Gaea was stopped a decade ago, the monsters now reside in Tartarus, and the surviving heroes of Olympus have begun new generations of demigods. Fifteen year old Yvette Grimes doesn't know anything about this, but she does know something is different...
1. This chapter was originally really big, so I had to cut it in half. (I'm in the middle of writing the next chapter, so expect that in the next few days.) I'm sorry about that! (Jeez, I feel like this book is going to have 40+ chapters.)
2. I pushed the dates back. Originally, Yvette's birthday was December 21st. I changed it to December 4th, so at this point in the story it's December 5th. You'll figure out why in the next few chapters.
Enjoy!
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California was nice.
Getting dropped off in the middle of the highway during rush hour was not.
When we realized we only had 330 drachma, that's what the Gray Sisters decided to do. Yep. Right in the middle of the highway. Luckily for us there was a nice median strip to save us from getting trampled from immediate traffic. The Caldecott Tunnel, while a nice place to hid a secret camp for demigods, wasn't a good place to not get squashed by traffic.
What really irked me was what the Gray Sisters said to me about the quest. Your mother is not your mother. Your sister is not your sister. Obviously it wasn't going to help me find Persephone or my missing mother's location, but it had to mean something. We just had to figure out what.
The two highways split between a hill, creating tunnels that controlled each direction of traffic. Which, to me, looked like eyes. And the metal door in the center looked like a nose. Kind of like the pet rock I made out of clay when I was a kid; just not as scary looking. Snow covered almost everywhere but the streets—the tire tracks were doing that job. But even then, snow fell down at a quicker pace than usual. White clouds covered the sky as it pelted out flakes onto the ground below. I avoided looking at the sky for too long, didn't want the snow getting in my eyes.
"C'mon, Vet! Just cross the street," Cash said from a second median strip that led up to Camp Jupiter. From a regular, non demigod point of view, it would probably be a gate for construction. But to us, it was a metal door guarded by two teenagers in roman garb.
"I don't think I can," I said. I wrapped my arms around myself. Partially for warmth, the other because I was being a gigantic baby. There, I said it. I, Yvette No-middle-name Grimes, was a child. I could face a monster (let's be honest here, I couldn't even do that) but not cross the street. For now, I'm blaming it on the fact that I got into a car accident not so long ago. Yeah, let's go with that.
Gwen sneered. "Yvette, come on. You're whimping out now?"
"Do you want me to come get you?" Cash asked, raising his voice due to the traffic.
"No," I muttered.
Pushing my hair behind my ears, I put one foot out onto the street. And then another, another, another. The problem here was this: in my semi-confident state, I was walking not running. I didn't even realise the car coming toward me, until my name was called out. Quickly, I turned my heel and I covered my face with my arms. The driver hit the breaks, and I held out my arms as if to say, Hey, don't run me over!' Quickly, I ran past the stopped car—a nice looking Red Convertible—and past several other stopped cars who decided they just might let me by anyway. Finally, with my heart pounding in my ears, I got to the median strip...
