¹𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐒 ! - percy jackson

-007

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.

Stella was glad she was a daughter of Apollo because she still felt coated by a layer of warmth even though the sun was barely peeking through the clouds.

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 them were covered in snow like they hadn't moved in years.

A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. They must have 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. Stella had never seen this homeless man before, but something about him seemed eerily familiar.

Thalia's teeth were chattering. "Well, this is g-g-g-great."

"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.

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

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

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

Stella knew Zoë was right; they were on their own.

She gazed miserably around the rail yard. Somewhere, far to the west, her best friend was in danger. Artemis was in chains. A doomsday monster was on the loose. And they were stuck on the outskirts of D.C., sharing a homeless person's fire. She was starting to feel a little hopeless about their prospects.

"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?"

"Yes, sir," Percy said. "You know of any?"

He pointed one greasy hand.

Suddenly, Stella noticed a freight train gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains with steel mesh curtains and a triple deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.

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

She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of them was cold and empty, as if he'd taken the flames with him.

"Is it just me, or did he remind anyone of—" Stella started saying before she cut herself off and shook her head. "Nevermind, let's get on that train."

An hour later, they were rumbling west.

There was no problem about who would drive now because they all got their own luxury car. Zoë and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover was playing race car driver behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.C.

Stella was sitting in the reclined driver's seat of an army-green Land Rover Defender. She had no idea where Percy ended up until he opened the door on the passenger's side.

"Join you?" Pecy's voice cut through the ambient hum of the car's engine.

"Hop in, waterboy," Stella replied with a playful grin.

Percy opened the passenger's side door, and his tall figure slid into the shotgun seat, reclining it to meet Stella's level.

As Percy settled into the seat, the atmosphere in the car seemed to shift, and the low rumble of the engine melded with the soft notes of the radio playing an indie folk tune. The music was so faint, almost a whisper, as if it were woven into the very fabric of the vehicle, adding a subtle soundtrack to their conversation.