[ the first book in the drops of sunshine series ]
For some, being a hero means saving a life. For others, it means making your mark on the world. For AJ Hood, it means being sarcastic and fighting monsters while illegally skipping out on your cult...
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~ ☼ ~
It took us around a half hour to reach the National Mall.
Even by the time we left Union Station, I was exhausted. My confusion over my powers, frustration over the situation, and fear of what would attack us next combined with the burning in my legs and lungs made a perfect misery cocktail. To make it even worse, it couldn't have been less than 90-something degrees out, and with the humidity of the Chesapeake bay, it felt like 100°. Sweat drenched my skin like a wet blanket, and I was sure I was getting a nasty sunburn under my eyes.
Alec, Riley, and I had been bouncing ideas off of each other for nearly 20 minutes, but to be honest, I don't think any of us knew what to do. Dusk had now fallen, we had nowhere to go, and the only money in our possession was the 5 dollar bill Alec had given me earlier for food - which I never even got any food out of!
I was still holding that ivory violin the Muses had given me, which I couldn't bare to part with, but I'd already seen a few buskers get yelled at by security guards, so playing for money was out of the question. All we could do was just keep walking.
We'd passed the Capitol Building and 2 or 3 museums, but we were getting nowhere. All that laid at the end of the mall was the Lincoln Memorial, and as nice as I bet Honest Abe was, I don't think a large marble statue would've been able to help us. There was no such thing as a demigod embassy, and it turned out there wasn't a big hitch-hiking scene in our nation's capital. Completely, utterly, basically: we were stranded.
And without food, water, or rest, I was getting salty.
"This is pointless." I kicked the sidewalk, which only made my toes hurt. "We should've never left camp."
Alec, who had been whistling God Bless The U.S.A. on loop for the past 7 minutes, stopped and said, "To be fair, you were the one who said yes to Apollo's offer first." He gave me a smug look, his tan skin glowing in the remaining sunlight.
He was right. In response, I just crossed my arms and hmph'd. Maybe I would've retorted with some smart comeback, but then Riley stopped right in the middle of the sidewalk, forcing Alec and I to pause as well. Her eyes were on a building to our right, across the street, one of the many museums that had closed hours ago.
Nudging us in the arms, she hissed, "Guys, do you see that?"
I followed her gaze, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. The museum was large and stony, plain as can be with architecture straight out of the 1960s. Down in front of its main steps, a man with a bright yellow food cart was peddling falafel and gyros. The heavenly scent of meat and spices wafted through the summer air, and I sighed. "Food."
"What?" Riley gave me a strange look. "No, past that. On the roof."
Dramatically, I groaned. Then, I tilted my head up, and saw exactly what my sister was pointing to: two bright gold creatures, crawling around like drunk bar patrons at 2 a.m. They almost looked like snakes, except with large wings sprouting out of their backs that glinted when the sunlight caught on their scales.
