2nd Generation

Chapter 9: We Take a Little Detour like My Mom

As soon as I fell asleep, I had a dream.
​I was at an island this time, but it wasn't Polyphemus's. There were weird monsters here. They can only be described as harpies, but instead of chicken women, they were more like vulture women. My parents had been here before. I knew who those vulture women where. They were the Sirens. They lured people to their deaths with their singing and with what they showed you. After hearing them sing about your fatal flaw, you swim right to them and if you make it past all the traps, you see the beach were the Sirens are. They show you your deepest desires and your fatal flaw.
​My mom wanted to know what her fatal flaw was, and would have been eaten by the Sirens, but this time my dad saved her. Her fatal flaw is Hubris, deadly pride. My dad's fatal flaw is loyalty.
​After seeing this in my dream, I suddenly needed to know what my fatal flaw was. If I didn't figure it out, I could die because of it. It isn't called fatal for nothing.
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​By the time I woke up, everyone but April was awake. I decided to let her sleep while I told the others about my dream and what I wanted to do.
​"Are you sure about this? I mean if it weren't for your dad, your mom would have died." Elizabeth asked.
​"I know, but I need to do this. Everything will be easier for me if I know my fatal flaw. But I can't let you guys do it too." I said
​"That's ok. I don't think any of us want to do this with you. But we'll watch your back." Whitney said.
​"I want to do it." Elizabeth said, and we just stared at her as if she was crazy. "What? Oh, so Melody gets to do it, but I don't?"
​"She has a point." I said. This time it was my turn to get strange looks. But I had to defend Elizabeth. We were cousins after all and almost exactly alike even if we didn't look alike.
​"Elizabeth, Melody you guys can't be serious!" Whitney said, "It's bad enough Melody is walking straight towards her very possible death," at this I rolled my eyes, "You can't too!"
​"Why not?" Tasha asked, "If Melody's doing it she can too."
​"Thank you!" Elizabeth said, "Sorry Whitney but I guess you're out numbered."
​"Fine. But if you die, don't blame me." Whitney retorted.
​"Thanks. This means so much to us." I said, and Elizabeth nodded to show her agreement.
​"Just be careful, okay?" Whitney said.
​"We'll try. But you know us. We're always getting into trouble." I said and we all laughed. "Just remember, no matter what we do, don't untie us. Even if we look like we'll die if we don't go to them, don't untie us. We'll just jump to our deaths."
​After a while, we saw the Siren's island.
​"There's the island. Everyone use this wax to plug up your ears. Don't take it out no matter what. Now tie us up."
​They did as I asked, and soon Elizabeth and I were tied up, and they had wax plugging their ears. They had taken Riptide, my knife, and Elizabeth's knife, sword, and bow and arrows, so we should've been ok, right? Wrong. Instead of keeping Riptide with them, they put it below deck. In my excitement, I forgot to tell them that it always returned my pocket. We sailed by the island, and I heard their singing.
​I strained against my ropes, but they had tied them too tight for me to break through. Even though I yelled and screamed at them, they wouldn't untie me. Didn't they know that I needed to get off the boat? I knew that if I got off the boat, I'd make it to the island and see it. I had to find a way off.
​Elizabeth had the same pain written over her face. She was yelling and screaming just as much as I was. But I couldn't pay any attention to her at the moment. All my attention was focused on getting untied and getting to them. But how? How was I supposed to get out of the ropes holding me back from them? Whitney was great at tying things, and I was no exception. Oh, how could I get to them? I didn't even have my sword.
​Wait... Riptide! I waited until none of them were looking at me, and I uncapped my pen. After slashing through my ropes, I jumped into the water. Cutting Elizabeth free too didn't even occur to me. Finally, I could go to them! That's all I could think about as I swam through every obstacle in my way, the jagged rocks, the floating mines, and everything else. It was a maze, but it was easy to navigate. There was something bothering me in the back of my mind, but I pushed it out of my way.
​I could see the shore. It was perfect. I could see all of my friends and all of my family. Everyone was safe and together. Life was perfect. No one was ever hungry or hurt. All the monsters were in Tartarus and they would never come out again. Every last threat was gone and everyone was safe. I had done all of this. I had saved everyone. I was so close to it. Just a few more feet...
​Something... no someone had grabbed me around the waist and was pulling me away from the shore. I kicked and screamed, but whoever it was, was stronger than me. I was about to use the water to help me, but then whoever was holding me back put something in my ears, and I couldn't hear the Sirens anymore. Since I couldn't hear them, the spell was broken. Seeing how the Sirens really looked, I was horrified. They were vulture women who still had the remains of past meals on their faces. It didn't look like they ever used a napkin.
Stopping, I turned to thank whoever had saved me, but I didn't see any of my friends who were on the quest with me. Instead Taylor had saved me, like my dad had saved my mom.
​I created an air bubble around us and said, "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at camp."
​"What, no 'thank you for saving me from myself, you're the best'?" he teased.
​"Let's get out of here. We'll talk later."
​Even though I was still tempted to go to the beach, I was too mad at Taylor to just let him go. I made the water bend around us, and we shot to the boat. Avoiding the rocks and mines, we got to the boat safely. The air bubble was still around us, so Taylor could breathe. I had the water lift us up on the boat. My friends all looked relieved to see me. I gestured for them to wait to take out their earplugs and untie Elizabeth, who was still struggling against her ropes, and I made the boat take off. Once we were far enough from the island, I took out my earplugs, untied Elizabeth, and gestured for the others to do the same.
​"Thank the gods you're okay! We were so worried. What happened..." Whitney's voice trailed off when she noticed Taylor. "What's he doing here?" she asked.
​"Taylor has been following us this whole time. He saved me from the Sirens."
