If there was one thing Percy Jackson was not used to; it was being pampered. Born into a less then stellar household, his version of fancy was renting a Red-Box and getting Gabe so blasted he wouldn't bother them. On really big blow out days, maybe they'd get a thing of popcorn and a package of M&Ms. This, however.. It sorta reminded him of the Lotus Hotel, in a weird way. He wasn't quite sure if that was a good or bad thing yet, so he'd keep his guard down for now, but he was definitely ready to raise it at a moments notice. He was still in the Sea of Monsters for Zeus' sake. Upon entry, he'd told the receptionist that he had little to pay with, but the woman, whose name tag read: 'Hylla' said that wouldn't be a problem, and he could always do some manual labor to make up for it. She said he looked like he needed a break bad. The place was immaculate, with large rooms that were dedicated for one sort of massage and/or physical therapy. Percy had to admit, he was a bit shocked, and maybe even a little jealous, the other side seemed to live. He thought that they had to be rich, how else would they build all this? He vaguely remembered a conversation he and his mother had when he was just a little kid. They'd somehow got to the conversation of wealth, which he supposed was only natural for a child who wanted stuff. She had told him a saying he had never forgot, and one that he used to snap away this way of thinking he was going down.
"I'd rather never see a cent again then be rich, Percy."
"Why?" He remembered he had asked in response.
"Because when you're broke, you know who your friends are. When you're rich, your best friend could hate you, and you'd only know after you've lost every cent they liked about you."
He figured it was sound advice, though he doubted he'd ever be in need of it. Percy shook his head, and tried to bring it back to reality. Silena had gone off on her own, and was ushered over to the legendary 'Girls section.' He assumes that the male and female section were separated because of the spas and junk. He didn't know much, just that they'd hit her back and that she'd have to be-
And with that, and freshly redded cheeks, he decided to also stop that train of thought. Being thirteen sucked. Instead he focused on where he was being moved to, a massage chair! Percy's eyes widened, and the lady leading him, whom hadn't given her name yet, couldn't help but notice the giddy expression that adorned his face. She turned to him, with a slight raised eyebrow and asked, "Do you especially like Massage Chairs?"
Percy couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when he realized the way he was acting. A little bit of kid showing, he supposed. He answered, albeit sheepishly, and with a nervous chuckle.
"Sorry, it's just.. My mom had always had always told me that she used to love these before.. I was born. She, uh, didn't have the time or money afterwards. I guess the want of one kinda rubbed off on me." He didn't exactly like telling others about his family's financial problems, but it would have been highly rude to be short tempered with a lady just doing her job; plus that information wasn't that intimate. So it didn't matter much to him. The woman seemed to get it, or she just didn't want to have this conversation, and nodded accordingly. He was sat down, the chair started doing its thing, and the boy couldn't help but laugh a little. It tickled. After a short while, what he could only assume was a manicure was happening. His nails were getting filed down, which he figured he needed right about now. Part of him said that he might want to keep his nails, a sort of last defense of digging them into a Monsters skin or something. Every other part of him thought that was incredibly stupid. Percy's face turned to the girl doing the work, and she seemed to be his age, maybe a year younger. That struck him as odd, and his Demi-God senses started going off. Right there, that was a Yellow Flag.
"Uh, hello there." Percy said to the girl.
"Heya." The girl replied. She looked to The Son of Poseidon with a cheery smile. Percy tried to get a look at her name tag, but his Dyslexia had to have been acting up again, because he just couldn't seem to figure it out. It started with an R, that's about all he got from it. He wasn't quite sure how to act around her, the only business-customer relationship he was familiar with was one of a waitress, which he was pretty sure she wasn't. Still, he didn't like the silence that had consumed the two. Maybe that was just a him thing, but except for with a very small list of people, he hated quiet moments, they always felt awkward to him. So he did what he usually did, try to make conversation.
"So, uh.. How are you?"
The girl raised an eyebrow, as if she wasn't used to being asked the question by her clients, but answered anyway, "I'm fine, I guess."
