Goodnight Moon ↣ P. Jackson + A. Chase

1.07

"Welcome!"

The woman that greeted them was dressed in a blue business suit holding a clipboard, with perfect makeup and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was pretty, she was willing to admit, but it was in a way that reminded her of Aphrodite's children when they were first learning how to charm someone and were putting it on a little too thick.

(Consequently, Kassandra always loved to see newbies at camp just learning how to use their abilities because most of them had a feeling for it, a sense, but a lot still needed the training to hone those abilities. She hadn't been able to shoot a bow and arrow very well when she came in, but her aim was always spot on.

It was sort of cute, sort of funny, and she tried to help the best she could when was asked.)

She shook their hands as they climbed onto the dock, and Kassandra kept her bag tight on her back. They had stuffed quite a few things inside to make sure they didn't leave anything important behind, and while she knew that the mist would protect her bow from being too obvious, probably making it look like a tennis racket or something, she knew that same courtesy wouldn't be extended to her bag.

"Is this your first time with us?" the clipboard lady inquired.

Annabeth and Percy exchanged looks. Annabeth said, "Umm ..."

"First-time-at-spa," the lady said as she wrote on her clipboard. "Let's see ..."

She looked us up and down critically. "Mmm. An herbal wrap to start for the young ladies and a trip to our resort doctor for this one," she said, motioning to Kassandra, "And of course, a complete makeover for the young gentleman."

Blinking, she eyes the woman carefully, tasting the flavour of her words, and she wondered if having her hearing damaged was affecting her capability to hear a lie properly.

"A what?" Percy asked.

"Right!" She said with a breezy smile. "Well, I'm sure C.C. will want to speak with you personally before the luau. Come, please."

Glancing at her companions, looked accepting, even if they were clearly hesitant. She imagined they were just as hungry and thirsty as she was, maybe even sun sick, but she knew that they couldn't quite hear the foul play at hand as closely as she could. It wasn't exactly a lie -- but it was something!! And the only deception that she would let herself fall mercy to were the attempts of Cabin 11 or a literal god, no exceptions.

"It couldn't hurt," Annabeth mutters to them, following after the hostess lady.

Percy didn't seem to agree entirely, but he follows her lead.

"Excuse me, but do you mind telling me about this C.C.?" she asks, hoping that the question sounds as innocent as she intended it to.

"Oh! You'll absolutely adore her. She's remarkable, you know," the lady answers. Kassandra rolls her eyes at the actual lack of an answer.

The place was what she expected of an artist's eyes for beauty and Greek together. It was full of white marble and shining blue water that belonged in renaissance paintings as opposed to actual reality for she had never seen anything Greek touched that didn't hold a hint of tragedy. Terraces climbed the side of the mountain, pools on nearly every level with flowing waterfalls and fountains of carved horses and eagles in flight.

Kassandra decided that she despised it all. She preferred the messiness of humanity, of people living instead of white marbled perfection. Hades, she would prefer the destruction that was poetry of half-god, half-human.

They passed all kinds of tame animals. A sea turtle napped in a stack of beach towels. A leopard stretched out asleep on the diving board. And plenty of guests in the midst of their spa treatments. All women.