WINGED ₁

3

IT WAS ANNABETH'S IDEA.

She loaded them into the back of a Vegas taxi and told the driver, "Los Angeles, please."

The cabbie chewed his cigar and sized them up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front."

"You accept casino debit cards?" Annabeth asked.

He shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em through first."

Annabeth handed him her green LotusCash card.

He looked at it skeptically.

"Swipe it," Annabeth invited.

He did.

His meter machine started rattling. The lights flashed. Finally an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign.

The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth. He looked back at them, his eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?"

"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter. Madeleine didn't have to know her very well to know that she liked the "Your Highness" thing. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

Maybe she shouldn't have said that.

The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.

⎯⎯ ୨ winged ୧ ⎯⎯

On the road, they had plenty of time to talk.

All three of them turned to look at Madeleine, who stared blankly back.

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked.

"I think I should be asking you that, seeing as you just locked me in the back of a cab and decided to take me to Los Angeles," Madeleine replied.

"She's part of the prophecy," the pale boy said. He looked at Madeleine. "Do you know what prophecies are?"

"Um, like, they tell future or something?" She felt very confused.

"Hang on, Percy," Annabeth interjected. "What do you mean, she's part of the prophecy?"

"My prophecy," the boy, Percy, said. "You shall go west, and face the god who has turned / you shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned / you will find the key in the place where time does not turn. She's the third line."

"I'm not a key," Madeleine replied. "I'm just some girl."

"Speaking of, what was that casino?" Annabeth asked.

All three of them looked at Madeleine like she should have the answers, but she felt utterly lost. She was still clutching Grover's shoes in her hand.

Percy seemed to sense the confusion coming from her, because he softened. "What do you remember, then?"

"Flashes," she replied. Annabeth's brow scrunched, and Madeleine held up her hands. "I'm not being vague on purpose. Everything is really blurry. The thing I remember most are the dreams I had of you three."

"So we were meant to meet," Annabeth declared. She looked at Grover. "Can you tell if she's a demigod?"

The boy's nose quivered. "Oh, she's a demigod, alright. Not very powerful, though. Doesn't have a scent like Percy's. And her scent isn't the same as yours, Annabeth."

"So, not a child of Athena or the big three," Annabeth deduced. She looked at Madeleine. "Do you remember your parents at all?"

Madeleine bit down on her lip. "I remember a man I think could have been my father. That's all."