The Forbidden Daughter | PJO Book One

eight

ARIANA AND PERCY GO FOR A SWIM

They spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.

They weren't attacked once, but Ariana didn't relax. She felt that they were travelling around in a display case, being watched from above and maybe from below, that something was waiting for the right opportunity.

Percy tried to keep a low profile because his name and picture were splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers.

The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as he got off the Greyhound bus. He had a wild look in his eyes. His sword was a metallic blur in his hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick.

The picture's caption read:

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be travelling with two teenage accomplices. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.

"Don't worry." Annabeth told him.

"Mortal police could never find us." Ariana almost laughed. "They're too stupid, too naive."

The rest of the day she spent it by reading one of Annabeths books, or looking out the windows. She wasn't in the mood to engage in any conversation.

Once, she spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at ready, as they hunted lunch.

The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught her eye and waved.

Ariana looked around the passenger car, but nobody else had noticed. The adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines.

Another time, towards evening, she saw something huge moving through the woods. The girl could've sworn it was a lion, except that lions don't live wild in America, and this thing was the size of a tank. Its fur glinted gold in the evening light. Then it leaped through the trees and was gone.

Their reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver.

They couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so the group dozed in their seats. Ariana's neck got stiff.

Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking Ariana up. Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Annabeth and her had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed.

"So." Annabeth asked Percy, once they'd got Grover's trainer readjusted. "Who wants your help?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you?' Who were you dreaming about?" Ariana spoke for Annabeth.

Ariana and Annabeth was quiet for a long time.

'That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs. I guess... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?" Ariana shook her head, wishing she knew the answer.