Resurrected

Charlie's POV

Eight days. That’s how long Leo estimated it would take to get to Calypso’s island, if we didn’t run into any “traffic.” That meant that on the morning of Day 20 of 31, Leo could have his eyes back, I could figure out how to redeem my soul, and Percy, well, I didn’t really know what he was in this for. Maybe to get away from that creep Ethan.

Percy had been acting strange ever since the four of us resurrected had arrived at Camp, like he hadn’t even recognized us and been happy, like he was totally okay with us having been gone and didn’t really care that we were back. Despite that, I still felt like he would eventually put his guard down and be happy. He had been so angry since he had fought Ethan that I guess he hadn’t had time to realize some of his friends had returned as well.

When we had been sailing for about three hours and I could no longer see land behind us, I looked to the bow to see Percy talking with Leo. I left the helm on auto-pilot and walked to join them at the front of the ship, and to talk with Percy. As I was walking up to them, I asked,

“So this is what you call a ship?” Leo turned to wards my voice, but Percy stayed stationary, looking out over the water.

“Well, what else would you call it, kid?” Leo responded. Even though he was much younger than me, he had taken to calling me ‘kid’.

“A monstrosity?” I offered with a sly smile.

“Wipe that rosy freaking grin off of your face, Beckendorf.”

“I’m not smiling!” I protested, trying not to laugh. Leo looked at me like,

Are you kidding me, man? I’m blind and I can tell you’re smiling.

“Do me a favor, kid, and never call this beauty…a monstrosity.” He concluded. Percy turned around at that and, for no reason, and for the first time in forever, smiled at me.

“Beckendorf! Gods, what was I thinking?” And with that, the son of Poseidon wrapped me in a hug that I couldn’t help return.

“Finally come to your senses, I see?” I asked, and Percy nodded vigorously, responding,
“I don’t know why I was acting so bitter at Camp. I was just so angry and confused and annoyed after my fight with that traitor that I had forgotten the fact that two of my best friends returned from the dead!”

I smiled, realizing how good to felt to have such an old friend back.

“So…Calypso,” I began, “I guess I’m the only one here who hasn’t been to her island once before. And, I’m also the only one who has a girlfriend going into visiting her island.”

Both boys looked at me like, Un-cool, man. That’s just cold.

“What?” I asked, chuckling, “Leo wasn’t even at Camp yet, and Percy, you know you and Annabeth weren’t serious yet.”

“Not funny, man,” Percy responded, slowly grinning, “But yeah, seeing as you’re the newbie, Calypso’s island…well, it’s different.”

“Real different,” Leo interjected, “the place is insanely beautiful, with the world’s greatest gardens.”
“It’s got a huge crystal cave, and little creeks, and the birds sing to her,” Percy said wistfully, as if remembering good old memories. That scared me.

“Percy, snap out of it,” I said coldly, “Annabeth, remember?”

“Yeah, I know,” Percy huffed with an alarming amount of disappointment and regret, “but her island is decked out. And I had to leave…”

Then both boys said in unison, “My biggest what-if.”

I realized why both of them wanted to come on this quest, besides the more obvious reasons. Despite having supposedly moved on with their lives, both boys still harbored regret over leaving Calypso’s island. For some reason, I could feel this especially with Percy. She was still his ‘biggest what-if’. But as for me, I didn’t really care about Calypso and how beautiful she was. I had my girl, and the surprise I was planning for her was so secret that I got nervous and excited when I thought about it. So I decided not to think about it.

I went back to the helm to clear my thought and steered the boat on its course until the sun was beginning to set. Day 1 of the journey was coming to an end, but that also meant day 12 of 31 Tommy, Ethan and I had was coming to an end. I felt like I could look forward to something, even if I was looking forward to something that didn’t benefit me, and that made me feel good. I was helping Leo. I started to drift off to sleep in the captain’s chair, and that’s when the earthquake hit. Or, not an earthquake, but something that felt suspiciously like one.

The wheel began to rattle, and some of the ropes began to shake. Leo came out from his cabin and looked at me with a question, his eyes white as milk. Percy appeared as well, and his brow was furrowed. Over the rumble, I shouted,

“Percy! Is this the ‘traffic’ you were talking about?”

“Maybe!” He shouted back, running up the quarter-deck stairs to the helm, “Because it sure doesn’t feel like a normal earthquake!”

All of a sudden, from the port side, a massive cloud of fog appeared out of nowhere, and Percy’s face went slack with fear and realization.

“GET DOWN!” He screamed, but it was too late. Arrows tipped with bronze and a poisonous green liquid shot onto the deck, letting the wood that they hit. One grazed my shoulder as I was ducking for cover and the pain that shot through my arm and chest was greater than the fires of Tartarus. I couldn’t see, breathe, and I could barely hear over the shouting of war cries as a massive boat slammed into the port side of the Argo II, ripping out all of the oars on that side. Twenty or thirty hooks made of steel and bronze latched themselves to the deck, and warrior started to climb onto the ship using ropes they had attached to the hooks. Percy, Leo and I were pinned down and couldn’t move that fast, and Percy was the only one with a real weapon. Needless to say, we couldn’t stop the warriors as the climbed onto the main deck.

