STRENGTH
━━ act two, chapter seven.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

   NABI WOKE UP TO THE SOUND OF ALARMS. She almost fell out of the hammock with a yelp. There were voices of undead soldiers, officers shouting orders to ready the cannons.

"What's happening?" Nabi grumbled.

   It seemed like the other three in the hammocks were still stirring, though Nabi wanted to check out how important the situation was first—she opened the door and rushed upstairs.

When she got to the top, the sky was overcast. The air was hazy and humid, like steam from an iron. Nabi could just barely make out a couple of dark fuzzy splotches in the distance.

   Annabeth and Tyson came up, followed by Percy. He seemed out of it, and Nabi guessed it didn't have to do with any motion sickness. It'd be pretty embarrassing if a child of Poseidon couldn't handle boat rides.

   "What's wrong?" Annabeth asked him, "Another dream?"

   Percy nodded, but didn't say anything. Clarisse came up the stairs right after him. Nabi could tell she wasn't feeling great either, but one look from the Ares girl told her that she was more focused on the matter at hand. Clarisse grabbed a pair of binoculars from a zombie officer, and peered toward the horizon. "At last... Captain, full steam ahead!"

Nabi turned to the direction she was facing, but couldn't see much. It was way too stormy, but she could sense that they'd travelled far. The engine groaned as they increased in speed. Tyson muttered nervously, "Too much strain on the pistons... not meant for deep water."

His murmurs made them all feel uneasy.

After a few more minutes, the dark splotches ahead of them came into focus. To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea — an island with cliffs, at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile in the south of that, the other patch of darkness was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.

"Hurricane?" Annabeth asked.

"No..." Clarisse said, "Charybdis."

Annabeth paled. "Are you crazy?"

   "Only way into the Sea of Monsters. Straight between Charybdis, and her sister Scylla," Clarisse pointed to the top of the cliffs.

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

   "Don't you know anything?" Clarisse rolled her eyes.

   Nabi said, "They'd just pop right back up. You can't escape them. Sailing through is the only way to get to the Sea of Monsters."

   "What about the Clashing Rocks?" Annabeth said, "That's another gateway. Jason used it."

   "I can't blow apart rocks with my cannons," Clarisse shook her head, "monsters, on the other hand..."

   "You are crazy." Annabeth decided.

   "Watch and learn, Wise Girl," Clarisse turned to the captain and ordered, "set course for Charybdis!"

   "Aye, m'lady!"

   The engine groaned once more, the iron plating rattled, and the ship began to accelerate.

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

"And spits it back out again," She answered, "yeah."

"What about Scylla?" Percy said.

Nabi pointed towards the cliffs, "She lives in a cave, over there. If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and start plucking sailors off the ship."

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

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

The engine hummed. The boilers were heating up so much that Nabi could feel the deck getting warm beneath her feet. The smokestacks billowed. The red Ares flag whipped in the wind.

   As they got closer to the monsters, the sound of Charybdis got louder and louder — a horrible wet roar like the galaxy's biggest toilet being flushed. Every time Charybdis inhaled, the ship shuddered and lurched forward. Every time she exhaled, the ship rose in the water and was buffeted by ten-foot waves.

   It took Charybdis about three minutes to suck up and destroy everything within a half-mile radius. To avoid her, the crew would have to skirt right next to Scylla's cliffs... and as bad as Scylla might have seemed, those cliffs were looking like the better option.

Undead sailors calmly went about their business on the spar deck. They'd fought a losing cause before, so this didn't bother them, or maybe they didn't care about getting destroyed because they were already deceased. Either way, Nabi only felt more fear.

   Nabi couldn't hear what Annabeth and Percy were saying next to each other. But she saw how Percy screwed his eyes shut, and oustretched his hand.

   "I can't..." Percy muttered, miserably.

   She figured his ocean powers weren't working. Nabi said, "I can try and fly? Cause a distraction, or—"

Annabeth shook her head. "No! The winds are too strong, and Charybdis'll just suck you in. We need a better plan."

   "Annabeth is right." Tyson said, "Engine's no good!"

   The daughter of Athena asked, "What do you mean?"

   "Pressure. Pistons need fixing." Tyson told them.

   Before he could explain, the ship lurched forward and everyone was thrown to the deck. They were being sucked into the whirlpool.

