chapter 8
ghost ship... yay?

❝ shut up baek. i'll feed you to scylla ❞

"YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE," Clarisse said.

The daughter of Ares had given them a short tour of her ghost ship– taking them to the coal bunker, the boilers and the engine, which huffed and groaned like it would explode any minute.

The teens had seen the pilothouse and the powder magazine and gunnery deck (Clarisse's favorite) with two Dahlgren smoothbore can-nons on the port and starboard sides and a Brooke nine-inch rifled gun fore and aft—all specially refitted to fire celestial bronze cannon balls.

At every turn, Jiwon could feel the stares of dead Confederate sailors, their ghostly bearded faces shimmering over their skulls. They approved of Annabeth because she told them she was from Virginia.

They were interested in Percy, too, because of his last name, Jackson—like the Southern general—but then he mentioned he was from New York. They all hissed and muttered curses about Yankees.

Tyson was terrified of them. All through the tour, he insisted Annabeth hold his hand, which she didn't look too thrilled about. Jiwon felt bad for the baby cyclops, and lightly rubbed his arm from time to time (which was somewhat helping to calm him down).

Finally, the group was escorted to dinner. The CSS Birmingham captain's quarters were about the size of a walk-in closet, but still much bigger than any other room on board. The table was set with white linen and china. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, and Dr Peppers were served by skeletal crewmen. Jiwon was starving, and though she wasn't the biggest fan of peanut butter, she happily ate the food that was given to her.

"Tantalus expelled you for eternity," Clarisse told us smugly. "Mr. D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he'll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV."

She turned to Jiwon, "Well, not for Baek. She'll get punished for the rest of the summer, probably, but... don't sweat it, we all know you're off the hook."

That made Jiwon feel slightly better about her current situation, but she didn't quite want to hold on to that feeling just yet. If she made it back to camp, and the quest was successful, she doubted any of that would even matter.

"Did they  give you this ship?" Percy asked.

"'Course not. My father did."

"Ares?"

Clarisse sneered. "You think your daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing side of every war owe a tribute to Ares. That's their curse for being defeated. I prayed to my father for a naval transport and here it is. These guys will do anything I tell them. Won't you, Captain?"

The captain stood behind her looking stiff and angry. His glowing green eyes were fixed on Percy. "If it means an end to this infernal war, ma'am, peace at last, we'll do anything. Destroy anyone."

Clarisse smiled. "Destroy anyone. I like that."

Tyson gulped.

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He's got the coordinates and he's heading south. He has a cruise ship full of monsters—"

"Good! I'll blow him out of the water."

"Clarisse..." Jiwon started, but was interrupted by Annabeth.

"You don't understand," Annabeth said. We have to combine forces. Let us help you—"

"No!" Clarisse pounded the table. "This is my quest, smart girl! Finally I get to be the hero, and you two will not steal my chance."

"Where are your cabin mates?" Percy asked. "You were allowed to take two friends with you, weren't you?"

"They didn't ... I let them stay behind. To protect the camp."

"You mean even the people in your own cabin wouldn't help you?"

"Shut up, Prissy! I don't need them! Or you!"

"Clarisse," he said, "Tantalus is using you. He doesn't care about the camp. He'd love to see it destroyed. He's setting you up to fail."

"No! I don't care what the Oracle—" She stopped herself.

"What?" Percy said. "What did the Oracle tell you?"

"Nothing." Clarisse's ears turned pink. "All you need to know is that I'm finishing this quest and you're not helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go ..."

"So we're prisoners?" Annabeth asked.

"Guests. For now." Clarisse propped her feet up on the white linen tablecloth and opened another Dr Pepper. "Captain, take them below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don't mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies."

Jiwon frowned at Clarisse. She took a step toward the girl, but was immediately stopped by one of the ghost crew members.

"Hey!" She let out, a little alarmed.

"Let her through," Clarisse spoke, "she's more of a guest than the other three."

Percy looked outright offended at her comment, but made no move to stop as he was brought belowdecks.

Jiwon spoke when the others were out of her sight.

"What's been going on with you?"

"I don't know what you mean." The daughter of Ares said pointedly.

"You're more snappy than usual." Jiwon said.

"I'm not." Clarisse snapped.

"Yes, you are." Jiwon was beginning to get frustrated. "Look, Clarisse. I'm not here to argue. I'm just worried, okay? If it's got to do with your dad–"

"You don't know what you're talking about, Baek. Just, go away."

Jiwon sighed, turning away from the girl.

"I'm trying to be on your side, you know." She said, before descending the stairs and making her way toward the barracks.

Sleep didn't come easily to Jiwon. Not while she was away from camp. She'd probably only slept a couple of hours before she went back up on deck.

It was quiet upstairs, and, for the first time in a long time, Jiwon was left alone with her thoughts.

She'd probably been standing there, looking out at the sea for close to 40 minutes, when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned and immediately noticed the daughter of Athena making her way towards her.

