Behind the Shadows

The atmosphere was tense for a while. No one uttered a word and everyone avoided eye contact. Clarisse kept her distance and sat there with a sour expression. The rest were sitting in a small circle, all looking tired and defeated. Sapphire understood their expressions and she felt their pain also. They had been betrayed again by a fellow camper. While everyone sat in their gloom and doom, Sapphire hurried about trying to work out her plan. If she could control the water in the sea of monsters, she could use it to burst her and her friends out of Charybdis. It could work well if they all held their breath. The only problem Sapphire foresaw was that she only seemed to be able to control water when her emotions were intense. She had seen Percy control water on command and he always seemed calm and in control. Maybe it just took practice. If they did get out then Sapphire could leave Charybdis to some other hero to destroy.
It was like her leg had never been broken. Not even a little scar was left. With every step Sapphire took she flinched expecting pain but there was nothing and it was wonderful. She could feel Annabeth's eyes on her every move. Sapphire had walked the whole length of Charybdis and was still trying to string together her plan. Jake and Grover were loudly discussing rare types of flowers. From what Sapphire had picked up it was nothing she wanted to know. She stopped just underneath the opening where she had been swallowed in. It was a long way up and would require a lot of power and strength to get her friends up. She had no room for failure when her friends lives were on the line.
Sapphire takes in a deep breath and stretches out her arms before her. All her focus was on the water around her, which was a lot since her little episode with Clarisse. Her eyes scrunch close and her eyebrows must look like wiggly caterpillars from all the weird frowning. "waves, ripples, currents, waterdrops.."
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Through Jake's eyes - part seven
What on earth was she doing? A few metres away Sapphire was doing what looked like stretches. Her knees were bent and her arms were out. Grover steps forward like he plans to go over to her. Jake stops him with his arm and shakes his head at him with a wicked grin. Annabeth wanders over to them and crosses her arms when she stops beside them.
"I just don't understand her" Annabeth mutters to no one in particular. "Is she chanting?" Grover and Jake shrug and carry on watching. Even Clarisse was watching her from the distance with a dark look on her face.
"Ice, splashing, rain, river, stream.." Sapphire carries on with her list of words. Annabeth huffs and yanks at the ends of her hair like this situation is stressing her out.
"Maybe she drank some of that nasty water" Grover offers some sort of assistance for Annabeth. Sapphire loudly growls and begins kicking the water and wood that surrounds her. "Or maybe she is just being Sapphire" Jake and Annabeth groan at the knowledge that this is in fact pretty normal for Sapphire.
"Everything okay, Sapphire?" Grover calls over. She stops dead in her tantrum and turns to them with a pale face. It was clear that she had been unaware of them all watching her. Sapphire crosses her arms and clears her throat, then nods shyly with a slight smile.
"Just peachy" She replies. Her face turns serious and she nods them over. "I have a plan".
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Sapphire told them her plan and no one relied. Jake laughed, Grover looked like her was going to throw up and Annabeth basically screamed and stormed off. Yes, her plan was a bit extreme and might not even work but it was the only plan they had so far.
"Come on guys! Can't we at least try it out?" Sapphire says. Jake snorts and starts laughing again. Sapphire shoves him and marches off towards Annabeth.
"No" Annabeth mutters "I do not wish to die today". Sapphire grumbles and sits next to her. Grover and Jake soon follow and they make a circle.
"I think it's a great plan Saph. In fact I think we should all hold hands while we float up into the sunshine" Jake states. He is joking obviously. Sarcastic prick. Grover chokes a little and covers his mouth.
"Do any of you have a better plan?" Sapphire barks and throws a glare at them. Grover, Annabeth and Jake share a look then shrug. "Just what I thought." Sapphire jumps up on to her feets and reaches out a hand to Annabeth. "Lets get out of here". Silence follows. Then a loud horrible grumbles of choice words before Annabeth takes Sapphire's hand. Jake grins slightly as he gets up but Sapphire catches the wariness in his eyes. They are all afraid. Sapphire included. They all wander up to the opening and stare up in fear. "Now I need someone to punch me"
