We Are Cursed (A Percy Jackson AU) || BOOK 2

Chapter 38 || Frank

Frank knew that Greek mythology was a scarily strange concept, but seeing Europa just made everything worse for Frank's innocent mind. Europa didn't really have clothing on. She looked like Aphrodite did when she walked out of the sea. Her hair was grown so long she could've been Rapunzel, but her beauty was something else. Europa had the gorgeousness to rival Aphrodite.

Her hair was long and dark brown. Her eyelashes were longer than most and her eyes were a sharp, forest green. She had freckles dotting her cheeks and across her nose and soft lips that seemed to shine in the sunlight filtering through the cell window.

"What do you want, Zeus..." Europa trailed off as she looked at them. "Who are you and what do you want?"

She looked scared as she put her hair around her body, cowering away from the three demigods.

"We--"

"Zeus hasn't come in to visit me for the last millennia. If you're looking for his most valued prisoner, you're better off with Antiope and she's on the floor above me!"

"We don't mean any harm, Miss. We come because your brother, Phoenix--"

"You know where he is?" Europa was gripping his shirt now. "Where is he? Who is he with? How do you know him?"

We need to get her therapy ASAP, Frank thought as he pried the girl off of him.

"We have come to take you to him. Zeus is setting you free."

"YES!" she screamed, hugging Frank so hard he thought he'd die. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!"

"Uhm... you are welcome..."

"Listen, we're kinda on a time restriction right now," Annabeth said quickly. "So we need to leave. Like now."

"Oh..." Europa looked confused but shrugged, hurriedly gathering her hair and wrapping it around herself as she tried to catch up to them.

"Uh... do you wanna borrow my jacket?" Frank offered awkwardly.

"Hm?" Europa looked at him before realizing what he meant. "Oh, oh, oh... That'd be nice! Thank you!"

Frank took off the jacket and Europa put it on, the jacket so big that it shielded everything till the middle of her thighs. Getting into Frank's car, they all drove away, Nico uncomfortably trying to adjust Europa's long hair.

"Uh... before we go back to Phoenix's palace, can we stop by Forever 21?"

"And the hair salon?" Nico pushed another clump of long hair away from him.

"Yeah," Frank said.

"What's... Forever 21?"

"A clothing store."

"And... what's a hair salon?"

"You..." Annabeth's eyes were wide as she stared at the girl. "You don't know... Nevermind..."

___

"What is this?" Europa twirled around in the dressing room to examine her outfit.

"It's a pair of jean shorts."

They had managed to get Europa some undergarments using the mist and effectively sneaking her into the mall without anyone noticing, but now it was just a race for time.

"Jean... What are jeans?"

"It's a fabric and we call 'jeans' pants made of denim."

"What's... 'pants?'" Europa furrowed her brows.

"These are jeans," Annabeth motioned to the jeans she was wearing. "And the reason why they're called shorts is because they're short. We don't wear togas anymore, Europa."

"Oh..." Europa nodded before trying to hopelessly buckle the button.

"Here," Annabeth buttoned it for her and Europa looked at the shirt Annabeth had picked out.

"What is this?"

"Just put it on," Frank sighed, exasperated. It was getting uncomfortable in the small space and he was getting a bit claustrophobic.

She shrugged, putting the crop top on.

"Okay, hair salon," Annabeth sighed.

"Don't you have to pay--" Nico started but Annabeth pulled Nico's credit card out.

"Hey!" Nico exclaimed as Annabeth swiped the card. "Thank you!"

Grumbling about how life wasn't fair, he exited the store. Europa's hair was like a train as they tried to carry it, ignoring the stares from the lucky mortals walking by. Entering the hair salon, the woman almost dropped to the floor seeing the amount of hair needed to be trimmed.

"Oh... okay--"

"Miss, we need to hurry. I don't care what you do, just trim it to her chest length and that's good."

"Would you like to donate it to charity--"

"DONATE ALL OF IT!"

"OKAY!"

Europa was sat down in a chair and she kept asking questions.

"What are those?" she motioned to the pair of scissors the lady was cutting her hair with.

"Scissors..." the lady stared at Europa. "Is she okay?"

"She has amnesia. Don't worry," Frank covered.

Washing Europa's hair seemed like a task to the salon worker as she furiously tried to get the grub of thousands of years out of the poor girl's hair. She was lucky dandruff wasn't a thing on godly scalps.

"What is that thing you put on my head and rinsed with water?" Europa asked, frowning at the bubbles left in the sink.

"It's called shampoo..." the worker muttered. "It's a form of soap."

"And what's the creamy thing you put in my hair?"

"Conditioner to help soften your hair."

"What's--"

"Have some water. Please." The lady shoved a bottle of water into Europa's hands and she fumbled to try and open it.

Frank eventually had to go and help her, screwing the cap off.

"Oh..." Europa nodded and proceeded to drink the water, still not sure why it was in plastic or what plastic was.

When the worker was done, Frank almost fainted at the amount on the receipt.

"W-What?" he stuttered.

"You asked me to cut off several feet of hair that basically fills up half of my shop," the woman said. "I'm charging you less than I should've."

"Nico will pay," Frank immediately decided, grabbing the card.

"HEY!" Nico screamed as the amount of money was taken off from his card. "I'm not Percy! I don't have that weird credit card that he has!"

"But your dad can give you more money anytime," Annabeth shot back, smirking at his annoyance.

"Fine..." Nico muttered before he angrily stormed to the car.

Now that Europa looked like a decent girl, they could walk around with her in public. Reaching the woods, they looked at Nico. Nico sighed before grabbing their arms.

"What is he doing--AHHH!" Europa screamed as the shadow-traveling happened.

By the time they had gotten to Europe again, guess where she and Nico were? On the floor.

"Shit," Frank breathed.