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Hope you enjoy this chapter and I will see you next Tuesday :D (Updates will always be every week on Tuesday BTW)
Chapter 3: Freaky Adventures
They passed numerous trees and moss infected rocks. The terrain gradually grew steeper and more closed in. By and by they started following a stream embedded in a tropical tree laden valley. Annabeth wouldn't be lying if she said it was beautiful. A few feather trailing birds of paradise were skirting around the trees sounding like water droplets and whistles with sweet melodies. The thick foliage sometimes let beams of golden light horizontally break through the thick humid air and light up the forest floor carpeted in ferns and brush. It was alive, yet sleepy and lulling.
"Are we there yet?" Annabeth complained.
Percy stopped and pivoted to shoot her a smirk "Yes."
"This doesn't look like much" Annabeth said sardonically.
Percy bit his lip trying to hide a grin. "Here." He started and walked behind her.
He clamped his somewhat sweaty hands over her eyes "I'll guide you, then I'll show you when to look."
Annabeth squeezed the handle of her bucket not sure if she wanted to be blind for the next few minutes with a dork guiding her. She could here a hushed roar of water in the distance and the smell of the ocean that clung to Percy constantly.
Well this was a trust test for sure. Annabeth sighed and complied.
Percy pushed her through the wave of brush, warning her of rocks and guiding her carefully. It wasn't far really. Just a few feet and past a blanket of vines. Well at least Annabeth thought it was vines. That's what it felt like.
His hands fell away from her eyes.
Annabeth did a double take. Never in her whole seven years had she seen anything so enchanting. She felt shivers in her spine as Percy's grin pressed behind her.
A cove of rocky walls decorated in looping vines and fuzzy moss loomed above them in a steep semicircle. Streams of white misting water swirled and plummeted into a glassy sapphire pool of dazzling blue water.
The waterfalls made a deafening crash and sent a spray that tickled Annabeth's face lightly as it drifted on the breeze. Peeling off his shirt, Percy dove into clear cool pool kicking and blowing bubbles that rocketed to the surface.
Annabeth smiled and slipped out of her white cotton sundress. Bunching it up she stuffed it into her plastic pail carefully so she wouldn't ruffle her note book.
Her new white and purple swimsuit was something to be proud of. Her mother bought it for her in the city they stopped at on the way there. Shouting joyously Annabeth dove into the pool like a seal and sputtered to the surface next to Percy. The chilly rain water was silky and pleasant to tread in, cooling Annabeth's burning skin from the sun's hot rays. Her feet roughly scraping against the hard brown pebbled bottom. Percy swam under her, gliding smoothly and surfaced near the falls.
They swam for an hour or so, splashing each other and seeing who could stay underwater the longest. Anyone who saw them would've thought that they were just two kids playing in a pond. But as time wore on, that thin layer of ice that had held them back had dissolved. Two kids wouldn't be able to see their trust for each other building but a wise man would've been able to see it a mile off.
By the time they got bored of swimming, when their hands were wrinkled like old men and their skin soggy to the touch, Percy reached behind one of the falls and produced two tin pails. Each one contained varying yellowed eyed dead fish. Long, short, fat, thin, brown, silver. They were all there with dead open mouths.
Annabeth retracted disgusted but Percy didn't seem to notice.
"This is where I store the fish I catch" he explained "the falls keep it from heating up and spoiling."
Together they walked down to the beach. Annabeth carrying her bucket and (after much persuasion was) holding on to part of the handle of a bucket of fish while Percy carried the other bucket of fish and grasped the other part of the handle.
So they each carried a bucket, and a half between them to be equal.
Annabeth made two observations. One, going down on a trail you've already trampled is easier than going up. Two, dead fish reek.
Percy lowered the buckets into Ole Daisy. He left his shirt in Annabeth's bucket alongside her sundress. They were both too damp to put them back on anyways.
"Are we going back yet?" Annabeth asked certain that she had missed lunch while looking longingly across the water. Her mother would be worried.
Percy shook his head "We should do one more thing, besides that fish is going to go bad unless it's used" he answered while pushing the rowboat out.
He rowed this time, Annabeth felt too tired. She let her long hair down so it could air dry properly. Trailing her fingers in the water as she watched the sandy bottom slowly melt into a coral paradise. The water was deep… well deeper, but clear and vibrant. It reminded her of the background picture Ron had on his computer.
Percy chucked something to her before she had time to react. A pair of goggles landed in her lap while he was fitting one over his own head. Snatching up two fish, Percy shot her an excited toothy grin.
"Come on" he said while jumping out of the boat making it rock precariously. Annabeth regained her bearings and gripped the sides of the boat like a petrified cat. Her eyes glued to the bucket to make sure no water dared to touch it. Finally the rocking subsided to gentle tips and she let go of her breath.
She tightened the goggles around her small head and peered over the edge of the row boat letting her eyes follow Percy's figure. Before she could convince herself otherwise she hopped out and plunged into the colorful world below.
It was almost as if a painter had dropped his palet into the sea world.
Annabeth saw exquisite yellow's, reds, purples, greens and pinks. She recognized brain coral, tubular pipers, branching corals, eels, starfish, puffer fish, tiger fish, angelfish, anemones, clownfish, and hundreds of others swimming in schools.
The surface of the water just seemed like a rippled glass ceiling shedding light into a clear blue atmosphere. The best word to describe this very different world was: lively. Very lively. Fish shifting and swimming everywhere.
Percy was beaming at her probably because she had a awed face on. His ebony hair fanning around his head as he swam, she could imagine her own golden hair doing the same thing.
