Chapter 120: Back at sea

(Katie POV)

The Maze, a place of terrifying beauty, at which every turn would try to end you with the most horrible, unspeakable horrors known to humankind. ...Or it would be, if we hadn't had Hazel with us.

Honestly, the only thing scary was how expertly she could navigate the maze despite having little to no practice with using her powers. Considering she had been dead just a few days ago, her progress was quite extraordinary.

No wonder Percy had chosen her for his team. Though, that didn't make it anymore idiotic, of course.

Walking down a large stretch of a tunnel, the silence between us was only interrupted by the occasional far-off roar or shifting of the ground under our feet.

Sometimes, it truly seemed as if the Maze was alive, a thought that made my shoulders shake with fear and anticipation.

Suddenly, Hazel stopped in front of me, as she stood at what seemed like a crossroad, head flicking from one path to the other like she was trying to decide on which one to choose.

"Everything alright?" I asked in a low voice.

"I think so, it's just confusing." Hazel responded, a perplexed look on her face.

"What is?" Percy questioned.

"I don't know how to describe it," She closed her eyes, looking deep in thought, "From one corridor, I feel an eerie presence but that seems like the right way to go."

"However, it seems like the other corridor is safer, but would delay us from...where was it we were going again?"

"The Sea of Monsters." Percy answered, a stoic and passive look on his face.

"The Sea of Monsters?" I asked, looking at him with a short but intensified glare. He really had the nerve to look disinterested while speaking of going to a place with a high percent chance of death. Especially his.

'Why did it have to me, of all people?' I thought to myself, putting a hand over my face and sighing when Percy all but responded with a simple yet casual smile.

"Fine," I obliged, "I guess I'll save chewing you until after we finish with whatever has to be done here."

"Fair enough." Percy agreed.

"I hate to interrupt," said Hazel timidly, "But which way are we going to go?"

"Well," said Percy, "I am going to go that way and see what is down there."

"Meanwhile, you two can take the other path, and we'll meet up from there."

"Oh, nice try," I pointed, calling him out, "This better not be an attempt to ditch us again while you go off on your lonesome!"

He put his hands up in a way that tried to make himself seem guiltless.

"I would never," He scoffed, feigning ignorance, "I have no idea what you mean."

"I have been dead for decades and even I can still tell a liar when I see one," Hazel mumbled, her voice barely audible.

"What she said," I crossed my arms, "You better be waiting on the other side of that passage, Percy, or I will be telling Nyx."

I played my trump card, knowing that she was Percy's one and only weakness(besides blue food). As expected, a little bit of color left his face when I spoke those fated words, and I saw him swallow in what might have been fear. It had taken him about five seconds before he seemed to work up the courage to talk again.

"Alright, I understand." He obliged.

"I promise that I shall absolutely be waiting for you on the other side of the Maze."

He was such a terrible liar.

With only being able to sigh, Hazel and I bid Percy goodbye as he took the path opposite of us, and into the unknown.

"Do you really think he will be okay?" asked Hazel, concerned.

"Of course," I responded, "If there is one thing, he excels at; it is beating the odds, no matter who, or what Percy is up against."

"You really look up to him, don't you?" questioned Hazel.

"I'm not the only one. Everyone else back at Camp Half-Blood also looks up to him, he has saved us many times before."

"Would you mind telling me more about your home, like, what it's like?"

I chuckled, "Sure."

With that, we began to move into the darkness of the other path while I regaled Hazel with the stories and legends of monsters of old, and how most of all the adventures started with one idiotic demigod.

...

(Percy POV)

Out of breath, I took my time walking out of the corridor while catching my breath.

There had been far more monsters than I had ever anticipated, but it was just my luck that they were Dracaenae.

Now I knew why hack n slash video games were so popular-that is basically all I needed to do to kill them all.

After that ordeal, I now stood at the beach of an endless ocean with ravaging waves and dark, thunderous clouds hanging above my head.

Behind me was a small old beach shack, it was once painted green but the salty air of the sea had torn down the paint on the wooden planks.

