Zane Williams and The Gods of Olympus

Chapter 5

(Disclaimer: I don't own anything here, but if the fact that this is on a fanfiction site doesn't clue that to you, you're fucking retarded.)

(000)

This fucking sucks.

We were currently walking around downtown Denver, completely miserable. It was obvious we had had a shower since leaving Camp Half-Blood, as my normally well kept curled long black hair was now a tangled, dirty mess. My stomach was growling, probably since I haven't eaten since the train ride down here, so it's been about a day.

We were pretty much completely out of money. We spent whatever pocket change we had left on us after the Fury incident on the train for food. The air was humid and hot, completely different from the dry cool air of St. Louis. I was going to mug someone if we didn't come across any money or food soon.

Annabeth had a plan. A plan that didn't involve food, unfortunately. "We need to try and contact Chiron. I want to tell him about the conversation you had with the Naiad at the bottom of the Mississippi River." That's nice and all, Annabeth, but right now, we need food and money, neither of which we had at the moment.

Percy was confused. "We can't use phones, right?" I had told him about the whole 'not being able to use technology' thing that affected demigods. I was not so confused. Annabeth was gong to try and create an Iris Message to contact our centaur camp director. The first time I had seen someone use an Iris Message was incredible. It looked like something straight out of a movie, with the Iris Message literally creating a portal out of light waves that you could communicate with people with.

Annabeth shook her head. "I'm not talking about phones." She didn't say anything else, leaving the poor confused son of Poseidon's question unanswered. He looked at me questioningly. "Don't worry, man. You'll see." I wasn't going to spoil his first experience with an Iris Message. Percy rolled his eyes at our crypticness and we followed Annabeth down the sidewalk.

After a bit of searching, we found a unmanned car wash. You know, one of those Internationally owned things. Annabeth told us to keep watch for cop patrols, since three preteens with no parents or a car hanging out in a car wash parking lot will tip any decent cop off. Percy's curiosity on what we were doing could not go unsaid. "What are we doing here exactly?" Percy asked as Annabeth pulled out a spray gun from one of the car wash stations. I gave her a few quarters to do so, as she was fresh out of money.

"We're I'Ming." Annabeth answered Percy's question as she slipped the quarters into the slot. She set the nob to FINE MIST as Percy's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Instant Messaging?" Percy looked at the spray gun with confusion. "With a car wash spray gun?" He had a right to be confused, as we didn't really tell him what I'Ming meant. I was never going to call it that stupid name ever again, not even in my head. Anyway, I'm fine with being dramatically cryptic, but there is a limit. Looking at you Annabeth.

"Iris Messaging." Annabeth corrected Percy, looking at him as if he was stupid. He kinda was, but not at the level you're insinuating, Annabel. "The rainbow goddess, Iris, carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for Half-Bloods, too." Annabeth finished as she started to spray the water into the air.

Percy just looked even more confused, if that was possible. "You summon the rainbow goddess with a spray gun?" He asked, his face scrunching up as he did so. Not quite the only way to do it, Perce, but yeah.

Annabeth smirked. "Not just with a spray gun, Percy. There's other ways to do it as well." She pulled out a drachma from one of her pockets. "O' goddess, please accept my offering to you." She tossed the drachmae into the rainbow, the drachmae disappearing inside it. Percy's face changed from an expression of confusion to one of bewilderment. "Half-Blood Hill." She requested, as the rainbow shimmered.