Indigo Eyes

Chapter 5

Cressida was glad to have her bag back as she stuck her earphones in her ears again before the train rolled into Denver on the afternoon of June 14, a week before the solstice. They ate that night in the dining car with Cressida summoning some grapes for them all to snack on as Annabeth suggested they call Chiron to update him on how they were going. The daughter of wine even loaned Annabeth a drachma to call Chiron and teach Percy about I-M-ing, while she made a call of her own. They'd found their way to a car wash which was a good place for making rainbows, but the person she called weren't the happiest.

"What the hell are you doing?" Pollux exclaimed, making her flinch as she held the hose up to create the rainbow. "Why is a mysterious, purple-eyed girl wanted in the newspaper, for blowing up the St Lous Arch?!"

"I'm fine, Polly. The fall wasn't even that far and -"

"You fell from it?!" Pollux screamed. "Oh, Castor is going to kill you and I'm going to kill that Jackson boy! I will crush him like a grape!"

"For Papa's sake, Pollux, chill!" Cressida retorted. "I'm fine. I'm alive. And I'm pretty sure you have Percy and Poseidon to thank for that."

"I'll burn him an offering at dinner. Are you sure you're ok?" he asked and she nodded.

"Promise. And just for the record, it was a Chimera that sort of pushed us out of the Arch," she explained, and Pollux sighed as if trying to calm himself down. "Where's Cas?"

"Shower. He got tackled into the mud by Clarisse. Things are tense here," Pollux said.

"What's happening?"

"Everyone knows about the Zeus-Poseidon stand-off. People are starting to take sides."

"I take it you chose Zeus?" she asked but he didn't answer straight away.

"Papa hasn't chosen yet and Clarisse tried to be persuasive. If we make a decision, it'll influence Papa's decision," he revealed.

"I'm going to kick her ass. I am going to squash her like a grape. I'll make her think she's a grape," Cressida threatened and her brother laughed.

"I'm sure Cas will appreciate the gesture, but you'll be a bigger help if you're able to find the damn bolt and call off this war."

Her eyes widened as the water from the hose shut off and the mist began to fade.

"Polly, I have to go! I love you. Tell Cas I love him too. I'll see you -" she was cut off as the rainbow vanished and she was left alone in a carwash stall. "Soon."

"Hey. Everything ok? Did you get through to your brothers?" Annabeth asked as they came in from the next stall.

"Yeah, I got through. Camp's not doing too well with the gods gearing up for war against each other."

"I can imagine," Annabeth said grimly. "Come on, we're going to look for dinner."

Soon after leaving the car wash, they found themselves sitting in a gleaming chrome diner.

"How much do you have left?" Percy asked Cressida who'd pulled out a small pouch from her bag and began counting the money inside.

"Fifty bucks. That should cover four kids' meals at least," she said as they sat down even though the boys looked as if they were going to cry. "Unless you want to keep eating grapes because that's all I can summon."

"Well?" prompted the waitress as she came over.

"We'd like to order dinner," Percy answered.

"You kids have money to pay for it?" she asked.