❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒳𝐼. 𝒮𝓀𝑒𝓁𝑒𝓉𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒫𝒾𝑔𝓈

𝓣𝓱𝓮𝔂'𝓭 arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. The sign said WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO. The air was cold and thin. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.

Zoe was freezing her ass off by the time they got to Main Street, which was about half a mile from the train tracks. As they walked, Percy told Grover about the conversation with Apollo the night before—how he'd told Zoe and Percy to seek out Nereus in San Francisco.

Grover looked uneasy. "That's good, I guess. But we've got to get there first."

Percy shrugged, a gloomy look stuck on his face.

They stopped in the middle of town. Zoe could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.

"Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."

"There's a coffee shop!" said Zoe.

"Yes," Nightshade said. "Coffee is good."

"And pastries," Grover said dreamily. "And wax paper."

Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about you three go get us some food. Percy, Bianca, and I will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."

They agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable going with Thalia and Percy, but she did.

The two Zoes and Grover walked down the road, heading for the coffee shop. Pulling open the door, Zoe Stark glanced up at the bell that rang. It was a stereotypical family owned cafè, with two booths and one four person table. Across from the door was a counter, with a glass case full of baked goods to the left.

A bored looking teenager was behind the counter, her dyed blue hair pulled into a ponytail. Her bright green eyes watched as they came in and she straightened up as the trio approached her.

The girl, her name tag read 'Alicia', asked, "what can I get for you three?"

"Hi Alicia! Can we get..." Zoe hesitated, looking at the menu. "Two medium hot chocolates, one drip coffee in your largest size, a medium americano, and... what do you guys want?"

Nightshade stepped forward, ordering a medium black coffee and a chocolate muffin. Grover also got a medium coffee with cream and sugar, and a bran muffin.

"Is that it?"

Zoe glanced at the pastries for a moment and then turned back to Alicia. "Can we also get a blueberry muffin, a croissant, and another chocolate muffin?"

Alicia nodded, putting the rest of their order into the computer. Zoe went to pay, but Nightshade had already pulled out some of the cash Chiron had given them before they left.

They collected the food and the three of them sat at the four person table as they waited for their drinks, and Zoe started to retell her conversation with Apollo. She got to the part where Apollo had told them Artemis was hidden from him when their drinks were ready.

Zoe took her drink and Thalia's americano, Grover took his coffee and one of the hot chocolates, the older hunter doing the same. Zoe took the bag of pastries and the trio walked out of the coffee shop.

They walked towards Percy and Bianca, who seemed to be talking about something serious.

"Sustenance!" Zoe said, offering them the bag of food. Percy took his hot chocolate from Grover and the blueberry muffin from the bag. Bianca took her drink from Nightshade and the other chocolate muffin.