This would certainly be the point in time that Nyx would make a joke like "Light's out" or something akin to that.

Thinking to myself for a second, I wondered how I was going to reach the Sea of Monsters without drawing too much mortal attention to myself. In the end, I settled on asking Lyssa for assistance.

'Hey Lyssa.'

'Yeah?' She responded.

'Have any ideas on how I should go about reaching the Sea of Monsters?'

'Hmm, give me a second.'

Time passed as Lyssa didn't mutter a single word. I swear I could envision her, stroking an imaginary beard and pondering something with a Sherlock Holmes look on her face. She even said 'Eureka!' when she found a solution.

'Why don't you summon an old friend of yours.' She offered.

If it was possible, I gave her a puzzled look mentally, looking at her as if I knew she was pranking me.

'You can't be serious.'

'When am I never?' She asked, a hint of childish amusement making its way into her voice.

Amongst all things, the greatest thing me and Chaos had in common was our sense of amusement and laughter, which I found to make her seem more human than ever. Or maybe it was because she was the Goddess of Madness and found my apparent suffering on this task amusing.

'I thought I was supposed to be doing this part alone?' I questioned her, reminding her of what I was doing here.

'Bullshit.' She simply replied, a mad grin seemingly on her face.

Sighing, I broke off our mental conversation, finding it fruitless to continue any additional talk with the literal Goddess of Madness. Instead, I focused on the ocean, hearing the waves rumble in tune with the thunder. Connected, I searched out for a specific life force on the oceans, feeling for her trace from since we first met her. 

Stretching my hand out as I felt a familiar tug on the waters, I drew on that feeling as if it was a fishing rod, slowly pulling and exerting more force onto the pressure settling in my stomach.

Somewhere along the way, my eyes had instinctively closed and as I opened them, I saw the mast of a humongous ship.

Anne, an old friend of mine. My friends and I had met her during our journey through the Sea of Monsters and had learned that she was a sentient ship, able to feel and think as a mortal might. 

However, turns out that that just caused more trouble than we had bargained for(mostly for me). Though, after everything, Anne had become good friends with my and others. Additionally,(and this is the fun part), this gives us(me), the extra privilege of asking for her help whenever we(I) need it.

"Well, don't you look good," I offered, whistling, "Is that a new mast and deck I happen to see? If so, it looks great on you."

I was thinking that flattery might be the best option to opt for, seeing how Anne was my only ticket to get to the Sea of Monsters. How wrong I was.

Anne turned all of her cannons on me and loaded cannonballs into them, with the short bump of her front hitting the beach.

Thanks to Demeter's blessing, I understood the gesture all too well. Basically, Anne was saying 'Flattery will get you nowhere with me besides a cannonball to the stomach. Now, are you coming aboard or not?'

"You took the words right out of my mouth." I responded, a few mortals sparing me a look as if I was crazy. They couldn't see through the mist, so all they probably saw was a troublesome teenager talking to some weird old beggar.

Did I say 'probably'? Sorry, that meant to be a 'definitely'.

'Controlling the mist really is a cool ability.' I thought to myself as I climbed aboard Anne.

With a smooth turn around, Anne faced the ocean and began to sail towards the Sea of Monsters.

"Set sail, for the Sea of Monsters S.S Anne!" I shouted, excitingly.

The floor squeaked under my feet and I tripped, barely getting the words out of my mouth before doing so.

Rubbing my jaw, I heard Anne say, 'Don't ever do that again.' via Demeter's blessing.

"Alright, I understand." I groaned, sitting upwards.

Looking into the horizon, I saw a collection of typhoons awaiting us just up ahead and I grinned to myself.

"This, is going to be exciting." I said with finality.

(Timeskip, Sea of Monsters)

Calling what I was doing "dangerous" would be an understatement. Literally, I was in the belly of the beast, a place where no sane person, demigod, or monster would ever venture.

Yet here I was, risking my life in the face of utter peril for a result that might not prove useful whatsoever. But, I wasn't afraid or fearful.

After all, this was the life of a demigod.

