Chapter Text
Percy arrived back from the store in a daze. He and his girlfriend Annabeth had an unfortunate run in with a monster on the way there, but as he entered his apartment, he felt sort of hopeful. His mother had been in a really good mood lately, and she’d been telling him about a "surprise".
Sally greeted her son and his girlfriend, shrieking with delight. “There you two are! I have some exciting news!”
Percy chuckled nervously as he stepped into the kitchen, placing his shopping bag on a counter. “What is it?”
His mother smiled even wider. “We’re going to visit your relatives!”
Percy frowned. “Dad–”
“I have family on my side, too, Percy,” Sally reminded him, taking a blue batch of muffins from the oven.
Percy smiled sheepishly, and it didn’t help that behind him Annabeth was muttering, “Seaweed Brain.”
“Come on, sit down.” Sally gestured to the table and Annabeth sat. Percy, however, moved to the stovetop to grab a muffin.
Sally batted his hand away. “Wait for them to cool, Percy.”
He sighed and sat down next to his girlfriend, exasperated. Annabeth raised her eyebrow as if to say, why are you giving me that look? I think your mother’s right.
Sally placed her oven mittens aside and sat across from the two teenagers. “So, Percy, do you remember your Aunt Lisa?”
Percy pouted. “Not really. You never talk about her.”
His mom rolled her eyes and responded, “Well, she’s my dearest little sister, and she’s got a family of her own in Australia–”
“Australia?” Percy interrupted. “That’s on the other side of the world!”
“It’s worth it for family,” Sally scolded, before setting her hands down on the table and getting a more serious expression on her face. “Listen, I haven’t seen them in…” She paused, doing the math. “Fourteen years? Has it really been that long? Well, anyway, she has two children, Emma and Elliot. Last time I saw Emma she was only two years old, and Elliot hadn’t even existed.”
There was an awkward silence. Sally stopped talking, lost in thought. Annabeth eventually pitched in, “That must have been eating you up, knowing that your own son never got the chance to meet his family.”
Sally nodded, still not saying anything for a while, before perking up and turning to Annabeth. “Would you like to come, too? Australia is a very beautiful place.”
Annabeth’s eyes widened, growing pale for some reason. But she still nodded her head, a smile plastered onto her face. Percy stared at her confused. What was she so worried about? Hardly anything scared her.
Sally got up and happily announced, “Alright, the muffins are all cooled off now!”
~♦♢〜✧🌑✧〜♢♦~
Emma pounded her fist on the counter, trying as hard as she could to keep her frustration at bay. She stared down at the world’s most complicated recipe, a recipe for making wonton soup. It shouldn’t have been hard, but it was written in the most confusing way possible, and it made Emma want to grab the cook book and throw it across the room.
But Emma just breathed in and out, trying to calm herself. “You can do this, Emma. It’s simple. You shouldn’t let this get in your way,” she told herself out loud. Then she walked over to one of the cabinets and peered up at the chicken broth on the top shelf.
She sighed and pulled over the kitchen stool, but as she stepped up and reached for the broth, it slipped from her grip and spilled all over her. She let out a huff and ran to the downstairs bathroom, getting on the floor so she wouldn’t fall. Then she watched as her whole body transformed into water, and then into an orange, scaly tail.
Emma looked at in dismay; it was at times like these that she seriously disliked being a mermaid.
She began drying herself off with a towel, when her phone started ringing. Like it always did when she turned into a mermaid with her phone in her pocket, it had magically dropped beside her, and she picked it up uncomfortably.
“Hello?” she asked into the phone.
“Hello, darling,” Emma’s mother responded warmly. “I would have preferred to tell you this in person, but my boss called a surprise meeting. Your Aunt Sally and her son Percy are coming to visit on Tuesday. I think Percy’s girlfriend is also coming. They’re going to stay with us awhile.”
Emma paused, her hand holding the towel hovering over her tail. “But I thought that they lived all the way in NYC. You said that you and your sister had lost contact years ago.”
“And we started talking again!” Lisa said cheerfully. “Anyways, yes, they are coming all this way to Australia and we need to show them some hospitality.”
Emma smiled. “I know how to be hospitable, mum.”
“I know,” Lisa said. “It’s just that your cousin Percy is a very good swimmer. I was thinking that you two could race each other. I know it’s not your cup of tea anymore, but I think it would be really good for bonding. What do you say?”
Emma inhaled sharply, already worried. “Um, I don’t know, let me think about it.”
“Alright then,” her mother said, before another voice, muffled, started speaking. Then Lisa started to speak again, “Listen, honey, I got to go. I’ll talk to you when I get home.”
