moonflower1605

[moonflower1605]

(A/N)

Hey my lovely readers!!👋🏻

First off I'd like to thank all u guys for sticking with me throughout this really long journey..🫶🏻

A special shout out to the many readers who've silently been appreciating my work, you guys deserve the world.😚💓

Also the next part to this series will be called, 'Daughter Of Lightning - Book 3'.

I'm honestly really excited even tho I haven't completely started working on it yet...but I definitely will soon.😌

Also the next book will also be having almost the same number of chapters as this one.

Anyways..☺️

Stick around for the update of when my next book is out.😉

Link to the last chapter is here.

Until next time..👋🏻

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #sea of monsters #x oc

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 34

(Ella's POV)

A storm raged that night, but it parted around camp as storms usually did.

I'd always admired storms maybe because they seemed fascinating when you watched them from up close or the fact that they made me feel some sort of connection to my dad since he was never really around..

Lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in our valley.

We were protected again, thanks to the Fleece, sealed inside our magical borders.

Percy had showed up to my cabin yet again. He seemed insistent on trying to 'fix' things between us for some reason & I'll admit it was kinda sweet..

(FLASHBACK - 3 HOURS AGO)

There was a loud knock on my cabin door. I walked over & opened it to find Percy on the other side.

"We need to talk." He said before I could speak.

I was about to say something but Percy quickly stopped me & said. "Please don't try to push me away this time."

I walked over to my bed & took a seat before gesturing for him to sit beside me, then say.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I've noticed that you've been acting really weird lately. Don't even try to deny it. Ever since we've come back from that quest you've tried & avoided me whenever you could. Why?"

I hesitated because I couldn't tell him the whole truth so I decided on telling him only the half of it.

"I just...I couldn't stand the fact that you've always been spending time with Annie. I mean it's come to the extent where I've began to feel like you're just trying to replace me with her..."

"No! Of course not! I'd never try to replace you okay?? Never. I was talking to her just because I didn't want to completely avoid her either. I'm sorry.."

I just sigh & hold my arms out to him for a hug. He seemed surprised at first but didn't hesitate.

"I really am sor-" He starts to say, but I quickly cut him off & say.

"It's okay...I could've acted better too. I should've just spoken to you sooner instead of trying to avoid a conversation..."

Eventually he had to head back to his cabin since it was way past curfew.

I watched him walk across to the Poseidon cabin which was the cabin close to mine.

He turned back one last time, waved at me & said in an audible voice.

"Good night, Nora."

"Night, Perce. Sleep well." I say waving back at him.

I head inside my own cabin laying onto the bed, completely exhausted.

(END OF FLASHBACK)

A part of me was really happy, however that Percy & I had sorted things out.

That night I slept with a content smile plastered on my face.

Still, my dreams were restless. I heard Kronos tauting me from the depths of Tartarus: "You've done well little girl. This was all part of the plan..."

The titan’s cold laughter filled the darkness.

Then my dream changed. I was at Half-Blood Hill right beside Thalia’s tree.

I looked around & no one was there but as I looked to the base of the tree I saw...

Before I could react, I woke with a start.

There was a banging on the door.

Grover flew inside with Percy without waiting for my permission. “Nora!” he stammered. “Annie...on the hill...she...”

The look in his eyes told me something was terribly wrong. Annie had been on guard duty that night, protecting the Fleece.

If something had happened- No..

I threw off the covers, my blood like ice water in my veins.

I quickly threw on a jacket while Grover tried to make a complete sentence, but he was too stunned, too out of breath.

“She’s lying there...just lying there...”

We ran outside across the central yard.

Dawn was just breaking, but the whole camp seemed to be stirring. Word was spreading.

Something huge had happened.

A few campers were already making their way toward the hill, satyrs & nymphs & heroes in a weird mix of armor & pajamas.

I heard the clop of horse hooves, & Chiron galloped up behind us, looking grim.

“Is it true?” he asked Grover.

Grover could only nod, his expression dazed.

I tried to ask what was going on, but Chiron grabbed Percy & me by the arm & effortlessly lifted us onto his back.

Together we thundered up Half-Blood Hill, where a small crowd had started to gather.

I expected to see the Fleece missing from the pine tree, but it was still there, glittering in the first light of dawn.

The storm had broken & the sky was bloodred.

“Curse the titan lord,” Chiron said. “He’s tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy.”

“What do you mean?” Percy asked.

“The Fleece,” he said. “The Fleece did its work too well.”

We galloped forward, everyone moving out of our way.

There at the base of the tree, a girl was lying unconscious. Another girl in Greek armor was kneeling next to her.

Blood roared in my ears. I couldn’t think straight.

Annie hadn't been the one who was attacked...

“It healed the tree,” Chiron said, his voice ragged. “And poison was not the only thing it purged.”

When Annie saw us, she ran to Chiron.

“It... she..just suddenly there...”

Her eyes were streaming with tears & I understood. But I was too freaked out to accept it all.

"No no no..." Was all I managed to mumble.

Percy leaped off Chiron’s back & ran toward the unconscious girl.

Chiron said. “Percy, wait!”

He knelt by her side. The girl had short brown hair & freckles across her nose.

She was built like a long-distance runner, lithe & strong.

Her clothes were somewhere between punk & Goth-a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, & a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of bands I’d never heard of.

She wasn’t a camper. But I knew exactly who she was….

“It’s true,” Grover said, panting from his run up the hill. “I can’t believe...”

Nobody else came close to the girl.

“She needs nectar & ambrosia,” Percy said.

She was a half-blood just like us, but I didn’t understand why everyone was acting so scared.

Percy took her by the shoulders & lifted her into sitting position, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Come on!” He yelled to the others. “What’s wrong with you people? Let’s get her to the Big House.”

No one moved, not even Chiron.

I didn't either. I was too busy trying to process everything..

Everyone was too stunned.

Then the girl took a shaky breath. She coughed & opened her eyes.

Her irises were startlingly blue-electric blue...just like mine..

The girl stared in bewilderment, shivering & wild-eyed. “Who-“

“I’m Percy,” I said. “You’re safe now.”

“Strangest dream...”

“It’s okay.”

“Dying.”

“No,” he assured her. “You’re okay. What’s your name?”

I knew that. Even before she said it.

The girl looked over at me, I'd understood what the Golden Fleece quest had been about.

The poisoning of the tree.

Everything.

Kronos had done it to bring another chess piece into play-another chance to control the prophecy.

Even Chiron, Percy, Annie, & Grover, who should’ve been celebrating this moment, were too shocked, thinking about what it might mean for the future.

“I am Thalia,” the girl said. “Daughter of Zeus.”

That's the end of the book guyss!😄

Been a really long journey I know..

I'll be posting the (A/N) soon with all the details so stick around.😉

Until next time...👋🏻

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #sea of monsters #x oc

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 33

(Percy's POV)

That afternoon was one of the happiest I’d ever spent at camp, which maybe goes to show, you never know when your world is about to be rocked to pieces.

I found Grover with Nora in the strawberry field that afternoon.

I wasn't really sure if Nora wanted to see or speak to me after what happened yesterday since she seemed overly interested in the strawberry bushes than talking to me...

Grover announced that he’d be able to spend the rest of the summer with us before resuming his quest for Pan.

His bosses at the Council of Cloven Elders were so impressed that he hadn’t gotten himself killed & had cleared the way for future searchers, that they granted him a two-month furlough & a new set of reed pipes.

The only bad news: Grover insisted on playing those pipes all afternoon long, & his musical skills hadn’t improved much.

He played “YMCA,” & the strawberry plants started going crazy, wrapping around our feet like they were trying to strangle us.

I guess I couldn’t blame them.

"Grover stooooppppp!!" Nora whined like a five year old as she covered her ears.

But Grover obviously didn't.

That just caused Nora to chase him straight into a shrub. He came back out spitting out & dusting leaves off himself while Nora laughed(a very beautiful laugh at that..but don't tell her I said that..) much to Grover’s dismay.

Grover told me he could dissolve the empathy link between the three of us, now that we were face to face, but I told him we’d rather keep it if it was okay with him.

He put down his reed pipes & stared at Nora & me.

“But, if I get in trouble again, you two will be in danger! You could die!”

“If you get in trouble again, we want to know about it. And we’ll come help you again, G-man. We wouldn’t have it any other way.” I said looking over at Nora who just nodded in agreement.

In the end he agreed not to break the link.

He went back to playing “YMCA” for the strawberry plants. I didn’t need an empathy link with the plants to know how they felt about it.

Later on during archery class, Chiron pulled me aside & told me he’d fixed my problems with Meriwether Prep.

The school no longer blamed me for destroying their gymnasium. The police were no longer looking for me.

“How did you manage that?” I asked.

Chiron’s eyes twinkled. “I merely suggested that the mortals had seen something different on that day-a furnace explosion that was not your fault.”

“You just said that & they bought it?”

“I manipulated the Mist. Some day, when you’re ready, I’ll show how it’s done.”

“You mean, I can go back to Meriwether next year?”

Chiron raised his eyebrows. “Oh, no, they’ve still expelled you. Your headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, said you had-how did he put it?-un-groovy karma that disrupted the school’s educational aura. But you’re not in any legal trouble, which was a relief to your mother. Oh, & speaking of your mother...”

He unclipped his cell phone from his quiver & handed it to me. “It’s time you called her.”

The worst part was the beginning-the “Percy-Jackson-what-were-you-thinking-do-you-have-any-idea-how-worried-I-was-sneaking-off-to-camp-without-permission-going-on-dangerous-quests-&-scaring-me-half-to-death” part.

But finally she paused to catch her breath. “Oh, I’m just glad you’re safe!”

That’s the great thing about my mom. She’s no good at staying angry.

She tries, but it just isn’t in her nature.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” I told her. “I won’t scare you again.”

“Don’t promise me that, Percy. You know very well it will only get worse.”

She tried to sound casual about it, but I could tell she was pretty shaken up.

I wanted to say something to make her feel better, but I knew she was right.

Being a half-blood, I would always be doing things that scared her. And as I got older, the dangers would just get greater.

“I could come home for a while,” I offered.

“No, no. Stay at camp. Train. Do what you need to do. But you will come home for the next school year?”

“Yeah, of course. Uh, if there’s any school that will take me.”

“Oh, we’ll find something, dear,” my mother sighed. “Some place where they don’t know us yet.”

As for Tyson, the campers treated him like a hero.

I would’ve been happy to have him as my cabin mate forever, but that evening, as we were sitting on a sand dune over looking the Long Island Sound, he made an announcement that took me by surprise.

“Dream came from Daddy last night,” he said. “He wants me to visit.”

I wondered if he was kidding, but Tyson really didn’t know how to kid.

“Poseidon sent you a dream message?”

Tyson nodded. “Wants me to go underwater for the rest of the summer.

Learn to work at Cyclopes’ forges. He called it an inter-an intern-“

“An internship?”

“Yes.” I let that sink in. I’ll admit, I felt a little jealous. Poseidon had never invited me underwater. But I thought, Tyson was going? Just like that?

“When would you leave?” I asked.

“Now.”

“Now. Like...now now?”

“Now.”

I stared out at the waves in the Long Island Sound. The water was glistening red in the sunset.

“I’m happy for you, big guy,” I managed. “Seriously.”

“Hard to leave my new brother,” he said with a tremble in his voice. “But I want to make things. Weapons for the camp. You will need them.”

Unfortunately, I knew he was right. The Fleece hadn’t solved all of the camp’s problems. Luke was out there, gathering an army aboard the Princess Andromeda. While Kronos reformed in his golden coffin.

Eventually, we'd have to fight them.

“You’ll make the best weapons ever,” I told Tyson. I held up my watch proudly. “I bet they’ll tell good time, too.”

Tyson sniffled. “Brothers help each other.”

“You’re my brother,” I said. “No doubt about it.”

He patted me on the back so hard he almost knocked me down the sand dune.

Then he wiped a tear from his cheek & stood to go. “Use the shield well.”

“I will, big guy.”

“Save your life some day.”

The way he said it, so matter-of-fact, I wondered if that Cyclops eye of his could see into the future.

He headed down to the beach & whistled. Rainbow, the hippocampus, burst out of the waves.

I watched the two of them ride off together into the realm of Poseidon.

Once they were gone, I looked down at my new wristwatch.

I pressed the button & the shield spiraled out to full size. Hammered into the bronze were pictures in Ancient Greek style, scenes from our adventures this summer.

There was Annabeth slaying a Laistrygonian dodgeball player, me  fighting the bronze bulls on Half-Blood Hill, Nora riding Lavender toward the Princess Andromeda, the CSS Birmingham blasting its cannons at Charybdis. I ran my hand across a picture of Tyson, battling the Hydra as he held a box of Monster Donuts.

I couldn’t help feeling sad. I knew Tyson would have an awesome time under the ocean.

But I’d miss everything about him-his fascination with horses, the way he could fix chariots or crumple metal with his bare hands, or tie bad guys into knots. I’d even miss him snoring like an earthquake in the next bunk all night.

“Hey, Percy.”

I turned.

Annabeth & Grover were standing at the top of the sand dune. But Nora wasn't with them.

“Tyson..” I told them. “He had to..”

