Chapter 6:
Percy POV:
After my little falling stunt, everything ached twice as bad. Nico and Chris had to half carry half drag me across the street to the Vitamin Super Store. If we had been anywhere but New York City, people would have stopped and stared.
I shivered as the automatic doors moved aside for us. The inside of the large building was cold with over air-conditioning. It was also unnaturally clean; I saw nothing on the floor even as small as a speck of dirt. The whole place smelled of hand-sanitizer, a scent we were definitely not used to, coming from Camp Half-Blood. There were only a few other customers, who moved lazily between the aisles, staring at brightly colored pill bottles.
We walked back to the pharmacy counter when suddenly, out of nowhere, a crazed looking lady leapt out from behind a shelf.
"AHHHHH!" she screamed, frantically dropping to her knees, "You are all so unclean! You're getting germs EVERYWHERE!"
She whipped out a bottle of Lysol, and began to frenetically spray everything in sight, including people. She hurried quickly away and out of view.
"Well that was strange," Grover commented, "O.C.D. much?"
"Sorry about that," said a voice, and one of the prettiest women I had ever seen stepped out from behind a shelf of asthma products. "My sister has some, issues, I guess with being clean."
She had long dark hair that fell to her waist, and light blue eyes that were framed by freckles. She wore no makeup, and for a moment, she reminded me of Calypso.
"Who are you?" Nico asked, staring with wide eyes, drool practically dripping from his mouth.
Thalia's stormy eyes glistened with annoyance as reached out a finger and gave Nico a good shock on the arm. He blinked a few times, not comprehending what had just happened.
"My name is Aglaea,"
"You're the goddess of natural beauty right?" questioned Annabeth, inquisitive as always.
Aglaea chuckled lightly, the sound like water falling over stones.
"Yep, that's what they call me. You're the demigods then, Apollo told us you were coming."
"We are here to see your sister Panacea."
"This is the sick one isn't it?" Aglaea asked, walking towards me, "Poor thing, but what's this?"
She examined the gray steak in my hair curiously. The stripe of grey hair was one of the things Annabeth and I had in common. It was our scar, our reminder of the weight of the world on our shoulders. She reached out and stroked the piece of hair gently, the second she touched it, it changed from mossy grey to the vibrant and youthful color of the rest of my hair.
"That's better," she murmured, I was too tired to even care what she did.
Annabeth certainly did though.
"Hey change that back!"
"But don't you think it looks much better this way dear?" Aglaea asked, her perfect lips starting to pout.
"Just change it back!"
"Fine, Fine. No need to shout, though I personally like this color better,"
She touched my hair again, and the streak faded back to grey.
"Follow me," Aglaea turned on her heal and stalked through a new door that I hadn't noticed before, behind the pharmacy counter.
The doorway opened into a surprisingly big room that was just as clean as the others, except that this one was dimly lit. Yet another dark haired lady stood in the corner, eagerly peering into a glass flask that was filled with a murky blue liquid.
"What do you think Aglaea?" she asked in a pondering tone, "Do you think it's time I finally give the mortals the cure for cancer?"
"Um, Sis? Aglaea coughed, "We have company,"
"Oh, you must be the ones that Apollo sent," she turned around, looking at us through thick glasses, "I'm Panacea,"
Clearly she had not inherited the same beauty genes her sister had. Her eyes were almost as black as her hair, which stuck up in all directions in various clumps.
"I would like to run a few tests on your friend," she told us pointing at me, "Before I determine exactly what wrong with him. Leave please!"
Everybody began to file out of the room except for me and Annabeth.
"I am staying with Percy," she said with a determined look on her face.
"Fine. As long as you don't get in the way," Panacea muttered with annoyance.
She proceeded to ask me a flurry of questions, most of them concerning my medical history. She checked my heart-rate, temperature, and even the humidity of the inside of my mouth. At one point, I began to drift off asleep, and Annabeth had to shake my shoulder.
"When did you first begin feeling symptoms?"
"Last week, "I answered.
"And feeding him ambrosia and water didn't help?" she asked Annabeth.
"Nope,"
Panacea scribbled some notes down on her clipboard, then finally she turned to face us.
"Have either of you ever heard of Aconitum napellus?"
Annabeth and I stared at each other in confusion.
"Wolfsbane? The Queen of Poisons?"
We shook our heads.
"It was feared greatly among the ancient Greeks and wisely so. It drips from the jaws of Cerberus in the underworld, and is almost impossible to aquire unless—"
"You are immortal," Annabeth finished for her, "So what's the cure?"
"Well that's just it," Panacea sighed, "There isn't one."
All of this stuff about the poison and the grand-daughters of Apollo is actually accurate, I did some research and Panacea was actually the god of cures, as was Aglaea the goddess of natural beauty. If you want to know more, you should research it because it's really interesting. Again I apologize for any mistakes I made while writing this chapter!
Thanks!
-Under the Willow Tree