Sing, O Muse [Percy Jackson]

six

THE sunrise was more spectacular than anything Clarion had ever seen, if only because she was close enough to reach towards the clouds, as if she was the artist who created them. For a moment, she brushed her fingertips against the wispy vapor and wondered if she could have swirled the pastel pink against the faded dusk, as if she were one of the gods. She wondered if Apollo painted the sunrise with the sky as his canvas.

Unfortunately, Clarion discovered she had a fear of heights, which hadn't subsided. Her face was hot with nausea despite the icy wind, which brushed against her cheeks despite her jacket's hood. Clarion brushed some stray hairs from her ponytail in the hopes of warming her temples and cheeks; it was embarrassing, really, but the only semblance of warmth came from Percy. Her arms were locked around his torso so she wouldn't fall off the crow-winged pegasus, who Percy introduced as Blackjack.

It was hardly surprising that Percy could speak with the pegasus, though she was stunned into silence for a moment, it wasn't the biggest shock of her day. Most surprising of all was that Percy allowed her to accompany him. Did Clarion expect to find herself on the back of a pegasus? Absolutely not – and she regretted it now, after discovering her new fear. At only six-thirty in the morning, it had been a day of surprises: Clarion had never liked surprises.

The sunrise reminded her of her friends; Lee and Michael had probably fallen asleep after she left, but they awoke every day, without fail, as the sun rose. They'd typically wake her up whilst shuffling about the cabin and complaining about their father, but Clarion would always fall back asleep – she had never woken up even close to this hour. She had always been a heavy sleeper, but nothing compared to Winnie.

Her sister could sleep through a train crashing straight into the Hermes cabin whilst a tornado ripped up the rest of camp; Winnie had slept through her sister sneaking out of Camp and leaving her behind. Guilt clawed its way up Clarion's throat, and she almost whispered an apology into the wind. She left her sister with only a shitty, three-quarter page note; nothing could make up for it. She knew her sister would be so angry – so hurt. Clarion left her on a whim as quickly as their father sent them away. A year and eight months could pass by once more, and yet Winnie's sister – Winnie's home – would never return.

The sunrise was breathtaking. The clouds were fortunately low – if Clarion had to be in the air, she preferred to be as close to the ground as possible – but high enough that she could only imagine herself as a smudge on the sidewalk should she accidentally slip. Thank the gods the Oracle hadn't spoken a line like: one will be flattened like a pancake. And Long Island definitely wasn't the land without rain. It was the land of freezing wind.

She hadn't spoken since they left Camp, and she assumed (aside from sleeping) it was the longest she'd been quiet – she had a habit of talking to herself, too – but she couldn't justify anything to say. The embarrassment of wrapping her arms around Percy's waist had died down, and she clutched him even tighter as they darted around the sky, keeping the white Camp Half-Blood van in sight.

Clarion made the mistake of looking down once Blackjack landed on the Chrysler building. She squeaked, her face growing hotter as she realized the cars looked about the same size as the toys she had as a kid. She turned her gaze to the back of Percy's shirt whilst he watched the road and muttered, "Where's Argus taking them?"

She was about to answer, but Percy spoke again and her cheeks grew even hotter when she realized he was – once again – talking to the pegasus. "Which girl," and then a moment later, "Zoё?"

Curiosity burned her throat like bile until she asked, "What'd the horse say?"

She felt his back tense, and Percy slowly craned his neck to glance at her in his peripheral vision. She'd never been close enough to realize how green his eyes truly were (or perhaps it was because they popped in the hazy grey morning). When she was a child and visited her grandparents in Florida, they'd gone swimming in a lake: his eyes were the same shade as the water, when she opened her eyes underneath; like a deep teal-green, or a dark emerald with hints of blue.