17 Chapter 17 Song Of Temptation
The car slowly came to a stop as four people came out of it. They looked around at all of the people on the pier and at all of the people on the beach. There were hardly any people swimming in the ocean, mostly because it was fucking freezing.
"Jeses...I feel like I'm going to barf..." Grover croaked out as he leaned against the car with one hand. The other two also did not look so good, but they weren't to the point of wanting to throw up. "Lucian, do you not know how to drive?!" Percy asked. Yes, they were in this state because of the boy that was completely oblivious and seemed completely content. He drove recklessly and scared his friends many times, and when they asked to switch the driver Lucian would refuse, driving was too much fun!
"Nope! Mama Medusa never taught me, since we never had to leave the house. Who knew driving could be so much fun!?" Lucian stretched out and looked over, really happy. Annabeth and Percy could only sigh to their friend, and look at Grover who was now throwing up his delicious aluminum cans into the trash can with sympathy. Grover came back to the group and wiped some leftover throw up that was on his lip. "You know Lucian, I would be pissed at you if I didn't have more aluminum cans in my pack." Grover grumbled as he reached into his pack and pulled out a soda can and started munching on it, despite the weird looks he was getting from the people passing by.
"Can you not eat your stupid cans in front of people goat boy!" Annabeth smacked the Satyrs arm, causing him to drop his can. "Annabeth! Not cool!" Grover and Annabeth fought as I walk up to Percy who was looking at the map. "So how do you suppose we get the pearl?" I asked Percy. "We're going to have to dive for it. Look, there is a scuba stand there. We can ask him to take us there by boat." I nodded and followed him to the stand, Grover and Annabeth also followed although still spitting insults here and there.
"You there! Would you like to see the world through a different perspective? See what the world is like underwater!" The guy manning the stand said. "Were hoping we could go scuba diving." Percy told the man. "Do you take custome drop locations?" I added on. "Excellent. The normal price will be $200 dollars for 4 people, and yes we do take custome drop locations lf you would like but I will have to see where it is first, to make sure there are no dangers." Percy nods and shows him the map. The good thing about the map is that mortals only see a normal map, so Percy just pointed at the location.
When the man saw the location his face paled. He looked terrified at just looking at the place on a map. "No...I can not take you there." We all frown. "Why not?" Questioned Annabeth. "Sailors go messing there all the time, but no one knows why. We are too scared to even go near the place now." People have been going missing? The man seeing our troubled faces sighed. "Look, I can rent you the scuba gear, but you will have to find some other poor fool to take you there." He pulls out 4 scuba tanks and 4 wet suits.
"Uhh, guys. I think I'm going to have to sit this one out." Grover said getting our attention. "What, why?" Percy asked. Grover just looks down at his feet and crutches and looks back up. We all nod our head in understanding and tell the guy it will only be 3 people. Grover looking at his lower body reminded me of something.
"Hey, where is the nearest place that sells bathing suits?" I asked, since none of us packed for that. He pointed at a stall not so far away with clothing for sale. We all go and purchase a bathing suit, and change in the car one by one.
Once we were all done changing, I couldn't help but notice how sexy Annabeths body is. She had muscles where she should and didn't where she shouldn't. Her black bathing suit only helped to accentuate her already white body, and caused Lucians eyes to slowly trace her body from her long legs up to her well sized breasts, causing him to blush at his shamelessness.
Annabeth seemed to be having similar trouble, as she stared at Lucians 8 pack with a red face. Lucian and Percy were only in swimming trunks, so their chests were bare. Annabeth wanted to crawl in a hole for staring at Lucians body, but she just couldn't help it. When she was little, she used to remember having a huge crush on Luke. He used to spar against her many times topless, so she couldn't help to compare the both of them. Lucian won by a landslide. His body and muscles were just so perfectly chiselled.
Annabeth looked around and noticed that there were many girls looking their way. They were gawking at Lucians body and didn't bother to hide their conversations. There were many comments like "Oh what I would do to him." And "God if I could just have him for 1 night, I would die happy." Annabeth couldn't believe how shameless these people were. She sighed and put on her wet suit with the other 2 guys, and pretty soon they were ready to dive in the water.
