When I awoke, I had some kind of gunk on my face, and I had no idea where I was. I mean, whatever I had been resting on was incredibly comfortable, but I had just almost been eaten and blown up the last I remembered, so my instincts were in overdrive. I shot to my feet, surprised at how steady I was, and screamed. "PERCY!" My voice echoed all around me as I sucked in another deep breath, preparing to fire off another name until I heard a kindly voice behind me. Kind voices are suspicious.
"Oh my! It's so good to see that you're awake! You came to us rather unwell, dear, but you're all better now and we've even given you some of our VIP spa treatments. Just wait until you feel your skin." The woman gushed as I had whirled around and naturally become defensive. After a moment, I realised I wasn't wearing my old clothes. I was more than certain that I had never worn anything as luxurious and silky as whatever this was, a dress I think, styled like a Grecian toga that flowed prettily and felt like a cloud against my skin, gathered at my shoulders. Ignore the dress, Lily, focus.
"Where's Percy? And Annabeth? And Tyson? Are they…? Did they?"
"Please don't panic dear, your friends are getting their own treatments here too. I'm afraid you only arrived with two, a dark haired boy and a lovely girl, are they who you're asking for? I shall fetch someone for you at once, but please sit down and finish your treatment." The woman said to me kindly and I gradually felt myself relax, thinking that perhaps a spa treatment wouldn't be such a bad idea as some kind of dreamy haze overcame me. The nice lady said a dark haired boy and a girl had come with me, so I assumed that it was Percy and Annabeth…wasn't there someone else I was trying to ask about? I can't remember, I think I'll just lie down for a little while longer and relax a bit because I still felt achy and sore. I could hear the soft trickle of waterfalls nearby and although the place was hot, it wasn't stuffy or overbearing. It was like being wrapped in a blanket or sitting before a fire but it was all just the perfect temperature to maximise your comfort levels. A delicate hand touched my shoulder and guided me back to my chair which I had been lounging on, and after a few moments of settling me, I heard the woman briskly walk away, though someone else then approached.
"Miss, would you care for a drink? It is highly nutritious and refreshing, it comes highly recommended!" This was another woman, just as kind sounding though her voice was lighter and clearer. I asked her what was in it and she listed off some fruits to me, so I accepted because a smoothie sounded great. She then did my hands, feet and nails for me, rubbing in a cream so that my skin became smooth and silky, all callouses fading away though when I felt my fingers, they still felt tough in the places where I had worked hard to use my sword and spear. If anything, my hands felt stronger than ever and the smoothie was so delicious I drank it all in one. My nails were then filed and painted, the woman tittering her tongue as she smoothed away the chips which made me blush with embarrassment. I should really take better care of my looks, I was letting myself go to waste really. At least, that's what they told me and I found myself agreeing. The facemask was removed and my skin felt so glorious I couldn't stop touching it. All the bumps and pimples I had been developing were gone, feeling as clear and smooth as alabaster or marble, though the scars around my eyes remained the same. "Oh dear, I think we shall have to use something stronger to try and treat those nasty scars. Don't worry, if we can't make it work, then C.C certainly can!"
"Who's C.C?"
"Why, she's the owner of the spa of course!" Oh, how nice. I thought then how much this kind of star treatment must cost, but the lady just laughed and told me that I was funny when I asked how much I would have to pay for this. Free? Now this was more like it. I should really bring mom here. If they treated us like this, then we could live like queens every day. Though, I'm pretty sure I've forgotten something. Frowning, I realised that I didn't have my bag, which had my iPod and headphones in it, so I sat upright again. "Is something the matter miss?"
"My bag, have you seen it?"
"Oh yes, it's right here. Of course we would never dream of taking your personal possessions away, we only made certain that there was nothing dangerous in there. Can't be too careful, you know how it is." A certain tranquillity seemed to settle on me further then, almost like a firm grasp that was pushing my mind under as I blinked then sluggishly agreed. Should I tell them about my bracelet magic then? I could feel it around my wrist with the two charms still attached as well as my camp bracelet. No, there wouldn't be any point. Even if they took it away it would just come back. I sighed contently and continued to enjoy the pampering. They put makeup on my face and did some treatment to my hair, making it feel lighter an bouncier than before, and when I touched it I felt thick braids woven on the top of my head rather artistically before they were then twisted at the back before being allowed to fall in one large curl, the rest of my hair remaining loose around my shoulders. I could feel something streaked through it and one of the girls who did my hair told me it was silver. Wow, I definitely needed to bring mom here.
