BY fates design

C.C

Percy sat up. Sure enough, there was a line of blue and brown in the distance. Another minute and he could make out an island with a small mountain in the centre, a beach dotted with palm trees and a harbour filled with a strange assortment of boats. The current was pulling them towards what looked like a topical paradise.

'A resort island in the middle of the Sea of Monsters? How peculiar.' Cassiopeia mused mentally, her body tensed and on edge. She had mostly healed, having eaten far more ambrosia and nectar in a short amount of time than was recommended, but that was better than being a liability.

"Oh my gods!" Annabeth exclaimed. "Did you know all along?" Her face was twisted with shock and mild betrayal.

"Maybe..." Cassiopeia shrugged, "but in my defence, there was a reason I didn't tell you." She raised her hands in surrender.

"Welcome!" Said a lady with a clipboard. She looked like a flight attendant - blue business suit, perfect makeup, hair pulled back into a ponytail. She shook the teen's hands as they stepped onto the dock. With the dazzling smile she gave, anyone would have thought they'd just got of the Princess Andromeda rather than a bashed up rowboat.

Then again, their boat didn't look totally out of place among the strange assortment of other ships in the harbour. Cassiopeia could feel the magic humming in the air as she took in the strange sight, but chose not to comment on it. This was something the others could figure out for themselves.

"Is this your first time with us?" The clipboard lady enquired.

The three children exchanged a look. Annabeth said, "ummm..."

"First - time - at - spa," the lady said as she wrote on her clipboard. "Let's see..." she looked them up and down critically. "Mmm. An herbal wrap to start for the young ladies. And of course, a complete makeover for the young gentleman."

There was a collection, "what?" from the men in the hall, confusion heavy in the air around them, while the women suppressed snickers.

"A what?" Percy asked but she was too busy jotting down notes to answer him.

"Right!" She said with a breezy smile. "Well, I'm sure C.C. will want to speak with you personally before the luau. Come, please."

"I guess it couldn't hurt," Annabeth muttered. Of course it could, but they followed the lady anyway. Percy kept his hands in his pockets, fingers brushing against Riptide and Hermes' multivitamins, but the further they walked into the resort the more he forgot about them.

The place was amazing. There was white marble and blue water everywhere they looked. Terraces climbed up the side of the mountain, with swimming pools on every levels connected by waterslides and waterfalls and underwater tubes you could swim through. Fountains sprayed water into the air, forming impossible shapes, like flying eagles and galloping horses.

"You ok?" Cassiopeia nudged Percy. "You look pale." She placed a hand on his forehead, her fingers cold against his skin.

"I'm ok," he was lying. A blush painting his cheeks as he brushed her hand away. "Just.. let's keep walking." He urged. They passed all kinds of tame animals. A sea turtle napped in a stack of beach towels. A leopard stretched out asleep on the diving board. The resort guests - only young women as far as they'd seen - lounged in deck chairs, drinking fruit smoothies or reading magazines while herbal masks dried on their faces and manicurists in white uniforms did their nails.

As they headed up a staircase towards what looked like the main building, they heard a woman singing. Her voice drifted through the air like a lullaby. Her words were in another language than Ancient Greek, but something just as old - Minoan, perhaps. Percy could just about understand what she sang about - moonlight in the olive grove, the colour of the sunrise. And magic. Something about magic.