daylight | percy jackson

lord of da wild

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

BOOK THREE

CHAPTER NINE.

❝ well, you thought wrong. ❞

THEY HAD arrived 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.

Aria was freezing to death by the time they got to main street, which was about half a mile from the train tracks. As they walked, Thalia told Percy and Grover about their conversation with Apollo the night before--and how the god had 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."

They stopped in the middle of town. Everything was pretty much visible from there: a school, a bunch of tourist cafés, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.

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

"There's not even a wingstop," Aria said with a sigh.

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

"Yes," Zoë said. "Coffee is good."

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

Thalia let out a groan of annoyance. "Fine. How about you two get us some food. Percy, Aria, Bianca, and I will check in 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 going with Thalia and Percy, but she followed.

Inside the store, they found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the magazine collection was too big for the population of the town, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and the only easy way to get in and out of town was through a personal 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 there. Cost several hundred dollars."

"There's no fucking way Alamogordo is a real place," Aria muttered under her breath, and the clerk shot her a dirty glance, not fond her of her language usage. 

Percy placed a rubber rat on the counter and dutifully paid for it, giving the worker a sympathetic look. However, when his eyes landed on Aria, his expression contorted to one of pure anger. 

"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 started.

"I know," she said. "I'm checking anyway."

Bianca looked between Percy and Aria and then ultimately grabbed the daughter of Apollo's hand, dragging her outside. Percy shot daggers into her head. 

If looks could kill, Aria would be six foot under by now.

The two girls stood on the porch, tired elbows resting on the rails. 

"So," Aria began. "How do you like the Hunters?"

Bianca gave her a smile. "It's good. I feel...calmer, somehow. Everything seems to have slowed down around me. I guess that's the immortality. Are you still thinking?"