Then, suddenly, all but six of the warriors climbed back onto their ropes and scuttled back to their ship, just as Percy, Leo and I were getting up. Percy drew his sword and I found one of my sledgehammers from the Forges I had brought onto the ship by accident. I was happy now that I had brought it along as I wielded it in front of me.

Five of the warriors parted ways for a huge guy in a gruesome mask like Medusa, wielding a golden sword, and covered in golden armor, even his shin-pads. He spoke to Percy, in an angry oriental or Middle Eastern accent, shouting,

“Ready to die, brother?”

Brother? Who was this guy?

“Percy, you know this creep? Met him before or something?” I asked. The five other warriors brandished their weapons at the word ‘creep’.

“Yeah,” Percy responded, not looking at me, “his name’s Chrysaor. Son of Medusa and my father. And he’s a real prick.”

Chrysaor growled, and it looked like they had not had the best of brotherly reunions last time they met.

“We met him last summer in the Mare Nostrum, where we defeated him and sank his ship in a tribute to Mr. D.”

I looked at him like, You gave something as a tribute to Mr. D? Percy didn’t even have to turn around before saying,

“Yeah. I know.”

Chrysaor got his weapon ready again, and Percy drew Riptide. The guy had an air of complete confidence about him like he knew he was going to win, and I had total trust in that. When Chrysaor saw his expression, he chuckled,

“You really think you’re going to beat me after I disarmed you so easily last time, Jackson?”
“I’ve been to the depths of Tartarus and back, you swine. You don’t scare me, and you’re a useless excuse for a brother.”

“I’ll kill you for that!” Chrysaor shouted. And then, all Hades broke loose. Chrysaor charged at Percy and they clashed swords, and the five other warriors, who I just noticed were half-man, half-dolphin, and not in a good way, charged at me. I raised my sledgehammer, and, for some strange reason, sighed, like I was bored, as I swung my 15-pound hammer at the beasts. I hit the first one square in the snout, and he didn’t even bleed as he turned directly into yellow monster-dust. The second one slashed down at me and I knelt, raising my sledgehammer over my head to block the sword. The shaft of the hammer held strong as the sword hit it, and I used the momentum to knock the warrior off of his feet and smash his chest-plate with the m=hammer, transforming him into yellow dust. The third and fourth I took out quickly, and before facing the last one, I quickly stole a glance in Percy’s direction. The guy had summoned a personal hurricane and was backing Chrysaor towards the bow of the ship, trying to push him overboard. The last warrior looked a but scared to face me, and I used that to my advantage.

I ran forward and shouted “BOO!” at the monster, making him step back towards the railing. He instinctively raised his sword over his head to block a downward strike, and it would have been a good defensive move, had he not looked so much like a coward. Using his misplaced defenses to my advantage, I swept my hammer cross his legs, knocking him on his butt. I then picked him up by the scruff of his shirt and dumped him on the railing. I then proceeded to hit him off of the ship like he was a baseball on a tee, and he didn’t even have the chance to hit the water before he turned into dust, making it look like the Atlantic had been sprinkled with a bag of cornmeal.

I turned to see if Percy needed any help, and couldn’t stop myself from being an amazed spectator. He was almost god-like with his powers now, having grown into a fully trained demigod.
He was backing down Chrysaor and was ten feet from the bow of the ship. Chrysaor was getting tired, and Percy was getting ready of the final strike. I snuck in behind Percy and began smashing the hooks with my sledgehammer, knocking the ropes off so that the two boats were no longer attached. Then, as I turned to Percy again he made his move. Percy faked a swipe at Chrysaor’s head and slashed toward his sword hand, knocking the sword out of the golden-armored man’s hand with ease. He then pressed the point of his sword to Chrysaor’s neck and growled,

“Knees. Now.”

Chrysaor obeyed and got onto his knees, pleading, “Brother, please. There is no need to kill me. Please, be merciful.”

Percy was about to slash down on the monster when Leo’s voice rang out from behind both of us, shouting,

“Actually, Percy, if you wouldn’t mind, I’ll take this one!”

Percy turned for a moment and saw Leo, slowly making his way towards Chrysaor. The guy then looked at me and asked,

“Would you mind helping a fellow son of Hephaestus, kid?”

“No problem,” I replied with a grin. Leo then stepped forward and pointed his palm towards Chrysaor and told me,

“Aim me towards the guy’s head.” So I did, and Leo said, “Keep me steady. Your hand might get a bit warm.”

Then, Leo breathed in, concentrated, and from his hand shot out a bolt of white hot fire, melting the gold on Chrysaor’s mask. He screamed in pain and ran for the railing, jumping over the side and hitting the water with a painful HISS!

“No way!” I exclaimed, “Leo, you have fire powers!”

“Yep,” Leo responded, blowing off steam from his hand and pretending to holster it like a cowboy, “Any other questions?”

We all laughed at that and returned to the quarter deck, but not before sending a few ballistae over to the other ship, watching the crew laughably try to put out the Greek fire before sailing away. Leo and I ended up talking about his powers and his story all the way through dinner, and I finally felt like I had gotten to know they guy.

Maybe life-or-death situations do that to you.

Notes

This one is SUPER long, but I hope you guys enjoy it! I will have the next chapter soon!