Blue Pasta Fixes All

In about six seconds, I went from feeling bad about how Annabeth and Percy got themselves banished to the bottom of the Mariana Trench to, "Hang on, they get to be banished here?" It was hard to feel bad for them once I began looking around.

First off, wood floors. A nice, light, sandy type color. They were polished and shiny. A runner rug with colorful green and blue and purple sea turtles on it. A tan wood table sat against the wall on the left and a blue candle was burning. Pictures were hung on the wall.

Up above our heads was this big chandelier in a semi-sphere. It had crystals hanging along it, and little rainbows hovered on the walls from the light refractions.

Straight ahead was the world's fanciest aquarium. I've seen in-wall aquariums before, but this was something else. It spanned a little more than my height and was about two thirds as tall as me. It looked to be my arm's length deep in the wall. There were LEGO things in the aquarium for the fish to swim through. A castle, a slide, and a Ferris wheel. The Eiffel Tower.

I suppose that when you're banished to the bottom of the ocean, things like LEGO become precious commodities.

I beelined it for the aquarium and discovered little fish in it. "Oh cool!" I said. "Annabeth, look, it's all the fish from Finding Nemo!"

Annabeth ignored me. Rude. "Hello!" she called. "Um, Percy! Annabeth?"

I leaned in towards the aquarium. "There's so many fish!"

The fish all swam towards my hand. "Hello Lord!" I heard. "Hello! Hello!"

My mouth dropped open. "Annabeth, can you hear this?"

"What, Seaweed Brain?" she asked, irritated and trying to press the water out of her jean shorts again.

"The fish… can you all understand me?"

"Yes, my lord!"

"Hello, my lord!"

"Um, hi," I said. "You can just call me Percy."

"Hello Percy!"

"Hello Percy!"

"Percy?" Annabeth asked behind me, looking at me odd. "Are you talking to those fish?"

"They talked to me first," I said, defensively.

Annabeth stepped gingerly onto the floor, creating a puddle wherever she stepped. She looked at the pictures on the wall and on the table. It wasn't just pictures, I guess. There was a large shell – the most beautiful I'd ever seen – and a big sand dollar too. The largest of the pictures was a group photo. I wandered over to look since she was staring at it so intently. I recognized her and Grover and I, but there were a bunch of other people I didn't recognize. A black girl with the curliest hair I'd ever seen. A blonde-haired white boy wearing glasses and hovering a few inches off the ground. A pale kid with a skull on his shirt and his arms around… I take it back, I recognized Will Solace from the Apollo cabin. A Mexican boy whose clothes were singed. A red-head with her hair braided and a white dress. A native American girl with her hair chopped unevenly. A big, burly Chinese boy with large shoulders and a thicker neck.

Other pictures on the wall… I latched onto one that contained my mom. She was standing beside a man who wore a tie with books on it. The man had an arm around her waist. In front of them was a little girl, missing her two front teeth. I was in the picture, but I was taller than my mom. My hair was longer. It had a grey streak in it. I wore a blue shirt for the picture. Annabeth was also included in the family photo, on the other side of my mom. Her hair was longer and curled. She wore full-length jeans and a shirt that said, "SODNYC". It sounded like an insult. She had been caught mid-laugh in the photo.

"My dad," Annabeth said, and drew my attention to another photo. It was her and a man and a woman and two kids. In the background ran the Golden Gate Bridge. She was much younger than the photo I'd been examining, but much older than she was now.

That was the extent of the pictures on this wall.

Elvis Presley was playing still. I cupped my hands around my mouth. "Hello? We're in your house!"

My voice didn't echo. Annabeth hummed. "Good design," she muttered.

We heard a door open and close. "Is someone there?" someone female called.

"Yes!" I said, relieved. "Sorry to intrude. We knocked. Are you Annabeth?"

"By the way," Annabeth called, "this may be a little disorientating when you see us." She retreated to drip onto the floor by the entrance way, though it was too late and there was already a puddle in front of the tan table.

