chapter 9

As we headed towards Charybdis, I was sweating bullets. Bill had the same fate as me, sweating and eyes wide. I felt the deck warm up due to the engine going into overdrive.

As we got closer to Charybdis, I could hear it terrible sound. It was a horrible wet roar, like a toilet flushing but much much louder and bigger. Every time it inhaled, the ship shook. And when it exhaled, the ship rocked against the waves. And I whole heartly believed that we were dead.

And finally she roared and the ship shook, harder than ever. And me and Bill fell onto the ship, sliding from one side of the ship to the other. I saw the ghosts rush back and forth.

I heard the propeller grind, trying to stop us from being sucked up but it seemed like it did noting. Then suddenly a solder barged out and headed for Clarisse.

"Boiler room overheating, ma'am! She's going to blow!" I felt my eyes widen and my mouth go dry.

"Well, get down there and fix it!" Shouted Clarisse in anger and nervousness.

"Can't!" the sailor yelled. "We're vaporizing in the heat."

Bill elbowed me in the ribs and we shared a look. I got up and rushed to them.

"All I need is a few more minutes! Just enough to get in range!"

 "We're going in too fast," the captain said grimly. "Prepare yourself for death."

"I'm immune to heat, I can help!" I rushed over to tell them. Tyson smiled.

"Me and Atem can help!"

Clarisse looked at him incredulously. "You?"

"He's a Cyclops," Annabeth said. "He's immune to fire. And he knows mechanics."

"Go!" yelled Clarisse.

Tyson and I rushed off but Percy grabbed Tyson arm.

"Tyson, no! It's too dangerous!"

He patted his hand. "Only way, brother." His expression was determined, confident, even.

Tyson looked at me before we rushed to the engine room.

When we got down there, the flames were everywhere.

"CALM DOWN!" I yelled to the flames not expecting it to work but the flames died down. Tyson looked at me in amazement and I couldn't help but puff out my chest.

"BOOM!" That knocked us out of our trance and Tyson went to work as I made the flames stop from lighting the whole ship up in flames.

Just as I finished calming the flames, I heard the engine calming down. I turn to Tyson smiling.

"We did it!" He said happily.

"YOU, did it big guy. You stopped the ship from exploding so good job!" Me and Tyson rushed to the top of the ship. But we had to stop halfway to grab something to hold onto due to the ship shaking.

Suddenly a cannonball shot out and headed towards Tyson's head. I held out my hand and the cannonball ball slowed to a stop and floated in the air.

I stared at it slack jawed.

"You can do magic!!" Tyson said in amazement. But once again we went flying in the engine room.

"WHAT ARE THEY DOING!" I shouted as we flew around. I hit my head on the engine and used all my willpower not to cuss Infront of Tyson.

Bill flew down to where we were. "WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!" He shouted but almost flew against a wall but I somehow stopped him in midair.

He stared at me slack jawed. "SINCE WHEN WERE YOU ABLE TO DO THAT?" He shouted but I shurgged my shoulders.

I willed whatever it was to support us but noting happened.

'The air!' I thought and willed the air to stop Bill, Tyson and I from flying around and it worked!

"BOOM!" I felt the heat and explosion made my eardrums go numb. 'Engine exploded' I willed the air with all my might to protect Bill and Tyson before I blacked out.

_________________

My body felt like it was on fire, ever muscle, every bone ached with pain. I forced my eyes to open. The sky was blue and cloudless.

"YOU'RE AWAKE!" Shouted a voice that I will remember forever. Bill Overwood. His face was laced with happiness and nervousness. 

I got up despite my body's protests and faced Bill and Tyson who just turned around.

"Friend is awake !" Tyson bellowed as he hugged us 2. His spine crushing hug was cut short by my question.

"Where are we and why are we riding a sea unicorn?" I had taken notice of the massive sea horse that we were currently riding. It was almost rainbow in color and it's eyes showed more intelligence than Bill. Which wasn't that surprising. 

Tyson happily hugged the creature. "This is Rainbow, they saved us after you saved us."

I chuckled at the name and pet rainbow giving a thanks. And I then shift my focus to Bill.

"We are currently heading towards where Percy and the rest are." Tyson and Bill looked sightly tried but judging from their looks, I might look a little bad.

"You look horrible so maybe try to rest some more before we get there?" Bill tone was one of worry.

"Sure just don't let me slide off into the ocean."

I allowed my body to enter the realm of Hypnos once more. My body aches slowly vanished as I rested for the up coming battle.

I was nudged awake and I opened my eyes to see Bill standing over me. A smug look on his face.

