving me was drowned out by the warm sensation that surged through me. I felt like I'd taken a breath of fresh air, and was no longer so drained from the storm and lightning usage. But this was only the beginning. When I released the arrow, I felt that sudden release of tension, felt the snap of the bowstring shaking the bow, and that slight whoosh as the arrow flew. Even though it had long since left me, I could just feel the arrow flying towards its target, and when it struck the Shrimpzilla in the head before exploding in a blast of light purple energy that resulted in a large screech.
I snatched up another arrow and fired it off towards a large mass of tentacles that was pushing the others back. This time, as it flew, it began to glow with that light purple energy in midair before leaving a wake of energy behind it as it sliced through the air. It tore through the tentacles, vaporizing them in the potent wave of energy. I controlled the winds around it, causing the arrow to circle around to all the tentacles in a semicircle before it returned to me. The energy dissipated before I caught the arrow and I slipped it back in my quiver in one swift motion. It all happened in a matter of seconds, but the moment the arrow was back in my quiver, the tentacle remains that had been touched by my arrow's energy exploded. More tentacles began to replace the ones that had been destroyed, but I'd cleared the playing field and given the team more of an advantage.
I swung my bow at a mass of tentacles that aimed for me, and the bow shaft sparked with purple electricity before I struck, giving it a heavy smack. The bow was extremely sturdy and stood up to my strength, and the electricity spread down the tentacles before making them explode as well. Kaze drew his other two swords and began to make a defensive ring around the others, slicing at any of the tentacles that came close to them, and trying to contain the rate they came back for us. We'd be able to hold our own at this rate, so I fired upon the Shrimpzilla, but it was hard-headed and my arrows weren't able to pierce through even when energized. We needed to get something down its gullet, and Greek fire would do nicely.
Suddenly there was a scream from Hazel as she and Leo were grabbed by a tentacle and lifted into the air. Leo's arms were free, but it was all he could do to keep ahold of his vial, and those vials contained Greek fire. Chucking those vials down the beast's mouth would solve this problem from the inside out. This guy was resilient, and I most likely had a limited amount of time with my bow. Hazel was struggling, but her arms were pinned, which meant at any moment the vial trapped between them might break, and that I couldn't risk cutting them free. They might fall and break their vials, which would not be good for their health.
They rose ten feet, twenty feet, thirty feet above the monster. Hedge was struggling to keep the boat from capsizing, the others were slashing away at the tentacles, and even Kaze's speed wasn't enough to completely contain them, as he was being careful to avoid getting caught in the tentacles again. Audrey still wasn't back with Frank yet, and I could only hope she saved him from drowning at the moment. I couldn't try and free Hazel and Leo directly, and I couldn't risk hitting the tentacle and letting it drop them when they had deadly Greek fire in their possession. I suppose this was one way to get the Greek fire into the beast's mouth. With Hazel's vial trapped between the two of them, there wasn't any completely safe way to do this, but we had to try.
"Leo!" I called, nocking another arrow and aiming for the monster's face. "Get ready!" He nodded and relayed some instructions to Hazel. I let my arrow fly and hit it in the face with another exploding arrow. The monster raised its maw, bellowing in pain, and Leo threw his Greek fire straight down its throat. The monster released them, Hazel chucked her Greek fire blindly, there was a muffled explosion and I saw a green flash of light inside the giant pink lampshade of the monster's body. The Shrimpzilla was set ablaze with green fire, and I began shooting its face and body to try and get its main body off the ship before the ship caught fire as well. Leo and Hazel fell into the water, and this time Veon dived in after them with his lance, as Audrey hadn't resurfaced yet.
