Red Skies at Morning | Clarisse La Rue x OC | Percy Jackson AU

Part 3: We "Fight" a Sea Monster the Size of the Canoe Lake

I promise I'll change all the placeholder names when this book is completed. They're super out of character and absolutely awful but they're the only thing keeping me from agonizing over a title for three more days instead of just posting the chapter. Sorry if this is a little clunky, trying to write about literal super powers without feeling cringe is REALLY hard and it's probably still gonna be cringe in the end.

The engine of the CSS Birmingham groaned, calling out to join the chilling choir of the sea and sky that roared in the distance. One of the only landmarks that could be made out through the fog was the shadow of clouds that curled into themselves infinitely; a tower of wind and moisture looming over the ocean.

Across from the spiral on the port side, a hundred feet of sheer cliff face rose from the fog.

"Hurricane?" Annabeth guessed, eyeing the storm in the distance.

"No," Clarisse replied. "Charybdis."

Annabeth's frown deepened. "Are you crazy?" she asked, matter-of-factly.

"Only way into the sea of monsters. Straight between Charybdis," –Clarisse pointed at the island of cliff– "and her sister Scylla."

"What do you mean the only way?" Percy challenged. "The sea is wide open! Just sail around them."

"Don't you know anything?" Clarisse rolled her eyes with a scoff. "If I tried to sail around them, they would just appear in my path again. If you want to get into the Sea of Monsters, you have to sail through them."

"What about the Clashing Rocks?" Annabeth asked. "That's another gateway.

Jason used it."

"I can't blow apart rocks with my cannons." Clarisse shrugged, scraping the metal of her armor together. "Monsters, on the other hand..."

"You are crazy," Annabeth decided.

"Watch and learn, Wise Girl." Clarisse turned to the Captain. "Set course for Charybdis!"

"Aye, m'lady."

Their exchange would have been funnier if we weren't sailing to our deaths. Looking out at the water surrounding us, I wondered what drowning would feel like. I didn't know much about Scylla or Charybdis, but I knew it would take a lot of favor from a lot of gods for us to stand a chance of surviving either one of them. Not to mention, a lot of firepower if Clarisse was serious about shooting Charybdis.

"Clarisse, Charybdis sucks up the sea. Isn't that the story?" Percy asked.

"And spits it back out again, yeah."

"What about Scylla?"

"She lives in a cave, up on those cliffs." Clarisse pointed to the island to the left. "If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and start plucking sailors off the ship.'

"Choose Scylla then," Percy argued. "Everybody goes below deck and we chug right past."

"No! If Scylla doesn't get her easy meat, she might pick up the whole ship." Clarisse crossed her arms and squinted at the cliffs like Scylla should be ashamed. "Besides, she's too high to make a good target. My cannons can't shoot straight up. Charybdis just sits there at the center of her whirlwind. We're going to steam straight toward her, train our guns on her, and blow her to Tartarus!"

"So we really are just gonna sail right into her, huh?" I couldn't hold in my sigh as I turned to face the group. "No back-ups or special tactics. We're just going to waltz our way into a monster-made storm, guns blazing in a rusty, Civil War-tin-can, and hope we don't die?"