/ Hey All! Sorry I've been MIA - I got Covid, then another illness right after. Hoping to really be back now!

Chapter 37 - Flaunt the Weird, Friends

I had ordered falafel for lunch, trying to make it up to Magnus for all the dying this weekend. The swords stood propped in a coil of rope, leaning against a rail, and I suppose chatting. Could Riptide chat? Could my drakon sword chat?

Jack was trying his best to woo her, but it did make me look at weapons differently. Did they feel pain when we worked on them in the smithery? What about when we used them to fight? We ate in comfortable silence, or maybe Magnus and Percy were just too tired to talk. Percy was done first and crumbled up his wrapper.

"So, when do you guys sail out?"

Alex gave Magnus a look that clearly meant he was ready to go now - yesterday - a week ago - why was Magnus waiting so long?

"Soon." Magnus promised him. "We don't exactly know where we're headed, or how long it'll take to get there -"

"Story of my life." Percy interrupted.

"- but we have to find Loki' big nasty ship of death before it sails at Midsummer. It's docked somewhere along the border between Niflheim and Jotunheim. We're estimating it'll take a couple of weeks to sail that distance."

I was still unsure if these other worlds were actual places, or if they were under ours the way Egyptian Duat was, but I knew with quests it doesn't really matter. Things are never, ever a simple line from point A to B.

"Which means we really should've left already." Alex pointed out. "We definitely have to sail by the end of the week, ready or not."

"Heroes never get to be ready, do we? We just do the best we can." I tried not to worry too much, but I felt sick at the thought of Magnus leaving and me not being able to protect him.

"Yep. Usually it works out. We haven't died yet." Percy agreed.

"Though you keep trying." I reminded him with an elbow to the ribs. He put his arm around me and I snuggled in where it felt safe and warm. He kissed the sunlit curls on top of my head.

"What about you guys?" Magnus asked, setting down his falafel, which I took as a bad sign. "Straight back to New York today?"

"Yeah, I gotta babysit tonight. I'm psyched!" Percy had planned to take Estelle by an aquarium store and show her the fish.

"That's right, your new baby sister." Magnus remembered. "Congratulations, man, What's her name?"

"Estelle." Percy said proudly. "It was my grandmother's name. Um, on my mom's side, obviously, Not Poseidon's."

"I approve." Alex decided. "Old-fashioned and elegant.. Estelle Jackson."

"Well Estelle Blosif. My stepdad is Paul Blofis. Not much I can do about that surname, but my little sis is awesome. Five fingers, five toes, two eyes. She drools a lot."

"Just like her brother." I agreed with a wicked smile.

Alex laughed at that, then looked at Magnus. He threw a piece of pita bread at my cousin. "Hey. Stop looking so glum."

"Sorry." Magnus fixed a strange smile on his face. "I'm looking forward to meeting Estelle someday, when we get back from our quest. And I appreciate you guys coming up to Boston. Really."

I could tell Magnus still felt what he had been tasked to do was impossible.. I remembered how I felt with my first quest into the Labyrinth. I was just tasked to take my best friends on a suicide mission. I had no idea what I was doing, how it would end, I felt so lost and alone.

"Sorry I couldn't be more help." Percy apologized. "The sea is - kinda unpredictable."

Alex sighed and stretched his legs. "At least Magnus fell a lot better the second time. If worse comes to worst, I can always turn into a dolphin and save his sorry butt."

Percy's mouth twitched and I knew exactly what he was thinking - Frank turning into a dolphin with exactly zero acting talent on the Argo II. "You can turn into a dolphin?

"I'm a child of Loki. Want to see?"

"No, I believe you. I've got a friend named Frank who's a shape-shifter. He does dolphins. Also giant goldfish."

Magnus shuddered, maybe he didn't want to ever change his own shape. I had to agree. When Frank turns into a swarm of bees it freaks me out. I mean, what if one bee gets lost? When he turns back, does he lose a foot?

"We'll make do. We've got a good team." Magnus decided.

"That's important. Probably more important than having sea skills…" He trailed off and got his 'thinking deep thoughts' face.

