Tempest

Seventeen

[ad undas / to the waves]

"I swear it looks different on a post card." Reese pressed his hands up against the taxi's windows, trying to get as close to the foggy window as possible. He smudged the condensation away from the glass, peering outside at the city racing past.

Tessa rolled her eyes. It was too early for this. "How about we see if you're right as soon as we're done here?" She suggested, sarcasm laced in her voice. She leant against her window, taking a deep breath.

She and her friends had left their luxurious suite in Los Angeles early in the morning in hopes to reach San Francisco by noon. They'd gotten extra supplies, food, and money from Mr. Akagi before they left, who also had received a vision from Iris that Tessa's brother was somewhere near the Golden Gate. Now, Tessa and her friends sat in a taxi, weaving towards the bridge in the distance.

"Tessa, where are we going again?" Dale asked, nudging the daughter of Poseidon with her knee.

Tessa dug into her pocket, retrieving the crumpled sticky note on which Mr. Akagi had scribbled the only clue they had as to where Tessa's brother could be found. "Pier 39," she reported, looking from Dale to the taxi driver.

"Lovely area!" He exclaimed. "You kids will love it there. Say, why are you five headed here anyway?"

"Don't worry about that, just keep driving." Kaden's voice took on its silky tone, as it always did when he used his charmspeak. He looked distracted though, peering out the windows as if he were looking for something amidst the blurring landscape. Tessa squinted at the son of Aphrodite, aware of the secrets he hid, and wondered what else he could be hiding.

Tessa shook her head softly to herself, forcing her gaze out the window. She tried to focus on the task at hand: find her brother, get information, kick some godly butt. However, the more she thought about what she and her friends were expected to do, the more she felt like she had become Atlas, carrying a burden of another world on her shoulders.

After a little while, the golden pillars rose in the distance, and masses of tourists moved in flocks down the sidewalks of the pier. Music played from some speaker in the distance, and Tessa could hear the muffled sounds of sea lions barking near the docks.

"Here we go, Pier 39," The taxi driver announced. "To your left, you'll see the Golden Gate Bridge. To your right, you'll see...well, a lot of things." He pulled the van along the curb, and the doors on either side slid open.

"Thanks a lot, sir!" Reese said cheerfully, hopping out of the van.

"Not a problem, kid. But..." The taxi driver jerked a thumb to the blinking price on the small screen atop the dashboard. It was a larger figure than Tessa cared to admit but to her surprise, Mark dug out a Ziploc bag filled with cash, and handed the fraction of it necessary over to the driver.

"Where'd you get all that?" Tessa hissed to the son of Iris. Mark's father had given them money to get by, but definitely not that much.

Mark grinned impishly. "Where else? Vegas, baby!" He zipped the bag shut in triumph, stuffing it back into his gray backpack.

Tessa blinked, scampering out of the car. Kaden and Mark joined her, and they congregated with Dale and Reese, who were already trying to find a postcard to compare the gate to in reality.

"Mark, where'd you get all of that money, man?" Reese asked, looking up from his postcard.

Mark held a hand to his heart as if he were touched. "I'll have to enlighten you all on the tales of Mark the Great when all of this nonsense is over with. Now." He clapped his hands together, facing Tessa. "Where can we find this brother of yours?"