"Wake up sleeping beauty, we found your prince." He pointed to the giant cyclops that was fighting with Percy and the rest. They fought hard but the cyclops-

"HOLD UP, I ain't marrying that!" I shouted at Bill who shurgged. He then pointed at Tyson who was already rushing towards them. Reluctantly I got up and we rushed over to catch up to the running cyclops.

We were crowed by sheep. They ignored us but when we got near Tyson they began to walk up to us. But it didn't really matter since we were nearing the others.

By the time we caught up to Tyson, the other cyclops was about to make Percy his dinner but with the strength of 5 5 star quarter backs, Tyson threw a rock into its mouth, stopping it. And then the giant tumbled over the edge.

"Bad Polyphemus," Tyson said. "Not all Cyclopes as nice as we look."

"Tyson, thank the gods. Annabeth is hurt!" Percy shouted in relief when he spotted Tyson.

"You thank the gods she is hurt?" he asked, puzzled.

Percy shot him a no before knelling besides Annabeth who looked pale and sickly.

"Tyson, the Fleece. Can you get it for me?" We turned to see a golden fleece just hanging on a tree. I nudged Tyson and pointed.

Tyson lumbered over, careful not to step on the sheep. Meanwhile I petted the sheep to the shock of the rest of Percy.

Tyson got the fleece and Percy yelled at him to throw it, not the best idea. It was like asking to get nailed. Which happened, Percy almost folded at the weight of it but laid it around Annabeth.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked towards Grover and said weakly, "You're not... married?" 

I chucked and looked up to Bill hugging Grover.

Grover grinned. "No. My friends talked me out of it."

I felt awakened since I was kind of just standing there so I began to chat with Clarisse of what happened. I looked back to see that Tyson was having some trouble with the sheep. They tried to climb on him while he shouted "DOWN."

But then a few sheep began to sniff towards us. "No sheepies, this way." Tyson told them.

"We have to go," Percy said. "Our ship is..."

"Let me guess, it is no where near us." I finished his sentence, Percy just nods.

"Tyson," He called, "can you lead the flock as far away as possible?"

"The sheep want food."

"I know! They want people food! Just lead them away from the path. Give us time to get to the beach. Then join us there."

Tyson looked doubtful, but he whistled. "Come, sheepies! Um, people food this way!"

"Keep the Fleece around you," He told Annabeth. "Just in case you're not fully healed yet. Can you stand?"

She tried, but her face turned pale again. "Ohh. Not fully healed."

Clarisse dropped next to her and felt her chest, which made Annabeth gasp. Brutal but effective.

"Ribs broken," Clarisse said. "They're mending, but definitely broken."

"How can you tell?" Percy asked in doubt and curiosity.

"Because I've broken a few, runt! I'll have to carry her." She grabbed Annabeth like a sack of potatoes and we headed to the beach.

"Incoming!" Tyson yelled. I didn't turn around because I felt the glares of the sheep that were now hell bent on killing us.

"They probably won't follow us into the water," Percy told the us. "All we have to do is swim for the ship."

"With Annabeth like this? I don't think that will work." I tell Percy.

"We can do it," He insisted. "Once we get to the ship, we're home free."

I begrudgingly nodded and continued to run. But then the cyclops from before stood up, very roughed up but still alive.

"Swim for it!" Grover said.

"You, young Cyclops!" Polyphemus roared. "Traitor to your kind!"

I couldn't hold back what I was going to say. "AND YOU'RE JUST A BIG SACK OF WASTE OF SPACE YOU INBRED!" I shouted at the cyclops who focused on me.

"You guys go, I'll hold this dude off." I looked towards Tyson. "This dude is the odd one out of the cyclops. The good ones don't eat humans. You are the good one Tyson, never forget that. Now run"

Tyson and the others rushed away, that left me and big ugly.

"You... I WILL EAT YOU!" He bellowed and rushed me. I gripped the sword that Tyson made me. The cyclops's hand came closer and closer to me. But just before it could crush me, I jumped up.

Me and the cyclops were eye to eye now. Well for now because I plunge my sword deep into it's eye.

"AHHHHHHHHHH MY EYE!" He yelled so loudly that I might have busted a ear drum. In that time the cyclops threw a boulder that I narrowly avoided.

I then willed the air to push the sword deeper and deeper until,

"Puff." The cyclops exploded into a cloud of golden dust.

I turn back to the others and run towards them but I saw a big problem. The ship was hit by the stray boulder.

Tyson suddenly shouted "RAINBOW WE NEED YOU!" and suddenly 4 sea unicorns arrived at the shore. We shared a glance before hopping onto them and riding away from the island.

