One day, about a week later, Percy asked me if I had anything to do that day, with an I-had-a-seaweed-brain-idea expression on his face. I told him I was free today. "Good, want me to show you something?" "As long as it's not spider related, go ahead." "It might take a while, and you might get wet, so prepare for that. See you at the lake in however long you take minutes" I went into my cabin and grabbed a rain coat and some snacks, in the hopes that this would actually only take a few hours and not turn into a three week long constant struggle for survival. When I got to the lake, Percy was already waiting for me, standing at the railing of a small boat that didn't look like it should be able to stay above water.
"Don't worry, it's almost relatively safe. And it was only inhabited by monsters for a few short years. Now that he said it, I recognized the ship as one of the lifeboats from the princess Andromeda. "I found this a bit of the coast and decided to pull it up. Now get on board wise girl." A boat trip with Percy. Why not? I was technically in the domain of the god who hates my mom, but I've been on the ocean often enough to know that Poseidon doesn't really want me dead. "How am I going to get up there?" I asked "There's no gangway on a lifeboat" "Just swim, I'll dry you up" As Percy said that, the water on one side of the boat rose up and I jumped in, swam to the railing and pulled myself on board. The water receded to its normal level. Percy then touched me, which removed all the water from my skin. "So, what was the thing you wanted to show me?" I asked "First, you should put on that raincoat" I put it on "So, I developed a method to travel quickly along a body of water. A little bit like this:" the boat shot forward and the water splashed up around us.
"So, how does this work?" I asked Percy. "The same way as everything else I do. I just hope it works and then it does. But I guess it's similar to shadow travel. All I know is that it is very fast and requires water." "Isn't that really exhausting? I know in the beginning, Nico couldn't shadow travel for more than a few meters without falling asleep" "Well, it is exhausting, but the water gives me back the energy I loose. And because I'm so fast it works even better" He seemed to think for a few seconds. "Image you're in a room where the air is filled with powdered sugar and your mouth is open. If you just stand there only a bit will get into your mouth, but if you run around you'll get a lot more and therefore more energy." Gods, I just love his weird analogies. We spent the next two hours or so talking, then we suddenly stopped. The splashing water, which had arced over the entire boat before falling back into the ocean, stayed frozen in place
"I totally forgot to ask, where are we actually going?" "I've taken you out to eat at so many places, Paris, the depths of hell, but there's one place we've never been to" He made a dramatic pause in which the water above our boat disappeared, revealing a massive concrete wall that curved around us. By the way that the concrete was shaped, I could tell that it was built to support a massive weight. Percy concluded his sentence "The dam snack bar" Now I recognized the wall as part of the Hoover dam. Percy controlled the water below us to lift us up to the rim of the valley the river flowed through. "You should not have taken me to such a place" I told Percy with a dramatic voice, like it was going to be seriously harmful. "Why not? And what do you mean by 'such a place'?" "I meant any large building because as much as I love you, I'm not sure if my will to not annoy you can overcome my love for architecture. Because this dam is pretty amazing. I don't understand how they built the lowest part with the turbines. Like how do you build something like that under water? But-" "I don't know but maybe one of my siblings helped." Percy interrupted. "But right now we're on a date and-" But it was too late. I had started talking and I wouldn't stop any time soon "But what also amazes me is how long this wall has been able to keep all this water in one place for so long. The dam's been here for almost 75 years and they never had to…" I have no idea how long I kept talking, but Percy told me it was over half an hour. While I talked, the water column Percy had created rose and then dropped us on the west shore of the river. We got off and decided the mist would have to deal with it, before making our way to one of the world's best date locations (according to Percy), the dam snack bar.
