They landed in San Francisco near the Embarcadero building while Hank and Chuck ran off to party with their statue friends. Cressida was just glad to be back on the ground and able to move again while Percy didn't mind the close contact if he was being completely honest, despite the way Aphrodite's conversation with him still made his heart race every time he was around Cressida now.
His new problem though was that they'd made it to the west coast but now they had no idea what to do. Artemis and Annabeth were somewhere here and they had until tomorrow to find them. Not to mention that they still had no clue what the monster that Artemis was hunting was.
Grover then reminded them about what Apollo had told them back on the train about Nereus. And Zoë, whose mother was a sea goddess, knew him and knew how to find him. And Cressida was almost tempted to join the Hunters right then and there because Zoë had stopped at a Goodwill drop box and gotten Percy a new outfit. A ragged flannel shirt, jeans that were three sizes too big, bright red trainers and a floppy rainbow hat.
"Oh, yeah," Grover said, trying not to burst out laughing, "you look completely inconspicuous now."
Cressida on the other hand wasn't hiding it at all as she leaned on Grover's shoulder. "Gods, I wish I had a camera," she wheezed as she wiped water from her eyes. "Can you imagine if he met Aphrodite dressed like this?"
That was when Grover lost it as they clung to each other and laughed their asses off.
Thalia was working on keeping her laugh in as she bit her lips hard, her eyes lining with water as Zoë nodded with satisfaction.
"A typical male vagrant," she remarked, praising her work.
"Yeah, thanks a lot," Percy grumbled. "Why am I doing this again?"
"I told thee. To blend in," Zoë answered before beginning to lead the way down to the waterfront. They spent a rather long time searching, before Zoë finally stopped in her tracks and pointed down a pier where a bunch of homeless guys were huddled together in blankets, waiting for the soup kitchen to open for lunch.
"He will be down there somewhere," Zoë said. "He never travels very far from the water. He likes to sun himself during the day."
"How do I know which one is him?" Percy wondered trying not to act as if he was uncomfortable in his clothes which he was.
"Sneak up," she answered. "Act homeless. You will know him. He will smell... different."
"Great," Percy huffed. "And once I find him?"
"Grab him," she said. "And hold on. He will try anything to get rid of thee. Whatever he does, do not let go. Force him to tell thee about the monster."
"We've got your back," Thalia said, at least before she picked something off the back of his shirt – a big clump of fuzz that came from who knows where. "Eww. On second thought... I don't want your back. But we'll be rooting for you."
Grover gave him a big thumbs-up before Percy turned to Cressida who was smirking at him. "Anything you'd like to add?"
Her smirk only grew as she sauntered over to him. "Just that if you can take on Ares, an old sea god should be cake."
In retrospect, what she did next was probably more to embarrass him than it was for good luck, but he wasn't complaining - not at all. If her hugs were magic, he had no idea what her kisses were, just that they were something otherworldly.
She lifted the brim of his hat up as she pressed her lips to his cheek before stepping away, her smirk even bigger than before as Thalia and Grover bit their lips to suppress their laughs at his red cheeks. "Good luck," she sang before she and Zoë pushed him towards the homeless men.
And while Percy dealt with that, Thalia had something to ask the daughter of wine.
"Before, back with the boar, you called me Trees," she pointed out and Cressida blinked as if she was only now just registering what she'd done.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't even realise," she replied, her fingers already fidgeting with her charm bracelet.
"No, it, uh, it's fine. But if you're going to give me a nickname, do I get to give you one?" Thalia questioned and Cressida's smile was small.
"Annabeth and I," she started, "we gave each other names based on our parents."
"I know," Thalia spoke. "She's Books and you're Grapes."
"And now, you're Trees."
Thalia seemed moved to be included in the little circle that Cressida and Annabeth had before Grover broke the silence.
"So, now what do we do?"
And the answer was the most intense game of rock, paper, scissors ever. Grover was eliminated after the first round, all three women shooting paper to cover Grover's rock because they all knew that he always plays the only nature-related gesture every time. However, the rest of them were still locked in a stalemate, the three girls not being able to break the tie until Grover stopped the game.
The satyr then led them towards a set of stairs that led to the land under the pier where Percy stood before a fallen Nereus and boy did he smell. Zoë really hadn't been kidding about it.
'You got him!' Zoë said.
"You don't have to sound so amazed," Percy replied, clearly offended.
Nereus moaned. "Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"
"I've got more than one question," Percy said.
"Only one question per capture! That's the rule."
Percy glanced at his friends, specifically Cressida who wasn't looking at him but was simply staring at Nereus as if she was trying to come up with a plan, but Percy spoke before she could come up with anything.
"Alright, Nereus," he said. "Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting."
The Old Man of the Sea smiled, showing off his mossy green teeth.
"Oh, that's too easy," he said evilly. "He's right there." Nereus pointed to the water at Percy's feet.
"Where?" he asked.
"The deal is complete!" Nereus gloated. With a pop, he turned into a goldfish and did a backflip into the sea.
Cressida threw out her arms, vines sprouting from the sea floor as she tried to catch the goldfish, her plants already struggling to grow against the sea god's power, but she kept at it until Percy pulled her hands down, her vines sinking back into the sea and he gripped her hands.
