AMETHYST

As I gazed out the window, I admired the view. The way the waves crashed onto each other and how the sun caught the water in a beautiful light was calming. The Atlantic ocean was such a beautiful sight to behold, especially when I compared it to the waters of Zephyrus Creek.

But I clearly was the only one who was in love with the view as everyone else seemed to be bored with it. Alexander's face went from white to green every time he looked out at the view, Kai disliked water, and Rose was complaining about how bored she was.

"Ugh, can we do something? I'm so bored," Rose said.

Geneva nodded in agreement.

"Come on guys, do you always have to complain about something?" I asked. "We have a long trip ahead of us, so we should keep our heads up."

Kai sighed. "Is this leading into a rant about the history of the Atlantic ocean? 'Cause if so, not interested."

Alexander and Rose gave hardy chuckles while Geneva just rolled her eyes at Kai's statement.

I sighed and put aside any prospect of getting my friends' spirits up, heading back to my cabin. I gazed at my library as I sorted through which books I would read. After a few minutes of shuffling, I chose the twelfth book of the series, Odyssey, and sat down on my bed.

I had been reading the series for a while to learn more information on Greek mythology to help us on our quests. The book I had chosen talked about Sirens, mermaid-like creatures that lured sailors to their deaths. I read about how Odysseus sailed past their island by tying himself to the mast and making his fellow sailors plug their ears so as not to hear the Sirens' singing.

I specifically wanted to read this section because anything could go wrong on this quest and should something like that happen, I'd be ready to help out in whatever way I can. The Atlantic is home to some very dangerous areas for demigods, especially down south, so I wanted to be prepared.

I got a knock on my door.

"Come in," I said.

Rose walked into the room and waved. "Hey. We're having a meeting in a few minutes, so come to the training ground."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few seconds," I said.

Rose nodded and exited.

I got up and put up my book as I prepared for what might be a very long and only somewhat eventful conversation. What is supposed to be a fantastic opportunity to discuss future plans and strategies usually turns into an immature conversation about what Friends episode is best, run of course by Alexander and Kai.

Despite all info saying otherwise, I was hopeful something eventful could happen and left my room to head over to the training ground.

When I got there, everyone else was waiting for me.

"Hey Amethyst," Rose greeted.

"Hi," I replied. I sat down next to her and Geneva.

"So, what are we discussing?" I asked.

"Well, we never finished talking about what to do with Timmy," Geneva said.

"I can hear you, geniuses!" Timmy yelled from across the hall.

Alexander laughed. "Shut up, Jimothy. Gods, that guy is amazing."

Geneva nodded slowly. "Right. Anyways, Rose needs to vote on whether we keep Timmy or get rid of him."

I turned to Rose. "Come on, this is pretty simple. We gain nothing by keeping him here, and he just annoys the crap out of us."

Rose hesitated. "I know, but I'm not sure leaving Timmy at sea would do us any good either."

"Exactly," Kai said. "Plus, he actually may have some good in him. Yesterday, he complimented my hair."

"He was being sarcastic," I reminded him.

Kai shrugged. "Whatever, but it's still pretty inhumane to throw him off the ship. We're not old-fashioned pirates."

"Yeah, but what if he gets us into trouble or somehow reveals our location? We can't trust Timmy no matter how 'funny' he may be," Geneva reasoned.

Alexander scoffed. "He's hilarious! Also, how can he reveal our location? We put him in a cage that negates his powers. He basically can't do anything."

"Thanks, Alexander," Timmy groaned.

"You're welcome," Alexander replied. "Hey, shut up, Rob!"

Rose bit her lip. "Look, while I agree that Timmy is the one of the most annoying human beings alive, it would be cruel of us to leave him at sea to his death. Besides, we brought him on the ship to get information. Plus, Kai, didn't you say you would try getting info out of Timmy yesterday?"

Kai nodded. "Yeah, I tried, but he wouldn't say anything. Still though, I think I can budge some info out of him."

"See? There are more benefits to keeping Timmy than not. Plus, it'd just be kind of immoral, as Kai said, to just throw him off," Rose continued. "I vote to keep him."

"Fine," I muttered. "Timmy gets to stay."

"Yippee," Timmy said. "I feel like a newly freed man."

"Shut up, Timmy!" we all yelled with the exception of Alexander, who called him 'Johnny'.

Oman's voice began talking through the speaker above us.

"Attention y'all, it looks like we've run into some trouble."

We all looked at each other with worry.

We ran up to Oman's cabin to see what the trouble was.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Oman pointed to his monitor, showing us a radar map displaying moving objects heading our direction. "We've got some planes headin' our direction. We're going to have to take a different route."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean we're going to have to sail across the ocean and head south of where we are now," Oman explained.

That's when I stumbled across something.

"South? Like to the Bermuda Triangle?" I asked.

"That's the only place we can go without getting spotted by the incomin' ships," Oman reconfirmed.

Rose looked at me quizzically. "What's wrong with the Bermuda Triangle? I thought all the conspiracies and whatnot were fake."

"They are, but to demigods, the Bermuda Triangle is the Sea of Monsters," I answered. "A very dangerous location, especially to demigods."

"The Sea of Monsters?" Alexander asked. "Sounds like a title to a really bad movie."