After a while, Percy asked me how I liked it. "Let's just say, I've eaten at worse places" "I'd hope so. You've been homeless for months. You've been to-" he stopped. We both knew where we had been, why mention it? "But don't worry. It was actually great. And not one monsters at-" I was interrupted by a "Wow Percy, you actually made it" I turned around to see where the voice was coming from. Seriously, what was it with this dam and red haired girls trying to steal my man? Okay, rationally speaking, there was a big difference between just talking and flirting, but due to certain events in my past, I was often worried about people leaving me. And that girl wasn't too bad looking after all. "I thought that janitor would kill you. And even if he didn't, there were so many other monsters down there" I focused on the girl's legs and, barely visible through the mist, I saw bronze and fur. Kellie. That would also explain why she was so good looking, empousai possessed charm speak. "But it doesn't matter because now you're gonna die anyways."
Percy ran out of the building, dragging me with him. "Too many mortals" he explained. Kellie caught up and they started fighting. For a while, it looked like Percy was losing, but then he said "Did you seriously just attack the son of Poseidon" he made a dramatic pause "Next to a body of water?" Only now did I notice that the water in the middle of the basin had risen a few meters and was now towering behind Percy. It shot forward and trapped Kellie in a whirl. It shrank down to about a meter such that Percy could approach her. "I could kill you now" he said "But I've just been down there, and I know how terrible it is, plus killing someone isn't something I like to do on dates, so if you just leave us alone, you get to live" "seems fair" Kellie said as she dissolved into fire.
Percy
"So, one more monster taken care of. No one gets to interrupt our dates!" "Agreed. I guess now it's time for dessert. Whatcha want?" "Idk, what do they have here?" We took another look at the menu and then ordered. Annabeth ordered a 'piña colada' (Alcohol free of course) and I spent the rest of our time at the dam snack bar trying to remember why that name sounded familiar. When it came to paying, we were about a dollar short, but I wasn't the son of Poseidon for nothing. I told the waiter that I had more money in my car and left the snack bar. Now the next step was to get into the water. That on its own should not be too hard, the tricky part was doing it without people thinking I was going to commit suicide.
I found a spot where the railing was right next to the cliff leading down to the water's surface. I pretended to enjoy the view and then, when no one was looking, jumped over the railing and dropped into 2.5 million tons of water. (I may or may not know this number only because Annabeth told me about one hour ago) Once I entered the water, I started becoming aware of everything in the basin. After moving around for about a minute, I found what I was looking for: A wallet. Using a small current, I pulled the wallet towards me and inspected the contents. Luckily, the bills in it were still mostly intact. I also found a photo of a man standing in front of a taxi. If I recognized his face correctly, he technically owed me, Let's say, infinite money, so I felt slightly less bad for stealing from him. And since I would only felt slightly bad for stealing from him normally and in this specific situation the owner would never see the wallet again anyways, I now did not feel bad at all. I propelled myself out of the water, hoping that the mist would hide me, and walked back into the bar, which was technically a cafe, and handed the waiter a five dollar bill. "I made you wait" I told him. "Keep the change" I then left the dam snack bar together with my slightly confused girlfriend.
"So, where did you get the money?" she asked once we were back on the boat "Found it underwater. The owner owes me infinite money, so it's not really stealing." "How does he owe you infinite money?" "It's the taxi driver that got us to LA after the casino. I paid with the infinite casino card." I suddenly remembered where I knew the name of her drink from. "Btw, I actually found out something new about you" I started singing, only slightly off key.
"I never knew, That you liked piña coladas" we took turns singing the next lines "And getting caught in the rain" "And the feel of the ocean" "And the taste of champagne" Annabeth hummed along to the next lines. "I think someone here is enjoying this song" "You mean me?" She must have, there was no one else around "Of course I do, why else would I sing it?" Now I was the confused one. "Not you, someone inside my head. This is the first time since capture the flag that I'm hearing from them. Maybe you'll get to meet one of my headmates." I continued humming the song for a minute or so before Annabeth said "Or maybe you won't. I think they're gone now. Sorry" "That's complete okay. If you or anyone else don't feel ready, just take your time. I'll be there when you need me. And if you need time alone, I'll be gone. My fatal flaw is loyalty, not clinginess." We both laughed at that.
