Felicia's Fortune Chapter 9: Something Fishy's Going On

This story is inspired by Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard, and my siblings. 

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I looked at Ali and Azazel, who were scanning the other balconies. A mysterious figure a few balconies down seemed to be stretching and yawning, although it was hard to tell because their balcony lights were off. 

Ali motioned us inside with a wave of her hand. We watched until the guy went back inside, and we walked back onto the balcony. Azazel got out two forks and stabbed them into the wall, starting to scale downwards, using them as handholds. Ali took out her pocketknife, and I gasped as it turned into a spear.  

They both looked at me, and I shrugged apologetically. I looked down at Azazel and back up at Ali, who was now using her spear to stab into strategic spots on the wall. She looked up at me and silently motioned for me to scale down, too.  

I hesitated, and then Azazel passed something to Ali, who passed it up to me. It was a small wooden rosebud – the same one she was carving before. I looked closer and saw that it had a small hump on the bottom. Running my thumb over it, I wondered what it was doing there, as the rosebud looked like a small trinket.  

When I pressed harder, it elongated into a staff with a curved blade at the end. A scythe. I smiled as I realized it was the weapon Azazel was holding before. I stabbed the weapon into the wall, and climbed down, finding handholds on the vines before stabbing the weapon into another spot. 

When we reached the bottom, we heard the faint sound of people talking. We all tensed up, and listened. 

“Well, we can’t be sure who did it, but it has to be from one of the gods.” A deep, old voice came from nearby. 

“I’m banking on it being that girl’s parent. The new girl’s parent? You know who I’m talking about?” A teenage raspy voice responded. 

“Yeah, I know who you’re talking about. I also have a feeling you’re right.” The deep voice stopped for a moment before talking again. “Brr, it’s getting chilly! Why don’t we head inside?” 

“Yeah, it’s really nippin’ tonight!” 

The voices faded into the distance, and the three of us slowly moved from our hiding position on the wall. We looked at each other, and Azazel dramatically wiped her forehead. As we snuck away, I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following us.  

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Until we got to the port early in the ‘morn, I kept looking back over my shoulder to make sure no one was there. I didn’t relax until we got to the dock, where a limey was securing a cover on his sailboat.  

“Why did a windfall like tonight bring me you three lasses? Shouldn’t you be off to Bedfordshire?” He asked, tying a sailor’s knot to keep the cover on. 

“Well, we were wondering if you had an underwater boat of some sort. We were told to find one,” I said. Ali and Azazel looked at me weirdly, and I looked back and stuck my tongue out at them. The sooner we could find an underwater boat and leave for Calf of Man, the better. 

“Me lasses, there are dangers skimming the seas, to fearsome for you's eyes!” The man looked taken aback. I was about to respond when Ali spoke first. 

“Kind sir, that is why we are taking an underwater boat, to avoid the danger.” Ali paused as the man nodded his head, but she cut him off when he started to say something else. 

“We might have an extra few pounds to spare, and maybe a few figurines.”  

“I’ll lend ye me underwater craft, but she be rickety. If she comes back damaged, you’ll be payin’ for her. Inside the shack, to th’ right, there’s a personal dock and it should be there.”  

Then, Ali pulled three pounds and two carved mermaids from her pocket and moved them tantalizingly around in her hand. He watched them shine in the light before nodding his head. 

“On second thought, you can keep her!” 

 He grabbed the pounds and figurines before running off to a nearby watering hole to show off his newest prize. 

We looked at each other before Azazel motioned to the shack and said dramatically, “Ladies FIRST!” 

Ali and I rolled our eyes and stepped in, turning right to see a tosser’s version of an underwater boat. It would barely hold together underwater, and I hoped it would get us to the island. It looked barely sturdy enough to take us through about a thousand kilometers, which is how far we still needed to go. I sighed, and we all carefully stepped in. 

I was amazed at how much better the interior looked. All the controls seemed to be working when Ali tested them, and Azazel called the nearside seat, and I was stuck in the backrow seat. 

Surprisingly, there was a lot of room in the boat, and it had a few small, adjoining rooms to make it cozy. I ran my hands along the walls as I walked to shut the boat door. It was metal, like the exterior and frame, and it had seals everywhere. I spun the lock, and it made a squealing sound as it sealed. 

As I walked to the front, I heard a tangle of nets fell from their hook on the wall, so I walked back and hung them up, wondering what had caused it. The boat was eerily quiet, and I had the feeling that something was wrong. Up in the front, Ali and Azazel were sitting quietly as we glided away from shore.  

“So... Do you have a godly parent?” I said to break the tension. 

“Yeah, Momus! YOU ALREADY ASKED ME THAT!” Azazel screeched annoyingly (and dramatically). 

“She’s not talking to you, bloody gormless plonker, she’s asking me! Look at the direction she’s facing! And yes, I do have a godly parent. Her name’s Athena, and I don’t know much more than that.” Ali said before looking back out the front at the colorful fish. 

The fish and algae swam away in colorful flurries as the rickety ship pushed through them. The sea seemed to glow and get dark in a pulse-like pattern as we traveled just under the surface. The breaking dawn shone through the sea, casting the waves in pinkish-blue light. I stood, gobsmacked, as the ocean became alive around us. Small fish occasionally bumped into our capsule of a ship, and would swim away. 

“I don’t like the look of those fish,” Ali whispered. 

“Why? They’re SO GROSS! AM I RIGHT!” Azazel exclaimed sarcastically. 

Something was off... “Guys, I don’t think that’s a fish. We should go faster.” I nervously pointed out. Ali and Azazel’s faces were priceless and at any other time I would’ve laughed, but there was no laughing when faced with something so bloody massive. 

We had come to the realization that the small fish were not really fish, but giant webbed feet attached to the huge centipede-looking creature. Its nose hair was twice as long as our vessel, and it was swimming right over us, as if stalking prey. All of a sudden, it moved quickly, and swam in front of us. It looked like a normal fish aside from the nose hair, extra feet, it being as big as an island, and its beady black eyes that were bloody creepy and still give me nightmares. 

“BLIMEY!” Azazel screech-yelled. 

Then the monster charged. 

-Felicia