Just as I was about to settle for a massage, I heard a voice call out to me brightly and I instantly recognised it, my mind snapping back awake as all at once my senses sharpened. "Annabeth!" What the heck was I doing? I can't laze around here, I have to find the others! "Annabeth, what happened, is Percy…?"
"Percy's find, but Tyson…we're not sure what happened. He's not with us anymore, but he might have survived the explosion. He is a Cyclopes after all." Pressing my hands to my mouth, I choked on a cry as I felt horror course through me. One of the girls gasped and told me not to cry because I would ruin my makeup, but I just turned a furious glare upon her that made her squeak with fear, because no amount of makeup could hide the jagged scars around my eyes or conceal the fact that my pale, ghostly eyes looked like death incarnate when I was mad. "We managed to escape and ended up here, they're rather nice, surprisingly, and nothing's tried to kill us yet. Oh good, I see you still have all your supplies. We lost most of ours." I felt Annabeth brush past me and she smelled amazing, like fresh grapefruit or something and I couldn't help but sniff myself to see if I smelled the same. Nope. I smelled like coconuts. I quite liked it. Anyway, Annabeth fetched my bags for me and as I listened to her I heard a swishing sound of fabric.
"Are you wearing a dress too?"
"Yes, they just gave it to me. I think they burned your clothes though, sorry. There was no salvaging those really." That's fine, I had plenty of others, though now all I wanted to do was find Percy, so I asked where he was and Annabeth hesitated, as if she herself wasn't sure. We went to go find him, Annabeth holding my hand in order to lead me forwards as she at least knew the way they had come. "They carried you in here for us, they were really nice about it, insisted that they took care of you. They must have given you ambrosia or something because you don't have that massive lump on your head anymore. You were knocked out cold during our escape. By the way, your dress is really pretty. It's an aquamarine blue with a green undertone, it looks like water when it moves. They only gave me a white one." Annabeth continued to prattle on which I found surprising, because honestly we didn't talk that often.
"Thank you. I can't see you, but you sound very pretty." I felt her look back and beam at me. Percy once told me that Annabeth had blonde curling hair and wise grey eyes, like a lot of the Athena kids, so I imagined her with a proud nose, arching eyebrows and smoky eyes looking rather fetching in a white silk dress. I think Percy might even like her a little bit, though I wasn't entirely sure yet. At the very least, he admired and respected her a lot. "Hey Annabeth…you remember that prophecy that Percy mentioned back on the Andromeda? The one where…he…said that Percy had to reach sixteen first? Can you tell me about it?"
"I'm not supposed to, though I guess I've already told Percy a little about it so it can't hurt to tell you. You see, there was a prophecy about a child of the Big Three that would one day decide whether or not to save Olympus and the Age of the Gods…or let it fall." I stopped for a moment, staring at her. "A lot of people thinks it's about Percy."
"But I'm sixteen, and I'm a child of the Big Three. Did it mention Percy specifically?"
"No but…well you see…because you're um…you know…cursed, as it were, it's been assumed that you're not the one who'll make the decision. You're…and I swear these aren't my words or how I think about you, but some people think that because you're…flawed…you're not…a real hero. The fact that you reached the age of sixteen and nothing happened, everybody assumed that you're not the one. Didn't you notice how tense things were around your birthday?" Now that I thought about it, I remembered how cold it had suddenly become and a freak snowstorm had hit the city before everything had seemingly gone still, like the entire world had been holding its breath. I'd paid little attention to it, merely pulled on my headphones, listened to my music then blew out the candles on my bright blue birthday cake that mom always baked because it was tradition. "I hope you don't take it personally, because it's not true at all! You're not flawed or cursed, and you're an exceptional hero! In fact I think if you carry on the way you are, you have the potential to be even greater than those like Achilles and Hercules because of what you can do despite the fact you can't see." Annabeth hurried to try and comfort me, though I only laughed lightly and squeezed her hand.
