°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ ENDGAME} act iii. . .
. . .true love, that doesn't exist
CHAPTER THIRTEEN°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
— 'save it in a picture'
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･Percy°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
"Wow," Rayn gasped. I realized she must have never flown anywhere before, even on an airplane.
I laughed at her and she turned to me. "What is it?"
"Nothing," I smirked. "I keep forgetting you've barely left camp your whole life."
"You make it seem like I've been in jail," Rayn said.
"Yeah," I thought about it for a moment. "So you've basically been at a cool summer camp with no actual school your whole life?"
"Basically," she smiled. "This is kind of boring."
"Yeah. How much longer?" I yelled over at Zoe and Thalia.
"A few more hours," Zoe called and I heard her tell Thalia Rayn and I were like two annoying kids on a road trip.
"Crazy question," Rayn said, I was nervous she'd ask something I wouldn't be able to answer. "How were you born?"
"Uh, what?"
"You know... like how Annabeth came from a thought from Athena's mind."
"I was just born... normally." I looked at her.
"That's so boring, I thought you would've washed up from a beach or something."
"Jeez, how were you born then?" I wondered what the others thought we were talking about if they could overhear us.
"Well, my mom gave my dad a cherry blossom flower and there was a baby inside of it when it bloomed and that baby was me."
"How did you, uhm, what's the best way to put this... fit in it?"
She stared at me blankly for a moment, her icy blue eyes piercing into my soul, until she started laughing. "Were you afraid to ask me that?"
I knew I must've started blushing from embarrassment. "Uh... no? Maybe?"
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
I woke up from my nap, we were still soaring in the air. San Francisco was definitely the most beautiful city I had ever seen.
There was huge a huge bag with ships crowding it, islands scattered around, sailboats basking in the sun and the Golden Gate Bridge gleaming in the heat rays.
"Drop up there," Zoe suggested. "By the Embarcadero Building."
"Good thinking," Chuck said. "Me an again can blend in with the pigeons."
We all looked at him like he was crazy.
"Kidding," he said. "Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humor?"
There wasn't much need to blend in, it was early in the morning and the sun had only risen.
We said our goodbyes and thanks to the statues who flew off to party with their friends.
None of us had any idea where to go now. Artemis and Annabeth were around here somewhere, but where? The Winter Solstice was tomorrow and this place would take ages to fully search.
"We need to find out what this mystery monster is," Thalia said hopefully.
"But how?" I said.
"Nereus." Grover said.
"What?"
"Isn't that what Apollo told you, Thalia? Seek out Nereus?" Grover turned towards her.
"The old man of the sea," Rayn said. "But how do we find him?"
Zoe made a face. "Old Nereus, eh?"
"You know him?" Thalia asked.
"My mother was a sea goddess. Yes, I know him. Unfortunately, he is never very hard to find. Just follow the smell."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Come," she said without enthusiasm. "I will show thee."
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･Rayn°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
We stopped by a Goodwill drop box. Zoe and Percy had rummaged through different outfits and he was getting changed somewhere.
"Hey, look at this," I said as I pulled out a camera. "Let's take a photo."
"What?" Zoe asked.
"Just come over here," I pulled her close and we both smiled as the flash almost blinded us.
Zoe rubbed her eyes. "What was that?"
"It's a picture," I showed her the photo on the camera. "Look."
She smiled and then Percy walked over to us. He had a ragged flannel shirt and jeans that were way too big, bright red sneakers and a floppy hat.
I laughed when I looked at him and he made a face. "No, no! You look great."
Zoe nodded with satisfaction. "A typical male vagrant."
"Thanks a lot," he grumbled. I held the camera up to him and took a picture.
"You look amazing," I said looking at the photo.
"Thanks," Percy smiled at me, his cheeks went red.
"Are you cold in that?" I asked him.
"Uh, no, why?"
"Your face went red."
"Oh," he looked down. "Must be the cold, I guess."