Besides, Nyx would scold me for losing my life a second time. And that's not even concerning my mom or Annabeth. Truthfully, their judgment was the thing I was truly terrified of, despite all odds.

Losing my blue cookie privileges for a month would be dreadful!

Deep in thought, I was oblivious to my surroundings until a bolt of lightning streaked from the sky, touching down on the water and creating a 50-foot wave, headed straight towards us. Welcome to the Sea of Monsters, folks!

Raising my hand, I commanded the water to part midway so that me and Anne could pass straight through it. Just when I was about to praise myself, another wave came at us, but held the size of a large tsunami, and I groaned inwardly. Concentrating a bit harder this time, I directed the water ahead of us to dispel, leaving a gap in the tsunami that was wide enough for us to pass through once more.

I wiped some sweat off of my brow, noting that I was a little tired from using my powers.

'Just a little bit more,' I thought to myself.

As I thought that, I noticed how the sky turned darker as we continued to journey through the Sea of Monsters. The waves grew a little bit calmer and the thunder and lightning had stopped altogether. However, this did nothing to help my growing nerves, as I became anxious knowing what would come next, and waiting for it was becoming all but aggravating.

For a moment, all was silent. The waves, the sky and I all waited, as if expecting something momentous.

Then, out of the blue(get it?), all Hel erupted as a giant mouth opened in the middle of the vast ocean, rows of teeth apparent as every nearby organism got sucked into the giant mouth along with the water.

Unfortunately, it also happened to be an organism.

I held onto Anne's mast for dear life as I felt her trying her hardest to escape from the pull of Charybdis, who acted like a black hole and made it hard to resist against its massive pressure. Muttering a few words of encouragement to Anne, I carefully raised one hand up to the sky and felt the water react to this gesture, starting to aid us in escaping Charybdis. Balancing my control, I slowly shifted my weight to raise my other hand, Greek fire starting to burn at its end against all the rain falling around us.

'What are you doing?' asked Lyssa.

'A little preoccupied.' I responded, gritting my teeth in a desperate attempt of maintaining an equilibrium.

'Well, whatever you're doing, it's mad,' She nodded approvingly, 'I love it!'

Ignoring her, I squinted my eyes against the perpetual madness, lowering my gaze to get a better sight at the colossal monster. From what I could see, there were multiple eyes surrounding what might have been its head. Said eyes held a dull red color, lazily looking everywhere. Its skin was a darkened green and blue, with its tentacles having the same color. Charybdis looked staid, comfortable sucking in half of the ocean.

In a way, it reminded me of Poseidon, but when he was angry or agitated. Except this monster wasn't either, and was not my father.

Taking aim, I double-checked my calculations, and when everything checked, I hurled the ball of Greek fire down the throat of Charybdis's throat, watching as its glow slowly die out the farther it traveled.

The effect was instantaneous.

Charybdis roared, a loud sound that pierced my ears and made them hurt. Anne violently rocked, as if the scream had affected her too(does she even have ears?). Charybdis let out a low growl and she ceased her pull on us, allowing my to pull both of my arms down and, finally, catch a break.

Breathing hard, I permitted myself a few moments to rest and catch my breath before standing up, moving to the front of Anne and looking down at Charybdis.

Around us, the ocean had stilled, reduced to the mere rocking of the waters, making small waves. The sky had also calmed, the clouds were no longer dark, and a clear blue penetrated the once-previously dark area.

It was then that I was able to see Charybdis clearly, and apparently, the same applied for her as well.

That's what I was thinking when those dull, red eyes had settled on me, staring at me with a deep curiosity. Her giant mouth shifted, as if the action was instinctive. Studying me, her dozens of teeth slowly began to move and a gurgling sound erupted from her mouth.

She was communicating with me.

'Well, well, what have we here?'

Without Chaos, I doubt that I would have been able to understand her. Luckily I could.

'Hello there, Sister.' I responded, switching to her language.

'Percy Jackson...What are you doing here and how can you comprehend me?' She asked, a hint of admiration and curiosity in her voice.

'I'm here to offer you a deal,' I said, 'If you help me, I can help you in return.'