I had felt drained from overusing my powers before and now I felt like I was going to drop dead any moment. I laid onto the sea unicorn and slept.

"Wake up Atem, we're here." Bill said waking me up.

In the distance was a city that the sun setting behind. I heard Annabeth say this was Miami. She also said that the hippocampi were acting funny due to the people and pollution. 

So we had to swim the rest of the way there. Which we did.

We hit the shoreline and began to enter the world of mortals once again. We had to push through crowds of people who arrived for vacation. The taxi drivers were yelling. Porters bustled around us and most people ignored us.

Annabeth rushed to the newspaper and cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"

My eyes widen. "How can that be possible??" I question Annabeth who look at me.

"I don't know but Thaila's tree is going to die soon. We need to get back to camp now!"

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "How are we supposed to do that?" Her voice trembled. "We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered-"

"Percy's fault?!" Annabeth exploded. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest—" Bill and I watched it like a drama show. Wished we had popcorn though.

"Stop it!" Percy finally said. Clarisse put her head in hands. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration. Percy looked at us with guilt ?

"Atem," He said, "what did the Oracle tell you exactly?"

Me and Clarisse shared a look before I spoke again.

"You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone, You shall find what you seek and make it your own, But despair for your life entombed within stone, And fail without friends, to fly home alone."

"Ouch," Grover mumbled.

"No, wait a moment." Percy said before running his pockets. "Anyone have any cash?"

I pulled out a wet dollar bill and showed it to Percy who still took it despite it being wet.

Annabeth and Grover shook their heads sadly. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed. But then Tyson looked weird and said, "Cash?" Tyson asked hesitantly. "Like ... green paper?"

"Yes?" I ask in an unsure way.

Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out the Ziploc bag full of cash that Hermes had included in our supplies.

"We rich boys!" I tried to cheer us up. It earned a couple of chuckles and laughs.

"Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow," he said. "Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. Sorry."

Percy looked between us 3 before me and Bill pointed at Clarisse.

"Clarisse," Percy yelled. "Come on. You're going to the airport. Annabeth, give her the Fleece." I had no objections since I felt this was more fun than flying a plane. Who doesn't like a good hitch hike?

I'm not sure which of them looked more stunned as Percy took the Fleece letter jacket from Annabeth, tucked the cash into its pocket, and put it in Clarisse's arms. I laughed out loud which earned me a punch from Clarisse.

"Ouch." I grumbled in defeat.

Clarisse said, "You'd let me—" But was interrupted by Percy who told her that it was our quest and she should hurry.

She hopped in the taxi and left us to our hitch hike adventure.

"Percy," Annabeth said, "that was so—" Her sentence was finished by Grover.

"Generous?"

"Insane," Annabeth corrected. "You're betting the lives of everybody at camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back by tonight?"

"Hey I believe in her. She may have a few screws lose but she does the job." I said in support of Clarisse.

Annabeth reluctantly nodded.

"So what now?"

"Come on," Percy told us gang of misfits. "Let's find another way home."

"Hitch Hiking always a good option-" I was cut short as a sword was pointed at Percy's throat. A blond kid with a scar covering one of his eyes spoke.

"Hey, cuz," he said . "Welcome back to the States."

Suddenly bear people grabbed Annabeth and Grover. Me and Bill avoided being grabbed and prepared to fight but was once again cut short by the new commers words.

"Percy," he said calmly, "tell your giant and your other friends to back down or I'll have Oreius bash your friend's heads togeather."

"What do you want, Luke?" Percy growled and my eyes widen. 'This is THE Luke. The one with an army of monsters.' I thought with an expanding feeling of dread in my stomach.

"Why, Percy," Luke said, "I want to extend my hospitality, of course."

The bear twins herded us aboard the big ship. They threw us down on the deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed into the air. A dozen of Luke's assorted goons, snake people, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armor, had gathered to watch us get some "hospitality."

" I seen you gotten some new friends Percy. But, the Fleece," Luke mused. "Where is it?" He looked us over, prodding my shirt with the tip of his sword, poking Grover's jeans.

"Hey!" Grover yelled. "That's real goat fur under there!"

I saw Bill looking at Luke in hatred.

"Sorry, old friend." Luke smiled. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest."

"Blaa-ha-ha!" Grover protested. "Some old friend!"

"Maybe you didn't hear me." Luke's voice was dangerously calm. "Where is the Fleece?"

"Not here," Percy said and I couldn't help but wonder if that was the correct words to say, because Luke almost glowed in anger.

"You're lying. You couldn't have ..." His face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. "Clarisse?"

I spoke up, "Yep" I said popping the p.

