11 ~ Percy is complaining and Stacy's salty

                                    

                                          
"Do we have to go to the reptile house?" Percy complained. "Lizards are creepy, and I've barely started my lunch. I'd rather go look for Jason and Frank."
                          
Any replies were drowned out by the screaming of a horde of mortals running towards them. Annabeth grabbed a terrified-looking man by the wrist as he rushed past. 
                          
"What's going on?" She demanded.
                          
"The-the reptile house!" he yelped, "one of the snakes escaped - it sounded poisonous!"
                          
Satisfied, Annabeth released the trembling man and he disappeared back into the crowd. Percy sighed in relief. "I guess we're not going to the reptile room, then."
                          
"Oh no," there was a glint in Annabeth's steely eyes, "Now we're definitely going to the reptile room."
                          


                          
Together, the demigods hurried down the path towards the deserted reptile room. It was eerily quiet. Annabeth, who had immediately assumed that there had been a monster attack and the escaped snake was just the mist's way of showing it, hesitated at the lack of the usual fight noises. Maybe the boys had already won?... Then there came a thump followed by a chorus of hissing, and Annabeth broke into a run, the campers right behind her.
                          
When the demigods pushed through the flap curtain, they froze in shock. Jason and Frank, two of their best fighters, lay unconscious on the floor in a pool of monster dust. Faint slithering sounds echoed from around the corner.
                          
Percy drew Riptide and led the way. Leo followed, flame flickering at his fingers. Annabeth kept a hand on her bone sword, and Piper silently pulled Katoptris from its sheath. Hazel closed her eyes and took a deep breath, readying to burst around the corner and face whatever threat had taken down a powerful son of Ares and a child of the Big Three.
                          
Percy started into a sprint, and then came to a halt again so quickly that the rest of them crashed into him and went down like demigod dominoes. Slithering around in front of them was a lone dracaena. She glanced up at them, hissed a quick hello, then went back to studying the glass cage in front of her.
                          
The demigods glanced at each other, bewildered. 
                          
"So, do we attack, or..." 
                          
"Your brothersssss were ssssstupid to interfere with our tassssk. Learn and leave me in peacccce," the dracaena spoke up, still not looking at them.
                          
"And what exactly is your task?" Annabeth questioned.
                          
"To avenge my ssssissssterssss."
                          
The demigods glanced at each other. Jason and Frank must have taken down all the other monsters, and this one was going to kill them to get revenge. Percy raised Riptide. "ATTA-"
                          
Annabeth stuck out her foot, sending him sprawling as he charged past her. She addressed the dracaena. "How do you plan on exacting your vengeance?"
                          
"I will find a way to release my sssissstersss from these cellsss and punish all the mortals who treated them poorly."
                          
Percy's eyes widened in realisation.
                          
"We can't allow you to do that, but I'm sure we can find another way to ensure their safety and comfort."
                          
The monster slithered closer. "How do you mean, demigod?"
                          
"Well, if we-"
                          
"WATCH OUT!" Came a hoarse cry from behind them, and a powerful gust of wind sent the dracaena flying through the air and thudding into one of the glass fronts. She looked horrified at disturbing the snake inside the container, and her last word as she exploded into dust was, "Apologisse...."
                          
Annabeth turned around, appalled, and saw a groggy Jason leaning against the wall, one hand still outstretched.
                          
"Jason! We were coming to a compromise!"
                          
"It's so much easier to poof them than to bargain," Jason giggled. Piper frowned.
                          
"How hard did you hit your head this time?"
                          
Annabeth scowled. "I don't care how hard he hit his head. She wasn't attacking and he killed her in cold blood, so the least he can do is obey her dying wish."
                          
"Whaaaa?"
                          
Annabeth pointed to the annoyed-looking snake inside the tank Jason had thrown the dracaena into. "Apologise."
                          
"Sorry, snake. Also, it wasn't cold blood! When she bonked me on the noggin, it hurted and the blood was warm."
                          
"Not good enough! You have to apologise properly. Get Frank."
                          
As if he'd been summoned, Frank staggered round the corner, rubbing his forehead and wincing.
                          
"What's going on?"
                          
"Frank! You need to turn into a snake and apologise to that one."
                          
Frank just blinked, shook his head and began studying the snake. A second later, he transformed into a small mottled viper, curling and uncurling on the floor.
                          
"Okay. Now Jason, lift him up."
                          
"But-"
                          
"Lift. Him. Up."
                          
Jason lifted him up.
                          
Frank hissed quietly at the snake in the the tank. It flicked a forked tongue back at him.
                          
Their conversation went something like:
                          
I'm supposed to apologise to you for something, I'm not sure what. So, er, sorry.
                          
For which bit? Insulting me, killing my saviour, or banging on my glass?
                          
All of them. We're really sorry.
                          
No you're not. Now leave me in peace. About the banging, I'm used to it, anyway.
                          
Frank tried for a while longer, but it was clear that the snake wasn't interested, so he transformed back. Jason yelped and yanked his hand back just in time.
                          
"How did it go?"
                          
"Her name is Stacy, and she does not accept your apology."
                          
"Well, try again."
                          
All the demigods were so focused on their exchange that none of them heard the mortals approaching. Frank had just transformed again when the animal recovery guards burst into the room.
                          
"Animal rescue and recovery! There is a snake on the loose, everybody out!" 
                          
Against their will, the demigods were ushered out. Frank, who was still in snake form, was left on the floor, trying to slither out of sight. One of the mortals spotted him, and the others followed. The leader spoke into a walkie-talkie. "I have eyes on the snake, I repeat I have eyes on the snake." 
                          
With so many people watching him, Frank couldn't transform back. Not even the Mist could cover that up.
                          
"Greg, identify."  
                          
"Mottled viper. Non-venomous. That cage." 
                          
Oh good, Frank thought, they'll realise that there's already a snake in the tank and let me go.
                          
Another woman headed over to examine the cage. With his enhanced snake senses, Frank could see Stacy curled around a branch, camouflaged, and hear her hissing laughter. Without them, the woman couldn't.
                          
"No sign of a snake. I can't see any damage to the container, I don't know how it escaped."
                          
"Thanks, Maria. Lucy, contain the snake and move it to the secure holding facility until we can work out how it escaped."
                          
With that, Frank was shoved into a tiny container and carried away.