daughter of heaven || percy jackson

2.5

⎯⎯ ୨ 2.5: i wish i was a normal girl ୧ ⎯⎯

AS THEY RACED over the sea, the three demigods tried to send an iris message to chiron. they figured it must be important for someone else besides them to know what luke was up to, and they didn't know who else to trust.

the wind from the thermos stirred up a nice sea spray that made a majestic rainbow in the sunlight— perfect for an iris message—but the connection was still poor.

when annabeth threw a gold drachma into the mist and prayed for the rainbow goddess to show them chiron, his face appeared all right, but there was some kind of weird strobe light flashing in the background and rock music blaring, like he was at a dance club.

they told him about sneaking away from camp, and luke and the princess andromeda and the golden box for kronos's remains, but between the noise on his end and the rushing wind and water on their end, she's not sure how much the centaur heard.

"percy," chiron yelled over the noise. "you have to watch out for-"

his voice was drowned out by loud shouting behind him—a bunch of voices whooping it up like comanche warriors.

"what?" percy yelled.

"curse my relatives!" chiron ducked as a plate flew over his head and shattered somewhere out of sight. "annabeth, melanie, you shouldn't have let percy leave camp! but if you do get the fleece—"

"yeah, baby!" somebody behind chiron yelled. "woo-hoooooo!"

the music got cranked up, subwoofers so loud it made their boat vibrate.

"—miami," chiron was yelling. "i'll try to keep watch—"

their misty screen smashed apart like someone on the other side had thrown a bottle at it, and chiron was gone.

"well, that's just amazing," melanie muttered wryly.

an hour later they finally spotted land—a long stretch of beach lined with high-rise hotels. the water became crowded with fishing boats and tankers. a coast guard cruiser passed on their starboard side, then turned like it wanted a second look. it probably isn't every day they see a yellow lifeboat with no engine going a hundred knots an hour, manned by four kids.

"that's virginia beach!" annabeth said as they approached the shoreline. bad memories started circulating back into melanie's mind. "oh my gods, how did the princess andromeda travel so far overnight? that's like—"

"five hundred and thirty nautical miles," percy blurted.

the girls stared at him. "how did you know that?" melanie asked.

"i—i'm not sure."

annabeth thought for a moment. "percy, what's our position?"

"36 degrees, 44 minutes north, 76 degrees, 2 minutes west," percy said immediately. then he shook his head. "whoa. how did i know that?"