ALORA DIDN'T KNOW WHAT A THEME PARK WAS SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE, but she sure didn't think it was meant to look like this place. A sign was held above the place the read "Waterland" and it gave her the creeps.
"I haven't seen a lot of horror movies," Percy broke the silence that had taken over them on their walk from the diner. "But this seems exactly like the kind of place they'd suggest to avoid."
"A movie is one of those moving photo things on the big box right?" Alora asked, having heard about it from some residents at camp. Percy nodded proudly. "I've never seen one, i'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt."
"Never?" Percy kept his gaze on the girl as they continued into the entrance. "What do you mean 'never' like 'never-never'?"
"Never ever." Alora shrugged and smiled at him before turning to look at the creepy place again.
"Well, if neither of us is dead in a few days, we really ought to fix that." Alora stopped beside the boy and looked over at him with her heart beating loudly. "You're missing out."
"Is that a date seaweed brain?" Alora raised her eyebrows, the words leaving her mouth before she could even think them over. Percy shrugged his shoulders with a smirk, not minding the new nickname.
"In the meantime, we should probably get this over with, though." Percy turned to the theme park again and began to walk towards the gate with Alora seconds behind him.
The boy pushed the metal gate and it clanged shut, trapping him halfway through as metal blades began to whir above his head.
"Wait, what just happened?"
"Don't move." Alora spoke as she began to obviously panic.
"What is that?" Percy spoke as he began to breathe harshly, looking up at the metal whirring above him.
"Wait, that's celestial bronze." Alora realised, starting to panic more.
"Fascinating," Percy snapped, worried for his life. "Ally, what is happening?"
"It's what your sword is made out of." Alora took a deep breath. "If you're human it passes right through you, but if you're a monster or demigod..."
"Well, what's it doing there?" Percy knew what she meant by the look on her face.
"That's what I want to know." The brunette girl spoke quickly as she started to realise what this place was. "A god built this."
"What kind of god builds amusement parks?" Percy looked between her and the mechanism cautiously.
"Hephaestus." Alora gulped, knowing the gods story.
"Why would Hephaestus build an amusement park?" Percy asked the unknown.
"I don't know, maybe he finds them amusing." Alora shrugged lightly.
"That's not funny Ally."
"It is a tiny bit." The girl sighed before looking up at the mechanism. "Gods that doesn't look good."
"Ally!"
"Okay, I've got this." The girl nodded unsurely and began to mutter. "What if Annabeth was here? What would Annie do?"
The girl thought of how Annabeths brain worked, she wished she could have that in moments like these. But she wasn't Annabeth and she didn't have a brain like that. She was just Alora, the girl who was too oblivious and ditzy to solve these problems.
"Ally," Percy spoke softly and the girl broke out of her panicked daze, "You don't need to think like Annabeth. You're just as smart."
Alora nodded slowly as she took in his words and took a deep breath, before she came to her conclusion. Based off the look of the mechanism and the feeling in her gut telling her to do this, she told the boy,
"Just push through."
"Push?" Percy looked at her in shock, then at the mechanism again. She nodded her head in return. "Weren't you the one this morning that said 'the Fates said one of us is going to die and we should take it seriously.'"
"Perce." Alora cut him off. "Do you trust me?"
"Of course." The boy said immediately, his gaze softening.
"Then just push it."
Percy looked at her once more before turning to the gate and pushing through to the other side. The mechanism moved with him, not doing a thing to him, but the number in the small box above the gate changed to '001' when he reached the other side, making a loud ding noise.
"What was that?" Percy sighed, grateful that he hadn't died.
"It's not meant to kill us." Alora said in disbelief that she was right. "It's a test."
She followed the boys actions and pushed through the gate, making the mechanism grind and the ding noise play again as the number changed to '002'.
"Hephaestus wants to keep track on who is poking around his play ground." Alora told the boy, who looked at her in awe.
He looked at her like she was everything, which in his eyes she was. He thought she was beautiful, funny, strong and now came to the conclusion that she was incredibly smart, despite what they all say about her.
"I guess he knows now."
She smiled at the boy bashfully, leading him further into the amusement park. The girl didn't know where she was going really, but then again they didn't exactly know where they were supposed to be looking.
"Ew, look at that." Alora pointed at a cart on the broken down rollercoaster they passed. "I've never been to an amusement park before but I don't think they normally look like that. It has to be the god of craftsmen."
"If it belongs to the god of craftsmen, what was the god of war doing here?" Percy furrowed his eyebrows as they walked side by side. "Aren't they enemies? Then why did he split without his shield?"
"Well, Ares has always had a thing for..." Alora started but Percy cut her off.
"Aphrodite. She's Hephaestus' wife." He spoke in realisation and Alora nodded slowly. "You're kidding. He met her here? In her husband's park? That's so wrong."
"It is." Alora smiled at the boys gossiping tone, something that she would like to hear more of when this quest was over. "Best bet is that they got caught and he had to leave in a hurry. Suppose Ares was telling the truth when he said this family is a mess."
The two stopped in their path as fairground music began to play and lights began to flicker. There was a boat floating in the water of what seemed to be a river. They looked towards the sign lighting up bright pink, spelling out 'Thrill Ride O' Love'.
"Don't even speak." Alora knew her face was bright red and she shook her head, refusing to look at the boy.
"I wasn't going to say anything." The boy said in defence, knowing he was going to.
"I know you're thinking it." She rolled her eyes, knowing what they had to do. "The shield has to be in there, we just have to go get it."
"Sure," Percy said sarcastically, looking between the girl and the ride, "Let's go check out the scary ghost ride. Why not?"
"Scared?" Alora tilted her head and looked up at the boy with a smirk. He started to stutter over his words and the girl laughed quietly. "Come on."
"I'm not scared, Ally!"
Authors note:
hey guys... i know its been a while but ive been in such a writing slump because ive been burnt out with school but im going to try write as much as possible!! ALSO 25K READS??? WHAT??? THANK YOU SM FOR READING ABOUT MY BABIES PERLORA!!!