I tried my hardest to seem sincere, which I was, but I could never be too careful.

'Why should I trust you?' She questioned me, 'The last time I decided to trust someone, it happened to cause my downfall!' She exclaimed, sounding as if she was growing irritated by the second.

'I understand,' I sympathized with her, knowing exactly what she had been through, 'Long ago, you held trust in our father, Poseidon, and helped him spread his influence over the world by flooding large parts of it. However, this made Zeus angry, and so he cursed you for eternity.'

'If you know, then why do you dare to ask for my help, parading in here like you know the place?!' Physically, I heard a deep rumbling from Charybdis as if she was becoming angered.

'I know, sister, you have no reason to trust me or anything I am saying. However, I come to you now because I can lift your curse, and give you the live you never knew you could have.' I offered.

Momentarily, I saw my sister freeze up, her entire body still, which was an accomplishment if you ask me. Her eyes darted from me to the sky, as if she expected to magically see Zeus looking down at us, then closed them. To me, it looked like she was deep in thought, pondering over everything I had said.

Then, looking back at me, she spoke. '...What you say is impossible. The Gods would never allow such a thing!'

'Trust me, the Olympians are in my debt. If I ask them, I'm pretty sure they won't bat an eye at me lifting your curse. Though, it wouldn't hurt to keep this a secret either.'

'What a strange demigod you are.' Charybdis finally said, 'Alright, I shall opt to trust you… for now.'

"That's a relief," I said, slipping back into English.

"By the way, can you speak English?" I asked her, knowing from experience that some monsters could.

"Fortunately for you, yes." Charybdis said, surprising me even though I expected something like this to happen.

"Speak of, do you happen to know where-"

Cut off from my sentence, I felt another presence nearby and turned to see-surprise-Scylla, the other high-ranking monster of the Sea of Monsters. From the waist up, she had a figure that resembled a humanoid figure, yet she clearly wasn't.

She had a pale reddish skin, glowing yellow eyes and long grey hair that reached all the way to the end of her back. She had pointy ears, like she was an elve. (The lord of the rings ones, not the Norse one). Her blood rep lips were curled up in a smile.

She had claws instead of hands. Her claws had blood stains on them, which was not comforting at all.

But from the bottom down, I saw the true terror of what was Scylla.

From the waist down, I saw numerous heads, each of which looked like a dragon's head. The skin on each head was scaly and spiked and looked rough to the touch. All of them had blood-red eyes, but without pupils, all of which made them look like true demons.

Needless to say, I was shocked from the sudden appearance and terrifying physique of Scylla, so I stunned for a few seconds.

In those few seconds, Scylla looked between me and Charybdis, seeming confused.

For the time being, Charybdis had been as shocked as I, but had recovered sooner, it seemed. Engaging her fellow monster in conversation, I was left there to gap with my mouth wide open while they exchanged words in an old tongue.

I caught a few words here and there, but at the speed at which they were talking, I wouldn't dumbfounddumbfound to learn that I hadn't caught all that they were saying.

Just then, Scylla turned to me with a quizzical look on her face as if she was wondering what to do with what Charybdis had said and me, both at the same time.

After some thought, she reluctantly extended a hand(claw?) towards me, introducing herself.

"Nice to meet you, Percy Jackson," She said in perfect English, "I am Scylla, monster of the deep seas."

I shook her hand. I had one very important question to ask.

"You can speak English?" I asked, wondrously.

"Indeed,"

What was with monsters and their perfect ability to speak English?

"So," Scylla started, startling me from my thoughts, "My colleague, Charybdis, here tells me that you can lift our curses."

She looked at me with a suspicious gleam, arms crossed.

"Yeah," I responded casually, "I can."

"I'm not so sure that I trust you," She argued, sounding skeptical.

"I understand your concern," I agreed, "It must be hard to find trust in another since Circe cursed you, and Glaucus did nothing to protect you."

"You-!" She began,

"However, you can put your fears to rest," I reassure her, "I also have a personal grudge against Circe,"

"You...do?" She asked, tilting her head in what seemed like disbelief.

