Camp Hermit-Blood - The Sea of Monsters

Bdubs

Bdubs woke up abruptly from his nap to see a certain son of Posideon in his face. "AHH!"

"Hi," Percy said. "We're at the Siren island."

Bdubs sat up in his hammock and accepted the candle wax that Percy handed him. "Whatsh this for?"

"For your ears," Percy said. "Otherwise you'll probably try to jump off the ship and drown yourself."

Bdubs rolled the wax in his fingers. "Why can't we just go around it?"

"No time," Percy said. "Grover and Thalia's tree both don't have much time."

"Oh," Bdubs said.

"You don't have to put them in," Percy added, seeing Bdubs' fidgeting with the wax. "I can tie you to the mast like Annabeth."

"WHAT?" Bdubs yelped.

"Okay, I take it you don't want to be tied to the mast," Percy said.

They headed up to the deck, where Percy had, in fact, tied Annabeth to a mast. She was looking towards the island on the horizon. "Before you ask, Bdubs, I want to hear them. They tell you things about your future and stuff. People who come here and survive leave wiser. Whatever you do, whatever I do, don't let me out."

"You're crazy," Bdubs decided, and stuffed the wax in his ears.

Percy did the same. Bdubs had a seat on a crate and let Percy take the... wheel? Whatever the word was for the boat steering thingamajig.

Welcome to Lazy Author Writes About Boats

Annabeth seemed calm at first, then her eyes widened and she looked pleadingly at first Percy, then Bdubs, asking them for something that Bdubs couldn't hear.

She looked so pitiful that Bdubs had to look away to keep from releasing her right then.

When he glanced back, she was stomping and yelling (from the look of it, Bdubs couldn't hear her), tears running down her face. She had to get to the voices. She had to get to the voices.

Bdubs looked away again, trying to see what was so intriguing about the island.

And when he looked back, Annabeth was gone.

Bdubs jumped up, ran to Percy, grabbed his arm, and pointed.

Percy yelled something, then promptly jumped over the railing and fell into the ocean.

When Bdubs ran over to the railing after him, he saw three things. The first was Annabeth, swimming toward the island as if her life depended on it, and the second was Percy, using his water stuff to chase her.

The third was the ugly vultures themselves.

Their bodies looked like vultures, at least. The heads made Bdubs' heart ache. Scar, Cleo, Grian, Gem, Zedaph, Ren- all the people that he didn't know the whereabouts of.

Bdubs forced himself to look back at Annabeth and Percy, the latter of which was quickly catching up with the former.

Percy grabbed her and they both froze, staring at the vulture things that Bdubs assumed were the Sirens.

And then Annabeth started fighting harder, splashing and hitting Percy. A wave washed over them, and they emerged still trying to kill each other.

Percy seemed to get the idea to dunk her.

But then they didn't surface.

The ship started moving without anyone steering it. Bdubs started to panic, because he had no idea how to steer, and Percy and Annabeth still hadn't emerged.

Bdubs ran to the wheel and turned it, not sure what he was doing. Nothing happened. It was as if the ship was determined to go away from the island, and away from Percy and Annabeth. Bdubs considered jumping in himself, until they suddenly flew out of the water next to the boat, Annabeth screaming and soaked, Percy perfectly calm and dry.

"WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR?" Bdubs yelled, taking out his earplugs because Annabeth didn't really seem to be affected anymore. Sure enough, they were out of range. The island was still visible, but the Sirens themselves weren't, and any sound they might have made was gone.

Annabeth spat out a mouthful of salt water. "Blegh."

"Because you can't hear underwater," Percy answered.

"Oh," Bdubs said. "Right. WELL, I WAS ABOUT TO JUMP IN AFTER YOU!"

"That would not have been good," Annabeth said. "Don't do that."

"So, did it work?" Percy asked Annabeth. "Do you feel... wiser?"

"I don't know," Annabeth said, wringing out her ponytail.

"Helpful," Bdubs scoffed. "Are you saying we did all that for nothing?"

"No," Annabeth said. "But it was a little bit confusing."

"About... like... the thing you were seeing..." Percy said. "Did you design it?"

Bdubs didn't know what he was talking about.

"Yeah," Annabeth sighed. "That's my fatal flaw."

"What?" Bdubs and Percy said in unison.

Well, at least Bdubs wasn't the only clueless person here.

"Fatal flaw," Annabeth said impatiently. "Hasn't Chiron told you anything about that yet?"

Bdubs and Percy shook their heads.

"Well, sometimes it can be a good thing, but sometimes it gets demigods killed," Annabeth said. "Mine is hubris. Pride. I think I can do anything, bring my parents back together, get Luke back on our side, heck, redesign New York, but sometimes I... can't."

Bdubs and Percy were silent, waiting for her to go on.

Or, Bdubs was waiting for her to go on.

"What's my fatal flaw?" Percy blurted.

"I don't know," Annabeth said. "Do you think you can do anything, go anywhere, defeat anything you put your mind to? Do you ever dream of making a better world, and thinking you can do it when logic tells you you can't?"

"Not really," Percy answered.

"Then your fatal flaw's not hubris," Annabeth said. "But every hero has one. You'll find yours eventually. Both of you will. And if you're not careful... well, it's not called a fatal flaw for the dramatic effect."

There was a long silence.

Then Bdubs went to take a nap.

And when he woke up again, they were at their destination.