No matter how many times a snake shed its skin, it would always be a snake. No matter how hard Kit Dempsey tried to prove he was no longer a traitor, Camp Half-Blood would always view him as the boy who betrayed them for Kronos. But not Leo Valdez...
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: DEATH IN THE DEEP SEAS
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AFTER A LOT OF pointless bickering and a few threats from Hedge (what a great start), the foursome managed to decide that their first stop would be the ‘Presidential Library’ Leo had parked them beside. As it happened, the ‘library’ was actually the Carter Center where Hedge so nicely asked (demanded) that the staff either called them a taxi or gave them directions to the nearest bus stop. Kit thought that the bat he swung around menacingly really did the trick.
One of the librarians, a tiny elderly woman with greying hair who was fittingly named Esther, insisted on driving them personally. Now, their initial reaction was a moment of panic -- surely this meant she was some kind of villain in disguise, which was seriously just their luck -- but after several more minutes wasted on a whispered debate with a bunch of clueless staff members blinking back at them, Hedge determined she wasn’t actually a monster at all.
“Smells normal,” he grunted. “With a hint of potpourri, cloves, rose petals. Tasty!”
“Great,” Kit sighed, turning his back on the nearest staff member, whose confused blinking quickly changed to a wide-eyed stare of alarm. “Now they’re going to think we’re cannibals. Thanks a lot, Coach.”
They piled into Esther’s Cadillac before anybody could stop them (or worse, call the police on them) and began their trip downtown. Tiny Esther muscled her car through traffic like a pro, regaling Hedge -- who’d stolen the front passenger seat from Percy -- and the three squished demigods in the back with stories about the craziest families she knew in Atlanta. By the end of their car ride, Kit was positive he’d know everything he could possibly know about the old plantation owners, the founders of Coca-Cola, the sports stars and the CNN news people. An odd bunch, sure, but you never knew when the founders of Coca-Cola might turn around and try to eat you (monsters really were everywhere.)
“Uh, so Esther,” Percy said the second she paused to catch a breath. “Here’s a hard question for you. Salt water in Atlanta. What’s the first thing that comes to mind?”
“Oh, sugar, that’s easy,” her amused chuckle made Kit uneasy. “Whale sharks!”
“Whale sharks,” he whispered, rounding on Percy and Frank in horror. Both boys had taken the window seats before Kit could call dibs, cramming him in between them like the forgotten middle child who they took turns to elbow when going around the corners. “Did she just say whale sharks?”
“You have whale sharks in Atlanta?” Frank asked while anxiously scratching at his head.
Esther nodded like they were discussing the weather. “At the aquarium, sugar. They’re very famous! Right downtown. Is that where you want to go?”
