daughter of heaven || percy jackson

3.6

⎯⎯ ୨ 3.6: teardrops on my guitar ୧ ⎯⎯

"THEY KNOW THE VAN," melanie huffed, rubbing her palms together. "we have to ditch it."

from the distance, there was a sleek black helicopter — a type of military one, by the looks of it, which was exactly like the one that the group had encountered a few days prior back in westover hall, and it was gaining on them.

"maybe the military will shoot them down," grover said nervously as zoe swerved through two lanes of traffic to get on the i-695 south.

"the military prolly thinks its one of theirs," percy said, gazing out the window. a light trickle of snow had begun to dust the streets below. "how can the general use mortals, anyway?"

"mercenaries," zoe said bitterly. "distasteful, but many mortals will fight for a cause as long as they're paid good."

"don't they see who they're working for though?" percy pondered. "don't they notice all the monsters around them?"

zoe shook her head. "i do not know how much they can see through the mist, but it can't be much. i also doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. sometimes mortals can be more vile than monsters."

the helicopter still continued to gain on the van, making swift progress. zoe's efforts to switch lanes every few seconds to try and save valuable time was looking more and more futile. honking wasn't doing much, either, except most likely making drivers irritated.

thalia closed her eyes and prayed hard. "hey, dad. a lightning bolt right around now would be amazing. please?"

the sky remained ominously gray; with no comforting rumble of thunder graced the air.

all these years, melanie had been frightened by the sound of a thunderstorm or the sight of lightning. now, here she was, fifteen years old travelling with the daughter of the sky. she almost burst into a fit of giggling. almost.

yeah, she was going crazy.

"there!" bianca said suddenly. "that parking lot!"

"we'll be trapped," zoe said.

"trust me." bianca retorted.

zoe shot across two lanes of traffic, getting a lot of "yo!" and "who's letting this crazy ass kid drive?" from other drivers."

"i hate mortals," zoe grumbled as she drove into a small parking lot on the south bank of the potomac. they ditched the van and followed bianca down some steps.