Something Worse Than Charybdis
“Why didn’t you tell me about the competition?” Annabeth said, staring straight into Percy’s eyes.
That, for a moment, froze him in place, right as he was making a sandwich in what could loosely be called the ship’s kitchen. Though, if one were being honest, it was really just the storage area. Cans of preserved food, jars of peanut butter, and other supplies that were, in theory, supposed to last for the entirety of Clarisse’s mission.
Percy looked at her for a few seconds, as if searching for the exact words. Words that were not easy to say.
“Well… you know this wasn’t exactly a very communicative year between us,” he said at last. “It wasn’t easy to send you a letter, or call you through the Iris Network and ask, ‘Hey Annabeth, how was your year?’ Oh, by the way, we might have to kill each other before the next one starts, so keep that in mind.”
Annabeth frowned slightly.
“Those aren’t exactly pretty words to deliver in person, on paper, or over a call,” Percy added, giving a small shrug.
Annabeth stayed silent for a moment.
“So… do you think you could end up fighting some of the campers to the death?” she asked at last.
“I’ll be honest with you. I don’t know,” Percy replied, his tone growing more serious. “At least on my end, killing anyone shouldn’t be necessary. According to the rules, as long as I defeat my opponent, that’s it. But that doesn’t depend only on me. It’s two people facing each other.”
He paused briefly before continuing.
“My master isn’t forcing me to do it, but he taught me very clearly not to die in a stupid way by trusting that the other person won’t kill me. So if I have to do it to stay alive, I will. And I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”
There was no humor in his voice. No sarcasm. Just seriousness.
Annabeth fell silent again for a few seconds before speaking.
“I guess that works for me,” she said with a faint note of acceptance. It wasn’t perfect, but Percy’s words at least gave her some reassurance. He wouldn’t be a complete enemy of the camp, nor someone actively seeking the death of other campers.
“Besides, if the possible champion candidate is Clarisse or someone like her, I think it’ll be an easy win,” Percy added with a slight smile as he took a bite of his sandwich.
“I heard that, Jackson,” Clarisse said, stepping in at that exact moment.
“Yeah. That was the idea,” Percy replied with a mocking tone, earning a sharp, annoyed glare filled with hostility from Clarisse.
“By the way,” Annabeth said, shifting the mood with a faint smile, “why did you take your clothes off when you fought Clarisse? Were you trying to show off your tattoos, your muscles, or something like that?”
“Hey,” Percy said, surprised, “I thought it was implied I was doing it without defenses. Did it really look like I was just showing off?”
“Well… yeah. A little,” Annabeth admitted.
“I’d say very show-offy,” Clarisse added, snatching one of the sandwiches Percy had prepared and taking a bite with a smirk.
“Sorry, I’m not talking to you,” Percy said, shooting her an annoyed look.
“You brought my name into your conversation,” she replied, as the two of them looked moments away from starting another fight.
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Annabeth was about to step in and separate them, but Percy’s gaze suddenly drifted slightly above Clarisse’s head. His eyes widened in surprise.
“Oh, shit…” Percy muttered, as if he had just seen something really bad.
Without saying anything else, he turned around and took off running at full speed.
“Percy?” Annabeth called, but he didn’t even slow down.
Annabeth glanced toward Clarisse, trying to spot something above her head, but saw nothing. Even so, both of them ran after Percy with confused expressions.
Just in time to be intercepted by one of the zombie crew members.
“Boss, we’ve arrived,” the zombie pirate said.
Clarisse could only nod, continuing forward without stopping as she followed Percy.
“We have to turn back!” Percy shouted straight at the helmsman, who looked at him in confusion for a moment before Percy shoved him aside.
Percy spun the wheel violently, forcing the ship to change direction at full speed. The movement was so abrupt that everyone on board nearly got thrown off, clinging desperately to whatever they could grab.
Above them, the sky darkened as a storm rolled in. And in the sea, a massive whirlpool opened up, devouring everything before closing again and spewing out the remains of shattered boats and mangled fish.
The closer they got, the clearer the massive teeth moving beneath the water became, shaping the whirlpool. The most disgusting part was that those teeth had braces, as if someone had tried to straighten them. A job that was very clearly not working.
Among the twisted metal, there were remains of rotting fish, squids, octopuses, and mixed in with all of that, one or two small boats that had likely lost their way at sea and ended up there.
“Jackson, what are you doing? We need to get closer so we can attack it!” Clarisse shouted, nearly furious, stepping forward to seize control of the ship.
“No! No! We’ll be devoured!” Percy yelled back, his voice serious, almost frightened.
“We won’t! We have to hit it with everything we’ve got! That was the plan!” Clarisse replied, struggling for the wheel. “Charybdis won’t be able to withstand our arsenal! What, are you scared now?” she shouted.
“Yes… but not of Charybdis,” Percy said, absolute panic in his voice.
Annabeth arrived at that moment, just as she heard the change in Percy’s words. She immediately lifted her gaze, straight toward the massive, tooth-filled monster, but then she noticed something else.
Far off in the distance, beneath the water, something moved.
That alone was enough for the sea to begin trembling suddenly. As if it had appeared out of nowhere, a colossal tsunami rose up, growing larger and larger as it advanced directly toward them. It felt as though the sea itself had completely lost control.
“Then what?” Clarisse shouted, unable to understand what Percy meant.
“Guys…” Annabeth said, her face filled with absolute panic, raising a trembling hand and pointing toward Charybdis.
Both of them looked at her, then followed the direction she was pointing.
The tsunami was already practically on top of them. A wall of water impossible for anyone to evade. So tall it seemed to reach the sky itself.
Within the water, for just a brief instant, something moved. Something almost the size of a damn mountain. For a moment, something resembling a massive eye could be seen. To Percy, its shape felt disturbingly familiar.
Charybdis was lifted by the tsunami, and before that colossal shadow, it looked no more than a small worm covered in grotesque, razor-sharp teeth.
“Ah… shit. I hope that when my master revives me, I don’t come back as one of the zombies following Clarisse,” Percy said.
That might have been the last thing he managed to say.
The water lifted the ship with ease, as if trying to make it surf along the massive wave. But gravity did its job. The ship flipped over, and an enormous amount of water crashed down on them immediately.
Even for Percy, son of the sea god, enduring a mass of water like that would be extremely difficult.
When the tsunami passed, what looked like a gigantic mountain emerged for a brief moment. The strangest part was that dozens of golden chains wrapped around that colossal mass, as if they were preventing whatever that “mountain” truly was from fully emerging.
A massive eye opened on its surface, its pupil vertical.
It looked toward where Percy’s ship and the others had been moments before. Then it seemed to scan the surroundings for a few seconds.
After that, it slowly sank back down. This time, without raising another tsunami, though the waters remained completely chaotic.
…
Miraak, seated atop the roof of Percy’s cabin, stared out toward the sea with a serious expression. He did not look away even once.
His eyes turned black, and scale-like markings began to appear across his skin.
The area around him trembled slightly, confusing the nearby campers.
But it all stopped instantly.
Miraak relaxed his gaze and returned to normal, though his eyes remained half-lidded. Then he turned his head toward the camp entrance, just as someone began walking straight toward him.
If Percy had been there, he would have recognized him.
It was that figure from his first mission. The one who could barely maintain his own existence.
Nyar’Kaath, as he had introduced himself.
