CHAPTER NINE! alternatively titled: annabeth and di get fancy makeovers
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"WELCOME!" A LADY WITH A CLIPBOARD EXCLAIMED.
She looked like a flight attendant—blue business suit, perfect makeup, hair pulled back in a ponytail. She shook our hands as we stepped onto the dock. With the dazzling smile she gave us, you would've thought we'd just gotten off the Princess Andromeda rather than a banged-up rowboat.
Though, our little lifeboat certainly wasn't the weirdest boat in the dock. Along with a bunch of pleasure yachts, there was a U.S. Navy submarine, several dugout canoes, and an old-fashioned three-masted sailing ship. There was a helipad with a "Channel Five Fort Lauderdale" helicopter on it, and a short runway with a Learjet and a propeller plane that looked like a World War II fighter.
"Is this your first time with us?" the clipboard lady inquired.
"Uh..." I said, Percy, Annabeth and I exchanging looks.
"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 of course, a complete makeover for the young gentleman."
"A what?" Percy asked.
She was too busy jotting down notes to answer.
"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."
I don't know what I expected from the clipboard lady, but I was sure that wasn't it. This place seemed like paradise, which made me suspicious.
"I guess it couldn't hurt," Annabeth muttered.
It definitely could, but I shrugged and we followed the clipboard lady. My fingers brushed the handle of my dagger, it was still hooked in my belt loop, I was just glad I hadn't lost it yet. I tend to misplace things a lot.
The place was amazing. There was white marble and blue water everywhere I looked.
Terraces climbed up the side of the mountain, with swimming pools on every level, connected by watersides and waterfalls and underwater tubes you could swim through. Fountains sprayed water into the air, forming impossible shapes, like flying eagles and galloping horses.
Tyson would have loved this place. I felt Percy's hand slip into mine, I squeezed it comfortingly. Somehow I knew he was feeling the same as I was.
We 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. The resort guests—only young women, as far as I could see—lounged in deck chairs, drinking fruit smoothies or reading magazines while manicurists in white uniforms did their nails.
I heard a woman singing as we climbed a staircase towards what appeared to be the main building. Her voice was like a lullaby floating through the air. Her words were in a language other than Ancient Greek, but it was just as old—Minoan, perhaps. I could picture what she was singing about— rays of silvery moonlight in the olive groves, the soft, warm hues of a sunrise. As well as magic. Something to do with magic.
