Chapter 8 I Do Drug Deals With A God

Annabeth walked down the cobblestone pathway toward the resort, gaping at everything around her. Statues of ancient heroes lined the path. Marble pillars towered into the sky. What she would give to be able to create something like this-

"Dude, this is crazy!" Leo said.

They all agreed. Unfortunately, Leo's comment pulled Annabeth back to that morning. Leo thought she had- there was- that was so embarrassing- what if- at least Pietro hadn't-

Ugh. The whole thing was ridiculous. And of course, she would never admit it, but it had been quite peaceful in the seconds before Leo had found her.

Stop it. She said, Now you're being ridiculous.

She took her eyes off the gorgeous buildings and structures only for a brief moment to look at Pietro next to her. He seemed nervous standing by her, but Annabeth couldn't figure out why. Could he-?

No, there was no way.

…Right?

She then remembered all of Nico's warnings. It didn't matter even if Pietro did like her (not that she cared or anything). There was another reason she couldn't get attached. What if he was a monster or something?

Ignoring her brain's comments about Pietro's fluffy hair and pretty eyes for the millionth time, she looked ahead at a fountain with tiny cherubs on either side. Their bows were nocked and spewing water. That was cool. Hyperfixate on that instead, she told her brain.

It didn't really work.

Luckily, her thoughts moved on when she noticed Nico, who looked like he was about to start an angsty speech in a dark gritty teen movie.

"Nico?" She asked, "You good?"

Nico shook his head, "No. There's something off about this place."

Annabeth paused at that. She couldn't forget they were in the Sea of Monsters. As cool as the architecture was (and as distracted as she was by Pietro), they weren't exactly going on vacation.

What part of the Odyssey had involved a beautiful island like this? Calypso, maybe? No, this seemed too elaborate to have been done by one person. Then again, if Annabeth had been left alone for millennia she probably would've gone crazy and decided to build an entire resort like it was a Minecraft: Let's Play.

CC's Spa & Resort. Who was CC? Chances were they were someone from the stories, but who?

Before Annabeth could think any longer on that she heard someone off to her left clear their throat. She turned and saw a hooded figure standing beneath the shadows of a massive tree.

Annabeth turned in the figure's direction, as did the others. Leo didn't, however. He continued to gawk for a moment until Frank tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the newcomer.

They all started to move toward the person, but the figure shook their head and pointed at Annabeth.

Annabeth pointed back at herself. The figure nodded.

"I think they want you," Leo said.

Annabeth nodded in agreement. Hand on her knife, she stepped out toward the figure and the tree.

"Annabeth Chase," the figure said. The voice was male, "It's nice to see you again."

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked warily.

"Forgive me for being secretive, but I'm not supposed to be here. This is not my usual choice of clothes."

Annabeth drew her knife, "Listen, you have about three seconds to tell me who the heck you are and want you want, before I-"

The figure took the hood off, revealing a man with curly salt-and-pepper hair. "Now, now, there's no need for violence."

Annabeth frowned. The guy looked kind of familiar, one of the gods, she thought, "You're…you're Hermes, aren't you?"

Hermes nodded, "Indeed. It's been a while, Annabeth Chase."

Annabeth tried to put her finger on where she knew this guy from, "You came to camp after Luke went missing, didn't you?"

"Yes." Hermes's expression softened, "I wish I knew what happened to him."

I think we all do, Annabeth thought, but she didn't say it aloud. Shaking her head, she decided to get back to the topic at hand, "What are you doing here?"

"I got word from Apollo that you guys were in the Sea of Monsters, and I worried that you would end up here."

Well it didn't take long for Apollo to let the word out, Annabeth thought. In any case though, that didn't sound good, "What's here?"

"Someone that shouldn't be messed with," Hermes said, "My advice would be to leave as soon as possible. But, I know you demigods can be quite stubborn. If you choose to stay, I brought something that might help."

Hermes snapped his fingers and a bottle of multivitamins appeared in Annabeth's hand.

"Multivitamins?" Annabeth asked.

Hermes shrugged, "Never underestimate the power of a vitamin supplement. Those Flinstone ones are borderline magical." He waved his hand, "But regardless, I believe those will come in quite handy, whether it be here or somewhere down the path. These are quite resistant to things."

"Thanks," Annabeth said, not really sure how to respond.

