By the time we found the water park ( can't miss it , he said, it took us forever to find!) the sun was sinking behind the mountains. I could guess by the sign that it was once called WATERLAND, but some of the letters had fallen off, or been smashed, so now it was just WAT R A D.
Stylish.
The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire (because so many people were clearly dying to get in there). Inside were many huge water slides and tubes and pipes and empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt.
Honestly, they could've at least cleaned up when they abandoned the place!
With night coming the place looked rather sad and creepy.
"I can't believe Ares brought His girlfriend here for a date," I said, staring up at the barbed wire.
"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."
"What? I didn't insult anyone, except maybe Ares' date venue picking skills."
She huffed, "He's a God, you can't just insult Him like that."
I shrugged, "I wouldn't go on a date with Him here, it doesn't look fun."
"Would you go on a date with Him anywhere?" Grover asked, giving me a weird look.
I rolled my eyes, "No way, He's like… ancient."
Grover snorted.
"Percy!" Annabeth cried, but she was smiling.
"What?"
"Ugh, nevermind. Let's just finish this mini quest."
We looked back to the gate.
"So… how should we get in?"
" Maia! " Grover's shoes sprouted wings.
He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans and grinned at us as if he'd planned the whole thing.
"You guys coming?"
Annabeth glared at the fence as she grabbed the fence to start climbing.
"Hang on a sec," I said, crouching in front of the padlock.
"What are you gonna do? Pick the lock?"
I pulled out some water from my waterskin and coated the lock. A flick of my fingers and the water froze. I shattered it a moment later, the lock falling to pieces with the lock.
I pushed the gate open, "There."
Annabeth snorted, "Lock picker extraordinaire."
I stuck my tongue out.
We moved in, looking around. The shadows grew long as we walked through the park. We checked out the different attractions, trying to find the Tunnel of Love ride. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie (a really tall waterslide), and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?
Most of the attractions had equally dumb names.
There weren't any monsters, and other than the faint scent of hot metal (left over from the heat of the day I supposed) there wasn't anything really noticeable.
We found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lines the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of—
"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."
"Yeah," I said. "But you don't really need it do you?"
"Your extra shirts are nice and all, but I really want new clothes."
She snatched an entire row of stuff off the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies. She handed me the clothes she'd been borrowing.
"What the heck." Grover shrugged.
He gathered clothes himself and headed off to try them on.
I check out the register, wow… it really did seem like they just abandoned the place without doing anything.
I found around two-hundred dollars' worth of twenty-dollar bills, another hundred-fifty in tens, and about fifty in fives. Plus, twenty dollars in one-dollar bills.
Why did they just abandon the place? There didn't seem to be anything supernatural going on, I certainly couldn't sense anything.
Grover came out a few minutes later, after I'd finished stuffing the money into my bag (not like they needed it).
"Ready guys?" He asked, offering me the extra shirt he'd borrowed.
"Yeah, let's keep going."
I tried not to laugh at the two of them looking like walking advertisements.
We continued our search for the Tunnel of Love.
It almost seemed like the park was waiting for something to happen. I shook my head, that was ridiculous, the park wasn't alive. Surely I'd sense if it was.
I rubbed my nose at the scent of hot metal, honestly, the sun already went down, shouldn't the smell have faded as well?
"I still can't believe He'd bring His girlfriend here for a date." I said to break the silence.
"What, where would you bring your girlfriend," She smirked. "Assuming you could get one."
I stuck my tongue out. "Well first off, not an abandoned water park, just saying, I have standards."
She snorted.
"I'd probably go someplace like, the Teau Hohonu reef. It's really cool with lots of fish and a big variety of coral and sea anemones. Fetu took me there once."
"I haven't heard of that reef, where is it?"
"Well that's the name for it undersea, I'm not sure if land dwellers have a different name for it. But it's off the coast of… South Carolina? I think that's the place on land…"
"Huh, cool. I didn't know there was a reef there."
"It's a deep-sea reef! It's really pretty, Fetu showed me the coolest stuff there."
