𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

49

They fell out of bed. Literally.

Two bodies flopped out of bed helplessly, Percy falling on top of Hadrian, making him gasp in pain. "OW"

"Sorry" He got to his feet groggily, like he wasn't very well rested yet. He stood over Hadrian and offered him a hand.

Hadrian pushed his dreams to the back of his mind and accepted it.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked as the ship tilted, making Percy slam against a wall and Hadrian to fall to the floor again. He was too busy trying to forget his dream to realize what was going on.

Percy didn't hesitate as he ran out of the room. Hadrian groaned, rubbing his face to get rid of the sleep. He looked up at the ceiling, seriously dad? What the hell? Why would I dream about my friend?

There was no other reason than Eros personally intervening. Why else would Hadrian dream about him?

Despite the weird dream, he followed Percy above deck, almost slamming into Annabeth as she ran up too. "What's going on?"

"No idea" She said, the same panicked look over her features.

They stumbled up the stairs as Percy yelled, "What's going— Gah! Shrimpzilla!"

That didn't make much sense until Hadrian looked to the monster Percy was facing. Gah! Shrimpzilla! Was an accurate description.

The thing was the length of their ship. In the moonlight, it looked like a cross between a giant shrimp and a cockroach, with a pink chitinous shell, a flat crayfish tail, and millipede-type legs undulating hypnotically as the monster scraped against the hull of the Argo II.

Its head surfaced last—the slimy pink face of an enormous catfish with glassy dead eyes, a gaping toothless maw, and a forest of tentacles sprouting from each nostril, making the bushiest nose beard Hadrian had ever had the displeasure to behold

The monster rammed the ship again. The hull groaned. Annabeth, Hadrian, and Jason tumbled to starboard and almost rolled overboard.

Leo reached the helm. His hands flew across the controls. Over the intercom, Festus clacked and clicked.

Leo toggled the oars.

"How did it get so close?" Annabeth shouted, pulling herself up on one of the rail shields.

"I don't know!" Hedge snarled. He looked around for his bat, which had rolled across the quarterdeck.

"I'm stupid!" Leo scolded himself. "Stupid, stupid! I forgot the sonar!"

The ship tilted farther to starboard. Either the monster was trying to give them a hug, or it was about to capsize them.

"Sonar?" Hedge demanded. "Pan's pipes, Valdez! Maybe if you hadn't been staring into Hazel's eyes, holding hands for so long—"

"What?" Frank yelped.

"It wasn't like that!" Hazel protested.

"It doesn't matter!" Hadrian said. "Jason, can you call some lightning?"

Jason struggled to his feet. "I—" He only managed to shake his head. Summoning the storm earlier had taken too much out of him. Hadrian doubted the poor guy could pop a spark plug in the shape he was in.

"Percy!" Annabeth said. "Can you talk to that thing? Do you know what it is?"

The son of the sea god shook his head, clearly mystified. "Maybe it's just curious about the ship. Maybe—"

The monster's tendrils lashed across the deck so fast, Hadrian didn't even have time to yell, Look out!

One slammed Percy in the chest and sent him crashing down the steps. Another wrapped around Hadrian's legs and dragged him, screaming, toward the rail. Dozens more tendrils curled around the masts, encircling the crossbows and ripping down the rigging.