Chapter 4 I Lose My Pants
Percy poked his head above the water to get a view of his surroundings. He needed to make sure he found a secluded place to get out so that… well…
He didn't need any crazy fisherman stories being told about a merman that randomly showed up on the beach.
Luckily enough, he'd found a small inlet covered with sand hidden on pretty much every side by rocks and trees. He swam up toward it and pulled himself out of the water, lying awkwardly like a fish out of water, literally. A crab stood up next to him, shook the sand off, and scuttled away. It felt weird breathing in air; it had been a while since he'd done that. He turned over, looked down and watched as his tail magically disappeared and two legs replaced it. He shook his head. Still not used to that.
Focus, Percy, He thought. Right. He needed to stay on task. Where was this Pietro guy?
Speaking of which, Percy still didn't know how he felt about the orders his dad had given him. Did he really have to kill the guy? Maybe he could just tie him up somewhere until he left the island, then the other people here would find him and free him.
Percy stood up. Or tried to anyway. He promptly fell back on the sand. He didn't realize walking was so difficult. He was so used to swimming that something as simple as standing on two legs felt alien.
He carefully picked himself up again and got to his feet. Shakily, he took a step, then two. It seemed to come back to him pretty quickly, despite not having done it for eight years.
He then promptly realized he had no pants on.
Probably should've thought about that sooner.
Oh shit. He yelped and looked around to check that no one was around. Sure enough, the area was deserted, so that was a relief. But now what?
An image fizzled to life in front of him. He screamed and got down, trying to cover up. This was definitely not one of the more flattering moments of his life.
"Percy!" Poseidon said through the Iris-Message. Thank Oceanus that Iris stayed neutral in conflicts, and as such would allow calls between anyone, even those underwater, (and also thank Oceanus that this was only his father and not someone else trying to contact him, although it was still pretty embarrassing), "I see you've made it to Equira!" Poseidon paused, then raised an eyebrow, "What're you doing?"
"I don't have any pants!" He yelled.
"Ah, yes, of course, how could I forget," Poseidon snapped his fingers and suddenly Percy looked down to find himself decked out in cargo shorts, an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt with tiny flamingos on it, and a bucket hat, "Better?"
Kinda, Percy thought, "I look like a freaking middle-aged tourist."
"Exactly!" Poseidon smiled, "You want to blend in, do you not?"
His dad had a point, "I guess." He folded his arms, "Was that all?"
Poseidon shrugged, "Pretty much. Just wanted to make sure you made it to the island. Glad I checked in on you though, eh?"
Percy nodded, "Definitely didn't feel like streaking through a beach town today."
Poseidon grinned, then his face hardened, "Remember, Percy. You must be careful. If anyone catches sight of your powers…"
"Relax, Dad," Percy said, "I'll be careful."
Percy heard someone snort in the background of the call, probably Amphitrite. Okay, so maybe he wasn't the most careful person out there, but that didn't mean he couldn't be responsible. He could do this. Definitely. For sure.
"Be quiet, Amphitrite," Poseidon said, "I have faith in him. Anyway," He turned back to Percy, "Good luck, my boy. I must go now."
"Thanks Dad." Percy said.
"…did you tell him about the sword?" Percy heard Amphitrite say over the line. Percy cocked his head sideways. Sword?
"I almost forgot!" Poseidon cried, "Percy, check your pocket."
Percy tilted his head and frowned, but did as he said. He reached his hand into the pockets in his shorts to find a black ballpoint pen. He held it up and deadpanned, "This is a pen."
"It looks like a pen," Poseidon said, "But it's much more. Take the cap off."
Percy pulled the cap off and watched in awe as the pen transformed into a gleaming sword, "Woah," He uttered. At this point in his life, he'd seen a lot of magical artifacts, but come on, it was a transforming sword!
"That's Anaklusmos," Poseidon explained, "Or, in English, Riptide. I believe it will be more helpful on land than a trident. I know you have practice with both."
Percy flipped the sword around in his hand. It felt perfectly balanced. He hadn't trained with a sword in a while; tridents were by far the most popular weapons in Atlantis, but this would work.
"Thanks," Percy said.
"Of, course, my boy. Now go get that lyre. To find Pietro, I would suggest going to the nearest town. He's kind of a celebrity around here."
The call disconnected, leaving Percy alone on the secluded beach. He capped Riptide and put it back in his pocket.
Pietro. He didn't even know where to start looking. Dad had said a nearby town, but where was that?