"Guys look, there is someone with a boat down there on the beach." Grover pointed to a pretty chubby man that had tan brown skin, curly black hair, and hairy arms and legs. He was walking around and asking people if they would like to take a ride on his boat for money. The only problem was that his boat looked really sketchy. It was worn down and dirty, something no one would want to ride. Sadly they were desperate.
They descended the Pier's stairs and walked through the sandy beach where the man was trying to make a sale. The man saw us walking up to him and smiled widely, showing off his crooked teeth and a particular gold tooth. Percy felt the most uncomfortable as the man reminded him of Gabe.
"Hello there! Would you like to travel the waves? It will be the ride of a life time!" The man shamelessly proclaimed. I couldn't help but role my eyes. Really? The ride of a lifetime? More like the final ride of your life. "Can you take us to this location? We'll pay." Percy pointed to the spot on the map. The man looked at it then nodded with a smile. "Of course! 20 bucks per person." He had a wide smile on his face. "WHAT?! 20 bucks per person to ride on that thing?!" Grover couldn't help but scream out. This was daylight robbery!
"20 per person, take it or leave it. Good luck trying to find someone else who will take you to that spot." The man had a smug smile on his face, like he knew he has won. Grover cursed under his breath and gave the man his money. They followed the guy to his boat that had 'Old Betsy' painted on the side. "My name is Dave by the way, feel free to call me Davey." He said as he helped us onto his boat.
"Old Betsy is an interesting name." Said Annabeth. Dave laughed out loud as he turned on the engine and started to move the boat. "Every ship has to have a name, and this old girl has helped me through some tough times." Percy and Grover sat next to each other paying attention to the map, while I sat next to Annabeth. I saw that she had a necklace around her neck, which I never noticed before. "What's that?" I asked as I held her necklace, making her look down toward it. "Oh, this is my camp necklace. The beads represent how many years I have survived in the camp." Her necklace had 10 beads on it, and each bead had an image. In the middle of the beads, there was a golden ring.
"So what do the images on the beads represent?" I asked her. "They represent something important that happened to you in that year." She said, seemingly having a flashback. One of the beads had a pine tree on it, that looked like the big pine tree back in camp. "What's this one?" She looks at the bead I was talking about and looks hesitant and sad to answer. "You dont have to say if you dont want to." I tell her, causing her to bitterly smile. "No it's okay, it's not like it's a secret...there was this girl named Thalia, who was the daughter of Zeus. She was on her way to camp half blood, but she was on the run from monsters that have been hunting her since she was born. You know about the pact that Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades made right? About not having kids anymore because they were just to powerful?" She asked me. I nodded my head even though I really didn't. I just didn't want her to stop telling the story.
"Zeus ended up breaking this pact, and as you might have guess, this pissed off Hades. Hades sent monster to kill Thalia, even though it was not her fault she was born. When she turned 12, she was on the run from the monsters. On her way to the camp she ran into two other demigods, who she decided to help get to safety with her. This slowed her down allowing the monster chasing her to catch up, and in order to buy time for the two other demigods, she sacrificed herself fending off the monster. Zeus ended up pitying her, and turned her into a pine tree, allowing her soul to protect the camp."
Wow, I never knew that tree had such a story behind it. Thalia huh...Sounds like a brave girl. "Can I ask you something? You were one of the two demigods, weren't you?" Annabeth looked down at her feet and gave a sad smile. "It was me and Luke. We were the ones she gave her life for." There was a long silence untill I broke it. "What about that golden ring?" I asked. She had a complicated look containing anger, sadness, and loss. Damn me and my curiosity. "My father gave this to me." She said. "Do you not have a good relationship with your father?" She shook her head. "Not at all, he resented me along with his wife and children. He had remarried after my real mother left him. I was delivered to him in a golden basket at his doorstep, and he took me on, but treated me like a freak. Since I attracted monsters, his wife wouldn't let me play with her kids. I ended up not being able to take much more, so I ran away at the age of 7." She looked so sad, even though the way she talks about her father is with hate. I put my hand on her curly blonde hair that she had in a pony tail, and rub it in hopes to cheering her up. She looks surprised for a moment, but then starts to enjoy the comfort of someone being there for her.