I heard sock-clad footsteps rounding the corner and then Dr. Annabeth Chase came into view. My first thought was that she looked like her mom, Athena. It was the outfit. She had a white shirt – the kind that was perfect for lounging on the beach on a hot day and was light enough to let a breeze through – and jeans. Very similar to what Athena had worn on Mount Olympus. Longer hair, still princess curly, and no makeup. Still Annabeth. But she was also… not, if that made sense.

When Dr. Annabeth came into view, every hair on my arm stood on end. This feeling like rushing wind filled the hallway when she entered it. I felt like I was warming up. The opposite of "she took my breath away" happened and instead, I felt as if I had more air to breathe. I got goosebumps. I got the urge to kneel in her presence, but stopped myself because I felt that would be weird.

Dr. Annabeth paused in the hallway to peer at us and then began to rub her temple. "Right, who are you?" she asked. "And how'd you get here?"

Annabeth scrambled to begin talking before me, but I was closer and sick of her always thinking I shouldn't speak, and also very eager for Dr. Annabeth to listen to me. "I'm Percy Jackson and this is Annabeth Chase, but we got tangled in some yarn from the Fates," I said. "Grover is on his way down but the elevator thing needs to go back up first."

"What year were you born?" Dr. Annabeth asked.

"1994," I said. I held out the package with her name on it, feeling excited to deliver to her. "Also, this was outside."

Dr. Annabeth took the package. Another person came into view. It was one of the girls from the picture on the wall. The Native girl with the chopped hair. Another feeling like wind filling my lungs. I waved. She frowned but waved back. The frown almost physically wounded me. I wanted her to be… I don't know… optimistic about our appearance? "What about the Fate's yarn?" she asked.

"This is Piper," Dr. Annabeth said to us. She didn't bother introducing us. I guess we go without saying.

"We know where the Fate's yarn is," Annabeth said behind me. Her knees were shaking – I couldn't tell if it was cold or the presence of these two people in the hall. "But my mother's Polias was part of the reason we ended up here. Athena told us that it was placed in your care after the Titan War."

"Is Grover here?" Piper asked.

"He should be coming down as soon as the elevator resets," I replied. I was honestly surprised we hadn't seen him yet. How long did the elevator take to reset?

Piper headed down the hall past me and opened the front door. As she came within a two-foot radius of Annabeth and I, we both moved like a claw machine had seized us and dropped us somewhere. Or like we were Sims waiting for instructions. Dr. Annabeth hummed. "We'd better get you dried off… are you on a quest?"

"We might as well be," Annabeth replied. "But we don't have a prophecy."

Dr. Annabeth gave us both a once up-and-down. "Are you tired?" she asked.

It was like someone hit my forehead with a rubber mallet. All of the sudden, the feeling of being tired struck me, and I yawned. The same thing happened to Annabeth. She almost passed out on the sea-turtle rug. "We flew," I saw around a yawn. "Yeah, we're tired."

"Well, don't fall asleep before we can get you showered and fed," Dr. Annabeth said. And just like that, strength returned to my frame. I was still tired, but I didn't want to fall asleep now. I wanted to fight it for as long as she needed me to.

"Wow," Annabeth said behind me. "Grover wasn't kidding. It's so easy to just… want to do what you say."

"Did Grover explain all that?" Dr. Annabeth asked. We both opened our mouths to reply. "Never mind. You're exhausted" - the feeling of needing to sleep almost struck me down then and there as she said it - "I remember what questing was like. Long days and nights… monster attacks… hopefully you didn't meet any of our old enemies…"

"No." I shook my head. "We didn't." Though I couldn't believe anyone would want to be Dr. Annabeth's enemy. She seemed so brilliant.

