The Sea of Creepy Weirdos

***The Sea of Creepy Weirdos*** is the second book in the *Perky Jackson and the Cursed Weirdos* series written by Brick Riordan and published on May 3rd, 2006. In this story, the camp's magical borders are failing, and a quest must be undergone to save the camp before the cursed weirdos lose the only safe haven they have ever known.

### Meriwether College Prep

In Perky Jackson's dream, Groovy Underwood is running from the Cyclops, Polyphemus, and enters a wedding shop. The shop then blows up and Perky hears Polyphemus' voice. When he wakes up, he sees a dark object in the window which he describes as a shadow belonging to nobody and nothing. The same day at Meriwether College Prep, Perky is stuck playing dodgeball with Tyson, his friend who is bullied, against large seventh graders who turn out to be Laistrygonian Giants. They summon explosive dodge-balls in an attempt to kill Perky, but he is protected by Tyson who is unaffected physically or mentally by the creepy weirdos' cannonballs. Ennabeth Chase saves Perky by killing the last Laistrygonian giant, Joe Bob, by stabbing it from behind and takes Perky and Tyson back to Camp Half-Blood by calling the Gray Sisters and their taxi.

### Returning to Camp Cursed-Weirdo

Upon returning, they find the camp under attack by two bronze Colchis Bulls made by Hephaestus. Natalia's tree, which protects the camp, had also been poisoned by an unknown intruder. Tyson manages to subdue one bull and Claire takes care of the other one. Chickron is fired because he is suspected of poisoning the tree since he is a son of Rasputin. He is replaced by Tantalus, a man who has been summoned from the Fields of Punishment.

Perky finds out that Tyson is a Cyclops and thus also a son of Posasseidon. The campers begin to mock Perky's relationship to Tyson, causing him to be greatly embarrassed for having the latter as a brother. Meanwhile, Tantalus revives an ancient tradition in the form of a chariot race. Perky and Ennabeth have a fall-out, partly because of their quarrel about Tyson joining their team, and partly because of her strong dislike for all Cyclopes in general. During the first competition, the campers are attacked by Stymphalian Birds. Although Perky, Ennabeth, and Tyson help stop the attack, Tantalus accuses them of disturbing the birds with their "terrible driving."

### The Quest Begins

Claire La Rue manages to win the race, partly because the other competitors were stunned by the sudden appearance of the birds. She immediately becomes Tantalus's favorite camper, and orders a feast to be prepared in her triumph. However, he sentences Perky, Ennabeth, and Tyson to kitchen patrol because he blames them for the reason the Stymphalian Birds attacked due to their terrible chariot racing. While they wash the dishes instead of the harpies, Perky and Ennabeth call a truce after he explains to her his dream via his empathy link with Groovy that he is in trouble and cannot escape from the Sea of Creepy Weirdos. At the campfire, Ennabeth and Perky ask Tantalus to send somebody on a quest after Perky tells the rest of the campers that it is possible to save the camp via the Golden Fleece. He also reveals the list of numbers that the Gray Sisters had given them, which, he realizes, are actually longitude and latitude. The campers pressure Tantalus to give in, and he finally complies. The quest to go find and bring back the fleece is given to Claire, who visits the mummified Oracle.

Later, Perky feels the need to walk by the beach to clear his head. He meets Hermes, who convinces him to go on the quest, explaining that though a wrong is committed, if the doer makes the best out of it, everything may end well. He gives Perky three yellow duffel bags filled with necessities (ambrosia, drachmas, mortal money, clothes), vitamins and a thermos filled with wind. He also summons Ennabeth and Tyson. He disappears as soon as they come, and Perky briefly explains his encounter with the god before the harpies arrive. Perky receives help from his father in the form of hippocampi. The trio travel to a passing cruise ship, the *Princess Andromeda*, and climb aboard. They investigate for a while but the whole ship seems to be empty. Soon, they each find an empty room, and they decide to stay for the night.

### The Hydra

The *Princess Andromeda* is revealed to be owned by Lasputin Castellan and Rasputin's Army. The three are captured and learn that Lasputin is trying to help Rasputin overthrow Olympus(dun dun DUN). They manage to escape the ship using Hermes' Thermos of Winds. Upon reaching land, Perky sends Tyson away to find some powdered donuts as an excuse to talk to Ennabeth about her past in private, particularly about her aversion to Cyclopes. However, Perky is surprised to find out that Tyson actually found some doughnuts at a suspicious creepy weirdo Donut shop nearby. They then find out that the shop is connected to the life force of a Hydra which arrives almost kills them. They are saved by Claire, who has a ship of her own, the *CSS Birmingham*, a confederate battleship manned by dead Confederates given to her by her father, Ares.