Hermes smiled, "Of course. And by the way, Zeus doesn't know yet."

With that, he vanished.

Well, at least Apollo had managed to keep one person out of the loop.

Annabeth looked at the bottle in her hand. She suddenly got a gut wrenching feeling that Hermes was right. They weren't supposed to be here.

CC's Spa & Resort…

Annabeth realized who CC was. She turned and ran back to the group.

"Who was that creep?" Leo asked.

Pietro pointed out the multivitamins, "And what are those?"

"We have to go," Annabeth said, already walking back toward the ship, "Hazel, I'm sorry, but we're gonna have to stop somewhere else-"

"Ah, visitors, how lovely to see you," said an enchanting voice from behind. Annabeth spun on her heels. A woman dolled up with too much makeup and black hair in a fancy Ancient Greek hairdo waved to them from beside the fountain, "Come come. Let me help you." She wrinkled her nose, "All of you are in need of a makeover."

The group looked at Annabeth for any clarity on the situation. She glanced at them out of the corner of her eye and subtly shook her head.

Piper got the hint. She laughed, "Actually, we were just leaving. Thanks for the offer, but we really have to go-"

"So soon?" Circe said, "But you haven't even seen the best part." She looked directly at Leo, as if she could read his mind, "I have waterslides."

Leo, completely forgetting anything Annabeth had said, lit up, quite literally. His nose briefly burst into flame, "Water slides?"

Circe nodded, "The biggest, craziest water slides you can imagine."

"Leo!" Annabeth whispered. Leo ignored her.

"You know what, lady?" Leo said, "I'm in. Show me some cool waterslides."

Annabeth smacked her forehead as Circe beckoned them all inside.

Circe looked back at Annabeth, then at the bottle in her hand, "You won't be needing those, dear."

Annabeth held the multivitamins closer, "It's fine. I'll just hang on to them for now."

Circe hummed in discontent but said nothing.

As they entered the resort, Annabeth tried her best not to get sucked into the beauty of it all. The inside was just as glamorous as the outside, if not more. The lobby itself looked like something from Olympus. The sheer amount of marble was insane. The floors were polished to a T and a mini waterfall cascaded down the left wall.

A girl about the same age as Annabeth waited at the desk. Her dark skin almost looked like it was glowing. Half of her hair was pinned up; the other half fell down her back in ringlets. Despite the fact that she was evil, Circe really knew how to enhance one's natural beauty.

Circe walked up to the woman at the front desk and mumbled a few things that Annabeth couldn't hear. She figured it probably wasn't good for her or any of her friends.

Leo rubbed his hands together, "So how long until we get to see this waterpark?"

Circe offhandedly responded, "Soon enough," then went back to talking with the desk manager.

Finally, she turned around, "Girls, my lovely assistant Marilyn will take you three. Boys," She hesitated, "You all will require a bit more help. You'll be coming with me."

Pietro locked eyes with Annabeth, as if he'd just realized what was going on.

"Thank you for the offer, miss," He said suddenly, "But we do really need to go."

"Yeah," Jason jumped in, "We have some really important things to get back to like…uh…"

Annabeth turned and bolted for the exit doors. She could open them and then they could all run out and leave this place before anything bad happened and-

The door wouldn't budge. It was locked.

Shit.

She turned to Circe, whose eyes were now glowing, "I don't think so. You kids won't be going anywhere."

Ooooooooooo

Percy knew he was an idiot for not realizing who Circe was sooner. He'd spent hours being forced to learn about each of the different threats in the Sea of Monsters, how had he forgotten about this one?

He knew the girls would be alright, if the stories were to be believed. Circe would most likely just give them all a glow-up.

It was himself and the other guys that he was worried about. Circe had never really been fond of male heroes.

That nearly sent Percy in a spiral about why there were so many legends about women or groups of women hating men in Greek Mythology, but he shut down the thought and tried to think of an escape plan as they followed Circe into another room. Yet another fountain poured out on a wall. A cage with a bunch of Guinea pigs sat on a table in the corner. They were squealing extremely loudly. That made Percy uneasy.

"Now, boys," Circe turned around to talk to them, "usually I give this whole spiel about allowing you to become a better version of yourself and make you accept it, blah blah blah, but I think we can make an exception this time."

"There aren't any water slides, are there?" Leo asked, as if finally realizing it was a trap.