"It's late," Jiwon said, "you shouldn't be up."

"Neither should you."

"Couldn't sleep." Jiwon shrugged.

"Me neither." Annabeth replied, stopping next to her by the ship's railing. There was only about an inch or two of space separating the girls.

They stood in silence for a bit, just watching the waves, as the night slowly turned into day.

"What are you thinking about, Jiwon?"

"I'm not–"

"I know that look, Tinkerbell" Annabeth gave her a pointed look, "What's bugging you?"

"First of all," Jiwon gave the girl an unimpressed look, "I told you not to call me that. Second, It's stupid. You wouldn't care."

"Well, Tinkerbell. I told you, I think it's cute." Annabeth grinned when she noticed the girl's cheeks were pink. "Besides, I get why Percy's taken a liking to annoying you."

"What does that mean?" Jiwon raised an eyebrow at her.

"Nothing." Annabeth laughed, "Anyway, I do care. What's on your mind?"

"I'm just worried about Clarisse is all... she seems so on edge." Jiwon paused. "Besides, we all know this wasn't supposed to be her quest. It was meant to be yours. And Percy's. You two and Tyson were meant to be here, not Clarisse, and definitely not me."

"That's not–"

"True?" Jiwon smiled a little, "Yes it is, Annabeth. Nobody wanted to come on this quest because they knew Clarisse would fail. She needs our help. She needs your help. I mean, why else would you have snuck out?"

"Why did you follow?" Annabeth shot back.

"Same reason Clarisse wanted to go on this quest in the first place." Jiwon said. "Can't let you have all the fun, can I? Besides, even my dad wanted me to go. That's gotta mean something, right?

"Mr. D wanted you to come with us?"

"Yep." Jiwon said, grinning at the look of shock on Annabeth's face. "He believes in you, and Percy... for some reason. Even if he doesn't act like it."

"Do you?" Annabeth turned her head to face the girl.

"Do I what?"

"Do you believe in us?"

"I believe in you." She turned to Annabeth, who was less than an inch away from her at this point. If she moved any more, their noses would likely brush against each other.

She saw the smile bloom on Annabeth's face, as her eyes wandered all over her own.

"You have the most beautiful eyes, Jiwon." Annabeth said, "Have I ever told you that?"

"They're, uh, they're just brown..." Jiwon said, her face flushed.

"It's your stare I really like," Annabeth said, laughing when Jiwon narrowed her eyes at her. "Yeah, that's the one!"

"Shut up," the girl turned away from the daughter of Athena.

"For the record," Annabeth slung an arm over Jiwon's shoulder, making the girl look up at her, "I believe in you too. I'm really glad you came on this quest with us."

"Yeah?"

"Absolutely."

Jiwon and Annabeth had spent the rest of their time on deck in silence, admiring the waves and just enjoying each other's company.

Jiwon jumped when the alarm sounded, but she realized it was in warning— the crew was being called up. They were officially in the Sea of Monsters.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth asked Percy, who stumbled toward them, clearly in a strange mood. "Another dream?"

The boy nodded, but didn't say anything.

Clarisse came up the stairs right after Percy. She grabbed a pair of binoculars from a zombie officer and peered toward the horizon. "At last. Captain, full steam ahead!"

The engine groaned as the ship increased speed.

Tyson muttered nervously, "Too much strain on the pistons. Not meant for deep water."

After a few more minutes, the dark splotches ahead of the group 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 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."

Jiwon shuddered. "This is a joke, right?"

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

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

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Don't you know anything? If I tried to sail around them, they would just appear in my path again. If you want to get into the Sea of Monsters, you have to sail through them."

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

"I can't blow apart rocks with my cannons," Clarisse said. "Monsters, on the other hand ..."

"You are crazy," Annabeth decided.

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

"Aye, m'lady."

The engine groaned, the iron plating rattled, and the ship began to pick up speed.

"Clarisse... Please. Think this through."

"Shut up Baek. I'll feed you to Scylla."

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

"And spits it back out again, yeah."

"What about Scylla?"

"She lives in a cave, up on those cliffs. If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and start plucking sailors off the ship."

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

Jiwon rolled her eyes at his stupidity.

"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, Jiwon felt the heat radiating through her feet. The smokestacks billowed. The red Ares flag whipped in the wind.

As the demigods 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, they rose in the water and were buffeted by ten-foot waves.

Annabeth gripped the rail next to Jiwon, and turned to Percy. "You still have your thermos full of wind?"

The boy nodded. "But it's too dangerous to use with a whirl-pool like that. More wind might just make things worse."

"What about controlling the water?" she asked. "You're Poseidon's son. You've done it before."

Percy closed his eyes for a moment, trying to concentrate. "I—I can't," he said miserably.

"We need a backup plan," Annabeth said. "This isn't going to work."

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

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Pressure. Pistons need fixing."