I sat back from him.. "Uh-oh. I know that look. You've got an idea." Since most of the time I was sure his ideas were going to get us killed, I liked to at least know them beforehand to mitigate the damages.

"Something my dad told me…." He got up and went to pick up Riptide, interrupting Jack's attempts at wooing the sword.

"Hey, man, we were just starting to hit it off." Jack complained.

"Sorry, Jack." Percy put the sword back into his pocket. "Poseidon and I had this conversation about weapons one time. He told me that all sea gods have one thing in common: they're really vain and possessive when it comes to their magic items."

I rolled my eyes. "That sounds like every god we've met." Seriously - vain. Possessive. You're just talking about a god at that point.

"True." Percy admitted. "But sea gods even more so. Triton sleeps with his conch-shell trumpet. Galatea spends most of her time polishing her magic sea-horse saddle. And my dad is super-paranoid about losing his trident."

"You're saying I'll have to use their own stuff against them." Magnus guessed.

"Right. Also, what you said about having a good team - sometimes being the son of a sea god hasn't been enough to save me, even underwater. One time, my friend Jason and I got pulled to the bottom of the Mediterranean by this storm goddess, Kymopoleia? I was useless. Jason saved my butt by offering to make trading cards and action figures of her."

Alex started choking on his falafel. "What?"

"The point is, Jason knew nothing about the ocean. He saved me anyway. It was kind of embarrassing." Percy admitted.

"I guess so. I never heard the details about that." I reminded him with a smirk.

I was rewarded with his ears turning a nice shade of pink. "Anyway, maybe we've been looking at this all wrong. I've been trying to teach you sea skills. But the most important thing is to use whatever you've got on hand - your team, your wits, the enemy;s own magical stuff."

"And there's no way to plan for that." Magnus pointed out.

"Exactly! My work here is done!" Percy announced. I wondered if he was just trying to get out of teaching anymore.

"Percy," I warned, "you're saying the best plan is no plan. As a child of Athena, I can't really endorse that."

"Yeah, and personally, I still like my plan of turning into a sea mammal." Alex agreed, though I wondered if he just wanted to turn into a dolphin.

Percy raised his hands in surrender. "All I'm saying is the most powerful demigod of our generation is sitting right here, and it isn't me." He nodded in my direction, and I was sure MY ears were now a nice shade of pink. "Wise Girl can't shape-shift or breathe underwater or talk to pegasi. She can't fly and she isn't superstrong. But she's crazy smart and good at improvising. That's what makes her deadly. Doesn't matter whether she's on land, in water, in the air, or Tartarus. Magnus, you were training with me all weekend.. I think you should've been training with Annabeth instead."

I tried to act cool with such a huge compliment. When I was sure I could speak without flinging my arms around Percy and making a fool of myself, I said, "Okay, that was sweet." and kissed him on the cheek.

Alex nodded in approval.. "Not bad, Seaweed Brain."

"Don't you start with that nickname, too." Percy muttered. But let's be real, he likes it.

I heard a loud rumbling of the warehouse doors opening and voices arriving.

"That's our cue to leave." Magnus announced. "This ship just got back from dry dock. They're reopening it to the public tonight in a big ceremony."

Alex agreed, "Yeah, the glamour won't obscure our presence once the whole crew is aboard."

Percy looked at him quizzically. "Glamour? You mean like your outfit?"

Alex snorted, but I couldn't tell if he was offended. "No. Glamour as in illusion magic. It's the force that clouds the vision of regular mortals."

"Huh. We call that the Mist." Percy explained.

And the Egyptians call it Duat magic, I thought but did not add. I tapped Percy on the head. "Whatever we call it, we'd better hurry. Help me clean up."

Everyone scrambled to erase any sign of magic or falafel on board, then we reached the bottom as the first sailors arrived. Jack floated ahead of us, glowing like a laser show and singing "Walk Like a Man", which seemed strange because A) I wasn't sure if a sword is technically a man, B) I don't think they walk, and C) why draw attention to the magic talking sword by changing colors?

