{BOOK 2} Percy Jackson's Sister

Put on Your Pigeon Disguises

    The statue had us in their hands but Thalia grabbed onto them as if at any moment they would let go and we would fall to our deaths. Now I wasn't a mind reader, but I was pretty sure she had a problem with heights.

     "Tell me when it's over," she shut her eyes so tight I thought they'd freeze that way.

      "Everything's fine," Percy promised.  

       "Are... are we very high?"

        Percy stuck his leg put and kicked the snow off the peak of a mountain. I watched it roll down.

      "Nah," he said. "Not that high."

     "We are in the Sierras.'" Zoë shouted from 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 we were on said. "Yo, Chuck! We could visit those guys at the Mechanics Monument again! They know how to party!"

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

     "You guys have visited San Francisco?" Percy asked.

    "We automatons gotta have some fun once in a while, right?" our statue laughed. "Those mechanics took us over to the de Young Museum and introduced us to these marble lady statues, see. And—"

    "Hank!" Chuck the Statue cut in. "They're kids, man."

    "Oh, right." Hank looked embarrassed. "Back to flying."

     "Not sure leaving that to our imagination is any better," I muttered.

      Percy looked concerned.

      "What?" I asked.

      "You're shaking," he said.

      "No, I'm not."

      "Yes you are."

      "I'm cold."

      "Cold?"

       I nodded. He looked at me like if it was the dumbest lie I could come up with. Which, of course, it was considering I could make a whole room drop to below twenty and not even have my lip quiver.

      "Look," he said. "I've never seen you shy away from a fight. You took on three Ares kids at once just because they said you wouldn't. But when those skeletons get anywhere near us, you try to run."

      "So?" I said.

      "So? Something bothers you."

      I sighed. Percy new a lot about me, but there were some things I hadn't told anyone about. I knew they'd look at me differently if I did.

     "My mom was shot by a gang member," I said, blatantly. "Hand guns aren't my favorite things to go up against."

      Even Thalia opened her eyes at that.

     "I saw it," I continued. "Saw the whole thing. The cops pulled me away from her dead body. One of the many reasons I don't like cops, either."

     Percy dropped his gaze.

    "When the skeleton warriors showed up in police uniforms and guns in their hand, I wasn't exactly thrilled to fight them."

     "Cassie," Percy started, but apparently didn't know how to finish because that's all he said.

      I forced a smile on my face to tell him I was fine. I didn't want to be a burden to anyone, which is why I had never said anything, but Percy deserved to know. After all, I wasn't planning on moving out of their house any time soon.

     I looked over to Thalia who was moving her mouth like she was speaking to herself but no words were coming out. 

     I jerked my chin in her direction, switching Percy's attention to her.

   "You did good back there," Percy told her. "Zeus listened."

     I was glad he had changed the subject. If I got to overwhelmed I knew I'd slip and probably freeze our statues in midair.

   "Maybe," Thalia said. "How did you guys get away from the skeletons in the generator room, anyway? You said they cornered you."

    Percy told her about the girl we'd encountered who could somehow see through the Mist. Thalia nodded as if she'd seen that before.

    "Some mortals are like that," she said. "Nobody knows why."

     Percy's eyes slightly widened as if he'd realized something. "My mom is like that."

     He was right. Everything we could see Sally could see. Sometimes, she'd see thing even we couldn't. It was one of the many special things about her. But she wasn't like Rachel Dare.

    "Well, the girl was annoying," I said.

     Percy nodded in agreement. "But I'm glad I didn't vaporize her. That would've been bad."

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

    Percy and I looked down on the mountains. We had all thought it at one point, Thalia was just the only one brave enough to say it out loud.

-

     I had felt my eyes starting to get heavy and I leaned my head on Percy. Before I could fall asleep, I heard him say, "Woah."

    I opened my eyes and I could see what he meant. The view before us was like something out of a postcard. The heavy fog did nothing to cover the Golden Gate Bridge, jutting out of the low hanging clouds. Ships and islands were scattered all over the water, making the ocean look like a painting.

     "There," Zoë pointed. "By the Embarcadero Building."

      "Good thinking," Chuck said. "Me and Hank can blend in with the pigeons."

     We all looked up at him.

    "Kidding," he said. "Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humor?"

    The joke was funny until we got on the ground and scared some poor homeless dude. He ran off screaming he had seen metal angels from Mars. Luckily, he was the only one there.

    We thanked our statues and sent them off to party with their statue friends. I looked between all my friends to see if they'd offer any idea as to what to do now.

    We'd made it to the West Coast like the prophecy said we had to, but we had no money, no help, and no lead as to where Annabeth might be. It's like someone had set the reset button and we had to come up with a whole new game plan. 

    After a talking for a bit, we all agreed out next step should be finding out who the mystery monster was.

    "But how?" Percy asked.

     "Nereus," Grover said.

     "He's right," I agreed.

     Percy still looked confused so Grover explained his reasoning.

     "Isn't that what Fred- er, Apollo told you two to do? Find Nereus?"

     "The old man of the sea," Percy seemed to catch on. "I'm supposed to find him and force him to tell us what he knows. But how do I find him?"

     Zoë made a face. "Old Nereus, eh?"

    "You know him?" Thalia asked.

    "My mother was a sea goddess. Yes, I know him.Unfortunately, he is never very hard to find. Just follow the smell."

     I found out it weird that Zoë and I would have something in common, like having a sea deity as a parent. For some reason, it made me feel sympathetic. My goal had expanded into finding Annabeth and Artemis.

    "What do you mean?" I asked.

    "Come," she said without enthusiasm. "I will show thee."