"I'm not upset Annabeth, but thank you for being honest with me. I hate it when people tiptoe around me, so I prefer it when people are candid. If I'm not the one in the prophecy, then that's good. Though I'm worried about Percy more than ever. The kid just can't catch a break." Annabeth sighed deeply, probably relieved and agreed that Percy did seem to have rotten luck. We managed to find the woman who owned the spa resort, Annabeth introducing me to C.C herself and although I couldn't see her, I could literally feel how beautiful she was, as if her presence itself was enough to be the source of great epic poems and the cheesy love songs that everybody secretly loves and knows all the words to.
"Ah, Lily dear, I'm so glad you're awake now. Are you feeling better? I was very concerned for you when you arrived, such nasty bumps and bruises!" I felt myself slipping under again, her voice charming like a spell and I had to mentally fight with myself to stay alert and attentive. Though in truth, I felt like I should bow or curtsey or something to this woman.
"Thank you so much for your hospitality, it really is generous of you, but where is my brother, please? I really want to see him." There was a pause and somewhere in the room, a small animal was making a lot of noise.
"He's having one of our treatments, my dear. Not to worry. You look wonderful! What did you think of your tour?" Distracted by the mention of her tour, Annabeth brightened enthusiastically and said that the library was amazing. "Yes indeed, the best knowledge of the past three millennia. Anything you want to study, anything you want to be, my dear?"
"An architect?" Even as she said it, Annabeth seemed to be second guessing herself. Strange. As far as Percy told me, Annabeth talked about nothing else other than becoming an architect and building magnificent monuments that would last for over a thousand years. C.C seemed to think this a silly dream as she scoffed at it, making me frown and think that it wasn't very nice to mock someone else's dream. My enchantment over her was quickly fading.
"You, my dear, have the makings of a sorceress. Like me. Of course, as do you, Lily dear. I should think you would be rather powerful one too, if you were willing to put in the effort." Hold on sorceress? Sensing Annabeth look at me I glanced at her, sharing a moment of confusion together though things were starting to grow clearer little by little. I have a feeling we've walked into another trap. I felt a burst of warmth and energy being held before me, and I could only imagine that C.C was now demonstrating magic to us both. Even I could see a tiny glow, a spark of white in the blank slate grey vision of mine. "My mother is Hecate, the goddess of magic. I know daughters of Athena and Poseidon when I see them. We are not so different, you and I Annabeth. We both seek knowledge. We both admire greatness. Neither of us needs to stand in the shadow of men. You too, Lily. You are a daughter of the ocean, even though you try to deny it. You were not born to be restrained, tied down beneath the boorish might of men! With your power, you could shake this world to the core." Now I was just bewildered, nice as being all-powerful sounded, it sounded like too much of a headache, and all I wanted was to find Percy. The squeaky animal in the corner started to make a racket again.
Annabeth and I were invited to remain there at the spa resort, to study under C.C, become members of her staff and learn how to be sorceresses and bend others to our will, to become immortal, of all things. Now for some people they would hear this and immediately ask where they needed to sign to close the deal. That's all well and good for them, but when someone offered me immortality, my immediate thought was my mom. If I lived forever, then eventually she would die and…I just couldn't think of living in a world without her in it. So no. I won't be becoming immortal, ever. C.C can stick that offer where the sun don't shine as far as I'm concerned. "You are too intelligent, my dears," C.C was saying, though I had a feeling she was talking more to Annabeth than to me. "You know better than to trust that silly camp for heroes. How many great female heroes can you name?" Clever as always, Annabeth started to name them off, but only got as far as Atlanta and Amelia Earhart before she was interrupted. "Bah! Men get all the glory. The only way to power for women is sorcery. Medea, Calypso, now there were powerful women! And me, of course. The greatest of all." My history was a little rusty and I don't really remember covering witches or sorceresses yet, but thankfully I had a walking encyclopaedia right next to me.
"You…C.C…Circe!" Ah, now that name I have heard of. Circe, as we had now established, sounded quite pleased with herself as she confirmed Annabeth's conclusion.
"You need not worry. I mean you not harm." Us, maybe, but now I was thinking about Percy and what had happened to him. As far as I could remember, Circe hated men.
"Where's my brother? Give him back!"
"Dear, why would you want a smelly pig like that around you? You are far better off without him, believe me. I have helped him to realise his true form, you should be grateful." Grateful? I was fuming, fists clenched and shaking at my side as I struggled not to stride over there and kick her to the ground and pummel her face until it was ugly and swollen. See if her beauty treatments can fix that. "Your brother will be well cared for. He'll be shipped to a wonderful new home on the mainland. The kindergartners will adore him. Meanwhile, you will be wise and powerful. You will have all you ever wanted." The small, squeaky thing in the corner piped up again, but before I could explode with anger, I felt Annabeth discreetly pinch my hand. Ouch, but after a moment I managed to calm down. I allowed myself to look chilled and dreamy, hoping that Annabeth had a plan or at least knew something I did as I clamped my mouth shut.
