In which Frank is just like 'What the actual fuck is your life?! And Grover is enjoying himself as Percy's in denial about how crazy it is.
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Undeath9087: Yeah I thought you would! And it's June 27th.
The Official Clarisse: Yeah, though Remember Nico's not as closed off as he is in canon.
Percy tried not to be a suspicious person. Really she did- but sometimes she felt that her suspicions were warranted. For example, when a a woman in a blue-and-green Georgia Aquarium shirt came up to them, smiling brightly Percy figured it was slightly odd.
And when she spoke that oddness was confirmed.
"Ah, VIP visitors!" She had perky dimpled cheeks, thick-framed glasses, braces, and frizzy black hair pulled to the sides in pigtails, so that even though she was probably in her late twenties, she looked like a schoolgirl nerd—sort of cute, but sort of odd. Along with her Georgia Aquarium polo shirt, she wore dark slacks and black sneakers, and she bounced on the balls of her feet like she simply couldn't contain her energy. Her name tag read KATE.
"You have your payment, I see," she said. "Excellent!" she snatched the card Grover was holding and pulled out a machine, swiping it before handing it back to him- and Percy couldn't help but notice that the machine might look real, but the little screen was blank and there was no noise at all- nothing had happened.
In any case she handed Grover back his card and whirled away, trotting back towards the entrance.
Percy glanced between Grover and Frank. "It's not just me is it?"
"Oh it's not." Frank shook his head, "That is not normal-"
"She doesn't smell mortal. Not sure what she is, but she's not a mortal. Probably some sort of monster who wants to eat demigods for breakfast knowing our luck-"
"Hey, it's not that bad Grover. I mean, we don't always get attacked by-"
"Oh really? Should I make a list? The kindly ones-"
"Hey Alecto doesn't hate me now... or, if she does it's not like she'd attack me. Uncle Hades likes me so I mean, she knows he'd be pissed if she tried to kill me-"
"And of course we can't forget the Minotaur-"
"I beat him twice he's small fry really-" Percy started, shooting him a grin.
"Chimera and Echnida- or did you forget about the whole arch disaster?"
"I didn't mean to piss her off, and Annabeth and I got out of that situation okay in the end-"
"Polythemus. You cannot forget about Polythemus he nearly killed you and Annabeth."
"Hey that was your fault not ours- you're the one he wanted to-"
"The Manticore-"
"Not my fault my stalker was extra stalkery and he sent that creepazoid to kidnap me-"
"The spartoi and the Nemean lion-"
"Hey Nico dealt with most of the spartoi and I kicked Lion ass- or I mean, I physically held his mouth open so that the others could shoot him in it- but I mean, we beat him is the point here."
"The bo-"
"That was because of you goat boy! The blessing from Pan that tried to murder us all. Good times."
"Emp-"
"Can we stop listing the monsters that have tried to kill me." Percy huffed, "Poor Frank looks like he's about to have a heart attack."
"I-" Frank blinked slowly, "How many more are on that list?"
"Uh- I mean, can we really count the ones in Kronos' army? I mean they weren't specifically trying to kill me so I mean-"
"Yes Percy. Yes we can count them- you were literally the main target."
"Okay, okay so it's a lot." Percy let out a huff, throwing her hands up, "It's not like I do it on purpose guides. But I do take your point G-man this Kate lady does probably want to eat us for breakfast. Which is a shame I doubt I taste too good- I have muscles that'd make me pretty tou-"
"Can we not talk about how good we'd taste to monsters?" Frank's voice was torn between amusement and exasperation, "I swear I've never known anyone be so... cool with the idea of monsters wanting to eat them-"
"What can I say, you get used to it." Percy winked at him as together they started to follow Kate- who got them past the ticket queue and into the aquarium with no problem.
"Right this way." Kate grinned at Percy, "It;s a wonderful exhibit. You won't be disappointed. So rare that we get VIP's.
"Uh." Frank hesitated before asking "You mean demigods?"
Kate winked at him impishly and put a finger to her mouth. "So over here is the cold-water experience, with your penguins and beluga whales and whatnot.
And over there…well, those are some fish, obviously."
For an aquarium worker, she didn't seem to know much or care much about the smaller fish, which annoyed Percy. They passed one huge tank full of tropical species, and when Frank pointed to a particular fish and asked what it was, Kate said, "Oh, those are the yellow ones." They passed the gift shop. Frank slowed down to check out a clearance table with clothes and toys.
"Take what you want," Kate told him.
Frank blinked. "Really?"
"Of course! You're a VIP!"
"Uh huh." Percy raised an eyebrow. That was weird- Kate was being nice- and it was sad that Percy was always on edge when people acted nice towards them.
Frank hesitated. Then he stuffed some T-shirts in his backpack.
"Dude," Percy hissed, "what are you doing?"
"She said I could," Frank whispered. "Besides, I need more clothes. I didn't pack for a long trip! How did you even get new clothes-"
"I-" Percy paused, "Actually fair enough. I got Nico to grab me some. You don't have that so grab as much as you want.
He added a snow globe to his stash, which didn't seem like clothing to Percy, but hey, if he wanted it why not? Then Frank picked up a braided cylinder about the size of a candy bar.
He squinted at it. "What is—?"
"Chinese handcuffs," Percy glanced at Grover- a grin on her lips as his face went red.
"Screw you Percy."