Kaze grabbed his two dropped swords and connected them back into a four-bladed shuriken before jumping and throwing it into speed-mode, striking the body of the Shrimpzilla with booming force before it returned to him in an instant and he threw it again and again. His throws had the equivalent of more force than my exploding arrows, and more pushing force rather than destructive force, so we managed to get the main body off the ship before the hull was set ablaze. Kaze threw his shuriken at more of an arc now, and I shot an arrow around the ship as well so that the tentacles all released. The boat rocked once more from the release of the tentacles, but the Shrimpzilla burned from the Greek fire before it sank beneath the waves. There was a moment of silence, the adrenaline from a battle still there, and the sudden quiet unnerving. The Shrimpzilla seemed to be gone, though whether it had died or just ran away, I don't know. Nothing else seemed to come after us, and we seemed to be in the clear.
Then my vision blurred, and that feeling my bow gave me as a warning signal returned, except it no longer seemed to be just a warning. Everything within me tingled painfully, with that feeling like when you sit on your foot or arm to long and then try to allow circulation again. My limbs screamed as though something inside me wanted to escape, my muscles tensing and spasming like I was being electrocuted. I was immune to electric shocks, but even so, that was the only way I could describe it. Maybe it was irony. Styx decided that my punishment would be the very things I took for granted.
But then everything froze. The others on the Argo II were moving from the shock of the battle and looking around for those that had fallen off the ship, but they stopped just as they were gathering their bearings. Kaze was running towards me, no doubt in speed-mode, but he slowed to a crawl as well before completely stilling. The pain surging through me seemed to numb as well, but my vision seemed to tunnel, the world around me darkening like the stage lights during a play. There was a slow whoosh that sounded like a breeze with my increased Apollo hearing, before it transformed into the waves of a river.
In the darkness, I found myself facing the river I'd sworn and broken an oath upon. The immortal whom the river was named stood before me herself, her ebony hair wafting in the cold current, her dress billowing around her life volcanic smoke. Her face was delicate and sublime, her lipstick, eye shadow, and mascara all expertly done in shades of midnight. Her skin was pale, her features were sharp like some kind of elf, her obsidian eyes gleamed with hatred, and she held herself with an air of power and superiority. If I didn't know any better, I might think she was Chaos personified as a female. I might be intimidated more if I hadn't been hosting a goddess who was just as threatening and daunting.
"Oath-breaker," She said with a harsh tone. "Have I not given you sufficient warning in your vow?"
"You have. And I didn't ignore them. Why give me a warning in the first place? Not to mention the fact that you're visiting me personally. I doubt that happens very often unless it's serious. And…yes, I made a promise that I couldn't live up to. I could never meet the challenge that I made for myself. I made the oath to punish myself and I never expected to fulfill the conditions. Today, maybe I could've figured something else out, maybe I didn't need to pick up this bow and use it, but I did. I accept that and I will take my punishment. I will walk through whatever you punish me with, because I must. If I succeed, wonderful. If I fail, it won't matter anymore." She studied me with cautious curiosity, as though she was being played.
"You don't realize your failure means all's end?"
"No. I know it does. And that's why failure doesn't seem too bad. If I cease, maybe I'll know peace. Humph, that rhymed. Guess it means my words are truthful. I blame Apollo." Styx seemed to consider me. No doubt that she's faced people like me before, who feel that death would be a better option, meaning she knew what kind of punishment to deal out to us instead. Everyone's different, but I had no idea what punishment she could dish out to me that I couldn't somehow deal with.
She'd have to make sure I was alive to understand my punishment, so some kind of immobilizing pain seemed logical, like the electric paralysis I had before I came here. There were types of torture that included maybe losing my sight, hearing, or voice from all my Apollo traits. Or maybe my sense of touch, so that I can't feel anything. That would be terrifying. Interesting, but terrifying, probably. Losing some kind of essential that I take for granted would have irony, as I gave into a temptation that I believed was essential. I felt lost without my bow, as though I'd lost a piece of myself, and in return for breaking an oath to get that piece of me back, another would be taken that's just as important to me. Still, I knew that she wouldn't kill me, and I'd have to be able to go forward with my burden whether I liked it or not.
