The Beast of the Sea~Chapter 31

I watched as my sword got farther and farther away from me. Running at this point would be completely useless as my sword began to life up into the air. It was time to think fast and I looked around at what I could use. I saw one of the cannons for our ship was primed and ready. I jumped off the deck of the SS Orca and onto the deck of my own ship. I placed my hands on the cannon and lined up the sight. I pulled the trigger and a giant ball of gum shot from the barrel. It hit my sword, causing it to go flying into a rock wall were it become stuck. The cord that had been pulling my sword away went tight, causing the Collector’s ship to shift to the side.

“Palinurus, be more careful!” the Collector called into the ship, causing the flying ship to straighten out, but the cable didn’t release and the gum was slowly becoming unstuck from the rocks. “Get us out of here with that sword, now!”

The ship’s engines began to increase in power and the wind began to blow down, pushing me back a little bit as I almost lost my balance. I looked up at the ship, but the sun became blocked out by dark storm clouds. I looked back and saw that Joe and El both had their spears out, pointing them upward toward the sky.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Joe called up to him as bolts of lightning began to strike all around the ship.

“I don’t take kindly to people that steal from my friends,” El added, giving a nasty look at the Collector. It began to rain as well, in combination with the wind and lightning. The Collector’s ship began to shake in the air as the wind blew it in all different directions. I watched as the Collector almost lost his footing more than once and at once point almost slipped over the railing. He gave an annoyed look before turning back to the bridge of the ship.

“Release the line, we can’t stay here any longer,” the Collector called and the cable released itself, falling to the ground. He looked up at the storm clouds and watched as what looked like a small tornado began to form. “Get us out of here!”

The ship began to gain altitude over the rocky cliffs, but a bolt of lightning came down from the clouds and hit the side of the ship. The Collector was forced forward, causing his glasses to fall off and start to descend downward. However, I never got a good look at his eyes as his arm went up to shield his eyes and he went back inside the ship. The ship sailed off into the sky, managing to get away without receiving any serious damage unfortunately. The sky began to clear up relatively quickly and I turned back to look at Joe and El. El looked completely exhausted as she fell onto her knees and took in a few deep breaths. Joe looked tired as well, but his own ego wouldn’t let him show any weakness, something he must have picked up on from his dad.

“Hey Joe, any chance you could fly up there and get my sword?” I asked him.

“Sure, no problem,” he said, a little unsure as he looked at the wad of gum high up on the cliff side. I was sure he could make it, but I figured I’d have some fun with him. He flew up, a little shaky as he couldn’t seem to stay at a level elevation. When he did make it, he pulled at the cable with a few good tugs and it came loose. He flew back down and grabbed the handle of my sword to hand it to me. However, the sword gave him a swift shock, some kind of built in defense I had forgotten about and Joe dropped it to the ground.

“What the hell?!” Joe shouted as he rubbed his hand.

“Sorry, forgot about that,” I said honestly. “But thanks for getting it, you too El.”

She gave me a tired wave from her own ship, but got back up to her feet and went to the helm of her ship. Her ship seemed to come to life in her hands as it pushed itself back off the beach and into the sea.

“We better head back to Circe’s Island if we ever want to get back to normal,” El called to us. “And don’t worry about Angel, I’ll take care of her. So, last one there is a rotten egg!”

“I can smell the rotten eggs coming from your ship already,” Joe called back and floated to the deck of the ship. “Ash, if we lose to her, I’d sleep with one eye open for the rest of the trip back to Camp Half-Blood.”

I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I picked up my sword from the deck of the ship, when something shiny caught my eye. I looked down and saw the Collector’s glasses sitting in the sand. I pointed my sword toward it and a small tower of sand raised it toward me, allowing me to grab it and slip it into my pocket.

“Let’s see what this ship can do,” I said out load and grabbed the helm, also flipping a few switches. I heard the gears of the ship turn and spin below deck. The engines began to spin and the ship easily pulled itself off the beach and into the sea. I lined my ship up with El’s until we were nose and nose. “And go!”

Unfortunately, El’s sailing ship was no match for a ship made by the god of forges and she was more than a little unhappy when we arrived back on Circe’s island. She started talking about how she would have won if the wind was blowing in the right direction, but as far as I could tell it was blowing behind us the entire time, which I didn’t say out loud. Angel had also recovered slightly and we filled her in on what happened while we walked to the front door of the spa. As we got up to the faded Welcome sign above the front door, I had no idea what to expect, as I didn’t know if Circe had won, or the pirates, or the demigods turned pirates were released from Blackbeard’s spell.

“Alright guys, get ready,” I told them, and they all got their weapons out. I pulled open the front door and jumped back just to be safe. About twenty guinea pigs armed with plastic swords went running out of the entrance and scattered into the woods.

