Scylla and Charybdis

I am writing a book. Here's the prologue and first chapter.

Prologue

Long, long ago a few cunning sailors escaped the wrath of Charybdis and Scylla. Now this was no easy task, for when you tried to sail around the crevice of Charybdis and Scylla’s home, it would just appear in your path again. No normal sailors could use such trickery, most of the people on board were sons and daughters of gods.
The crew of the boat, called the Starling, was quite small. There were three fully human crew members, a captain, two sons of Poseidon, a daughter of Hecate, a son of Hecate, and a daughter of Hermes. All of these sons and daughters were granted special powers from good deeds. The two sons of Poseidon were granted power over water. The children of Hecate, were granted power to make illusions. The daughter of Hermes was granted speed, the ability to mimic voices, and extreme cleverness.
The boat, Starling, was massive vessel. It could hold fifty men, but most of the space was used for great amounts of food and wine, no water for it would quickly grow stale. The tale begins When a young man named Atreo longed for adventure. He told his mother when he was little, “I’m going to be the greatest hero of all times.”



“Yes.” said his mother. “You can be whatever you want to be. Now eat your bread and olives.”


















Chapter 1
Monsters

Atreo ran as fast as he could around the vast olive grove. He hoped Athena would forgive him for resting on a sacred olive tree for a moment. Panting heavily, he raced on. His friend Achilles (Later to be in a myth called Achilles Heel) grinned and slapped him on the back. “Three hundred seconds. Not bad if you ask me.”
Atreo and Achilles hurried into the courtyard. As Atreo’s teacher Miss. Em droned on about the five rivers of the underworld, Atreo read a scroll about Hestia giving up her throne for Dionysus. “Atreo, if you were paying attention, which river can make you invincible, except for one small spot?”
“Huh?” Atreo looked up. “Oh, the River Styx.”
“And how do you spell it?” Miss. Em spat.
“S-T-Y-X.” Atreo continued reading.
Miss. Em gave a huff of annoyance, for she had never been bested before. She was looking forward to giving that smart aleck detention. She had heard from the other teachers that this, this Atreo was very troublesome. She would have to deal with him in her own way.

As Atreo walked outside, Miss. Em called him back into the . When Achilles started to follow, she shooed him away. “Atreo, we have to discuss your behavior during class.”
“What, that I got that answer right?” Atreo smirked.
Miss. Em lost her temper. “Ok honey, you can die now.”
Talons grew from her neatly trimmed and painted nails. Her skin turned a horrible shade of green and her hair turned into a cluster of sickly yellow snakes. Her eyes were catlike and red. Miss. Em was Medusa. “Wait, how come I’m not stone?” Atreo asked.
“If you’d had payed attention in class, maybe you would have known. Now, you will DIE, you moat scum!”
Atreo scrambled back, out of the reach of Miss. Em. Miss. Em lunged at Atreo and slashed out with her talons. Atreo yelped and ran back. Grabbing a display sword from a rack Atreo faced Miss. Em(Medusa).
“Don’t touch that!” Medusa wailed.
Atreo glanced down and realized that this was the sword that Perseus had used to  cut Medusa’s head off originally. Atreo rhythmically swung the sword in front of him, as learned in swordplay class. In a defensive stance, he stopped short. Other monsters were forming in front of him. “You now bear the curse of that sword.” Medusa hissed.  “All the other monsters that Perseus has killed you will have to kill now. But this time, all at once!”



Laughing maniacally, Medusa advanced on the now trembling Atreo. Atreo dashed outside and a whole crowd of monster ran after him. “Why did you have to kill so many monsters Perseus?” Atreo muttered under his breath.
Atreo turned around and slashed out with the blade. Ten monsters died, and Atreo swirled the blade around and killed twenty more. “Argh!” Atreo gasped and stabbed out behind him. “Nooo!” Screeched Medusa as the pointed blade cut her throat. She disintegrated, all that was left of her was her gruesome head. Medusa’s fangs were in a position that looked like they were going to bite your head off, her snakes were posed to strike, and her eyes looked alive, like they were watching you.
Atreo shuddered. Suddenly two gorgons charged out of the shocked monster mob. The two gorgons slashed out with gleaming talons and Atreo had to slice them off with Perseus’s sword. “You two must be Euryale and Stheno.”  
“Die puny mortal!” was the gorgons’ only response.
The monsters watched with great fascination, until Atreo stabbed Euryale and Stheno. The gorgons gave terrible wails of agony, then crumbled to dust. Other monsters gaped in surprise. “Charge!” came a evil voice that came from the back of the room.
All monsters came into action, slashing out with daggers for claws, biting with teeth the size of Atreo’s hand. Monsters of all size leaped at him.

Atreo slashed and dodged and killed. Soon, the only monster left was a tiny hellhound. “Rrrrrr?” the hellhound asked, cocking its head.
Atreo patted the hellhound’s head with caution. The animal seemed to like it. Carrying his new pet, he walked out of the building, and into a circle of teachers. A teacher, particularly his favorite, spotted Atreo and pelted him in questions and comments.
“Were you in there? Were there monsters? Give me that sword! Why do you have it? Where is Miss Em? Why is the building half collapsed? I heard a banshee. Did you fight the banshee? What was…”
The questions faded into the distance as Atreo became dizzy. “Zeus! You have cuts and bruises all over yourself! We have to get you to the infirmary! My god, you really did fight those monsters…”
Atreo’s world went black.



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