Dr. Annabeth waved us into the room to the right and Annabeth and I began moving at the same speed and at the same time. It was a joint living room and kitchen area. There was a large and very thin television on a tan wood stand and a big blue fluffy rug in front of it. White fabric covered couches and tan and blue pillows. I was really digging the beach theme.

Behind one of the couches was a marble island with lights shaped like little pinecones hanging from the ceiling over it. The bar stools were white leather. A bowl of fruit sat on the counter beside a three-section sink with one of those sink heads that elongated into a nozzle. They had a fridge and a dishwasher – I'd never had a dishwasher before – and an oven and a microwave.

"Where does the electricity come from?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh, our friend Leo helped us hook everything up," Dr. Annabeth replied. She was leading the way into a hallway on the opposite side of the wall as the entrance hallway. "Percy, why don't you have a seat for a moment?" I immediately sank to the floor in criss-cross applesauce. Dr. Annabeth quickly ammended her meaning. "Anywhere you want, Percy. Any chair or couch. Wherever you want. Annabeth, come with me."

My feet seemed to be moving on their own. It wasn't that I didn't want them to. It's just that the moment Dr. Annabeth suggested anything, it felt like the most correct thing in the world would be to do it. No convincing or threatening needed. I was beginning to understand why the Gods would be intimidated. I pictured Mr. D with this power… "Peter Johnson, rub my feet. Fetch me a Diet Coke. Do laps around the camp." I shivered.

The difference between Gods and Legends couldn't have been clearer. When a God told me to do something, I'd do it, but I wouldn't like it. If Dr. Annabeth told me to do something really stupid or bad… would I be able to stop myself?

I heard water begin running nearby. Normal water. Not, "turning both Annabeths into white paste" water. It sounded like a shower. A door closed. Dr. Annabeth appeared in the entrance to the kitchen, brushing her hands off and sans package. "I've put Annabeth up in a guest bedroom," she told me. "We have seven guest bedrooms here. Lots of space because Percy and I aren't allowed to leave. So whenever we have get-togethers with our friends, they have to come to us. We'll put you up in one in a moment, but I was wondering if you'd like to shower, eat, or sleep first?"

All three sounded equally enticing. I'd been wearing these clothes for over twenty hours, I was sure. My stomach decided to take Dr. Annabeth's prompting seriously and began pinching in my gut. And my eyelids grew so heavy I thought I'd fall asleep. "Um, food would be nice," I decided.

Dr. Annabeth nodded. "I have just the thing to make you happy," she said. "Your mom visited a few days ago and she brought blue pasta with her."

I sat straight up. "Blue pasta?" I repeated. This time, the Legend appeal had nothing to do with my excitement.

"Blue pasta," Dr. Annabeth repeated. She went to the fridge and pulled out the biggest Tupperware I'd ever seen. It could probably pack a gallon's worth of stuff in it. And it had blue noodles in it. My mouth began watering. Dr. Annabeth took a blue ceramic plate out of one of the cupboards and a fork out of a drawer and put them down in front of me. She uncapped the Tupperware. My mouth was watering so badly my tongue felt a pinch underneath it. "Paul got her a pasta maker for her birthday. The gift keeps on giving."

Paul. That must be my stepfather. "The man with the funny ties?" I asked.

"Yup."

Dr. Annabeth handed me the fork and let my divvy out my own portion. I would have eaten it cold because I really was hungry – the plane pasta felt like years ago – but she mentioned the microwave and I was compelled to agree to wait the forty-five extra seconds. Then the fifteen more to add butter and salt. She pulled a homemade cheese sauce out of the fridge to heat up for it, but I ate my first helping plain before it was warm.

I was dishing up seconds when the water stopped running nearby. Dr. Annabeth was pulling blue fanta and normal Coke out of the fridge. She gave me the option. I suppose that since she lived with me, she knew all my favorites. It wasn't until Annabeth returned from her shower that I started to feel a little weird about Dr. Annabeth.