“That has got to be the strangest thing I have seen all day,” Angel said, which I actually had to agree with. We all walked inside, with our weapons still out just in case. As we got to the front desk, there was a blinding flash of magical energy and Circe appeared behind the desk.

“I’m very sorry, but C.C.'s Spa and Resort is closed right now for renovations. Please come back another time,” she said with a smile.

“Circe, you’re alright,” I said, not realizing that I was actually a little happy that she was unharmed. I then remembered all the guinea pigs that had run out. “Wait, you didn’t turn them all into tiny pigs, did you? Some of them were just being manipulated by Blackbeard.”

“Don’t worry,” Circe said as she just waved me off with her hand. “I do pride myself as being a world class sorceress; you would think I could tell the difference between a spell to control people and those that are willingly attacking. Your demigod friends are in the other room being bandaged and healed as we speak.”

“That’s a relief,” El said as she placed a hand on her chest. Circe on the other hand looked over at El and Joe.

“Although, we really should fix you two up,” Circe said, pointing at them. They both instinctively looked at their ripped clothes, but Circe waved them off again. “I meant your age problem, but you could use a new set of clothes as well while you’re here. Anyway, right this way.”

Circe led us back down the hallways and I got glimpses of demigods being healed and bandaged. It was nice to see Circe helping demigods instead of turning them into animals and who knows, maybe she could actually start a respectable business, not just one that all male demigods had to fear. We eventually returned to the room that had the Fountain of Youth in it, as well as a small pond in back that was supposed to increase a person’s age.

“So, what do we have to do?” Joe asked. “Is there like a spell, or a ritual? Some kind of warning that if we don’t drink the right amount, we will age into dust?”

“Nope, just drink this,” Circe said and tossed them each a bottle of water.

“But you made it sound so complicated earlier!” I shouted, a little annoyed at her trickery.

“If I told you how easy it was, would you have set me free?” Circe said with a sly smile and a wink. I just rolled my eyes and turned away. Joe and El both looked at each other and then turned to the bottles, looking at them a bit cautiously.

“Ladies first,” Joe remarked, but El scoffed at him.

“Why do guys always say that when something dangerous is happening?” El said out load, but twisted off the plastic cap and took a long drink, only leaving a few mouthfuls at the bottom before tightening the cap again. She then looked down at her body, waiting for some kind of change to happen. “How long is this supposed to take?”

“Just give it a second,” Circe responded as she started sorting the bottles that had fallen off a broken self. A second more seemed to be all it needed as El began to glow with a faint blue light and began to change, growing a few inches and becoming visibly older, but seemed to have stopped aging a little younger than when I had first met her. I wondered if she left that little bit of water in the bottle on purpose or not. The light faded and El took a quick look at herself and smiled at her reflection in the lake.

“How do you feel?” Joe question, but El just turned around and smiled at him.

“I feel like I’m back to normal for the most part, maybe a few years younger in fact,” El said, giving us all a big thumbs up.

>“Alright, bottoms up,” Joe said as he drank the entire bottle in just a few short gulps. Much like with El, after a few short moments he began to change into a version of himself I had never seen. By the time he reached his final form, he was almost a full head taller than me and was obviously a lot stronger, not even taking into account that his demigod powers were most likely a lot stronger now.

“You back up to full strength?” I asked him. Joe clenched his fists a few times to get a feel before taking in a few deep breaths. Lightning began to shoot out of his body, running along the walls of the cave, but they were completely under his control.

“It’s going to take a little while to get used to being in my body again, but it shouldn’t take too long,” Joe said with a smile.

“Showoff,” El smirked. “Your dad really should have been the god of theater instead of lightning.”

“You’ve been listening to your dad too much,” Joe said back at her. To anyone else, it would seem like they were fighting, but I knew that it was just how they acted around each other.

“That man stole one of my vials!” Circe yelled as she finished sorting the vials.

“Who stole what?” I asked her, walking up to her desk.

“That man with the flying ship. He stole one of the youth vials we had on the walls,” she said with a bit of anger.

“Are you sure it didn’t just break during the fighting?” Joe asked, looking around.

>“No, there isn’t any trace of broken glass anywhere in this room. He must have taken it during all the fighting,” Circe complained, but looked back toward the fountain. “Oh well, not like we don’t have plenty of the stuff.”

“Is it dangerous or anything?” I asked her.

“No, the worse he could do would be to add a few decades to his life, make himself a little younger, but that’s it,” Circe said, finishing her repairs to the area. “Either way, I have a lot of work to do to bring my island back to its former glory. As much as I am thankful for your help in freeing me from those pirates, I am afraid I must ask you to leave. Your friends should be ready to leave by tomorrow morning, be prepared to leave with the tide.”