NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Chapter 16
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After Zoe handed me my gift, Annabeth came up to me and with a stern look said, "What's the plan?"
Didn't she understand? The plan was to get the book and leave, "Get the book and come back," I answered.
"That's not a plan, it's a wish list at best," exasperated Annabeth with a firm look, "If the AirPods Lord Hermes provided don't work, you'll be teleporting us to our death," she added, and she was right if these things didn't work as he said they would… everyone here would die.
"Oh, damn… I didn't think of that," Lee muttered.
"Well, any ideas then?" I asked Annabeth who nodded.
"Can you teleport us near the island but far from their reach?" Annabeth inquired.
I nodded, "I can, Lord Hermes gave me enough information to do so,"
"Can you teleport us and a small boat there?" Annabeth asked.
"I think I can… but we would be a few miles away from the location… teleporting a small boat would take a lot of my energy," I answered.
"Good, then here is the plan," Annabeth smiled, "You will teleport us, and a boat as close as you can to the island, then… one of us will try to approach the sirens this person will be tied with a rope in case something goes wrong, this was we test if the AirPods work, without killing ourselves," fair enough, her plan was less impulsive and reckless than mine, so why not.
"Alright… let's find a small boat," I nodded.
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After legally getting a boat... by stealing it from a boat and nacho selling store, I started the incantation for the spell, focusing on the place I wanted to go, with Lee, Annabeth, and Me, being on top of the boat, "Tropelet su esolc ot eht s'neris dnalsi!"
"Let's go," Lee cheered.
With a flash of light, the boat fell into the sea with a resounding splash of water, letting us know that we were no longer in New York's central park, but out in the open sea, "Okay, I will need at least two hours before I can teleport us back," I said noticing that I felt much weaker than I had anticipated, the spell had left me dry on mana, very dry.
"Where is the island?" Annabeth asked.
"North from here, two miles away…" I answered.
"Then let's move this baby there," Lee said, turning the boat in that direction.
Our trip from there was quite uneventful… it took us less than five minutes to arrive at our desired destination, and now it was time to select who among us would… go and test the AirPods.
"I will go," I smiled, "I am the one with the quest and I feel it's only fair for me to risk my life first, besides… I want to see how much Disney got right, imma kill me some Ariels tonight," I finished with a laugh.
"Don't do anything reckless… if the AirPods work… wait for us, don't engage," Annabeth sounding worried, and just now I had noticed that with my magic drained I could not feel her emotions, I guess my empathic sense is tied to my mana.
"Don't worry Annabeth, no over-glorified sushi roll will defeat me," I chuckled, but she had a point, anything can happen in the heat of battle, "But in the awful, I do die.. Please put under the sea as my funeral's song, to match my stupid death,"
"I don't know if I should feel proud he is so brave or concerned," Lee said to Annabeth, putting the rope around my waist.
"Both?" Annabeth snorted.
"Both is good," Lee nodded, tying the rope tightly around me, "Ready," he said giving the rope a final tug to prove the rope was ready.
"Alright, here I come," I chuckled, diving into the sea… I might not be a son of Poseidon, but I have my skills here on the water, swimming was one of the few things I was able to do in my past life, and here I was reaping what I had sowed.
I continued swimming for a minute or so, and as I approached the island something happened, all of the sudden a dreamy… almost heavenly sound invaded my senses, with whispers of the lyrics sounding somewhat familiar and yet foreign, I tried to fight it... but the song was strong... and now I lamented I didn't have enough mana to cast a no sound spell on me as the sirens dragged me to the island controlling my mind, "Adam, we were waiting for you..." images of my birth into this new world appeared in my head, "Son of divine creatures," images of my mother, and someone else in the shadows appeared, "Power never seen before lies within you... but your fatal flaw drags you... Your recklessness will be the end of you... today," I struggled for control, but the feeling was overwhelming, but I could feel some voices… calling for me.
"Stop! You are gonna drown!" Annabeth and Lee shouted, and I snapped out of the trance.
"The fuck, these shitty AirPods don't work," I muttered, seeing the siren a few meters away from me, and they were not like Ariel at all, The Sirens were not half fish, like I kinda expected, instead they were human sized vultures, with female human faces, dirty black plumage, gray talons, and wrinkled pink necks, "Eww."
"Eat this," Lee shouted, shooting at them with his bow, "Drag him back Annabeth!"
Wait… they were still singing… but I was still out of their control… so perhaps this AirPods did work, but only worked after you managed to get some sort of hold over yourself, "Don't!" I shouted back, as I whispered, "Etum ruo srae!" as soon as I said that, I felt all sound disappear and an immeasurable amount of pain spread through my body, making me cough blood onto the sea, this feeling made me feel as sick as I once was, and I could feel my body shiver as it invaded my body, I knew beforehand casting a spell without fuel had consequences, that this was not something healthy to do, but I had to try all the cards in my hand before admitting defeat, and even then I would cheat or something.
So with that in mind, I had high hopes this spell might just work… If the order of events was anything to go by with these sirens it means they needed you to hear them, but this was at best a guess, but considering I heard something for a bit before entering in their melodic control…. I was sure, it meant that with these AirPods blocked part of their magic or at least made so it was easier to break free of their grasp.
Annabeth immediately noticed that she couldn't hear anything, and with a smile, she turned on the boat towards me, at full speed with her spear ready, if this didn't work I would just have to bitch slap them both out of the trance and if it did work… well, we had to kill the sirens in under five minutes…. I don't think the spell I casted will last long.