The Ocean's Glare - The Lightning Thief

Chapter 19

Chapter 19 - Santa Monica!

Long story short we left the wallets there in the piles. My brother came out about a day after me and Alexandra did.

Note: I am keeping my casino card forever.

You want to know something weird? We were riding on guido(don't ask me how all of us fit because I don't know) and I swear I saw Ares... Another weird thing... there was a hat on his motorcycle and it made me think of the helm of darkness...

Anyway, we followed Grover, Annabeth, and Percy to Santa Monica.

"Are we there yet?" Connor asked.

"NO!"

"Are we there yet?" Connor asked again.

"Nope!"

"Are we there yet?" Connor asked for the third time.

That time I turned to face him and was ready to push him off the horse but he put his hands up and said, "It wasn't me!"

Alexandra laughed and said, "Sorry girl, I just wanted to see your face!"

"Of course it was you. When we get back to camp you three are gonna cause mass destruction." I said, I was already resigned to my fate as babysitter when Alexandra was probably 100 years older than me or something, "I take that back, if you cause mass destruction I will hold you hostage in the middle of the canoe lake until you agree to stop."

"Sounds fun! We could play patty cake!" Travis said sarcastically.

"If that was sarcasm then we may have hope of actually surviving my uncle!" I said.

"Why can't we say any of the beings-in-the-sky's names again?" Connor asked.

"If we did we would be blown up. Excuse me if I want to live." I replied.

For a few minutes after that we sat in silence before three voices said at the same time, "Are we there yet?"

"If you keep asking we will never get there!" I told them.

"Lady Peyton, we are almost there." Guido told me.

"Thanks buddy, I will give you a whole bag full of sugar cubes when we get back to camp." I rubbed Guido's mane.

Guido made a sound that sounded like a cross between a whinny and a groan of pleasure.

Soon we were hovering over the beach. I turned back to Connor who had opened his mouth but before he could I covered his mouth with my hand and said, "Yes, we are here."

I pulled my glove out of my pocket and said, "Guido, stay in the sky and try not to let Percy, Grover or Annabeth see you."

I then jumped the 10 ft distance to the ground of which I vaulted and used my back to absorb the impact before getting up unharmed.

Military school training exercise 42b jumping from tall places, fun times.

Anyway, I trailed closely behind Percy, Grover and Annabeth.

They basically wished him good luck before just dumping him in the ocean. I followed behind carefully focussing on the currents around me to hide my position from him. I don't know if I was supposed to keep it a secret that I was following Percy but it is too late now.

Anyway, soon Percy came across a shark that pulled him in a direction that made it slightly harder to follow but I still found him nonetheless.

I immediately figured out that he was talking to a nereid. Like, Amphitrite, Poseidon's wife... oh. Yeah she probably doesn't like me...

Anyway, she gave him three pearls and said, "What comes from the sea always returns." or something like that(I will have to ask Percy later)

Basically, 'you step on the pearl, you escape the underworld. You lose the pearl, you die at the hands of your uncle.'

Great. Just great.

After Percy swam towards the surface I made my presence known to the nereid.

"Daughter of the sea." she addressed me.

"Nereid lady that looks disturbingly like my mom," I replied.

"I am afraid that I haven't a way for you to escape your uncle's realm. I just implore that you stay safe." she told me.

"I will do my best. But, I will always put Percy before myself." Honestly, if I had gotten the lightning bolt quest I probably wouldn't have even taken it. Then, we would still be in the same situation.

"Good luck daughter of the sea, may you live to tell the tales of your adventures." Then the nereid left and I was all alone in the mucky California waters. The sad thing is; about 4 hours due south was the beach my military school was on.

I quickly left the water to find that Percy and Annabeth and Grover had already left. I whistled for Guido and hopped on him before we flew off.

Hades here we come.