"No way," Percy said. "Do it again. Get me a Nutty Bar."
Jason's hands crackled with electricity as he held them against the vending machine. Percy watched as the Nutty Bar fell to the bottom of the machine. He reached down and grabbed it from the slot, then smiled up at Jason. "Dude, that's probably the best party trick to have ever existed."
Jason shrugged. "It'll come in handy on quests."
"You're telling me," Percy muttered. "I'm going to go pay for the gas."
He left Jason there and went inside and paid. When he went back outside, Jason was already in the Jeep waiting, but not alone.
"Aphrodite," Percy said as he climbed into the driver's seat.
"Perseus," she replied without looking up from her polished nails. She sat in the backseat between boxes of snacks, looking a little uncomfortable with that. "I'm glad I could catch you two boys together."
"Is something wrong?" Jason asked. Percy noticed he looked the slightest bit nervous to be with his girlfriend's mother. Percy could understand that. He couldn't imagine being alone with Athena without Annabeth to back him up.
The goddess ignored his question. "You're both so sweet to your girlfriends. It has been so long since I've seen heroes with such strong love connections."
"If you don't mind," Percy cut in, "it'd be cool if you could rap this up and just tell us what you want. We're actually on our way back to Camp Half-Blood, and I'm sure we both really want to see our girlfriends again."
Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Always one to cut right to the chase, aren't you? Manners are something I've always respected."
"So what do you see in Ares?" Jason asked, then slapped a hand over his mouth.
For a second Aphrodite's eyes grew intense. Percy was afraid she'd turn Jason into a shrew. But she only put up a hand. "You're a boy. I understand that you don't think much before you speak. Therefore, I will forgive you this time."
She sat up straighter and flipped her hair over her shoulder. It was hard for Percy to look at her because it was such a tease. She looked so much like Annabeth, but only if his girlfriend were in her mid-thirties. He assumed Jason saw the goddess to actually look like the mother of Piper.
"You were correct, Perseus," she continued. "I need to ask a favor of the two of you."
"Gee, there's a surprise," he muttered.
She snapped her fingers. "I suggest you stop testing my patience. Anyway, I've lost something very dear to me. It was a gift from Hephaestus. My mirror."
"You want us to retrieve your mirror?" Jason asked.
"No, Jason. I need you to retrieve my purse. The mirror is inside. It's enchanted, so I advise you not to touch it. It isn't a play-thing."
"How is it enchanted?"
"That is for me to keep a secret. I believe I left it in Colorado at a ski resort. Ares and I were there trying to have a romantic weekend, but Hephaestus decided to ruin our fun again. Sent mechanical flies to scare us off. So as I was saying, I need you to retrieve my purse for me."
"Why should we do that?" Percy questioned.
"Because I am the goddess of love and I can end your relationships with the flick of my wrist."
Jason swallowed. "That's a good enough reason for me." Percy nodded in agreement.
"Great!" Aphrodite beamed. "I will leave a map for you. And remember: Hephaestus is tricky. He'll have traps waiting there for you."
"We've been through this whole thing before," Percy stopped her. "We freaking defeated the literal Earth. I don't think some mechanical flies will be so hard to get past."
She only shrugged. "Good luck, heroes."
And with that, she vanished in a puff of smoke, and in her place was the strong scent of perfume and a map.
Jason snatched it up. "Whoa, Percy, this thing has all kinds of extra pit stops for the gods, immortal restaurants, safe zones from monsters... I thought the camps were the only places safe from monster attacks."
"So did I," Percy answered. Jason held out the map so they could both see. "Dude, do we get to keep this or is she going to want it back?"
"Well I definitely hope we can keep it. This could be really helpful on quests."
Percy started the car. "Where'd she say we were going? Colorado?"
"Yeah, right here." He pointed to a little pink circle on the map of the United States. Then his finger hovered over a blue and a green dot. "This must be us."
"It'll follow our movements," Percy noted. "A magic map."
Jason refolded the map and stuck it in the glove compartment. He leaned back, saying, "You know, you have a death wish. You can't talk to Aphrodite like that."
"Like what?"
"Dude, you're so sassy."
"Oh, yeah? Says the kids who just told the goddess of love that she had bad taste in guys."
Jason covered his face with his arms. "Just drive."
***
"I'm starting to get tired of Sour Patch Kids."
Percy feigned a gasp. "Are you asking to be thrown out of this car?"
