invisible string | f. zhang

xi. alaska does not look good on maribelle

"Because that's not the way," Jason answers.

She giggles as Gabe jabs her in the side. Jason sits up abruptly, "I have to go. I promised Reyna to —"

"Oo," Maribelle teases.

"It's not like that," Jason glares.

"Yeah, sure," Maribelle continues but Jason huffs and storms away.  She frowns.

"Don't worry about him," Gabe shrugs, "He's just being a moody teen."

Maribelle laughs, "I'm glad I have one mature friend."

Gabe laughs at that, then rises to his feet, offering his hand to her. Maribelle takes it gladly. "Let's do it again."

She groans, but does as he says.

"Maribelle," Frank shakes her shoulders gently, she slowly stirs. She blinks sleepily at him and he grins, "Morning."

"How long was I out?" Maribelle hears Percy speak.

Frank stands up in the middle of the aisle, wrapping his spear and new bow in his ski bag, "A few hours. We're almost there."

Maribelle leans over and looks out the window. A glittering inlet of the sea snaked between snowy mountains. In the distance, a city was carved out of the wilderness, surrounded by lush green forestson one side and icy black beaches on the other.

"Welcome to Alaska," Hazel says, "We're beyond the help of the gods."

     After Maribelle touched up her makeup, thanks to Frank for holding up her small hand-held mirror, they were ready to go. She felt safer using a mirror around the others, no chance he'd show his face when she was surrounded by others.

As they exit the plane, the pilot tells them he couldn't wait for them. So they'd be stuck in Alaska if they finished their quest.

They take a taxi into downtown Anchorage, Percy tells Maribelle, Frank, and Hazel about his dreams. Maribelle clenches her fists when he tells them about the giant's army closing in on camp.

Frank chokes when he heard about Tyson—Percy's half-brother, "You have a half-brother who's a Cyclops?"

"Sure," Percy says nonchalantly, "Which makes him your great-great-great—"

"Please." Frank covers his ears, "Enough."

"As long as he can get Ella to camp," Maribelle speaks up, Hazel hums in agreement, "I'm worried about her."

Percy nods.

"I can't believe how much this place has grown," Hazel mutters.

Maribelle wonders how weird it was for her to come back to a place where she had died. Maribelle reaches over to hold the younger girls hand. Hazel smiles appreciatively, but Maribelle feels slightly guilty. Hazel still didn't know about Maribelle.

The taxi driver grins in the rearview mirror, "Been a long time since you visited, miss?"

"About seventy years," Hazel answers.

The driver slides the glass partition closed and drives on in silence.

According to Hazel, almost none of the buildings were the same, but she pointed out features of the landscape: the vast forests ringing the city, the cold, gray waters of Cook Inlet tracing the north edge of town, and the Chugach Mountains rising grayish-blue in the distance, capped with snow even in June.

Then there were the giants. Dozens of bright-blue men, each thirty feet tall with gray frosty hair, were wading through the forests, fishing in the bay, and striding across the mountains. The mortals didn't seem to notice them.