The Second Jackson- Piper McLean book 1

Inspiring Speeches

Percy

We walked overland for about an hour, keeping the train tracks in sight but staying in the cover of the trees as much as possible. Once we heard a helicopter flying in the direction of the train wreck. Twice we heard the screech of gryphons, but they sounded a long way off.

As near as I could figure, it was about midnight when the sun finally set. It got cold in the woods. The stars were so thick, I was tempted to stop and gawk at them. Then the northern lights cranked up. They reminded me of my mom's gas stovetop back home, when she had the flame on low- waves of ghostly blue flames rippling back and forth.

"That's amazing" Frank said.

"Bears" Hazel pointed. Sure enough, a couple of brown bears were lumbering in the meadow a few hundred feet away, their coats gleaming in the starlight. "They won't bother us," Hazel promised. "Just give them a wide berth"

None of us argued.

As we trudged on, I thought about all the crazy places I'd seen. None of them had left me speechless like Alaska. I could see why it was a land beyond the gods. Everything here was rough and untamed. There were no rules, no prophecies, no destinies- just the harsh wilderness and a bunch of animals and monsters. Mortals and demigods came here at their own risk.

I wondered if this was what Gaea wanted- for the whole world to be like this. I wondered if that would be such a bad thing.

Then I put the thoughts aside. Gaea wasn't a gentle goddess. I had heard what she planned to do. She wasn't like the Mother Earth you read about in children's fairy tales. She was vengeful and violent. If she ever woke up fully, she'd destroy human civilization.

After another couple of hours, we stumbled across a tiny village between the railroad tracks and a two-lane road. The city limit sign said: MOOSE PASS. Standing next to the sign was an actual moose. For a second, I thought it might be some sort of statue advertising. Then the animal bounded into the woods.

We passed a couple of houses, a post office, and some trailers. Everything was dark and closed up. On the other end of town was a store with a picnic table and an old rusted petrol pump in front.

The store had a hand-painted sign that read: MOOSE PASS GAS

"That's just wrong" Frank said.

By silent agreement we collapse around the picnic table. My feet felt like blocks of ice- very sore blocks of ice. Hazel put her head in her hands and passed out, snoring. Frank took out his last sodas and some granola bars from the train ride and shared them with me and Lani.

We ate in silence, watching the stars, until Frank said, "Did you mean what you said earlier?"

I looked across the table. "About what?"

In the starlight, Frank's face might have been alabaster, like an old Roman statue. "About... being proud that we're related"

Lani tapped her granola bar on the table. "Well, let's see. You single-handedly took out three basilisks while I was meditating, and he was sipping green tea and wheat germ. You held off an army of Laistrygonians so that our plane could take off in Vancouver. You saved my life by shooting down that gryphon. And you gave up the last charge on your magic spear to help some defenseless mortals. You are, hands down, the nicest child of the war god I've ever met... maybe the only nice one. So what do you think?"

Frank stared up at the northern lights, still cooking across the stars on low heat. "It's just... I was supposed to be in charge of this quest, the centurion and all. I feel like you guys have had to carry me"