LUNACY; percy jackson

02.15

[act two; chapter fifteen     -     trust and truth]

"Percy, wake up."

Andromeda shook his shoulder softly, a tired expression on her face, small water droplets on her forehead and cheeks. He groaned and rubbed his eyes to wake himself up, though the water splashing at them did most of the work.

In the distance, the sun was setting behind a city skyline. They could see a beachside highway lined with palm trees, storefronts glowing with red and blue neon, a harbor filled with sailboats and cruise ships.

"Miami, I think," Annabeth said. "But the hippocampi are acting funny."

Sure enough, their fishy friends had slowed down and were whinnying and swimming in circles, sniffing the water. They didn't look happy. One of them sneezed. Andromeda got the feeling Percy could tell what they were thinking.

"This is as far as they'll take us," He said. "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own."

None of them were very psyched about that, but they thanked Rainbow and his friends for the ride. Tyson cried a little. He unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he'd made, which contained his tool kit and a couple of other things he'd salvaged from the Birmingham wreck. He hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he'd picked up on the island, and said good- bye.

Once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, they swam for shore. The waves pushed them forward, and in no time they were back in the mortal world. They wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations, Andromeda being Andromeda, weaved through people with the occasional shove. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage. Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers. If anybody noticed them—six kids dripping wet and looking like they'd just had a fight with a monster—they didn't let on.