Annabeth appeared in the hallway with her cheeks flushed red from her shower. She was wearing velvety red pajamas that were about two sizes too big. She'd rolled them at the cuffs, but they still hung a bit on her. Her hair was up in a twisty towel magic trick thing. She wore red slippers to match. When she entered the kitchen, she closed her eyes and exhaled in a bit of relief.

Dr. Annabeth made a happy sound in the back of her throat and went to Annabeth. She reached toward her face. Annabeth careened into her touch. Dr. Annabeth touched her cheeks lightly and then leaned in and kissed Annabeth's head, like my mom would when I was little before I fell asleep. Annabeth smiled.

"Pasta?" Dr. Annabeth asked. "I can make hot chocolate to warm you up more, or you can have a soda, water, milk, or peach punch."

"Mm, a hot chocolate sounds lovely," Annabeth said. She climbed into the bar stool beside me.

I was almost done with my second plate of pasta, but the fork had stopped halfway between my plate and my mouth. The cheese sauce was going cold in the air, which was quite a loss because it was really good. It's just… even though Annabeth had been the one to nurse me back to health when I first arrived at Camp Half-Blood… this didn't seem like her. I was used to her calling me Drool Boy or Seaweed Brain and acting like I was the world's most ill-informed person.

Dr. Annabeth opened a cupboard with mugs and shuffled a few around. She pulled one down that read, "Athena's got a plan."

I glanced towards the entrance hall. Annabeth had had time to shower and change, and I'd eaten a fourth of my weight in pasta. But Grover was still not here, and neither was that Piper girl. "There weren't any monsters when Eudora flushed you, were there?" I asked Annabeth.

"No," Annabeth said, but she caught my drift and looked towards the entrance hall. "Do you think one could have showed up after we left?"

I shrugged. The only monsters I knew anything about were the minotaur and my math teacher Ms. Dodds.

Dr. Annabeth was making Annabeth's hot chocolate with a hot milk, a little whisk, and actual bits of ground-up chocolate. She pulled a can of spray cream out of the fridge and added a pile, and then dropped a peppermint stirrer into the drink and passed it to Annabeth, who stared at it like it was a little pile of gold instead of the world's best frothy hot chocolate. Before Dr. Annabeth put the spray cream into the fridge, she put a bit on a spoon for me to put straight into my mouth.

"You won't be able to reach the surface without Eudora, Annabeth," Dr. Annabeth said. "Percy could… but I'm guessing his control with the tides isn't well honed. How long have you known you were a demigod, Percy?"

I swallowed my mouthful of spray cream. "A week."

Dr. Annabeth's eyebrows hiked up a little. "Do you know who your father is?"

The pasta felt heavy in my gut suddenly. "I found out before the flight here."

Dr. Annabeth nodded. "Well, I assumed you knew a little, considering you're dry. It's easier for Percy down here. When we were first banished, I could only stay in the tunnels. He had to move about with the deep-sea construction crew, building a place I could live in."

"You've been here seven years?" Annabeth asked.

Dr. Annabeth nodded. "Percy and Poseidon and Athena and Hephaestus and a bunch of the others Gods put some work in so I could stay here. Poseidon is always renovating, so it wasn't too hard for us to get the materials to make this place nicer. I installed a lot of it myself."

I felt the urge to compliment her on this. "It's nice!"

"Thanks," Dr. Annabeth said. "Cake?"

I was already pretty full, but Dr. Annabeth was hard to refuse. And then she pulled a blue cake out of the fridge. I about died of happiness. But when she handed me a knife to cut myself a slice, I took into account my near-to-bursting stomach and cut a thinner piece. Annabeth was loading up on pasta. "You must really like blue food," she observed.

"It's a thing between Percy and his mom," Dr. Annabeth explained. "I don't usually make blue food because it's their thing, but we made the cake together when Sally visited a few days ago."

"Sally," Annabeth repeated, and looked at me. "Your mom?"

I nodded, still feeling emotional about how she was still alive.