Percy nodded intently, and responded, "Why the: 'I guess.'?"
"Oh, you know how it is. Family drama."
He chuckled, boy did he know. "Oh, I feel that. I have this step dad, right?" She nodded, "Well, me and him don't exactly see eye to eye. So one day, I decide to take it up with the big guy himself, yeah? It all started off alright, he wasn't too lazy to speak quite yet..."
The two talked for what seemed like hours. The young lady, whose name came up in conversation as 'Reyna' was surprisingly easy to talk to. After a few short funny stories he had, he had learned that she had a killer snort laugh, the kind of laugh that's funny enough to make you laugh. The duo swapped stories, and Percy had to admit, the girl was pretty hilarious. She seemed comfortable speaking in crowds, which was most definitely a useful skill. Percy had just finished his last story, which had ended with; "And bam! A face full of whip cream! You'd think he'd learn!" Which got a hardy snort from Reyna. It was around that time that another new girl entered the picture. This one was older, and had an air of authority to her.
"Yellow!" She stated in an excited tone, like a forty year old man answering a phone. Reynas face immediately got more serious, and she put the final touches on her work. She then bowed to who Percy could only assume was her boss, then with a head nod, the girl excused herself from the room.
"Hi?" Percy asked, inquisitively.
"Oh! I see you are done with your nail work. Now, I was thinking a face mask to really open up those pours, and-" The woman continued on down a hallway, and Percy realized he was expected to follow. In response, the Son of Poseidon quickly got up from the chair he was in, and tailed the woman; which he assumed to be C.C, down the corridor. After a while she stopped randomly, and opened a door. "Come, Perseus. Let us decide your look!" Percy's eyes flashed with concern. He had never told anyone but Reyna his name, let alone his full name. He recalled a conversation Thalia and Percy had after their first quest, as they talked about stuff they could have done better.
"Perce. If someone you don't know; knows your full name, especially on a quest: Assume it's either a God or a Monster."
"That is oddly specific."
"It happens more than you'd think."
"It cannot be that common."
"Wanna bet?"
Welp, that was ten bucks he owed Thalia. Needless to say, that was a red flag. Percy followed her into the room regardless, and listened to her rattle off things she could do for his hair and skin and blah blah blah; he wasn't exactly paying the closest attention to what she was saying. When she was done, Percy looked into the mirror that she had made a doodle project out of. Even he had to admit that he looked good. The version of himself that he looked at was bulkier, more confident; he could tell from the eyes. All around this version of himself was more heroic.
But, if this was a monster, then it was just a lure to get him to do what she wanted. If it was a Goddess.. Well, he'd seen enough Gods to know that there was always some sort of game with them. Who knows, perhaps he was just being paranoid, and this was just a nice witch lady-
Nope. His luck was not good enough for that. So after a moment of silence, whom CC had determined to be stunned silence, Percy spoke. Serious toned, of which he was getting quite tired of having to use. "Goddess or Monster?"
CC let out a sigh. This one was smarter then he looked; though she supposed that wasn't saying much. "Goddess." She answered.
The Son of Poseidon went: "Hm." Thought for a moment about which she could be, then guessed: "Hecate?"
"No, that would be my mother."
Another second of silence, as he racked his brain for the names of her kids. He then mentally face palmed. CC? It was pretty obvious, mostly because he couldn't think of many Gods whose name started with C. "Circe?"
"Ding ding!" She said in a mockingly excited tone.
"So, what's your game?"
"My game?"
"Every god has one. Perpetual Warfare, the most unfaithful husband ever, stuff like that."
"Oh. I just wanna run a spa for girls."
"Oh. And what about guys?"
"I turn them into animals."
"Hm. So the plan was..?"
"You'd drink from that cup and turn into a gerbil."
"Hm.. And now that I know that?"
"I dunno. Not a lot of people actually catch on. I guess.. I'll just kill you or something?"
"Hmm."