The two fish he had were now floating away and slowly being pecked at by smaller blue striped guppy like fish. Silver flashes of fish swarmed in clouds to her right. They darted this way and that, bobbing and twisting in the warm water. Looking like a inter revolving cloud they mesmerizingly zigzagged away.
Oxygen ran low and her lungs started throbbing so Annabeth pushed up and broke the water's surface filling her deprived body. Before she went under again she filled her lungs with as much air as a seven year old could hold.
Swimming straight down she felt the water pressure around her. It was intense yet not overpowering. Stroking gracefully she swam up beside Percy.
He pointed to an striped eel crouched in a hole. Gaping and gasping like it was suffocating, its snake like body half hidden in its den. It retreated if Annabeth got any closer though. Her ever moving eyes spotted something and motioned for Percy to look.
A jerky moving cuddlefish swam under some coral and changed shape, camouflaging right in.
A sea turtle was in the distance looking at piece of shelf coral. Its fins softly paddling the water as it gently swam closer to the bright corals.
Percy and Annabeth both surfaced.
"That's amazing" she declared finally voicing her thoughts.
Without a word Percy slipped back under and Annabeth followed eagerly.
She saw a family of orange striped clownfish rubbing around their bright pink anemone. She saw a Manta ray gliding past as if it were in the air.
She saw multiple schools of brightly shimmering fish criss cross and swerve. She saw small crabs hiding here and there. Sea slugs and snails dotting the place moving in slow motion. Their colorful varying shells very appealing to a shell collector such as Annabeth.
Suddenly Percy was tapping her shoulder urgently. She looked through his goggles into his excited green eyes.
He point several times to a mass in the distance.
A looming shape moving slowly in there direction. Unidentified and yet large. Like an idea you can only begin to imagine. Unclear and big, not yet narrowed down.
Annabeth's heart hammered in her throat and she instinctively clutched Percy's arm like she did to her Mom anytime she felt fear.
He pointed up and together they rose and got a breath of salty air.
Passing her a few slimy fish, Percy was about to submerge again when Annabeth stopped him. Treading water beside the rowboat and sending little. Green eyes locked in with big soft grey ones wondering what was wrong.
"Can we go back now?" she pleaded feeling her limbs shake.
"But this is the best part!"
"Percy please." Annabeth looked nervously down into the water.
"Annabeth are you scared?"
Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut. She wanted to tell the truth. She was petrified of whatever that thing was in the water. She didn't want to say so though, Percy would probably laugh at her like all the kids did back in New York.
Percy grabbed her hand and squeezed it as they continued to stay surfaced "Don't worry. I'll protect you." His stoic answer made Annabeth's skin shiver.
"You have to promise." She replied seriously looking deep into his eyes while searching for any signs to show he was lying.
He nodded "I promise I'll always protect you." The earnestly shining through his eyes convinced Annabeth. Percy would never lie to her.
With a light brush of his fingers Percy let go of her hand and re-entered the vast world below.
Reluctantly Annabeth followed.
The unknown mass was visible now. A humongous fish with small eyes and neat orderly white fist sized dots coating it's dark rubbery grey skin. It's white underbelly shone in comparison. A pointed massive tail swerved back and forth as an effective rudder. The giant mouth shut into a long thin line that matched it's long flat head. A majestic whale shark.
Annabeth almost forgot that she wasn't supposed to breath. She clutched the fish to her beating chest and hung suspended in the warm clear water while she stared in awe at the giant beast moving in slow motion.
Percy daringly swam up to the creature making Annabeth want to shriek at the block head. He was sure an idiot for a seven year old.
He offered the three fish to the Whale shark making Annabeth want to shrivel up and squeak. The offering Percy was giving the shark was minuscule compared to it's own body mass.
To her shock the beast gratefully sucked it up in one gulp. Percy motioned for Annabeth to hold out her arm.
Shivering she held it out and the beast swished forward, pushing past Percy. It's huge face focused on her and it's white dots giving her vertigo.
She was a tiny speck compared to it's size, an ant beside an anteater.
She was going to get eaten.
She knew she was going to get eaten. She let go of the fish and watched in fascination as it sucked in the meaty morsels. Adrenaline coursed through her veins with a new source of glee. Her madly beating heart missed a beat then pumped with enthusiasm. She gave Percy a wondered face full of awe and amazement.
They both raced up to Ole Daisy and grabbed handfuls of fish.
The whale shark circled below waiting patiently and was obviously interested. Sucker fish aimlessly trailed around him finding a place to root. Annabeth let the dead fish drift more intent on watching and observing than close contact.
It was beautiful.
The giant polka dotted shark as a focal point with dazzling colorful corals and crystal blue as a backdrop.
Annabeth felt something glowing in her chest. A warmth of happiness. For the first time she felt like this could be home.
If she hadn't met Percy it would've never happened.
I hope Percy and I are friends forever.
Each time the monster swallowed something Annabeth felt her fascination rise.
Finally Percy motioned for Annabeth to follow him.
He led her up to the beast and they swam beside it. Percy grabbed the dorsal fin and let himself be pulled. Snatching up Annabeth's hand he made her grip the sail like fin as well. The water passing tugged at her skin and swimsuit but glided past her, massaging her muscles. Her hair flowing behind her and the salty water tinging her lips.
Annabeth laughed underwater.
This was undoubtedly the best time in her life.
Alright last chapters trivia answer: Grover was playing a game of him shooting hunters.
This chapters Trivia: In the Sea of Monsters, because Chiron is suspected of poisoning Thalia's tree (due to family connections with Kronos) he is sent away from Camp Halfblood. To replace him they resurrect some old dead guy from the myths. Who do they replace Chiron with?