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"FEEL FREE to ask me for a piggyback ride while you're at it," Kalani muttered. Thalia had fallen behind and she had grabbed Kalani's forearm as an attempt to keep up. They were jogging alongside the waterfront, trying to get to Zoë's garden before sunset. Why arriving exactly before sunset was so important— well, aside from it getting too dark to see much and also murderers coming out of the shadows— was beyond Kalani. And since they were demigods, killers were not much of a concern for them. Mortal ones weren't, at least.
"Sorry I'm dragging you down," Thalia huffed out sarcastically. A few seconds later, she asked through breaths, "Are you still offering that deal?"
Groaning, Kalani lowered herself onto her knees and let the shorter girl wrap her arms around Kalani's shoulders. "I was kidding but okay," she mumbled. "So why exactly is it so important to get there before sunset?" she said, going at a brisk pace fast enough as to not fall behind from the others, but cautious enough for Thalia to stay comfortable on her back. "Like, do you have some kind of ancient curfew or something? Curse?"
"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoë answered. "We can only enter their garden when day turns to night."
"So a pretty small window," Kalani commented.
"Yes. It is essential we arrive before sunset. Tomorrow is winter solstice. If we miss it, we will have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight."
And Annabeth, Kalani silently added in her brain.
"We need a car," said Thalia.
"But what about Bessie?" Percy asked.
Grover stopped walking, which almost made Kalani crash into his back. "Dude! A little warning next time!" she complained. "I got baggage."
"Is that what I am? Baggage?" Thalia teased.
Grover interrupted excitedly, "I've got an idea! The Ophiotaurus can appear in different bodies of water, right?"
"Well, yeah," Percy said. "I mean, he was in Long Island Sound. Then he just popped into the water at Hoover Dam. And now he's here."
"So maybe we could coax him back to Long Island Sound," Grover said. "Then Chiron could help us get him to Olympus."
"But he was following me," said Percy. "If I'm not there, would he know where's he going?"
"Moo," the Ophiotaurus said forlornly.
"I hear you, man," Kalani said, sighing. "Also, Thalia, while we're not walking and having this very important conversation about the cow serpent thing that the fate of the world depends on— do you mind getting off my back? Got to stretch it."
Thalia slid down from Kalani's back.
"I. . . I can show him," Grover said. "I'll go with him."
Percy stared at him like he wasn't fond about the idea.
"I'm the only one who can talk to him. It makes sense." Grover bent down and whispered something into Bessie's ear. The Ophiotaurus lowed, sounding contented— just as if he had been relaxing in a spa with a facial. Gods, Kalani missed facials. The last time she'd had one was weeks ago. Her skin felt neglected. "The blessing of the Wild," the satyr said. "That should help with safe passage. Percy, pray to your dad, too. See if he will grant safe passage through the seas."
Percy prayed out loud to his dad.
"A prayer like that needs a big sacrifice," Thalia told him. "Something big."
He stood there for a moment, not saying anything as he considered it. Then he peeled off his coat, clutching it by the skin.
"Percy," Grover said. "Are you sure? That lion skin. . . It's really helpful. Hercules used it!"
Kalani blinked, furrowing her brows. "It is a big thing to give up so easily," she inputted with a frown. "Maybe think about it for a minute before sacrificing something like that."
Percy shook his head. "If I'm going to survive," he said, "it won't be because I've got a lion skin cloak. I'm not Hercules." He glanced furtively at Kalani. "And I don't need to think about it. I know this is what I have to do." With one fluid motion, he tossed the lion skin into the water, the golden fur rippling beneath the bubbles as it slowly sank, dissolving into the reflected light. Poseidon had accepted the token of the gift.
"Well, no time to lose." Grover jumped into the water. Bessie glided next to the satyr, letting Grover grab ahold of its neck.
"Be careful," said Percy.
"Don't die," added Kalani begrudgingly. As much as Grover annoyed her, the satyr had good intentions. Despite how horribly he executed them.
"We will— Uh, I mean, won't! We won't die," Grover said. "Okay, um, Bessie? We're going to Long Island. It's east. Over that way."
"Moooo?" Bessie asked.
"Yes," Grover answered. "Long Island. It's this island. And it's. . . long. Oh, let's just start."
"Mooo!"
—•—
After Grover and Bessie took to the sea to return to Long Island Sound, the remainder of the group resolved to travel to Zoë's sisters' garden as fast as possible.
Without a car, they needed some other means of transportation to get there.
Which meant they had to go to the one place Annabeth had been running back and forth from all her life.
Her home. To her dad, Dr. Chase.
"Hello," Dr. Chase greeted from the doorway.
He wore goggles, binding around his head with tufts of his sandy blond hair poking around the strapping. His blue eyes were big and wide in the goggle's lens. Kalani could see the family resemblance starkly. Aside from the eyes, which came naturally from Athena's side, Annabeth had inherited most of her physical traits from her dad.
The middle-aged man glanced at the visitors with a hopeful glint in his eyes. "Are you delivering my airplanes?"
"Uh, no," Kalani said uncomfortably. When she used to picture herself with Annabeth, this was never what she had imagined when she thought about 'meeting the parents'.
"Drat," he said. "I need three more Sopwith Camels."
Sopwith Camels? What were those?
"Huh," said Kalani. "Is that a kind of soda?"
Dr. Chase looked offended, and opened his mouth to counter her statement when Percy interrupted, looking reluctant to jump in to rescue Kalani from a fate of a long, seemingly never ending Ted talk from her friend's dad. "Never mind. Um, we're friends of Annabeth's."
"Annabeth?" He straightened up, shock written all over his face. "Is she all right? Has something happened?"
Kalani kept her mouth shut this time, unsure of what to say. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, and Thalia noticing the taller girl's nervous state, grabbed her hand.
Dr. Chase took turns looking at each person, and sighed, rubbing his temples. He opened the door, leading the way for the demigods to enter. "You'd better come in."