"Want to go on with the song?" Annabeth asked. "I think we were at 'taste of champagne'" I continued. "I think next we got 'If you like making love at midnight'" "Well, it's not midnight" Annabeth responded. "But hedge isn't here and neither is Frank. When are we going to get another opportunity like this one. But I'd suggest first getting a bit further from the dam." Now that was surprising. "So, you're suggesting that we should…" "Exactly. We've been dating for almost a year, so why not?" "Aren't you Ace?" "I thought I was. But I was wrong. I'm demi." That didn't make sense. I knew she was a demigod, but what did that have to do with her sexuality? She must have noticed my confused look. "Demisexual, not demigod." "Oh, what does that mean?" "No sexual attraction until a strong emotional bond is established. In other words, if you're demi, you're ace until you're not' and since something that happened during the time we don't speak of, well, I'm not. They say there's plenty of fish in the sea, but I like this one"
I wasn't sure what to think of this, but I guessed it wasn't a bad thing. "Do you have, uh, protection?" I asked. "Because I'm not gonna search the river again, and even if I did, I wouldn't exactly trust what I might find" "don't have anything either. Now that you say it, could I even become pregnant? Cause my mom never was, I was created from thoughts, and maybe parthenogenesis is hereditary" Parthenogenesis. My brain automatically translated from Greek to English. It literally means virgin creation, and probably meant to have kids without what is usually necessary for that. Or maybe it means completely without a partner, like how Hera had had Hephaestus.
"I don't know, but my quota of risk taking for the next few years is used up, so maybe we should do this later" "Agreed. Bring us back to camp in your royal inflatable life boat" And so I did. I suddenly realized something. "I just remembered where the song came from. Sorry if that somehow triggered you" "Don't worry, elevator rides aren't exactly the most traumatizing thing in the universe. That memory is mostly fine. Though we shouldn't have left Bob behind. And Damasen. We should have found a way to rescue them. I should have found a way. There always is one. How could I leave them behind?" I looked into her eyes. Was that water that splashed up, or were those tears? I stopped the boat and inched closer to her. "You know, sometimes, there is no solution to a problem. Or at least not one that one person, even you, can find on the spot. And that's okay. That is okay. And who knows. Maybe Leo is already in Elysium, and he and Beckendorf are building a new grabber arm to get them out." Annabeth laughed. "That's totally something Leo would do. His last grabber arm wasn't quite long enough to reach us, but of course Elysium is lower than our world, so the distance would be much shorter." Annabeth was right (as per usual). Maybe we would see Bob and Damasen again. I wondered what Hades was doing now, with his titanic janitor gone. But that though quickly faded as my brain became preoccupied with steering our boat back to camp.