"Full reverse!" Clarisse screamed above the noise. The sea churned around them, waves crashing over the deck. The iron plating was so hot that it was steaming. "Get us within firing range! Make ready starboard cannons!"

Dead Confederates rushed back and forth. The propeller grinded into reverse, trying to slow the ship, but they kept sliding toward the center of the vortex. A zombie sailor burst out of the hold and ran to Clarisse, his gray uniform was smoking and his beard was on fire. He exclaimed, "Boiler room's overheating, ma'am! She's going to blow!"

"Well, get down there and fix it!" Clarisse yelled.

"Can't!" The sailor shouted, "We're vaporizing in the heat."

Clarisse pounded the side of the casemate. She growled, "All I need is a few more minutes! Just enough to get in range!"

"We're going in too fast," The Captain uttered, grimly, "prepare yourself for death."

"No!" Tyson bellowed, "I can fix it."

Clarisse gave him an incredulous look. "You?"

"He's a cyclops." Annabeth stated, "He's immune to fire, and he knows mechanics."

"Go!" Clarisse exclaimed.

"Tyson, no!" Percy grabbed his arm, and Nabi could hear the way he pleaded, "It's too dangerous!"

Tyson patted his hand — his expression determined, a silent promise. "Only way, brother, I will fix it. Be right back."

   The ship lurched again, and then soon, they were face to face with Charybdis. She appeared only a few hundred yards away, through a swirl of mist and smoke and water. In the middle of the maelstrom was a reef — a black crag of coral with a fig tree clinging to the top. It was an oddly nice sight in such a horrid place. All around it, water curved into a funnel, like light around a black hole.

   Then, Nabi saw the horrible monster anchored to the reef just below the waterline: an enormous mouth with slimy lips, and mossy teeth the size of rowboats. Even worse, the teeth had braces. Bands of corroded, scummy metal with pieces of fish, and driftwood, and floating garbage stuck between them.

Yikes, it was an orthodontist's worst nightmare.

   As Nabi watched, the entire sea around Charybdis was sucked into the void — sharks, schools of fish, even a giant squid.

Soon, the CSS Birmingham would be next.

"Lady Clarisse," The Captain called out, "starboard and forward guns are in range!"

"Fire!" Clarisse ordered.

Three rounds were blasted into the monster's maw. One blew off the edge of an incisor; anotjer disappeared into her gullet; thr third hit one of Charybdis' retaining bands and shot back at the ship, snapping the Ares flag off the pole.

"Again!" Clarisse ordered. The gunners reloaded, but Nabi knew it was hopeless. They were being sucked in too fast, and Charybdis didn't seem a tad bit phased.

   Nabi couldn't help thinking that Charybdis sucked, both literally and figuratively.

   Suddenly, the vibrations in the deck changed. The hum of the engine got stronger and steadier. The ship shuddered, and they started pulling away from the mouth.

   Annabeth exclaimed, "Tyson did it!"

   "Wait!" Clarisse told them, "We need to stay close!"

   "We'll die! We have to move away." Percy said.

   They all gripped the rail as the ship fought against the suction. The broken Ares flag raced past and was lodged in Charybdis' braces. The CSS Birmingham weren't making much progress, but at least they were holding our own. Tyson had somehow given them enough juice to keep the ship from being sucked in, just for a little longer.

   But then, the mouth snapped shut. The sea died to absolute calm. Water washed over Charybdis...

   All of a sudden, though, just as quickly as it had closed, the mouth exploded open — it spat out a wall of water, ejecting everything inedible, including their cannonballs, one of which slammed into the side of the ship. It made a loud ding noise, like those bells at carnival games.

They were thrown backward on a wave that must've been forty feet high. The ship was spinning out of control, hurtling toward the cliffs on the opposite side of the strait.

Another smoldering sailor burst out of the hold. He stumbled into Nabi, knocking her backward. She was sent hurtling off the ship. Clarisse yelled, "Nabi!"

Thankfully, Percy had lunged far enough to catch her just in time, and Nabi was dangling from the side of the ship. She screamed, "Don't let go!"

"I won't!" Percy shouted.

He pulled Nabi up — the sailor didn't seem to care that he'd almost accidentally killed her.

Clarisse casually pushed the sailor off. (Technically, he was already dead, anyways.)

