Children of The Big Three Book 2: The Sea of Monsters

Chapter Eighteen: Friends are Nice

If there was one thing Percy Jackson was not used to; it was being pampered. Born into a less then stellar household, his version of fancy was renting a Red-Box and getting Gabe so blasted he wouldn't bother them. On really big blow out days, maybe they'd get a thing of popcorn and a package of M&Ms. This, however..  It sorta reminded him of the Lotus Hotel, in a weird way. He wasn't quite sure if that was a good or bad thing yet, so he'd keep his guard down for now, but he was definitely ready to raise it at a moments notice. He was still in the Sea of Monsters for Zeus' sake. Upon entry, he'd told the receptionist that he had little to pay with, but the woman, whose name tag read: 'Hylla' said that wouldn't be a problem, and he could always do some manual labor to make up for it. She said he looked like he needed a break bad. The place was immaculate, with large rooms that were dedicated for one sort of massage and/or physical therapy. Percy had to admit, he was a bit shocked, and maybe even a little jealous, the other side seemed to live. He thought that they had to be rich, how else would they build all this? He vaguely remembered a conversation he and his mother had when he was just a little kid. They'd somehow got to the conversation of wealth, which he supposed was only natural for a child who wanted stuff. She had told him a saying he had never forgot, and one that he used to snap away this way of thinking he was going down.

"I'd rather never see a cent again then be rich, Percy."

"Why?" He remembered he had asked in response.

"Because when you're broke, you know who your friends are. When you're rich, your best friend could hate you, and you'd only know after you've lost every cent they liked about you."

He figured it was sound advice, though he doubted he'd ever be in need of it. Percy shook his head, and tried to bring it back to reality. Silena had gone off on her own, and was ushered over to the legendary 'Girls section.' He assumes that the male and female section were separated because of the spas and junk. He didn't know much, just that they'd hit her back and that she'd have to be-

And with that, and freshly redded cheeks, he decided to also stop that train of thought. Being thirteen sucked. Instead he focused on where he was being moved to, a massage chair! Percy's eyes widened, and the lady leading him, whom hadn't given her name yet, couldn't help but notice the giddy expression that adorned his face. She turned to him, with a slight raised eyebrow and asked, "Do you especially like Massage Chairs?"

Percy couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when he realized the way he was acting. A little bit of kid showing, he supposed. He answered, albeit sheepishly, and with a nervous chuckle.

"Sorry, it's just.. My mom had always had always told me that she used to love these before.. I was born. She, uh, didn't have the time or money afterwards. I guess the want of one kinda rubbed off on me." He didn't exactly like telling others about his family's financial problems, but it would have been highly rude to be short tempered with a lady just doing her job; plus that information wasn't that intimate. So it didn't matter much to him. The woman seemed to get it, or she just didn't want to have this conversation, and nodded accordingly. He was sat down, the chair started doing its thing, and the boy couldn't help but laugh a little. It tickled. After a short while, what he could only assume was a manicure was happening. His nails were getting filed down, which he figured he needed right about now. Part of him said that he might want to keep his nails, a sort of last defense of digging them into a Monsters skin or something. Every other part of him thought that was incredibly stupid. Percy's face turned to the girl doing the work, and she seemed to be his age, maybe a year younger. That struck him as odd, and his Demi-God senses started going off. Right there, that was a Yellow Flag.