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Chapter 16
Clarisse's Ship of the Dead
Volume 2: The Sea of Monsters
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"Thermos!" Percy screamed as they hurtled toward the water.
"What?" Annabeth was holding on to the boat straps for dear life, her hair flying straight up like a torch. Pat wasn't in much better condition, one hand over his face to hold his glasses on, the other clinging to a boat strap with white knuckles.
Tyson understood. He managed to open Percy'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 shouted, "Hang on!"
"I am hanging on!" Annabeth yelled.
"Tighter!" He warned.
Percy and Pat both hooked their feet under the boats inflatable bench, and Tyson grabbed them by the backs of their shirts. Gently, Percy gave the thermos cap a quarter turn.
In an instant, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the thermos and propelled them 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.
Pat was screaming at the top of his lungs, but he finally stopped when he got a mouthful of salt water. From the Princess Andromeda, there were wails of outrage, but they were already out of weapon range. The cruise faded to the size of a white toy boat in the distance, and then it was gone.
As they raced over the sea, the demigods tried to send an IM to Chiron. It was important to let somebody know what Luke was doing, and they had no one else to trust. The wind from the thermos stirred up a nice sea spray that made a rainbow in the sunlight—perfect for Iris—but 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.
They told him about sneaking away from camp, and Luke and the Princess Andromeda and the golden box for Kronos's remains, but between the noise on his end and the rushing wind and water on their end, it was hard to know how much he had heard.
"Percy," Chiron yelled, "you have to watch out for—"
His voice was drowned out by loud shouting behind him—a bunch of voices whooping like the loud American college students that would visit Marseille when Pallas was young.
"What?" Percy yelled.
"Curse my relatives!" Chiron ducked as a plate flew over his head and shattered somewhere out of sight. "Annabeth, you shouldn't have let Percy leave camp! But if you do get the Fleece—"
"Yeah, baby!" somebody behind Chiron yelled. "Woohoooooo!"
The music got cranked up, subwoofers so loud it made their boat vibrate. Pat held on tighter, face bent down to his lap; he moaned miserably.
"—Miami," Chiron was yelling. "I'll try to keep watch—"
Their misty screen smashed apart like someone on the other side had thrown a bottle at it, and Chiron was gone.
YOU ARE READING
Prophesied Powder, PJO
Fanfiction(Atropos cuts the threads of Human Fate.) Pat was destined for something great. Apollo himself had said it. The only issue is, no one knows what he's meant to do or how he's involved in the so-called Great Prophecy. Percy is the only son of Poseidon...