​"Really? Awesome!" April said.
​"Who's that?" Taylor asked.
​"Right, you haven't met April yet. Taylor, April. April, Taylor."
​"Nice to meet you, but anyways why would you guys let Melody and Elizabeth hear the Sirens? It was too dangerous, even for them."
​"We know, but we wouldn't have even known about the Sirens without Melody, and we had to pass them to get on to Polyphemus. We shouldn't have let them, but it's so hard to say no to her. She's so convincing." Whitney said.
​"Alright, everyone go below and get some sleep. I'll take first watch." I said.
​Everyone went below deck, and I got behind the steering wheel. I had taken first watch, so I could think about what had happened with the Sirens. Even though I didn't want to admit it, I was glad Taylor had followed us. Without him, I would be dead. But I was also mad he come.
​I heard a noise behind me and turned to see what it was. It was Taylor. Now was later I guess.
​"What is it?" I asked.
​"I know you're mad at me for following you, but you should be glad. If it weren't for me you would be dead."
​"I know, but you were supposed to stay at camp. How'd you pull it off anyway? Chiron would never have let you do this."
​"Who said Chiron let me do this?"
​"But you have to get permission from Chiron or Mr. D to leave camp, and Mr. D isn't there."
​"Onyx is covering for me. She's a great liar."
​"I know. We were best friends when we were kids remember? Whenever we lied to our parents, she did all the talking. But you didn't answer my other question. How'd you pull it off?"
​"I followed you on Sleet. I also stool your Yankees cap so I could sneak around on the ship."
​"That was you?! I've been looking everywhere for my Yankees cap. I thought I lost it during my fight with Scylla."
​"Yeah sorry about that. It was the perfect time to steal it. Everyone was kind of distracted and no one had noticed me yet. I wouldn't have gotten another chance to get it without being caught."
​"That's true. But stealing that piece of cloth from Circe would have been so much easier with my cap."
​"Oh, stop complaining. You beat her without it."
​"Yeah, yeah. You're giving it back. But why would you follow me? This quest is so dangerous."
​"If it's so dangerous, why'd you do it?"
​"Don't change the subject. Just answer my question already."
​"I knew you'd need help. And before we left for camp, your dad told me I had to protect you. But he wouldn't tell me why. He just looked insanely worried, like he knew something like this would happen. I took his word for it and followed you to protect you. And it's a good thing I did. You'd be dead without me. But now it's my turn to ask a question. You knew this could've gotten you killed. Why did you want to hear the Sirens?"
​Even though I was reluctant to tell him, he had saved me, so I figured I owed him the truth.
​"I had a dream that showed me the Sirens. After it, I remembered what my parents had done, and I wanted to do it too. It was stupid, but I felt like I needed to know what my fatal flaw was. But when my dad touched my mom, he saw what she saw. Did you see what I saw?"
​"I did. What was all that?"
​"My fatal flaw. Or should I say flaws. Instead just one flaw, I have two. Hubris and loyalty. Both of my parent's flaws."
​"Wait, what's Hubris?"
​"Deadly pride. Deadly pride and loyalty. Those are my flaws."
​"I can see that."
​"Hey!" I said and hit him.
​"I meant the loyalty thing! You've always been loyal to your friends and family."
​"Thanks, I guess. But this kind of loyalty means I sacrifice the world for my friends. And I can almost see myself doing that."
​"You'll make the right choice. Every time."
​"Thanks. Do you mind taking next watch? I need to get some sleep before Polyphemus."
​"Sure. Go ahead."
​"Thanks again." I said and went below deck.
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​Of course, I had a dream. I always had a dream.
​I was back at Mount Tam again. The outlines from last time were now smoky figures. This time, I just heard them laughing, a deep sound like metal against metal. Then I heard a voice in my head say, Hurry. You only have days left. They are growing more powerful each day. Hurry!
​I woke up and looked around. No one else was awake yet. Knowing I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again, I got dressed and went up deck. April was keeping watch right now.
​"Hey. You alright?" she asked when she saw me. "You look a little worried."
​"That's because I am worried. We're on a huge quest to save the gods, we still have four more stops to go, and we're running out of time. What are we supposed to do?" I asked.
​"You shouldn't worry so much. We're all here for you, and you're a great leader. We'll make it. And don't worry about your fatal flaws. Sometimes, they make you better."
​"Wait, how do you know I have two fatal flaws? I only told Taylor."
​"Oh right. I forgot to tell you. I have a special power, where I can look in people's heads and see what they're thinking and I can feel their emotions. It's like a mix of Iris and Aphrodite. My rainbow bracelet also lets me project Iris-messages into people's heads. Like you have your cap and sword, Elizabeth has her headband that turns into a bow and arrows, Whitney has her gold heart locket that , Taylor has his coin that turns into a sword or spear, and Tasha has an earring that lets her communicate with someone anywhere in the world."
​"Wow. I didn't know all that. Have you looked into all of our heads?"
​"Yep. Sorry, but I always do. How do you think I figured out Circe was actually evil?"
​"Good point. How did you get to Circe's spa anyway?"
​"Five years ago, when I was seven, I was in a shipwreck with my family. I washed ashore at Circe's island, but I don't know if anyone else survived. A few months ago, I figured out my special power and tapped into Circe's thoughts. That's how I figured out she was evil."
​"Five years? That's a really long time."
​"Yep. But how did you know to come find me?"
​"I know it sounds strange, but I had a dream. I saw Circe's island, and I saw you. You were in the dungeon and you said, 'Help. Get me out of here.' That's how I knew to come find you."
​"Really? I-."
​Elizabeth suddenly burst on the deck. "Guys, I looked out the porthole window below deck. I saw Polyphemus' island. We're here."