"Let us think about it. Just…give us a minute alone. To say goodbye." She finally said, and this time she didn't need to pinch me to play along.
"Yes…yes a minute is all we need. Then we'll be ready." I agreed, hoping I sounded dazed and dopey. It seemed to do the trick as Circe agreed to give us some time along together as well as some privacy, though I heard something clunking as she left and I had a horrible feeling she'd locked us in somehow. I held up my hand to Annabeth, listening carefully until the sounds of her footsteps were completely gone. "Okay, I can't hear her anymore. Annabeth? Where in Hades is my brother?"
"Follow the squeaking." She informed me as she too ran forwards. I went towards the corner of the room where lots of small voices were now squealing desperately, and I stared blankly as I reached out and pressed my hand against the cage, believing the animals to be guinea pigs, I groaned loudly. Please don't tell me that one of them is my brother. "Alright, which one is you?" She asked but all the guinea pigs seemed to respond at once, meaning that they were probably all men transformed and wanted to be set free. Should we just open the cage? Annabeth however dashed off suddenly, making me turn and ask her what she was doing. "Just hold on a minute!" She seemed to be rifling around for something before hurrying back, twisting a cap off of something then before I knew it, she'd stuffed something that tasted like grapes in my mouth. "Chew and swallow!" She hissed quietly as I had simultaneously made a warning signal that Circe was coming back as she too placed one of the things she'd given me in her own mouth. I'm pretty sure Percy mentioned something about Hermes giving him a bottle of multivitamins, were these it? Were they meant to do something?
Before I could ask, Circe came sweeping back inside. I guess she had been serious about exactly a minute. "Well," she breezed airily to us both, "how fast a minute passes. What is your answer, my dears?"
"This." Together Annabeth and I drew our weapons, she with her knife and me drawing Amaryllis in trident form, grasping it securely with two hands as I then shifted one foot back and dimly thought that fighting in a dress wasn't exactly going to be easy. We should give classes like that at camp. You never know when you might need to know how to most effectively kill a witch in a silk dress without messing up your hair. Circe sneered at us rather mockingly, all niceness now gone from her voice as she mocked us for raising a knife and fisherman's spear against her magic, before then wondering aloud what to turn us into. She decided on a pair of shrews, however when I felt something like a coiling warmth spreading and rising through my body until my skin tingled, I felt no different. As far as I was aware, I was still human looking. Whatever those multivitamins did, they seemed to work wonders. Thanks again, Hermes. Only thing was, now Annabeth was mad. She flung herself at Circe before I could do anything, blinking at her before then prompting myself to help, swinging my trident in a wide arc and thrusting it behind Circe at the attendants I could hear and sense who had followed her inside, hearing each of them through their breaths and footsteps. Fearing my weapon, they all screamed and moved back, allowing me to cover Annabeth as she hissed.
"How about turning me into a panther instead? One that has her claws at your throat!" I decided then that Annabeth was undeniably awesome and I thoroughly approved of her as my little brother's friend. Circe was flabbergasted, demanding to know how we'd avoided her magic so Annabeth rattled the vitamins in her face, making her growl darkly.
"Curse Hermes and his multivitamins! Those are such a fad! They do nothing for you."
"Except maybe keep us from being turned into shrews." I pointed out bluntly before Annabeth demanded that Circe turn Percy back, though she claimed she couldn't. The attendants stepped forwards to help but I sliced my trident again and whirled it over my head, making an impressive display and none of them really fancied trying to tango with the mean looking fishhooks at the ends of each prong. Not even to save their beloved mistress who shouted anyway that it was no use since magic wouldn't work on us until the vitamins wore off. Listening to the next succession of sounds, I understood that Annabeth had dragged Circe over to the guinea pig cage, unlatched the top with a clatter then poured in the rest of the multivitamins. I am so glad we have a daughter of Athena with us. Turning around I rushed back to the cage just as I heard it burst where a spark of energy and a familiar feeling drew me towards one of the forms that had suddenly appeared, throwing myself in front of Percy and held out my arms to hopefully block her view. "Percy! Are you still clothed?"