"Stop! He's already gone. You're wasting your energy for nothing," Percy scolded as she jerked her hands from his grip.
"He still tricked us. He got away and we still have no idea where Artemis or Annabeth are and we have no idea what the -'
"MOOOOOOO!"
"What was that?" Thalia asked with wide eyes.
Percy looked down and swimming near his feet was a cow serpent, nudging his shoe with sad brown eyes.
"Ah, Bessie," Percy said. "Not now."
The creature mooed again and Grover gasped. "He says his name isn't Bessie."
"You can understand her... er, him?" Percy wondered.
"Uh, I'm sorry. When did you even meet Bessie in the first place?" Cressida asked a little nervously.
"Blackjack's friend that needed help," he explained quickly as an expression of realisation spread across her face.
"It's a very old form of animal speech. But he says his name is the Ophiotaurus," Grover informed them.
"The Ophi-what?!"
"Ok," Cressida exclaimed loudly. "This is how I know that you don't pay attention in camp classes. Because Ophiotaurus is Ancient Greek," she said. "It means serpent bull."
"But what's it doing here?" Thalia asked as the Ophiotaurus mooed again.
"He says Percy is his protector," Grover announced. "And he's running away from the bad people. He says they're close."
"That's not good," Cressida huffed.
"Wait, you know this cow?" Zoë questioned and Percy told them the story and Thalia shook her head in disbelief.
"And you just forgot to mention this before?"
"Well...yeah," Percy said dumbly and Cressida rolled her eyes.
"Percy, the next time we ask you what's happening, we mean tell us all of this," she exclaimed, recycling the same words he spat at her a year ago.
"Well forgive me for being a little distracted lately, Grape Girl."
"Distractions are no excuse, Fish Face. That's what you told me."
"Ok! I didn't tell you before but I'm telling you now! So give it a rest, Wine Vine!"
"Make me, Barnacle Brain!" she challenged as she stood toe-to-toe with him.
"Oh, you better be careful what you wish for, Grape Girl."
"And you better watch your back, Captain Nemo."
"And you better -"
"I am a fool!" Zoë suddenly exclaimed, interrupting Cressida and Percy's bickering contest. "I know this story!"
"What story?" Percy and Cressida asked in unison, giving each other a wary look afterwards.
"From the War of the Titans," she said. "My... my father told me this tale, thousands of years ago. This is the beast we are looking for."
"Bessie?" Percy looked down at the bull serpent. "But... he's too cute. He couldn't destroy the world."
Cressida could only shake her head at his idiocy. Just like when he said it was a good idea to get their photo taken by Aunty Em, or hide in a mattress store just to name a few.
"That is how we were wrong," Zoë said. "We've been anticipating a huge dangerous monster, but the Ophiotaurus does not bring down the gods that way. He must be sacrificed."
"MMMM," Bessie lowed.
"I don't think he likes the S-word," Grover said.
Percy patted Bessie's head, trying to calm him down but he was still trembling before Cressida reached out her hand. Bessie was apprehensive at first but eventually, let Cressida touch him.
"Wait, don't -"
"Calm," she whispered, her hand glowing purple as Bessie stopped trembling but the second, she let go, she wabbled on her feet.
"I told you not to do that," Percy said, his arms around her body as he steadied her, worried about how she was putting most of her weight on him. "You know that the older a creature, the more energy it takes out of you. You can't get tired, Wine Vine."
"I know, Mom," she said sarcastically as Thalia dug through her pack for the small flask of nectar she had stashed away, tipping some into Cressida's mouth as Percy kept his hold on her.
"But how could anyone hurt him?" Percy asked as the nectar began to work its magic and Thalia put her flask back into her bag. "He's harmless."
Zoë nodded. "But there is power in killing innocence. Terrible power. The Fates ordained a prophecy aeons ago, when this creature was born. They said that whoever killed the Ophiotaurus and sacrificed its entrails to fire would have the power to destroy the gods."
"MMMMMM!"
"Um," Grover said. "Maybe we could avoid talking about entrails, too."
Thalia stared at the cow serpent with wonder. "The power to destroy the gods... how? I mean, what would happen?"
"No one knows," Zoë said. "The first time, during the Titan war, the Ophiotaurus was in fact slain by a giant ally of the Titans, but thy father Zeus sent an eagle to snatch the entrails away before they could be tossed into the fire. It was a close call. Now, after three thousand years, the Ophiotaurus is reborn."
Thalia sat down on the dock. She stretched out her hand. Bessie went right to her. Thalia placed her hand on his head. Bessie shivered.
Percy seemed sceptical of Thalia's almost hungry expression as Cressida found her feet again, Percy still keeping a hand on her back.
"We have to protect him," she said and Percy nodded.
"If Luke gets hold of him -"
"Luke wouldn't hesitate," Thalia finished. "The power to overthrow Olympus. That's... that's huge."
"Yes, it is, my dear," said a man's voice in a heavy French accent. 'And it is a power you shall unleash."
The Ophiotaurus made a whimpering sound and submerged as they looked up.
Gods above they were stupid. They'd been so busy talking that they'd allowed themselves to be ambushed because standing behind them with wickedly gleaming two-colour eyes was Dr Thorn, the manticore himself.
"Oh great," Cressida huffed. They never could catch a break.