urging me to hand the bills to the mortal man who waited for his payment. We managed to get a rentable speed boat, but it cost a lot.

"Just give it to him," Nico said, as I hesitated to give the money to the guy. I mean, we still had money because Gavin gave me some, but all the money my siblings gave me would be gone in a snap.

"Okay! Okay!" I surrendered, and handed the bills to the man.

"I suppose you need someone to automate the boat?" The man grunted and Nico shook his head saying that we didn't. Nico gave me his cheeseburger and his coke to hold while started patting his pockets.

"We can do it, I have a boat license here" Nico mentioned and he fished something out of his pocket. I looked at him as if he was insane, because Nico was holding an old calling card that was already falling apart. The man started suspecting it, and was gonna ask something but I felt Nico's stare on me.

Nico glared at me and I instantly got the message. I quickly casted an illusion upon the calling card that Nico was holding, and suddenly the man nodded before handing Nico the keys to the speed boat.

"Okay, just be back before sun down, and....try not to make my boat a love nest" He muttered before walking away but I had perfect hearing. It wasn't as great as a monster's hearing but it was better than any of the rest.

"I heard that! We're not like that!" I argued, but he only waved his hand.

I huffed, "What made you think that we're gonna-"

I was cut off by Nico pulling my shirt, and dragging me along with him "Come on Casanova, we've got a monster to save" He muttered and instead of saying some stupid remark I just let him drag me.

"Do you really know how to use this?" I asked, as I took a seat.

Nico shook his head, "No," He staggered for a bit, and looked like he was gonna get sick so I did another unthinkable.

"If you teach me where to go, I'll drive so you can rest" I offered, I honestly felt guilty that I slept before he did. He literally went through a day without sleeping, he's probably done it before but Nico looked like he was about to pass out.

Nico paused, thinking about my offer before nodding. He took out a blue compass, and handed it to me, before showing me the directions and told me to strictly wake him up if the weather starts going crazy.

"Am I given permission to maim you?" I joked

Nico only shook his head, "Wake me up, okay?"

I hummed, and finally figured out how to start the speed boat. Then we sped off. The sea was calm, it was only seven in the morning, but it was a great start. I struggled with the controls for a moment, almost shooting myself to death but I got the hang of it after multiple attempts later.

When I looked behind me, Nico was curled up well, sleeping. Nico had such heavy bags under his eyes sometimes I wondered if he slept at all. But oh well, he said he did take massive rests whenever he got drained.

Almost an hour passed and I drove the speed boat while I looked at the spell book, hoping to learn one or few tricks. There was a spell that said I could turn anyone into animals, now that I wanted to try.

I hadn't noticed that the sun was gone when I struggled to read a particular spell, and when I looked around the entire aura of the sea had changed. Luckily, the sea was still slightly calm but there was a change of air. It became windy, and storm clouds were only up ahead.

"Nico," I said, putting the speed boat on auto as I knelt down to shake the son of Hades awake. He stirred in his sleep but didn't wake.

"Nico, wake up. I think we're here," I told him, raising my voice. He groaned and sat up straight, looking down at me.

"Are we here?" He rubbed his eyes.

"I hate to disturb your sleep but I think we're already here," I told him again but when he stood up he looked more energized. I was surprised to see how he gained energy in less than an hour of sleep.

Nico unsheathed his sword and held on to the boat as the waves started getting rocky.

"Have you heard about the entrance to the sea of monsters?" He asked, the wind blowing his shoulder length hair.

I tried to remember, I've learned about it in class back at camp.

"Chariot? And her sister Psyche? I don't know," I answered helplessly, tucking the spell book back to its keychain miniature size and put it back on my belt hoop.

"Charybdis and Scylla, no matter where we try to evade, we'll either be sucked in or we'll be fighting Scylla. Which one do you prefer?" He asked, as he took control of the speed boat.

"I- I don't know! Can't I leave big decisions to be made by you?" I stammered

Nico grinned, "Then I choose Charybdis,"

When we sped forward, much to my horror, I saw it. Or her, or I don't know. I was gonna panic because that was one huge whirlpool. It was the biggest I've ever seen. There were other multiple whirlpools forming but it wasn't as big as the one in the center. If we were to be put next to the whirlpool, we'd look like ants.

"Nico!" I yelled "Go that way!" I pointed to the other side of the monster but Nico shook his head.

"Scylla's over there, I told you. No matter where we go, we'd either be facing any of them" He answered

I stared at Nico as if he was insane. And for the record, he was insane.

"You're crazy! There's no way we're gonna survive getting sucked into that!" I told him, standing beside him as we got closer and closer to the whirlpool.

The boat was already rocking around like crazy, and I could barely keep my balance. I held onto Nico's arm and on the boat's railing as we sped towards the whirlpool, or Charybdis.

I held onto Nico's arm as the strong started pulling us in, "NICO! WE'RE GONNA DIE!" I freaked out, putting all of my power on squeezing Nico's arm.

"Just a second," He muttered, looking around and looking at the sky.

This guy was mad, "What do you mean a second?! We're gonna fall to our death!" I cried out as the speed boat was no longer a match to Charybdis I thought that if I let go of either Nico or the railing, I'd be ejected out of the speed boat and drown.

When we finally got to the edge of the whirlpool, Nico faced me and latched his hands on my waist. I was extremely panicking and was gonna push Nico off of me but he pulled me closer to him, and I instantly put my arms on his neck, hiding my face on his chest as we fell to our death.

But before I could feel us falling into the whirlpool Nico said something.

"Hold on tight" He said before we were eaten by the shadows.