“We know,” Annabeth said softly. “Chiron told us.”

“Cyclopes forges.” Grover shuddered. “I hear the cafeteria food there is terrible! Like, no enchiladas at all.”

Annabeth held out her hand. “Come on, Seaweed Brain. Time for dinner.”

We walked back toward the dining pavilion together, like old times but it didn’t feel the same because well....

I realized that I hadn't had a proper conversation with Nora & I was really determined to fix that.

Cause I'll admit it...I missed her...'alot'....

Ahahaha!!

Cuteness overloadddd!🥹

Anywaysss..

One more chapter to go!!🤗

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Until next time..👋🏻

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson x reader #percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 32

(Ella's POV)

We arrived in Long Island just after Clarisse, thanks to the centaurs’ travel powers.

Percy & I hadn't spoken at all since the Princess Andromeda....which I know was weird but...I don't know anymore..

I guess I've just been unintentionally trying to avoid him because I know the way Annie feels towards him & since she's my best friend it doesn't feel right to get in the way of her trying to be with him...ah, nevermind that.

When we got to camp, the centaurs were anxious to meet Dionysus.

They’d heard he threw some really wild parties, but they were disappointed.

The wine god was in no mood to celebrate as the whole camp gathered at the top of Half-Blood Hill.

The camp had been through a hard two weeks.

The arts & crafts cabin had burned to the ground from an attack by a Draco Aionius (which as near as I could figure was Latin for “really big lizard with breath that blows stuff up”).

The Big House’s rooms were over flowing with wounded. The kids in the Apollo cabin, who were the best healers, had been working overtime performing first aid.

Everybody looked weary & battered as we crowded around Thalia’s tree.

The moment Clarisse draped the Golden Fleece over the lowest bough, the moon light seemed to brighten, turning from gray to liquid silver.

A cool breeze rustled in the branches & rippled through the grass, all the way into the valley.

Everything came into sharper focus-the glow of the fireflies down in the woods, the smell of the strawberry fields, the sound of the waves on the beach.

Gradually, the needles on the pine tree started turning from brown to green.

Everybody cheered. It was happening slowly, but there could be no doubt-the Fleece’s magic seeped into the tree, filling it with new power & expelling the poison.

Chiron ordered a twenty-four/seven guard duty on the hilltop, at least until he could find an appropriate monster to protect the Fleece. He said he’d place an ad in Olympus Weekly right away.

In the meantime, Clarisse was carried on her cabin mates’ shoulders down to the amphitheater, where she was honored with a laurel wreath & a lot of celebrating around the campfire.

Nobody gave Percy, Annie or me a second look. It was as if we’d never left.

In a way, I guess that was the best thank-you anyone could give us, because if they admitted we’d snuck out of camp to do the quest, they’d have to expel us.

I didn’t really want any more attention. Although I wished that...no I shouldn't even be thinking like that for once....

Later that night, we were roasting s’mores & listening to the Stoll brothers tell us a ghost story about an evil king who was eaten alive by demonic breakfast pastries.

I sat far away from the others & no one even noticed that I was there.

Eventually I just settled on heading back to my cabin & calling it a night.

The next morning, after the party ponies headed back to Florida, Chiron made a surprise announcement: the chariot races would go ahead as scheduled.

We’d all figured they were history now that Tantalus was gone, but completing them did feel like the right thing to do, especially now that Chiron was back & the camp was safe.

Tyson wasn’t keen on the idea of getting back in a chariot after the first time.

I'd decided that I wasn't gonna race because apparently Percy had teamed up with Annabeth this time.

I'll admit it stung knowing that he chose her but I pretended like it hadn't affected me at all.

I knew for a fact that it shouldn't even be affecting me even though it did.

That's why I chose to be on the sidelines for once. Not like anyone cared anyway right..

That night I was at my secret spot watching the waves crash gently on the shore when I felt a presence behind me & I hated the fact that I instantly knew who it was: Percy..

"Hey, Percy..what are you doing here..?"

He seemed stunned for a second as to how I knew it was him but he quickly got over it & said.

"Mind if I join you?" I just moved over a bit on the grass & gestured for him to sit.

Before I could ask him what he was doing here, he asked.

"Is everything okay..?" I raised an eyebrow & said.

"What do you mean? We got the Fleece, Thalia’s tree is okay, everything is back to-"

"No..I mean," Percy hesitated. "I mean..is everything okay between us..."

I was expecting this conversation to happen eventually but I just shrugged it off & said.

"Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?"

"No it's just that you haven't spoken to me since yesterday & I was wondering if I'd done something wrong or..."

"No..you haven't..you know actually I should go. I need to get some rest since tomorrow's gonna be a long day."

I say getting up quickly & starting to walk away only to get stopped by a hand holding onto my wrist gently.

"Nora...there's something wrong..tell me."

I felt the tears well up in my eyes at that point but I held them back & mumbled.

"Nothing's wrong okay...I'm just tired.."

That was an obvious lie but I prayed that he wouldn't be able to tell.

He quickly tugged on my wrist & turned me around to face him.

"Is it because of the chariot race? Because I chose Annabeth & not you..."

"No it's not, okay? Just drop it." I said before walking off to my cabin.

I couldn't let him see the fact that him being close to Annie was affecting me so much when it clearly shouldn't even matter to me..

The next morning, everybody was buzzing about the chariot race, though they kept glancing nervously toward the sky like they expected to see Stymphalian birds gathering.

None did.

It was a beautiful summer day with blue sky & plenty of sunshine.

The camp had started to look the way it should look: the meadows were green & lush; the white columns gleamed on the Greek buildings; dryads played happily in the woods.

And I was miserable. I couldn't sleep the whole night. I kept tossing & turning around until I finally gave up & decided to start my day.

As Percy & Annie drove onto the track, I couldn’t help admiring the work Tyson had done on the Athena chariot.

The carriage gleamed with bronze reinforcements. The wheels were realigned with magical suspension so it glided along flawlessly.

The rigging for the horses was perfectly balanced that it seemed to turn at the slightest tug of the reins.

Before the race began I saw Tyson giving Percy a watch. He told me it was something he'd been working on ever since he came to camp.

They talked for a bit before they had to get to the starting line of the track.

Just as Percy climbed on board the chariot & got in position, Chiron blew the starting signal.

They shot down the track so fast. The wheels glided beautifully.

By the first turn they were a full chariot-length ahead of Clarisse, who was busy trying to fight off a javelin attack from the Stoll brothers in the Hermes chariot.

At some point they fought Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin. There was a pouch of Greek fire in Percy & Annie’s chariot. Percy was clearly struggling to keep them both from being sliced up & attempting to get rid of the pouch.

I saw Percy press the watch button.

Instantly, the watch changed. It expanded, the metal rim spiraling outward like an old-fashioned camera shutter, a leather strap wrapped around his forearm.

It was a round war shield four feet wide, the outside made of polished bronze.

All I knew: Tyson had come through. Percy raised the shield, & Beckendorf’s sword clanged against it. His blade shattered.

“What?” he shouted. “How-“

He didn’t have time to say more because he got knocked in the chest with the shield & got sent flying out of his chariot, tumbling into the dirt.

The Greek fire was shooting sparks.

Percy shoved the tip of his sword under the leather pouch & flipped it up like a spatula. The firebomb dislodged & flew into the Hephaestus chariot at the driver’s feet. He yelped.

In a split second the driver made the right choice: he dove out of the chariot, which careened away & exploded in green flames.

The metal horses seemed to short circuit.

They turned & dragged the burning wreckage back toward Clarisse & the Stoll brothers, who had to swerve to avoid it.

Annie pulled the reins for the last turn. I was worried, but somehow she brought them through & spurred the horses across the finish line.

The crowd roared.

Once the chariot stopped, everyone mobbed them & started chanting their names, but Annie yelled over the noise: “Hold up! Listen! It wasn’t just us!”

The crowd didn’t want to be quiet, but Annie made herself heard: “We couldn’t have done it without somebody else! We couldn’t have won this race or gotten the Fleece or saved Grover or anything! We owe our lives to Tyson, Percy’s...”

“Brother!” Percy said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Tyson, my baby brother.”

Tyson blushed. The crowd cheered.

Annie planted a kiss on Percy’s cheek.

The roaring got a lot louder after that.

The entire Athena cabin lifted Percy, Annie & Tyson onto their shoulders & carried them toward the winner’s platform, where Chiron was waiting to bestow the laurel wreaths.

I didn't feel like sticking around so I headed off to the strawberry fields...

Oooh things are getting tensed up..😬

Anyways 2 chapters to go!

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Until next time..👋🏻

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 31

(Percy's POV)

We found ourselves in a trailer park at the edge of a lake. The trailers were all horse trailers, with televisions, mini refrigerators & mosquito netting. We were in a centaur camp.

“Dude!” said a party pony. “Did you see the bear guy? He was like: ‘Whoa, I have an arrow in my mouth!"

The centaur with the googly-eye glasses laughs. “That was awesome! Head slam!”

The two centaurs charged at each other full-force & knocked heads, then went staggering off in different directions with crazy grins on their faces.

Chiron sighed. He set Annabeth & Grover down on a picnic blanket next to me.

“I really wish my cousins wouldn’t slam their heads together. They don’t have the brain cells to spare.”

“Chiron,” I said, still stunned by the fact that he was here. “You saved us.”

He gave me a dry smile. “Well now, I couldn’t very well let you die, especially since you’ve cleared my name.”

“But how did you know where we were?” Annabeth asked.

“Advanced planning, my dear. I figured you would wash up near Miami if you made it out of the Sea of Monsters alive. Almost everything strange washes up near Miami.”

“Gee, thanks,” Grover mumbled.

“No, no,” Chiron said. “I didn’t mean...Oh, never mind. I am glad to see you, my young satyr. The point is, I was able to eavesdrop on Percy’s Iris-message & trace the signal. Iris & I have been friends for centuries. I asked her to alert me to any important commun-"

"Wait a minute. Where's Nora??" I asked, cutting Chiron off mid-sentence.

"She's fine, Percy. Don't worry." Chiron said pointing over to the campfire.

I looked over to where he pointed. Three party ponies were showing Tyson a paintball gun. While Nora sat beside him explaining how to use it. Her arm was still bleeding & wasn't bandaged..

“So what now?” I asked Chiron. “We just let Luke sail away? He’s got Kronos aboard that ship. Or parts of him, anyway.”

Chiron knelt, carefully folding his front legs underneath him. He opened the medicine pouch on his belt & started treating my wounds.

“I’m afraid, Percy, that today has been something of a draw. We didn’t have the strength of numbers to take that ship. Luke was not organized enough to pursue us. Nobody won.”

“But we got the Fleece!” Annabeth said. “Clarisse is on her way back to camp with it right now.”

Chiron nodded, though he still looked uneasy. “You are all true heroes. As soon as we get Percy fixed up, you must return to Half-Blood Hill. The centaurs will take you.”

“You’re coming, too?” I asked.

“Oh yes, Percy. I’ll be relieved to get home. My brethren here simply do not appreciate Dean Martin’s music. Besides, I must have a word with Mr. D. There’s the rest of the summer to plan, training to do. And I want to see...I’m curious about the Fleece.”

I didn’t know exactly what he meant, but it made me worried about what Luke said: I was going to let you take the Fleece..once I was done with it.

Had he just been lying?

I’d learned with Kronos there was usually a plan within a plan. The titan lord wasn’t called the Crooked One for nothing. He had ways of getting people to do what he wanted without them actually realizing his true intentions.

Over by the campfire, Tyson let loose with his paintball gun.

"Tyson!" Nora scolded him playfully as a blue projectile splattered against one of the centaurs, hurling him backward into the lake with a splash.

The centaur came up grinning, covered in swamp muck & blue paint, & gave Tyson two thumbs up.

“Annabeth,” Chiron said, “perhaps you and Grover would go supervise Tyson & my cousins before they, ah, teach each other too many bad habits? I know Nora is there, but she needs to be patched up & rested.”

Annabeth met his eyes. Some kind of understanding passed between them.

“Sure, Chiron,” Annabeth said. “Come on, goat boy.”

“But I don’t like paintball.”

“But you do like Nora. So shut up & let's go.” She hoisted Grover to his hooves & led him off toward the campfire.

Chiron finished bandaging my leg. “Percy, I had a talk with Annabeth on the way here. About the prophecy.”

Uh-oh, I thought.

“It wasn’t her fault,” I said. “I made her tell me.”

His eyes flickered with irritation. I was sure he was going to chew me out, but then his look turned to weariness.

“I suppose I could not expect to keep it secret forever.”

“So is it Nora or me in the prophecy?”

Chiron put the bandages back in his pouch. “I wish I knew, Percy. You two aren't sixteen yet. For now we must train you two as best we can, & leave the future to the Fates.”

The Fates. I hadn’t thought about those old ladies in a long time, but as soon as Chiron mentioned them, something clicked.

“That’s what it meant,” I said.

Chiron frowned. “That’s what what meant?”

“Last summer. The omen from the Fates, when I saw them snipping somebody’s life string. I thought it meant I was going to die right away, but it’s worse than that. It’s got something to do with your prophecy. The death they foretold-it’s going to happen when one of us is sixteen.”

