the lakes 𖥻 PJO

viii. believe it

They were halway across the potomac when Percy noticed the helicopter. It was the same one that had cornered them at Westover Hall, the same model at least. "They know the van," he urged. "We have to ditch it."

"Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover said hopefully. 

"The military probably thinks it's one of theirs," Percy pointed out. "How can the General use mortals, anyway?"

"Mercenaries," Zoë spat. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid."

That wasn't enough for Percy. "But don't these mortals see who they're working for?" He asked. "Don't they notice all the monsters."

Zoë shook her head. "I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals csn be more horrible than monsters."

Thalia closed her eyes and clasped her hands. "Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?" Zeus, predictably, did not respond. 

"There!" Bianca pointed. "That parking lot!"

"We'll be trapped," Zoë argued. 

"Trust me!"

Zoë did what Bianca said, cutting dangerously across multiple lanes of traffic. Once she'd stopped, they all scrambled out of the van, hauling their bags out and following Bianca down a set of stairs. "Subway entrance," she explained. "Let's go south, Alexandria."

"Anything," Thalia agreed.

They hurried through the gates, buying tickets with the money Chiron had given them, looking over their shoulders the entire time. Finally, a train showed up and soon they were riding safely away from DC. The helicopter was still in the sky, but it didn't pursue them.

"Nice job, Bianca," Grover sighed, relieved. "Thinking of the subway."

"Yeah, well." Bianca tried to hide her smile. "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 DC."

That made them all stop, Grover frowned. "New? But that station looked really old."

"I guess." Bianca shrugged. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway."

"Wait," Angela furrowed her eyebrows. Maybe one station, she could understand. Bianca could just be misremembering. "No subway at all?" That was impossible. Bianca nodded concretely. 

Angela had never been to DC before, but there was absolutely no way that they had no subway until the mid '90s. Not when the New York one had been running since before 1910.

"Bianca," Zoë said carefully. "How long ago..."

She stopped, the sound of the helicopter had gotten louder. "We need to change trains." They spent the next half an hour riding the subway a few stops before switching trains. Agela hadn't been able to keep track of what direction they were heading in, but they did eventually lose the helicopter.