"Oh there are," Circe said, "But not for you, unfortunately. Men are such annoying creatures. I've never really liked them that much. So I decided it'd be better to reveal them as they truly are; animals.

At that moment, several things happened. The boys tried to leave the room but found the door suddenly missing. Percy nearly grabbed a hold of the water from the fountain to attack Circe, but realized that wouldn't be good for his cover and drew Riptide instead. Leo ignited his hands and took a battle stance as Nico drew his sword. Frank's backpack suddenly transformed into a bow and quiver and arrows.

Nice, Percy thought, then frowned as Jason pulled out a coin. He didn't know how that would help, but maybe it was magical.

Meanwhile, Circe laughed, "You really think you can stop me?"

She closed her eyes, raised her hands and began chanting in Ancient Greek. Percy didn't know what she was doing but figured they all had about five seconds before something really bad happened.

Leo shot fire at her. Percy noticed it seemed to fizzle out rather quickly. He didn't know how strong Leo's powers were but he figured something was wrong based off of his expression. Not that the flame's strength would have mattered anyway. It bounced off an invisible wall in front of her as she continued her chant. Frank tried shooting an arrow. It flung off the barrier and stabbed the wall just above the Guinea pig cage. Jason tried to send a wind gust at her but nothing happened. He too stared at his hands in confusion.

It seemed like their powers weren't working right. Percy racked his brain trying to think of why. Was it a Domain thing? He'd learned something about that years ago. He couldn't remember exactly. But that would make sense, if Leo's powers were weakened and Jason's didn't work at all…

He could figure that out later. Maybe ask Annabeth. She seemed to know lots of stuff.

Focus, he told himself. Right. They were fighting an evil sorceress. Who was apparently immune to all their attacks.

Percy had a thought. Would his powers work? If it was a Domain issue, his powers would be at an all-time high. That would give him away but at least they'd be alive-

It wouldn't have mattered. Circe stopped chanting and her eyes snapped open. A blast knocked Percy back. He tried to use his arms and Riptide to block it but it didn't really work.

Suddenly he felt weird. His clothes felt too big. And why did he have the urge to eat a salad?

Oh. He was shrinking. That couldn't be good. He remembered the Guinea pig cage. Double not good.

Next thing he knew he was on the ground. Circe looked ten times scarier as a giant, "Sorry boys, but it's what must be done. I used to turn men into real pigs, but they were so much upkeep. This is easier."

Percy watched in horror as she picked them up one by one. He tried to yell but it only came out as "Reeeet!". This was exactly what he wanted: to be turned into a freaking guinea pig. He tried to run, as did the others, but she just casually lifted them up and placed them in the cage.

"Have fun, boys," She said, then looked down at the piles of clothes still on the ground, I'll clean those up later." She stalked out of the room, the doorway having reappeared.

Percy looked at the others. He could tell who were his friends and who wasn't by their eyes. The ones that had already been there looked borderline rabid, with sharp teeth and glowing red eyes.

It was also easy to tell which of the non-rabid ones was who. The jet black one was definitely Nico, Frank was twice the size of the rest of them, and Jason still had electric blue eyes, which looked really weird on a Guinea Pig. Leo, meanwhile, was quite small, and also appeared to be smoking slightly.

This was just great. If Guinea Pigs could vomit Percy probably would have from the smell in that cage. It was awful. It smelled like a mix of musty cave and fish pee. Clearly it hadn't been cleaned in a long time.

Frank reeted in confusion and looked at the others. Leo looked to the door Circe had just walked out of and yelled (or rather reeted). Percy just gave a reet back miserably. It would be nice if he could understand what any of them were saying. Leo's probably involved a lot of cuss words.

A red-eyed Guinea pig approached Nico and bared its teeth. Nico did the same and it backed off. Jason just looked around and blinked. Percy realized he didn't have his glasses. The guy probably couldn't see anything.

How were they gonna weasel their way outta this one? (Guinea Pig their way out?) They hadn't even been able to put up a fight. Circe had snapped her fingers just like that and it was over.

Their only chance now was the girls. Percy knew Annabeth had figured out who Circe was. He had confidence in her.

With nothing else to do, he thought about the night before. She'd seemed so happy talking about her project at camp. Did she know how her entire face lit up when she was talking about her passions? Even if he hadn't understood half of what she'd said, he could've listened to her go on for hours.