Chiron’s tail whisked nervously. “My boy, you can’t be sure of that. We don’t even know who the prophecy is about.”

“But there isn’t any other half-blood child of the Big Three!”

“That we know of.”

“And Kronos is rising. He’s going to destroy Mount Olympus!”

“He will try,” Chiron agreed. “And Western Civilization along with it, if we don’t stop him. But we will stop him. You will not be alone in that fight.”

I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but I remembered what Annabeth had told me.

It would come down to one hero. A decision that would save or destroy the West. I knew the Fates had been giving me some kind of warning about that.

Something terrible was going to happen, either to me or to somebody I was close to.

“We're just kids, Chiron,” I said miserably. “What good are we against someone like Kronos?”

Chiron managed a smile. '”What good are you’? Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain said something like that to me once, just before he single-handedly changed the course of your Civil War.”

He pulled out an arrow from his quiver & turned the razor-sharp tip so it glinted in the firelight.

“Celestial bronze, Percy. An immortal weapon. What would happen if you shot this at a human?”

“Nothing,” I said. “It would pass right through.”

“That’s right,” he said. “Humans don’t exist on the same level as the immortals. They can’t even be hurt by our weapons. But you, Percy-you & Nora are part god, part human. You live in both worlds. You can be harmed by both, & you can affect both. That’s what makes heroes so special. You carry the hopes of humanity into the realm of the eternal. Monsters never die. They are reborn from the chaos & barbarism that bubbles underneath civilization, the stuff that makes Kronos stronger. They must be defeated again & again, kept at bay. Heroes embody that struggle. You fight the battles humanity must win, every generation, in order to stay human. Do you understand?”

“I...I don’t know.

“You must try, Percy. Because whether or not one of you is the child of the prophecy, Kronos thinks you might be. And after today, he will finally want to turn you both to his side. That is the only reason he hasn’t killed either of you yet. As soon as he’s sure he can’t use you, he will destroy you.”

“You talk like you know him.”

Chiron pursed his lips. “I do know him.”

I stared at him. I sometimes forgot just how old Chiron was. “Is that why Mr. D blamed you when the tree was poisoned? Why you said some people don’t trust you?”

“Indeed.”

“But, Chiron...c'mon! Why would they think you’d ever betray the camp for Kronos?”

Chiron’s eyes were deep brown, full of thousands of years of sadness.

“Percy, remember your training. And the mythology. What's my connection to the titan lord?”

I tried thinking, but I always got it mixed up. Even now, when it was so important to my own life, I had trouble keeping all the names & facts straight. I shook my head.

“You, uh, owe Kronos a favor or something? He spared your life?”

“Percy,” Chiron said, his voice impossibly soft. “The titan Kronos is my father.”

Not much to say here..

Although!

This book is coming to an end in 3 chaptersss!!🥹

I know, I know..I'm gonna miss this book too..😭

But don't worry I'll be coming back soon with the sequel to it!😃

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Until next time..👋🏻

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 30

(Percy's POV)

“One on one,” I challenged Luke. “What are you afraid of?”

Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order.

Before he could say anything, Agrius, the bear-man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse.

It was the first pure-black pegasus I’d ever seen, with giant raven like wings.

The pegasus mare bucked & whinnied. I could understand her thoughts. She was calling Agrius & Luke some names so bad Chiron would’ve washed her muzzle out with saddle soap.

“Sir!” Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. “Your steed is ready!”

Luke kept his eyes on me.

“I told you last summer, Percy,” he said. “You can’t bait me into a fight.”

“You keep avoiding one,” I noticed. “Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?”

Luke glanced at his men, & he saw I’d trapped him. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought me, he’d lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse.

For my part, the best I could hope for was to distract him, giving my friends a chance to escape. If anybody could think of a plan to get them out of there, Annabeth could. On the downside, I knew how good Luke was at sword- fighting.

“I’ll kill you quickly,” he decided, & raised his weapon. Backbiter was a foot longer than my own sword.

Its blade glinted with an evil gray & gold light where the human steel had been melded with celestial bronze. I could almost feel the blade fight against itself, like two opposite magnets bound together.

I didn’t know how the blade had been made, but I sensed a tragedy. Someone had died in the process. Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-&-bronze shield.

He grinned at me wickedly.

“Luke,” Annabeth said, “at least give him a shield.”

“Sorry, Annabeth,” he said. “You bring your own equipment to this party.”

The shield was a problem. Fighting two-handed with just a sword gives you more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield gives you better defense & versatility. There are more moves, more options, more ways to kill.

I thought back to Chiron, who’d told me to stay at camp no matter what, & learn to fight. Now I was going to pay for not listening to him.

Luke lunged & almost killed me on the first try. His sword went under my arm, slashing through my shirt & grazing my ribs.

I jumped back, then counterattacked with Riptide, but Luke slammed my blade away with his shield.

“My, Percy,” Luke chided. “You’re out of practice.”

He came at me again with a swipe to the head. I parried, returned with a thrust.

He sidestepped easily.

The cut on my ribs stung. My heart was racing. When Luke lunged again, I jumped backward into the swimming pool & felt a surge of strength. I spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, & blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke’s face.

The force of the water knocked him down, spluttering & blinded.

But before I could strike, he rolled aside & was on his feet.

I attacked & sliced off the edge of his shield, but that didn’t even faze him.

He dropped to a crouch & jabbed at my legs. Suddenly my thigh was on fire, with a pain so intense I collapsed.

My jeans were ripped above the knee. I was hurt. I didn’t know how badly.

Luke hacked downward but his sword was immediately intercepted by a silver one. Nora..

I rolled aside as she began fighting him.

Unlike me she was in better shape as she fought him with ease, almost like she knew all of his moves better than he did.

As Nora fought him I saw Luke hesitate. His attacks slowed down almost like he didn't want to hurt her.

Nora stepped forward to strike but slipped on a puddle of water which caused Luke’s sword to make a good sized cut on her right arm. She winced & held her wounded arm.

"Nora!" I yelled.

Luke wanted to go help her but he held himself back.

“There's one thing that I'd like you two to watch.” He said looking at the bear-man Oreius, who was still holding Annabeth & Grover by the necks. “You can eat your dinner now, Oreius. Bon appetit.”

“He-he! He-he!” The bear-man lifted my friends & bared his teeth.

That’s when all Hades broke loose.

Whish!

A red-feathered arrow sprouted from Oreius’s mouth. With a surprised look on his hairy face, he crumpled to the deck.

“Brother!” Agrius wailed. He let the pegasus’s reins go slack just long enough for the black steed to kick him in the head & fly away free over Miami Bay.

For a split second, Luke’s guards were too stunned to do anything except watch the bear twins’ bodies dissolve into smoke.

Then there was a wild chorus of war cries & hooves thundering against metal. A dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.

“Ponies!” Tyson cried with delight.

My mind had trouble in processing everything I saw. Chiron was among the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him.

There were centaurs with black Arabian stallion bodies, others with gold palomino coats, others with orange-&-white spots like paint horses. Some wore brightly colored T-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER.

Some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, some with paintball guns. One had his face painted like a Comanche warrior. Another was bare-chested & painted green. A third had googly eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on Slinky coils, & a baseball cap with a soda can & straw attachments on two sides.

They exploded onto the deck with such ferocity & color that for a moment even Luke was stunned. I couldn’t tell whether they'd come to celebrate or attack.

Apparently both.

As Luke was raising his sword to rally his troops, a centaur shot a custom made arrow with a leather boxing glove on the end. It smacked Luke in the face & sent him crashing into the swimming pool.

His warriors scattered. I couldn’t blame them. Facing the hooves of a rearing stallion is scary enough, but when it’s a centaur, armed with a bow & whooping it up in a soda-drinking hat, even the bravest warrior would retreat.

“Come get some!” yelled one of the party ponies.

They let loose with their paintball guns.

A wave of blue & yellow;exploded against Luke’s warriors, blinding them, splattering them from head to toe. They tried to run, only to slip & fall.

Chiron galloped toward Annabeth & Grover, neatly plucked them off the deck, & deposited them on his back.

I looked around for Nora but I couldn't see her anywhere in sight.

I tried to get up, but my wounded leg still felt like it was on fire.

Luke was crawling out of the pool.

“Attack, you fools.’” he ordered his troops. Somewhere down below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed.

I knew that any second we'd be swamped by Luke’s reinforcements. His warriors were getting over their surprise, coming at the centaurs with swords & spears drawn.

Tyson slapped half a dozen of them aside, knocking them over the guardrail into Miami Bay. But more warriors were coming up the stairs.

“Withdraw, brethren!” Chiron said.

“You won’t get away with this, horse man!” Luke shouted. He raised his sword, but got smacked in the face with another boxing glove arrow, & sat down in a deck chair.

A palomino centaur hoisted me onto his back. “Dude, get your big friend!”

“Tyson!” I yelled. “Come on!”

Tyson dropped the two warriors he was about to tie into a knot & jogged after us. He jumped on the centaur’s back.

“Dude!” the centaur groaned, buckling under Tyson’s weight. “Do the words ‘low-carb diet’ mean anything to you?”

Luke’s warriors organized themselves into a phalanx. But by the time they were ready to advance, the centaurs had galloped to the edge of the deck & fearlessly jumped the guardrail, as if it were a steeplechase & not ten stories above the ground.

I was sure we were going to die.

We plummeted toward the docks, but the centaurs hit the asphalt with hardly a jolt and galloped off, whooping & yelling taunts at the Princess Andromeda as we raced into the streets of downtown Miami.

Hope you enjoy..😉

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 18(Part 2)

(Ella's POV)

Percy took out his ballpoint pen, but I locked eyes with him-giving him a silent warning. Not yet. He understood. A lot of monsters have terrible eyesight. It was possible the Hydra might pass us by. But if he uncapped his sword now, the bronze glow would certainly get its attention.

We waited.

The Hydra was only a few feet away. It seemed to be sniffing the ground & the trees like it was hunting for something. Then I noticed that two of the heads were ripping apart a piece of yellow canvas-one of our duffel bags. The thing had already been to our campsite. It was following our scent.

My heart pounded. I’d seen a stuffed Hydra-head trophy at camp before, but that did nothing to prepare me for the real thing. Each head was diamond-shaped, like a rattlesnake’s, but the mouths were lined with jagged rows of sharklike teeth.

Tyson was trembling. He stepped back & accidentally snapped a twig. Immediately, all seven heads turned toward us & hissed.

“Scatter!” Annie yelled. She & I dove to the right. Percy rolled to the left. One of the Hydra heads spat an arc of green liquid that shot past my shoulder & splashed against an elm.

The trunk smoked & began to disintegrate. The whole tree toppled straight toward Tyson, who still hadn’t moved, petrified by the monster that was now right in front of him.

“Tyson!” I yelled. Percy tackled him, knocking him aside just as the Hydra lunged & the tree crashed on top of two of its heads. The Hydra stumbled backward, yanking its heads free then wailing in outrage at the fallen tree.

All seven heads shot acid, & the elm melted into a steaming pool of muck.

“Move!” Percy told Tyson.

I ran to one side & drew stormcatcher, hoping to draw the monster’s attention.

It worked. As soon as my glowing blade appeared, the Hydra whipped toward it with all its heads, hissing & baring its teeth.

The good news: Tyson was momentarily out of danger. The bad news: I was about to be melted into a puddle of goo.

One of the heads snapped at me. Without thinking, I swung my sword & instantly regretted it.

“No!” Annie yelled.

I'd sliced the Hydra’s head clean off. It rolled away into the grass, leaving a flailing stump, which immediately stopped bleeding & began to swell like a balloon. In a matter of seconds the wounded neck split into two necks, each of which grew a full-size head. Now I was looking at an eight-headed Hydra.

“Nora!” Annie scolded. “You just opened another Monster Donut shop somewhere!”

I dodged a spray of acid. “She's about to die & you’re worried about that?!" Percy said.

"How do we kill it??” I asked.

“Fire!” Annie said. “We have to have fire!”

As soon as she said that, I remembered the story. The Hydra’s heads would only stop multiplying if we burned the stumps before they regrew. That’s what Heracles had done, anyway. But we had no fire. I backed up toward the river. The Hydra followed.

Percy & Annie moved in on my left & tried to distract one of the heads, parrying its teeth, but another head swung sideways like a club & knocked them into the muck.

“No hitting my friends!” Tyson charged in, putting himself between the Hydra & them. As they got to her feet, Tyson started smashing at the monster heads with his fists so fast it reminded me of the whack-a-mole game at the arcade. But even Tyson couldn’t fend off the Hydra forever.

We kept inching backward, dodging acid splashes & deflecting snapping heads without cutting them off, but I knew we were only postponing our deaths. Eventually, we would make a mistake & the thing would kill us.

Then I heard a strange sound-a chug-chug-chug that at first I thought was my heartbeat. It was so powerful it made the riverbank shake.

“What’s that noise?” Percy shouted, keeping his eyes on the Hydra.

“Steam engine,” Tyson said.

“What?” I ducked as the Hydra spat acid over my head.

Then from the river behind us, a familiar female voice shouted: “There! Prepare the thirty-two-pounder!”

