Hurricane ~ L. Valdez

2.17 - Man Overboard!

PRE CHAPTER AUTHORS NOTE:
Hello my loves! I am not the kind of person to normally do this; however, I have a quick question! I am strongly considering rewriting the style of this story after completing Act 2 (MOA). I currently feel that using first person has made the events of this novel less interesting, or possibly "cringy," and I'd love to experiment with how matching the style of the original books would help my characters further develop. How would you guys feel about this? Is this something that interests you? Thank you for the constant support, and enjoy this chapter!! ~ Cassidy

Sadly, tender moments were not long lasting in the demigod world. Soon Coach Hedge had thrown open my door, causing Leo and I to snap up in concern. "Leo!" He yelled. We could hear the mechanics of the ship whirring, meaning Festus was probably active and moving. The ship's bell rang. "Those monsters you were worried about?" Hedge shouted. "One of 'em found us!"

Hedge ran back upstairs and Leo jumped up, offering a hand for me to follow. I shook my head. "Go. I need a second to catch up." Unfortunately, our conversation with Hazel had left little time for rest, and as I struggled to get up, the world still felt like it was spinning.

I stumbled down the hall, running into Percy who had just exited his cabin as well. He looked just as good as I felt. "When this is all over we're taking a vacation," Percy grumbled, running up the stairs besides me.

"Amen to that."

We hadn't made it above deck when the ship began to tilt to starboard, and I found myself gripping my brother's arm. I could hear Hedge yelling at Leo, and Percy and I quickened our pace, fighting against the gravity of the ship turning.

Percy yelled, "What's going—Gah! Shrimpzilla!" My head snapped up to see the monster in question.

It was huge. I'm talking the length of our ship. The moonlight made it difficult to see, though to me it looked like a cross between a giant shrimp and a cockroach, circling out ship. Its head surfaced last and I was disgusted to see 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. This thing was huge and terrifying.

Hazel was clutching the rigging, Frank beside her, and she looked to still be dazed from the flashback though she assured her boyfriend she was fine. The monster rammed the ship again. The hull groaned. Percy and I fell into each other, hitting the ground, and both of us let out a few choice curses in both Greek and English.

"How did it get so close?" Annabeth shouted, pulling herself up on one of the rail shields. Percy and I helped each other up and joined her, holding onto the rail shields as well.

"I don't know!" Hedge yelled, frantically looking around for his bat, which had rolled across the quarterdeck.

"I'm stupid!" Leo scolded himself. "Stupid, stupid! I forgot the sonar!" I didn't pretend to know what that meant, but as the ship tilted farther to starboard I assumed that it was bad. Either the monster was trying to give us a friendly greeting or it was about to capsize us.

"Sonar?" Hedge demanded. "Pan's pipes, Valdez! Maybe if you hadn't been in Elara's room for so long—"

"What?" Percy growled, his eyes darkening.

"It wasn't like that!" I exclaimed, my hands flying up defensively.

"We were with Hazel!" Leo added.

"What?" Frank said, obviously confused.

"It doesn't matter!" Piper said. "Jason, can you call some lightning?"

Jason struggled to his feet. "I—" He only managed to shake his head. Jason was obviously in the same shape as Percy and I.

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

Percy shook his head, obviously at a loss. "Maybe it's just curious about the ship. Maybe—" The monster's tendrils lashed across the deck so fast, no one had time to move. 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.

I didn't have time to move as one hit me in my stomach, knocking me against the railing. "Elara!" I heard Leo cry. I tried to summon enough energy to fly or move out of the way, but the tendril kept pushing, and I slipped over the edge. I hit the water sharply, and I couldn't help but inhale, my body weak. I couldn't move. I couldn't breath. I was slowly losing consciousness. And then the water above me slowly faded into nothingness.

~~~
Λέω
~~~
Leo
~~~

"Elara!" Leo cried, running across the deck to try and reach her. The world felt like it sped up. He was too slow. One minute she was there and the next she had slipped overboard. Around him, his friends were trying to fight the monster, but Leo's mind couldn't catch up. He felt like he couldn't breathe. He needed to help her. He needed to save her. He needed to get rid of the monster. They needed to deliver a blast that would destroy the creature but wouldn't destroy the ship... and wouldn't hurt El. But how...?

Leo's eyes fixed on a supply crate next to Hazel's feet. "Hazel!" he yelled. "That box! Open it!" She hesitated, then saw the box he meant. The label read WARNING. DO NOT OPEN. "Open it!" Leo yelled again, the gears in his head turning frantically. He had to find El. "Coach, take the wheel! Turn us toward the monster, or we'll capsize." Hedge bounded toward the helm and took the controls.

"Hope you got a plan!" Hedge shouted.

"A bad one." Leo raced toward the mast. The monster pushed against the Argo II. The deck lurched to forty-five degrees. He passed the others, turning towards Frank. "Frank!" Leo called as he ran toward Hazel. "Buy us some time! Can you turn into a shark or something? Can you try and find Elara?" Frank glanced over, scowling as his concentration was broken; and in that moment a tentacle slammed into the big guy, knocking him overboard.

Hazel screamed. She'd opened the supply box and almost dropped the two glass vials she was holding. Leo caught them, his hands shaking Each was the size of an apple, and the liquid inside glowed poisonous green. The glass was warm to the touch.

Leo's chest felt like it might implode. He just distracted Frank and possibly gotten him killed, Elara was somewhere overboard. She could be dead. His Elara. But he couldn't think about it. He had to save the ship. "Come on!" He handed Hazel one of the vials. "We can kill the monster—and save El and Frank!" He hoped he wasn't lying. He trekked up the port rail, struggling as the ship was completely on an incline.

"What is this stuff?" Hazel gasped, cradling her glass vial.

"Greek fire!" Leo yelled over the wind and crashing waves.

Hazel's eyes widened. "Are you crazy?" Leo wanted to say yes, but felt that wasn't the time. "If these break, we'll burn the whole ship!"

"Its mouth!" Leo said. "Just chuck it down its—" Leo was caught up by he and Hazel being captured in a tentacle of the monster's, lifted over the sea.

"Leo," Hazel gasped, "I can't—my arms—"

"Hazel," he said. "Do you trust me?"

"No!"

"Me neither," Leo admitted. "When this thing drops us, hold your breath. Whatever you do, try to chuck your vial as far away from the ship as possible."

"Why—why would it drop us?" Leo stared down at the monster's head. This would be a tough shot, but he had no choice. He had to save Elara. He raised the vial in his left hand. He pressed his right hand against the tentacle and summoned fire to his palm—a narrowly focused, white-hot burst. The monster's flesh blistered under his touch. The monster raised its maw, bellowing in pain, and Leo threw his Greek fire straight down its throat.

After that, things got fuzzy. Leo felt the tentacle release them. They fell. He heard a muffled explosion and saw a green flash of light inside the giant pink lampshade of the monster's body. The water hit Leo's face like a brick wrapped in sandpaper, and he sank into darkness. He clamped his mouth shut, trying not to breathe, but he could feel himself losing consciousness. Leo blacked out, only hoping he would wake up and find his girlfriend still alive.