σɾɳιƚԋαʂ (ρʝσ x ɱαʅҽ σƈ)

I Meet the Sea Cow

Percy's POV

Thalia: Tell me when it's over.

Her eyes were shut tight. The statue was holding on to us so we couldn't fall, but still Thalia clutched his arm like it was the most important thing in the world.

Percy: Everything's fine.

Thalia: Are...are we very high?

I looked down. Below us, a range of snowy mountains zipped by. I stretched out my foot and kicked snow off one of the peaks.

Percy: Nah, not that high.

Zoe: We are in the Sierras.

She, Theo, and Grover were hanging from the arms of the other statue. Zoe in one arm, and Theo and Grover in the other.

Zoe: I have hunted here before. At this speed, we should be in San Francisco in a few hours.

Angel 1: Hey, hey, Frisco! Yo, Chuck! We could visit those guys at the Mechanics Monument again! They know how to party!

Chuck: Oh, man, I am so there!

Theo: You guys been to San Fransisco before?

Angel 1: We automatons gotta have some fun once in a while, right? Those mechanics took us over to the de Young Museum and introduced us to these marble lady statues, see. And—

Chuck: Hank! They're kids, man.

Hank: Oh, right. Back to flying.

If bronze statues could blush, I swear Hank did.

We sped up, so I could tell the angels were excited. The mountains fell away into hills, and then we were zipping along over farmland and towns and highways.

Grover played his pipes to pass the time. Zoe and Theo got bored and started shooting arrows at random billboards as we flew by. Every time they saw a Target department store—and we passed dozens of them—they would peg the store's sign with a few bullseyes at a hundred miles an hour and keep score on who hit the most.

Thalia kept her eyes closed the whole way. She muttered to herself a lot, like she was praying.

Percy: (to Thalia) You did good back there. Zeus listened.

It was hard to tell what she was thinking with her eyes closed.

Thalia: Maybe. How did you get away from the skeletons in the generator room, anyway? You said they cornered you.

I told her about the weird mortal girl, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who seemed to be able to see right through the Mist. As soon as I mentioned her, Theo said he bumped into her and told him about me almost stabbing her, since Theo did the same. I thought Thalia was going to call me crazy, but she just nodded.

Thalia: Some mortals are like that. Nobody knows why.

Suddenly I flashed on something I'd never considered.

My mom was like that. She had seen the Minotaur on Half-Blood Hill and known exactly what it was. She hadn't been surprised at all last year when I'd told her my friend Tyson was really a Cyclops. Maybe she'd known all along. No wonder she'd been so scared for me as I was growing up. She saw through the Mist even better than I did.

Percy: Well, the girl was annoying. But I'm glad I didn't vaporize her. That would've been bad.

Theo: I think she was cool.

Percy: (smirks) Don't let Annabeth hear you say that, Miller.

Theo blushed.

Theo: S-Shut up, Jackson.