Percy Jackson and Uncle Bruce (A PJO and Avengers Crossover) *Rewrite is Up*

Chapter 21- Waterland

Percy's P.O.V

The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time we found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.

The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry water slides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.

"If Ares brings Aphrodite here for a date, " I said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to know what they do. "

"Percy, " Luke  warned. "Be more respectful. "

"Why? I thought you hated Ares." I asked turning away from the sign and toward Luke my eyes furrowed.

"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental. "

"You don't want to insult her looks, " Beck added.

I suddenly felt the need to change the subject. "So how do we get in?"

"Maia!" Beck's shoes sprouted wings.

He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"

Luke and I had to climb the old-fashioned way, holding down the barbed wire for each other as we crawled over the top.

The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?

No monsters came to get us. Nothing made the slightest noise.

We found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of-

"Clothes, " Luke said. "Fresh clothes. "

"Yeah, " I said. "But you can't just-"

"Watch me. "

He snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later he came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over his shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.

"What the heck. " Beck shrugged. Soon, all three of us were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park but I didn't have the backpack seeing how I already had one.

We continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. I got the feeling that the whole park was holding its breath. "So Ares and Aphrodite, " I said, to keep my mind off the growing dark, "they still have a thing going on?"

"That's old gossip, Percy, " Luke told me. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip. "

"What about Aphrodite's husband?"

"Well, you know, " he said. "Hephaestus. The black-smith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"

"She likes bikers? " I asked

"Apparently. Dad was never a 'get out of the house' person more 'stay indoors'." Beck said

"Hephaestus knows." I tried to make it a statement but I guess it came out more of a questions.

"Oh sure, " Beck said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like ... "