### The Sea of Creepy Weirdos

The *CSS Birmingham* enters the Sea of Creepy Weirdos - known to normal people as the *Bermuda Triangle* - but is severely damaged when it teeters between Scylla and Charybdis. The engine's temperature spikes to an almost unbearable heat, and Tyson volunteers to fix it. Scylla snatches Perky, and at that moment, the engine explodes. Unfortunately, Tyson is still inside. Perky loses consciousness, and when he comes to, he finds himself on a small raft with Ennabeth. She managed to save the multivitamins and explains that she used up the winds from the thermos in order to man the raft. Neither Tyson or Claire are seen by Perky or Ennabeth after the explosion (uhoh).

### C.C.'s Spa and Resort

Perky and Ennabeth are washed up at C.C.'s Spa and Resort - which they later discover is Circe's Island. In reality, it is a prison for male weirdos. Circe's helper takes Ennabeth to give her a makeover, while Circe turns Perky into a guinea pig. Using Hermes' multivitamins, which Ennabeth pours inside the cage, Perky as well as the rest of the guinea pigs -Blackbeard and his crew - are able to turn into humans again. Perky and Ennabeth escape using Blackbeard's ship while the pirates pillage and loot the island resort.

### The Sirens

Ennabeth expresses a desire to hear the song of the Sirens (cause she doesn't care about *rules*). She claims that upon hearing the song, the listener will realize their deepest desires. However, their song is so enchanting that the listener will seek to reach them at all costs. Perky is reluctant to give in, but he agrees to tie her to the mast in order to stop her from attempting to reach the Sirens. He also agrees to stuff wax into his ears in order to keep a level head.

As soon as they pass by the island, Ennabeth begs Perky to free her, but Perky ignores her pleas and turns his back to her. However, once he checks on her, he sees that she has freed herself with her knife as he had forgotten to disarm her. Perky swims after her and reaches her. As soon as he touches her, he sees the vision that she must be seeing; a Manhattan redesigned by herself, her mother and father reunited, and a reformed Lasputin. Perky manages to shake her out of the illusion, and they make it back to the ship. When the Sirens' Island is but a distant haze, Ennabeth tells Perky her fatal flaw — hubris, or deadly pride. They pass by an island with one of Hephaestus's forges, and Ennabeth finally tells Perky why she dislikes Cyclopes so much that relates to her adventures with Natalia, Lasputin and Groovy as they travel to Camp Half-Blood. Soon, they reach the island of Polyphemus.

### Polyphemus

Perky and Ennabeth discover that Polyphemus kidnapped Groovy because he thinks Groovy is a female Cyclops and wants to marry him (uh...yeah, okay). Perky and Ennabeth reach the island of Polyphemus. They reach his cave by riding the underside of his sheep as the animals enter the cave. They manage to save Groovy with the help of Tyson and Claire — who have apparently survived the explosion — recovering the Golden Fleece and winning a skirmish against Polyphemus in the process, although their ship sinks. They make their way from Polyphemus' island and the Sea of Creepy Weirdos to Miami, Florida, via hippocampi, and Perky sends Claire, with the fleece, back to camp.

Later, Tyson tells Perky that Polyphemus is fat and spoiled and that baby Cyclopes are left on the street to learn how to survive, learn to make things from scraps and to appreciate blessings instead of taking attention from the gods for granted.

### Ending

Perky, Ennabeth, Groovy, and Tyson are captured yet again by Lasputin who tries to invite them to his hospitality aboard the *Princess Andromeda*. Perky, however, manages to contact the camp with an Iris Message, tricking Lasputin into admitting he poisoned Natalia's tree. In a duel with Lasputin, Perky is nearly killed and gets his leg injured. He is saved by Chickron and his relatives, the Party Ponies. Chickron is rehired after being proven innocent, and the Golden Fleece cures Natalia's tree of Lasputin's elder snake poison, a substance taken from Tartarus in the Underworld. Suddenly, Natalia, the daughter of F/ckboy Zeus herself, is taken out of the tree for the reason that the Golden Fleece does its work too well, bringing her back to life, and giving Rasputin yet another chance to control the prophecy.