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THE THROBBING IN Davina's head and the ache of her body eventually faded. She stared out the van window as Zoë drove. Her eyebrows furrowed when she caught sight of a helicopter, a familiar-looking one. She realized it looked exactly the same as the helicopter from Westover Hall.
"I think we're being followed," she announced, gaining everyone's attention.
Percy looked out his window. "They know the van. We have to ditch it."
Zoë swerved into another lane. "Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover hoped when the helicopter did nothing except gain on them.
"No," Davina shook her head, looking away from the window toward the group. "They probably think it's one of theirs."
"How can the General use mortals?" Percy wondered.
"Mercenaries," Zoë responded. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid."
"But don't these mortals see who they're working for?" Percy questioned. "Don't they notice all the monsters around them?"
"The mist, Jackson," Davina reminded him. "Mortals see what they want to see."
"I doubt it would matter to them if they could see the truth," Zoë added. "Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."
Davina turned back to the window. Zoë was right. No monster had ever hurt her as bad as some of the mortals she'd loved had.
Thalia closed her eyes when the helicopter got closer. "Hey, dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. . . please?" There was no sign that Zeus was paying attention to her prayer. No rumble, no grey clouds. . . nothing.
"There!" Bianca exclaimed, pointing out the window. "That parking lot."
"We'll be trapped," Zoë countered.
"Trust me," Bianca insisted, so Zoë shot across two lanes of traffic and pulled into the parking lot. The group left the van and followed Bianca down a set of stairs. "Subway entrance. Let's go south. Alexandria."
"Anything," Thalia agreed.
The six of them bought tickets, keeping an eye out for anyone seeming to follow them. They didn't see anyone and safely boarded. When the train went above ground, they saw the helicopter circling the parking lot.
Grover let out a breath of relief when they realized that the helicopter wasn't going to follow. "Nice job, Bianca. Thinking of the subway."
Bianca looked pleased with herself. "Yeah, well, I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it because it wasn't here when we used to live in DC."
