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...
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A small hand nudged my shoulder. It would be best for me just to pretend to be asleep, right? Right. I couldn't deal with this much longer. A second nudge. No. Come on Yvette, just continue to lean your head against the window with your eyes glued shut. Nudge. Maybe I should snore? Would that make it believable? But I don't think I naturally snore so it wouldn't make much sense.
Nudge.
Nudge.
Nudge.
I cracked one eye open, and could see Bethany's reflection in the window shield. "Yes?"
"Please sing with me? Pleeease?" Bethany pleaded. My fingers gripped the cool leather of the seats. My nails almost tore into the material, but instead left faint scratch marks. This girl was too much. Over the past fifteen hours, I kept telling myself that Artemis sent her our way so we could be her protectors, but Gods I forgot how annoying kids could be.
I shuffled in my seat, trying not to make a squeaking sound on the leather. Cash had the heat turned all the way up and I was sweating through my layers of warm clothing. Craning my neck to look behind me, I looked at Bethany with tired, hooded eyes. "Gwen is trying to sleep, and I'm not sure Cash would appreciate singing when he's trying to drive, right Cash?"
Cash didn't look at us, but instead focused on the road. The bags under his eyes were a dark purple, his lip was still split, and bruises littered his face. Honestly, he didn't look sixteen anymore. He looked like he aged ten years and that wasn't a good thing. It probably wasn't best to have him drive, but Gwen was exhausted and I would probably reverse instead of move forward. Instead of saying anything, Cash merely mumbled gibberish, his eyes not moving from the road.
It was 7am, and we were all exhausted. It was December 8th, and we were absolutely drained. It's hard to believe that in three days we've journeyed to a monster filled library, New Rome, and the Underworld in that span of time. I felt like things were jumping too quickly; was this how Percy Jackson felt? I shook my head and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.
"I'm bored," Bethany huffed a little too loudly. She crossed her arms and fell into the seat behind mine. In the row behind her, Gwen stirred and let out a loud groan. For a second, Bethany was quiet, then she turned her attention to Cash.
"Cash?"
"Hm."
"What's your full name?"
"Cassius Monroe Washington."
"Isn't it weird how your name is basically money and then money again because Washington is on the dollar bill? I would think about that all the time if I were you. Did your mom like money?" Bethany rested her head against my seat, she was as tired as us.
With tightened lips, Cash ignored the question. My brows furrowed and I looked at him with sincere eyes. I didn't know anything about Cash's mom, but that question seemed to hit him hard.