Then, the world dissolved without Styx saying a word. There was a dim light, as though those stage lights were just barely illuminating the stage, and the shadows began to part. The others of the Argo II were still in their frozen positions, but everything was still tainted black. If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was just a dream or 3-D image. It was deathly quiet, but then a breeze began to pick up, and wisps of darkness began to form from the numerous shadows, though the others still didn't react to it still. The dark smoke began to thicken, swirling around me until I was surrounded by a whirlwind of blackness, and Styx's voice echoed through my head, vibrating me to the core.
"Your punishment is to live. You will survive and know that all your actions in life will be your own, and you will hold the responsibility for them. You will be given power, the power to change things and act when you wish, the freedom of choice you lacked previous. You have been condemned to the fate of responsibility. Anything and everything that happens will be your fault, because you had the opportunity to make things different. No matter what you do and what happens, there will always be something you could've done. The only pain you will feel, shall come from your own penance. The only shackles that now bind you, will be the ones you place upon yourself."
The funnel of darkness closed in upon me, before I felt it seeping through my skin and sinking into my bones. It felt cold and heavy, as though my body was turning to lead, and I fell to my knees. I breathed in the dark mist, and it felt like a breath of icy cold air that both felt nice and chilling. My vision went black, and my skin seemed to be covered in a sheet of darkness. It was changing me, I realized, though I didn't know what exactly it was doing. Oddly enough, it felt kinda nice after a while, and I began to warm up once more, though quite possibly that was just the cold overwhelming me and tricking me into thinking its become heat. There was still a heavy feeling within me, but I felt numb to it, and it actually felt nice too. I felt weighed down by an inescapable force, but at the same time, I had never felt freer.
"Onesan?" I felt my brother's hand on my shoulder, and realized the darkness had become nothing but my own closed eyes. I opened them to see my bow on the deck in front of me, absorbing the black wisps of smoke until it was revealed to have darkened from gray to obsidian black. The gems now sparkled in mere tiny twinkles that could only be seen at certain angles, making them look much more few and far between than before, like stars on a midnight black sky. There was a light green glow, but I didn't know where it was coming from. It wasn't from the bow, but it didn't seem to be coming from behind me or to my sides.
"Onesan…?" Kaze asked hesitantly. I looked to him, and his face was illuminated with the same green light. He dug through his pockets before handing me a compact mirror. I took it (ignoring the fact that he, for some reason, had a compact mirror in his pocket) and saw my own reflection. My eyes were glowing light green with power, and Styx's words rang through my head: "You will be given power, the power to change things and act when you wish, the freedom of choice you lacked previous. You have been condemned to the fate of responsibility." The glow dimmed before my eyes faded back to their normal brown color.
"Onesan, what happened? Were you punished for using the bow? Are you okay? What was that with your eyes? Are you allowed to use a bow now?"
"I think so, Kaze-kun. Styx, she…she I'm not sure, really. She said I was condemned to the fate of responsibility."
"What's that mean?"
"It…I think it means I'm free to make my own choices no matter what I know. The Fates won't try and stop me from telling of things I otherwise shouldn't, and I have some kind of power to change things."
"Like the color of your eyes?" I smiled.
"Maybe." Suddenly, I jumped up. "Where are the others?" He shook his head.
"I don't know. Everyone who jumped ship is gone." I stood, grabbing my bow. For the first time in years, I was no longer repelled by the bow's touch. Quite the opposite, I was compelled by it, to keep contact with it, keep it with me forever and use it whenever I had the chance. I slung it over myself, cross-body, clipping the riser to my belt so it didn't jostle around too much, and then ran to the railing of the ship. The ocean was dark, and there was no immediate sign of anyone. Who had gone overboard? Frank first, then Audrey after him. Leo and Hazel, and then…Veon. A panic surged through me, and Styx's words echoed through my head over and over. "There will always be something you could've done." Without much thought, I dived over the railing and into the deep to find him.
