𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 - jason grace

18. THE SON OF NEPTUNE DROWNS

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 an hour, keeping the train tracks in sight but staying in the cover of the trees as much as possible. Once they heard a helicopter flying in the direction of the train wreck. Twice they heard the screech of gryphons, but they sounded a long way off.

Maia figured it was about midnight when the sun finally set. It got cold in the woods. The stars were so thick Maia was tempted to take a picture of them. Then the northern lights cranked up.

Maia smiled as she observed them, thinking of the times she and Jason had tried to study them in detail when they were younger. Maia only really went because, well, Jason was really into them. The way he spoke excitedly about the stories behind the constellations and the meaning behind their names was more than enough for Maia. She liked how he would get lost talking about the things he was passionate about.

Of course, that never really worked out, because Octavian would always get in the way, thinking he was far superior to them, or whatever it was he'd be on about. Reyna would come in and chase him away, though. Cousin of the year for sure.

"That's amazing," Frank said, looking up.

"Bears," Hazel pointed. Sure enough, a couple of brown bears were lumbering in the meadow a few hundred feet away, their coats gleaming in the starlight. "They won't bother us," Hazel promised. "Just give them a wide berth."

Maia nodded. Percy and Frank didn't argue.

After another couple of hours, they stumbled across a tiny village between the railroad tracks and a two-lane road.They passed a couple of houses, a post office and some trailers. Everything was dark and closed up. Kind of creepy, if you asked Maia, but she just wanted to get this over with. On the other end of town was a store with a picnic table and an old rusted petrol pump in front. The store had a hand-painted sign that read: MOOSE PASS GAS.

"That's just wrong," Frank said.

By silent agreement they collapsed around the picnic table.. Hazel put her head in her hands and passed out, snoring. Totally understandable. Frank took out his last sodas and some granola bars from the train ride and shared them with Percy and Maia.

They ate in silence, watching the stars, until Frank said, "Did you mean what you said earlier?"

Percy looked across the table. "About what?"

In the starlight, Frank's face might have been alabaster, like an old Roman statue. "About ... being proud that we're related."

Percy tapped his granola bar on the table. "Well, let's see. You single-handedly took out three basilisks while I was sipping green tea and wheat germ. You held off an army of Laistrygonians so that our plane could take off in Vancouver. You saved my life by shooting down that gryphon. And you gave up the last charge on your magic spear to help some defenseless mortals. You are, hands down, the nicest child of the war god I've ever met ... maybe the only nice one. So what do you think?"

Maia thought it was sweet – how welcoming and accepting Percy was. If the rest of the Greek demigods were like that... well, Maia probably would've wished she was born Greek instead of Roman. She'd have to meet them, though, and see if they really could compare to Percy.

Frank stared up at the northern lights, still cooking across the stars on low heat. "It's just ... I was supposed to be in charge of this quest, the centurion, and all. I feel like you guys have had to carry me."

"Not true," Percy said.

"I'm supposed to have these powers I haven't figured out how to use," Frank said bitterly. "Now I don't have a spear, and I'm almost out of arrows. And ... I'm scared."