I looked down the deck and Leo was stunned, his hands shaking. Andromeda was trying her best to focus on a spell, and Jason stayed still. The ships around us drifted as Leo had lost his focus and his control. I held my hand out as my wrist tensed, I tried my best to hold the ships in formation. It felt like my muscles were tearing, I screamed out in pain.
"LEO! SNAP OUT OF IT!" I screamed down the deck, I heard a pop from my wrist as I used the water to draw the ships closer.
Then I heard it, the maw of the ocean open. The ship at our right side was getting drawn in, I threw my power at it. I was going to bring it back, my arm burned but I couldn't let it go. Finally, a snap, my wrist broke with bone stabbing through my skin. I screamed out in pain and fell to my knees, blood gushed to the deck in floods I lost control of the ship as Charybdis took it. The sickening sound of wood splintering as screams filled the air.
"LEONIDAS SHEPPARD! HELP!" I screamed out.
He snapped from his shock and was back to command, he commanded the remaing three ships crews as Scylla's head came down. The formation tightened up as he barked orders, the ship behind us lit torches and Scylla's attention was diverted. Her heads were still attacking us, Jason had commandeered some of the crew to fight back. Andromeda had finished her spell, a bow appearing in her hand as she shot a single arrow at Scylla. The arrow struck her and immediately dragged her back under the water, heads and all.
"GO MEN! GO!" Leonidas shouted, commanding the ships to rush forward.
All the ships rushed forward as pain and fatigue began to rush over my body. 'Help' burned in my throat, lodged in it like a damn holding back a flood of scream and cries. I fell to my side, look at my mangled wrist. A pair of feet ran to me, and helped sit me up.
Leo was holding my wrist and talking to me, but it just looked like he was mouthing words. I felt a smile come to my face as my thoughts blurred, gods above this boy will be the death of me. He touched my wrist wrong and I snapped back, screaming and crying with pain.
"Help!" I finally managed to say, tears burning my eyes.
Leonidas took a vial from a strap on his leg, and paused. "This is pure uncut ambrosia, drink half of this vial and if you need more I'll give you more," He held the vial up, "It is going to hurt. Do you understand?"
I nodded quickly as he took the top off, he tilted my head up gently- sweetly and tipped the vial over. Half of it, as he said, dripped on my tongue. It tasted like the pesto tortellini from a restaurant on Pier 39, as I swallowed the liquid it burned. It hit my stomach and my body jerked, every muscle and nerve hated what I had just took. My wrist suddenly snapped back into place, I let out a sharp cry as my skin began to burn. My muscles spasmed and burned, piecing together what had torn.
Then, darkness. It was all to much, the pain overtook my mind and it had shut off. I sat in the abyss of my mind, one of the side effects of my curse, and moved around in the vast void. Then I saw it, saw him, Zagreus. I had only seen him twice in my life, the curse left his touch burned into my mindscape permanently. He sat on a blackened marble throne, decorated with gold and gemstones and he wore a large spiky crown of blackened metal and emeralds. He wore large, black, metal armor with a wine colored cloak draped over his shoulder, and he had grey eyes like most children of Hades. His black hair kept neat and short, almost perfect.
He smiled, as two wine glasses appeared in his hand, and stood up. "ATTICUS! Come! Drink with a dead god!"
Ironic, I thought, taking the glass of wine from him, "Zagreus. Why was I cursed?" I asked.
"Cursed? You weren't cursed! You were blessed with my touch, my mark!" He shouted excitedly. "You, Atticus Neptune, are one of a dozen men blessed to be an immortal in the eyes of the gods!"
"But why?" I persisted.
Zagreus took a deep breath, "Poseidon."
"My dad?" I looked at Zagreus like he had gone mad.
"He couldn't stand to lose both of his sons at once, and he needed to punish you both to make Athena happy. Zeno was cursed to live eternally with no access to his past self, always wanting more but never achieving it. The last known appearance was Joseph Otto, the man who drove himself mad. You were blessed to be the best at what you do, but to never be able to do what you want to do. Sound familiar?" He sat down, drinking his wine.
It did, it does, it always has. I never wanted to be a senator, I never wanted to be a soldier but I excel at being both. I wanted to be an adventurer, to be free and explore the world but it always just out of reach. The life I wanted, guarded by red tape that the sharpest of blades couldn't cut through.
Before I could respond, I woke up on a soft patch of grass. The ships had all docked, except the ironclad which was patrolling the island we were on. All of the crew were gone, without so much as a note. I sat up and looked around me, seeing abandoned gear and guns. I looked back at the ships and saw no life, or rather non-life, on any ships besides the ironclad.
Then I heard shouting and laughing off in the distance, I went through the gear and found a double-action revolver in the pile that was abandoned and a matching holster. I quickly undid and redid my belt with the holster, and ran towards the noise deep in the jungle that surrounded where I had woken up.
When I had reached the noises origin, I saw a group of the undead dancing and celebrating near a lake. Spainish sailors and confederate soldiers were hand in hand, holding cups of a glowing liquid. Far off in the distance, Leo and Andromeda were laughing and smiling with their weapons tossed to the side. I carefully treaded down to the lake, a hand on my new weapon as I watched the crowd. Something about this whole scene seemed uneasy, that unhelpful feeling of dread looming over my shoulder.