"Agrius!" The bear giant flinched.

"Y-yes?"

"Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast.'"

"But, boss—"

"Do it!" Luke screamed. "Or I'll feed you to the drakon!"

The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. The rest of Luke's crew looked uneasy. Maybe they'd never seen their boss so unhinged before.

He looked towards me and Bill and smiled. I did not like that smile.

"You've been toying with us all along," Percy said and directed his attention to him instead of us. "You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."

Luke scowled. "Of course, you idiot! And you've messed everything up!"

"Traitor!" Percy yelled.

"You tricked all of us!" Percy yelled at Luke. "Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALFBLOOD!" I wondered why he explicitly mentioned Dionysus and camp halfblood.

Luke just sneered. "This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your puny little sword, or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."

"Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?"

"I did, of course," he snarled. "I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus."

"Chiron had nothing to do with it?"

"Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts."

"You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?"

By that time I had caught on to what Percy was doing. An irs message was behind Luke and showed the camp and their shocked expressions.

Luke raised his sword. "You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece ... once I was done with it."

"You were going to heal Kronos,"

"Yes! The Fleece's magic would've sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven't stopped us, Percy. You've only slowed us down a little."

"And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up—all to help Kronos destroy the gods."

Luke gritted his teeth. "You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"

"Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you." I had to hold in a laugh as Luke's eyes widen.

His eyes narrowed. He looked behind him and his goons did the same. They gasped and stumbled back.

Above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus, Tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They sat in stunned silence, watching us.

"hahahhaa" I let out a small laugh.

"Well," said Dionysus dryly, "some unplanned dinner entertainment."

"Mr. D, you heard him," Percy continued. "You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault."

Mr. D sighed. "I suppose not."

"The Iris-message could be a trick," Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.

"I fear not," Mr. D said, looking with distaste at Tantalus. "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games."

Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It didn't bolt away from him. He lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world. "I got it!" he cackled.

 "We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus," Mr. D announced. Tantalus looked stunned.

"What? But—"

"You may return to the Underworld. You are dismissed."

"No! But—Nooooooooooo!" As he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger, trying to bring it to his mouth. But it was too late. He disappeared and the cheeseburger fell back onto its plate. The campers exploded into cheering.

 Luke bellowed with rage. He slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done.

Luke looked at Percy with a murderous look. "Kronos was right, Percy. You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced."

I wasn't sure what he meant, but I didn't have time to think about it. One of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around us, the brass tips of their spears bristling.

Luke smiled at me. "You'll never leave this boat alive."

"One on one," Percy tried to challenged Luke. "What are you afraid of?"

But Luke smiled evilly. It was the most evilly smile I ever seen.

"Percy, tell me how many goes on a quest at a time?"

Percy looked confused but said "three?"

Luke scar rippled across his face as he turned towards me and Bill.

"And it seems there too many. Seems like I need to cut down 1 or 2."

Before we could do anything Luke swung his sword at.... Bill.... NO

I watch on in horror as time slowed. Luke's sword reaching Bill's neck as it slowly cut it open. Revealing the flesh of Bill's neck. But he didn't stop there. He pushed his sword more and more.

I saw the flesh tear apart as it was cut. Blood slowly spilled out as Luke hit Bill's spine. He struggled before the sword cut through it. And soon he sliced off Bill's head. Time seemed to have go normally as Bill's head rolled.

I wanted to cry but no tears came out. My chest burned. My heart dropped into the endless void of pain.

Bill.... No no no no no no no no no. 

My eyes felt heavy as I felt something gripping my stomach. I more pain than I ever had felt before. It had felt as if my heart was ripped out of my chest. I wanted to scream, but my throat refused to utter a sound.

Bill's head rolled to me before it slowly turned into golden dust, bit by bit... A lotus flower slowly formed from the golden dust, in place of Bill's body. My eyes stayed on the flower.

"Satyrs reincarnate as plants, its our second life."

"Seemed like we can't have this" Luke stomped and grinded the lotus for a couple of seconds before the flower turned to black and withered away.

I felt helpless as I watched Luke kill my best friend twice. What did we do to deserve this fate... My eyes watered as my eyes fogged. I felt as if I lost apart of myself.

I felt as if someone was stabbing me in the heart over and over. My eyes watered as tears fell. The tugging in my Stomach pulled even more, I felt like I was being ripped apart.

I felt as if I was covered in snow. I had lost my purpose in life...

"bill.." I choked out. He was gone... My best friend...

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Taisho secret

Remember when I said the semi link between them would cause something in later chapters? Well tune in on the next chapter to see what I mean :)