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She extended her arer Baby Leo seemed perfectly fine with it
"Tell her I’m sorry I sold the diamond, eh?" Sammy said "I broke o, I finally used that diamond, moved to Texas as I always dreaood life, but Hazel was right The diaain"
"Oh, Sammy," Hazel said "No, a curse didn’t keep me away I wanted to come back I died!"
The old man didn’t seem to hear He sive you randchild! I have a feeling you are special, like Hazel was You are ular baby, eh? You will carry on for me You will see her someday Tell her hello for me"
"Bisabuelo," Esperanza said, a little more insistently
"Yes, yes" Sammy chuckled "El viejo loco raht But I’ll rest soon It’s been a good life Raise him well, nieta"
The scene faded
Leo was standing on the deck of the Argo II, holding Hazel’s hand The sun had gone down, and the ship was lit only by bronze lanterns Hazel’s eyes were puffy fro
What they’d seen was too much The whole ocean heaved under them, and now for the first time Leo felt as if they were totally adrift
"Hello, Hazel Levesque," he said, his voice gravelly
Her chin trembled She turned away and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, the ship lurched to one side
"Leo!" Coach Hedge yelled
Festus whirred in alar
"Those e shouted "One of ’em found us!"
Chapter 23
Leo deserved a dunce cap
If he’d been thinking straight, he would’ve switched the ship’s detection system from radar to sonar as soon as they left Charleston Harbor That’s what he had forgotten He’d designed the hull to resonate every few seconds, sending waves through the Mist and alerting Festus to any nearby monsters, but it only worked in one mode at a time: water or air
He’d been so rattled by the Rootten Now, a ht underneath theripped the rigging Hedge yelled, "Valdez, which button blows updeck andsideways toward the helot how to th of their ship In the iant shrimp and a cockroach, with a pink chitinous shell, a flat crayfish tail, andhypnotically as the o II
Its head surfaced last--the sliaping toothlessfro the bushiest nose beard Leo had ever had the displeasure to behold
Leo reht dinners he and his mom used to share at a local seafood restaurant in Houston They would eat shrimp and catfish The idea now e yelled "Take the wheel so I can getto help," Leo said, but he made his way toward the helm
Behind him, the rest of his friends stu-- Gah! Shrimpzilla!"
Frank ran to Hazel’s side She was clutching the rigging, still dazed froht
The roaned Annabeth, Piper, and Jason tumbled to starboard and almost rolled overboard
Leo reached the helm His hands flew across the controls Over the intercom, Festus clacked and clicked about leaks belowdecks, but the ship didn’t see--at least not yet
Leo toggled the oars They could convert into spears, which should be enough to drive the creature away Unfortunately, they were jan distance, whichthe Argo II on fire as well
"How did it get so close?" Annabeth shouted, pulling herself up on one of the rail shields
"I don’t know!" Hedge snarled He looked around for his bat, which had rolled across the quarterdeck
"I’ot the sonar!"
The ship tilted farther to starboard Either the , or it was about to capsize thee de into Hazel’s eyes, holding hands for so long--"
"What?" Frank yelped
"It wasn’t like that!" Hazel protested
"It doesn’t ?"
Jason struggled to his feet "I--" He onlythe storm earlier had taken too uy could pop a spark plug in the shape he was in