Walk With the Shadows [ Percy Jackson OC ]

TWENTY-TWO | Kitty

KITTY WANTED TO FORCE FEED ALEX ambrosia by the time they reached downtown Baltimore, if only to wipe the angry glare off his face. His shoes stopped squeaking somewhere around the outskirts of the city. But she could see the pain he was in with every step forward on the concrete sidewalks or moment standing at a crosswalk.

Ophelia looked almost worse. Almost. The girl just couldn't handle how severe the sunlight was that day. Apollo had a sense of humor, apparently. Or maybe he'd been mad at Alex for mocking him by asking for a quick dry. Regardless, it must've been close to a hundred degrees as the sun reached its peak.

With little shade and running out of water, Kitty made the executive decision to find the tourist hot spots. Surely there'd be a food truck, or a museum, or literally anywhere they could all duck inside, rehydrate, and rest for a bit.

It surprised her a bit, worried her even, when Alex didn't protest. He had led them fearlessly since they'd set out over two days ago. Not that that was out of the ordinary. If he hadn't left Camp Half-Blood with Luke, Kitty figured he'd be running Cabin 11. But he had left. So he didn't.

He led their little gang, though. So when he didn't even try to help her navigate through the busy streets of Baltimore, she knew they needed a pit stop fast. Either those wet shoes had caused some pretty nasty blisters already, or he'd been wounded by the hellhounds and didn't tell them. Either was possible.

And Ophelia. Kitty glanced over at her as they stood waiting for a crosswalk signal. Her beautiful blonde hair that fell about her in ways that sometimes reminded Kitty of an angel looked stringy from sweat. Her usually pale skin burned red as a tomato despite the sunscreen they'd been trying to keep applied. Ophelia looked about ready to collapse as she leaned on Alex's shoulder.

Yeah. They needed to get inside, fast.

They crossed the street. Signs led her to the Inner Harbor. That sounded like a good tourist spot. Kitty had been in enough cities to make an educated guess. Waterfronts meant boats and fish shops and pretty walks along the river. That meant tourists. And tourists meant attractions.

So far, no signs of Laistrygonians like Philadelphia. No signs of any monsters, really. That was a relief after the nearly constant bombardment of attacks for a day and a half. Kitty had nothing against dogs but she had literally everything against big ones with bright red eyes made of black shadows that could pop in unannounced and happened to travel in packs.

Baltimore seemed pleasant enough even aside from the seeming lack of monsters. Quite walkable especially in the downtown areas, with interesting sculptures but also just cool old buildings that had been turned into modern stuff. Like the massive factory they'd just past that had been converted into a restaurant.

"Okay, but hear me out," Kitty said. "Hard Rock Café for lunch."

"I'm not hungry," Ophelia said.

Of course you're not. You're dying of heat exhaustion. But Kitty just turned to Alex. "Alex. Lunch in a converted factory."