The Princess of the Ocean

31. Death by Cupcakes Isn't the Best Way to Go

Hey, guys!
Sorry for being a day late, but I couldn't get a hold of a computer
Happy reading!

32. Death by Cupcakes Isn't the Best Way to Go

First, let me tell you a bit about traveling through the Mist.

Not a lot of people can do it. As far as I know, only Hecate's children can.

It's a lot like shadow traveling. Only you don't have to travel at night or in an actual shadow. Mist traveling can be done at any time, but it's easier at dawn or dusk, when the normal mist and the magical Mist mix are barely separate.

Sadie refused to wake up before dawn, and since she was the only one who could do it, we started our quest much later than normal.

Nico di Angelo had told me that shadow traveling can take a lot out of you. If that's true, then Mist traveling is worse.

Children of Hecate usually have powers with magic. Very few can control the Mist, and even then, it's taxing to use it. Think of it as an all magic has a price kind of deal.

This carries over with Mist traveling, too. It can leave the person much more tired than someone who shadow travels. They also can't go as far. Sadie told me that even though she's pretty good at it, she can only go up to five hundred miles, and she'd probably pass out for the rest of the day.

I had offered buying plane tickets but Chiron shot me down instantly. "Zeus doesn't like Poseidon's children much," he had explained. "I'd advise for you to not do any air travel."

Mist traveling kind of felt like having a bucket of freezing water dumped on you while you moved at a billion miles an hour. Your stomach dropped like you were on a roller coaster. A million colors twisted between the black atmosphere.

As Sadie had said, the second we dropped onto the ground, she passed out. Aaron managed to catch her before she landed on a very scared squirrel. It chattered angrily, threw a nut at my foot, and then scurried out of sight.

The forest we landed in looked straight out of a Christmas movie. The ground had at least an inch of snow. The trees were stripped of leaves. Frost and tiny icicles had taken their place. The forest seemed to go on forever, but I heard the familiar sound of a highway somewhere to my right. Probably a few miles from here, but at least we were close to civilization.

"There may be a town close by," I said. "We should probably head over there before nightfall."

"Really?" Parker said. "I was looking forward to freezing to death."

"I'm starting to regret you coming along, Parker."

Something zoomed overhead out of the corner of my eye. A golden brown feather fluttered down from the sky and landed in the squirrel's tracks. I picked it up. It was too big for it to be from a normal bird. Maybe an eagle.

I let go of the feather. "Let's check out this place."

An hour later, we stumbled onto a hill. Below us, dozens of cars zoomed by on a large highway. We were high enough to see the snow-covered hills on the other side of the highway. A small town was nestled in between them. A bell tower loomed over dozens of little shops and neighborhoods.

The sun was about to set when we arrived at the town. It took about two hours to get there. The highway was pretty hard to cross, but we managed without any of us getting flattened by a car. Luckily for us, there was a police car patrolling the area. The man stopped us and seemed worried about Sadie, who was still unconscious and muttering about shoelaces. I batted my eyelashes and hummed a few notes in my siren voice and succeeded in getting us a ride to town.