Chapter Eighteen, Evil Water Bed Salesmen
could tell Percy was still concerned about his dream by the way he was fidgeting in his seat.
"The answer is in the Underworld," I said, trying to convince Percy and myself. "You saw spirits of the dead, Percy. There's only one place that could be. We're doing the right thing." However, that didn't seem to work. Even Grover looked skeptical.
"Hey, don't worry, guys." I said in a fake cheery voice. "Um... why don't we plan out what we'll do to get into the Underworld? Well, we obviously can't sneak in without getting noticed. We obviously have to pretend we're dead."
They weren't responding. I sighed. I didn't want them to be all depressed. Then we wouldn't be able to focus. What would cheer them up?
"Hey, we can say... we drowned in a bathtub!" I suggested. Then I mentally erased that thought. What a stupid idea.
Percy and Grover didn't even look like they were listening, which was good. I didn't want them to say that we all drowned in a bathtub. No one would believe that.
The taxi dropped us off at the beach in Santa Monica at sunset. I groaned and stretched from the long ride. I silently cursed Percy for having to be rivals with Zeus, and then looked around.
I just remembered how Poseidon summoned Percy here. We walked down the beach to the edge of the surf.
"What now?" I asked Percy, wondering what he was going to do.
Percy didn't answer. He started stepping into the surf.
"Percy? What are you doing?" I asked.
I watched, appalled, as Percy ignored me and kept up walking into the water.
"You know how polluted that water is?" I shouted after him, disgusted. "There're all kinds of toxic waste thrown in there. It'll poison you! Do you really want to go in?"
It was pointless shouting that. Percy hadn't even heard the last half of what I said, for he had completely gone under the water.
Well, then. Grover and I just stood there, not knowing what to do. Finally, we decided to discuss strategies for once we got into the underworld. How would we force Hades to give up the bolt? And if it turned out that he didn't have the bolt at all, what were we going to do?
Suddenly, something rose out of the water. Actually, someone rose out of the water.
Grover and I hurried over to Percy.
"What happened?" We both asked at the same time.
"There was another woman down there." Percy explained. "She wasn't the same one as in the Mississippi river. Apparently, she was a Nereid. You know, a Nereid is a-"
"Yeah, yeah, a spirit of the sea." I said. "Go on."
"Well, she said she serves in Poseidon's court. And she said she's been watching me..."
Like a stalker.
"Then, um... I sort of asked why my dad didn't come here to speak to me if he was so interested in me..." Percy mumbled sheepishly.
"Percy!" Grover and I groaned.
Percy grew defensive. "Well, I had a right to ask that! Anyway, she explained to me how gods aren't supposed to help their children directly and how they can't show favoritism or anything like that... Then, she gave me a gift. Three white pearls. Then she said if we are in great need, we should smash the pearls at our feet."
Percy held out his hands and showed us the three white pearls.
I grimaced, but not because I didn't want the pearls or anything. "No gift comes without a price." I warned.
