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𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟒
┏━━━━ ★ ━━━━┓ 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙. ┗━━━━ ★ ━━━━┛
June 14, the next afternoon, seven days before the solstice, they finally rolled into Denver. They hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car around Kansas. They hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, which Anastasia is not afraid to complain about. Especially since her hair was frizzy, reminding Percy sort of as a lion. She did not appreciate the comment and was only calmed by the fact that Annabeth said she'd braid her hair down for her.
She still gave him an unnecessary glare. Maybe she was just hangry.
"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said as she finished one of the braids on Anastasia's head faster than Percy had ever seen. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."
Anastasia scrunched her nose up, "So? He can't tell us anything. It's not how quest's work. You figure it out or die."
"You're such an optimist."
Anastasia rolled her eyes at Annabeth.
"Do you have a phone?" Percy asked. "We don't have money to use a payphone."
"Why would we have phones? Who would pay for it?" Annabeth said. "Besides, Camp doesn't have a landline or anything. I wasn't talking about phones, either way."
Once they left the train, they wandered through downtown for about half an hour. Percy wasn't sure what Annabeth and Anastasia were looking for, but it was hot and dry, which was a weird feeling after the humidity in St. Louis. Everywhere they turned, the Rocky mountains seemed to be staring at him, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.
Finally, they found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. They veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping their eyes open for patrol care. There were four teenagers out at a car wash without a car. Any semi-decent cop would figure out they were obviously not up for any good.
"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked as Grover took out the spray gun.
"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"
"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."
