Everyone sobered up hard, migraines and vomiting up the excess poison were among the symptoms. Leo put on sunglasses and Andromeda had summoned a mini cloud above herself to block out the sun, while everyone else had fought for shade in the clearing.
"Everything is sooooo bright," Andromeda whined, glaring at the sun.
"Shouldn't have drank soooooo much," I mocked, smiling at her.
Andromeda collapsed on top of me, sitting on my lap and resting her head on my shoulder. I sighed and ran my fingers through her hair, looking at Leo who was commanding the undead back to the ships. He marched to us, holding his head.
"Why does Lotus Flower suck so damn much," Leonidas groaned out, sitting next to us.
"I had to summon Jack, and he said it was mixed with other drugs. Possibly cocaine or some other upper, something to keep you up and moving. You both are crashing hard, and I don't think there's anything to help short of the ambrosia we're rationing for combat." I answered, holding an already drifting Andromeda.
"We're….fighting...fighting drugs…" Andromeda shifted, body pressed against mine.
"Yeah Saraaaaa…..we're fighting drugsssss," Leonidas joined, leaning against me. The smell of Lotus was still strong on him, enough to make me woozy and the world to go askew.
"We only have so much ambrosia you two, tough it out! We're half god for Apollo's sake!" I shouted.
"Half Titan," Andromeda corrected, sitting up and looking at me. "Heh….you're…you're cute when you're angry," she smiled that stupid drowsy smile, her eyes half open.
"Flirting isn't gonna help you, Ms. Rose," I held her hips as she swayed.
Andromeda pouted, leaning against me again. Wrapping her arms around my neck to pull herself closer, whining as she held her head.
"Has she always been a lightweight?" Leonidas sighed, standing up as he asked the question.
"Yes, when we were younger we stole a bottle of vodka from a liquor store and she was passed out after 3 shots. I thought she had died and asked the legionaries for help. They laughed and laughed, and then they told my father of course. I think that was the first time I had seen him that mad. Him and Selene were furious, and they put a guard in the house for months all because she couldn't handle their liquor," I laughed a bit remembering the story now, especially since Andromeda still acted the same way.
"We gotta get back to the boat," Leonidas said, plucking Andromeda from my hands like an apple.
Andromeda clambered and fought for a minute, her arms flailing and feet kicking wildly. Either she gave up way to easy, or Leonidas had more strength than I thought, but she calmed down and clung to him like plastic wrap. Leonidas flashed a cocky smile and began carrying her to the ship, I followed close behind looking over the docked ships and the ironclad that had just pulled up to shore.
As the crew began to board their respectful ships, I opened the map to The Realm of Monsters that The Senate gave me. I hadn't had the chance to open it yet, but now seemed like the best time to find where we were supposed to go next. Drawings and words burned onto the map, Scylla and Charybdis were the first additions to the map and then it was The Island of The Lotus Eaters. A drawing of a cave burned into the map, the route sprawling across the page with shadow colored ink. Underneath the cave was a banner that marked this new location as Polyphemus' Cave.
I stepped onto the ship and took the helm, Leonidas sat Andromeda down below deck and joined at my side. The ships began to lurch and move forward as Jason stood at the center of the deck, shouting commands to the undead like a proper captain.
"Where to next?" Leonidas asked, looking over my shoulder.
"Polyphemus' cave, what more to expect from an Odyssey," I said, rolling the map back up.
"Yay! Budget Odyssey!" Leonidas shouted, as he started commanding ships and leading them to the next island.
Polyphemus' cave wasn't far, but with the wind fighting us every step of the way it felt like an eternity. Waves crashed against the ship like grains of sand against the imprisoning walls of an hourglass. I steadied the ships using the water under us, making the ride as smooth as possible. The stray waves I caught to late tossed the boat around like a cocktail shaker, side to side, throwing the boat with all of Oceanus' might. Andromeda eventually made her way to the top deck, looking around and immediately running to the side to throw up over the railing.
"Leo, get her some water please," I said, not taking my eyes off of the island ahead.
Leonidas nodded and ran over to her, water bottle in hand and sitting her against the railing. Andromeda seemed to get some resemblance on consciousness back after she threw up the rest of the lotus poison in her system. Her eyes were sharpened by the danger she was just in, and the she immediately lost all control of her fury and became tired again.
"Screw the water, get me a damn energy drink!" Andromeda shouted, shoving Leonidas away. Or rather trying to shove him away. Leonidas kind of stood there and embraced all of her body weight.
"Water first." Leonidas responded firmly.
"Saraaaaaaa!" Andromeda cried out, looking at me with sad puppy dog eyes.
"Water first, dear. You lost a lot of fluids just now, and I doubt that's the first time you threw up. If you can keep the water bottle down, we'll get you an energy drink," I answered, as she slumped against the railing and snatched the water bottle from Leonidas' hand.
Within moments the island came into view, I took my bracelet off and quickly unclasped it turning it in to a spyglass. I looked through it to see several ships on the shore, some skeletons of humans and humanoids, and sheep. The island itself consisted of green rolling fields, and a single cave at the beach where most of the, clearly abandoned, ships were. The one thing that struck me as odd were the lack of Cyclopes, specifically the lack of one Polyphemus. My brutish half-brother was nowhere to be seen, the funnier part about that is that with how small the island is it was reported you could see him anywhere on the island.
"Must be in his cave, I wonder how long he's been resting," I said, collapsing my spyglass back into the blue and gold bracelet it once was.
"So, if the quest on The Lotus Eaters island was to save us and anyone who consumed Lotus then what's the quest here? Soothe the cyclops? Kill your half-brother?" Jason asked, standing next to me with his hands behind his back.
"I don't know….what was Odysseus' quest here again? Food and supplies right? They blinded the cyclops and stole his sheep, maybe that's what we have to do," I answered hesitantly.
"How are you planning to reblind the cyclops? Stab his other eye out," Jason smiled, amused at the idea.
"Well….we share heritage, some kids of Poseidon can heal most injuries with water. That being said he descends from two mythical bloodlines, it's very possible he can consume uncut ambrosia which can heal anything. Which means he may have, painfully, regrown his eye," I looked towards Jason as the ships drew closer to the shore.
The next few moments were filled with silence as a large boulder flew towards us, striking the ship to my right. Leonidas' full attention suddenly shifted ahead as he started giving out battle commands. Another boulder flew out of the cave, striking the same ship starting to sink it.
"Ironclad! Fire ahead! All forward guns focused on the cave!" Leonidas commanded, marching towards the front of the ship.
Fire and smoke erupted from the forward casemate of the Ironclad, some of the erupting artillery hitting the area around the cave while the rest went directly into the cave. The symphony of cannon fire suddenly stopped as another boulder shot from the cave, my wrists tensed as I lifted a column of water to stop the returning fire dead in its tracks.
"Do we still plan to set foot on the isle!" Jason shouted over the encore of the gunfire symphony.
Confederate soldiers rose to the hurricane deck with old muskets with rotted wood and rusty iron and started firing into the cave. They reloaded in chaotic orders, but nonetheless put out enough firepower to kill anything that stood in the path.
"Yes Jason, yes we do. Leo! Pull the ships out of the caves reach, we can't shoot what we can't see!" I shouted down the deck.
Leonidas nodded firmly. "All ships to starboard! Sail fast and sail hard, get us out of here!" He shouted, marching back to the helm.
At this point we should've turned back, should've called it and gone home. I had all eyes on me for the order, but I wouldn't give in not when we were so close. Maybe if I had, maybe if I had gone home after the risks became evident, everything would've been fine.