"I'm surprised at the beach theme," Annabeth said. "I thought you'd get sick of being underwater."

"For sure," Dr. Annabeth agreed. "We have other areas of the house we've decorated differently. I'll give you a tour later."

"What do you do, always being down here?" Annabeth asked.

Dr. Annabeth shrugged. "Well, we have the internet, since monsters can't get us here. We do model kits. I do architecture from afar. I got my doctorate. And we run a library."

"A library?" I repeated. "On the surface?"

"No," Dr. Annabeth shook her head. "I have a library down here. It's the largest in the world. Demigods get sent to me for quests… I help them get what they need and send them on their way."

"And they don't try to kill you?" I asked. I felt guilty for saying anything, but after the welcome we'd received at Camp Half-Blood, I was curious.

Dr. Annabeth looked sad. She shook her head. "No. So long as I never leave this place." She leaned across the bar and brushed my hairline like I was a little kid. I squirmed. "You must have gotten the us treatment. I'm sorry about that."

"Issokay." I ducked my head away from her hand.

She withdrew it. "How does a shower sound?" she asked instead.

It did sound lovely. I nodded and climbed off my bar stool. I grabbed my plate and took it to the sink to wash. Dr. Annabeth opened the dishwasher as I passed it. I rinsed the plate and then stacked it neatly with some others.

Dr. Annabeth took me into the back hallway with several doors. She let me into one that looked like a five-star beach hotel room. It had a full-size bed with a massive tan comforter, four white pillows, and a lamp on either side of the bed. She pointed to a small shower through another door in the room. "Shower is through there. If you're tired after you get out, don't worry about coming to say goodnight. You can go right to sleep. But real quick…" she waved me back out of the room. I was really itching for that shower, but I followed her because so far, good things happened when I followed Dr. Annabeth.

There was one door that was a little bigger than all the others. The room behind it was bigger too. A bigger bed, with two big brown armchairs, and a big circle rug, and more decorations. A potted tree. A vase of fresh flowers. A tapestry on the wall, though I didn't really look at it. Dr. Annabeth went to a dresser that smelled like pine wood. She opened a drawer. "These are Percy's pajama's," she told me. "Pick a set to wear for tonight."

Like with all her requests and questions, my fingers began moving before my brain fully engaged. I picked out a matching grey set before I really took in all the options. But it occurred to me that this didn't exactly feel like the way I would decorate my room. Had Dr. Annabeth decorated for me? "Where is Percy?" I asked.

"In the library, working on a model boat kit," Dr. Annabeth replied. "You can go say hello after your shower, if you're not too tired. I probably need to go and let him know we have guests."

I yawned. Her reminder that I was tired was nearly too much. I felt myself falling asleep where I stood.

"Don't fall asleep in the shower," Dr. Annabeth commanded, and I straightened up. Energy I didn't think I really had returned to me.

"Thanks for this," I said, backing towards the door.

"Of course," she said, and shut the drawer. "Anything for our friendly neighborhood demigods."

She reached for my face just the way she'd reached for Annabeth's, but I ducked a little. She noticed and drew back. "Well, if you do go to sleep, goodnight, Percy," she said. She smiled and returned to the kitchen.

I went and started my shower. But I felt a little weird about Dr. Annabeth. She seemed too… touchy.

The hot water chased away all the lingering cold from being out in the trench. I had honestly forgotten I was at the bottom of the ocean. This felt like a fancy hotel. I dressed for bed in a haze and found a plastic-wrapped toothbrush in the bathroom and some travel toothpaste to brush my teeth with. I wondered if Grover had made it back.

The world was tilting as I shuffled to the bed in my too-big pajamas. I collapsed on top of the bed, managed to slip underneath the top sheets, and the stretched out as far as I could. There was plenty of room.

I fell asleep without turning the light off.

11/18's chapter will be called "Whoooo lives in a castle under the sea?"