Jason threw up his arms. "I'm just saying. Maybe we should go through a drive-thru or something."
Percy took the last sip of his blue Coke. "Pizza?"
"I could do for pizza."
"We should probably find a place to stay, too. A motel with a good pool."
Jason nodded in agreement. After another half hour of driving, they reached a city. Hills surrounded on either side, and the sun was setting just behind them. Percy stopped at an old motel, nothing fancy but not too bad.
As they entered the lobby, which was hard to even call a "lobby" considering how small it was, the boys walked up to a man sitting at the desk. "What can I do you for?" he asked in a low voice. He looked like a nice enough guy as he grinned at the two and scratched his stubbly chin.
Jason opened his mouth to reply, but Percy beat him to it.
"Is there a pool around here?" he asked eagerly. Jason exhaled a laugh.
"We got pool in the game room, and a lake down the trail out back."
A lake. Even better.
"We'll take a room for the night. Two beds. Non-smoking, please."
The man sized them up. "What are you kids doing traveling alone?"
"We're older than we look," Jason lied. Percy knew he was really sixteen, while Percy himself had only turned seventeen recently. "We're college kids. Heading up north back to the family. We're cousins."
At least half of it was true.
The man grunted in approval and gave them their room key. Once they were in their dark, cramped room, Percy dropped his things and dug through his bag for his swimsuit. "Going to the lake. You can come if you want."
Jason waved off the question. "I'm going to order the pizza. I'll IM Piper, then probably just go to bed. Tomorrow's my driving shift so I figure I'd better get some sleep."
"Alright, man. I'll be back in a half hour for pizza. Make sure there's pepperoni on it." And with that, he left.
It was a short hike on the trail to the lake. Once he was there he could only hear the chirping of the frogs. The air was cool, more so than the water of the large, dark lake. He stepped in, then waded his way through lily pads and mucky water. Just until he could finally get completely underwater.
The water was murkier than he was used to. It was almost difficult to breathe with all the muck, but he continued to go deeper.
Then he heard something. A sob? He didn't know who could possibly be crying underwater, but he followed the sound.
There was a faint green glow coming from just ahead. As he neared it, he realized it was a nymph. Her hair flowed with the current, and so did her long, green dress. She sat on a large rock at the bottom of the lake, her face in her hands as she cried.
"Uh, hi?" Percy said unsurely.
She looked up at him with wide eyes, and he noticed she looked a lot like Juniper, a tree nymph his satyr friend Grover was dating from back at Camp Half-Blood. "How are you breathing underwater, mortal?" she asked, a mix of anger and surprise on her face.
"I'm a son of Poseidon," he explained. "A demigod."
"I see." She crossed her arms, trying to regain her composure. "What are you doing here? This isn't the ocean."
"I'm staying not far from here. Came for a swim--helps me think. Are you okay?"
Her eyes grew intense. "No, I'm definitely not okay. Do you see this? This lake is disgusting! The mortals are stealing all the fish. And the other nymphs... I can't find them. I worry they're dying. Too weak to take form."
"Can't you guys just clean it up?"
She glared at him. "You think we haven't tried? This has grown out of proportions! It is uncontrollable."
For a moment, Percy was afraid this nymph was a little too alike those that he met with Piper and Jason back at the temple in Rome. "Hey, I can help. I bet there's some way to fix this and get your friends back."
She sighed. "I'm Clyte."
"Percy," he answered. "And I have a friend with me. His name is Jason, and he's back on the surface. I'm sure he'd help too."
"Another demigod?"
Percy nodded. "A son of Jupiter. Er, Zeus, if you're Greek."
Her eyes weren't so puffy anymore, and she looked like she was considering. "Yes, you should bring your friend here. A child of Zeus can help greatly."
For some reason, the sound of that made him uncomfortable. Something about the way she said it made him wonder if maybe she was too alike Hagno and the other nymphs. He hoped Clyte wasn't planning to pull any stunts to try and suck the power out of them. That definitely wasn't fun the last time it happened, plus they'd had Piper with them. She ended up saving them.
"Alright," he said. "I'm going to go get him. I'll be back in just a little while."
"And I will be waiting, Percy."
He willed the water to pull him to the surface. He broke through and was bathed in the light of the nearly set sun. He walked across the surface toward the way he came, but something caught his ankle.
He looked down to find hands grabbing at him, pulling him down. He was so surprised he couldn't seem to stop himself from sinking.
Then, something hit him on the back of his head, and he blacked out.