The Siren of the Summer Tide🌺Percy Jackson

XIII 🐹 Oh No. Paradise Turned Percy into a Rodent. (2)

Then it changed colors. He saw himself - a reflection, but not a reflection. Shimmering there on the cloth was a cooler version of Percy Jackson with just the right clothes, a confident smile on his face. His teeth were straight. No zits. A perfect tan. More athletic. Maybe a couple of inches taller. It was Percy, without the faults.

"Whoa," he managed.

"Do you want that?" C.C asked, blinking her eyelashes innocently. "Or shall I try a different-"

"No," Percy said hurriedly. "That's... that's amazing. Can you really-"

"I can give you a full makeover," C.C promised.

"What's the catch?" Percy said. "I have to like... eat a special diet?"

"Oh, it's quite easy," C.C hummed. "Plenty of fresh fruit, a mild exercise program, and of course... this."

She stepped over to her wet bar and filled a glass with water. Then she ripped open a drink-mix packet and poured in some red powder. The mixture began to glow. When it faded, the drink looked just like a strawberry milkshake.

"One of these, substituted for a regular meal," C.C encouraged. "I guarantee you'll see results immediately."

"How is that possible?"

She laughed. "Why question it? I mean, don't you want the perfect you right away?"

Something nagged at the back of his mind. "Why are there no guys at this spa?"

"Oh, but there are," C.C assured him. "You'll meet them quite soon. Just try the mixture. You'll see."

Percy looked at the blue tapestry, at the reflection of him, but not him.

"Now, Percy," C.C. chided. "The hardest part of the makeover process is giving up control. You have to decide: do you want to trust your judgment about what you should be, or my judgment?"

His throat felt dry. He heard himself say, "Your judgment."

C.C smiled and handed Percy the glass. He lifted it to his lips.

It tasted just like it looked - like a strawberry milkshake. Almost immediately a warm feeling spread through his gut: pleasant at first, then painfully hot, searing, as if the mixture were coming to a boil inside of him.

Percy doubled over and dropped the cup. "What have you... what's happening?"

"Don't worry, Percy," C.C grinned. "The pain will pass. Look! As I promised. Immediate results."

Something was horribly wrong.

The curtain dropped away, and in the mirror Percy saw his hands shriveling, curling, growing long delicate claws. Fur sprouted on his face, under his shirt. His teeth felt too heavy in his mouth. His clothes were getting too big, or C.C was getting too tall - no, he was shrinking.

In one awful flash, Percy sank into a cavern of dark cloth. He was buried in his own shirt. He tried to run but hands grabbed at him - hands as big as he was. He tried to scream for help, but all that came out of his tiny mouth was, "Reeet, reeet, reeet!"

The giant hands squeezed him around the middle, lifting me into the air. Percy struggled and kicked with legs and arms that seemed much too stubby, and then he was staring, horrified, into the enormous face of C.C.

"Perfect!" her voice boomed. He squirmed in alarm, but she only tightened her grip around his furry belly. "See, Percy? You've unlocked your true self!"

She held him up to the mirror, and what Percy saw made him scream in terror, "Reeet, reeet, reeet!" There was C.C, beautiful and smiling, holding a fluffy, bucktoothed creature with tiny claws and white and black fur. When Percy twisted, so did the furry critter in the mirror. He was... he was ...