To JasonGraceIsNAPPING- Undoubtedly she will kill him, but I don't see him having any regrets either! :P

To HoO Fan- Can't tell you that. I'd have to kill you if I told you.

"Where to next?"

"England. Ah, jinx! Double jinx! Triple-"

"I will stab you."

"That's fair." Leo pressed his lips together. Louisa sighed, shaking her head. Calypso flicked her eyes between them, gradually looking more and more confused.

"England?" She prompted when neither of them spoke. Louisa nodded, running her thumbnail across her lower lip. Leo glanced at her, hurriedly checking for stabby weapons, before answering Calypso.

"I keep having dreams about these people in England." He said. "And they know Lou, so I figured we may as well add it to her collection of Pissed-Off People." He shrugged. Louisa frowned at him. He squeaked and ducked behind Calypso. "Don't kill me."

"L.J." She said.

"Mm?"

"L.J? I think… I think…" She hesitated, squashing her fingertips to her temples. "I can't remember." She eventually said, turning away. Leo squeezed Calypso's shoulders, humming nervously. Louisa didn't look back, gathering her supplies despondently.

"Maybe she'll pick up over the ocean." Calypso suggested, twisting her fingers anxiously. "I'm sure she won't stab you though."

"You can never be too sure." He warned, lowering his voice to a dramatic hiss. "Her knives have knives."

Leo hadn't expected the flight to England to go without complication. There were a few stops along the way, it was a stretch between Corsica and England. And Festus was still broken. He had the habit of pitching forward as though he had slammed into a brick wall, torching the ocean, dribbling oil or shivering so violently, he almost unseated them.

"I will fix him!" Leo promised on the umpteenth time.

"I will drown him!"

"You can't drown an automaton!"

"Yes I can!"

"Please don't even try!" Leo wailed. Festus let out a sound like bolts in an industrial blender, barrel-rolling. Calypso squealed, almost suffocating Leo in her bid to stay aboard. Louisa hung onto the tail, having been banned from entering the ocean on chance she summoned more death. She glowered at the back of Leo's head. "Don't kill me!" He pleaded. "I'm doing my best!"

"Do my best!"

"Grand idea! I'll just blow up an island, shall I?"

"You 'n' ya dragon will drown."

"Cal, tell her!" Leo ducked instinctively, pouting when Calypso stayed quiet. "I thought you were on my side?" He hissed.

"Mm? What did you say?"

"I said-"

"That's nice. Is that a mermaid? No, not that side, that side." She pointed. Louisa chinned herself up, squinting at the waters. Leo couldn't see anything, turning at the waist to frown at her.

"What?" She demanded. He narrowed his eyes. "I ain't gone in the sea, like not even a little bit. This ain't my doin'." He hummed disbelievingly. Calypso smacked him between the shoulders and pointed again.

"There!"

"Mierda, that is a mermaid!"

"Ten Oreos says it's a cannibal." Louisa chimed.

"Ten more says it wants to eat you." Leo grinned. They nodded at each other, bet made. Calypso sighed.

"One day you two will take something seriously."

"Unlikely."

"Lou has to stop swearing first."

"Fuck off! Oh, it's back!" She wriggled herself up back into her seat. Leo pulled on Festus's plating and they settled into a hover. The mermaid's tail had only been seen, a brief flash of purple and green scales. Now, they could see the top half of her face, dark hair pinned to her face, glistening with salt water. Louisa tipped herself sideways, hanging upside from Festus's hind leg. "Hi." She said.

"Lou, don't talk to it!" Calypso hissed.

"It could be a cannibal!" Leo reminded her. Bubbles formed before the mermaid's face, eyes squeezing shut in laughter. She came a little more out of the water, revealing an unearthly pretty face. Her eyes gleamed with all the hues of the ocean, a long-fingered slender hand appearing, touching Louisa's cheek.

"I will not eat you." She assured.

"I feel like I know you." Louisa admitted.

"Mm, perhaps. I knew your father. Well, I knew Poseidon." Louisa pressed a forefinger to her forehead, shutting one eye. The mermaid considered her, running her hand over Louisa's swinging ponytail. "I am Thoosa."

"I'm Louisa."

"I know."

"How'd ya know Dad?"

"He's an old flame."

"Ew."

"Yes, yes, I know." Thoosa laughed, merry and musical. She looked up at the pair still on the dragon. "Are you not going to introduce me to your friends, Louisa?"