And then she had gone out of her way to teach him how to play Smash Bros. He smiled at the thought. At least, in his head, since Guinea pigs couldn't really smile.

He knew why Leo had been smirking at him when he'd waken up that morning. He wasn't stupid. He knew Annabeth had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Somehow. If he'd been human reminiscing that memory, he knew he'd be grinning like an idiot..

There was just…something about her. Percy had been hit on more times than he could count, and hadn't really cared to pursue any of them. But Annabeth— seemed different. Almost like it was meant to be.

But unfortunately, even if she felt the same way, (which Percy figured unlikely. After all, she'd been pretty embarrassed about Leo finding them together) Percy knew that nothing could ever happen. She didn't know who he actually was, what he was going to do to her and the others. If she did, he knew she'd hate him. Why wouldn't she?

Maybe in another world, another life. Maybe there they were meant to be together. But not in this one.

Percy sighed internally. Could he even go through with his father's plan in the first place? He looked at the four other boys (Guinea Pigs). What had they ever done to him? They were just forced into this quest by an irresponsible god.

On top of that, did he even want his father to take over? Was that really necessary? Percy wasn't sure. How much unneeded death and destruction could that cause? That was why they had divided the kingdoms in the first place; so Zeus and Poseidon could rule separately but peacefully.

If the surface world was destroyed, what would that mean for the crew of the Argo ll? For all the other demigods back at the two camps they all kept talking about? For the billions of people on the planet?

Percy tried to move his train of thought away from that. He didn't need to think about that right now. For now, he just needed to focus on the task at hand.

Which really just meant hoping Annabeth and the other girls could find a way to get them all out.

ooooooooooo

Annabeth forced a smile as Marilyn finished doing her hair.

It wasn't that it looked bad; it looked prettier than it probably ever had, done up similar to Circe's, not to mention that it matched her new dress perfectly, but her mind was elsewhere. She didn't know where Circe had taken the boys. She suspected it wasn't anywhere good.

Hermes's multivitamins sat on the vanity in front of her. Annabeth didn't take her eyes off them. She wanted to grab them and not let them go until they got off the island, but Marilyn had told her to set them down or else. Annabeth knew she could probably take the woman, but she didn't know who or what else would try to attack her if she did.

Annabeth grit her teeth. She just needed to play it cool until she was reunited with Piper and Hazel. The three had been taken to separate rooms to get makeovers, which Annabeth hadn't been thrilled about. Being separated just made it easier for Circe to defeat them.

"There," Marilyn said as she stepped away, "What do you think?"

"It's so pretty!" Annabeth gushed, trying to sound sincere, "I love it!"

Marilyn smiled, "I knew you would," She waved her hand, "Come, I'll take you back to the other two."

Annabeth grabbed the multivitamins as she walked out of the cute little dressing room. Marilyn glanced at her but said nothing. As she stood, Annabeth suddenly remembered how much she disliked wearing high heels. She'd have to take them off if they were going to be fighting or running away anytime soon.

She met Hazel and Piper back in the lobby. Both looked absolutely stunning. Piper's hair was done up similar to Annabeth's; Hazel's had been left down, allowing the curls to fall freely around her face. Both were wearing similar dresses to Annabeth, though Piper's had a slit up one side.

"Annabeth?" Piper asked, "Is that you?"

"You look amazing!" Hazel said.

"So do you two!" Annabeth said.

"I'll be giving you three a tour in just a moment," Marilyn told them, "but first I need to go check on something."

She left the room. Annabeth knew they didn't have much time before she came back. It was now or never.

"Alright, girls," Annabeth took her heels off. She had no idea where her shoes had gone; she'd be fine barefoot for now. She leaned in as Piper and Hazel came closer, "We need to get the heck outta here before she comes back."

Piper nodded, "Agreed. But we need to find the boys."

"You don't think she turned them into pigs like in the old stories, do you?" Hazel asked.

"I don't know," Annabeth told her, then held up the multivitamins. She opened it and popped an orange one into her mouth, then gestured for the other two to do the same.

"Hermes said these would help. In the Odyssey, Hermes helped Odysseus become resistant to Circe's magic. He said these were quite resistant. Maybe that's what they will do too."

"Let's hope so," Piper said, grabbing a lemon-shaped one. Hazel grabbed a red one.

