Always Protect

Chapter 32

They made it to Denver the next afternoon. June 14th. Seven days before the solstice. They had only been eating as much as they absolutely needed, with the exception of a small trip to the dining car the previous night. They were all dirty and tired after sleeping sitting up for several nights and having no access to showers.

"We should try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "We can tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

"And we can't use phones, right?"

"Nope, but I'm not talking about phones."

They wandered around for a while, maybe half an hour. Annabeth didn't say what she was looking for but the boys didn't bother asking. The air was dry and hot, different from the humidity of St. Louis. The rocky mountains rose up around them on all sides like a tidal wave ready to crash into the city.

Eventually they got to an empty do-it-yourself car wash, going to the farthest stall from the street to hopefully avoid too much suspicion. Three pre-teens hanging out at a car wash without a car.

"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked skeptically as Castor took out the spray gun.

"It costs seventy-five cents."

Percy went into one of the backpack's pockets and pulled out three quarters, once again thankful for their raid on the Emporium.

He handed it over to the other boy.

"We're gonna use an IM."

Percy raised an eyebrow and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Iris Message. Iris is the goddess of rainbows and is also a messenger of the gods."

"So we're going to summon her with a hose at a car wash?"

"We aren't going to summon her," Castor corrected. "We're going to ask her to send our message using a rainbow."

"It'll be like talking to Chiron face-to-face." Annabeth said, pulling a couple drachma out before speaking while holding one up in front of the rainbow formed by the afternoon light passing through the mist being sprayed. "O goddess, accept our offering."

She tossed the drachma into the array of colour and requested "Half-Blood Hill".

For a moment, nothing happened. Then Percy was suddenly seeing strawberry fields through the mist. They seemed to be on the porch of the Big House and standing against the railing with his back to them was a familiar sandy-haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword, seemingly staring intently at something down in the meadow.

"Luke!" Percy called, a smile coming to his face.

He turned, eyes wide. Percy could swear the older boy was standing just three feet away except for the fact that he was cut off wherever the rainbow didn't reach.

"Percy!" Luke smirked, glad to see the Hufflepuff was still alive and well. "And is that Annabeth, too? Where's Castor, is he alright?"

"Right here, Luke." Castor said, ducking in front so he could be seen briefly while still holding the spray gun.

"Thank the gods. So how's it been going?"

"Uh... it's been... we're alright." Percy stammered awkwardly, blushing slightly. "I- I'm sorry... we were kind of... looking for Chiron..."

"He's down at the cabins." The thirteen-year-old's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers."

"Issues?" Annabeth inquired. "What kind of issues?"

Just then a truck pulled into the stall next to them, music booming from the speakers so loudly that they struggled to hear the Son of Hermes.

"Chiron had to- what's that noise?" Luke yelled.