HephaestusTV.com (Companion to HephaestusTV and a Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

2 Days Before Leaving: Percy's Perspective

"What the heck?!?" he exclaimed, jerking his hand away.

"It's our newest line. Would you like some more?" she asked in an annoyingly high-pitched voice.

"No," he said.

"Okay. Have a nice day!"

"Whatever," he muttered. "Freako."

He subconciously sniffed the lotion on his hand and recoiled at the smell. The scent seemed familiar yet something he never smelled before. Percy found Annabeth by a display of celebrity perfumes.

"Hey Wise Girl?" he asked.

"Yeah. Where were you, by the way?" she asked.

"Here's your answer." He held out his hand.

Annabeth took some on her finger and examined it. After about 30 seconds, she said,"What kind of smell is this?!? Lemme go ask someone."

She went to the front desk. In the meantime, Percy looked at some of the lables on the products, which made him question humanity.

Annabeth, back from asking someone, said,"It's apparantly a new pomegranate-ginger fragrance."

"Not surprised," he replied. "Can you read this for me?" He gave her a round purple bottle.

She read the fancy lable. "It's lavender-orange body mist. Gods, this place is all kinds of weird."

Percy found another bottle. "What about this?"

"Open window, ocean spray, and pineapple-grape combined."

"What does an open window smell like?!?"

"Ask Jason. I'll ask Piper."

Percy took out his phone and texted the son of Jupiter:

wat does an 'open window' smell like???

A few seconds later, Jason replied:

Idk...glass?

"Jason says glass," Percy said.

"Piper says to open a window and find out yourself," Annabeth said, tucking her phone away.

For casual days like a date at the mall, it was normal for Percy to be asking Jason stuff via texting (same with Annabeth and Piper). He turned around and saw that freaky entrace lady again, holding even more free samples.

"Let's slowly go away," he whispered to his girlfriend.

They waited for the lady to turn around and bolted out of the place. Once they thought they were far enough from the girly perfume murder house, they took a seat at the edge of a fountain to catch their breaths.

"How are they staying in business?" Annabeth asked. "Their combinations are crazy and they charge $300 for a few ounces of anything."

"Forget the price," Percy said. "I wanna know who hired that psycho stalker lady and hit 'em in the-"

"Percy, we're in public."

"Right, sorry."

Just then, a loud scream echoed through the building. Percy immediatly covered Annabeth's eyes with his hand and closed his own when he saw the source of the noise: a hairy naked guy painted purple.

"What going on?" Annabeth asked.

"You don't wanna know," he said.

He opened one eye a crack and saw the guy being escorted away by mall security. The man, as he was being dragged away, shouted,"THIS IS COLOR DISCRIMINATION!"

After a few minutes of tazers buzzing and pepper sprays, the guy was finally handcuffed and taken away. One of the younger officers stayed behind to apologize to everyone in the area and assured them that everything was taken care of. He opened his eyes completely and saw, in the place of the purple guy, two creepy little girls wearing identical outfits and holding red balloons. One looked strangely like the little Asian girl from The Ring and the other was literally a miniature Thalia. They both gave him a 'we're watching you' look. Percy blinked a few times and they were gone.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh, yeah," he replied, rubbing his eyes.

"Uh, you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, fine. Oh, let's go check out the kiosks," he said, changing the subject.

He and Annabeth stopped by a Nerf gun vendor. Apparantly, the guy represented the company and had the newest models. Percy found a realistic pistol-like one that he liked, while Annabeth looked at a few girl ones.

"Can I try this?" he asked the guy.

"Go ahead," the man said.

Percy, being the stupid Seaweed Brain he was, closed his eyes and aimed in a random direction. He heard the whizz of the plastic bullet and the crash of it hitting a target. He opened his eyes and saw a broken plant pot. Standing next to it was an angry security guard whose mustache quivered and face reddened.

"I can explain," Percy said, putting the toy down.

The guard marched over and grabbed him by the arm.

"Wait sir!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"You with him?" the guard asked.

"Yes but-"

"You're coming with me too," he said, taking her arm.

Percy mentally kicked himself as they went into the office. The guard asked,"Why were you shooting that with your eyes closed?"

"I...was being stupid," Percy groaned.

Annabeth sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

"I want you to call your parents to com pick you up," he said, handing Percy an old-fashioned phone.

Percy reluctantly dialed his mom's number and waited until she picked up. When she asked him where he was, he explained the whole situation. He braced for any anger-or worse, disappointment.

Instead, she just laughed heartily and said,"It's funny how Poseidon and I did the exact same thing before you were born. Except it was a water gun in a department store. Plus, this is tame compared to your school field trips."

"So...can you come pick me up?"

"Sure. I'll be there in 10-15 minutes."

"Thanks mom. Love you."

"Love you too, honey."

Percy put down the phone and fist-pumped in the air. "I didn't get in trouble!" he cheered.

The officer growled and said,"You're staying here before your mother comes. Got that?"

"Yes sir," Annabeth said.

After waiting a while-which was hard for Percy-his mother came and quickly picked them up, avoiding conversation with the officer. Percy excused himself to go to the bathroom when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He went into the restroom and saw on the phone a text from Jason that said:

Hey. Hows ur date going?

Percy smiled and texted back:

u kno, the usual. joined a flash mob, had a creepy lotion lady stalk me, saw thalias clone w/ the asian girl frm the ring, saw a naked purple guy, & almost nearly sorta got arrested (not rly).

Jason simply replied:

Wtf.

_______

Again, feedback is appreciated.

~ C. Gallagher