"Who's Fetu?" She asked, looking around a building to see the ride on the other side.
"He's a friend of mine! A merman. He's really good at the Siren's Song. He and Triton have been working with me on the basics. He showed me some cool ways to use it while we were at the reef."
She seemed to be eyeing me, mentally calculating something, "Oh, you mean like a da- uh… wait, so you have to be taught how to use this… Siren's Song?"
"Yeah, it's like," I hummed. "It's like learning to sing, you have to have lessons, and there are proper ways to do it and stuff. The Siren's Song in its raw form is really strong and can take a lot of energy from the one using it. Fetu has a really natural skill for it, apparently he's able to tell when he's reaching the limit and stop before the backlash gets bad."
"The breathing issues, like you had after Medusa?"
"Yeah, though they didn't really tell me what the backlash was." I rubbed my neck sheepishly. "I wasn't supposed to be doing any actual voice Siren's Song until they approved it, so they didn't see the need to explain it to me yet."
She winced, "But you had to."
I nodded, "Yeah. I'll have to see if there's any way of handling the backlash. I'm sure there's some way of making it easier to breath."
"Maybe an inhaler," Grover offered. "It seemed similar to asthma, so maybe some kind of inhaler would help."
"Maybe," I murmured.
"Well, it's certainly useful, reminds me of the Aphrodite cabin's charmspeak." Annabeth said.
I frowned, charmspeak? "What's-"
"There!" Annabeth said, pointing ahead.
I followed her finger and found an empty pool ahead of us, about fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.
Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed in when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!
Grover crept to the edge. "Guys, look."
Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares' shield, a polished circle of bronze.
"This seems simple," I said, rubbing my nose again at the smell of hot metal. "We can't really just walk down there and get it, can we?"
Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue.
"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder…"
I frowned. I really needed to learn more about land myths. What did the Eta have to do with anything? Was it a sign of some kind?
"Grover," I asked. "Do you smell anything?"
He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."
I chewed my lip, and I wasn't feeling anything…
"I guess I can go down there?"
"I'll go with you," Grover didn't sound too happy, but he still offered.
I shook my head though, "You're a lot more help up here, where you can fly and help from above if something goes wrong."
He straightened, puffing his chest up a little. "Sure, but what could go wrong?"
"I'm not sure…"
Something felt off.
"Annabeth come with me—"
"Are you kidding?" She looked at me like I'd just greeted the Kraken. Her cheeks were bright red.
"What's the problem now?" I demanded.
"Me, with you, on the… the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? What if someone sees us!?"
I flushed.
"Who's gonna see you?" I squeaked. "It's not like anyone else is here!"
She flushed more, "Well, I guess, ugh, fine, let's just hurry."
We moved down the side of the pool, reaching the boat quickly. There was a faint taste of blood in my mouth now, but it was countered by the smell of my mom's perfume, the Demeter cabin, and the smell of the sea. It reminded me of how the Aphrodite cabin smelled.
The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk scarf.
I still didn't get why they came here. I mean, it was so dark and creepy and boring and… oh, there were mirrors all around the edges… were they really that self-absorbed?
Probably.
I picked up the scarf. It shimmered pink, and the perfume was indescribable, like the sea, fresh flowers, mountain springs.
I swallowed, and pushed past the smell, slipping the scarf into my bag.
"Grab the shield, Seaweed Brain, let's get out of here quick."
I reached for the shield and realized a second too late that I really shouldn't have.
The moment I touched it, my hand broke through a thin strand connecting it to the dashboard. Looking at it in my palm I realized it was some kind of metal strand, so fine it was almost invisible. A trip wire.
"Wait," Annabeth said.
"Too late."
"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. It's a trap!"
Noise erupted all around us. My skin felt like fire was dancing along it and the smell of hot metal grew overwhelming. A million gears grinding echoed around us, as if the whole pool was turning into one giant machine.
Grover yelled in warning, "Guys!"
Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. I snatched up the shield and stepped beside Annabeth, but the Cupids didn't shoot at us, they fired at each other.
Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arching over the pool and anchoring where they landed. Smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.
"We need to get out," I said.
"Duh!" Annabeth cried.
We bolted up the slope but going up was not as easy as going down.
"Come on!" Grover shouted.
He was trying to hold open a section for us, but the golden threads started wrapping around his hands wherever he touched it. Imperial gold maybe? Probably with assorted magic hammered into it.
The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding us. A loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute… Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight…"
"Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid! Eta is 'H'. He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcasted live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"
We'd almost made it out, where we'd be able to slip away without looking like absolute fools, when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic… things poured out.
Annabeth screamed.
An army of wind-up creepy-crawlies with bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, and little pincer mouths scuttled towards us in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.
"Spiders!" Annabeth cried. "Sp—sp—ahhh!"
I jerked as she fell backwards in terror. I yanked the back of her shirt and got hold of her arm, pulling her away as the spider robots reached us.
I yanked her to the boat, trying to think of what to do.
I pulled the lid off the water skin and sent a whip of it lashing out around us. Whirling water that I quickly thickened into a better shield as the spiders scuttled around it.
They were probably not meant to kill, but… this was a trap meant for Gods. What could harm a God could easily kill a mortal.
I pulled Annabeth into the boat, freezing a line of water around the base, making some of the spiders slip.
Thirty, twenty-nine-
Annabeth was still shaking in terror, but I tried to settle her in as I sent the water into a better arc around us, fending off the spiders better.
Grover was hovering above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it wouldn't budge.
What to do, what to do.
I needed to think.
The Tunnel of Love entrance was under the net. We could use it as an exit, but I didn't have enough water to move the boat that far.
Fifteen, fourteen-
Then I finally saw them, pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from.
Pipes.
I threw my hand out. I'd never tried to control water I couldn't see before, I wasn't even sure the pipes still functioned with how abandoned the place was, but I could try.
Five, four-
I focused, reaching for that feeling of water. I thought of the ocean, of the river I'd trained in for years, of the feel of the waves.
I closed my eyes, took a breath, and tugged.
Two, one, zero!
Water exploded from the pipes, a familiar surge that roared into the pool.
It swept away the spiders and I pulled my ocean water back to curl around my arms.
I pulled Annabeth further into the seat next to me and fastened her seat belt, just in time for the tidal wave to slam into the boat.
I raised my hand, guiding the water to arc over us as it moved over us and used the other hand to guide the water at the base of the boat to keep it from capsizing.
The boat turned, lifted by the flood of water. The water around us was full of short-circuiting spiders (I supposed they weren't water-proof).
Spotlights were glaring down at us, the Cupid-cams rolling, projecting us live to Olympus.
I narrowed my eyes, willing the water to guide the boat, keeping it from hitting the sides. I noticed the net getting closer, and made the water turn the boat towards the tunnel entrance.
A moment later the water sent us rocketing through into the darkness.
I kept my focus on the water, keeping the boat from moving at ridiculous speeds through the tunnel, but still moving fast enough to get us through quickly.
We passed by pictures of Romeo and Juliet and sparkling hearts and lacy romantic venues and other Valentine themed scenes.
Then we were out of the tunnel, the stars glittering above us and the night air curling around us.
I noticed the exit, the golden Gates of Love. Unfortunately, they were chained.
If they were working then we'd be able to safely sail through them and into the exit pool, but they weren't, they were chained shut. Two boats had already washed out of the tunnel before us and were piled against the barricade—one submerged, the other cracked in half.
I quickly ran through our options.
I could stop the boat here, but that would leave us trapped in the water.
I could try to break the gates, but I might not do that in time.
My mind went back to the Arch, to falling and… the wave, like what Katara did.
I raised my hands, gathering the water ahead and behind us. I drew my hands together, pooling all the water beneath our boat, lifting it high on the forming wave.
I bit my lips at the tug in my gut, but drew more water, raising us higher and higher as the wave grew.
"You're not high enough!" Annabeth called, staring at the gates. "We need to be at least three feet higher or it'll catch on the top of the gates."