Zoe looked between us and then spoke, "Nereus will be down here somewhere, he will smell... different. Once you know it's him, grab him and hold on."
We walked over to Thalia and Grover, then headed toward the dock. Percy looked like he had lost his mind sniffing the air close to people. A few had warned him to back off.
Eventually, he sat down beside an old stinky man. He looked up at Percy for a moment then went right back to sleep.
Then Percy jumped onto him, the man screamed and yelled for help as he tried to get Percy off of him.
"You should use your camera now," Grover giggled, I did use my camera and now I'd have the best picture of Percy.
The wrestling duo went rolling down the pier, Percy whacked his head on a post.
"Ouch," I said, then my camera clicked. "I'm so showing everyone at camp these."
The man screamed about not having any money, but we need information. That seemed to be worth more at the moment.
"Oh no!" Percy said. "Not the water!"
Immediately, Nereus dived into the water, dragging Percy along as he swam like a dolphin.
They broke the water, but Percy was holding onto a killer whale now. The crowd that had formed were gasping in awe.
"We should do that!" Someone said.
Finally, they both collapsed on the edge of the boat dock. Nereus was heaving and gasping but Percy had the biggest grin as he pinned him down.
"You got him!" I said.
"You don't have to sound so amazed," Percy frowned.
Nereus moaned. "A crowd for my humiliation! Great, the usual deal?"
"Yes, we have questions," Percy said.
"Only one per capture! That's the rule."
Percy looked back at us, we need to figure loads out to save everyone. I started to try think of a question that would answer everything, I was really starting to miss Annabeth now.
Percy sighed. "All right, Nereus. Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring a need to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting."
"Oh that's too easy," the old man grinned evilly. "He's right there."
Nereus pointed to the water.
"Uh, where?" I said.
"The deal is complete!" Nereus gloated. With a pop, he had turned into a fish and dived into the sea.
"You tricked me!" Percy yelled.
"Wait," Thalias eyes widened. "What is that?"
"MOOOOOOO!"
I looked down and there was a weird mermaid cow thing. It nudged Percy's shoe and looked up at him.
"Ah, Bessie," he said. "Not now."
"Mooo!"
Grover gasped. "He says his name isn't Bessie."
"You can understand her... erm, him?"
Grover nodded. "It's a very old form of animal speech. But he says his name is the Ophiotaurus. It means serpent bull in Greek."
"So, why is it so evil?" I asked.
"He says Percy is his protector. And that he's running from the bad people, they are close."
"Wait," Zoe said, staring at Percy. "You know this cow?"
Percy told us the story of how he had saved the cow thing from a net underwater before coming on this quest.
"Did you just forget to mention this?" I shook my head in disbelief.
"Well... yeah," Percy said awkwardly. "Everything happened so fast, it felt like a minor detail."
"I know this story!" Zoe gasped. "We were expecting a big dangerous monster but... the Ophiotaurus does not bring the gods down that way. He must be sacrificed."
"MMMM," Bessie lowed.
"I don't think he likes that last word," Grover said.
Percy started petting it like a dog.
"How could he hurt anyone?" He said. "He's harmless."
Zoe nodded. "If you kill it and sacrifice its entrails to fire, then you'd have the power to destroy the gods."
"MMMMMM!"
"Maybe we could avoid talking about entrails too," Grover said.
Thalia stared at the serpent cow mix thing (how am I supposed to remember a name that long?) for awhile.
"We have to protect him," Percy said. "Luke wouldn't hesitate to have that kind of power."
The cow-serpent whimpered and hid behind Percy, when I looked up, I realized we'd been too busy talking and had allowed ourselves to be ambushed.
Dr. Thorn was now standing in front of us with a wicked grin spread across his face.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
This chapter is kind of short but it took ages to write
SO SOSRRY IVE BEEN SICK FOR AGES AND IT JUST WONT GO AWAY
TYSM FOR READING<3
©️gracexeo , 2024