{BOOK 2} Percy Jackson's Sister

Birthdays are Supposed to be Happy

      We found a truck at the edge of the dump. This time Zoë didn't mind letting Thalia drive. She was still crying.

     We didn't have time to mourn though. Thalia reminded us the skeletons were still out there looking for us.

      Zoë sat in the truck's passenger seat with Thalia. Grover, Percy and I sat in the pickup bed. Grover was still sniffling, trying to hide the fact he was crying.

     Percy clenched his fist tightly around something in his hand, I couldn't see what. He slipped it in his pocket before I could ask about it.

     Death was nothing new to me. But Bianca was so young and had just started her path on eternal battle. The fact that she had died so soon after finding out she was a demigod wasn't right. She didn't even get the chance to find out who her godly parent was.

     I thought back to all the unclaimed kids back at camp who might share the same fate. They lived everyday hoping their godly parent would give them some kind of message, a sign, anything that could make them feel wanted. But the gods left them in the darkness, abandoned.

     For a second, I could see Luke's way of seeing. I mean, the gods did overthrow their parents. Maybe it was just our turn to do the same. Were the gods really any better than the titans?

     I felt Percy scoot next to me, his arm slightly grazing mine.

     "Happy birthday," he said.

     Grover looked up and wiped his nose. "It's the nineteenth?"

     I hadn't even realized all that time had gone by. My birthday seemed to be a stupid celebration considering we had just lost Bianca.

     "Thanks," I told Percy.

     "I'm sorry," he looked down. "For what I said."

     I shook my head. "It's nothing."

     "I didn't mean it. Any of it. I'm beyond happy Poseidon had a daughter. I always wanted a little sister to annoy."

      I smiled. "I hate that you can do that."

      "Do what?"

      "That! Stop making me smile, I'm trying to be angry at you"

       He smiled and kissed my cheek. "Happy birthday, Cassie."

       I wiped my cheek and pretend to be disgusted. "Don't get your germs on me."

      "Hate to break it to you but we share the same germs."

      Kissing on the cheek was normal in my culture. It was our way of greeting. The first time I had done it with Sally and Percy, they found it a little odd. After a couple weeks, they got used to it. Clearly, Percy had even taken up on it.

      Grover hugged me and told me happy birthday.

       Our truck began to make a sputtering noise and came to a stop.

      "Out of gas," I said.

      "How do you know?" Percy asked.

      Thalia opened the door aggressively. "Out of gas!"

      I gave Percy a smug look and he stuck his tongue out at me.

     Thalia slammed the door shut and a tire popped.

     "Great!" Thalia threw her hands up in frustration. "Now what?"

     In front of us, the river canyon glimmered in the sunlight. The rock cliffs dropped below us, so the only option was the river, which stretched out about fifty yards.

     "There's a path," Grover pointed out. "We could get to the river."

     The path he was talking about was a tiny ledge that was barely walkable but did lead to the river.

     "That's a goat path," Percy said.

     "So?"

     "The rest of us aren't goats," I reminded him.

     "We can make it," Grover said. "I think."

      Over the summer, Percy, Annabeth and I had climbed a steep cliff in order to rescue Grover, so it was nothing new to us. But Percy disagreed, probably for the sake of the rest.

     "No," he said. "I, uh, think we should go farther upstream."

      "But—" Grover started to argue but Percy didn't let him finish.

     "Come on," Percy said. "A walk won't hurt us."

    We followed the river about half a mile before coming to an easier slope that led down to the water. Beside the river we found a canoe rental. Because it was winter time, they were closed but Percy left a handful of drachmas and a note saying IOU two canoes.

    "We need to go upstream," Zoe said. Her voice sounded stuffy and sad, it was the first time she had spoken in a while. "The rapids are too swift."

     "Leave that to us," Percy said. We put the canoes in the water.

     As the rest of the group went to go pick out oars, Percy lowered his voice.

     "Look," he pointed to the river. Among the fish, there were faces of teenage girls floating in the water. They giggled at us and vanished. Water nereids.

     "You think you can..." I knew what he meant. In our quest to the Seo of Monsters, I was able to attract the nereids by singing. Bringing them to us was easy for me, convincing them to move our boats was more Percy's job. The nereids were horrible flirts.

     I did my part in attracting them to us once we were on our canoes. Percy hadn't even finished asking for the favor when already we were being pushed up the river.

     Grover fell back in our canoe, his hooves pointing towards the sky. Thalia and I tried not to laugh too hard at him and helped him back up.

      Thalia ruffled my hair and slung her arm over my shoulder. "Happy birthday kiddo."

      "You're only two years older than me," I reminded her. 

      "Yeah, whatever, I'm still older."

      I smiled and thanked her.

      "So," I said. "What's our next move? We can only go west so many miles."

      Thalia nodded. "Whatever monster captured Artemis is definitely near. It scares Zoë, which means he won't be easy ti get by."

      "Hard, but not impossible," I said.

      "And Annabeth?" Grover asked.

      "Wherever Artemis is captured, Luke is bound to have Annabeth nearby," Thalia said.

      "We rescue both, we get the hell out of there," I said.

       "What about the line in the prophecy?" Grover reminded us. "One shall perish by a parents hand."

       Thalia and I looked at Percy, who was talking with Zoë in the other canoe. The gods wouldn't have to worry about destruction if they killed all three of us at once. But the prophecy said one. And right now, Thalia was the closest to sixteen.

    "Let's get through this stream alive first," Thalia decided.