"What-" Frank blinked, "I was going to ask how they were Chinese but- why is Grover glaring-"
"Well Frank, my dear friend, you see, back when Grover and I first met-"
"One time! When we were kids- do you have to bring that up now? This is bullying you know-"
"I was a kid, you were like, twenty something-"
"Shut it Jackson-"
Frank laughed, shaking his head, "You can tell that you two have known each other for years."
"Dam straight-" Grover snickered at Percy's words and she giggled as she finished, "Grover's my bestie. My BFF. My bro for life. We're a pretty badass team."
"Come along now you three!" Kate called from across the hall. And Percy blinked, glancing at the others.
"Whoops- we need to stop getting sidetracked-"
"You do get sidetracked pretty easily-"
"At least I can use ADHD as an excuse." Percy poked her tongue out at Frank as they started moving again, "What's yours?"
"The fact that your past is incredibly interesting?"
"What can I say, I've lived a full and exciting life."
And together they moved on, passing through an acrylic tunnel. And as fish swam over their heads Percy felt an uneasiness flowing over her.
Usually she loved aquariums- though- the last time she'd gone to one had been during the chaos with Clarisse and her half brothers when Percy had nearly gotten killed by Phobos after he'd shown her her worst fears- she shuddered slightly at the memories, giving Frank and Grover a weak smile when they gave
her worried looks.
"I'm fine." but something was wrong- she just couldn't figure out what it was yet. She would though. She always did eventually.
She shook that off- she needed to focus on their mission, she couldn't let herself get distracted. Kate was the issue here, she was the threat, they knew she wasn't a human. Any minute she might turn into some horrible creature and attack them. Unfortunately, Percy didn't see much choice but to play along with her VIP tour until they could find the sea god Phorcys, even if they were walking deeper into a trap.
They emerged in a viewing room awash with blue light. On the other side of a glass wall was the biggest aquarium tank Percy had ever seen. Cruising in circles were dozens of huge fish, including two spotted sharks, each twice Percy's size. They were fat and slow, with open mouths and no teeth.
"Whale sharks-" Percy couldn't help but smile slightly.
"Sharks?" Frank looked hesitant, "Do they eat people-"
"No silly." Kate giggled, "Whale sharks are peaceful. They only eat plankton."
Frank read the plaque next to the tank. "The only whale sharks in captivity in the world," he mused. "That's kind of amazing."
"That depends." Percy muttered, "It's not so bad as long as they're treated well. At least these guys don't look underfed."
"I remember that time we went to the Aquarium with the sharks in that tiny enclosure-"
"Oh that was fun." Percy grinned, "I wonder how Bobby and Lexie are doing."
"Probably much better after we literally Free Willy'd them."
"You-"
"We broke in super late with Luke and Leo and we rescued a couple of sharks and took them back to the ocean." Percy gave an innocent little grin. "They were being mistreated- they begged me to save them, what was I supposed to do."
"Right." Frank spoke slowly, "Well, these guys look happy enough I think. They're pretty big-"
"Oh these are small," Kate said. "You should see some of my other babies out in the wild."
"Your babies?" Frank asked.
Judging from the wicked glint in Kate's eyes, Percy was pretty sure she didn't want to meet Kate's babies. She decided it was time to get to the point. She didn't want to go any farther into this aquarium than he had to. That bad feeling wasn't going away.
"So, Kate," she said, "we're looking for a guy…I mean a god, named Phorcys. Would you happen to know him?"
Kate snorted. "Know him? He's my brother. That's where we're going, sillies. The real exhibits are right through here."
She gestured at the far wall. The solid black surface rippled, and another tunnel appeared, leading through a luminous purple tank.
Kate strolled inside. The last thing Percy wanted to do was follow, but if Phorcys was really on the other side, and if he had information that would help their quest…Percy took a deep breath and followed her friends into the tunnel.
Percy breathed out as they made their way inside.
Gliding above them were multicolored jellyfish the size of trash cans, each with hundreds of tentacles that looked like silky barbed wire. One jellyfish had a paralyzed ten-foot-long swordfish tangled in its grasp. The jellyfish slowly wrapped its tendrils tighter and tighter around its prey.
Kate beamed at them, "See. Forget about the whale sharks, and there's much more!"
Kate led them into an even larger chamber, lined with more aquariums. On one wall, a glowing red sign proclaimed: DEATH IN THE DEEP SEAS! Sponsored by Monster Donut.
Percy had to read the sign twice because of her dyslexia, and then twice more to let the message sink in. "Monster Donut?"
"Yeah." Grover nodded, "That's what it says."
"Oh, yes," Kate said. "One of our corporate sponsors."
"Uh huh." Percy's eyes narrowed. She'd heard of Monster Donut- that was not a good sign. Her bad feeling was suddenly getting a lot worse.
In one aquarium, a dozen hippocampi—horses with the tails of fish—drifted aimlessly. Percy had seen many hippocampi in the wild. She'd even ridden a few; but she had never seen any in an aquarium. She tried to speak with them, but they just floated around, occasionally bonking against the glass. Their minds seemed addled.
And that was it, wasn't it? That was what was putting her on edge- aquariums were usually full of sea creatures clamouring for her attention- they usually chased after her when she moved on- and they complained if she didn't say hi and stop to talk to them but these ones were all silent- none of them had said so much as a word to her.
Something or someone was holding them back, either through some power or by terrifying them into silence. Percy didn't know which, but either way, it was very, very wrong.