Well, I should probably get off this beach so I can get a better view, he thought. To his left, trees lined the beach. The other side had a tall rock formation that would be quite difficult to maneuver up. Obviously, he opted with the forest and began making his way toward… something. Pietro? A town? A person? He wasn't really sure. Gods, he would kill to be able to get a bird's eye view of the island. That would make this so much easier.
Unfortunately, he couldn't. So, with a sigh, he began making his way toward whatever the heck he was supposed to find.
ooooooooooo
Nico was enjoying a lovely dream about Will scolding him for the 50th time about not being careful. Even though dream Will was mad he looked adorable as ever. Gods, he missed him. Those blue eyes and that smile... If only the Hermes cabin hadn't gone up in an inferno then maybe he would be on this ridiculous quest too.
"RISE AND SHINE GHOST KING!"
Nico jolted awake. Leo stood in the doorway of his room with a stupid smile on his face.
Nico rolled over, put a blanket over his head, and groaned. Within seconds, Leo pulled the blanket off. So much for that idea.
"Come on, Nico!" Leo crossed his arms, "We're almost to Equira!"
"Almost doesn't mean we're there," Nico said, snatching the blanket back, "Which means I can keep sleeping."
Leo took the blanket again, "Nope. And I'm gonna stand here until you get up. Everyone else is already waiting in the mess hall. We gotta decide on our plan of attack."
Nico groaned. He really didn't want to do this. He sat up and got out of bed, then followed Leo to the mess hall. Sure enough, the others were already there, sitting around the table with various breakfast foods on their plates. Leo had really outdone himself with the design of this ship, even including magical plates from camp that would give you any food you wanted. But as much as Nico wanted to sit down, he opted to be petty instead. He was still annoyed at Leo for the rude wake up call, so he leaned against a wall and crossed his arms.
"Well, now that everyone's here," Leo said, then cleared his throat, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for riding the Argo II. We hoped you enjoyed your flight. Now, in a few minutes we will be unboarding to the wonderful island of Equira, where-"
"How are we landing this thing, Leo?" Annabeth asked, interrupting Leo's less-than-stellar flight attendant impression, "I did some research, and Equira is a popular tourist spot. We can't just land where mortals will see us."
Leo gasped, then in a sarcastic tone continued, "How dare you assume The Dread Pirate Valdez doesn't have a plan?"
"Dread Pirate Valdez?" Frank asked.
"Duh, because we're pirates." Leo grinned, "We're off on an exciting quest to retrieve a lost treasure," He paused, then shrugged, "Or something like that."
Nico rolled his eyes, "Please never call yourself that again,"
"But it's a princess bride reference!" He whined, then sighed and continued, "But don't you guys worry. Uncle Leo's got this covered," He turned to Hazel, "Uh, you don't think you could use the mist to make this look like a cloud or something, do you?"
"That's your bright idea?" Jason asked.
"Well, yeah. Work smarter not harder. Hazel, can you do that?"
Hazel gave a halfhearted nod, "I can try, but like Apollo said, I don't know if it will work."
"Got any backup plans, genius?" Nico asked.
Leo tapped his forehead, "Somewhere in here, definitely. I just don't know what they are yet."
Nico sighed for what felt like the fiftieth time today, despite having only been awake for a matter of minutes. They were only two days into this quest and they were already running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Luckily, the boat landed without any issues. They parked it on the far side of the island and Leo moored it to a few large trees. Unfortunately that meant they had to walk a couple miles to get back to the main town. That gave Nico plenty of time to take in his surroundings. Annabeth also gave them all a runthrough of everything she'd learned about the island.
Equira was approximately five miles across and four running up and down. The only populated area stood at the southern tip, where a large beach town (read: tourist trap) stood. The entire place was covered with tropical greenery and beaches lined most of the coast. A few cliffs stood at the east end, but other than that the entire island gently sloped upward toward the middle.
"So what's the plan?" Jason asked.
"Find Pietro and have him take us to the lyre." Leo said.
"Well, yeah, but like, how are we gonna find Pietro? We don't even have a last name to go off of." Jason said.
"Speaking of which, how do we even know if this guy will be able to find it? What if this is some stupid wild goose chase?" Piper added.
"If any part of this quest is some dumb ploy, I will personally send Apollo to Tartarus." Nico said. Everyone around him gasped. Nico ignored them, but the sun did seem to dim in the sky, if only for a brief moment, "I don't care if he's Will's dad. He's annoying all the same."
The crew continued in awkward silence for a while. Nico enjoyed it. Everything about this island was miserable; it was hot, it was sticky, and there were way too many bugs. Why anyone would live here was a mystery to Nico. Will would've loved it though, being Mr. Sunshine and all. At least with the silence he was allowed to think on his own without other's comments interrupting him.