I didn’t dare look away from the Hydra, but if that was who I thought it was behind us, I figured we now had enemies on two fronts.

A gravelly male voice said, “They’re too close, m’lady!”

“Damn the heroes!” the girl said. “Full steam ahead!”

“Aye, m’lady.”

“Fire at will, Captain!”

Annie understood what was happening a split second before Percy & I did. She yelled, “Hit the dirt!” & we dove for the ground as an earth-shattering BOOM echoed from the river.

There was a flash of light, a column of smoke, & the Hydra exploded right in front of us, showering us with nasty green slime that vaporized as soon as it hit, the way monster guts tend to do.

“Gross!” Annie screamed.

“Steamship!” yelled Tyson.

I stood, coughing from the cloud of gun powder smoke that was rolling across the banks.

Chugging toward us down the river was the strangest ship I’d ever seen.

It rode low in the water like a submarine, its deck plated with iron. In the middle was a trapezoid-shaped casemate with slats on each side for cannons.

A flag waved from the top-a wild boar & spear on a bloodred field.

Lining the deck were zombies in gray uniforms-dead soldiers with shimmering faces that only partially covered their skulls, like the ghouls I’d seen in the Underworld guarding Hades’s palace.

The ship was an ironclad. A Civil War battle cruiser. I could just make out the name along the prow in moss-covered letters: CSS Birmingham. And standing next to the smoking cannon that had almost killed us, wearing full Greek battle armor, was none other than Clarisse.

“Losers,” she sneered. “But I suppose I have to rescue you. Come aboard.”

Forgotten to post this earlier guys😶...

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

I've been busy with moving to a new place lately..but I'll still update tho😁

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 29

(Ella's POV)

I wasn't dead. Now that was a first...

“Nora, wake up.” A voice said.

Salt water splashed on my face & Percy was shaking my shoulder. I was on a hippocampus with Percy which I hadn't noticed right away.

In the distance, the sun was setting behind a city skyline. I saw a beachside highway lined with palm trees, glowing storefronts, & a harbor filled with sail boats & cruises.

“This is Miami, I think,” Annie said. “But the hippocampi are acting funny.”

Sure enough, our fishy friends had slowed down & were whining as they swam in circles, sniffing the water.

They didn’t look happy. One of them sneezed.

“This is as far as they’ll take us,” Percy said. “Too many humans. Too much pollution. We’ll have to swim to shore on our own.”

None of us was very psyched about that, but we thanked Rainbow & his friends for the ride & got off.

Tyson cried a little. He unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he’d made, which contained his tool kit & a couple of other things he’d salvaged from the Birmingham wreck. He hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he picked up on the island, & said goodbye.

Once the hippocampi’s white manes disappeared into the sea, we swam for the shore. The waves pushed us forward, & in no time we were back in the mortal world.

We wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations. Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish & tried to cut in line for customers. If anybody noticed us-five kids dripping wet & looking like they’d just had a fight with a monster-they didn’t let on.

Now that we were back among mortals, Tyson’s single eye had blurred from the Mist. Grover put on his cap & sneakers.

Even the Fleece had transformed from a sheepskin to a red-&-gold high school jacket with a glitter Omega on its pocket.

Annie ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the Miami Herald. She cursed. “June eighteenth! We’ve been away from camp ten days!”

“That’s impossible!” Clarisse said.

But I knew it wasn’t. Time was different in monstrous places.

“Thalia’s tree must be almost dead,” Grover wailed. “We have to get the Fleece back tonight.”

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement.

“How're we supposed to do that?” Her voice trembled. “We’re hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is like the Oracle said. It’s your fault, Jackson! If you hadn’t interfered-“

"How is it-" Percy started to say.

“Percy’s fault?!” Annabeth exploded. “Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest-“

“Guys, shut up!” I said.

Percy just looked away. Clarisse put her head in hands. Annie stomped her foot in frustration.

“Clarisse,” I said, “what did the Oracle say?”

She looked up. I thought she was going to tell me off, but instead she took a deep breath & recited her prophecy:

“You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,

You shall find what you seek and make it your own,

But despair for your life entombed within stone,

And fail without friends, to fly home alone.”

“Ouch,” Grover mumbled.

“No,” Percy said. “No..wait a minute. I got it.”

He searched his pockets then said.

“Does anybody have cash?”

Annie, Grover & I shook our heads. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket & sighed.

“Cash?” Tyson asked hesitantly. “Like green paper?”

I looked at him. “Yeah.”

“Like the kind in duffel bags?”

“Yeah, but we lost those bags days a-g-g-“

Percy stuttered to a halt as Tyson rummaged his saddle pack & pulled out a Ziploc bag full of cash that Hermes had included in our supplies.

“Tyson!” I said. “How did you-“

“Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow,” he said. “Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside.”

He handed over the cash to Percy. Fives & tens, at least three hundred dollars.

Percy ran to the curb & got a taxi that just let out a family of cruise passengers.

“Clarisse,” he yelled. “Come on. You’re going to the airport. Annabeth, give her the Fleece.”

I’m not sure which of us looked more stunned as he took the Fleece jacket from Annie, tucked the cash into its pocket, & put it in Clarisse’s arms.

Clarisse said, “You’d let me-“

“It’s your quest,” he said. “We only have enough money for one flight. Besides, I can’t travel by air. Zeus would blast me into a million pieces." Percy said looking over at me & I just nod at him with a sad look.

"That’s what the prophecy meant: you’d fail without friends, meaning you’d need our help, but you’d have to fly home alone. You have to get the Fleece back safely.”

She then jumped in the cab. “You can count on me. I won’t fail.”

“Not failing would be good.” The cab peeled out in a cloud of exhaust.

“Percy,” I said, “that was so-“

“Generous?” Grover offered.

“Insane,” Annie corrected. “You’re betting everybody's lives at camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back by tonight?”

“It’s her quest,” Percy said. “She deserves a chance.”

“Percy is nice,” Tyson said.

“Percy is too nice,” Annie grumbled.

"Stop it Annie.."

“Come on,” Percy told us. “Let’s find another way home.”

That’s when he turned & found a sword’s point at his throat.

“Hey, cuz,” said Luke. “Welcome back to the States.”

His bear-man thugs appeared on either of side of us. One grabbed Annie, Grover & me by our T-shirt collars.

The other one tried to grab Tyson, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage & roared at Luke.

“Percy,” Luke said calmly, “tell your giant to back down or I’ll have Oreius bash your friends’ heads together.”

Oreius grinned & raised us off the ground, we tried kicking & screaming to no avail.

“What do you want, Luke?” Percy growled.

He smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face.

He gestured toward the end of the dock, & I noticed what should’ve been obvious. The biggest boat in port was the Princess Andromeda.

“Why,” Luke said, “I want to extend my hospitality, of course.”

The bear twins herded us aboard the Princess Andromeda. They threw us down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed water into the air.

“And so, the Fleece,” Luke mused. “Where is it?” He looked us over, prodding Percy’s shirt with the tip of his sword, poking Grover’s jeans.

“Hey!” Grover yelled. “That’s real goat fur under there!”

“Sorry, old friend.” Luke smiled. “Just give me the Fleece & I’ll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest.”

“Blaa-ha-ha!” Grover protested. “Some old friend!”

“Maybe you didn’t hear me.” Luke’s voice was dangerously calm. “Where-is-the-Fleece?”

“Not here, we sent it on ahead of us. You messed up.” Percy said.

Luke’s eyes narrowed. “You’re lying. You couldn’t have...” He froze as a horrible possibility occurred to him. “Clarisse?”

He nodded.

“You trusted...you gave...ugh..Agrius!”

The bear giant flinched. “Y-yes?”

“Get below & prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast."

“But, boss-“

“Do it!” Luke screamed. “Or I’ll feed you to the drakon!”

The bear-man gulped & lumbered down the stairs. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek. His crew looked uneasy. Maybe they’d never seen their boss so unhinged before.

I started thinking...If we could use Luke’s anger, get him to talk so everybody could hear how crazy his plans were...

I look at the swimming pool, the fountains sprayed mist in the air & made a rainbow in the sunset & I suddenly got an idea.

“You’ve been toying with us all along,” I said. “You wanted us to bring you the Fleece & save you the trouble of getting it. You're a traitor!”

Luke scowled. “You had to mess things up!”

I suddenly felt a burst of strength to break out of Oreius's grip & drop to the ground.

I heard Percy say, "Nora don't-"

But I quickly cut him off & speak to him telepathically telling him to wait. My plan was insane but it had to work. I'd seen a future vision of a group of centaurs coming to help us..I just had to buy us some time..

I dug out a gold drachma out of my pocket & threw it at Luke. As expected, he dodged easily. The coin sailed into the spray of rainbow mist. I hoped my prayer would be accepted silently. I thought: O goddess, accept my offering.

“You're an idiot! You tricked all of us!” I yelled at Luke. “Even Dionysus at Camp Half-Blood!”

Behind Luke, the fountain began to shimmer, but I needed everyone’s attention on me.

So I telepathically said to Percy. 'We've got to distract him.' He instantly understood & uncapped Riptide as I drew Starshot.

Luke just sneered. “This is no time for heroics. Drop your puny little weapons, or I’ll have you killed sooner rather than later.”

“Who poisoned Thalia’s tree, Luke?” I said.

“I did, of course,” he snarled. “I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus.”

“Chiron had nothing to do with it?” Percy continued.

“Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn’t have the guts.”

“You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?” Percy said.

Luke raised his sword. “You don’t get the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece...once I was done with it.”

That made me hesitate. Why would he let us take the Fleece? He must’ve been lying. But I knew he wasn't.

“You were going to heal Kronos,” I said.

“Yes! The Fleece’s magic would’ve sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven’t stopped us. You’ve only slowed us down a little.”

“And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, just because you were selfish. And then you set us up-to help Kronos destroy the gods.” I said.

Luke gritted his teeth. “You know that! Why do you keep asking me?”

“So that everybody in the audience can hear you!” I snapped.

“What audience?”

His eyes narrowed & he looked behind him & his goons did the same. They gasped & stumbled back.

Above the pool, was an Iris-message of Dionysus, Tantalus, & the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They sat in stunned silence, watching us.

“Well,” Dionysus said, “some unplanned dinner entertainment.”

“Mr. D, you heard Luke,” I said. “All of you did. The poisoning of the tree wasn’t Chiron’s fault.”

Mr. D sighed. “I suppose not.”

“The Iris-message can be a trick.”

Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on a cheeseburger, which he tried to corner with both hands.

“I fear not,” Mr. D said, looking distastefully at Tantalus. “I'll have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse’s pinochle games.”

Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It didn’t bolt away from him. He lifted it from the plate & stared at it in amazement.

“I got it!” he cackled.

“We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus,” Mr. D announced.

Tantalus looked stunned. “What? But-“

“You may return to the Underworld. You are dismissed.”

“No! But-Nooooooooooo!”

He dissolved into mist, his fingers tried to  eat the cheeseburger but it was too late. He disappeared & the cheeseburger fell back on the plate.

The campers exploded into cheering.

Luke was outraged. He slashed his sword through the fountain & the Iris-message dissolved. I felt good until Luke turned to give Percy & me a murderous look.

“Kronos was right. You two are unreliable weapons. You need to be replaced.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant, but I didn’t have time to think about it.

One of his men blew a whistle, & the deck doors opened as a dozen warriors poured out, & made a circle around us, the brass tips of their spears bristling.

Luke said. “You're not leaving this boat alive.”

Looooongg chapterr😮‍💨

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Hi!!! Your story is great but you might not want to tag it as x reader if you have an oc you’re writing for. Because then it’s not really x reader it’s x oc.

Thanks I'll definitely change it up😊

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 28(Part 2)

(Ella's POV)

I thought Percy was done for until a basketball sized rock sailed straight into Polyphemus’s throat.

The Cyclops choked, trying to swallow the unexpected pill.

He staggered backward, but there was no place to stagger. His heel slipped, the edge of the cliff crumbled, & the great Polyphemus made chicken wing motions that did nothing to help him fly as he tumbled into the chasm.

I turned to look back & halfway down the path to the beach, standing completely unharmed in the midst of a flock of killer sheep, was an old friend.

"Tyson!" I said.

“Bad Polyphemus,” Tyson said. “Not all Cyclopes as nice as we look.”

Tyson gave us the short version: Rainbow the hippocampus-who’d apparently been following us ever since the Long Island Sound, waiting for Tyson to play with him-had found Tyson sinking beneath the wreckage of the CSS Birmingham & pulled him to safety. He & Tyson had been searching the Sea of Monsters ever since, trying to find us, until Tyson caught the scent of sheep & found this island.

Percy & I wanted to hug the big guy, except he was standing in the middle of killer sheep.

“Tyson, thank the gods. Annabeth is hurt!” Percy said.

“You thank the gods she is hurt?” he asked, puzzled.

“No!”

Meanwhile, I knelt beside Annie & was worried sick by what I saw.

The gash on her forehead was worse than I’d realized. Her hairline was sticky with blood. Her skin was pale.

Percy, Grover & I exchanged nervous looks. Then Percy suddenly said.

“Tyson, the Fleece. Can you get it for me?”

