𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍° ! percy jackson

𝐢.𝐱𝐢𝐱 - 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐬 (𝐚)

Percy stepped into the surf.

"Percy?" Annabeth's voice was alarmed, snapping Aurora out of the trance of the beautiful landscape in front of her. "What are you doing?"

He continued walking, up to his waist, then his chest.

"Shark Boy, you're seriously stupid." Aurora called after him, squinting as he waded deeper and deeper. "I'm not jumping in after you!"

The last thing she saw before Percy's head went under was the raise of his middle finger and retreating laughter, and in the blink of an eye, the last of his black curls was gone under the glimmering blue.

"Great." Aurora sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose. She turned to Grover. "Your friend is an actual dumbass."

Grover stared at the shadow that once had been his friend and a wry smile played onto his lips. "I know."

"Rory, when are you going to tell the dude that you're friends?" Annabeth asked, resting her head against the girl's shoulder. "He's practically falling at your feet for you."

Aurora snorted. "I'll tell him we're friends when we actually become friends. I hate him."

"No, you don't." Grover stated as Aurora raised her eyebrows at him. As she opened her mouth to say, what the fuck?, he quickly explained. "You care too much about him to hate him."

At that, Aurora burst out into a fit of laughter. She would've prolonged it if Grover wasn't looking at her with crazy solemnity. "Care about Percy Jackson? Come on, Goat Boy. Be for real. You're the funniest satyr I know."

Grover shook his head at Aurora's hysterics and theatrical behavior. "I'm serious! You're worried about him, more than you are about anyone else. Stop laughing, I'm not joking."

Annabeth smirked, crossing her arms as she eyed her best friend. "He's right. I think you don't want the bitch to die." And to Aurora, not wishing death upon someone was equivalent to her liking them, and that made her stomach recoil and want to puke up the two burgers she devoured throughout their quest.

Before Aurora could completely deny the false accusations, Percy kicked upward towards the shore.

Almost like magic, as soon as he reached the beach, his clothes were instantly dry. He recounted what had happened, and showed them the pearls of safety that the water spirit had given him. Aurora couldn't even make fun of him for being all "Shark Boy" before graveness kicked into his words.

Annabeth grimaced. "No gift comes without a price."

"They were free." Percy justified, showing Aurora the shimmering balls of ivory with a trace of a triumphant beam. She wanted to reach forward and touch one—they were so pretty—but refrained as she remembered what Grover and Annabeth had said. She did not care about the son of Poseidon.

"No." Annabeth shook her head. "'There is no such thing as a free lunch.' That's an ancient Greek saying that translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. Just you wait."

On that happy thought, they turned our backs on the sea.

With some spare change from Ares's backpack, they took the bus into West Hollywood. Percy showed the driver the Underworld address slip I'd taken from Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, but he'd never heard of DOA Recording Studios.

"You guys remind me of somebody I saw on TV," he told Percy, glancing at Aurora. "You a child actor or something?"

"Uh..." Percy stammered, looking at Aurora with a gaze that screamed help!