The Daughter of Artemis ψ Percy Jackson

Sanctuary

"Thank you." I forced a smile onto my face, this woman was clearly not having a good night. But hell, I would hate life if I was stuck working night shifts at some sleazy motel.

She popped her bubblegum at me and bared a grimace, not trying to be civil. "I'm required to ask you if you want a key to the pool? But since you are only staying for the night, I doubt yo-"

"-We will take it." Percy interrupted her with a smile. "I could go for a dip, sounds nice."

She groaned and rolled her eyes, as if grabbing the extra key was such a large responsibility and she had so many better things to do. "Whatever." She walked to the cork board behind her and grabbed a set of keys under the number 2-V. "Your room is 2-V, these are your keys to get inside the room." She tossed the keys on the counter and opened a drawer by her desk, then pulled out a silver single key with a string around it. "This is the pool key to the gate. Don't lose it. If you do, I will have to charge you ten dollars to get a new one."

I grabbed the keys and tossed the silver one to Percy with a smirk. "Have fun with that, Waterboy." I then turned to her and gave her the thirty-five dollars. "Much obliged." I grinned and she just shrugged, snapping her bubblegum once more.

"Yeah, whatever, have a nice night." She threw herself down in the chair behind her desk and pulled open a People's magazine with a bored expression on her face.

Shrugging her off, I shouldered my backpack and whistled at Orion who was busy taking care of his business out side. "Let's go to the room, Orion." Suddenly, the lady was out of her chair and yelling at me with a shaky voice.

"Woah! Woah! Dogs are not allowed in this motel!" She was on top of her chair and extremely pale. "That is against the rules!"

"Why?" I cocked my head to the side, trying not to laugh at her reaction to Orion. "It said that no where outside."

"Because I said so!"

I chuckled a little. "Well, we already paid, and I understand if you are afraid of dogs, but we will only be here one night." She glared at me and hissed under her breath. "I am not afraid of dogs, but someone may be allergic."

Percy looked around with a smile playing on his lips. "Who? We are the only people here." She gave him an annoyed glare and pointed towards the stairs with an exasperated sigh. "Just get out of here, with that thing."

Orion barked at her playfully, causing her to cling harder to her leather chair and whimper. Sniggering, I tapped my thigh and led Orion up stairs, petting him on the head and mumbling. "Good boy, Orion."

~~~~~

I had been laying in mine and Annabeth's bed for a while now, but I couldn't catch any shut eye. Grover and Annabeth were both out as soon as their heads hit the pillows, but it just was too....humid in here. Since I grew up in perfect weather California, I haven't really been exposed to how thick  the air can get in the East Coast. It was killing me.

Slowly, I sat up and turned on the t.v. hoping that the white noise would lull me to sleep, but nothing was on except the news. Yawning, I turned the volume down as to not wake the two heavy sleepers and crawled out of the hot bed.

Waltzing over to the double doors that lead to the balcony, I pushed them open, grinning with happiness was a nice breeze blew over my sticky body. I wiped my neck and looked down at the first floor to see that Percy was still in the pool area. As I watched, Percy floated down to the bottom of the pool and just..sat there.

I watched the surface of the water nervously. It looked really refreshing, but water and me don't really mix well. It isn't my territory. But Percy was right, a dip sounds nice right about now. I shrugged and dug through my backpack, looking for a swimsuit or something that could substitute it. As I dug, I found the one piece that I had lifted from a store a while back and grinned, then went to the bathroom to change into it.