¹𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐒 ! - percy jackson

-008

STELLA FELT UNEASY, THERE was no better way to describe it. She had fallen asleep at the snap of her dad's fingers, but what she expected to follow never came. She didn't have any dreams or nightmares. It was just a normal, restful sleep— something that was very uncommon for her. The lack of signs of what was happening with Annabeth and Artemis made her anxious.

The train had left them on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. The sign said WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO. The air was cold and thin. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.

By the time they got to Main Street, about half a mile from the train tracks, Stella was walking side by side with Percy and Grover.

The satyr had come to wake them up in the car they shared when they arrived in Cloudcroft and found them peacefully asleep, hands still intertwined. He woke them up, and they immediately let go of each other, a light pink hue on both their cheeks.

Stella was very grateful that Percy listened to her and gave her the support she needed as she talked about her difficult childhood. Percy, on the other hand, couldn't believe the girl finally opened up to him and was grateful for her trust.

As they walked, Stella and Percy told Grover about their conversation with Apollo the night before—how he'd told them to seek out Nereus in San Francisco.

Grover looked uneasy. "That's good, I guess. But we've got to get there first."

The winter solstice was only four days away. They had to rescue Annabeth and Artemis before then. Stella wasn't feeling super positive about their chances.

They stopped in the middle of town. They could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.

"Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."

"There's a coffee shop!" said Grover.

"Yes," Zoë said. "Coffee is good."

"And pastries," Grover said dreamily. "And wax paper."

Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about you two go get us some food. Percy, Stella, Bianca, and I will check out the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."

They agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable coming with the half-bloods, but she went along.

Inside the store, they found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car.

"You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo," the clerk said doubtfully. "That's down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars."

Stella watched as Percy bought a rubber rat for some unknown reason. "What do you need that for?"

After he thanked the clerk, he whispered to her, "She looked so lonely."

The four of them headed back outside and stood on the porch.

"Wonderful," Thalia grumped. "I'm going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion."

"But the clerk said—" Percy began.

"I know," Thalia told him. "I'm checking anyway."

Stella walked over to the edge of the railing, watching as her friend walked away from them. Once Thalia was safely down the street, Stella turned back around to see Percy and Bianca standing together awkwardly.