I did as she said, pulling more water, guiding us just a bit higher.
Just in time, it appeared she was right, I could feel us just make it over the gates. I threw my hands out as we arced over the gates and I forced the water to continue holding the boat gently as we hit the pool.
It took all my focus to balance the boat, but after a moment of dangerous tilting it settled, and we drifted smoothly to the edge of the pool, hitting shore with a bump.
Annabeth breathed hard, eyes wide.
"You just-"
We sat for a moment in silence, Annabeth staring at me and me just taking a moment to rest. That took a lot of focus.
I unbuckled once I caught my breath, and she quickly did so as well.
We clambered out of the boat onto the shore and Grover landed beside us from his place in the sky with the shoes.
The spotlights were still on, they had followed us. I noticed a Cupid head bobbing in the water. So, the camera's followed us through the tunnel as well.
I straightened and flashed my best smile at the camera's.
"Hope you enjoyed the show! Thanks for watching and goodnight!"
Grover snorted as the Cupids turned back to their original positions. The lights shut off abruptly, leaving the area pitch black.
I wondered if we got good ratings? Or if Triton saw me?
I wondered if he'd be pleased with my trick with the water?
"I'm glad you guys are alright," Grover said.
"Yeah," Annabeth whispered. "Me too."
I hefted the shield on my arm and turned back to my friends.
Annabeth was studying me with intense eyes, Grover just looked relieved.
"… Thanks." Annabeth murmured.
I nodded, "No problem. We're a team, aren't we?"
Her lips twitched, "Yeah." She glanced at the shield on my arm. "Well, we have the shield."
"Yep," I agreed. "Guess we should go chat with Ares."
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
Triton POV
My anger had abated some.
I was still angry and frustrated, but I was also just annoyed now.
Mevu was keeping a close eye on me so I couldn't assign a quest for protecting Persi. I would need to discuss the details and decide on a team in person, but that was impossible at the moment.
Instead I was working on paperwork.
Requests for messengers, arrangements for oil spill clean ups, requests for meetings with Poseidon, a few complaints from the Caribbean (my territory), a few missives from the generals preparing for war, and another complaint from Nammu about being mixed up with Nanmu.
Not to mention replies to the invitations for the announcements.
I sighed, it was so obnoxious.
Why did Mevu have to be so frustrating? War was likely to start anyways.
Persi was plenty skilled, but he was also twelve. If the Gods couldn't find the bolt, how was Persi supposed to?
He was a child and shouldn't be on this deadly quest.
But I was still stuck here and not able to aid him.
"Ta, Triton-re'aia…"
I turned to look at one of the messengers, Tumata.
Tumata looked extremely nervous to talk to me, that never meant good things.
"Yes?" I said carefully.
"La, Fetu Faumuina has recommended that you turn on Cheat Catcher, on Hephaestus TV."
Cheat Catcher? The show that got a new episode anytime Hephaestus found out about Ares and Aphrodite going on dates? Why would he recommend me checking it out?
"Why?"
Tumata hesitated, "He said that you should watch it immediately, but didn't exactly say why."
My eyes narrowed. Tumata's reaction leads me to think that she knew why even if she didn't get told why by Fetu.
I flicked my fingers, calling a TV in here.
Tumata took the chance to flee.
It only took a moment to click to the correct channel, and I immediately saw what the issue was.
The remote broke in my hand as I watched Persi guide the water to bring him and some girl over some gates.
I glared at the screen as he stabilized the boat for the girl and him (the golden blonde hair and facial features made me ache at the similarity to a girl I'd once known).
"Hope you enjoyed the show! Thanks for watching and Goodnight!"
Why was Persi there? Why the areo was Persi risking his life on Hephaestus's show for catching Aphrodite and Ares making out?
I glared at the screen.
I needed to get him aid, but Mevu would stop me. Metu was determined to do something himself to show that he could and would help Persi. But that would take too long.
I stared at the commercials running on the screen.
Even if not in person, I needed to do something .