the lakes 𖥻 PJO

xi. soup kitchen

"Tell me when it's over," Thalia begged, eyes clamped shut desperately. 

"Everything's fine," Percy reassured her. 

"Are... are we very high?"

They were, a snow-capped mountain range below them, close enough that Percy could touch the snow with his foot if he tried. "Nah," he shook his head. "Not that high."

"We are in the Sierras," Zoë informed them, her and Grover hanging from the arms of the other statue. "I have hunted here before. At this speed, we should be in San Francisco in a few hours."

"Hey, hey, Frisco!" the angel carrying Angela cheered. "Yo, Chuck! We could visit those guys at the Mechanincs Monument again! They know how to party!"

"Oh, man," the other angel agreed. "I am so there!"

"You guys have visited San Francisco?" Percy shouted, trying to be heard over the wind. 

"We automatons gotta have some fun once in a while, right?" The one holding him said. "Those mechanics took us over to the de Young Museum and introduced us to these marble lady statues, see. And-"

"Hank," Chuck cut him off.  "They're kids, man."

Angela couldn't tell if maybe it was her imagination, but Hank felt a lot warmer after that. "Oh right. Back to flying."

They sped up and Angela gripped desperately onto Hank's arm as the mountains were replaced by hills, then farmlands, then towns and highways. 

Grover started playing his pipes to pass the time, Zoë got bored fired arrows at every billboard they passed. Whenever she saw a Target - and there were a lot of Targets - she'd hit the neon red sign with a bullseye from a hundred feet up. 

Thalia kept her eyes closed the whole time, and Percy kicked Angela multiple times. She ignored him. Eventually, he gave up and turned to Thalia. "You did good back there. Zeus listened/"

"Maybe," she decided, eyes still clamped shut. "How did you get away from the skeletons in the generator room, anyway? You said they cornered you."

Percy deliberated for a few moments. "I met this weird mortal girl. Her name was Rachel. Rachel Elizabeth Dare. It was like she could see though the Mist. She caused a distraction and let me get away."

Thalia nodded. "Some mortals are like that. Nobody knows why."

Percy stayed silent for a few minutes. "Well, she was annoying," he said finally. "But I'm glad I didn't vaporise her. That would've been bad."

Thalia nodded. "Must be nice to be a regular mortal."

Angela had thought about that a lot since she'd first arrived at camp, nearly five years ago. If she was a regular mortal, her life would be a whole lot different. Her dad probably still would have passed away, there was nothing mystical about his heart condition, but maybe she would have had a mom. Maybe they would have moved out of Raleigh and closer to Molly, so Molly could have a relationship with her brother's daughter.