undoing [percy jackson]

vii. taking the midnight train going anywhere

"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca suggested. She and Zoë were huddling close together for warmth. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoë cut in with a shake of her head. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

For a moment, none of them spoke. They just stewed in their misery, faces flushed from the sting of the icy air. Andi tucked herself into Cass's side. Cass wrapped her arm around Andi's shoulders and pulled her in as close as possible.

"You know," 'Fred' spoke up, "you're never completely without friends." Underneath all of the grime and his unkempt beard, his expression was kind, his toothless smile warm. "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," Percy answered, perfectly polite. "You know of any?"

'Fred' lifted a bony hand and pointed to a gleaming freight train that definitely wasn't there before. The side read SUN WEST LINE. Andi eyed the triple deck of cars behind the steel mesh curtains, trying to decide which one she wanted to crash in.

"That's...convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh..."

They turned back around to see 'Fred' had vanished. The fire had gone with him. Andi glanced at Cass. She looked sad. Disappointed. Like she'd hoped he'd say something, anything, to her and her alone. Andi linked arms with her sister and offered her an apologetic smile. Cass just sighed and pulled Andi in closer.

*

The Yoshino-Mills sisters ended up claiming a purple Ferrari on the middle deck.

Cass was curled up in the passenger seat, Andi in the driver. Unlike Thalia, neither of them was capable of hot-wiring the radio, so they were sitting in silence. Behind the cover of the tinted windows, Andi had gotten changed into jeans and a yellow knit sweater. She didn't feel like sleeping, so she'd separated her hair into two sections and taken to braiding them. Cass was trying to fall asleep but was having no luck, so she was just staring out the window with an odd expression on her face.

It'd been nearly half an hour of relative quiet when Andi's resolve broke and she nudged Cass with her foot. "Hey. I know something's bothering you. Talk to me."

Cass let out a deep sigh. "It's nothing. I'm being stupid."

"Bullshit," Andi shot back. She probably looked really dumb right now, paused halfway through her second braid while frowning at her sister. "You're incapable of being stupid. Okay, well, you're not incapable, but...what I'm trying to say is that your feelings are valid!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Cass said, managing a wry smile. It lasted only seconds before she was frowning again. "I don't know, it's just...I get it, I do. He couldn't break cover. But I'm his daughter! I'm his daughter and he didn't even look at me. It was my first time ever seeing him in person, and he didn't even look at me."

"Oh, honey," Andi murmured. She gripped her hair with one hand to keep it from unwinding and reached over the console to rub Cass's shoulder with the other. "I'm so sorry. But hey, maybe you guys will get a chance to talk when we go to Olympus."

"Maybe," grumbled Cass. She was scowling now, glowering at the scenery passing them by as if it had personally wronged her. "But probably not. Why would he bother to give me the time of day? He has like, twenty kids. I'm not special."

Andi frowned and used her free hand to punch Cass in the shoulder. Hard.

"Ow!" Cass whined. Her withering gaze was focused on Andi now, her eyes narrowed down to slits. She looked scary when she was angry. Dangerous. When Andi was angry, she looked like a petulant child. From behind gritted teeth, Cass ground out, "What the fuck was that for?"