'•' The Sea of Monsters '•'

5 :: What is it With you People and Trying to Die?

Published: October 15, 2021
Edited: July 28, 2022
'•'

I'd finally found something I was really good at. The Queen Anne's Revenge responded to my every command. I knew which ropes to hoist, which sails to raise, which direction to steer.

We plowed through the waves at what I figured was about ten knots. I even understood how fast that was. For a sailing ship, pretty damn fast. It all felt perfect—the wind in my face, the waves breaking over the prow. But now that we were out of danger, all I could think about was how  worried I was about Grover.

We sailed through the night. Annabeth tried to help me and Percy keep lookout, but sailing didn't agree with her. After a few hours rocking back and forth, her face turned the color of guacamole and she went below to lie in a hammock. I watched the horizon while Percy took a turn steering. More than once I spotted monsters. A plume of water as tall as a skyscraper spewed into the moonlight. A row of green spines slithered across the waves—something maybe a hundred feet long, reptilian. I didn't really want to know.

Once I saw Nereids, the glowing lady spirits of the sea I was named after. I tried to wave at them, but they disappeared into the depths, leaving me unsure whether they'd seen me or not. We were just passing a smoking volcano island. The sea bubbled and steamed around the shore. 

"One of the forges of Hephaestus," I noted. "Where he makes his metal monsters." 

"Like the bronze bulls?" Percy asked. I figured he was talking about the Colchis Bulls so I nodded. 

"Go around. Far around." I warned,, just incase he was getting any ideas. Percy didn't need to be told twice. We steered clear of the island, and soon it was just a red patch of haze behind us.

Percy looked at me, his eyes eerie in the darkness. 

"The reason you hate Cyclopes so much... the story about how Thalia really died. What happened?" It was hard to see his face in the dark. 

"I guess you deserve to know," I decided finally. "The night Grover was escorting us to camp, he got confused, took some wrong turns. You remember he told you that once?" Percy nodded. "Well, the worst wrong turn was into a Cyclops's lair in Brooklyn." 

"They've got Cyclopes in Brooklyn?" Percy asked, bewildered. 

"You wouldn't believe how many, but that's not the point. This Cyclopes, he tricked us. He managed to split us up inside this maze of corridors in an old house in Flatbush. And he could sound like anyone, Percy. Just the way Tyson did aboard the Princess Andromeda. He lured us, one at time. Thalia thought she was running to save Luke and I. Luke thought he heard Annabeth scream for help. And me and Anna...we were alone in the dark, separated. I was seven years old. I couldn't even find the exit." I fiddled with the edge of my white dress. 

"I remember finding the main room. There were bones all over the floor. And there were Thalia and Luke and Grover, tied up and gagged, hanging from the ceiling like smoked hams. The Cyclops was starting a fire in the middle of the floor. Annabeth was just coming from another entrance. I drew my sword, but he heard me and I couldn't use Whirlpool yet anyway, it was almost as tall as I was. He turned and smiled. He spoke, and somehow he knew... Well I told you about my dreams of Gabe? Of you when I was little? He spoke in Gabe's voice. I guess he just plucked it out of my mind. He said, 'Now, Neridia, come here and stay quiet.'" My voice had dropped, almost to a whisper. Percy shivered, his eyes seemed haunted, like the memories of Gabe were getting to him. 

"What did you do?" 

"I went to him. You don't know how much those dreams terrified me as a kid. I guess I just expected him to hang me up with Thalia and the others, but instead he picked me up by my shoulders and he..." I motioned towards my torso, where the scar was hiding under my dress from Circe. "With nothing but his finger, I almost bled out but Annabeth stabbed him in the foot. He would've killed me and her. But she surprised him. It gave her just enough time to run to Thalia and cut the ropes on her hands. She took it from there."