Before he could explain, the cosmic toilet flushed with a mighty roaaar! The ship lurched forward and the group was thrown to the deck. They were in the whirlpool.

"Full reverse!" Clarisse screamed above the noise.

The sea churned around them, waves crashing over the deck. The iron plating was now so hot it steamed.

"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 it 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. His beard was on fire. "Boiler room overheating, ma'am! She's going to blow!"

"Well, get down there and fix it!"

"Can't!" the sailor yelled. "We're vaporizing in the heat."

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

"We're going in too fast," the captain said grimly. "Prepare yourself for death."

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

Clarisse looked at him incredulously. "You?"

"He's a Cyclops," Annabeth said. "He's immune to fire. And he knows mechanics."

"Go!" yelled Clarisse.

"Tyson, no!" Percy grabbed his arm. "It's too dangerous!"

He patted Percy's hand. "Only way, brother." His expression was determined—confident, even. "I will fix it. Be right back."

Jiwon watched him follow the smoldering sailor down the hatch, a little anxious over what would happen to her cyclops friend.

Then, the ship lurched again—and she saw Charybdis. She appeared only a few hundred yards away, through a swirl of mist and smoke and water.

Jiwon noticed the reef first. A black crag of coral with a fig tree clinging to the top, an oddly peaceful thing in the middle of a mael-strom. All around it, water curved into a funnel, like light around a black hole. Then Jiwon saw it for what it really was— an enormous mouth with slimy lips and mossy teeth the size of rowboats. And worse, the teeth had braces, bands of corroded scummy metal with pieces of fish and driftwood and floating garbage stuck between them.

Jiwon watched, in shock, as the entire sea around her was sucked into the void—sharks, schools of fish, a giant squid. In a few seconds, the CSS Birmingham would be next.

"Lady Clarisse," the captain shouted. "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. Another disappeared into her gullet. The third hit one of Charybdis's retaining bands and shot back at the ship, snapping the Ares flag off its pole.

"Again!" Clarisse ordered. The gunners reloaded, but it was hopeless. The ship was being sucked in too fast.

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

"Tyson did it!" Annabeth said.

"Wait!" Clarisse said. "We need to stay close!"

"We can't" Jiwon argued.

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

Jiwon gripped the rail tightly as the ship fought against the suction.

Tyson had somehow given them just enough juice to keep the ship from being sucked in. Suddenly, the mouth snapped shut. The sea died to absolute calm. Water washed over Charybdis.

Then, just as quickly as it had closed, the mouth exploded open, spitting out a wall of water, ejecting every-thing inedible, including the ship's cannonballs, one of which slammed into the side of the CSS Birmingham with a ding like the bell on a carnival game.

The ship was thrown backward on a wave that must've been forty feet high. They were 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 Clarisse, almost knocking them both overboard. "The engine is about to blow!"

"Where's Tyson?" Percy demanded.

"Still down there," the sailor said. "Holding it together somehow, though I don't know for how much longer."

The captain said, "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!" a sailor yelled,as another column of reptilian flesh shot from the cliffs and snapped him up. It happened so fast it was like watching a laser beam rather than a monster.

She noticed Percy swipe at the monster with his sword as it carried off another deckhand, but the son of Poseidon was way too slow.

"Everyone get below!" Percy yelled.

"We can't!" Clarisse drew her own sword. "Below deck is in flames."

"Lifeboats!" Annabeth said. "Quick!"

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

"Okay captain sunshine, is there any good news?" Jiwon grumbled.

"We have to try. Percy, the thermos."

"I can't leave Tyson!"

"We have to get the boats ready!"

Clarisse took Annabeth's command. She and a few of her 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.

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

"You can't!" she said. "The heat will kill you!"

Percy didn't listen. He ran for the boiler room hatch, but Jiwon watched in horror as Scylla carried him away from the deck.

The girl couldn't really tell what was happening, but she didn't get the chance to keep looking. Annabeth dragged her off the edge of the boat, into one of the lifeboats.

"Clarisse?"

"Gone. No time, Jiwon. We've gotta go."

"But, Percy–"

"Give it a minute. We'll catch him when he lands."

Suddenly, the CSS Birmingham exploded. Chunks of debris flew in their direction. Jiwon had half a mind to duck before Annabeth sprung into motion.

"Hold on!" she shouted, twisting open the cap of Hermes' thermos. White sheets of wind blasted in every direction.

Jiwon couldn't tell you what was happening even if she tried. It was chaos.

notes ... hey guys
long time no see lol

literally the one thing that's
kept me motivated to
write this is the thought of
getting closer to the interlude
between acts one and two lmao
so i hope u enjoy whatever
updates i can come up with
while i have time

because idk how much time
i'll have the rest of the semester
🥲🥲

i will def try tho so fingers
crossed

anyway i love jiwon i love
annabeth i love jiwon and
annabeth <3

hope u enjoyed! i love
pjo sm so i am excited to be
back to writing for jiwon