"Um…yeah. Yeah I'm good." I breathed with relief. I'd have hated for him to be embarrassed to turn back into a kid but be naked. Especially in front of Annabeth. However with half a dozen more popping sounds, I soon became aware of more presences around us, big burly men with gruff voices who had also snatched up a vitamin and, wouldn't you know it, turned back from being little rodents into men. Circe did not sound happy when she wailed, and I jumped when one of the men stood up near to me and bellowed near my head in an accent that I could only describe as…a pirate's. Yep. We'd unintentionally unleashed a bunch of pirates from Circe's clutches. More than that, it was Blackbeard of all people, Edward Teach, son of Ares. I couldn't help but grin towards them as they started to pick themselves up and give great pirate cries as Blackbeard ordered his men to capture Circe in order to run her through. That's too bad, I really liked this place. Guess I won't be coming back after all. The pirates chased the witches away, leaving us three behind as Percy bashfully started to thank us and apologise.
Hearing a rustle of movement and sensing Annabeth move, I smiled as I realised she was hugging my brother. Clicking my teeth casually and twirling my trident to settle it across my shoulders I walked away a little to give them some space, adjusting the straps of my backpack and duffel bag as I began to sniff at the air and investigate the room a little, though without anyone there to describe to me what I was looking at, I wasn't tempted to go rifling through a sorceress's stuff. Finally Annabeth and Percy stood up, the former seemingly recovering herself. "Come on, Seaweed Brain. We have to get away while Circe's distracted." Still grinning when my brother and Annabeth ran to me, I could feel him blushing as I sent him a mischievous wink. We ran together, Annabeth holding my hand again to help lead me, going downhill in what sounded like a paradise, but it was a paradise with hefty conditions, and I really didn't want to stay here forever and become a witch too. Besides, the paradise was getting wrecked by pirates who were now doing what pirates did best. Pillaging and plundering. Now maybe a pirate…I think I could get behind that kind of lifestyle. When we got outside I was blasted with the scent of the sea, and I was almost glad for it. "Which ship?" I wanted to say I had no idea how I knew what ships lay around me, but by now I think it's obvious it's because my dad is the sea god. Anyway, I could tell what each and every ship around us was, and how to sail them all.
"The submarine!" I beamed cheerfully, making them both looked at me with shock. "What? It's a harbour, and the ships are all in the seawater. I can tell where and what they are. Just roll with it. Anyway, can we take the sub?" But neither Percy nor Annabeth were up for it, so instead we stole from the pirates, ironically, and took the ship famously known as the Queen Anne's Revenge. I couldn't help but laugh like a maniac as we climbed aboard the three mast ship and I immediately raced off in order to head to the wheel, wanting to steer despite the fact that this terrified both Annabeth and my brother. However, we both seemed to get the feeling that we knew how to steer the grand ship, how everything worked and we even sensed its willingness to respond to us. So as Percy yelled at the mizzenmast, I felt the ship begin to work itself into order, ready to set sail as I grinned. "Weigh anchor!" I yelled and suddenly the anchor began to rise up, rolling in from where it had been dropped into the harbour and my fingers slid around the wheel. "All hands on deck! Get ready to set sail!"
"Lily! You're having way too much fun with this!"
"No such thing Perce! Alright, full sail!" I called and the ship lurched forwards as I instinctively when how to turn the wheel and how far, steering the ship out of the harbour and into the depths of the Sea of Monsters as the pirates shouted and bellowed behind us. "There's a bunch of other ships you can have your pick from! Trust me, some of them are way better than this one!" I yelled back to them, hoping they didn't mind too much after they figure out how to work something like the submarine. Blackbeard was the son of Ares and the sub was essentially a war vessel. I'm sure he'll figure it out. Hopefully they'll manage to get themselves to a much nicer island next time. Anyway, I found myself truly enjoying being out at sea for the first time ever, because it was the first time I didn't feel completely blind. I knew where I was, where I was going, and I knew how to get us there. I knew how to manage the ship, when to ease off the ropes and supports, when to drop and raise the sails, how to read the wind and the tide…it was amazing, and I felt like a part of me that I hadn't noticed missing before suddenly click into place. Okay, so this part of being Poseidon's daughter was pretty cool. I'll admit that much.