Alex continued to change mid-step between a cheetah to a wolf to a flamingo. He was far more comfortable changing than Frank was, so maybe he had a lot more practice. The sailors gave us plenty of space, but no one seemed to notice the sword-and-shape-shifter show. Once we were in the clear, Jack turned into a pendant that Magnus attached to his necklace. I wondered if I could have my drakon sword enchanted into something like that. I'd always loved Percy's sword-pen, but girl pants don't always have pockets. The necklace idea might work for me.

Percy glared at Magnus. 'What was that back there - the shape-shifting, the singing sword? Were you trying to get caught?"

"Nah, if you flaunt the weird magical stuff, it confuses mortals even more." Magnus explained casually. "It kind of short-circuits mortal brains, makes them avoid you."

"Huh. All these years sneaking around, and we could've just been ourselves?" That seemed so crazy, and so exposed, to just… do whatever demigod stuff we needed to in public.

"You should always do that." Alex informed me. He was back in human form, but had some flamingo feathers in his hair. I wondered what human pieces they were originally. Hair? Or did Alex just lose his spleen? "And you have to flaunt the weird, my friends."

"I'm going to quote you on that." Percy decided.

"You'd better." Alex insisted. I liked Alex.

We got to the Prius. I did not want to leave Magnus. I had no idea if I would ever see him again. Quests are such terrifying things. He shook Percy's hand, then turned to me. I gave him the biggest, tightest hug I could. When I felt a little less shaky, I pulled away and gripped his shoulders. I studied his face, hoping it wouldn't be the last time. "Take care of yourself, Magnus. You will come back safely. That's an order." I told you guys, I'm done with unhappy endings.

"Yes ma'am." Magnus promised me. "We Chases have to stick together."

"Speaking of that…" I dropped my voice, unsure of what Alex knew. "Have you been over there yet?"

Magnus gave me a panicked look. "Not yet." He admitted. "Today. I promise."

"He might've left you something that could help." I reminded him quietly.

"I-I know. It's just… got some bad memories of that place."

"I understand. But if it'll keep you alive, it's worth it." I gave him one last big hug, trying to burn his unique tree-and-sun-warmed scent into my mind forever. I ruffled his hair as I pulled away. "Love you, Magnus."

"Love you." He replied, looking ready to cry. Percy and I got in the car before Magnus and I were blubbering messes.

"I know." Percy said quietly as he started the car. "But since there's nothing you can do -" He turned on the car and started singing along with Led Zeppelin, as loudly and badly as he could. I knew he was trying to distract and cheer me, so I let myself laugh and enjoy it.

We spent the drive talking about anything and everything except Magnus and the dangerous journey he'd soon be making. College, plans for the summer, even what we thought our friends in New Rome were getting up to. I couldn't wait to see Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank and Reyna again. They doubtless had some wild adventures to share. We made it back to Percy's place before his parents left for a date. We got Estelle ready in her carrier and headed off to our nearest aquarium store. As usual with fish, the moment they saw Percy they all swarmed the front of their tanks, ready to talk or worship or whatever the fish like to do with the son of Poseidon.

"Look, Estelle!" Percy pointed to the goldfish, who quickly grouped themselves together into a rainbow shape. "A fish rainbow! A fish-bow!"

Estelle grinned and laughed at the fish. Percy took her to each tank, showing her different tricks the fish could do and different shapes they could group themselves into.

"Should we get her a fish?" Percy asked me after Estelle squealed with joy for the tenth time.

"We should most definitely not get her a fish." I said. "We're leaving soon, Percy. We shouldn't leave your parents with another thing to take care of."

Percy sighed. "Yeah. I just…. I want her to remember me, you know?"

I looked at Estelle, staring at Percy with more adoration than I'd ever seen someone stare at another person with. "I think she'll remember you."

When Estelle fell asleep we went by our favorite pizza place to grab a couple pizzas, then headed back to the apartment. We put Estelle down for the night and continued our adventure of catching Percy up on all the tv and movies he'd missed while Hera had him in a magical coma. By the time Percy's parents returned, we were asleep against each other on the couch.