A second Percy chapter. I seem to be best at writing these. Anyway, I hope you like it.

Chapter IX

Percy

The bubble thing feels a lot like shadow-traveling. It also reminds Percy of the time he, Grover, and Annabeth used pearls to escape the Underworld, although they each got one big bubble then, not a million bubbles all at once. Plus, he's pretty sure he still felt solid when he was in that bubble. Now he feels as if he's made of bubbles himself.

He still can't see anything through the bubbles, and that really bothers him. He'd like to at least be able to see where he's going.

After a few more minutes, he starts to slow down, and his form starts to solidify again. His feet set down on a solid surface, and he stumbles forward, shaky. He feels so weird. His head is spinning, and his whole body is like jelly. The bubbles dissipate, and his he's blinded, for a moment, by the unexpected brightness of the place he's in.

He's in another palace, except this one is made out of coral so bright it's practically neon. The water is much lighter here, obviously close to the surface, and there's plenty of light for plants to grow. The room he's in is almost identical to Pontus' throne room, but there are two thrones instead of one on the raised dais at the far end of the room, and he can actually see everything around him.

One of the thrones is solid black, with a tall, straight back and a hard seat that looks as uncomfortable as something you might find in the Fields of Punishment. The other is made of such bright, nauseatingly pink coral that it hurts Percy's eyes, and has a darker pink cushion on it.

Pontus, of course, is standing beside the black throne. But someone is already sitting on the pink throne. Sort of.

The woman from his dream is resting on the dark pink cushion, but her form seems a little more solid than it was then. There's some color to her skin, hair, and dress, though Percy can still see through her. She's like an underwater ghost.

"Pontus!" She exclaims in a high-pitched, girly voice that hurts Percy's ears. "I thought you'd never show up!" She stands and glides over to him, grabbing his shoulders and kissing him on both cheeks. "Sit, sit! Although how you can stand that horrid chair, I'll never understand." She practically forces Pontus onto his throne, which is kind of funny to watch, but then she floats over to Percy.

"Ah, the son of Poseidon! What a handsome boy!" And with that, she pinches his cheek with her see-through fingers. It feels like someone just pressed a block of ice against his face. Not cool. He leans away from her, but she's already turning back to Pontus.

"Has he agreed yet, dear? Is he going to help us?" The way she puts it, it sounds like they're asking Percy to save them from some horrible evil, not fight against his dad.

"No, my sweet, not yet. I was hoping you could help with that." He says, and it looks like he's actually making an attempt to be nice. But as soon as she turns away, clapping her hands in delight, he looks around distastefully at all the pink and glares at her back. Percy gets the feeling he doesn't love her as much as he'd have her believe.

Meanwhile, the woman (wasn't her name something like Molasses? No, Thalassa. That's it.) whirls back around to face Percy again. She siezes his hands in hers, her ice cold skin making him feel as if he just plunged his hands into a bucket of snow. He tries to pull away, but she has a surprisingly strong grip for someone who's made out of water.

"You simply must help us, Perseus! The Ionian Sea is such a horrid place! So small. But we've been here ever since Oceanus took over. They restricted us to only one sea, the Ionian. They said it was a wonderful place to retire. But we used to control all the seas. The water was our form, and that was fine with us. We didn't wish for a physical form, because we, unlike some, didn't much care for meddling. But now, the only way we can take back what is rightfully ours is if we have physical form." She waves towards her husband. "Pontus, as you can see, has already succeeded with that. And I get more solid every day!" By this point, she's so excited, she's squealing like a little girl. "But we don't just want to take back the seas. No, we want to humiliate those who took them from us. Which, I'm sorry to say, includes your father. Honestly, I can't believe you two are related, you seem like such a nice boy." Her eyes gaze directly into Percy's, and she looks like she actually does feel sorry for him, although it's a little hard to tell, what with her being mostly see-through and all. "We want to humiliate Oceanus as well, but Poseidon is top priority, since he's the current ruler of the seas. Will you help us, dearest Perseus? Will you help us regain our freedom?"

Her voice, which at first seemed so annoying, is so soft now, so sweet. She's such a nice woman, why shouldn't he help her? Looking into her eyes, which are so sad, so hopeful, how could he refuse? And he's so tired of the quest, he just wants to...Wait. Quest?

Annabeth! The fog lifts from his mind as soon as he thinks her name. Now he's mad at himself. He can't believe he almost gave into it. Thalassa must have some form of charmspeak. Sort of like Medusa.

He rips his hands free of her now soft grip and backs away from her so fast he nearly trips over his own feet.

"No." He says, shaking his head hard, both as a refusal and to further clear his mind. "I won't help you. And my name is Percy." Thalassa's initial reaction is shock. It must have been a while since anyone's managed to say no to her. Then her expression grows haughty and cold, and she glides back to her throne, her nose in the air.