Nabi gripped onto the rail even harder than before, heart still rapidly beating from almost falling.

"The engine is about to blow!" Another sailor said.

Percy demanded, "Where's Tyson?"

"Still down there," The sailor told them, "holding it together somehow, though I don't know for how much longer."

The Captain declared, "We have to abandon ship."

"No!" Clarisse yelled.

"We have no choice, m'lady. The hull is already cracking apart! She can't—"

He never finished his sentence. Quick as lightning, something brown and green shot from the sky, snatched up the Captain, and lifted him away. All that was left were his leather boots.

"Scylla!" Another sailor yelled, as once more, a column of reptilian flesh shot from the cliffs and snatched him up. It happened so fast, Nabi barely saw it, like watching a laser beam rather than a monster.

She couldn't even make out the creature's face, just a flash of nasty teeth and scales.

   Percy uncapped Riptide and tried to swipe at the monster as it carried off another deckhand, but he was way too slow. He yelled, "Everyone get below!"

   "We can't!" Nabi unclasped her bracelet, summoning her own sword. She didn't have much luck landing a proper hit, either. "Everything's in flames down there!"

"Lifeboats!" Annabeth shouted, "Quick!"

"They'll never get clear of the cliffs." Clarisse said, "We'll all be eaten!"

Annabeth said, "We have to try. Percy — the thermos."

"What thermos?" Nabi questioned.

"Hermes gave it to us," Annabeth hastily explained, "it releases winds, basically. It could help us. Percy, we have to use it!"

"We can't leave Tyson!" Percy cried.

Annabeth said, "We have to get the boats ready!"

Clarisse sprung into action, following Annabeth's command. Her and a few of the undead sailors uncovered one of the two emergency rowboats, while Scylla's heads rained from the sky like a meteor shower with teeth, picking off Confederate sailors one after another. Nabi tried her best to cover her and the others, swinging her sword and using it to deflect Scylla's attacks.

"Get the other boat." Percy threw Annabeth the thermos. "I'll get Tyson."

"You can't!" Annabeth tried to reach out and grab his arm to stop him. "The heat will kill you!"

Percy didn't listen. He ran for the boiler room hatch, but all of a sudden, he was flying straight up, with the side of the cliff only inches from his face.

Scylla had somehow caught Percy by the knapsack, and was lifting him up towards her lair.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried.

They all watched in horror, but he swung his sword behind him and managed to jab the monster in her beady yellow eye. Scylla grunted, and dropped Percy.

He was falling, and it would've surely been fatal. Immediately, Nabi spread her wings and flew up. She soared through the sky, ready to catch him. But right as she was about to, the CSS Birmingham exploded below them.

KABOOM!

The engine room blew, sending chunks of ironclad flying in either direction like a fiery set of wings.

"No!" Nabi cried.

"Tyson!" Percy yelled.

   The lifeboats had managed to get away from the ship, but not very far. Flaming wreckage was raining down. Clarisse and Annabeth would either be smashed or burned or pulled to the bottom by
the force of the sinking hull, and that was thinking optimistically, assuming they got away from Scylla.

   Nabi and Percy were thrown back from each other as another kind of explosion happened — it must've been Hermes' magic thermos. White sheets of wind blasted in every direction, scattering the lifeboats, and sending the two of them flying in opposite directions.

   Nabi couldn't see anything. She spun in the air, and couldn't recollect herself in time to catch herself with her wings, crashing into the water hard.

   The last thing she remembered as she began to drown and pass out was sinking in a burning sea... having absolutely no idea of if any of her friends had survived.

【 🦋 】

NABI OPENED HER EYES AND FOUND HERSELF ON A ROWBOAT with a makeshift sail, stitched of gray uniform fabric. She woke up at the same time as Percy, with Annabeth sitting beside them.

"Rest," Annabeth said, "both of you are going to need it."

Percy mumbled, "Tyson...?"

"And where's Clarisse?" Nabi blinked, her eyes still a little blurry.

Annabeth shook her head. "Guys... I'm really sorry."

   "No," Nabi swallowed, "no, no, no..."

   They all stayed silent for a while, as the waves tossed them up and down.

   "Clarisse isn't..." Nabi said, "I'd feel it, if she were — it's just something I can sense."

