Atalanta knew it would never be that simple. Quests never were, but she was trying to be optimistic for the groups sake so she put on a fake smile and nodded along.
"Not another bus," Percy said warily, eyeing behind us.
"No," Annabeth agreed. She pointed downhill, toward train tracks. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the west-bound train leaves at noon."
The group spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.
There weren't any attacks, but nobody relaxed.
Atalanta tried to distract herself with conversations with Grover or playing slide with Percy, but there was something uneasy that made the golden eyed girl feel as if they were being watched from above and maybe from below.
It was like something was waiting for the right opportunity.
The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as Percy and Atalanta had gotten off the Greyhound bus.
Percy had a wild look in his eyes. His sword was a metallic blur in his hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick, it was hard to tell.
Atalanta looked scary. She had a determined look in her eyes and her sword looked like some sort of metal pipe that was swinging towards an old lady.
To put of frankly, it made the two demigods look very bad in the eyes of the public.
The picture's caption read:
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with three teenage accomplices. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.
The young Asian girl next to him is the long lost daughter of Jonathan Mun, Atalanta Mun. Young Atalanta has been missing for eight years. She is assumed to be helping the young Jackson boy and if there is information that will help capture these delinquents please report it to the nearest police station.
"Don't worry," Annabeth told Percy. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.
The rest of the day Atalanta spent alternately talking with Grover and listening to him tell stories about other satyrs or looking out the windows.
Percy couldn't decide whether to sit down or pace until he wore the floor down enough to see the tracks.
It was slightly annoying but Atalanta distracted herself by looking out of the window.
Once, she spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch.
The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught the raven haired girls eye and waved.
Atalanta looked around the passenger car, but nobody else had noticed. The adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines.
Another time, toward evening, the golden eyed girl saw something huge moving through the woods.
It was ginormous and Atalanta thought it looked like a lion but couldn't see enough to be sure.
Then it leaped through the trees and was gone.
The money that the group of demigods and a satyr got from Gladiola's reward was enough to buy them tickets to Denver and then they'd have to make it on their own.
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Abracadabra | Percy Jackson
FantasyAtalanta Mun has spent eight years of her life playing by the gods' rules. She is at her limit with their games in her life. When a boy with eyes the color of the sea arrives at camp, she might find something she didn't know she needed. [Percy Jack...
