Perseus The Disgraced Archangel

Oh Look, Danger!

     The worst part? The room itself was beautiful. Huge windows curved along the back wall,  looking over the stern of the ship. Green sea and blue sky stretched all the way to the horizon. Two plush sofas occupied the middle of the room, with a canopied bed in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other. The table was loaded with food- pizza boxes, bottles of soda, and a stack of roast beef sandwiches on a silver platter.

     It was the company that made it awful. Luke was standing there, looking like a college model. Him in his button down shirt (that was fully unbuttoned), khaki pants, and loafers. His sword was propped up by one of the sofas.

     He had two large friends with him. They looked like twins, but they weren't human. They were about 8 feet tall, only wore blue jeans, probably because their chests were full of thick brown fur. They had claws for nails, and paws for feet. Their noses were snout-like and their teeth like a rabid dog's.

     On the bed was Annabitch, wearing only a bra and underwear, made of what looked like to be lace. She was lying on the bed, looking at us with a glare, like they had interrupted something. If Percy's thoughts were correct, then well, that was too much, even for the Devil.

     "Where are my manners?" Luke said. "These are my assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you heard of them?"

     The sons of Poseidon's stayed quiet.

     "You don't know their story?" Luke asked. "Their mother... well, it's sad, really. Aphrodite ordered the young woman to fall in love. She refused and ran to Artemis for help. Artemis let her become one of her maiden huntresses, but Aphrodite got her revenge. She bewitched the young woman into falling in love with a bear. When Artemis found out, she abandoned the girl in disgust. Typical of gods. That betrayal. Do you know what betrayal feels like?"

     "And of course you leave out the details. Artemis and the woman had a deal. The woman broke it. It wasn't due to disgust, it was the terms of the deal." Percy said. He spread his hands. "If you make a deal, you want to be as specific as possible. And then keep the deal. The Devil's in the details, Luke."

     "What was the deal then?" Luke asked.

     "Artemis would take her into the hunters, but if Aphrodite was able to tempt her, then she would be abandoned, just like every other hunter to break their oath."

     "Agrius, shut him up." Luke said, having enough of Percy's words.

     Agrius moved to knock out Percy, but the 13-year old grabbed the half bear's hand, and redirected it to his face.

     Percy grabbed Tyson and they ran out of the room, down the hall. When they reached the end, they were on the deck. There was a lifeboat hanging on the side of the ship. Percy told Tyson to get into the boat. Percy cut the ropes with Riptide, and the boat fell into the ocean. Percy jumped ship to land in the small wooden boat.

     Percy brought out the thermos he got from Hermes and unscrewed it a tiny bit. Before Percy and Tyson had left for the quest, Hermes had given them some gifts. Mostly cash and food, but also a thermos, able to summon wind from the four corners of the Earth.

     The wind from the four corners of the Earth escaped the thermos and pushed against the cruise ship, causing the lifeboat to move away from it.

     The duo cruised along the Atlantic ocean for hours before they saw anything resembling anything not water. It was a giant ironclad warship, about civil war era. A crew made of skeletons were manning the cannons.

     The door to the control room opened up to reveal a very angry daughter of Ares. "Jackson?!" Clarisse yelled incredulously.

LINE BREAK

     "The what?" Clarisse asked.

     Percy sighed. "The golden fleece. You are looking. For. The. Golden. Fleece." he explained for the 10th time.

     "Okay, okay, just making sure." Clarisse said with her hands up in surrender. "Captain, about how far from the entrance to the sea of monsters are we?" She asked, turning to the skeletal captain.

     "Wait, which entrance are we going through?" Percy asked.

     "Charybdis and Scylla." Clarisse said nonchalantly.

     "Well, that is a buzzkill." Percy mumbled.

     The ship shook slightly, signaling their nearness to the whirlpool. Clarisse walked up to the deck to tell the crew to get below deck.

     Percy walked up to the deck when everyone was below, ignoring everyone's protest.

     This was necessary however. They were going closer to Scylla's cliff, and she would pick up the entire ship if she didn't see any easy prey. Percy was going to be bait, and fight off her 6 heads.

     The ship turned away from Charybdis to get closer to Scylla. The long necked monster started to peer at the passing sea vehicle. Percy stood still and uncapped Riptide.

     The 1st head came down at near Mach 1 speeds. Scylla opened her mouth to bite Percy in half, not expecting her teeth to shatter. Her gums started bleeding, right before her head was severed from her neck.

     Percy unfurled his wings and flew to the cave where Scylla resided. He revealed his Devil face, causing the multiple-headed monster to back up against the back of the cave.

     Percy stayed there, scaring Scylla long enough for the ship to make it through the strait. Once through, Percy flew back down before the crew came above deck.

LINE BREAK

     The next few hours of sailing were very boring. The only interesting thing was when a bird landed on their ship with leaves in it's mouth. In the distance, a tropical paradise with a giant modern building.

     The questers thought they found a paradise. Unknown to them, they had found the island of Circe. This was sure to be very interesting.