Our Story: A Percy Jackson (Discontinued)

2. The Zoo of Fishies

One week later...

By now, Sally was used to her routine in the McLean's New York penthouse. Every morning, she'd wake up at six, have a half hour to herself, a half hour to get ready for the kids (make breakfast, prepare clothes, clean up a bit, ect…), then the two would come down and the day starts. It had been easy to take care of Piper since she was such a sweet little girl, but when she and Percy get an "idea", it never ends well. Today was going to be a busy day for the three of them. Sally had started planning out this day since last week when she first met her new boss, Tristan McLean, the famous actor. She just knew the two would love the surprise, or at least hoped they would.

Just when Sally had finished making breakfast, the kids came bounding down the stairs, already full of energy.

"Morning, Mommy!" Percy said happily as he sat himself down at the table.

"Morning, Ms. Sally." Piper said rubbing her eyes, no longer seeming so full of energy.

"Morning. Hurry and eat up. Today's going to be a busy, busy day." She said placing blueberry pancakes in front of her son and strawberry ones in front of Piper.

"Why? What are we doing today?" Percy asked sea green eyes facing his mother.

"Can't say. It's a secret" she said with a smile on her face and a finger over her lips.

"Awwwwe! But I don't like surprises." Piper complained.

"Well, the quicker we get there the less time it'll be a surprise." Sally said slyly. The two kids pouted, but quickened their eating pace.

Once they were done, Sally helped them get ready and they took off in the car Tristan said she could use. The children sat in the backseat of the car in booster-seats as they argued over boys or girls being better.

"But boys are stronger!" Percy argued flexing the muscle his four-year-old body didn't have.

"Girls are strong too!" Piper retorted. "But we're smarter, too."

"Liar, liar pants on fire!" he mocked.

"Girls go to college to get more knowledge," she sang back. "Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider!"

Percy stuck out his tongue at Piper and folded his arms to his chest, accepting his defeat.

Piper laughed "Haha, I win!" she said with a big smile while pointing a tiny finger at Percy.

"Whatever…" Percy mumbled and then looked out his window. "Mom? Where are we going?"

"Surprise, remember?" Sally smiled.

"Awwwe! No fair, at least a hint." Percy begged followed by a "Yeah!" from Piper.

Sally continued driving ignoring the pleas from the kids. Finally, she saw a big white building that read "New York Aquarium" in big letters. Thank goodness four-year-olds can't read.

She quickly found an empty parking spot, and stopped the car. She turned to see the two kids fast asleep in their car-seats. Sally smiled at the adorable sight, and gently nudged their shoulders, "Time to get up, we're here." She said softly.

Piper rubbed her eyes with a little fist as they slowly started to open. While, Percy just closed his eyes tighter and sunk lower in his booster-seat, not yet ready to wake up.

Sally gave another light nudge on their shoulders. "Come on, time to go have fun!" She said kindly with a warm smile.

This time, Percy got up and rubbed his sleepy eyes, then looked around, "Where are we?" He finally asked, half asleep.

Piper lifted her head at the sound of their voices and yawned before opening her eyes. "Where are we?"

Sally smiled. "It's a surprise. Come on!" She said getting out of the car to go to the back and unbuckle the children.

They walked to the entrance together, each kid holding one of Sally's hands, Piper on her right and Percy on the left. Percy took in his surroundings. To enter, you had to go under a green arch with designs of seaweed, schools of fish, bubbles, and a walrus. On the other side of it, he could see tanks of fish and pictures of sharks.

Percy looked up at his mom and his green eyes met with her blue eyes. "Mommy?" he asked just to make sure he had her attention. "Is the place with the fishies?"

Sally's smile grew as she nodded yes to confirm her son's suspicions.

Percy had an even bigger smile as he tightened his hold on his moms hand started running. "Then let's go!" he laughed as he ran with his mom and Piper to the entrance.

As they walked around they had so much fun, all three making fish faces back at the animals. They got to go to gift shops, take pictures, see a lot of animals besides fishes, like dolphins and penguins (although Piper still insisted that dolphins are fishies too). They had a pretty awesome day, even if Percy could've sworn a few fishes talked to him.