Questing Again

Percy

I was so out of it on my way to the Big House I accidentally fell into the lake. Now, for me that isn't a big deal, but I wasn't ready for it. It stung as I fell into the water. I opened my eyes and screamed. There was a nymph floating over me.She had huge emerald green eyes that gave the impression of a deer caught in headlights and her caramel hair floated around her. "Son of Poseidon," she said in an urgent voice. "I have information for your quest. And a gift! Come, let's have tea," she said, swimming in the other direction. I blinked. Then, with no other options, I swam after her.

She didn't live far. Her home was a cave with a curtain of beads blocking the entrance. The nymph pushed aside the beads and nodded for me to go in. I swam forward and stopped short. The inside was beautiful. Gems jutted out from the sides, making everything glitter with rainbow light. A rainbow weave rug lay on the floor with two beanbag chairs across from each other. She floated in and sat down. I sat across from her. From somewhere nearby she produced two cups of hot chocolate with whipped cream mountains on top. I accepted the mug and took a sip. Somehow, it was still hot. "Sooo..." I trailed off. She took the hint. "My name is Luna. I used to work in the court of your father. Lately I have been off for some personal time. I was investigating the same story that your prophecy came from. Athena is correct, it is about Valerie. Before you ask how I know about that, I am not going to tell you. Anyways, I have more information on the matter. Valerie, as you know, is a child of Athena, but she doesn't know it. What you don't know is why she attracted all this attention. Valerie was working on a project. A project that could change things around for demigods. She was working on something. She didn't know what it could actually do, she just liked messing around with stuff. What she was making was a liquid that would essentially track things. The moment it touched an object the object would absorb it. Even if the object was made of something like, I don't know, metal," She looked at me, as if waiting for me to make a connection. My face stayed blank. She sighed and kept going. "The moment the object, covered in the liquid, passed through something, a puff of the liquid, now turned to mist, would spread out into the thing it passed through, inserting a tracker into it," she said, looking at me again. I still had a blank expression. She sighed again. "Look, if we dipped a sword into this liquid, then sliced a monster with it, we would be able to track it. Then if the monster ever came back to the mortal world, we could track it down easily and and destroy it. Plus, any time a tracker is inserted into anything, it all pops up into the same file, on a computer Valerie had with her. That's why she was attacked. If demigods got their hands on it, tracking and killing any monster would be easy! And imagine, your quest against Kronos could've been made so much easier if you were able to track his body on the ship that boy had! It wouldn't change things right away, because the monster would have to be killed first, but within, say, 10 years, quests would be so much easier! And no more sneak attacks from monsters, or trying to tell if someone who seems harmless is actually a mythical beast! I understand from your expression you don't think this is very revolutionary, but it is pretty cool and if Valerie can do things like this without knowing she's even a demigod, imagine what she can do with her full powers! I don't know where the liquid is now, or the laptop, but I know two thing; Valerie doesn't have it, and neither do her attackers," Luna finished dramatically. I thought her explanation was a bit long, but I had to admit it was cool. I spoke for the first time. "As much as I hate to go, I really should. It's been a pleasure. Thanks so much for the information," I said. "Wait! I have a gift," she called. I turned and she pressed an object that looked sort of like a pearl in my hand. I squinted.

"Wait. Is that..."

"Yes. It is the same gift you received on your first quest. I assume you know how it works. I thought it might be helpful getting Valerie back to camp. I'm sorry there is only one, but that is all I have. Best of luck, Perseus Jackson," she said, and my mind reeling, I swam out the door.