sky blue ● jason grace

your

 Daria jerked awake to the sound of alarm bells. Automatically, she leapt to her feet and yanked her shoes on, her left hand scrambling for the glasses on the desk beside her. In the span of thirty seconds, she was out the door, nearly crashing into Percy who, like her, was headed to the deck with a frantic look on his face.

"What the hell is going on?" She demanded. The rest of their friends were right behind her cousin with equally as confused looks.

"Leo probably forgot to switch back to sonar." Annabeth explained as they tried to fit six demigods through the small capacity of the staircase. They stumbled collectively, and Daria had to grab on to the railing to avoid falling over.

"Oh yes," Daria muttered. "That explains everything."

Percy was taller than the rest of them, which explained why he was able to spot the monster first. But she really wasn't expecting him to say, "what's going— Gah! Shrimpzilla!"

Hazel and Leo were already on the deck, or maybe they had never left, Daria couldn't remember. She was more focused on the 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 Daria had ever had the displeasure to behold.

The monster rammed the ship again. The hull groaned. Annabeth, Piper, and Jace tumbled to the starboard and almost rolled overboard. Daria was sure she would've followed, but Percy gripped her arm tight to keep them upright.

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

"Jason," Piper said. "Can you call some lightning?"

Jason struggled to his feet. "I-" He only managed to shake his head. If he felt anything like Daria, he was probably still weak. Daria doubted her boyfriend could pop a spark plug in the shape he was in.

"Percy," Daria turned to her cousin. He still had a firm hold on her arm, which she was grateful for. "Can you talk to that thing? Do you know what it is?"

He shook his head, clearly mystified. "Maybe it's just curious about the ship. Maybe—" The monster's tendrils lashed across the deck so fast, not a single demigod had the time to yell, Look out!

One huge tentacle slammed into Percy's chest and as he flew below deck, Daria's back slammed hard against the wall. She could hear shouting erupt around her, but she couldn't see much, the sudden pain overtaking most of her vision at the moment. She blinked a couple of times, placing her hand on the wood behind her as she shakily stood.

Annabeth had unsheathed her dagger. She ran through the forest of tentacles, dodging and stabbing at whatever target she could find. Frank pulled out his bow. He fired over the side at the

creature's body, lodging arrows in the chinks of its shell; but that only seemed to annoy the monster. It bellowed, and rocked the ship. The mast creaked like it might snap off.

Jason was trying to free Piper from the tentacles, which he would have the best luck with, seeing as he was the only one who could fly. Daria shook her head, she was just as weak as he was, so her powers wouldn't be much use.

Instead, she tapped her rings together, two familiar hilts resting in her palm. She charged in Annabeth's direction, helping the blonde, though it didn't seem like the effects were going to be fruitful.

"There's too many of them!" Annabeth yelled over the noise.

Daria slashed through a tentacle before responding. "We just have to hope Leo has a plan, I saw him and Hazel with some sort of fire." Annabeth's eyes widened.