Burning Love

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Frances's POV

It took me a while to convince the others to give Polydora a second chance, but at least they were convinced. For now, Polydora is released from the stack room and is now in the clinic, resting peacefully. She relayed a while ago her vision about me, her, and Dianne, and I felt Leo's eyes on me the entire time.

Clarisse was busy planning out the upcoming battle with Charybdis and Scylla, which we will undergo in less than an hour. The cannons were now ready for action, what we really need right now is a battle plan. And one thing for sure, Clarisse was no good in planning.

"So here's what we're gonna do, we're going to near Charybdis and make her go boom with the cannons and afterwards we'll sail across them, easy peasy," she told us. For a fact, I know this plan was not going to work. Based on the myth, Charybdis may suck this ship in a matter of 3 minutes, there's no time for us to load all the cannons and fire it at her continuously, and even if we do manage to do that, those cannonballs are not going to kill her easily.

"Clarisse, I thought that you've already encountered them?" asked Leo. "Percy told me that you used this plan before and failed. Why use this plan again?"

"I want to prove that Waterhead that MY plans can also work," replied Clarisse.

"Clarisse, this is not about proving the plan, it's surviving!" I told her. "I think that we should choose Scylla instead of Charybdis."

"But Scylla is too high on the cliffs to make good target. She could also eat the entire crew and even the ship!" complained Clarisse. Sometimes, her pride can make her too much.

"I haven't even finished my plan yet," I said. "We should all go below deck and chug right past Scylla. We don't need to waste any of the cannons and we don't need to risk our lives and the ship."

"How are you sure that your plan will work? You're only new here! Besides you're Roman," Clarisse told me, which hurt a little. But if I want my plan to work, I have to fight for it.

"Clarisse, sometimes I think that your pride is getting to you," I said. "You should never forget that all of us are equal here. If you want, we could have a little democracy here. Those who want to undergo Clarisse's plan, raise your hand."

Clarisse raised her hand immediately followed by Dianne.

"Those who want to undergo MY plan to survive, raise your hands," I said.

This time, Leo went first to raise his hand, Nico followed. I also raised my hand. I was surprised that even Captain Iron Cranium raised his hand in the corner.

"Clarisse, I'm not going to be all leader-y here. You are still our leader. In fact, all of us are leaders here. But leaders do what is best for everyone and not for one's self," I said,

"Spoken like a true demigod," Clarisse smiled. "Alright everyone, go below deck and prepare auto-captain. Set our course for Scylla."

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By 5:28 am, all of us were below deck. Even Captain Iron Cranium and a few Skeleton Warriors. Six skeleton warriors remained on deck to serve as a sacrifice for Scylla, for her not to eat the entire ship.

Below deck, there were two windows I could use to look if we near Scylla.

By 5:29 am, I could feel a strange sensation, as if something was rocking me back and forth, as if I was on a surfing board and was about to tip over. I then saw a sight. She appeared only a few 30 meters away, through a swirl of mist and smoke and water. The first thing I noticed was the reef—a black crag of coral with a fig tree clinging to the top, an oddly peaceful thing in the middle of a mael-strom. All around it, water curved into a funnel, like light around a black hole.