“Which one?” Tyson said, looking around at the hundreds of sheep.

“In the tree!” I said. “The gold one!”

“Oh. Pretty. Yes.”

Tyson lumbered over, careful not to step on the sheep.

If any of us tried to approach the Fleece, we would’ve been eaten alive, but I guess Tyson smelled like Polyphemus, because the flock didn’t bother him at all. They just cuddled up to him & bleated affectionately, as though they expected to get sheep treats from the big wicker basket.

Tyson reached up & lifted the Fleece off its branch.

Immediately the leaves on the oak tree turned yellow. Tyson started wading back towards us, but I said, “No time! Throw it!”

The gold ram skin sailed through the air like a glittering shag Frisbee. Percy caught it with a grunt.

We spread it over Annabeth, covering everything but her face, & prayed silently to all the gods we could think of.

The color returned to her face. Her eyelids fluttered open. The cut on her forehead began to close.

She saw Grover & said weakly, “You’re not…married?”

Grover grinned. “No. My friends talked me out of it.”

“Annie,” I said, “lay still...”

But despite our protests she sat up, & I noticed that the cut on her face was almost completely healed. She looked a lot better. In fact, she shimmered with health, as if someone had injected her with glitter.

Meanwhile, Tyson was starting to have trouble with the sheep. “Down!” he told them as they tried to climb him, looking for food.

A few were sniffing in our direction. “No, sheepies. This way! Come here!”

They heeded him, but it was obvious they were hungry, & they started realizing Tyson didn’t have treats for them. They wouldn’t hold out forever with fresh meat nearby.

“We have to go,” Percy said. “Our ship is…” The Queen Anne’s Revenge was a very long way away. The shortest route was across the chasm, & we’d just destroyed the only bridge. The only other possibility was through the sheep.

“Tyson,” I called, “can you lead the flock as far away as possible?”

“The sheep want food.”

“I know! They want people food! Just lead them away from the path. Give us time to get to the beach. Then join us there.”

Tyson looked doubtful, but he said.

“Come, sheepies! Um, people food this way!”

He jogged off into the meadow, the sheep in pursuit.

“Keep the Fleece around you,” Percy said to Annie. “Just in case you’re not fully healed yet. Can you stand?”

She tried, but her face turned pale again. “Ohh. Not fully healed.”

I felt her chest, which made Annabeth gasp.

“Ribs are broken,” I said. “They’re mending, but definitely broken.”

“How can you tell?” Percy asked.

"It's kinda obvious. Clarisse can you carry her...?"

Clarisse picked her up like a sack of flour & lugged her down to the beach while Percy, Grover & I followed.

As soon as we got to the edge of the water, we heard Tyson yell.

“Incoming!” He was bounding down the path to join us, the sheep about fifty yards behind, bleating in frustration as their Cyclops friend ran without feeding them.

“They probably won’t follow us into the water,” Percy told us. “All we have to do is swim for the ship.”

“With Annabeth like this?” Clarisse protested.

“We can do it,” Percy insisted.

We almost made it, too.

We were just wading past the entrance to the ravine, when we heard a tremendous roar & saw Polyphemus, scraped up & bruised but still very much alive, his baby-blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashing toward us with a boulder in each hand.

“You’d think he’d run out of rocks,” Percy muttered.

"Of course he wouldn't." I grumbled.

“Swim for it!” Grover said.

He & Clarisse plunged into the surf. Annie hung on to Clarisse’s neck & tried to paddle with one hand, the wet Fleece weighing her down. But the monster’s attention wasn’t on the Fleece.

“You, young Cyclops!” Polyphemus roared. “Traitor to your kind!”

Tyson froze.

“Don’t listen to him!” I said. “Come on.”

Percy pulled Tyson’s arm, but he might as well had been pulling a mountain.

He turned & faced the older Cyclops. “I am not a traitor.”

“You serve mortals!” Polyphemus shouted. “Thieving humans!”

Polyphemus threw his first boulder. Tyson swatted it aside with his fist.

“Not a traitor,” Tyson said. “And you are not my kind.”

“Death or victory!” Polyphemus charged into the surf, but his foot was wounded. He immediately stumbled & fell on his face. That would’ve been funny, except he got up again, spitting salt water & growling.

“Percy!” I yelled. “Come on!”

“Go,” Tyson told us. “I will hold Big Ugly.”

“No! He’ll kill you. We’ll fight him together.” Percy said.

“Together,” Tyson agreed.

Percy drew his sword.

Polyphemus advanced carefully, limping worse than ever. But there was nothing wrong with his throwing arm.

Eventually Percy & Tyson began to battle against him & I could see them fighting out of the corner of my eye.

At some point Polyphemus roared. He ripped an olive tree out of the side of the cliff & smashed it where Percy had been standing a moment before.

“Humans not the same! Nasty, tricky, lying!”

Grover & I helped Annie aboard the ship. Clarisse was waving frantically at Percy, telling him to come on.

I saw them run towards the ship trying to get away & knew I had to do something to buy them some time.

I closed my eyes & felt power surge through me as I summoned a lightning strike down on the Cyclops. It wasn't enough to kill him but it was enough to daze him for a few minutes.

Percy & Tyson were almost to the ship when Clarisse shouted from the deck, “Yeah, Jackson! In your face, Cyclops!”

“Rarrr!” Polyphemus picked up a boulder. He threw it toward the sound of Clarisse’s voice, but it fell short, narrowly missing.

“Yeah, yeah!” Clarisse taunted. “You throw like a wimp! Teach you to try marrying me, you idiot!”

“Clarisse!” I said. “Shut up!”

Too late. Polyphemus threw another boulder, & this time I watched helplessly as it crashed through the hull of the Queen Anne’s Revenge.

The Queen Anne’s Revenge creaked, groaned & listed forward like it was going down a playground slide.

We were sinking fast, trying to swim, without luck, in the bubbly trail of the ship’s wreckage.

Not many people realize that a sinking ship acts like a sinkhole, & it pulls everything with it.

Clarisse was a strong swimmer, but even she wasn’t making progress. Grover frantically kicked with his hooves. Annie was hanging on to the Fleece, which flashed in the water like a wave of pennies.

I knew that I didn't have the strength to try & save my friends much less save myself..

I felt like I was losing myself slowly as I ran out of air & before I knew it I blacked out..

Ciffhangerrrr...again😌

I know I know...but I'll upload the next chapter soon dw..

But yeah, another long chapter for you guys..🙃

Until next time..👋🏻

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 28(Part 1)

(Percy's POV)

Nora & I dropped off our rides, patted the sheep on the head, & apologized. We searched the main room, but there was no sign of Grover or Clarisse.

We pushed through the crowd of sheep & goats toward the back of the cave.

Even though I’d dreamed about this place, we had a hard time finding our way through the maze. We ran down corridors littered with bones, past rooms full of sheepskin rugs & life-size cement sheep that I recognized as the work of Medusa.

There were collections of sheep T-shirts; large tubs of lanolin cream; & wooly coats, socks, & hats with ram’s horns. Finally, we found the spinning room, where Grover was huddled in the corner, trying to cut Clarisse’s bonds with a pair of safety scissors.

“It’s no good,” Clarisse said. “This rope is like iron!”

“Just a few more minutes!”

“Grover,” she cried, exasperated. “You’ve been working at it for hours!”

And then they saw us.

“Percy? Nora?” Clarisse said. “You two were supposed to be blown up!”

“Good to see you, too, Clarisse.“ Nora grumbles.

"Now hold still while I-"

“Perrrrrcy!” Grover bleated & tackled me with a goat-hug.

“Yeah, buddy,” I said. “Of course we came.”

"Nora! You came too?!" Grover said as he wrapped her in a big hug as well.

"Well...duh, you big oaf. You thought we'd let you die just like that?" Grover chuckles.

“Where’s Annabeth?”

“Outside,” Nora said. “But there’s no time to talk. Clarisse, hold still.”

I uncapped Riptide & sliced off her ropes. She stood stiffly, rubbing her wrists.

She glared at me for a moment, then looked at the ground & mumbled.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” I said. “Now, was anyone else on board your lifeboat?”

Clarisse looked surprised. “No. Just me. Everybody else aboard the Birmingham well, I didn’t even know you guys made it out.”

I looked down, trying not to believe that my last hope of seeing Tyson alive had just been crushed. Nora places her hand on my shoulder as a way of asking if I was okay & I just nod in response.

“Okay. Come on, then. We have to help-“

An explosion echoed through the cave, followed by a scream that told me we might be too late. It was Annabeth crying out in fear.

“I got Nobody!” Polyphemus gloated.

We crept to the cave entrance & saw the Cyclops, grinning wickedly, holding up empty air. The monster shook his fist, & a baseball cap fluttered to the ground.

There was Annabeth, hanging upside down by her legs.

“Hah!” the Cyclops said. “Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. Means you gotta be grilled with mango chutney!”

Annabeth struggled, but she looked dazed. She had a nasty cut on her forehead. Her eyes were glassy.

“I’ll rush him,” I whispered to Clarisse. “Our ship is around the back of the island. You, Nora & Grover-“

“No way,” they all said at the same time. Clarisse had armed herself with a highly collectible rams-horn spear from the Cyclops’s cave. Nora had her sword, stormcatcher. While Grover had found a sheep’s thigh bone, which he wasn't too happy about, but he gripped it like a club, ready to attack.

“We’ll take him together,” Clarisse growled.

“Yeah,” Grover said. Then he blinked, like he couldn’t believe he’d just agreed with Clarisse about something.

Nora giggled which made Grover give her the side eye.

“Alright,” I said. “Attack plan Macedonia.”

They nodded. We’d all taken the same training courses at Camp Half-Blood. They knew what I was talking about.

They would sneak around either side & attack the Cyclops from the flanks while I held his attention in the front.

What this meant was..we'd all die instead of just me, but I was grateful for the help.

I hefted my sword & shouted, “Hey, Ugly!”

The giant whirled toward me. “Another one? Who are you?”

“Put down my friend. I’m the one who insulted you.”

“You are Nobody?”

“That’s right, you smelly bucket of nose drool!” It didn’t sound quite as good as Annabeth’s insults, but it was all I could think of. “I’m Nobody & I’m proud of it! Now, put her down & get over here. I want to stab your eye out again.”

“RAAAR!” he bellowed.

The good news: he dropped Annabeth. The bad news: he dropped her headfirst onto the rocks, where she lay motionless as a rag doll.

The other bad news: Polyphemus barreled toward me, a thousand pounds of Cyclops that I had to fight with a very small sword.

“For Pan!” Grover rushed in from the right. He threw his sheep bone, which bounced harmlessly off the monster’s forehead. Clarisse ran in from the left & set her spear against the ground just in time for the Cyclops to step on it.

He wailed in pain, and Clarisse dove out of the way to avoid getting trampled. But the Cyclops just plucked out the shaft like a large splinter & kept advancing on me.

I moved in with Riptide. Nora was right beside me. We shared a look for a few seconds before nodding to each other almost like we knew what had to be done without saying it out loud.

The monster made a grab for me. I rolled aside & stabbed him in the thigh. I was hoping to see him disintegrate, but this monster was much too big & powerful.

“Get Annabeth!” Nora yelled at Grover.

He rushed over, grabbed her invisibility cap, & picked her up while Clarisse, Nora & I tried to keep Polyphemus distracted.

I have to admit, Clarisse was brave. She charged the Cyclops again & again. He pounded the ground, stomped at her, grabbed at her, but she was too quick.

As soon as she made an attack, I followed up by stabbing the monster in the toe or the ankle or the hand.

At one point Nora stabbed him in the knee & my heart froze because the Cyclops was about to step on her but she just barely ducked out of the way & I sighed in relief. When she arrived at my side I said.

"Maybe try not to give me a heart attack next time you know.." She chuckled & said.

"Aww, would you miss me if something happened?"

I blushed & wanted to tell her that I definitely would but I stopped myself.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grover carrying Annabeth across the rope bridge. It wouldn’t have been my first choice, given the man-eating sheep on that side, but that was better than this side, & it gave me an idea.

“Fall back!” I said.

Clarrise rolled away as the Cyclops’s fist smashed the olive tree beside her.

We ran for the bridge, Polyphemus right behind us. He was cut up & hobbling from so many wounds, but all we’d done was slow him down & make him mad.

“Grind you into sheep chow!” he promised. “A thousand curses on Nobody!”

“Faster!” I told them.

We tore down the hill. The bridge was our only chance. Grover had just made it to the other side & was setting Annabeth down. We had to make it across, too, before the giant caught us.

“Grover!” I yelled. “Get Annabeth’s knife!”

His eyes widened when he saw the Cyclops behind us, but he nodded. As Nora, Clarisse & I scrambled across the bridge, Grover began sawing at the ropes.

The first strand went snap!

Polyphemus bounded after us, making the bridge sway wildly. The ropes were now half cut. We dove for solid ground, landing beside Grover.

I made a wild slash with my sword & cut the remaining ropes.

The bridge fell away into the chasm, & the Cyclops howled...with delight, because he was standing right next to us.

“Failed!” he yelled gleefully. “Nobody failed!”

Clarisse & Grover tried to charge him, while Nora checked on Annabeth but the monster swatted them aside like flies.

