10 , what a pig

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CHAPTER TEN:
WHAT A PIG

We'd arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. The sign said WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO. The air was cold and thin. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.

I was freezing the moment we got out of the train. As we walked, Percy and I told Grover and Aella about our conversation with Apollo the night before—how he'd told us to seek out Nereus in San Francisco.

Grover looked uneasy. "That's good, I guess. But we've got to get there first."

I tried not to get too depressed about our chances. I didn't want to send Grover into a panic, but I knew we had another huge deadline looming, aside from saving Artemis in time for her council of the gods. The General had said Annabeth would only be kept alive until the winter solstice. That was Friday, only four days away. And he'd said something about a sacrifice. I didn't like the sound of that at all.

We stopped in the middle of town. You could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.

"Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."

"There's a coffee shop!" said Grover.

"Yes," Zoe said. "Coffee is good."

"I disagree" I mumbled, not loud enough for anyone to hear.

"And pastries," Grover said dreamily. "And wax paper."

I glanced over to him for a second before reminding myself that he was part goat and not a kid addicted to eating wax paper.

Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about you three"—she pointed between Grover, Zoë, and Aella—"go get us some food. Percy, Bianca, River, and I will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."

I was a Little surprised that Thalia was willing to go somewhere with me and Percy—or rather just me in general.

We agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable coming with us, but she did.

Inside the store, we found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car.

"You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo," the clerk said doubtfully. "That's down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars."

The clerk looked so lonely, Percy decided to buy a rubber rat. I debated on getting one too, but decided against it. Then we headed back outside and stood on the porch.

"Wonderful," Thalia grumped. "I'm going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion."

"But the clerk said—" Percy began.

"I know," she told him. "I'm checking anyway. River come on"

I stared at her wide eyed for a second "pardon?" I wasn't sure if I heard her right.

"I said 'river come on'" Thalia repeated.

"That's what I thought you said" I mumbled glancing back at Percy who just gave me a shrug.

GODS AND MONSTERS , pjoDove le storie prendono vita. Scoprilo ora