Annabeth
"I need a break. I'll go find a smaller river where we can stop" Percy said after a few hours. About a minute later the boat came to a halt. Apparently Percy's definition of a small river was about a hundred meters wide, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this was the smallest part he could find right now. "When you said you needed a break, did you mean you're Normal-person-with-sense-of-self-preservation exhausted or Nico-shadow-travelled-around-half-the-world-and-is-about-to-die exhausted?" "The first one. I could probably make it to camp, but I'd rather pause for a bit, maybe look around the city." "Speaking of which, where even are we?" "You tell me wise girl!" He pointed at a large dome towering over the houses. "That thing looks like something you might recognize" I looked at the dome, analyzing all the details I could make out from here, around three kilometers away from the building. "I'd say this is Washington DC, right? The dome belongs to the Capitol." "Correct, the candidate receives another 100 dollars that I won't actually give to her, so don't get any ideas. Sometimes rivers are so annoying to navigate. If the Colorado river was only half as straight as Nico, we would have arrived a good hour ago" "I hardly believe it was that bad" "Fine, if the river had been half as straight as you, we would have been there a lot faster." "Are you saying I'm not straight?" "Oh, people have told me how you acted after meeting Piper. There's nothing straight about you"
We got of board to explore the city. I had only been here once, before I had run away from home. I saw a stray cat coming towards us, like our very presence was somehow attracting it. Or maybe it just liked the smell of something we ate back at the dam snack bar. For a moment, the cat seemed to be starving, I could almost see its bones. I looked again. The cat seemed back to normal at first, but then, just for a split second, I could see its skeleton, like a cartoon character being struck by lightning, just without the black, spiky bubble in the background. I looked at Percy for confirmation. He nodded. "It's another one from the Smithsonian", he stated. "Makes sense. I guess that makes him small Bob's brother. Can we call him small Damasen? This way, his sacrifice won't be forgotten." "Sure" said Percy. "But only under one condition" "what?" "I get to call him lil dam" "If you insist." He did insist. We got fries at a fast food stand (Percy needed an energy boost after shooting through half the country at Mach 3 and I also got something after Percy declared that a girlfriend who said she wasn't hungry was not to be trusted.) and used the food's smell (though our demigod scent probably also helped) to lure small Damasen back onto our boat.
By the time we reached camp I knew that it would take a bit to get used to Percy's newly discovered power. I didn't even dare to imagine what it would do to Hazel. That girl would probably manage to get seasick in a rocking chair. But I wasn't Hazel, so on our trip back there had been, as Charon had once put it, no stops,(at least not because of me) no screaming and no getting seasick. At least nothing too serious. But something else had happened. My first communication with the people in my head. Even if it was just singing along to Piña Coladas. Throughout the last days, I had almost stopped believing this was really happening, but now I was again convinced otherwise. Maybe I should try communicating back. "Hey Percy, remember when I said I heard someone sing in my head? I thought maybe I should try and talk to them. What do you think?" "If you think you're ready, go ahead. I assume you already have a list of ten different potential strategies, each with twenty steps?" "Not quite. Actually, I'm just now beginning to make a strategy. So far I've only sort of communicated with them via you. But I could probably use anything in the outside world, even just pen and paper. Maybe I'll just try that." I ran to my cabin and grabbed some paper and a pen. (We have about as many pens as the Aphrodite cabin has lipsticks.) Instead of using the paper, I wrote on the back of my hand. Anyone wanna talk? Just write on paper in pocket. I really didn't like using improper grammar, but there only was so much space on my hand. I folded the paper into a smaller rectangle and put it in my pocket (I thought finding the Golden Fleece was hard, then I tried buying pants with pockets) and added the marker. Then I just resumed with my day, hoping something would happen.
When it was time to go to bed, I checked the paper, but it was still empty. Maybe tomorrow would bring more luck. As a demigod, I was used to things not working out right away. On the other hand, if you did a survey on how often demigod plans work out in the end, the answer would probably be almost always, but that is mostly because demigods whose plans did not work out are now dead. It's like with the planes that returned from war missions. The Amount of planes that were hit in a specific ~1m*2m area was 0%, but not because that area was never hit, but because these planes exploded after the bullet lit the fuel tank on fire, so they never returned and were therefore not part of the planes whose bullet holes were documented.
I put the paper to the side of my bed, in case a switch would happen at night, and got to sleep. Just before falling asleep, I had an idea. I took out my phone, put it next to my ear and on the lowest volume so no one else would hear it, and played the piña coladas song. I felt my thoughts slow down as I slipped into what I then thought was going to be sleep.
So there you have it, a date at the dam snack bar and some progress in communication. Also, turns out Annabeth isn't so ace after all (were you even aware that I made her ace?). Technically, she still is around 99.9999999875% ace, but on the other hand, the remaining 0.0000000125% (Percy) are the ones that matter most. I just hope the explicit statement of someone not having sex still complies with the 13+ rating