Chapter Text
Annabeth's reflection stared back at her in a perfectly clean, floor-length mirror.
For a moment, she was stunned at her reflection. She was not one to dress up - finding it more inconvenient than anything else - so the sight of herself dressed in an ivory chiton, make-up done, and hair braided back with strings of gold, left her speechless.
It feels nice, she admitted, but also wrong. Very, very wrong. Normally, she wouldn't be caught dead in this much makeup. She could leave that for the Aphrodite cabin and a few Apollo boys with full confidence.
So she retraced her steps. How exactly did Annabeth's lone quest lead her to be dolled up at a spa like this?
It had only been a few days since her quest was issued, though it felt to her as though a year had already swished by. It was the first quest she had ever been allowed on, after a lifetime of waiting. By all means, she had been brimming with anticipation and would have been thoroughly thrilled - if not for the reason of her quest.
To retrieve the Golden Fleece from Polyphemus, to heal the tree of Thalia Grace.
It definitely wasn't the idea of the quest that she had yearned for nearly half her life, but Annabeth had felt compelled to go. If she had let anyone else go, the guilt would've eaten at her faster than the helplessness of waiting around at camp would have. Losing the chance of this quest would cost her more than just a missed opportunity; above all the other uncertainties of this quest, this was the one she was sure about.
The night she had left, Hermes had visited. On the beach of the Sound, overlooking Long Island, he had explained a few tumults of her journey (as well as gods were capable of explaining, anyway) while bestowing two gifts upon her. One of them was a small thermos containing the four winds. Unfortunately, Annabeth had been forced to use it already to steer her boat away from trouble, so her god-intervention quest inventory only contained the small bottle of multivitamins, Hermes' other gift. A weird gift, for sure; she could not imagine a single Cyclops fight during which multivitamins would be useful unless they turned into gigantic primary-colored bears that could rip a one-eyed Greek beast into pieces.
Traveling had been simple, for the most part. She'd borrowed a camp boat to exit the Sound and travel across the sea, with plans to find a more sustainable transport form later on. Annabeth had gotten lucky on her way - only one monster attack, which was easily won with a few expertly aimed strikes.
Upon seeing a mismatch of ships docked at the pier, Annabeth decided that maybe the lush and posh island was where she could hitch a ride. And if not, maybe she could - eh - acquire a ride on one of the boats by her means. She had reigned in her rowing boat beside the largest of the ships, a strangely fantasy-like pirate ship. Some of the other boats, like what seemed to be a speed boat of sorts, covered in a tarpaulin, were covered in green algae and muck with barnacles growing on the sides as though they hadn't been used in years. Some of the other ships appeared as though they had arrived just yesterday.
Though three demigods was the quest standard, Annabeth considered herself lucky to be alone on this quest. It meant any casualties were kept to a minimum of one person. Besides that, it meant she could spend time thinking up plans on her own, instead of having to talk to someone. Chiron had given in quite easily - but then again, the camp's defenses were at an all-time low, and the campers had to be vigilant at all times. They needed as many as they could keep, so he'd agreed so send her off on her own.
Abruptly, Annabeth's thoughts were shattered by a loud REET, reet, REETnoise.
Her knife slipped out of its sheath and into her hand on autopilot as she looked around the room. A strange fire alarm, perhaps? Then it rang out again, a high-pitched noise which made her cringe - nails on a chalkboard. The noise didn't stop until her eyes fell upon a large object covered in a silk sheet. Annabeth quickly identified this to be the source of the piercing noise.
Annabeth walked over with careful, hesitant steps then gently lifted the edge of the delicate silk sheet with the wickedly pointed end of her knife.
She frowned.
It was a guinea pig cage, housing about six guinea pigs. The stench of uncleaned sawdust hit her like a baseball bat, making her wrinkle her nose and breathe out of her mouth.
It was the guinea pig closest to the bars of the cage - an entirely black, long-haired guinea pig - making the horrible noise. As soon as she lifted the silk, though, it fell silent and looked directly at her - absurd behavior for a rodent.
Then she noticed its eyes. They were a shade of brilliant green, less like the grass in the summer and more like the seaweed that danced on the seabed. Definitely absurd for a rodent. And, stranger still, she couldn't help but feel as though she recognized them, albeit very distantly. It unsettled her; she had never owned a guinea pig.
Looking at the other pigs, Annabeth noticed that they shared the same human-like eyes as the black one. The one just behind it was a golden blond color (eerily similar to Annabeth's own hair), with strangely clear blue eyes. She stared at the assortment of guinea pigs, while they stared back at her. She couldn't help but feel uneasy. They did not scutter and dart around the cage like she'd expected. They seemed to hold her gaze steadily. It weirded her out.