Nico's thoughts drifted to the past. He thought back to The Lotus Casino, and how he'd spent seventy years there without even realizing it. Seventy years of time passed by in the outside world while he was playing video games and riding water slides. He still didn't know how he'd gotten out, or how he'd ended up there in the first place. Zeus had been annoyed with Hades for having two kids with the same mortal, so maybe that was the problem? Then again, he had done the same thing with Thalia and Jason, so clearly Zeus didn't follow his own rules.
Then again, when did Zeus ever do the moral thing?
He also thought about Bianca. Gods, he wished he could see her. After the two of them had left the Lotus, they'd been found by Annabeth and a couple other demigods. Then Artemis had shown up and asked Bianca to become a Huntress. Bianca had accepted. The two still saw each other occasionally, but she spent most of her time with her new family, and Nico did the same with his.
There had definitely been some interesting changes during his time in the Casino. The Digital Age accounted for a lot of them, but people acted differently too. More accepting, for the most part, and less judgmental. Of course, no one was perfect, but at least he wasn't going to get murdered for being different from the status quo.
"Uh guys?" Frank said, snapping Nico out of his thoughts and back to reality. They'd reached the border of Equira City, "I don't think we're gonna have to worry about how we're going to find this Pietro guy." He pointed up to a life-size statue of a young man stroking a short beard and holding his other hand in the air in an "I've got an idea" sort of gesture. The demigods moved closer to the statue. At its base was a plaque inscribed, "Pietro Mendoza: Master Treasure Hunter".
"Well, now we have a last name to go off of," Leo observed.
Nico frowned. Something felt off about the statue. He glanced at it again as they walked by. Sure enough, it seemed more worn down then he'd thought initially. The gray metal was rusting and cobwebs stuck between the gaps. This statue had been here a while, and it hadn't been taken well care of.
Nico shook his head. It probably didn't matter.
They made their way into town. Overall Equira City really wasn't much of a city. It looked like a pretty stereotypical small beach town. A few hotels, a few restaurants, people in swimsuits and limited amounts of clothing everywhere…
They stopped at a small cafe and got snacks. Despite the fact that you could get whatever food you wanted on the Argo ll, Leo had insisted on trying "authentic" bubble tea for the first time. While at the cafe, the group asked around for Pietro. Most of them only got confused looks. The only person who got an answer was Jason after approaching a little old lady with glasses thicker than an ice rink. Even then, she'd just turned her nose up, sniffed in an obviously annoyed way, and said, "That washout? Haven't seen him in a couple of years. Good riddance, I say."
On that note, they left the cafe and continued wandering around town. Realizing that it would be easier to ask around in smaller groups, they split up. Nico went with Leo, Jason, and Piper. They spent some time at the beach. Again, no one really gave them a clear answer on Pietro. That made Nico suspicious. Who was this guy, and if he was popular enough to have a statue of him made at the edge of town, then why did everyone either hate him or have no idea who he was?
After having little luck on the beach, Leo saw a Hawaiian shirt advertised in a window with mini Margaritas on it and ran inside. He came back out wearing it over top of his t-shirt a couple minutes later.
"Really, Leo?" Piper asked.
"I couldn't resist the calling!" Leo argued. Nico laughed at that, but only a little. He didn't want the others to see him smile. That would blow his emo cover. Obviously.
Eventually they met back up with the others in the central square of town. A few people gave them odd looks, but no one really paid them much attention. A handful of young adults standing on the sidewalk of Main Street wasn't that out of place, but it would still be out of the ordinary. However, tourist towns often saw some weird things, and if you were smart you knew to just leave them alone.
It was then that Nico noticed Frank was not with Hazel and Annabeth.
"You guys find anything?" Jason asked.
Hazel shrugged, "A store employee said he was a recluse that lived in a small cabin somewhere on the island. No idea where though. So Frank turned into a bird and went to scout it out from an aerial view."
"Well you guys had a lot better luck than we did," Leo grumbled, then gestured at his new shirt, "We did all that searching and all I got was this stupid shirt."
"You literally bought that with your own money," Nico told him.
"Whatever," Leo said, crossing his arms.
"Guys!" A voice came from behind Nico. He spun on his heels to see Frank running toward them.
"Where'd you come from?" Piper asked.
"I had to change back somewhere out of view," Frank explained, breathing heavily, "but I get what Apollo was saying about our abilities being weaker. Just flying over the island real quick took way more out of me than it should've."
"Did you see anything?" Annabeth asked.
Frank nodded, "There's a small cabin in the woods a couple miles north of here, pretty much in the center of the island. Smoke was rising from it."
