𝕍𝕖𝕟𝕚 𝕍𝕚𝕕𝕚 𝕍𝕚𝕔𝕚¹ | ᴘᴇʀᴄʏ ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ

18. Bargaining with Uncle Charon

ꕥ Lorelei looked around the beach in thinly veiled disgust.

There were carnival rides lining the pier, palm trees lining the sidewalks, homeless guys sleeping in the sand dunes, and surfer dudes waiting for the perfect wave, but it was stinky.

"I thought beaches were supposed to be pretty," Lorelei said. "Luke told me they were pretty, and he said there would be crabs and turtles everywhere. I don't see any crabs or turtles."

"Luke lied," Percy said. "You might find a crab, but it's unlikely you would find a turtle, especially here."

Lora looked at him and rolled her eyes. "I trust Luke more than you fish face. Can't you use your sea powers and locate them for me?"

"Wanna bet also, I don't think they work like that."

She furrowed her eyebrows, looking at him confused. "You want me to bet on which one of you I trust more?"

Percy nodded.

"You know, if there was a giant ogre in front of me, Luke would kill it faster than you and what good is it being the son of the god of the sea if you can't talk to fish or find them. That's stupid."

"You don't know that. You're stupid."

"I kind of do." Lorelei said, completely ignoring the second part of what Percy said.

Annabeth sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Years waiting for a quest, and this is what she had to put up with. "Percy! What now?"

The Pacific was turning gold in the setting sun. Percy thought about how long it had been since he'd stood on the beach at Montauk, on the opposite side of the country, looking out at a different sea.

He stepped into the surf.

"Percy?" Annabeth said. "What are you doing?"

He kept walking, the water rising up to his waist, then up to his chest.

"Oh great. He wants to drown himself." Lorelei said, watching him walk further into the surf. "If you get sick, I'm not letting you near me!"

That's the last thing Percy heard before his head went under.

He held his breath at first. It was difficult to intentionally inhale water. He held his breath until he couldn't stand it anymore. He gasped. Sure enough, he could breathe normally.

He grinned slightly, turning around and seeing the blurry figures of his friends. He wasn't drowning today.

He walked down into the shoals. He shouldn't have been able to see through the murk, but somehow, he could tell where everything was. He could make out sand-dollar colonies dotting the sandbars. He could even see the currents, warm and cold streams swirling together. He felt something rub against his leg. He looked down and almost shot out of the water like a ballistic missile. Sliding along beside him was a two-metre-long mako shark.

But the thing wasn't attacking. It was nuzzling against him. Heeling like a dog.

He blinked at it. Maybe Lora was right about the whole sensing and talking to the fish thing.

He slowly touched its dorsal fin. It bucked a little, as if inviting him to hold tighter. He grabbed the fin with both hands. It took off, pulling him along. He let out a little scream as it began swimming towards the edge of the sandbank. It stopped just short of the edge, a few steps away from a dark chasm.

The surface shimmered, maybe fifty metres above. He knew he should've been crushed by the pressure. Then again, he shouldn't have been able to breathe. He wondered if there was a limit to how deep he could go.