Percy reaches into his pocket for Riptide, which should have returned by now. But to his surprise, it's not there.

"Ah, yes. Your sword." Pontus says. I look up, and he's holding Riptide, inspecting the blade. "Anaklusmos. My, my, I haven't heard that name in a while. I thought this sword was lost long ago. But then, I suppose that's part of its magic. It can't be lost." He smirks evilly. "Until now, that is. My magic will make sure your sword doesn't wander back to your pocket." He leans it against his throne, as if inviting me to try and get it back from him. But I'm not that stupid. I stay put.

"Now," Pontus starts, "back to business." He leans forward. "Your friends will be passing overhead in about five minutes."

Percy recoils in surprise. Pontus grins cruelly. "Yes. Now, say an accident happened." As he talks, Thalassa leans her head out of one of the windows and whistles shrilly. "Say one of Thalassa's pets went out of control." A dark shape passes in front of several of the windows at once, casting shadows on the floor. "Her pets don't have to eat very often. Once every week keeps them happy. But this particular pet hasn't eaten in two weeks. He's hungry. And in...four minutes, now...if that pet were to get loose, the nearest food would be that ship." Thalassa waves at the ceiling, and a hole opens in it, twice as big around as the sea serpent that knocked Percy overboard. He can see the sun shining above the surface, far enough away that he'd be dead before he got there if he tried to escape. "And demigod is one of a sea monster's favorite foods."

A huge shadow blocks out the sun as the monster enters the room through the ceiling. But enough light still enters through the windows that he can see what he's dealing with.

It's big enough that it only barely fits through the hole, and the head, as it comes in, is already a nightmare. Huge teeth as long as Percy's arm from elbow to fingertip fill its mouth. Each one is filed to an amazingly sharp point. A forked purple tongue flickers in and out. It only has two eyes, unlike the sea serpent, but they are each bigger than Percy's head, and they glow a radioactive green. The head, on the whole, is shaped like a very large, very angry horse head, except for the razor-sharp fin that starts halfway up its nose and runs all the way down to its tail.

The body, on the other hand, is a different matter altogether. Two fins, kind of like a turtle's, replace front legs. The edges of them gleam dully, and Percy gets the idea that they're both just as sharp as the monster's teeth and the fin that runs down its back. Its back legs resemble those of a dragon, with talons even longer than its teeth. But when the monster propels itself forward, the toes spread apart and show that there's thick webbing between them. It's completely covered in thick, hard scales.

But the last thing Percy notices is the worst. The whole thing, from head to tail, is pink. Not like the first sea monster that attacked the Argo II, the one that looked like a cross between a catfish and a shrimp, which was a light, faded pink. But bright, shiny hot pink. And to make it even worse, the poor creature looks like its been bedazzled. Gems, mostly rubies, have been wedged between every scale, so that when the light hits it, it sparkles like a fifty ton disco ball.

Percy, honestly, pities the creature more than he fears it. He doubts it was always this unnatural pink color, and he's definitely sure that those gems weren't there when it was born. Plus, the look in its eyes isn't really evil, or even angry. More like it's embarassed. And Percy really can't blame it.

Pontus' expression goes sour. He obviously wasn't expecting a pink sea monster either. But Thalassa doesn't seem to care.

"Behold, the terrifying Roseus!" She shouts, her voice echoing around the room.

Percy nearly laughs out loud. It takes all of his will to keep it inside. A sea monster named Roseus? Man, the poor thing almost has worse luck than him. Because he's already been colored pink, and that's bad enough. But to be named pink, in Latin? That just crosses a line. What line, Percy's not entirely sure. But it's out there somewhere. The sea monster glares down at Thalassa. He obviously hates her.

Percy tries to reach out to him, to see if he's found a kindred spirit. But that's how Thalassa is controlling the monster, as Percy finds out when he runs into a barrier of thoughts that effectively keeps him from communicating with it. Pontus interrupts the sudden awkward silence by clearing his throat.

"Yes, well. Don't let looks fool you, boy. This creature will easily kill your friends if we tell it to. And now, I believe you only have...What is it? Two minutes? Two minutes before your friends are directly overhead. Make up your mind, boy."

Percy closes his eyes. He hopes Pontus and Thalassa will see it as a sign of defeat, of resignation. But Percy is anything but defeated. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he prays.

Dad, please. If you can help me in any way, I'd really appreciate it. I need a weapon, a way to fight Pontus. If you can't help me, I understand. I'm in the lair of two of your enemies. But at least find a way to help my friends. Please. He thinks with all his heart, hoping that Poseidon can hear him, wherever he may be. It may be his only chance to save his friends.

Hey, does anyone want Reyna's POV? Because I was thinking I'd probably just make it from Nico's POV when I traveled with them, but it might be cool to see her take on things. Just review if you would want that. Oh, and again, tell me what you guys think Leo's super secret weapon is.