DIVINE! | percy jackson

chapter twelve - a pig rodeo

CHAPTER TWELVE
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         BEFORE BECOMING a full-time demigod, Estella didn't travel much. Her father was a local artist, so their family didn't make much money. As much as she wanted to travel, she understood why they couldn't.

But now, going on all of these quests, Estella had traveled to many places in such a short time. She wished that she had time to appreciate the new land she walked upon, but half of the time they were out and about they were being hunted down by monsters.

This time, they were casually somewhere on the outskirts of New Mexico in some ski town. Estella always thought that New Mexico was hot, rather than chilly and covered with snow.

Estella wished that she was somewhere that was warm, rather than huddling for heat in her lion's fur coat.

Percy, Grover, and Estella walked together down Main Street, while the other three girls were a few strides ahead. Percy decided to tell her and Grover about his conversation with Apollo, who was disguised as the old man, and how he told Percy to seek out Nereus.

"I knew it!" Estella shouted, proud of her recognition of the homeless man. Grover gave her a pointed look. "Sorry."

Grover looked uneasy at Percy's words. "That's good, I guess. But we've got to get there first."

Percy frowned, and Estella knew why. They were on a time crunch, with the winter solstice only four days away. Otherwise, there would be a sacrifice.

They stopped in the middle of town. There were only a few buildings, but nothing that could get them out of here.

"Great," Thalia said. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."

"There's a coffee shop!" Grover said.

"I love coffee," Estella said. "I used to be a barista."

"Yes, coffee is good," Zoë agreed.

"And pastries," Grover said dreamily. "And wax paper."

Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about you three get us some food. Percy, Bianca, and I will check out the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."

They agreed to meet in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Grover and Estella happily skipped into the coffee shop while Zoë trialed behind.

Once inside, they were hit with the aroma of coffee beans and sweet treats all at once. Estrella's stomach growled with delight.

"I'll take this, this, this, and this," Grover said as he pointed to the pastries.

"And two hot chocolates and four hot lattes but one with oat milk," Estella added to the barista.

Zoë was the one to pay at the counter. Estella wasn't sure where she'd gotten the wad of cash from. Maybe the perks of being a Hunter.

"Is there a reason you had to make the order more costly by ordering oat milk?" Zoë asked.

"I mean, if you want me to go to the bathroom every fifteen minutes then I could've ordered regular milk," Estella shrugged.

Zoë scoffed and rolled her eyes. "People these days have become way too picky with their milk. Back in my day, nobody was intolerant to regular cow's milk. It was the only thing we had."

"Well, times change," Estella grumbled. Zoë reminded her of every old person she'd ever encountered.

"I got everything," Grover said with a smile.

The three of them walked toward the grocery store. Estella could see that they'd just walked in on a tense conversation between Percy and Bianca, given that she looked completely outraged while he was embarrassed.