Chapter 6:
Zack POV-
I went back to my room after I had finished talking to Cody and Bailey.
I heard Percy's voice coming from the bathroom. Funny thing is, his cellphone was sitting on the dresser. Plus, it didn't sound like he was talking on the phone, it sounded like someone else was in there with him. A girl.
"Hey, I miss you. How's the S.S. Tipton?" the girl's voice asked. It wasn't a girl's voice I recognized. She had a strange accent like a little California mixed with New York—like she'd lived in both places for a while.
"I miss you too. The ship's good, I guess. Good food, nice pool, ocean 24/7, and if you take away a gross and rude roommate," um rude? "and random monster attacks, it's a wonderful vacation," Percy remarked sarcastically.
The way he talked about monster attacks…like they'd happened before, not that that surprised me much—but at least it confirmed what I was thinking.
"You got attacked? Already? By who?" she asked.
Already?! Why doesn't that surprise her?
"Charybdis and Scylla," he answered her sounding annoyed—like he'd dealt with those particular monsters before.
"Do you think you may have figured out who the demigods are?" she questioned.
Demigod? What the hell is a demigod?
"I have my suspicions, but it's not like I can really ask them," Percy supplied. What is this? Some kind of mission?
"Hey Seaweed Brain, I've got to go," the girl replied, "Don't sink the ship, okay?" she joked like that was an actual possibility.
"You've got it Wise Girl. And, hey, we dock in Boston in a week, maybe you can meet up with me there," Percy told her.
Weird nicknames.
"I'll see what I can do," she answered, "Message me later, okay?"
"Okay, bye," he told her.
"Bye," she said. Percy opened the bathroom door.
"Is there someone else in there?" I accused when he almost ran right into me. Judging by the half-surprised-half-suspicious look on his face he was not expecting me to be standing outside the door. I'm sure he was also wondering how much I heard.
"No, why?" he faked confusion.
"Then who were you talking to?" I demanded, arching my eyebrow at him.
"Um…my girlfriend," he met my glare, "Although it really isn't any of your business who I was talking to."
I intentionally glanced at the dresser, where his cellphone was still sitting, and gave him a look.
"Wow, dinner time already," he pretended to look at a watch that wasn't there, "We should probably head down before all the tourists take the good food," he laughed nervously before slipping passed me and practically sprinting out of the room.
Well, that didn't answer any of my questions.
But I had to admit, I was a little curious about this girlfriend and I was kind of hoping she would get on the boat when we docked in Boston she might be helpful in determining what was off about Percy. Of course, I'm not sure I'd have much time to investigate, not with my mom doing a full twenty four hours of smoothing before the ship leaves again.
She said my dad might stop by, but I wasn't so sure. He's always too busy.
All the way to the cafeteria I kept thinking about Percy's conversation with his girlfriend.
She had said the word "demigod." But what does that mean? Is that what Percy is? Are there others on the ship?
Maybe I would ask Cody about demigods later. He'd probably know.
When I finally got to the cafeteria I saw Percy seated in the center of the table around all of my friends, cracking jokes and making them laugh. I felt a pang of jealousy. Usually that was my spot, that was my job, those are my friends. When Percy caught my eye he looked away, but Cody saw me and waved me over. I'm sure everyone noticed the tension between Percy and me because they all shut up and started eating their food.
Great. Just great. Like I'm the bad guy even though he's the one keeping secrets.
"These enchiladas are good," Percy said, "They taste a lot like the ones they serve at my camp. My friend Grover loves enchiladas he goes completely nuts over them."
"Hey, so I heard they were doing a movie on the Sky Deck tonight, we should all go check it out," Bailey suggested attempting to break the tension.
"Yeah, anything but Titanic," Percy grinned and everyone laughed.
"No worries," Woody added, "I think it's Finding Nemo."
"One of my favorites," Percy laughed like it was an inside joke.
"So did you talk to your girlfriend?" Bailey asked Percy. Did everyone except me know that he had a girlfriend?
"Yeah," Percy grinned.
"Is she going to come on the boat?" Bailey wondered.
"I don't know, she said she'd try when we stop in Boston," Percy replied.
"Great! I can't wait to meet her!" Bailey grinned.
Once everybody finished eating we left the cafeteria.
"I'm gonna go chill in my room for a while until the movie, see you guys later," Percy announced.
Perfect, exactly what I needed.
Once he was gone I turned to Cody.
"There's something off about Percy," I told him.
"Uh, here we go again, come on Zack, you're just being paranoid," Cody chided me.
"No I'm being serious," I exclaimed and then I recounted to them what I had overheard.
"Demigod? He said demigod?" Bailey questioned.
"Yeah? What is that?" I questioned.
"Someone who's half mortal and half god," Cody scoffed, "Which obviously isn't possible."
"Okay, but what about the monster attacks?" I arched an eyebrow.
"Only five percent of the ocean is explored. It's very possible that there are creatures at the bottom of the ocean large enough the attack the ship and old enough to be revered as sea monsters by the ancient Greeks. Seriously, Zack, you don't actually believe any of that, right?" Cody asked.
"No, I guess not," I shrugged.
"Good. And seriously Zack, you need to chill. Percy's not a bad guy. I think you guys could actually be friends if you lightened up a little," Cody told me.
"Yeah, okay. I'll give him a chance," I agreed finally.
"Great!" Bailey grinned, "Then let's get going. I want a smoothie before the movie starts."