Alacrity

X.

X. Grover becomes Noo-Noo The Friendly Whale

By the time Lyra, who had been sent to scout ahead, returned to the group and directed them towards the water park, dusk had settled and the entire park was covered in a thin layer of eerie mist. It had at one land been WATERLAND: HOME OF HEAD OVER WEDGIE, but the sign now read 'WAT R A D: HO EAD OVE WE GIE'  due to the multitude of letters that had been smashed out.

    Percy walked forward to the main gate, inspecting the padlock and chains that kept it closed. He shook the padlock, assumedly to try to unlock it, but groaned when he realized that it was doing nothing. "Damn, how are we supposed to get in?"

    "I know, if only you had a child of Hermes with you! Oh, wait..." Lyra snarked, stepping forward and teasingly pushing Percy away from the padlock. The boy scowled at her and motioned sarcastically to the padlock. "Then have at it," he said grumpily, crossing his arms over his chest.

    Lyra placed her palm on the padlock, closing her eyes. She could feel all the grooves and notches inside the lock as if it were on the palm of her hand, so she knew exactly where to stick the lock-picking attachment on her pocket knife into the padlock. The lock-pick whirred gently, humming slightly inside the padlock as Lyra twisted it slightly to the left. With a satisfying, 'click', the padlock sprung open and Lyra was able to unwrap the chains from the main gate.

    "Amazing," Annabeth hummed as she pushed open the main gate, giving Lyra a proud smile as she did. Percy followed, giving Lyra and odd look as he did so. "So that's how you got my sleeping bag and toiletries?"

    Lyra chuckled and nodded. "Yep."

    Inside the water park, huge dry waterslides, tubes and pipes curled around the ground and air like a massive throng of writhing snakes. They lead to empty pools that lay like craters in the  ground. Lyra assumed it once was pretty fun, but now it just looked... sad, especially as the sun faded behind the mountain.

    "If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy said as the four walked through the waterpark, staring at all the broken-down attractions. "I'd have to see what she looks like."

    "Oh, you're dead," Lyra moaned, staring up at the sky as if expecting Aphrodite herself to come down and smite them right where they stood. "You're so dead. I'd just like to say, just for the record, that I think she's absolutely beautiful and I have no association with this boy." She pointed to Percy, taking several side-steps away from him to clear the blast zone just in case Aphrodite did smite him. However, Percy Jackson was a lucky bastard and all that followed was an awkward silence, followed by everyone staring at Lyra as she deemed it safe enough to approach Percy once more.

    "What?" She asked defensively, raising her hands slightly in surrender. "He wasn't respecting her and she's done far worse to people for saying far less."

    Percy rolled his eyes, "Who is she, Echidna?" He chuckled at his own joke, causing his friends to look at him oddly.

    "Aphrodite, Percy," Grover said dreamily, staring off into space. "Goddess of love."

    Percy frowned. "I thought she was married to Hephaestus."

    Lyra scoffed lightly. "Poseidon is married to Amphitrite, and yet here you are. If you hadn't noticed, the gods don't take relationships particularly seriously."

    An awkward silence settled over the four as they stood there, not knowing the next thing to say. There was no natural conversational response to your friend telling you that you were a mistake sprung from an affair. So, they instead settled for exploring the rest of Waterland. It unsettled Lyra how quiet it was; there were no monsters, nothing dangerous, absolutely nothing.