My anger swelled. I couldn’t believe I’d come this far, lost Tyson & suffered, only to fail-stopped by a stupid monster in a baby-blue tuxedo kilt. Nobody was going to swat down my friends like that! I mean...nobody, not Nobody.

Ah, you know what I mean..

Strength coursed through me. I raised my sword & attacked, not knowing that I was hopelessly outmatched. I jabbed the Cyclops in the belly.

When he doubled over I smacked his nose with the hilt of my sword. I slashed, kicked & bashed until, Polyphemus was sprawled on his back, dazed & I was standing above him, the tip of my sword hovering over his eye.

“Uhhhhhhhh,” Polyphemus moaned.

“Percy!” Grover gasped.

“How did you-“ Nora started to say.

“Please, noooo!” the Cyclops moaned, pitifully staring at me. His nose was bleeding. A tear welled in the corner of his half-blind eye. “M-my sheepies need me. Only trying to protect my sheep!”

He began to sob.

I had won. All I had to do was stab-one quick strike.

“Kill him!” Clarisse yelled. “What are you waiting for?”

The Cyclops sounded so heartbroken, just like...like Tyson.

“He’s a Cyclops!” Grover warned. “Don’t trust him!”

"Percy snap out of it. I'm sorry...but, he isn't Tyson." Nora said.

I knew they was right. I knew Annabeth would’ve said the same thing.

But Polyphemus sobbed..& for the first time it sank in that he was a son of Poseidon, too. Like Tyson. Like me. How could I just kill him in cold blood?

“We only want the Fleece,” I told the monster. “Will you agree to let us take it?”

“No!” Clarisse shouted. “Kill him!”

The monster sniffed. “My beautiful Fleece. Prize of my collection. Take it, cruel human. Take it and go in peace.”

“I’m going to step back,” I told the monster. “One false move..”

Polyphemus nodded like he understood. I stepped back but Polyphemus swiftly smacked me to the edge of the cliff.

“Foolish mortal!” he bellowed, rising to his feet. “Take my Fleece? Ha! I eat you first.”

He opened his enormous mouth, & I knew that his rotten molars were the last things I would ever see....

Ciffhangerrrr...😈

But yes it's another long chapter.😮‍💨

This book is almost coming to an end as well..🥹

I'd like to thank all my lovely readers for sticking around even though it hasn't been easy..y'all deserve the world for it..🫶🏻

I think I'll be doing a maximum of like 6-8 chapters here before I meet u guys in the next book!!

I'm soooo excited for that one too..

I've rambled enough now so..😅

Until next time..👋🏻

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 27

(Percy's POV)

Below us in the cave were Polyphemus & Grover, still in his wedding dress. Clarisse was tied up, hanging upside down over a pot of boiling water. I was half hoping to see Tyson down there, too. Even if he’d been in danger, at least I would’ve known he was alive. But there was no sign of him.

“Hmm,” Polyphemus pondered. “Eat loud mouth girl now or wait for wedding feast? What does my bride think?”

He turned to Grover, who backed up & almost tripped over his completed bridal train. “Oh, um, I’m not hungry right now, dear. Perhaps-“

“Did you say bride?” Clarisse demanded. “Who-Grover?”

Next to me, Annabeth muttered, “Shut up. She has to shut up.”

Polyphemus glowered. “What Grover?”

“The satyr!” Clarisse yelled.

“Oh!” Grover yelped. “The poor thing’s brain is boiling from that hot water. Pull her down, dear!”

Polyphemus’s eyelids narrowed over his baleful milky eye, as if he were trying to see Clarisse more clearly.

The Cyclops was an even more horrible sight than he had been in my dreams.

Partly because his rancid smell was now up close & personal. Partly because he was dressed in his wedding outfit-a crude kilt & shoulder-wrap, stitched together from baby-blue tuxedoes, as if the he’d skinned an entire wedding party.

“What satyr?” asked Polyphemus. “Satyrs are good eating. You bring me a satyr?”

“No, you big idiot!” bellowed Clarisse. “That satyr! Grover! The one in the wedding dress!”

I wanted to wring Clarisse’s neck, but it was too late. All I could do was watch as Polyphemus turned & ripped off Grover’s wedding veil-revealing his curly hair, his scruffy adolescent beard, his tiny horns.

Polyphemus breathed heavily, trying to contain his anger. “I don’t see very well,” he growled. “Not since many years ago when the other hero stabbed me in eye. But YOU’RE NO LADY CYCLOPS!”

The Cyclops grabbed Grover’s dress & tore it away. Underneath, the old Grover reappeared in his jeans & T-shirt. He yelped & ducked as the monster swiped over his head.

“Stop!” Grover pleaded. “Don’t eat me raw! I-I have a good recipe!”

I reached for my sword, but Nora said, “Wait!”

Polyphemus was hesitating, a boulder in his hand, ready to smash his would-be bride.

“Recipe?” he asked Grover.

“Oh y-yes! You don’t want to eat me raw. You’ll get E coli & botulism & all sorts of horrible things. I’ll taste much better grilled over a slow fire...with mango chutney! You could go get some mangos right now, down there in the woods. I’ll just wait here.”

The monster pondered this. My heart hammered against my ribs. I figured I’d die if I charged. But I couldn’t let the monster kill Grover.

“Grilled satyr with mango chutney,” Polyphemus mused. He looked back at Clarisse, still hanging over the pot of boiling water. “You a satyr, too?”

“No, you overgrown pile of dung!” she yelled. “I’m a girl! The daughter of Ares! Now untie me so I can rip your arms off!”

“Rip my arms off,” Polyphemus repeated.

“Let me down!”

Polyphemus snatched up Grover as if he were a wayward puppy. “Have to graze sheep now. Wedding postponed until tonight. Then we’ll eat satyr for the main course!”

“But...you’re still getting married?” Grover sounded hurt. “Who’s the bride?”

Polyphemus looked toward the boiling pot.

Clarisse made a strangled sound. “Oh, no! You can’t be serious. I’m not-“

Before Nora, Annabeth or I could do anything, Polyphemus plucked her off the rope like she was a ripe apple, & tossed her & Grover deep into the cave.

“Make yourself comfortable! I come back at sundown for big event!”

Then the Cyclops whistled, & a mixed flock of goats & sheep-smaller than the man-eaters flooded out of the cave & past their master. As they went out to the pasture, Polyphemus patted some on the back & called them by name- Beltbuster, Tammany, Lockhart, etc.

When the last sheep had waddled out, Polyphemus rolled a boulder in front of the doorway as easily as I would close a refrigerator door, shutting off the sound of Clarisse & Grover screaming inside.

“Mangoes,” Polyphemus grumbled to himself. “What are mangoes?”

He strolled off down the mountain in his baby-blue groom’s outfit, leaving us alone with a pot of boiling water & a six-ton boulder.

We tried for what seemed like hours, but it was no good. The boulder wouldn’t move. We yelled into the cracks, tapped on the rock, did everything we could think of to get a signal to Grover, but if he heard us, we couldn’t tell.

Even if by some miracle we managed to kill Polyphemus, it wouldn’t do us any good. Grover & Clarisse would die inside that sealed cave. The only way to move the rock was to have the Cyclops do it.

In total frustration, Nora & I stabbed our swords against the boulder. Sparks flew, but nothing else happened. A large rock isn’t the kind of enemy you fight with a magic sword.

Nora, Annabeth & I sat on the ridge in despair & watched the distant baby-blue shape of the Cyclops as he moved among his flocks.

He had wisely divided his animals from his man-eating sheep, putting each group on either side of the huge crevice that divided the island.

The only way across was the rope bridge, & the planks were much too far apart for sheep hooves.

We watched as Polyphemus visited his carnivorous flock on the far side.

Unfortunately, they didn’t eat him. In fact, they didn’t bother him at all.

He fed them chunks of mystery meat from a wicker basket, which only reinforced the feelings I’d been having since Circe turned me into a guinea pig- that maybe it was time I joined Grover & became a vegetarian.

“Trickery,” Annabeth decided. “We can’t beat him by force, so we’ll have to use trickery.”

“Okay,” I said. “What trick?’

“Oh, she hasn’t figured that part out yet.” Nora mumbled.

"Shut up, Nora."

“Great.” I said.

“Polyphemus will have to move the rock to let the sheep inside.” Nora said.

“At sunset,” I said. “Which is when he’ll marry Clarisse & have Grover for dinner. I’m not sure which is grosser.”

“I could get inside,” Annabeth said, “invisibly.”

“What about me?”

"And me?" Nora added.

“The sheep,” Annabeth mused. She gave us one of those sly looks that always made me wary. “How much do you guys like sheep?”

“Just don’t let go!” Annabeth said, standing invisibly somewhere off to our right. I’d crawled under a car before to change my mom’s oil, & this wasn’t too different. The sheep didn’t care.

Even the Cyclops’s smallest sheep were big enough to support my weight, & they had thick wool. I just twirled the stuff into handles for my hands, hooked my feet against the sheep’s thigh bones, and presto-I felt like a baby wallaby, riding around against the sheep’s chest, trying to keep the wool out of my mouth & my nose.

Nora had also done the same & we were silently praying we didn't get caught.

The sun was going down.

No sooner was I in position that the Cyclops roared, “Oy! Goaties! Sheepies!”

The flock dutifully began trudging back up the slopes toward the cave.

“This is it!” Annabeth whispered. “I’ll be close by. Don’t worry.”

I made a silent promise to the gods that if we survived this, I’d tell Annabeth she was a genius. The frightening thing was, I knew the gods would hold me to it.

Our sheep taxis started plodding up the hill. After a hundred yards, my hands & feet started to hurt from holding on. I gripped the sheep’s wool more tightly, & the animal made a grumbling sound.

I didn’t blame it. I wouldn’t want anybody rock climbing in my hair either. But if I didn’t hold on, I was sure I’d fall off right there in front of the monster.

“Hasenpfeffer!” the Cyclops said, patting the sheep in front of me under which Nora was.

“Widget-eh there, Widget!” Polyphemus patted my sheep & nearly knocked me to the ground.

“Putting on some extra mutton there?”

Uh-oh, I thought. Here it comes.

But Polyphemus just laughed & swatted the sheep’s rear end, propelling us forward. “Go on, fatty! Soon Polyphemus will eat you for breakfast!”

And just like that, we were in the cave.

We could see the last of the sheep coming inside. If Annabeth didn’t pull off her distraction soon...

The Cyclops was about to roll the stone back into place, when from somewhere outside Annabeth shouted, “Hello, ugly!”

Polyphemus stiffened. “Who said that?”

“Nobody!” Annabeth yelled.

That got exactly the reaction she’d been hoping for. The monster’s face turned red with rage.

“Nobody!” Polyphemus yelled back. “I remember you!”

“You’re too stupid to remember anybody,” Annabeth taunted. “Much less Nobody.”

Polyphemus bellowed furiously, grabbed the nearest boulder (which happened to be his front door) & threw it toward the sound of Annabeth’s voice. I heard the rock smash into a thousand fragments.

For a terrible moment, there was silence. Then Annabeth shouted, “You haven’t learned to throw any better, either!”

Polyphemus howled. “Come here! Let me kill you, Nobody!”

“You can’t kill Nobody, you stupid oaf,” she taunted. “Come find me!”

Polyphemus barreled down the hill toward her voice.

Now, the “Nobody” thing wouldn’t have made sense to anybody, but Nora had explained to me that it was the name Odysseus had used to trick Polyphemus centuries ago, right before he poked the Cyclops’s eye out with a large hot stick.

Nora figured Polyphemus would still have a grudge about that name, & she was right.

In his frenzy to find his old enemy, he forgot about resealing the cave entrance.

I just hoped Annabeth could stay alive and keep distracting him long enough for Nora & me to find Grover & Clarisse.

Yessss! It's a long chapter to make up for not updating for soo long...😮‍💨

Anywhoo..

Hope you guys enjoy it!😉

Until next time..👋🏻

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Comment, like & share.

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 26

(Ella's POV)

When you think “monster island”, you think craggy rocks & bones scattered on the beach like the island of the Sirens.

The Cyclops’s island was nothing like that.

I mean, okay, it had a rope bridge across a chasm, which was not a good sign. You might as well put up a billboard that said, SOMETHING EVIL LIVES HERE.

But except for that, the place looked like a Caribbean postcard. It had green fields, tropical fruit trees & white beaches.

As we sailed toward the shore, Annie breathed in the sweet air & said. “The Fleece.”

I nodded. I couldn’t see the Fleece yet, but I could feel its power. I could believe it would heal anything, even Thalia’s poisoned tree.

“If we take it away, will the island die?” Percy asked.

Annie shook her head. “It’ll fade. Go back to what it would be normally, whatever it is.”

I felt a little guilty about ruining this paradise, but I reminded myself that we had no choice. Camp Half-Blood was in trouble.

Even Tyson...Tyson would still be with us if it wasn’t for this quest.

In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep were milling around. They looked peaceful enough, but they were huge-the size of hippos.

Just past them was a path that led up into the hills.

At the top of the path, near the edge of the canyon, was a massive oak tree.

Something gold glittered in its branches.