Emma and her mother exchanged goodbyes. She put down her phone and kept drying herself till she transformed back.
She shot up gratefully and was about to resume cooking when Rikki entered through the front door, which the Gilberts never locked during the day.
“You look joyful, as always,” Rikki commented as soon as she walked in, noticing Emma’s furious face.
Emma attempted a smile as she returned into the kitchen. “It’s just been a harrowing morning. I’m making wonton soup. Want to help?”
Rikki grimaced. “You’re a responsible girl—I think you can handle this on your own.”
Emma smiled. “So helpful, as always.” She threw a towel at her friend, then said with a passive aggressive smile, “Now, please, clean up this spilled chicken broth while I continue solving this recipe.”
Rikki rolled her eyes. “I’m allergic to chicken,” she complained as she moved to clean the broth.
“Sure you are. Didn’t you and your dad own a farm?”
“Yeah, well, we didn’t have chickens.”
“But you were complaining the other day about how you used to get up early in the mornings to gather eggs.”
“Goose eggs.”
“No way.”
They carried on, and with the two of them there, they managed to make wonton soup. It just didn’t taste very good.
“I think we burnt it,” Emma said with an accusatory glance at Rikki, who had immediately spitted out the soup upon tasting it.
“Why are you looking at me? We made this together!” Rikki spat back, shoveling their efforts into the trash can.
“It was going well until you showed up!” Emma said, fuming.
Rikki glared back. “I seem to remember cleaning up a mess of broth that YOU made!”
Emma groaned and turned away, knowing she was right. She didn’t know why she always looked to get mad at Rikki for things. She composed herself before turning back. “Do you know if Cleo is coming today?”
Rikki sighed. “I think her father is taking her on a fishing trip, so no.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “A fishing trip?! But—”
“She knows the danger, Emma. She can handle herself.”
Emma sighed and plopped onto her couch, Rikki following and sitting down with her. “It’s just that I have some news that you both might want to know.”
Rikki’s eyes lit up. “Ooh. Spill the tea.”
“I’m still gonna have to tell Cleo soon,” Emma continued to complain.
Rikki kicked Emma in the shin, begging for attention, “Emma, I’m here. So you can tell me now.”
Emma rolled her eyes and said, “My Aunt Sally, cousin Percy, and his girlfriend are all going to be visiting for…I don’t even know how long.”
Rikki frowned. “You never mentioned those people before.”
Emma threw her arms up in the air in frustration. “Yes, because I’ve never had any reason to think about them. They live on the other side of the world!”
“The other side of the world, eh?”
“Yep, they live in New York City. That’s in Ame—!”
“I know where New York is, Emma,” Rikki said with a cheerful lilt in her voice.
Emma bit her lip. “I don’t understand why they’re coming here, but my mum seems happy about it.”
Rikki smiled in a way that was almost demeaning. “So then what’s the big deal?”
“What’s the big deal?” Emma repeated, astounded. “Apparently he’s a ‘good swimmer’ and my mother really wants me to race him. She says it would be a ‘good bonding experience’.”
Rikki laughed, already heading towards the door. “You're a big girl, I’m sure you’ll be fine. I have a date with Zane. Bye!”
She skipped out the door, leaving Emma with her worries about how many ways this visit could end badly.
~♦♢〜✧🌑✧〜♢♦~
Percy stretched his legs on the deck as the sun rose, relieved to be out of the uncomfy hammock-beds in the lower decks. He was on a ship called the Jazzberry, and it was far from ideal.
But it was a necessary price to pay to be safe from Zeus. Normally people would fly to Australia on a plane, but that wasn’t an option for a son of Poseidon. At least Percy liked the ocean. Annabeth kept getting seasick.
Percy went to the edge of the boat to peer into the blue, crashing waves of the ocean. He was breathing in the foggy air when he heard someone approach from behind.
“Feel any better?” he asked Annabeth, and when he turned to face her, he realized he didn't need to ask. The greenness of her face said it all. But she just shrugged and came to stand next to him.
“Why were you so nervous about coming to Australia?” Percy asked. She looked paler than a polar bear when Sally invited her.
“Australia is a very nice place,” Annabeth began, picking at the grime on the ship’s railing, “but its wildlife is a bit…intimidating.”
Percy smiled as he began to understand. “Right…Spiders and stuff.”
Annabeth elbowed him. “Don’t mock me.”
“I wasn’t!” Percy insisted, throwing his hand up in the air as a sign of peace. Annabeth rolled her eyes at him.
Gods, she looked beautiful. Maybe it was the wind blowing through her hair, but her beauty was more intimidating than any spider Percy had come across.
Annabeth noticed him staring and groaned, but Percy could see that she was blushing.