"Definitely following us," Ash said from shotgun, turning back frontwards to see Zoë swerving into the fast lane. A sleek, black military model helicopter had been trailing them since the Potomac.
"Go into that parking lot. Trust me," Bianca said.
As soon as they were safely aboard a southbound train, Ash sighed. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."
Bianca looked pleased. "Yeah, well I saw that station when Nico and I were last here. I remember being really surprised because it wasn't here when we used to live in DC."
Ash frowned while Grover looked perplexed. "New? But that station looked really old."
"There was no subway here when we were kids."
"No subway at all?" Ash echoed.
The younger girl nodded. "Bianca. How long ago..." Zoë faltered, catching sight of spinning blades out the window. "We need to change trains at the next station."
Over the next half hour, they changed trains twice. When they finally lost the helicopter they were in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and snow. Lots of snow. Despite her many protests, Percy wrapped Ash in the lion's fur coat, murmuring something about how it looked dapper in her ear.
They wandered through the silent railway yard, eventually coming across a homeless guy standing at a trash-can fire. He invited them over and they huddled around. Thalia's teeth were chattering. Ash draped half the jacket around Percy, tucking herself into his side for warmth.
"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.
"Feet," Percy corrected, to which Ash smiled a bit. Examining the man with them, however, she thought he probably didn't mind.
"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca suggested, only to get shut down.
"No," Zoë said.
"I agree. We need to do this ourselves," Ash concurred.
"You know," the homeless dude said, "you're never completely without friends."
Ash smiled at him brightly, and although his face was grimy, his expression matched hers. "You kids need a train going west?"
"Yes sir," she said.
He pointed a greasy hand. There was a gleaming freight train, free of snow, carrying cars. The side read SUN WEST LINE.
"That's... convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh..."
She turned back, but the guy was gone, along with the fire. An hour later they were rumbling west, each crashed out in their own luxury cars. Ash took a Ford F-150 on the top deck, curling up in the luxurious front seat and using a little hotwiring trick she'd picked up from the Stolls to put on the radio.
After maybe half an hour, Percy came and joined her. They talked for a while and when they both got tired, moved to the bed of the truck. Ash laid with her head in Percy's lap and he draped the fur over them both, but neither really wanted to sleep. He was absentmindedly combing his fingers through her hair when a voice startled them.
"Oh, don't be afraid of dreams. If it weren't for dreams, I wouldn't know half the things I know. They're better than Olympus tabloids." The homeless dude from earlier cleared his throat, holding his hands up dramatically: "Dreams like a podcast, downloading truth in my ears. They tell me cool stuff."
"Lord Apollo?" Ash mumbled, sitting up slightly against the boy with his arms around her.
He put his finger to his lips. "I'm incognito. Call me Fred."
"Okay Fred," she laughed. He nodded approvingly.
"Zeus insists on certain rules. Hands off human quests. But nobody messes with my baby sister. Nobody."
"Can you help us then?" Percy asked.
"Shhh. I already have. Haven't you been looking outside? By sunset you'll have cleared a good chunk of the US."
"Do you know where Artemis is? Or the monster?" he asked.
Apollo's face darkened. "I know a lot, and I see a lot. But this is clouded from me. I don't like it."
"What about Annabeth?" Ash asked.
"That girl you lost? Hmm...... No."
Ash instinctively put a hand on Percy's chest just as he heaved an angry breath, trying to control his temper.
"However," the god lifted a finger. "There is one who might. If you haven't yet found the trail by the time you reach San Francisco, seek out Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea. He has the gift of knowledge sometimes kept obscure from my Oracle. The meaning will only be clear through the search, I like to say." He finished cryptically.
"In other words, you don't know, so ask someone else." Ash deadpanned.
Apollo checked his watch. "Ah, look at the time! Gotta run. I doubt I can risk helping you twice, but remember what I said! Get some sleep!"
He snapped his fingers, and the next thing either of them knew their eyes were closed.
₪₪₪
Ash had a tight grip on someone's hand, pulling them through a hilly garden. They ran through tall grass, the scent of a thousand different flowers intoxicating the air. It was beautiful but oddly familiar to her, and they had something much more pressing to do than stop and smell the roses.
"There is no need to run," a deep voice told her. "I have bested a thousand monsters with my bare hands."
"Not this one," Ash said, although she wasn't really saying the words, it was like they were being pulled of her. "Ladon is too strong. You must go around, up the mountain to my father. It is the only way." The hurt and worry in her voice was familiar to her, it was one she used often with her friends. Especially Percy.
"I don't trust your father," the man said.
"You should not," she agreed. "Trick him and take the prize indirectly, or you will die."
A low, attractive chuckle. "Then why don't you help me, pretty one?"
"I... I am afraid. Ladon will stop me. My sisters would disown me," she admitted.
"Then there's nothing for it." His warm hand pulled out of hers as he stopped and clapped them together decisively.
"Wait!" Ash agonized over her decision, but as soon as she looked into his beautiful blue eyes, it was made. "If you must fight, take this." She plucked a long white brooch from her hair. "My mother, Pleione, gave it to me. The ocean's power is within it. My immortal power."
She breathed onto the pin, feeling part of her soul, her life force traveling into it. It glowed in the starlight like polished abalone.
