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The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn’t eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn’t taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and I was sure that was obvious. Well Annabeth, Grover and I hadn’t taken showers since then, I didn’t know about Y/N.
“Let’s try to contact Chiron,” Annabeth said. “I want to tell her about your talk with the river spirit and Y/N.”
“We can't use phones, right?” I asked as I noticed Y/N pulled his phone out.
“I’m not talking about phones.”
“So you don’t need to make a call… wait I need to call Viktoriya!” He yelped as he quickly turned his phone on to call someone.
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We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, though I wasn’t sure what Annabeth was looking for, but she refused to use my phone for it. The air was dry and hot, which I did not like in the slightest. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city. I wished I could go up one of them, it is usually cold up high.
Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered towards the stall furthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars since two of us were on the news. We were four adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth a glazed dozen would figure we were up to no good, especially the old school cops.
“What exactly are we doing?” Perse asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.
“It’s seventy-five cents,” she grumbled. “I’ve only got two quarters left. Annabeth?”
“Don’t look at me,” she said. “The dining car wiped me out.”
“The dining car I offered to pay for.” I reminded her, and she chose to not look at me. “Here, I have three quarters.” I told Grover as I got them out of my pocket.
“Excellent,” Grover said. “We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn’t as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping.”
“What are you talking about?”
Grover fed in the quarters and set the knob to fine mist “I-M’ing.”
“Instant messaging?” I guessed, raising my eyebrow.
“Iris-messaging,” Annabeth corrected. “The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the goddesses. If you know how to ask, and she’s not too busy, she’ll do the same for half-bloods.”
“You summon the goddess with a spray gun?” Perse and I asked in sync.
Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. “Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow.”
Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.
Annabeth held her palm out to Perse. “Drachma, please.”
Perse handed over a golden coin.
Annabeth raised the coin over her head. “O goddess, accept our offering.”
She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.
“Half-Blood Hill,” Annabeth requested.
YOU ARE READING
Advisor's Son
FanfictionThe Tome of Fates has guided me far on my goals. A mere drop of blood was all that was needed to unshackle me from my servitude to the cursed book. Though such a goal would require a delicate touch. The winds of magic guided me to the frozen north...
