[3] 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐒 ― p.jackson, l.valdez

009.

「009. CRUSIN' QUEEN 」

THEIR LUCK wasn't good, but val was thankful they weren't back at another cruise ship. their jump from portugal had landed them in the middle of the atlantic, where reyna had worn a rather seething scowl as she spent the whole of the day on the dec of a ship dubbed 'the azores queen', barking orders for little kids to lay off the athena parthenos.

for some ungodly reason, every small child seemed to be under the assumption that the very old, historic and important statue was some sort of new waterslide. by the time nico had decided he was well enough to make another jump (which was debatable, but the child of hades was a stubborn shit when he wanted to be and val himself was too tired and so not in the mood to argue with him), they'd managed to find themselves ten feet in the air, hovering over a restaurant courtyard.

beside him, reyna froze, her shoulders stiff before suddenly, they dropped to the ground.

with a crash, nico landed on a large birdcage— which on impact with a body hurtling towards it, broke immediately. three rather put-out parrots squawked, stared at him, and then flapped their wings and took off. hedge hit the canopy over the bar whilst the parthenos landed on its feet with a thump, flattening a patio table and flipping a dark green umbrella into athena's hand, making it seem like the wisdom goddess herself was enjoying a nice cold cocktail.

val, unfortunately, stumbled into a small pond. and by stumbled, what val really means is he fell face first into a pond of koi fish.

"shit!" he yelled, lifting jerking his head above water as koi fish slapped him with their tails. "hey— what the—" a particularly mean looking koi fish with white scales slapped his face and he shrieked, scrambling to climb out of a deceptively large pond. he stumbled back, clothes soaked and glared. "oh buddy," he muttered, eyes narrowing as he stared into the pond. "i'm keeping my eye on you, fishy."

the white koi fish, as if he understood him, splashed water onto his legs, its tail moving back and forth quickly almost like this was its sick way of laughing.

"... well you're going to need a new change of clothes," reyna spoke, dusting herself off from the ground. for some reason, reyna was the only lucky one of the bunch to actually land in a semi-normal place. her voice was tight, eyes glancing everywhere in the courtyard, almost like she knew the place.

"tired," was all nico said, squirming out of his aviator jacket which looked like it had seen better days. "is it safe for us to stay here?" nico's back hit the concrete and he hissed, "stupid claw marks," he muttered, his voice groggy and miserable.

"i mean, it's deserted," val shrugged. he glanced around, taking in their surroundings. as far as courtyards went, this place was pretty nice, but completely empty. the evening sky above them glowed a muddy red with hints of orange peaking through, casting shadows on the terracotta walls that seemed to make them look even redder. hanging azaleas drifted down from metal railings above them for the second floor, and the ground beneath them was a gorgeous mosaic. even the decimated canopy that covered the bar was nicely decorated. or, well, val assumed it was well decorated. coach hedge had destroyed it when he fell through, but the stained wood seemed shiny and well kept.

"this is barrachina," reyna explained, "a famous restaurant in the middle of san juan. they invented the piña colada here i think, back in the sixties."

nico yawned, squinting at reyna before his head fell back again. without saying another word, his body slumped, and soft snores escaped his mouth.

"i don't think we're moving," coach hedge said between mouthfuls of maraschino cherries. he pointed one of the cherries at nico, "kid's passed out."