Chapter Three: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
“Come on. Museums are fun!”
Percy arched an eyebrow at his girlfriend. “Fun?”
“I love art. It’s…peaceful. Romantic. Sometimes sexy. It tells a story, shows an artist’s point of view, puts feelings and emotions into brushstrokes and pictures. Some of them are so detailed they look like photographs!”
“I got lost at sexy,” he whispered to her, low enough so Katie and Travis won’t hear.
She blushed furiously, smacking him. “Oh, shut up.”
“Okay, so there’s ‘American Women: Fashioning a National Identity,’ ‘Piacasso’…” Katie trailed off, reading the brochure until Travis’s arm wrapped around her shoulders. She blushed and stuttered over her next words. “A-and s-something called ‘Big Bambu.’”
“’An Italian Journey,’” Travis read over her shoulder. “’Between Here and There: Passages in Contemporary Photograph.’”
“Let’s just wander,” Percy said.
“I say we start near the naked statues,” Travis offered, talking a step forward. Percy laughed and the girls swatted them both, but they were both smiling, too. They walked towards the hall on the left and entered a room filled with brightly colored paintings, a few bronze statues in the middle, and towards the far wall, torsos of naked women.
Katie snorted when she read the title of one. “Torso of Venus,” she read.
“What about this one?” Annabeth said, squinting at a painting. “Affair of Venus and Mars. It shows Hephaestus catching them with his net.”
“Where’s the cheesy amusement park ride and spiders?” Percy whispered to her, remembering The Tunnel of Love moment from their first quest.
Annabeth shuddered. “Spiders…”
“Wow, is this supposed to be Hermes?” Travis asked, hovering around a little bronze statue. It showed a little guy with winged sandals and headband, one leg up about to take flight. “I remember him being a bit bigger…”
Katie giggled.
An old couple in the room glared at them and Katie bit her lip, trying not to laugh again.
They wandered from room to room and Annabeth noticed how Travis listened intently to Katie’s rants on pieces of artwork, maybe commenting on a certain flower that was painted in the wrong season, or maybe their conversation wasn’t about art at all. Travis was watching her lips move and then his gaze would go back to her eyes. He was smiling, engaging.
“You okay?” Percy asked her.
“Wonderful. They seem to be getting along.”
Percy glanced at them and smiled. “See the way he’s looking at her lips?”
“Yeah.”
“He wants to kiss her. I used to do that to you.”
She smiled. “Me, too.”
“I don’t think I ever stopped doing that to you,” he muttered, his gaze dropping to her lips. Annabeth grinned.
He kissed her once, softly, and pulled away, grinning at her. Her eyes were still closed and she had a dreamy smile on her lips. When she opened her eyes she winked and starting following after the retreating couple.
Percy chuckled and followed.
0000000000
“Shit,” Travis muttered as he passed a security guard who was staring at the group.
“What?” Percy muttered.
“Check out the guard.”
Percy turned, looking at the man. He looked normal—except for the creepy glare he was giving them—for a moment, and then the image flickered like a TV screen changing channels and he could see…dammit.
“Oh, that’s pleasant. You realize if we stab it right here, everyone will think we’re killers and we’ll be on America’s Most Wanted in an hour?”
Travis nodded, glancing towards the girls. They hadn’t noticed the Manticore, yet, but Percy knew the guard was now following them as they walked around.
“This sucks,” Travis said. “At least it’s not a Chimera.”
Percy walked up to Annabeth and kissed her forehead. “Travis and I are gonna visit the little demigod’s room, ‘kay?”
She rolled her eyes and Travis and Percy walked towards the bathroom. The Manticore followed them, thankfully ignoring the girls. It was simple once they had gotten into the bathroom to pull out their weapons. Percy got in front of Travis, knowing he was invulnerable and laughed when the creature swiped at him with his many rows of sharp teeth, knowing it didn’t pierce his skin. But that didn’t stop the creature from knocking Riptide from Percy’s hand.
Surprised, Percy let his guard down and the creature pounced. Travis took the opportunity and ran around, stabbing the Manticore in the back. He turned into dust.
Travis helped Percy to his feet and sighed. “It sucks we didn’t end up in the hospital. Now we have to go back to looking at paintings.”
Percy chuckled. “That was pathetic,” he muttered. “When did monsters get so easy to fight?”
Travis didn’t answer, but smiled. They both turned towards the door but paused. Annabeth and Katie were leaning in the doorway, smirking.
“Damn, didn’t even break a sweat,” Katie muttered.
“Very hot, but I would have preferred more of a struggle, get the blood flowing.” Annabeth had a hand on her hip, eyes twinkling. “Now that you two are done, can we go back to the museum?”
Travis and Percy exchanged a glance. “I think I’d rather spar with the Manticore a little longer,” Percy muttered.
But Katie looked at Travis, winked and turned, walking out of the bathroom.
Travis didn’t even look at Percy as he walked after her. “Well then you’re on your own, dude. I still wanna be kissed tonight.”