"How is it dangerous exactly?" Rose asked.

"Like the name suggests, the Sea of Monsters is filled with creatures of all sorts that can wreak lots of havoc. It also has some of the worst locations a demigod could find themselves near, examples being Sirens Island, Circe's Resort, the creatures Scylla and Charybdis, Polyphemus' Island, and pirates," I explained.

Kai nodded. "And not the funny kind of parents like Captain Jack Sparrow. God bless that man. Anyways, a few years ago, a group of demigods set out to recapture the Golden Fleece from Polyphemus's Island. They were able to do it successfully, but since then, most campers haven't dared travel to the Sea of Monsters."

"Are you absolutely sure we can't drop down anywhere else?" Geneva asked Oman.

Oman shook his head. "Sadly, no. The planes are lined in a way that forces us to go south. Plus, I don't think any of the planes actively want to head south to an area so filled with mystery."

The five of us headed back to our cabins as Oman parked the ship in the ocean. From outside of my cabin's window, I could see the waves of the oceans even closer compared to before.

I heard Alexander gag and rush to the bathroom. Poor him. He was really seasick.

Now, instead of just Rose complaining, it was Kai, Rose, Geneva, and Timmy all complaining at once. I bet you money Alexander would be joining them in song if he wasn't busy barfing up his guts.

"I'm so bored," Rose complained again.,

"Why do we have to be so close to the sea? There's like, sharks and stuff," Kai groaned.

"When do we get off this stupid ship?" Geneva whined quietly, faint creaks of her bed audible as she rocked back and forth.

"Ugh, someone get me out of this cage!" Timmy moaned, banging on the bars wildly.

I facepalmed. This was going to be an even more painful trip than I previously thought.

I went up to the minibar to grab a snack and said hi to Oman. As I headed back to my cabin, I began hearing singing in the distance.

Oh boy, that wasn't good.

Rose and the others walked onto the top deck, an already concerning sign considering the situation.

"What is that sound?" Kai asked.

"Sirens," I answered.

"What are Sirens?" Rose asked.

"They're mermaid-like monsters that lure sailors to their death. They now live on Siren's Island, located right at the entrance of the Sea of Monsters," I explained. "Generally not what any demigod would hope to encounter."

"They're essentially just a bunch of Ariels with decent singing ability and demonic intentions," Kai summarized.

I nodded.

Rose pursed her lips. "So, how do we beat them?"

"According to the Odyssey, Odysseus beat them by tying himself to the mast and having his sailors plug their ears," I replied. "We should also plug our ears."

Everyone did as I instructed, using their fingers to plug their ears. However, Geneva's fingers began to slowly come down from her ears as she began looking in the general direction of the Sirens.

"Geneva? Geneva, are you hearing me?" I asked.

Geneva remained in a trance. She began slowly walking forward, muttering the word, "beautiful", under her breath.

"What's happening to her?" Kai asked me.

I was barely able to hear his question, responding, "She's locked in a trance."

I focused my efforts back on Geneva and tried stepping in front of Geneva to obstruct her path, but she pushed me out of the way.

Oman's ship started sailing even closer to the island as the singing got louder. The place looked like a dump with black sand and volcanic rock. There was a large cove that contained spikes, mines, broken wood, and shredded ships.

Standing on the island were Sirens, some of the most disturbing creatures in Greek mythology. They looked like human sized-vultures with gray talons, pink wrinkled necks, and black plumage. Horrifyingly enough, they had the heads of some of my friends, with one having Kai's face and the other Rose's.

Kai and the rest of my friends tried stopping Geneva as she neared the edge of the ship. However, she pushed them all away and before any of us could recover, Geneva dived into the water and began swimming for the island.

Oman jumped out of the cabin with a ring buoy and threw it at Geneva. However, before it could hit her, Geneva went underwater. Oman quickly plugged his ears in after pulling back the buoy and retreated inside the cabin.

She was about to drown to her death.

I jumped into the water with zero hesitation and went after her. The water wasn't cold, but it certainly wasn't warm either. Thankfully, being a daughter of a music god and all, I barely heard the Sirens singing. I swam as fast I could to find Geneva, but my body failed me. She was too far past me and I was suddenly yards away from the ship.

We were both going to die.

As I continued to thrash and struggle my way to Geneva, my body began to ache. The salt in the water stung my eyes and the closer I got to the island, the colder the water became.

As my body began to sink in the water, I began to think through all the events in my life and tried to remember the most peaceful ones, ones quality enough to die to, I guess.

The first one that came to my mind was going to eat ice cream with my mom and Kai when I was five years old. The memory wasn't anything special, but it made me sentimental of the times before camp. I then remembered when I first arrived at Camp Half-Blood and was greeted by all the Apollo cabin members and how quick I felt accepted there. The next memories flashed by in a blinding montage. Glimpses of my first quest, my troubled and problematic school life, and my many visits back home to Mom with Kai as I was now at peace.

Suddenly, I was scooped out of the water and brought back to the ship. When I turned around to see what had saved me, I saw a dolphin.

"What the Hades?!" I exclaimed.

Was I seeing for real or had I gone insane?

My confusion only grew when the dolphin transformed into Geneva.