Bewitched || P. Jackson

𝕊an Fran is always fun

"Where you guys want to land?" Hank asked, waking Nicki up from a nap.

Nicki's head had been resting on Percy's shoulder. She couldn't remember any of the journey proving how tired she really had been. Percy lifted his head off of its place on top of Nicki's with a yawn.

Nicki and Percy looked down.  "Whoa."

She'd seen San Francisco in pictures before, but never in real life. It was probably the most beautiful big city she'd ever seen: kind of like a smaller, cleaner Manhattan if Manhattan had been surrounded by green hills and fog. There was a huge bay and ships, islands and sailboats, and the Golden Gate Bridge sticking up out of the fog. Nicki felt like she should take a picture or something for her dad. Greetings from San Fran. Haven't Died Yet. Wish You Were Here.

"There," Zoe suggested. "By the Embarcadero Building."

"Good thinking," Chuck said. "Me and Hank can blend in with the pigeons."

Nicki let out a snort. None of the others seemed to find Chuck's joke very funny.

"Kidding," he said. "Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humour?"

As it turned out, there wasn't much need to blend in. It was early morning and not many people were around. They did, however, freak out a homeless guy on the ferry dock when they landed. He screamed when he saw Hank and Chuck and ran off yelling something about metal angels from Mars.

They said their goodbyes to the angels, who flew off to party with their statue friends. That's when Nicki realized she had no idea what they were going to do next.

They'd made it to the West Coast. Artemis was here somewhere. But no one had any idea how to find them, and tomorrow was the winter solstice. Nor did they have any clue what monster Artemis had been hunting. It was supposed to find them on the quest. It was supposed to "show the trail," but it never had. Now they were stuck on the ferry dock with not much money, no friends, and no luck.

Nicki flopped onto a bench with a dejected sigh. Zoë passed her a small piece of what looked like a lemon square. The girl tossed it into her mouth and cringed.

"Ew, why does it taste like that?"

The rest of the group was too enwrapped in their discussion about the mystery monster to hear her. Thalia rested her hand on Nicki's shoulder in an attempt to keep the girl involved in the conversation, despite the fact she had no way to input.

After a brief discussion, they agreed that they needed to figure out just what this mystery monster was.

"But how?" Percy asked.

"Nereus," Grover said.

Percy stared at him. "What?"

"Isn't that what Apollo told you to do? Find Nereus?"

Percy nodded. "The old man of the sea," He remembered. "I'm supposed to find him and force him to tell us what he knows. But how do I find him?"

Zoë made a face. "Old Nereus, eh?"

"You know him?" Nicki asked, standing next to Thalia

"My mother was a sea goddess. Yes, I know him. Unfortunately, he is never very hard to find. Just follow the smell."

"What do you mean?" Percy questioned.

"Come," she said without enthusiasm. "I will show thee."

Nicki couldn't stop giggling when they stopped at the Goodwill dropbox.

Five minutes later, Zoë had Percy outfitted in a ragged flannel shirt and jeans three sizes too big, bright red sneakers, and a floppy rainbow hat. Of course, Nicki was dancing around trying to force even more terrible accessories on the boy.