The Beast of the Sea~Chapter 14

In only a matter of moments, we were flying down the eastern coast toward the Sea of Monsters. El stood at the helm and adjusted the sails to best catch the wind. Angel was standing on the stern of the ship in order to see the trail left behind. I wondered if she could see it clearly as we were now in salt water so I was confused if she could see salt water in a salt water ocean. However, she didn’t seem to have any problems so far so I trusted her. Joe was currently leaning against the side rail of the ship looking a little pale and I wondered if he got sea sick at all. I seemed to be fine currently, but I kept finding myself hiding behind the shade of the sail so I wouldn’t get sun burned at all.

“Hey El, where are we right now?” I asked her and she looked down from the helm at me onto the deck.

“We are currently off the coast of Virginia,” she said back. “We’re making great time.”

“Wait, it has only been a few hours. How did we get so far in only a short amount of time?” I asked her. It didn’t seem like we were moving that fast and a ship with a single sail shouldn’t have been able to make the distance it had.

“This is a magic ship after all. I call it the SS Orca and it is my pride and joy,” she said. While I knew what an orca was, the other name that came to mind was the killer whale. “My ship can travel through the water just like an orca can and can travel vast distances. However, that isn’t the only reason I named it this.”

Before El could explain more, Angel shouted from the front of the ship.

“Hey everyone, look at this!” she said. Joe and I walked to the front of the ship and looked out. While I was expecting some kind of horrible monster to pop out of the water and swallow the ship, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. “They’re beautiful.”

And she was right. In front of us a pod of dolphins were jumping in front of the ship and playing with the waves the ship generated. One leaped from the water and did an entire front slip before landing right back in the water. I noticed a few others were swimming along the side of the ship and making clicking sounds, which I didn’t understand, but El seemed to as she talked back to them and laughed.

“What are they saying?” I asked her, as I didn’t speak dolphin.

“Oh not much, just wishing us a safe journey. They say there is a storm up ahead, but it isn’t a big one so we should be able to sail right through it,” she said as she thanked the dolphin and it dove beneath the water, with the other. “Delphin is always good for a visit.”

“Wait, that was the god of dolphins?” Joe asked as he looked over the ocean for any sign of the god.

“Ya, couldn’t you feel the natural energy of the sea?” Angel asked as she turned around.

“No,” both Joe and I said out load before looking at each other and laughing a bit.

“Leave it to a guy to not be able to recognize a god when they see one,” Angel mocked as she faced once again toward the front of the ship. Joe and I both put on annoyed faces, but I could hear El laughing from her spot behind the helm.

Delphin wasn’t lying about the storm however, as soon I could see dark clouds rolling in from the ocean. The waves also seemed to grow and El was forced to slow the ship down to normal speeds to prevent it from flipping over or something worse.

“Everyone, secure your lifelines! This is going to get rough!” El said. Joe ran over toward the main mast and grabbed a length of rope that was tied to it. Joe then grabbed the other end of the rope and wrapping it around his waist. He then ran over and gave me some rope as well and I did the same. Angel however refused a line as she was a water spirit I guess. Another length of rope moved like a snake and wrapped itself around El’s waist. At the same time, I saw several joints and pulleys move on their own and the sail rolled itself up and the ropes held it in place.

“Alright everyone, we should be out of this storm in a little bit,” El said, but she was clearly struggling with the controlling the rudder.

“Joe, can you do anything about this storm?” I asked, calling to him.

“No, this is a sea storm. It is technically in the realm of Poseidon. Best I can do is try and calm the wind but no guaranties,” Joe said and he took out his weapon, which took on the form of a large staff. Joe looked like he was trying to conduct an orchestra as he moved it around in various motions. While the wind around the ship seemed to calm down, the waves became even rougher. However, there wasn’t any rain coming down which in a way, I was thankful for. As Joe continued to manipulate the wind, a strange look crossed his face, which looked like a mix of fear and confusion. “Something’s wrong.”

Just then several bolts of lightning fell from the sky as if they were the rain itself and they fell all around the ship. When the bolts faded, another single bolt came flying at the ship and Joe leaped into the air and smacked it away with his staff. The bolt didn’t react like I thought it would, as it seemed to stumble around in the air before just hanging in the air for a second.

“What is that thing?” Angel asked from the front of the ship.

“An abomination,” Joe called as he looked at it. “Reveal yourself!”

