Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 26

Good times.

One of the librarians, whose name was Esther, insisted on driving them personally. She was so nice about it, Percy thought she must be a monster in disguise, but Hedge pulled him aside and assured him that Esther smelled like a normal human.

They piled into Esther's big black Cadillac and drove toward downtown. Coach took the front seat while the three demigods were piled into the back, Cressida in the middle since she was the smallest - well next to Esther. Esther was so tiny, she could barely see over the steering wheel; but that didn't seem to bother her.

She muscled her car through traffic while regaling them with stories about the crazy families of Atlanta—the old plantation owners, the founders of Coca-Cola, the sports stars, and the CNN news people. She sounded so knowledgeable that Percy decided to try his luck.

"Uh, so, Esther," he said, "here's a hard question for you. Saltwater in Atlanta. What's the first thing that comes to mind?"

The old lady chuckled. "Oh, sugar. That's easy. Whale sharks!"

Frank, Percy and Cressida exchanged looks.

"Whale sharks?" Frank asked nervously. "You have those in Atlanta?"

"At the aquarium, sugar," Esther said. "Very famous! Right downtown. Is that where you wanted to go?"

Percy turned to his girlfriend, silently asking what she thought.

"Even if he's not there, it's a starting point," she whispered and she had a point as usual.

"Yes," Percy said. "That's where we're going."

Esther dropped them at the main entrance, where a line was already forming. She insisted on giving them her cell phone number for emergencies, money for a taxi ride back to the Carter Centre, and a jar of homemade peach preserves, which for some reason she kept in a box in her trunk. Frank stuck the jar in his backpack and thanked Esther, who had already switched from calling him sugar to son.

As she drove away, Frank said, "Are all people in Atlanta that nice?"

Hedge grunted. "Hope not. I can't fight them if they're nice. Let's go beat up some whale sharks. They sound dangerous!"

"Well, I guess we wait in line," Percy said, completely forgetting that admission costs were a thing. "Anyone got any money?"

Frank checked his pockets. "Four denarii from Camp Jupiter. Five dollars Canadian."

Hedge patted his gym shorts and pulled out what he found. "Three quarters, two dimes, a rubber band and—score! A piece of celery." He started munching on the celery, eyeing the change and the rubber band like they might be next.

"Cress?" Percy asked as he patted down his own pockets only coming up with Riptide.

"I can only bail your ass out so many times," she said with a smirk. "My card is back at Camp. I only brought drachmas this time. But I'm sure I can magic us up some tickets. So long as they're all mortals, it should be a piece of cake."

"Great," Percy said as they were about to make their way inside when a woman in a blue-and-green Georgia Aquarium shirt came up to them, smiling brightly.

"Ah, VIP visitors!" She had perky dimpled cheeks, thick-framed glasses, braces, and frizzy black hair pulled to the sides in pigtails, so that even though she was probably in her late twenties, she looked like a schoolgirl nerd—sort of cute, but sort of odd. Along with her Georgia Aquarium polo shirt, she wore dark slacks and black sneakers, and she bounced on the balls of her feet like she simply couldn't contain her energy. Her name tag read KATE. "You have your payment, I see," she said. "Excellent!"