   Percy nodded. "What about Tyson?"

   "I don't know, Percy," Nabi said, "He's a cyclops, it's different... I'm sorry."

   "He may have survived," Annabeth said, half-heartedly, "I mean, fire can't kill him."

   Percy nodded again, but both of them could tell he wasn't very hopeful. The explosion was too big, the chances of Tyson surviving were slim.

Nabi didn't know Tyson all that well, but she felt ashamed for ever thinking badly of him. Tyson had given his life for them... and all she could think about were the times she'd felt scared by him and never spoke to him properly.

Then, her mind drifted to Clarisse.

Clarisse, who every time Nabi thought about always made her feel so warm. They'd been through so much, and honestly, if she were still here Nabi would hug her and hurl out incoherently about how much she cared about her and...

She didn't know where Clarisse was, or if she was even safe; for all Nabi knew, she could've been on the verge of death. Nabi's stomach lurched. She was afraid that the feeling she got whenever someone died would just happen, like a horrible alert in her mind.

Nabi had already cried too much on the quest. But the thought made her want to jump off the rowboat, and she had to stare at the sky so tears wouldn't spill again. She felt so tired.

Wasn't Nabi supposed to die first?

She shook her head. Clarisse was tough, and stronger than Nabi... if there was anyone she knew that could survive alone, it was her.

Clarisse would be fine.

   Waves lapped at the boat. Nabi repeated the mantra in her head, more so begging to the gods than anything. Annabeth showed them some things she'd salvaged from the wreckage. Most of the stuff had floated away, but Percy still had a bottle of multivitamins that Hermes had given them. There wasn't much else other than a small plastic bag of ambrosia.

   They sailed for hours. Now that they were in the Sea of Monsters, the water glittered a more brilliant green. The wind smelled fresh and salty, but it carried a strange metallic scent, as if a thunderstorm were coming... or something even more dangerous.

All of them took turns sipping from a Dr Pepper can, it was the only thing they had, shading themselves with the sail as best they could. Percy told them about a dream with Grover and how Polyphemus, the cyclops who had the Fleece, had basically kidnapped him to be his freaking bride — by Annabeth's estimate, they had less than twenty-four hours to save him, assuming Polyphemus hadn't already married him.

   "Yeah," Percy said bitterly, "you can never trust a Cyclops."

   Annabeth stared across the water. "We're sorry, Percy."

   "Yeah," Nabi said, "we were wrong about him."

   "And we're sorry about Clarisse too, Nabi. We might've not gotten along, but..." Annabeth said.

   "Yeah." Nabi croaked. They fell silent once more until she muttered, "I'm gonna fly around to try and find land."

   "Make sure you keep our rowboat in sight," Annabeth said, "at all times, okay?"

   "I will, don't worry."

   Nabi spread her wings and flew up, on the lookout. She made sure to listen to what Annabeth told her, with the rowboat always in the corner of her eye.

Her back still ached from the explosion, and she winced slightly with each flap, but she persevered on until...

"Hey!" She called down to Annabeth and Percy, "I think I see something in the distance!"

Sure enough, Nabi could make out a faint outline of an island with a small mountain in the center; a dazzling white collection of buildings; a beach dotted with palm trees; and a harbor filled with a strange assortment of boats. She flew back onto the rowboat as the current hauled them to what seemed like a tropical paradise.

Nabi had even seen a bright sign that was written in Ancient Greek on the side of the mountain. She told them, "We're heading to a place called C.C.'S SPA AND RESORT."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

𝗥𝗜𝗞𝗔'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗦!

જ⁀➴ when i said nabi was having it ROUGHH this act i meant it ... right as she makes up with clarisse and tries to forget abt her forthcoming death they get separated lmaoooo (i'm sorry) also i feel so bad for clarisse too like she's so ready to prove herself and then percy pulls up ,, then she needs their help w/ polyphemus like damn girl 😪

   what's that ?? did i just hear u say 'give nabi and clarisse a break' ?? hm ... silly goose no !!! jokes they'll get their relaxation time at some point ,, sea of monsters is just the worst for them 🤷‍♀️ at least nabi will get a minute or two with a spa day at c.c's so mby that'll chill her out tehe !! hope u enjoyed this chapter and i'll see u guys in the next onee my lovelies <33