undoing [percy jackson]

vi. bad kitty

CASSANDRA

Cass wasn't having a very good time.

For starters, they had to leave for the quest at the ass crack of dawn. Despite being the daughter of the sun god, Cass wasn't much of a morning person — she got that from her mom. She'd hoped she could get some sleep in the van, but Thalia and Zoë wouldn't stop arguing over every little detail, leaving Cass, Bianca, and Grover to take turns playing peacemaker. At least they'd let Cass pick the music. Playing the 'my dad is the god of music' card worked wonders.

When they finally stopped at the rest stop in Maryland, Cass considered just running into traffic. Maybe she'd get lucky and it'd be her mom driving the car that hit her and she'd save Zoë. But she actually really had to go pee, so she ran to the bathroom. She tried to go as fast as possible, and yet she still ended up having Thalia bang on the stall door and tell her to hurry. Still, Cass wasn't a heathen, so she took her time washing her hands before joining the rest of her group back at the van.

Then it was more sitting in the back of the van while Thalia and Zoë yelled at each other. Cass nearly cried in relief when they arrived at the Mall. At least (if everything was going the way they thought it would) Andi and Percy would join them soon. She got out of the van and immediately searched the streets for them, but she didn't see them anywhere. Grover pointed to the National Air and Space Museum, and the group set off.

Cass couldn't remember the last time she'd been to the Smithsonian. She'd only gone once, and she remembered being disappointed because the exhibits didn't come to life like they did in Night At the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. She'd experienced a similar disappointment when they went to the Museum of Natural History. Museums were always disappointing in her opinion. Maybe it was because of her dyslexia, but the idea of walking around a museum for hours attempting to learn stuff about the past through those stupid tiny plaques that were nearly impossible for her to decipher wasn't really appealing to her. She kind of liked art museums, though.

Thalia checked the doors to the museum. Cass wasn't sure why. It was pretty obviously open, even if it was also pretty void of people. She thanked the daughter of Zeus as she stepped through the door Thalia was holding open for them. Cass might've been slightly annoyed with the girl, but she still had manners.

She found herself hanging towards the back of their group, trailing after them. If they noticed her looking around obsessively, they didn't call her out on it. They probably just thought she was checking for monsters. They had no idea at this point that Percy and maybe Andi had followed them here. They'd find out fairly soon though, and then they'd have to fight the Nemean Lion. Hopefully, Andi had been able to nab a weapon for herself before leaving camp. Otherwise, things could get very dicey.

At last, Cass glanced behind her to see Andi waving her over. Cass took a quick peek at the others. They weren't paying her any attention. They probably wouldn't even notice if she disappeared for a few minutes. She slowly walked backward, then sprinted towards Andi.

"Hey," Cass greeted breathlessly, smiling for the first time in hours as they ducked behind one of the tour groups for cover. "Thank the gods you're here. Zoë and Thalia haven't stopped arguing and it's driving me insane. Did you get a weapon?"

Andi winced. "Okay, well, I have good news and bad news. Bad news is I went to the armory to get a weapon and it was locked. Good news is now I know my godly parent isn't Hermes because I couldn't unlock the door with my mind."

"Well, then it's a really good thing Yan gave me this as a good luck charm," Cass said as she pulled out the celestial bronze dagger from the depths of her pack. "Comes with a thigh sheath and everything."