"What's with the ring then?" I said, taking my hand off her head. Annabeth pouted a little but then quickly continued with her story. "I received a letter 2 years ago saying he was sorry and that he loved me very much. In the envelope was this ring, which my mother gave him. He said he wanted to see me." I looked at her grey eyes, that had a waterfall of emotions pass through them. "Do you not want to see him?" I asked her. "I don't know, I dont think I have enough courage to. What if he rejects me again?" I nudge her shoulder with mine playfully. "Annabeth Chase is many things, but a coward is not one of them. There is no way he would reject such a beautiful daughter." Annabeth felt her face growing warm, so she quickly turned her face the opposite way of Lucian. There's the feeling again, she has felt it before. Once before with Lucian when she first met him, the other was with Percy when they were talking at the edge of the pool, and now again. She felt terrible and confused, why was she feeling like this way with two boys?
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We were getting further and further from land. By the time we reach the spot where the pearl was at, the beach looked really far away.
"You dont think there are any sharks do you?" Grover asked worridly. Even though he wasn't going in the water, he figured a satyr would be a tasty snack for a shark. "Your not even getting in the water Grover, c'mon dont tell me your getting nervous again, just how you were back in Yancy Academy?" Percy asked.
Grover seemed to cringe at the memory. "Dont bring those days up. You know I dont like to be reminded of those days." It seems like Percy and Grover used to go to middle school together? "What are you guys talking about?" I asked. ""Nothing."" Percy and Grover say at the same time. "Guys we're here." Annabeth says as she looks at the small rock formation coming out of the ocean, forming a small island big enough for a few people to stand on.
"Alright, here's the plan. Were going to look around for the pearl down their, and since it's the ocean floor I'm expecting it to be really dark and really deep. Percy, do you know if you can withstand the pressure all the way at the bottom?" I asked. Percy shook his head. "I dont know, I've never tried to see how much I can withstand." I nod. "Alright guys, I have some water proof flash lights in my bag to help with the seeing problem, and I have flares that we will use just in case we get into an emergency. 3 green flares and 9 red ones. We can use the green one when we find the pearl to alert the others." Annabeth said taking out the flares and handing it out. We each had a green flare and 3 red flares.
"I will look for the pearl around the rock formation, while you two look for it at the very bottom. We have about 30 minutes of air so we have to find it before we run out." Annabeth made out the plan. Me and Percy nod our heads, then the three of us dive into the ocean. What we saw down there was actually a big coral reef, which was the reason there was a small rock island popping out. We swim down to the reef and look at all of the fishes that were swimming around. I didn't turn on my flashlight since the sun was lighting up the place very well.
I could see Annabeth who was also looking at the fishes. She tried to reach for one of the fishes that was close by but it swam away quickly. I start to laugh in my head, I could just imagine her pouting right now. I dont wait long as I start to follow Percy deeper into the ocean. It started to get darker the further in I went, so I turned on my flash light.
Pretty soon we reached the ocean floor, and you could feel the water pressure physically. My ears have popped a while ago and I was trying to adjust to the pressure. I look around for Percy and see him searching for the pearl in the sand a few ways off. Since he was searching over there, we will cover more ground if I searched here. I move my hand through the sand to see if I could feel anything pop up.
While Lucian was searching, he suddenly felt something brush past his leg. He quickly turns around but sees nothing. He moves his flash light around trying to see what it was but sees nothing but darkness. He looks at his air, and sees that he has 25 minutes left. Lucian was going to continue searching for the pearl but he suddenly heard a woman singing. Her singing was so calm and beautiful, but no words were sung. It was more like a melody that was being hummed, and felt like he was unworthy to hear the words sung. Lucian looked around and saw a figure shape out in the darkness.
She must have been the source of the beautiful music which made him want to go to her. Lucian didn't realise this himself, but he was slowly swimming toward her. The closer he got, the more he can see who it was. It was a beautiful woman, too beautiful. Strawberry blonde hair, pink full lips, perky nose, and purple eyes that seemed to be glowing. This had to be the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. She had big breast that were being covered by seashells and a slim waist, but when Lucian looked down expecting to see her legs, he saw a pink fish tail instead.
Lucian was now an arms length distance from her. The women moved her hand up to Lucians cheek but frowned when she saw the breathing regulator. She slowly moved her hand toward the breathing regulator while humming her beautiful tune.