"Sign me up!" Clarisse calls over from her dark corner. No one answers her.
"Why do you want someone to punch you?" Annabeth asks.
"I need emotions and a lot of them" Sapphire gets a lot of concerned and confused looks. "Jake, I once stole your socks and used them as gloves to shovel Pegasus crap. Annabeth, I once used one of your textbooks as hamster bedding. May peanut rest in peace. Grover, I haven't watered my plants in over a month" Sapphire gasps for air but is slightly disappointed when no one shots forward for a swing at her. However she is gifted with some nasty looks.
"You're not even supposed to have pets at camp. How did you even manage to hide it?" Annabeth barks. Sapphire smirks.
"Apollo kids work together pretty well" Was all Sapphire was going to offer. Peanut spent most of his time in shoe boxes and medical boxes of the cabin inspection days. In the end Will stole him and forgot to feed the little guy. Peanut did live a good long year and a half before his kidnap. Annabeth is at a loss for words and throws her arms up in defeat.
"How are you even related to Percy? You are complete opposites!" Annabeth is quiet after that.
"I bet my socks smelled better after that!" Jake jokes and the pair of them crack a laugh. Grover just shakes his her and keeps whispering "plant bully". Silence follows and they all look up with painful expression. There was no way Sapphire could muster enough focus to summon water any time soon. Her emotions were pretty mellow so there would be no crazy water explosion to help in this situation.
"This is for Cayden" Clarisse growls in Sapphire's ear before hiting her very hard in the face. Cayden? What was she on about? Did she know the truth about him? Sapphire hits the ground with a grunt and Clarisse looms over her with fury in her eyes. Clarisse grabs Sapphire by the collar and yanks her on to her feet before hitting her again. Sapphire's friends steps forward to defend but Sapphire waves them off. She could handle this herself. She throws Clarisse of her and grabs a handful of hair before throwing her in to the dark water.
"Did Cayden leave you all alone?" Sapphire mocks. bitterness swallows away her calm thoughts and replaces them with horrible pictures. She see's Nancy and Cayden smirking at her before she was kicked off the ship. He had been everywhere on that ship. Around every corner and in every room she went in to. He knew what she had been up to from the start and made sure she failed. It would not surprise her if he had followed her out of camp and to the ship. Clarisse flies at her and tackles Sapphire into the water. Hair is torn out and someone's tooth falls out but it's hard to tell whose.
"I know you're the reason he is missing" Missing? Clearly Clarisse didn't know. it looked like she could use some truth in her life.
"Yeah, missing on Luke's ship with his little friend Nancy" Clarisse's expression is a storm. Sapphire gets up and brushes off the gunky water. "now if you don't mind I am trying to escape here." She turns around and summons the water with an angry flick of the hand. it comes to her slowly but with enough power. Her emotions were now in control but she was angry and troubled by the non stop memory of all that had happened over the months. Water gathers around Sapphire and her friends feets and with a few yelps they are raised up. Sapphire looks down at Clarisse lying on the ground and groans. She flicks her hand again and bring Clarisse along too. She was not the enemy in this war and it would be unfair to leave her here to die. Sapphire keeps absolute focus on the water and they go further up through the opening.
There is no sunlight. All there is is darkness and very powerful currents. They all gasp when they break through the surface of water. Charybdis is completely still and it makes everyone stop and frown. This had been the bit Sapphire had been most worried about because she was not match to Charybdis. but she was completely still as though she was letting them go. Slowly they all swim between the jagged rocks and are out of the danger zone. Sapphire turns to look back and nods her thanks.
"Anyone need a lift?" Some golden weirdo says from above. Apollo grins down at Sapphire. He stands in the doorway of his sparkly chariot with his hand out stretched.
Sapphire grins up to him "No thanks we are good" She jokes. Jake splashes past with grover on his heels and they both climb on to the chariot followed by Annabeth and Clarisse. Sapphire just watches them with an amused look that is filled with relief. She grabs Apollo's hand and enters safely.

Notes

Super sorry for the late update.. I am always busy these days and find little time to write. Hope you like this chapter! :)