"Now where are the boys at?" Annabeth asked, "Any ideas?"

Piper shook her head, "No clue."

Hazel turned toward the far wall and frowned, "There's a door over there."

Piper blinked, "Excuse me?"

Hazel nodded, "It's covered in a ton of Mist, but there's definitely a door there."

Piper turned to Annabeth and shrugged, "It's better than nothing."

The two followed Hazel as she walked up to the wall and pushed. Sure enough, the wall disguise fell apart and a tall door opened into a small room.

The first thing Annabeth noticed was the Guinea Pig cage. As soon as the three girls stepped into the room, the entire mass of them (there were probably ten or so in there) started squealing. Piper held her finger to her lips and whispered "SHHHHH!" Annabeth could hear her putting as much Charmspeak into it as she could. She had no idea if the ability would work on animals, but they all seemed to shut up.

Then Annabeth noticed the piles of clothes. She recognized Leo's Hawaiian shirt (that he refused to take off) and a few other things, like Nico's skull ring and Jason's glasses.

"I think they're in there," Annabeth pointed at the cage.

Hazel blinked, "I mean, it's close enough to a pig, I guess."

Annabeth looked at the multivitamins in her hand and prayed that the things would transform her friends back. She ran over to the cage. There were ten, she counted. They only had five boys on their crew. Which meant she had to figure out which ones were which.

"Which ones of you are our friends?" Piper asked, once again mixing Charmspeak into her voice.

Unfortunately, this time it didn't work. All ten started squealing again. Annabeth looked toward the door as she heard chatter from outside.

Hazel apparently also noticed it, yelling, "We don't have time for this!" before grabbing the bottle out of Annabeth's hands and dumping the entire thing in the cage.

Suddenly, the clothes on the floor disappeared. Annabeth watched as each of the Guinea pigs began to nibble on the multivitamins and started to grow in size. She yanked the cage door open and slid out of the way as each of them started to jump out.

Sure enough, within seconds, Pietro, Leo, Frank, Nico, and Jason were staring back at them, fully clothed again. Annabeth didn't know how that worked but was grateful. That would've been pretty awkward if their clothes had all remained on the floor.

Frank and Jason looked at their girlfriends, jaws dropping slightly. Annabeth made eye contact with Pietro and both looked away immediately. She'd sort of forgotten the whole beauty pageant makeover thing. Oh well.

(God of Olympus, why did this guy still look so good despite having just been a literal Guinea Pig?)

"Well that wasn't on my bucket list," Leo said absently.

Of course, they weren't the only newly-appeared people in the room, Annabeth noticed. Behind them were…

Were those pirates?

One of them stepped forward. Given the old-fashioned coat and hat, he was probably the leader. The rest of the dark-haired pirates wore simple tunics and pants. None of them wore shoes.

"We be free!" Shouted the one with the coat. He looked at Annabeth, "I am Blackbeard. We must thank ye for freeing us."

Blackbeard? Just how long had these guys been stuck here?

That was a topic for later. Right now they needed to leave. Annabeth nodded, "Yep. Now if you'll excuse us, we need to go. Come on you five," She waved her hand to Piper, Hazel, and the still slightly disoriented boys and bolted out the door, the others following her. The pirates shuffled out behind them.

In the lobby stood a very confused Marilyn, watching as the herd of people flowed out from the tiny room.

"CC!" She yelled, then ran deeper into the resort.

They didn't have long before that witch showed her face again. Hazel raised a hand and unlocked the doors (yet another of Circe's Mist tricks, apparently) and everyone rushed out into the sunlight. The pirates blinked in confusion for a moment, before Blackbeard pointed at a large ship in the harbor docked next to the Argo ll. They ran off toward it. A black flag with a skull and crossbones flew on top. Annabeth paused. Where had that come from?

Whatever. Right now they just needed to get back to their ship.

However, the crew of the Argo ll only made it a handful of steps before the rows of statues lining the walkway came to life and stepped out in front of them, blocking the path.

"Oh come on!" Leo yelled.

Annabeth turned around to see Circe standing in front of the entrance grinning. Annabeth reached down, only to realize her knife was still with the rest of her clothes somewhere in the resort. She was currently weaponless.

The statues closed in, surrounding them.

"Oh," Circe sneered, "Leaving so soon, are we?"