'Lucian, wake up! Do not fall for her false appearance. See her for what she truly is, my son. WAKE UP!' Lucian heard a female voice call out to him. Through his diving mask, his amber eyes started to shift color to pink. What he saw in front of him frightened him, what he saw was a terribly ugly woman with thin deathly white hair, with patches missing. Her teeth were an ugly yellow, if you could even call them that, they were more like fangs. Her face was boney and had no meat on her face you can see her eye sockets. Lucian remembered now, this is a Siren. Monsters that like to bring passing Sailors to their doom by enchanting them with a song and their fake beauty.
Lucian noticed that there was a shiny blue pearl in place of one of her eyes. It's the pearl! Lucian quickly pushed the Siren away just before she pulled out his air. The Siren figuring out she had been found out screamed at Lucian. Lucian quickly took out a red and green flare, and lit it. The Siren scratched and put her hands to her face to shield herself from the flares. Lucian raised an eyebrow, seems like she is scared of the flares.
While the Siren was distracted, Lucian reached over to her eye and ripped out the pearl causing her to shriek in pain. Lucian quickly swam toward Percy who didn't seem to notice what was going on. Lucian punched Percy's arm getting his attention and pointing toward the Siren. Percy sees the flares and the Siren and understands, they need to get the hell out of the water. They start their mad swim back to the surface, but suddenly hear the Siren howl, which seemed like a call for help. As they continued to swim, they started to ser numerous figures swim past them while screaching and growling.
Soon enough they were surrounded by other sirens. There were hundreds of them and they were closing their distance on us. I quickly pull out another red flare and light it, and as soon as I did, all of the Sirens became clear. They all shrieked away while covering their eyes, fearful of the flare. Percy saw this and also pulled out his flare. Percy and Lucian were back to back as they swam upward.
Lucian checked his air, and there was only 5 minutes left. After a few minutes the flare started to die, causing me to use my last and Percy his second. We needed to do something or we're screwed. I get and idea and elbow Percy. He looks over and sees me gesturing to my hands and thrusting towards the sirens with an open palm. Thankfully he understands what I was trying to tell him and he starts to control the water. He uses it to push the Sirens that were getting far too close away.
We reach the reef but our oxygen tanks have ran out, I wont be able to breath anymore. I gesture to Percy to launch us up using his water and he nods. I grab onto his shoulders as he uses the water to cause a huge current, making us ride it to the surface. We launch out of the ocean and land onto the boat where Annabeth, Grover, and Dave were waiting on. We land with a heavy thud as I take off my breathing regulator and tell Dave to get us the help out of there!
Dave roars the engine to life and speeds through the ocean and back to the shore line. "Percy! Make sure they don't follow us." Percy nods. "I'll try!" Percy says as he controls the water. I take off my Scuba Mask and take my time breathing in the fresh air. I take off my fins and stand up, taking off the air tank and the top half of my wet suit, letting it hang at my side.
"What happened? What about the pearl? I never found it by the reef, and by the time I knew it my air ran out. I had to come back to the boat and was so worried something happened to you guys." Annabeth said. "Dont worry, I have the pearl. I found it on a Siren that almost lured me into her trap. Luckily I heard a womans voice telling me to wake up, then I was able to see what the Siren trully looks like." Annabeth and Grover were happy that they got the pearl, but frowned when they heard about Lucian seeing the true apperance of a siren.
"You saw what the Siren really looks like?" Annabeth asked, not believing what I was saying. "Yeah, I heared a voice saying that I needed to see past their false apperance, then I did. They are really ugly by the way." Annabeth seemed to realize something. "Lucian, I think that was your mother Aphrodite! She was helping you." Lucian was shocked, his mother? Well I guess it does make sense since the voice called him her son. But why now? Of all times to reach out, why now? I mean sure, he was in danger, but what about the hydra or even the minotaur? The first time hearing his birth mother and it was when he has almost died the third time in his life.
"Okay, we're clear. I don't think they are following us anymore." Percy said as he sat down and heaved a sigh of relief. Annabeth and Grover looked at the map for their final destination, and Lucian sat on the floor of the boat, twirling his pendant that was around his neck.