The blond one scampered closer and raised its tiny paw, setting it against the wire of the cage. In a single fwoosh, she pulled the silk sheet entirely off and stepped back, still gripping the hilt of her trusty dagger tightly. These were not normal guinea pigs, but nor did they seem to be any sort of monster that Annabeth had read about.
She sent a quick silent prayer to the gods, hoping that these weren't some strange breed of human-like guinea pigs who were hungry for an early lunch of freshly harvested, organic, free-range demigod.
Although they didn't seem particularly dangerous, you could never be too cautious when you were half godly blood.
The blond one gave a shrill shriek, the same ear-splitting reet noise the black one had made before. The other guinea pigs all continued staring at Annabeth, excluding a messy brown one at the back, who seemed to be attempting to knot some straw together with its little chocolate-colored paws. Thatwas definitely strange behavior. She didn't know what they wanted, but it was clear they wanted something.
Perhaps they're hungry? Again, she hoped it was not for demigod.
Annabeth didn't have any food on her to give them, except the multivitamins Hermes gave her. Without her intending it to, that last thought stuck around in her head. Something about how familiar the black one's eyes seemed - the unusual green so rare among humans that she wasn't sure if it was even possible amongst guinea pigs. It was impossible to place where she knew them from if she really knew them at all.
Something about all of their eyes seemed too knowing, too serious and too thoughtful - even the distracted brown one at the back. Before she realized it, she had gotten the multivitamins out. She unscrewed the cap, and tipping three gummies onto her palm, stepped closer again to the cage.
"I'm - I'm just going to try something, alright?" She felt stupid, talking to a group of fluffy, human-like rodents, but the words came out on their own. The pig just seemed to be waiting for her to say something or to do something. Annabeth wiggled open the latch on top of the cage and clicked it open, still breathing carefully out of her mouth to avoid the stench.
Annabeth dropped the three gummies in.
None of them moved towards them. Instead, in almost freakily perfect unison, they looked towards the green-eyed one. This was odd. So incredibly odd, Annabeth thought as she watched.
Ms. CC, the sorceress who had dressed her up, could be back any moment, Annabeth realised.
The black one took a gentle nibble of a yellow gummy, before scarfing the whole thing.
Annabeth was right about those eyes being human-like.
Almost the instant it swallowed, it morphed into a human boy.
Annabeth stepped back quickly as he climbed out of the cage, dusted loose sawdust off his clothes, and grinned.
She immediately realized who the strange pirate ship decked on the pier had belonged to.
The boy had a shock of messy, uncut black hair, matching the fur of the guinea pig he had been, as well as identical clear, green eyes. Half of his hair was hidden by a large, almost comical pirate hat. He wore a fitted white shirt, tucked into some loose-fitting ripped trousers held by an impressive belt with a large bronze buckle, and knee-high, slightly heeled boots.
So, the stereotype of a pirate. He looked so out of place, and slightly ridiculous, that Annabeth could have laughed. She didn't know guinea pigs readily attended costume parties.
"Great! Guys, the gummies are good!" He exclaimed, his smile genuine (and quite lopsided), his voice ecstatic. "Hey, girl, do you have any more of those? Two more isn't going to cut it for five more people."
"Address me as 'girl' one more time like that and I'll turn you into a real pig," Annabeth shot back, still recovering from her shock. The words spilled out before she could think about it.
"Sorry," His smile was lessened, but he was clearly still bouncing. "Please. Do you have any more of those?" he rephrased.
"Better. And yes, I do," she didn't elaborate, her mind quickly forming a simple plan.
"Three more? I'd hate to have to leave Leo," his tone was playful. The extra-fluffy, really curly, brown guinea pig gave an irritated squeak. The other two gummies in the cage were untouched, what with all the other guinea pigs - or pirates - currently invested in Annabeth's talk with this boy.
"Is the huge pirate ship out there yours?" she inquired, with a slight jerk towards the main shore of the island.
"Actually, it belongs to touring ballet performers," he playfully responded. "They're doing the most serious World Tour ever."
She blinked, then scowled at him.
"Yes, it's mine," he answered seriously.
"Give me a ride in return for the gummies for your friends, then."
"Deal," he quipped, hardly stopping to think about it.
After a moment of scrutinizing his face, Annabeth unscrewed the lid of the bottle again and poured the remaining gummies into the cage.
"Where to?" their apparent leader asked, watching her carefully as his friends morphed one by one.
"The Sea of Monsters."
