LUNACY; percy jackson

chapter 6

[act two; chapter six     -     shuddering breaths]

    She could feel the wind against her face and the tumbling of her gut. Her hair fell against her skin, snapping against it like a reminder to stay awake. To stay present. She could hear the wind whistling between her ears and her hearing aids. Could feel how, for only a moment, the world seemed to go quiet.

    "Thermos!" Percy screamed as they hurtled toward the water. His voice was almost a whisper against the wind, as if she had been shut out from the rest of them.

    "What?" By the quick tone of the girls' voices, it was quite obvious that they thought Percy had gone mad. They were holding on to the boat straps for dear life, their hair flying straight up like a torch.

    But Tyson understood. He managed to open his brother's duffel bag and take out Hermes's magical thermos without losing his grip on it or the boat.

    Arrows and javelins whistled past them.

    Percy grabbed the thermos and hoped he was doing the right thing. "Hang on!"

    "I am hanging on!" Annabeth yelled.

    "Tighter!"

    Percy hooked his feet under the boat's inflatable bench, and as Tyson grabbed Annabeth, Andromeda and Percy by the backs of their shirts, the boy gave the thermos cap a quarter turn.

    Instantly, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the thermos and propelled the boat sideways, turning their downward plummet into a forty-five-degree crash landing.

    The wind seemed to laugh as it shot from the thermos, like it was glad to be free. As they hit the ocean, they bumped once, twice, skipping like a stone, then they were whizzing along like a speed boat, salt spray in their faces and nothing but sea ahead.

    Percy heard a wail of outrage from the ship behind them, but they were already out of weapon range. The Princess Andromeda faded to the size of a white toy boat in the distance, and then it was gone.

    As they raced over the sea, Annabeth and Percy tried to send an Iris-message to Chiron, The two figured it was important they let somebody know what Luke was doing, and they didn't know who else to trust.

    The wind from the thermos stirred up a sea spray, enough to make a rainbow in the sunlight—perfect for an Iris-message—though their connection was still poor. When Annabeth threw a gold drachma into the mist and prayed for the rainbow goddess to show them Chiron, his face appeared all right, but there was some kind of weird strobe light flashing in the background and rock music blaring, like he was at a dance club.