"Take it," she told him. "And make of it a weapon. This is all I can offer, if you insist on being stubborn."
The male took it, and as he did, it grew longer and heavier, until it had finally become a familiar bronze sword.
"Anaklusmos," she said sadly. "The current that takes one by surprise. And before you know it, you have been swept out to sea."
Ash's heart ached. This wasn't her or her life, but she knew exactly what that felt like. The riptide.
The hero reached a hand out towards her face, but before anything else could happen, two demigods bolted upright in the back of a large truck. Ash had found her way between Percy's legs and had been lying against his chest, so they sat like that with their bottom halves intertwined for a minute, rubbing their eyes.
Grover was smiling faintly at them, having knocked loudly on the side of the cab. "Come on, guys. It's morning. The train's stopped."
Outside, the sun rose red behind snowy mountains dotted with pine trees. As Ash blinked at the sight, Percy fished his pen out of his pocket. Ash saw it and gasped, taking it out of his hands to cradle it almost reverently.
Looking up at Percy, the two made eye contact and suddenly came to several realizations. They'd had the same dream, this was the very same sword from it, and the girl Ash had been embodying was Zoë Nightshade.
₪₪₪
"Coffee," Ash sighed dreamily as they trudged through the outskirts of Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Percy was explaining their new information to Grover, but the satyr was a bit distracted.
"And pastries. And wax paper."
Ash clapped her hands decisively. "Okay, we're going to go get some food. Thals, how about you take Percy and Bianca to the grocery store. Maybe they can give you directions. Meet back here in 15 minutes."
Grover, Ash, and Zoë trotted over to the cozy-looking coffee shop. Grover's eyes filled with stars at all the home-made baked goods they had, but Ash stepped up decisively and ordered for everybody. Four coffees for the adults, and two hot chocolates for the kids (aka Bianca and Percy). Plus a whole mess of muffins. There was one muffin so stuffed full of berries it was almost completely blue, and Ash reserved that for a certain somebody.
The black-haired girl was deeply enjoying her coffee when the others walked up. It didn't look like the Big Three cousins were getting along, however, because Bianca was giving Percy some kind of death glare and Thalia was nowhere to be seen.
"We should do the tracking spell," Zoë suggested. "Grover, do you have any acorns left?"
"Umm," Grover tossed Ash his bran muffin (which he'd already eaten the paper off of) and patted his pockets. "I think so. I just need to–"
He froze. Ash dropped the muffin. A warm breeze rustled past, like a gust of springtime lost in the winter. Along with it came a breath of life, seasoned with wildflowers and sunshine and something else, just the tiniest wisp of a dying soul. It was a sensation like no other.
Zoë gasped. "Grover, thy cup."
Grover dropped his coffee cup, which was decorated with pictures of doves. Suddenly the birds peeled off and flew away. The satyr collapsed against the steaming snow that used to be his drink, Ash dropping to her knees next to him. However she was too dazed to do much except draw him into her lap.
"Hey!" Thalia said, running from down the street. "What's wrong with Grover?"
"I don't know," Percy said in a panic. "He collapsed. Ash, you good?"
"Uuuuuhhhhh," Grover groaned.
"Well, get him up! We have to get out of here." Thalia looked behind her as if being followed, and Ash knew exactly what it was before they even came into sight.
"Everyone, behind me, NOW!" she yelled, standing up and unsheathing her sword.
Percy lifted Grover up and Ash ushered the group to run ahead while defending their backs. They made it to the edge of town before the first three skeleton warriors appeared. Ash immediately stepped forward and swung out at one before it could even draw its gun, and the thing collapsed into a pile of bones and a blue police uniform.
Okay, easy money, Percy thought, but then three more appeared behind them. And when he tried to slice one in half, the bones immediately began to reassemble. All of them drew their weapons, although Grover was making things hard on Bianca by swooning all over her and moaning about a "gift from the Wild."
Suddenly, Ash screamed. "Percy!"
He wheeled around just to be shot in the back twice. He landed facedown in the street, realizing after a second that he wasn't dead. His dumb-looking coat was bulletproof!
"I said, everyone behind me," Ash practically growled, picking him up by the collar and dragging him back. She swung her sword in a wide arc, making most of the skeletons ease off. Zoë and Bianca shot arrows point-blank into their skulls, but Ash remained the only one to manage a kill.
"Thals, take Grover," Ash ordered. "Bianca, here." She unsheathed one of the daggers from her belt and tossed it without looking. The younger girl's instincts kicked in as she expertly caught it. A skeleton lunged at her, but she stabbed it in the chest, and the whole thing went down in a burst of flame.
"How did you do that?" Zoë demanded. Ash smirked, taking down another revenant.
"Lucky stab?" Bianca asked nervously.
"Go on," Ash encouraged. "Do it again!"
But the other three skeleton warriors were wary now, and there was a brief mutual stalemate as Ash and Bianca stared them down. One pulled out a cellphone and began chattering into it, calling his buddies for backup.
But then branches started cracking aggressively in the forest behind their enemy. "A gift," Grover sang back to the trees. There was a mighty roar, and a big-ass pig with major crazy eyes crashed into the skeletons, stomping them to bits.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEET!"