"Looks like we got some walking to do." Leo said.
"Yay," Nico muttered. Another long, hot, boring hike. Just what he needed.
Gods, why did Apollo have to be so irresponsible?
The cabin definitely had someone living in it. At least, that was Nico's prediction. The wooden cabin looked fairly well kept from the outside. The vines were trimmed back, and the walls seemed fairly clean. The wood looked fresh too. Smoke still gently floated out from the chimney. The only thing that looked out of place was the KEEP OUT! sign posted in front of the door.
"Well, who wants to knock?" Frank asked hesitantly.
"I'm not doing it!" Leo said, "I don't really wanna anger yet another mystical being."
"Like that's ever stopped you before," Piper muttered, "And besides, it's just the son of a minor god we haven't heard of. I doubt he's going to put up much trouble."
"You never know!" Leo said.
Nico rolled his eyes and marched up to the door, "For Hades's sake, I'll do it."
There was no doorbell. Tentatively, he knocked. Nothing. He stood there for a moment, then turned around, "I guess no one's home."
"Is it locked?" Annabeth asked.
"We are not breaking into someone else's house!" Jason yelled.
Annabeth shrugged. "Well it's not like we have many other options-"
The door creaked open.
Nico came face to face with a young man in a Hawaiian shirt and bucket hat. He looked a little older than himself, probably around the same age as the rest of the group, with unkempt black hair and sea green eyes. Nico also noticed that, unlike the statue, this guy was clean-shaven. Interesting.
"Hello?" The man, presumably Pietro, said. Nico faltered and said nothing. For a second, he wondered if Leo was right, and Pietro really was some all-powerful deity. He certainly had the looks for it (not that Nico was into him or anything. Blondes were more his type anyway. But still) Pietro frowned, "Can I help you?"
"I thought he'd be older," Nico heard Piper say.
"Pietro Mendoza," Hazel said, "we were sent here by Apollo to ask for your assistance."
"A-Assistance?"
"Yes," Frank continued, "You see, he lost a magical lyre and told us to go find it and to come to you because you'd have a better idea of where it is."
Hearing it out loud, Nico realized how stupid it sounded. The idea of just being able to find whatever object someone asked for was ridiculous.
Then again, he'd watched his friends turn into animals, fly, shoot light beams, and even set themselves on fire. He himself could raise skeletons and send people to the Underworld at will, though he didn't do that too often. It took too much energy to use on anyone other than his absolute worst enemies.
Pietro shook his head, "Honestly, why can't the gods find their own junk? But it doesn't matter. I think the object you want is in the Sea Of Monsters, on the Isle of Wadelisle."
"Wade-Lyle?" Leo asked.
"Uh.. yes." Pietro said. Nico frowned. Why had he hesitated there? And that hadn't been the first time, nor the only thing. Why didn't he want to make eye contact with any of them? Also, this guy sure seemed pretty chill and friendly for a recluse, but also jittery. Something wasn't right here.
"Where's that?" Annabeth asked.
"Right at the center." Pietro told her, then in a rush that made Nico even more suspicious added, "But don't worry, I can take you all there."
"Great!" Leo said, "We can take you back to our boat and show you around the Argo ll!"
That seemed sudden, but no one else complained. Why was everyone else so trusting of this guy? It wasn't charmspeak, Nico had been around Piper enough to recognize that, so what was it? Did the guy just have that much charisma? Even though he was dressed like a dad at a barbecue?
Regardless, Nico said nothing, and after Pietro ran back into the house to grab a few things, the crew began making their way back to the ship.
At some point, Leo came up to Nico and whispered to him, "Holy Hephaestus. You know, I'm not really into guys, but Pietro…" He trailed off, "You know, Nico, if things don't work out with Will-" He motioned with his head toward the front of the group where Pietro was talking to Annabeth about something.
"Valdez?" Nico said, "Shut up before I send you straight to the Underworld."
Leo promptly shut his mouth and didn't say anything to him until they got back to the boat. Despite his nagging, Nico didn't disagree with Leo. This Pietro guy wasn't too bad looking. Not to mention he was a natural leader. Everyone immediately followed him like he was the most important man in the room. But something felt off about the whole thing. Nico couldn't place it yet, but the guy gave off a weird vibe.
As the Argo ll set off into the air, Nico eyed Pietro carefully. He seemed nervous, but Nico didn't know why. Annabeth seemed to be the only other wary person onboard the ship. He glanced at her and the two shared a concerned nod. What had she and Pietro been talking about?
But then again, maybe it was just paranoia. Maybe this guy really was who he said he was.
That's when the Argo ll fell out of the sky.