“This is too easy,” Percy said. “We could just hike up there & take it?”

“There’s supposed be a guardian. A dragon or...” I said.

That’s when a deer emerged from the bushes. It trotted into the meadow, looking for grass to eat, when the sheep all bleated at once & rushed the animal.

It happened so fast that the deer stumbled & was lost in a sea of wool & trampling hooves.

Grass & tufts of fur flew into the air.

A second later the sheep all moved away, back to their regular peaceful wanderings.

Where the deer had been was a pile of clean white bones.

Percy, Annie & I exchanged looks.

“They’re like piranhas,” she said.

“Piranhas with wool. How will we-“ Percy started to say.

“Guys!” Annie gasped, grabbing my arm. “Look.”

She pointed down the beach, to just below the sheep meadow, where a small boat had been run aground...the other lifeboat from the CSS Birmingham.

We decided there was no way we could get past the man-eating sheep.

Annie wanted to sneak up the path invisibly & grab the Fleece, but in the end Percy & I convinced her that something would go wrong.

The sheep would definitely smell her.

Another guardian would appear.

Something. And if that happened, we’d be too far away to help her.

Besides, our first job was to find Grover & whoever had come ashore in that lifeboat-assuming they’d gotten past the sheep. I was secretly hoping...that Tyson might still be alive.

I could tell that it was affecting Percy a lot even though he was trying really hard not to let it show...

We moored the Queen Anne’s Revenge on the back side of the island where the cliffs rose straight up a good two hundred feet.

Because the ship was less likely to be seen there. The cliffs looked climbable, barely-about as difficult as the lava wall back at camp. At least it was free of sheep.

I hoped that Polyphemus did not also keep carnivorous mountain goats.

We rowed a lifeboat to the edge of the rocks & made our way up, very slowly.

I went first because Percy & Annie decided that I was the better climber.

We only came close to dying six or seven times, which I thought was pretty good.

Once, I lost my grip & found myself dangling by one hand from a ledge fifty feet above the rocky surf. But I found another handhold & kept climbing.

A minute later Annie hit a slippery patch of moss & her foot slipped.

Fortunately, she found something else to put it against. Unfortunately, that something was Percy's face.

“Sorry,” she murmured.

“S’okay,” He grunted, & I was secretly glad that I wasn't the one to find out what Annie’s sneaker tasted like.

Finally, when my fingers felt like molten lead & my arm muscles were shaking from exhaustion, we hauled ourselves over the top of the cliff & collapsed.

“Ugh,” I said.

"Oof," Percy said.

“Ouch,” moaned Annabeth.

“Garrr!” bellowed another voice.

If I hadn’t been so tired, I would’ve leaped another two hundred feet.

I whirled around, but I couldn’t see who’d spoken.

Annie clamped her hand over my mouth. She pointed.

The ledge we were sitting on was narrower than I’d realized.

It dropped off on the opposite side, & that’s where the voice was coming from-right below us.

“You’re a feisty one!” the deep voice bellowed.

“Challenge me!” It was Clarisse’s voice, no doubt about it. “Give me back my sword & I’ll fight you!”

The monster roared with laughter.

Percy, Annie & I shared a look before creeping to the edge which was right above the entrance of the cyclops cave.

😩🫣....

Plsss don't kill meee!!

Anyways..hope u enjoy the chapter😌

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 25(Part-2)

(Ella's POV)

The moment Percy jumped of the ship I felt my heart jump into my throat.

Sure yeah I know that he's the son of the sea god & all, of course I know that!

But just picture your crush jumping off a high building or something?

Exactly!

That's what I felt...phew...

Anyways..moving on..

As soon as he jumped off the ship I did the first thing that came to mind: I screamed.

Didn't really make a difference because by then he was already in the water. Percy had somehow managed to catch up to Annie.

And at some point I noticed him submerging themselves underwater, after which they had disappeared for a good ten minutes.

Now I knew the fact that Percy could breathe underwater, but Annie couldn't! That's what got me worried.

But I trusted the fact that Percy wouldn't let anything happen to her either.

I flinched as one of the rope ladders suddenly dropped over the side of the ship, & they climbed aboard.

Percy & I kept my earplugs in, just to be sure. We sailed until the island was completely out of sight. Annie sat huddled in a blanket on the forward deck.

Finally she looked up, dazed & sad, & mouthed, safe.

We took out the earplugs. No singing.

The afternoon was quiet except for the sound of the waves against the hull. The fog had burned away to a blue sky, as if the island of the Sirens had never existed.

“You okay?” I asked. The moment I said it, I realized how lame that sounded. Of course she wasn’t okay.

“I didn’t realize,” she murmured.

“What?” Percy asked.

Her eyes were the same color as the mist over the Sirens’ island. “How powerful the temptation would be.”

“I saw the way you rebuilt Manhattan,” Percy told her. “And Luke & your parents.”

At that I gave Percy a questioning glance but he mouthed 'I'll tell you later'. So I just nodded in response.

Annie blushed & replied. “You saw that?”

“What Luke told you back on the Princess Andromeda, about starting the world from scratch...that really got to you, huh?”

She pulled her blanket around herself & continued. “My fatal flaw. That’s what the Sirens showed me. My fatal flaw is hubris.”

Percy blinked. “That brown stuff they spread on veggie sandwiches?”

I snorted.

“No, Perce. That’s hummus. Hubris is worse.” I say whilst shaking my head.

“What could be worse than hummus?”

“Hubris means deadly pride, Percy. Thinking you can do things better than anyone else...even the gods.” Annie replied.

“You feel that way?” I asked.

She looked down. “Don’t you ever feel like, what if the world really is messed up? What if we could do it all over again from scratch? No more war. Nobody homeless. No more summer reading homework.”

“We're listening.” Percy said.

“I mean, the West represents a lot of the best things mankind ever did-that’s why the fire is still burning. That’s why Olympus is still around. But sometimes you just see the bad stuff, you know? And you start thinking the way Luke does: ‘If I could tear this all down, I would do it better.’ Don’t you ever feel that way? Like you could do a better job if you ran the world?”

“Um...no. Me running the world would kind of be a nightmare.” Percy said.

"Yeah, I'll pass too. That isn't really high on my bucket list..." I added.

“Then you two are lucky. Hubris isn’t your fatal flaw.”

“What is?” Percy asked.

“I don’t know, but every hero has one. If you don’t find it & learn to control it...well, they don’t call it ‘fatal’ for nothing.”

I thought about that. It didn’t exactly cheer me up.

I also noticed Annie didn’t say much about the personal things she would change. I understood.

I didn’t want to admit how many times I’d dreamed of getting my own family back...

“So was it worth it?” Percy asked Annie. “Do you feel...wiser?”

She gazed into the distance. “I’m not sure. But we have to save the camp. If we don’t stop Luke...”

She didn’t need to finish. If Luke’s way of thinking could even tempt Annie, there was no telling how many other half-bloods might join him.

My powers acted up slightly & I got the feeling I was missing something.

Something terrible that Kronos was planning. The fact that whatever he was planning had the power to destroy the whole world in a heartbeat...

Suddenly Annie’s eyes widened. “Percy.”

We turned.

Up ahead was another blotch of land-a saddle-shaped island with forested hills & white beaches & green meadows-just like I’d seen in my dreams.

I looked over at Percy & he nodded in confirmation. 30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west.

We had reached the home of the Cyclops....

Ahhhhhh!!!!!

I'm not even gonna start explaining this time..😬

But I'll definitely say this...

I'M REALLY REALLY SORRY..🥺

Hope u guys can forgive me for the extremely long wait...due to the unexpected exams that I'd been bombarded with...🫣

I'm determined this time n I'm gonna get this book done with asap..pinky promise..🫶🏻

Hope u enjoy the chapter tho😉

Do let me know if u find any errors..

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 25(Part-1)

(Percy's POV)

“Ah!” I sat bolt upright in my hammock.

Annabeth was shaking me. “Percy, you're having a nightmare. You need to get up.”

“Wh-what is it?” I rubbed my eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Land,” she said grimly. “We’re approaching the island of the Sirens.”

I could barely make out the island ahead of us-just a dark spot in the mist.

“I want you to do me a favor,” Annabeth said. “The Sirens...we’ll be in range of their singing soon.”

I remembered stories about the Sirens. They sang so sweetly their voices enchanted sailors & lured them to their death.

“No problem,” I assured her. “We can just stop up our ears. There’s a big tub of candle wax below deck-“

“I want to hear them.”

I blinked. “Why?”

“They say the Sirens sing the truth about what you desire. They tell you things about yourself you didn’t even realize. That’s what’s so enchanting. If you survive...you become wiser. I want to hear them. How often will I get that chance?”

Coming from most people, this would’ve made no sense.

But Annabeth being who she was-well, if she could struggle through Ancient Greek architecture books & enjoy documentaries on the History Channel, I guessed the Sirens would appeal to her, too.

She told me her plan. Reluctantly, I helped her get ready.

As soon as the rocky coastline of the island came into view, I ordered one of the ropes to wrap around Annabeth’s waist, tying her to the foremast.

“Don’t untie me,” she said, “no matter what happens or how much I plead. I’ll want to go straight over the edge & drown myself.”

“Are you trying to tempt me?”

“Ha-ha.”

I promised I’d keep her secure. Then I took four large wads of candle wax, kneaded them into earplugs, & handed two to Nora & then stuffed two into my ears.

Annabeth nodded sarcastically, letting me know the earplugs were a real fashion statement. I made a face at her & turned to the pilot’s wheel.

The silence was eerie. I couldn’t hear anything but the rush of blood in my head.

As we approached the island, jagged rocks loomed out of the fog. I willed the Queen Anne’s Revenge to skirt around them. If we sailed any closer, those rocks would shred our hull like blender blades.

I glanced back. At first, Annabeth seemed totally normal. Then she got a puzzled look on her face. Her eyes widened.

She strained against the ropes. She called my name-I could tell just from reading her lips. Her expression was clear: She had to get out. This was life or death. I had to let her out of the ropes right now.

She seemed so miserable it was hard not to cut her free.

I forced myself to look away. I urged the Queen Anne’s Revenge to go faster.

I still couldn’t see much of the island just mist & rocks-but floating in the water were pieces of wood & fiber glass, the wreckage of old ships, even some flotation cushions from airplanes.

How could music cause so many lives to veer off course? I mean, sure, there were some Top Forty songs that made me want to take a fiery nosedive, but still...what could the Sirens possibly sing about?

For one dangerous moment, I understood Annabeth’s curiosity. I was tempted to take out the earplugs, just to get a taste of the song. I could feel the Sirens’ voices vibrating in the timbers of the ship, pulsing along with the roar of blood in my ears.

Annabeth was pleading with me. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She strained against the ropes, as if they were holding her back from everything she cared about.

How could you be so cruel? She seemed to be asking me. I thought you were my friend.

I glared at the misty island. I wanted to uncap my sword, but there was nothing to fight. How do you fight a song?

I tried hard not to look at Annabeth. I looked at Nora & noticed her also avoiding managed it for about five minutes.

That was my big mistake.

When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I looked back & found...a heap of cut ropes. An empty mast. Annabeth’s bronze knife lay on the deck. Somehow, she’d managed to wriggle it into her hand. I’d totally forgotten to disarm her.

I rushed to the side of the boat & saw her, paddling madly for the island, the waves carried her straight toward the jagged rocks.

I screamed her name, but if she heard me, it didn’t do any good. She was entranced, swimming toward her death.

I looked back at the pilot’s wheel & yelled, “Stay!”

Then I jumped over the side.

But before I hit the water I heard Nora yell out, "Percy, no!!"

I sliced into the water & willed the currents to bend around me, making a jet stream that shot me forward.

I came to the surface & spotted Annabeth, but a wave caught her, sweeping her between two razor-sharp fangs of rock.

I had no choice. I plunged after her.

I dove under the wrecked hull of a yacht, wove through a collection of floating metal balls on chains that I realized afterward were mines.

I had to use all my power over water to avoid getting smashed against the rocks or tangled in the nets of barbed wire strung just below the surface.

I jetted between the two rock fangs & found myself in a half-moon-shaped bay.

The water was choked with more rocks & ship wreckage & floating mines. The beach was black volcanic sand.

I looked around desperately for Annabeth.

There she was.

Luckily or unluckily, she was a strong swimmer. She’d made it past the mines & rocks. She was almost to the black beach.

Then the mist cleared & I saw the Sirens.

Imagine a flock of vultures the size of people-with dirty black plumage, gray talons, & wrinkled pink necks.

Now imagine human heads on top of those necks, but the human heads keep changing.

I couldn’t hear them, but I could see they were singing. As their mouths moved, their faces morphed into the people I knew-my mom, my dad, Nora, Grover, Tyson, Chiron.

All the people I most wanted to see. They smiled reassuringly, inviting me forward.

But no matter what shape they took, their mouths were greasy & caked with the remnants of old meals.

Like vultures, they’d been eating with their faces, & it didn’t look like they’d been feasting on Monster Donuts.

Annabeth swam toward them.

I knew I couldn’t let her get out of the water. The sea was my only advantage.

It had always protected me one way or another. I propelled myself forward & grabbed her ankle.

