WORLDS BEYOND ( pjo )

𝐯𝐢𝐢𝐢: is this insanity or is this reality

Truthfully, Percy had always been sort of intimidated by Kia. Not like in an outstanding way, very subtle, really.

Just seeing this girl, who had just woken up and having seemingly no way of knowing anything, suddenly being so sure of her actions and completely at ease in a world filled with monsters and humans (although the humans weren't too far off the dot) had Percy labelled impressed. The way she calmly handled the incident with the Nemean Lion and stared down at the unmoving carcass had only reinforced this opinion of his. Still, he felt a weird kind of magnetism toward her, like he just had to be near her; one conversation with her proved it was easy, if it could even be called that.

It was less conversation than light banter passed between the two, but no less did it make Percy feel at ease with her. For Percy, she was the type of person you immediately clicked with. Maybe you didn't share the same interests or values or thoughts, but there would never be a boring talk between them. There was no awkwardness or forced association, they just sort of worked.

On the few trains they got on, the two engaged in pleasant conversation. He liked that no matter what they talked about, she would faultlessly flow the topic smoothly. She always seemed to have something to say, even if she did retain her intimidating aura.

He was grateful for that.

The quest members got off the train, which was stupid because all they found were warehouses and abandoned railway tracks. There wasn't much of anything, well, except for snow. There was an abundance of that.

Yipee.

Percy pulled his lion fur coat tighter around himself. Yes, Zoë managed to convince him to take the goddamn fur of the monster he had killed. 'Spoil of war' or whatever she called it.

They wandered through the railway tracks in hopes of finding a passenger train but all they were met with was freight cars all covered in snow like they hadn't seen the sun in ages.

A homeless guy stood by a make-shift trash can fire; Percy figured they must've have looked pretty pathetic considering the toothless grin the man gave them and a gesture to come over. "Ya'll need to get warmed up? Come on over!"

Weirdly enthusiastic, but whatever.

They all huddled around the fire. Thalia's teeth were chattering when she said, "Well this is g-g-g-great."

"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained scornfully.

"Feet," Percy corrected, trying not to make them sound suspicious in front of the homeless dude.

"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca suggested. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoe said firmly. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

Percy gazed around the rail yard miserably, thinking about how somewhere, far to the west, Annabeth was in danger. Artemis was in chains. A doomsday monster was on the loose. And they were stuck on the outskirts of D.C., sharing a homeless persons fire.

Percy saw Kia shiver and he felt a little guilty for hogging all the warmth of the lion skin coat. Just as he was about to shrug the thing off and hand it to her, she suddenly stopped shivering, looking oddly comfortable with the freezing temperature.

"You know," the homeless man said, his eyes coincidentally drawing away from Kia, "You're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," Percy said. "You know of any?"

He pointed one greasy hand.

Like it appeared out of thin air, there was now a freight train, speckless of snow. It was one of those automobile-transportation carriers, the inside being lined with decks of cars; a label on the side Percy had to decode for a second read: SUN WEST LINE.