LOST AT SEA | jason grace

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧. 𝑆ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑧𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎

𝙻𝙾𝚁𝙽𝙰 𝚆𝙾𝙺𝙴 feeling more lethargic than usual. After last night's relisation, none of the demigods wanted to play and talk like they did every night. Instead, Annabeth put on a movie and the demigods watched it wordlessly. Lorna was sure that half of them weren't paying attention to it, lost in their thoughts. 

Jason and Percy were already awake. They seemed to be making breakfast, but circles of black char didn't look appetising to Lorna. Lorna quickly stopped them from ruining the rest of the pancake batter and instructed them to cut some fruits. And of course, they started cuting them in shapes that Lorna didn't want to think about(Penises. They were penises.).

While Lorna cooked some uncharred pancakes, Hazel woke up and started to prepare some eggs while Annabeth struggled to wake Frank, Leo, and Piper.

The morning made Lorna feel like a normal teenager. Having breakfast with her friends, making small talk, an occasional joke that makes the whole table burst into laughter.

Until they heard Festus' whirring. Lorna raced above deck with the rest of the crew following.

"What's happening now?" Percy asked.

"Don't you feel it?" Lorna said. "There's something big below us... an octupus?"

"That won't harm us— " Percy exclaimed. "Gah! Shrimpzilla!"

The monster had a 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 Lorna had ever had the displeasure to behold. It had 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.

Hazel was clutching the rigging, dazed, and Leo ran to the helm.

The monster rammed the ship again. The hull groaned. Annabeth, Piper and Jason tumbled to starboard and almost rolled overboard.

"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.

"Did you turn on the sonar?" Jason asked Leo.

"I don't think so." Leo replied. "I thought Lorna and Percy was our sonar."

The ship tilted farther to starboard. Either the monster was trying to give them a hug, or it was about to capsize them. 

"We can't detect sea monsters 24/7!" Percy yelled over the commotion. "If we did, we'd have a huge headache."

"I have a huge headache." Hazel goraned.

"Jason, can you call some lightning?" Piper said.

Jason struggled to his feet. "I—" He only managed to shake his head. Summoning the storm earlier had taken too much out of him. Lorna doubted the poor guy could pop a spark plug in the shape he was in.

"Percy! Lorna!" Annabeth said. "Can you talk to that thing? Do you know what it is?"

They tried but shook their heads, clearly mystified. Percy furrowed his eyebrows. "Maybe it's just curious about the ship. Maybe—"

The monster's tendrils lashed across the deck so fast, Lorna didn't even have time to yell, Look out! One slammed Percy in the chest and sent him crashing down the steps. Another wrapped around Piper's legs and dragged her, screaming, toward the rail. Dozens more tendrils curled around the masts, encircling the crossbows and ripping down the rigging.