Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
🗡🗡🗡
—MISSING out on a fight, especially one where Percy was completely submerged in his element was really disheartening. Judith would never, never admit this to his face, but he was a serious force when he wanted to be. And to miss one of those times? Gods, that sucked.
The tussle underneath the water lasted only a few minutes with one of Percy's limbs or Nereus' fins popping out every once in a while. The group had to avoid the splash zone as the fight came to a rambunctious end.
"You got him!" Zoë said.
"You don't have to sound so amazed," Percy said, completely out of breath. But it only took a moment in the water for him to get his energy back and he climbed up the pier's ladder to kneel next to the soaking god.
"It wasn't amazement, it was impatience. Took you long enough," Judith teased. The boy looked up at her in bewilderment at her rude statement, but noticed the small little smirk that she tried to hide from him and grinned.
Nereus moaned. "Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"
"I've got more than one question," Percy said.
"Only one question per capture! That's the rule."
Percy looked helplessly at his friends. There were too many questions that they had to ask. Judith pulled him to his feet by the back of his shirt, not surprised to find it completely dry. "You know what Annabeth would say if you asked about her over Artemis or the monster. We'll find Annabeth where we find Artemis."
The boy sighed as she whispered these things. "Alright, Nereus. Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting."
The Old Man of the Sea smiled, showing off his mossy green teeth.
"Oh, that's too easy," he said evilly. "He's right there." Nereus pointed to the deck below them.
"Where?" Percy said.
"The deal is complete!" Nereus gloated. With a pop, he turned into a goldfish and did a backflip into the sea.
"You tricked me!" Percy yelled.
"Ugh," Judith pinched the bridge of her nose, all positive thoughts of Percy drowning in the water, "you should have let Zoë or Thalia ask, you absolute numbskull."
Percy straightened out his shirt stubbornly from where her hand had scrunched it up. "It was a lot of pressure! You try fighting a killer whale and an electric eel for ten minutes before asking a profound question!"
