LUNACY; percy jackson

03.11

But the sky stayed gray and snowy. No sign of a helpful thunderstorm. "There!" Bianca said. "That parking lot!"

"We'll be trapped," Zoë said.

"Trust me," Bianca said.

Zoë shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. Donnie pressed his hands into the side of the vehicle, his hands glowing as he fried the engine. They left the van and followed Bianca down some steps.

"Subway entrance," Bianca said. "Let's go south. Alexandria."

"Anything," Thalia agreed.

They bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind them for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later they were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from D.C.

As their train came above ground, they could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after them.

Grover let out a sigh. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."

Bianca looked pleased. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."

Grover frowned. "New? But that station looked really old."

"I guess," Bianca said. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway." Thalia sat forward. "Wait a minute. No subway at all?"

Bianca nodded.

Andromeda and Zoë shared an alarmed look, the redhead turning to the younger girl.

"Bianca," She said. "How long ago..." Her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louder again.

"We need to change trains," Percy said. "Next station."

Over the next half hour, all they thought about was getting away safely. They changed trains twice. They had no idea where they were going, but after a while they lost the helicopter.

Unfortunately, when they finally got off the train they found themselves at the end of the line, in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks.

And snow.

Lots of snow. It seemed much colder here.

They wandered through the railway yard, thinking there might be another passenger train somewhere, but there were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow, like they hadn't moved in years.

A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. They must've looked pretty pathetic, because he gave them a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!"

They huddled around his fire. Thalia's teeth were chattering. She said, "Well this is g-g-g- great."

"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.

"Feet," Percy and Andromeda corrected, for the sake of the homeless guy.

Donnie and Andromeda were sitting across from each other, their hands pancaked together, all four glowing as they kept each other warm.

"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoë said. "They cannot help us any more. We must finish this quest ourselves."

"You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kind. "You kids need a train going west?"