"Mm? Oh, that's Leo 'n' Calypso. 'N' Festus, but he's broken. He fought a Chimera."

"A Chimera?" Thoosa infused the word with all the shock one mustered when speaking to a small child. "Oh my, how horrible! You must deal with all kinds of monsters on your travels!" Louisa nodded. A niggling had begun at the base of her skull. This mermaid was vaguely important, yet the information escaped her once again.

"Most of those monsters are after Lou." Leo said, leaning this way and that to try and see Thoosa. She was under Festus's stomach, still playing with Louisa's hair.

"Yes, I've heard you cause a great deal of trouble, Louisa." Thoosa sighed fondly. "That is your nature, it seems." She shook her head, twisting a lock of Louisa's hair around her finger.

"You're a nymph." Louisa remembered. "'N' you 'n' Dad…" She grimaced. "Gimme a sec, I know this."

"Lou-"

"One sec, Callie, I swear I know this one."

"Lou-"

"I've got it."

"You don't."

"I don't."

"Lou, if a god and a nymph have a child, it will be a Cyclops."

"It will? Oooh, it will." She squinted at Thoosa.

"Yes, my son- your half-brother- is a Cyclops." Thoosa sighed. "He was such a good boy when he was little, but… ah, he was a rough teenager." She bowed her head forlornly, her pretty face succumbing to a wistful pain. "He's on that island now, with his sheep. Never has time for me anymore."

"Oh, that sucks." Louisa pouted.

"Sheep?" Calypso echoed, a chill crawled through her bones. "Louisa, we must go. We have to find your friends in England."

"And Poseidon never checks in on him either." Thoosa continued sadly, working tangles from Louisa's hair. "My poor boy, he's been abandoned. You would not abandon your mother, would you, Louisa?"

"No ma'am."

"You're a good girl. I bet your mother is very proud of you."

"Lou," Leo coughed, "Lou, we'd really best get going. Festus will need to set down soon." On cue, Festus spilled oil from his neck, producing another industrial blender cacophony. The mess narrowly missed Thoosa's shoulder. She glanced at it, pooling on the water's surface.

"Now, now, young man, there is enough pollutant in these waters. Best mind that dragon."

"He's broken, we need to get him fixed. Quickly." He added. "Lou, come on."

"Hurry up, Lou." Calypso chimed in. "I don't think my spine will take another of his shakes."

"OK, OK, I'm comin'." Leo didn't breathe until Louisa was sat behind Calypso, who gripped her hand tightly. "It was nice meetin' ya, Thoosa." The nymph glided into view, keeping her gaze on Louisa. She smiled serenely.

"The same to you, Louisa. I hope your journey goes well."

"Thanks." Louisa smiled. Thoosa stared at her for a moment more, still smiling. Leo cleared his throat, patting Festus's head.

"Let's get going, buddy." Festus clicked and wriggled. Calypso kept an eye on Thoosa as they flew away. The mermaid stayed put, but even over the growing distance, Calypso could still see her smile.

Leo waited until they were a good twenty minutes away, urging Festus to fly as fast as he could. "Lou, do you know who that was?"

"Thoosa!"

"Do you know who her son is?"

"Um… my brother, I guess? Don't think I've met him, I can only remember Percy 'n' Tyson." She scratched at the back of her neck, grimacing. "Do I have too many brothers?"

"Focus, Louisa." Calypso prompted. "A Cyclops, on an island, with his sheep. You must know the tale." Louisa shrugged unhelpfully, waving at a curious orca.

"Why ya'll worried for? Thoosa was nice!" Leo looked over his shoulder, sharing troubled winces with Calypso. "What?" Louisa demanded. Neither of them spoke, only encouraging a scowl from her. "I don't see what the problem is," she huffed, folding her arms, "Thoosa weren't gonna eat us or anythin', so why-?"

"Let's just avoid her. And her son." Calypso advised. She nodded at Leo and he faced forward. "Have you remembered anything more about your friends?" Louisa blinked at her. "The England ones."

"Oh! Uh, no, but…" She drummed her fingers on Calypso's back in thought. "South-east. I think."

"Well, that narrows it down." Leo sighed. "Lou, no more talking to strangers."

"You're strange."

"That's not what I meant."

"It's what I mean."

"Yeah, I got that."