The moment I touched her, a shock went through my body, & I saw the Sirens the way Annabeth must’ve been seeing them...

Excuse my evil self for adding a cliffhanger right there...🫣

Buuut....

The next chapter will be in Ella's POV!!

I'll be uploading by the weekend at best☺️

Stick around peeps😄

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 24

(Percy's POV)

I’d finally found something I was really good at.

The Queen Anne’s Revenge responded to my every command. I knew which ropes to hoist, which sails to raise, which direction to steer.

We plowed through the waves at what I figured was about ten knots.

I even understood how fast that was. For a sailing ship, pretty darn fast.

It all felt perfect-the wind in my face, the waves breaking over the prow.

But now that we were out of danger, all I could think about was how much I missed Tyson, & how worried I was about Grover.

I couldn’t get over how badly I’d messed up on Circe’s Island. If it hadn’t been for Annabeth, I’d still be a rodent, hiding in a hutch with a bunch of cute furry pirates. I thought about what Circe had said: See, Percy? You’ve unlocked your true self!

I still felt changed. Not just because I had a sudden desire to eat lettuce. I felt jumpy, like the instinct to be a scared little animal was now a part of me.

Or maybe it had always been there. That’s what really worried me.

We sailed through the night.

Annabeth tried to help me keep look out, but sailing didn’t agree with her.

After a few hours rocking back & forth, her face turned the color of guacamole & she went below to lie in a hammock, while Nora stayed sitting on the floor across from where I was, seemingly lost in thought.

I watched the horizon. More than once I spotted monsters. A plume of water as tall as a skyscraper spewed into the moonlight. A row of green spines slithered across the waves-something maybe a hundred feet long, reptilian.

I didn’t really want to know.

Once I saw Nereids, the glowing lady spirits of the sea. I tried to wave at them, but they disappeared into the depths, leaving me unsure whether they’d seen me or not.

Sometime after midnight, Annabeth came up on deck. We were passing a smoking volcano island.

The sea bubbled & steamed around the shore.

“One of the forges of Hephaestus,” Nora said suddenly. “Where he makes his metal monsters.”

“Like the bronze bulls?” I asked.

She nodded. “Go around. Far around.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. We steered clear of the island, & soon it was just a red patch of haze behind us.

I looked over at Annabeth. “The reason you hate Cyclopes so much...the story about how Thalia really died. What happened?”

It was hard to see her expression in the dark. I notice Nora looking over at us but she quickly looked away without saying anything.

“I guess you deserve to know,” Annabeth said finally. “The night Grover was escorting us to camp, he got confused, took some wrong turns. You remember he told you that once?”

I nodded.

“Well, the worst wrong turn was into a Cyclops’s lair in Brooklyn.”

“They’ve got Cyclopes in Brooklyn?” I asked.

“You wouldn’t believe how many, but that’s not the point. This Cyclops, he tricked us. He managed to split us up inside this maze of corridors in an old house in Flatbush. And he could sound like anyone, Percy. Just the way Tyson did aboard the Princess Andromeda. He lured us, one at a time. Thalia thought she was running to save Luke. Luke thought he heard me scream for help. And me...I was alone in the dark. I was seven years old. I couldn’t even find the exit.”

She brushed the hair out of her face.

“I remember finding the main room. There were bones all over the floor. And there were Thalia, Luke & Grover, tied up & gagged, hanging from the ceiling like smoked hams. The Cyclops was starting a fire in the middle of the floor. I drew my knife, but he heard me. He turned & smiled. He spoke, & somehow he knew my dad’s voice. I guess he just plucked it out of my mind. He said, ‘Now, Annabeth, don’t you worry. I love you. You can stay here with me. Forever.’”

I shivered. The way she told it-even now, six years later-freaked me out worse than any ghost story I’d ever heard.

“What did you do?”

“I stabbed him in the foot.”

I stared at her. “Are you kidding? You were seven years old and you stabbed a grown Cyclops in the foot?”

“Oh, he would’ve killed me. But I surprised him. It gave me just enough time to run to Thalia & cut the ropes on her hands. She took it from there.”

“Yeah, but still...that was pretty brave, Annabeth.”

She shook her head. “We barely got out alive. I still have nightmares, Percy. The way that Cyclops talked in my father’s voice. It was his fault we took so long getting to camp. All the monsters who’d been chasing us had time to catch up. That’s really why Thalia died. If it hadn’t been for that Cyclops, she’d still be alive today.”

We sat on the deck, watching the Hercules constellation rise in the night sky.

“Go below,” Annabeth told me at last. “You need some rest.”

I nodded. My eyes were heavy. But when I got below & found a hammock, it took me a long time to fall asleep.

I kept thinking about Annabeth’s story. I wondered, if I were her, would I have had enough courage to go on this quest, to sail straight toward the lair of another Cyclops?

I also wondered how horrible it must've been for Nora. Coming to camp a few months later only to find out that her sister was dead...

I didn’t dream about Grover.

Instead I found myself back in Luke’s stateroom aboard the Princess Andromeda. The curtains were open. It was nighttime outside.

The air swirled with shadows. Voices whispered all around me-spirits of the dead.

Beware, they whispered. Traps. Trickery.

Kronos’s golden sarcophagus glowed faintly-the only source of light in the room.

A cold laugh startled me. It seemed to come from miles below the ship. You don’t have the courage, young one. You can’t stop me.

I knew what I had to do. I had to open that coffin.

I uncapped Riptide. Ghosts whirled around me like a tornado. Beware!

My heart pounded. I couldn’t make my feet move, but I had to stop Kronos.

I had to destroy whatever was in that box.

Then a girl spoke right next to me: “Well, Seaweed Brain?”

I looked over, expecting to see Annabeth, but the girl wasn’t Annabeth.

She wore punk-style clothes with silver chains on her wrists. She had spiky black hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy blue eyes which looked strangely similar to Nora's & a spray of freckles across her nose. She looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure why.

“Well?” she asked. “Are we going to stop him or not?”

I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t move.

The girl rolled her eyes. “Fine. Leave it to me & Aegis.”

She tapped her wrist & her silver chains transformed-flattening & expanding into a huge shield.

It was silver & bronze, with the monstrous face of Medusa protruding from the center.

It looked like a death mask, as if the gorgon’s real head had been pressed into the metal.

I didn’t know if that was true, or if the shield could really petrify me, but I looked away. Just being near it made me cold with fear.

I got a feeling that in a real fight, the bearer of that shield would be almost impossible to beat.

Any sane enemy would turn & run.

The girl drew her sword & advanced on the sarcophagus. The shadowy ghosts parted for her, scattering before the terrible aura of her shield.

“No,” I tried to warn her.

But she didn’t listen. She marched straight up to the sarcophagus & pushed aside the golden lid.

For a moment she stood there, gazing down at whatever was in the box.

The coffin began to glow.

“No.” The girl’s voice trembled. “It can’t be.”

From the depths of the ocean, Kronos laughed so loudly the whole ship trembled.

“No!” The girl screamed as the sarcophagus engulfed her in a blast of a golden light.

🙂...no words needed here..

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 23

(Ella's POV)

As soon as I'd entered the room, I was locked up.

I tried banging on the door & yelled for help but it didn't seem like anyone was gonna show up anytime soon.

I desperately began looking for another way out.

Before I could even react, I heard a voice in my head that sent a chill down my spine.

It sounded familiar, like a sword against a stone: Kronos...

'Hello child. Haven't you still understood that you've been on the wrong side all this time? Such a shame...you should be with someone as powerful as me. Join me & help me rule the world!'

"No! Leave. Me. Alone." I say before breaking free from his telepathic hold & falling down to the ground on my knees..

A few minutes pass before I manage to get back up & stumble over to the only window in the room.

When I was looking out the window I heard a loud commotion from the next room...the same room where I'd left Percy...

Just as I reached the door I heard the lock click open on the other side only to see Annie on the other side with her bronze knife in hand.

But...

I almost didn’t recognize her. She was wearing a sleeveless silk dress like C.C.’s, only white. Her blond hair was newly washed, combed & braided with gold.

Worst of all, she was wearing makeup, which I never thought Annie would be caught dead in. I mean, she looked good. Really good. But there was also something totally wrong about it. It just wasn’t her.

"Hurry. Up." She ordered. "We've only got a minute to figure out which guinea pig is Percy."

"Guinea pig??" I asked in disbelief.

She didn't reply but instead grabbed my hand & pulled me with her.

She rushed over to a cage & said. “All right, which one is you?"

Annie began looking desperate.

She asked me to hand over the bottle of multivitamins & popped a lemon chewable in her mouth just as the door flew open & C.C came back in, flanked by two of her business suited attendants.

“Well,” C.C sighed, “how fast a minute passes. What is your answer, my dear?”

“This,” Annie said, and she drew her bronze knife.

C.C stepped back, but her surprise quickly passed. She sneered.

“Really, little girl, a knife against my magic? Is that wise?”

Wait....magic?

Oh no....C.C actually would mean Circe!

Circe looked back at her attendants, who smiled. They raised their hands as if preparing to cast a spell.

Run! I wanted to tell Annie, but before I could Circe said.

“What will Annabeth’s makeover be?” She mused. “Something small & ill-tempered. I know...a shrew!”

Blue fire coiled from her fingers curling like serpents around Annie. I watched, horror-struck, but nothing happened. Annie was still herself, only angrier. She leaped forward & stuck the point of her knife against Circe’s neck. “How about turning me into a panther instead? One that has her claws at your throat!”

“How!” Circe yelped.

Annie held up my bottle of vitamins for the sorceress to see.

Circe howled in frustration. “Curse Hermes and his multivitamins! Those are such a fad! They do nothing for you.”

“Turn Percy back to a human or else!” Annie said.

“I can’t!”

“Then you asked for it.”

Circe’s attendants stepped forward, but their mistress said, “Get back! She’s immune to magic until that cursed vitamin wears off.”

While Annie held Circe in place, I went over to the guinea pig cage, knocked the top off, & poured the rest of the vitamins inside.

“No!” Circe screamed.

I was the first to get a vitamin, but all the other guinea pigs scuttled out, too, & checked out this new food.

In a matter of seconds Percy was sitting on the floor, a human again-somehow back in his regular clothes, thank the gods-with six other guys who all looked disoriented, blinking & shaking wood shavings out of their hair.

“No!” Circe screamed. “You don’t understand! Those are the worst!”

One of the men stood up-a huge guy with a long tangled pitch-black beard & teeth the same color.

He wore mismatched clothes of wool & leather, knee-length boots, and a floppy felt hat. The other men were dressed more simply-in breeches & stained white shirts. All of them were barefoot.

“Argggh!” bellowed the big man. “What’s the witch done t’me!”

“No!” Circe moaned.

I gasped. “I recognize you! Edward Teach, son of Ares?”

“Aye, lass,” the big man growled. “Though most call me Blackbeard! And there’s the sorceress what captured us, lads. Run her through, & then I mean to find me a big bowl of celery! Arggggh!”

Circe screamed. She & her attendants ran from the room, chased by the pirates.

Annie sheathed her knife & glared at Percy.

“Thanks...” he faltered. “I’m really sorry-“

Before I could add something to say, she tackled him in a hug, which sent a pang of hurt in my heart, then pulled away just as quickly. “I’m glad you’re not a guinea pig.”

“Me, too.” He said.

She undid the golden braids in her hair.

“Come on, Seaweed Brain,” she said. “We have to get away while Circe’s distracted.”

Percy looked back at me like her wanted to say something but I avoided his gaze & quickly walked ahead.

We ran down the hillside through the terraces, past screaming spa workers & pirates ransacking the resort. Blackbeard’s men broke the tiki torches for the luau, threw herbal wraps into the swimming pool, & kicked over tables of sauna towels.

I almost felt bad letting the unruly pirates out, but I guessed they deserved something more entertaining than the exercise wheel after being cooped up in a cage for three centuries.

“Which ship?” Annabeth said as we reached the docks.

“There,” Percy said.

I blinked. “But-“

“I can make it work.”

“How?” Annie added.

He grabbed my hand & pulled me toward the three-mast ship. Painted on its prow was the name that I would only decipher later: Queen Anne’s Revenge.

“Argggh!” Blackbeard yelled somewhere behind us. “Those scalawags are aboarding me vessel! Get ‘em, lads!”

“We’ll never get going in time!” Annie yelled as we climbed aboard.

I looked around at the hopeless maze of sail and ropes. The ship was in great condition for a three-hundred-year-old vessel, but it would take a crew of fifty several hours to get underway.

We didn’t have several hours. I could see the pirates running down the stairs, waving tiki torches and sticks of celery.

“Mizzenmast!” Percy yelled.

Annie & I looked at each other, but in the next second, the air was filled with whistling sounds of ropes being snapped taut, canvases unfurling, & wooden pulleys creaking.

We ducked as a cable flew over our head & wrapped itself around the bowsprit. “Percy, how...”

The Queen Anne’s Revenge lurched away from the dock, & by the time the pirates arrived at the water’s edge, we were already underway, sailing into the Sea of Monsters.

Phew!😮

I know, I know I've been MIA yet again...🫣

Hope all is forgiven🙈

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

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Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x oc #x oc #sea of monsters