There was a moment of awkward silence. Then Percy dug into his pocket, rather slowly all things considered; and pulled out the last of Hermes gummies. Most had been lost back on the boat, but Percy had took some with him in case he needed a boost during the day. The Son of Poseidon then calmly.. Chucked them at the Goddess and yelled, "Pocket Gummies!" Then he booked it out the door, and started yelling Silena's name.
"Ah! One got in my mouth! Mouth wash, someone grab me some mouth wash-" She shouted, and quickly ran after the boy. But of course, what of the gummies? And the gerbil that was in the room that began to eat one?
It was official. Percy had no idea what was going on.
In the span of two minutes, the girls of the spa were scrambling, Silena ran beside him, mumbling something about her blush; which Percy assumed was a type of makeup, there were pirates everywhere: don't even try to ask him where that came from; and Percy decided he wanted to hijack a straight up Pirate ship. Which brings us to our heroes, desperately trying to untie the ship from the dock. Percy was pretty fast, while Silena was having a bit of trouble; but over time, they had managed to get it down to the last bit of rope. It then struck the Son of Poseidon that he could just, uncap riptide and cut all the rope. He was about to do just that, when he heard a scream from behind them. He looked to see Reyna, and the receptionist Hylla, doing their best to dodge a pirates sword. "Percy..." Silena said with a suspicious tone in her voice.
He handed her Riptide. "Get on the ship. Get moving, I'll be back in two, maybe three minutes." His voice sounded confident, but the man ahead of him was a pirate. They weren't known as the most gentle of creatures.
"Perce." Percy looked back to her. She looked scared. He didn't like that much. "What if you don't come back?" It seemed she had the same fears as he. He smiled his signature coy smile.
"Well, then tell Thalia that I owe her ten bucks." He then ran off to help his new found friend, and what he assumed was her family. Silena grasped at her chest with her free hand, and a blush came upon her face.
"I think.. I'm going to have to ruin my own OTP." She muttered, before she got to work.
Percy Jackson was on par with Luke on swordplay, but hand to sword combat; no so much. He wasn't really sure how he got into a situation like this, but he got an inkling it wasn't really gonna work out in his favor. What situation you may ask? Well, he was currently holding the Pirates wrist with both hands, stopping his swing against his friends. "Percy-" Reyna began, but was interrupted by the man himself. In a struggling voice, he commanded:
"Go! There are plenty of boats, take one!"
Reyna hesitated a moment. She wanted to help. She wanted to fight. But with what? She was unarmed. "I'll repay you one day." She then took her sisters hand, and ran.
Percy quickly realized the mans hand, and dodge rolled to the left. The pirate went on the attack immediately, he stabbed, seemingly at random. Odd, he seemed in a foul mood. The Son of Poseidon had to use his wits, also something he was not very good at. He used his smaller side to his advantage, and did his best to tire the man out. Of course, it did also tire our hero out, but he figured he had a better diet, and the man had been an animal for a while, so he was a bit rusty. Eventually, his strategy did pay off. The pirate struck down, then couldn't find the strength to lift it back up. Percy lifted his foot up, and stomped it back down upon the pirates hand, which made a cracking noise. The pirate recoiled backwards, and Percy used the opportunity to punch him in the face. Repeatedly. After a few good ones, the man fell with a thud. The Son of Poseidon jumped into the water, and made his way back to his ship. After climbing the latter, he saw Silena; and put his hand up for a high five. Instead, she rushed to him and hugged him, which he excitedly returned. After dislodging himself from her, he took the helm.
"Now! Let's go find that fleece!"
"Yeah! Wait-How?"
"I have an idea, but I'm not gonna like it." He sighed, put his hands together, and prayed. Prayed to Poseidon, it was on an island, that much was obvious, and he was kinda banking on the fact that Poseidon would know it. He opened his eyes. For a moment nothing happened, and he felt like an idiot, but then a half horse, half fish creature popped up from the water. It made a cute little gesture to follow it with its head, and Percy did just that.
"Yeah! Follow that seahorse!" Silena chuckled. Then Percy chuckled after realizing his unintentional pun.
A/N: Longest chapter to date, hope it didn't get boring.