Rejection - Pernico

Chapter 32

I led the charge out the door and up the slippery stairs, wet from the lashing rain. The sight that beheld us, however, stopped me in my tracks for a second. The sky, dark as night from the storm clouds that stretched horizon to horizon, was lit by a split second of lightning, illuminating the scene perfectly. A huge, towering neck, topped by a gaping mouth of razor teeth and slit eyes that promised pain, loomed over the ship, gaze focussed on the two figures silhouetted below it, crouched on deck helplessly. Alexa stood before Annabeth, who was still too weak to leave the deck chair, pale hair silver in the lightning flash, hand holding out her dagger, defensive but ineffectual. Before I could register everything, the lightning had disappeared, and I couldn't see anything anymore. Rain whipped around us, the wind cutting into our quickly soaked clothes as we spread out. Taking my cue from Jason, who was gesturing at the sky as if to pull apart the storm, I jumped neatly over the edge of the boat, and almost drowned before I realised I could breathe, panic blocking my power for one terrifying moment.

It felt amazing. Being in the water seemed to sharpen my senses. Every little injury disappeared, and I was immediately in my element, power coursing through my veins as I breathed deep, and swam forward, propelled by the waves nearly effortlessly. My head cleared, and I could feel every little thing in the water, even the molecules linking the liquid together. I thrummed in harmony with the sea, and cast forward, searching for the monster. It wasn't hard to find, a huge disturbance in the water, rocking back and forth as it fended off blows from above. Taking a deep breath of water, I held out my hand and felt the familiar tug in my gut as I yanked on that patch of ocean, rocking it wildly as the sea serpent struggled, trying to resist.

Somehow, that was the last straw. Eris thought she could take over camp, try to take down the world, but that wasn't enough for her, no, she had to hurt my friends, stalk us all the way from camp, and then try to kill us just when I'd gotten everyone caught up. That was just...rude, and impolite. Somehow, my desperation and panic turned to hot anger burning in the pit of my stomach, and the ocean seemed to swell with me as I rose up, riding the waves easily until I was eye to eye with the monster. Then, curling my fingers into claws and allowing the waves to mimic the movement, I used precise strokes of barely contained fury to take the serpent apart, peeling scaly skin off like a banana and exposing waterfalls of thick black blood that hissed as it touched the surface of the water. Slowly, with water as my instruments, I dissected the monster, peeling flesh from bone and muscle and organ as it writhed and screamed in agony, until I ripped the vocal chords from its throat. Finally, the bones had been divested of flesh, and all that was left was the bones, the skeleton held up by watery tendrils. I grinned a fierce, cold smile, and leaned forward. "Give Eris my love." Then with a clench of my fist, the water turned the bone to powder, floating away on the bob of the waves.

All of a sudden, my head swam, and I realised the water that was holding me up was streaming down, despite my best efforts to hold them there. As my vision began to fade (again! honestly, for the umpteenth time?), I tipped forward, aiming for the deck. They'd be able to nurse me back to health there.

As it were, I was close, missing the ship by an inch, and then my body hit the water and the world was abruptly black.

-

I opened my eyes, slowly swimming to consciousness, and was rewarded with a massive, splitting pain that pulsed behind my eyes and shook my skull. "Gods!" Abruptly, there was a shadow cast over me, and a cool feeling began to soothe the agony. Struggling to open my eyes, I squinted up at the shape, which slowly cleared into a merman, complete with arched cheekbones and delicate, angled features. He was staring down at me, expression carefully neutral, and his fingers rested on my temples, ostensibly healing my injuries. Slowly, I passed back out again, not really caring. If this merman had wanted to kill me, he had ample opportunity before, so either they were under Poseidon's rule, or they were waiting for me to get back on my feet before ending me. Either way, it wasn't a problem for now, so I gratefully let the aching darkness on the edges of my vision take over.