Several more bolts of lightning fell from the clouds and struck the ball of lightning dangling in the air. They seemed to take form and shape until it became a complete thing. What floated above me was a girl about four feet tall. She had long light blue hair that crackled with electricity and small, somewhat pointed ears. She wore a simple white dress and she looked kind of like a nymph or something. When her eyes opened, they were solid black with a yellow pupil in the middle. It was very unsettling.

“I am Lightning,” the small girl said in an almost innocent voice. She extended her small fingers and lightning branched out from the tip, heading right for the ship. Before I could even react Joe flew in front of the ship and absorbed the lightning into his staff before pointing it in another direction and all the lightning flew back into the sky. “So, a son of Zeus is in my presence. Tell me, how does it feel to rely on my power?”

“I don’t draw power from you, my power is my own. Eat voltage!” Joe shouted and he shot a bolt of lightning from the edge of his staff.

“Been a long time since I heard that,” El said, still fighting the waves.

The girl raised one of her hands and the lightning bolt seemed drawn to it. I watched as it seemed to be absorbed into her body and her eyes flared with lightning as she stared down Joe.

“Joe, you have to stop. You’re only making her stronger!” I yelled at him, but when I looked at Joe he was obviously straining to hold on.

“I’m…trying,” he said and I finally understood. Lightning was literally being drawn out of him and he was powerless to stop it. The last bit of lightning left Joe’s staff and he went falling from the sky. Thankfully his life line was still attached and I went running over to the main mast and began pulling on his rope, however when I reached the end of the rope I only found a blackened burned stump.

“Don’t worry, I’m on it. Someone grab the helm!” El yelled as she jumped off the side of the ship and the wheel began to spin rapidly, causing the entire ship to shift. I ran up to it and grabbed it as hard as I could. I began spinning it in the opposite direction and I wondered how El had been holding it for so long, as I had to fight for every turn of the wheel.

“Oh this is fun,” Lightning said as she floated around in the air. “Let’s see, who is next?”

“What the heck is she?” I asked Angel, who looked very unsure of what to do.

“A minor Elemental, I think a combination of fire and wind,” Angel said.

“Oh for that comment, you’ll be next,” Lightning said as she pointed a single finger at Angel. “Time to go.”

The small girl fired a single lightning bolt right at Angel and I was completely unable to help, as I was trapped behind the helm. Angel watched as the lightning bolt came flying toward her and she seemed paralyzed with fear. Just then I saw something fly from the ocean and intercepted the lightning strike.

“What trick is this?” Lightning called in a high pitched voice as she drew her hand back. After the light faded I saw a trident hovering in midair with a few sparks running through it, but they eventually stopped. The trident then began to float down until it stopped right in front of Angel. She looked at it for a short time before grasping it in her hand.

“Wow, I can feel the power of the ocean,” Angel said, as if in a trance. She then raised the trident above her head and I felt a burst of wind circle around the ship. The water around us also seemed to calm, as the ship stopped rocking back and forth.

“I don’t care where that weapon came from, you will die!” Lightning called several lightning strikes down toward the ship. Angel waved the trident in one swift motion and other lightning came down from the sky and intercepted Lightning’s. “What is this?”

“I think she is controlling the storm,” I said under my breath. Just like how Lightning had drawn Joe’s power from him, Angel was now using the storm Lightning had created to fuel her weapon. Just before Lightning attacked again, Joe went flopping on the deck as El pushed him over the rail before jumping on deck herself.

“You will all die now,” Lightning said in a voice that almost sounded cute, which just escalated the eeriness. She made throwing motions with her arms and lightning bolts came from the clouds toward us. Angel raised her trident and a spiral of wind came down from the dark clouds and sucked up the lightning strikes before touching the surface of the water. Water began being pulled up into the funnel cloud and it all seemed to mix with the lightning.

“Alright, watch this,” El said as she raised a hand. She seemed to take control of the cyclone and a combination of wind, water, and lightning went flying into the air and collided with Lightning. She let out a painful cry as she was spun around in the storm. When everything faded after a brief time, I saw Lightning still floating above us. She had an angered expression, but he didn’t look like she could back it up. Her white dress looked ripped and wet, while her pale skin seemed to be cut in some spots. I also thought I saw a piece of seaweed in her light blue hair.

“This..isn’t..over,” the girl said, almost breathlessly as she looked at us. Just then several metal rings flew out of the clouds and wrapped themselves Lightning. “What are these?!”

She tried to call down lightning, but the bolts seemed to be redirected back into the clouds. I was just as confused until the clouds began to clear and I saw a large flying ship overhead. The Collector was back.