"Yeah," I said, "Besides, last I saw of her, she was having a bit of trouble with the pirates me and my friends freed from her enchantment."

"Really?!" Scylla squealed in child-like glee, which felt really awkward from my perspective, "Serves her right! Finally, she has gotten what she deserved! Thank you very much, Percy Jackson. "

"Yeah…" I said, scratching my head in embarrassment, "Well, I didn't want to be stuck as a pig for the rest of my life anyways."

"So, do you want me to release you both from your curses now?" I asked.

"That would be most pleasant." said Charybdis.

"Yes, it would be." agreed Scylla.

"Alrighty then."

Lifting both my hands to the sky, I focused on channeling the power of Chaos, just enough to lift the curses. Also, I thought of how Fate could no longer hold me, and how I could use my powers to save others. As I felt the power course through my body, I concentrated on undoing the curses placed upon both Charybdis and Scylla.

In a flash of light, the two monsters in front of me began to change form, their curses successfully being broken. In the end, the blinding light became too much for my eyes, and I had to close them or risk getting them burned out of their sockets.

In a way, it was very similar to looking upon the true form of the Olympians. Stare for too long, and your life was the punishment.

Though, this glare was much less radiant.

When the light had subsided, I slowly opened my eyes to see what had happened. What greeted me was an image that was literally burned into my mind.

In front of me, floating lightly over the water were the forms of two beautiful nymphs. The sea nymph, who I knew to be Charybdis from the myths, and light green skin, hair, of the same color, that brushed against her shoulders, and sea blue eyes that matched my own.

Though, even then, her beauty paled in comparison to Scylla's.

Her once dirtied, unkempt hair now flowed like undisturbed water past her shoulders and down her back. Her skin was fair and reflected the sun's glow perfectly, accentuating the color even more. She was wearing a small layer of makeup that made her even more attractive, highlighting every curve of her body.

In short, she put Aphrodite to shame, in more ways than one.

Looking down at their forms, both of them wore shocked expressions before Scylla broke out into a big smile, letting out a small laugh as she turned around, looking incredulous about what had just happened.

Meanwhile, Charybdis had a small, but pleasant smile, more or less taking in the sensation of being mortal again.

"Thank you so much, Percy!" said Scylla, shaking me from my thoughts, "It has been ages since I dreamt of being mortal once more, and now it has finally come to pass!"

"Indeed, there is no way that we could ever repay for what you have done for us." Charybdis added, giving me a small smile.

"Who knew there were good spawn of the Gods, Charybdis?!" Scylla exclaimed, positively brimming with joy from what I could examine.

"Apparently, there are some." Charybdis told her.

"Uh, guys?" I spoke up, grabbing their attention immediately, "I am truly happy that you've been released from your curses and all...but there is one way that you both could repay me."

"And in what what would that be?" asked Charybdis.

"Well, I'd like to ask you both if you would like to join my team… the Suicide Squad."

"Isn't that a movie?" Scylla paused, tilting her head and putting a finger to her cheek with a curious look on her face.

With a sigh, I explained what my plan was to them, as well was what the Suicide Squad was. I also told them some about the outside world, and how it had changed dramatically.

"We'd be honored to join your team," Charybdis stated, breaking the silence after my explanation.

"Can you tell me more about the outside world?" Scylla asked.

"I will if you join,"

"Deal," she said.

"If you don't mind me asking," Charybdis started, "How will we be of any assistance now that we are not monsters?"

"Well, when I lifted your curses, it left you with a residue of your original power. So you can still use your powers and not be stuck in your original forms or reverting to them." I explained.

"Awesome!" said Scylla with her enthusiasm

"How will we know when you require our aid, though?" Charybdis questioned.

"You'll see," I said, "Now, I should be going. It's starting to get dark."

"Alright," said Charybdis, "Take care."

"See ya later Percy!" shouted Scylla, "Thank again!" She waved.

I said goodbye to them.

In the distance, I could see Scylla dragging Charybdis in the opposite direction, probably taking her to see that movie I had told them about.

Looking down at my watch and cursed.

Katie was going to be so mad.

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