Changing the Future

Chapter 80

I caught up with the Argo II en route to Atlanta.

I'd stayed at May's until after dinner seeing as she refused to let me leave until she stuffed me like a Thanksgiving turkey. Honestly, I wasn't that surprised when she produced a whole tiramisu from the fridge in her garage in a white box with her shop's logo on it and handed it to me, telling me that I wasn't allowed to leave her house without enough dessert to feed my friends. She'd then walked me out to her front yard, where she met Star for the first time, and ran back to her kitchen to give my pegasus some apples and sugar cubes.

I'll let you guess which Star went for first.

A teary-eyed hug and a promise to do everything in my power to come back to her later, I hopped onto Star's back and began the three-hour-long flight south.

Star gushed on and on about May and how she was the best non-demigod human she'd ever met, causing me to laugh.

"You only say that because of the sugar cubes," I said, petting her mane.

May-be, Star said, drawing out the first syllable.

I groaned. "That was a horrible pun."

An unintentional one, yet still brilliant.

"If you say so."

Rude! My puns are so punny!

I groaned again.

We arrived on the Argo II at two in the morning. Dew droplets coated most of the surface of the deck. Humidity hung so thick in the air that it threatened to suffocate me. Thankfully, we were too high up for mosquitos to make a snack out of us, or I would've had problems. Those nasty bloodsuckers loved to bite me, more now that I was a goddess than before which I still didn't understand. You'd think ichor would be lethal to mosquitos, but no.

Anyway, I said my goodbyes to Star, who sensed Blackjack nearby and wanted to go after him.

Gotta do my job as his sister and annoy him the whole way back to New York, Star said, obviously proud of her intentions. Stay safe, Mistress! Don't let them turn you into horse meat!

"I will."

The quiet of the night consumed everything. Even the aerial oars remained perfectly quiet despite their elliptical rowing patterns thanks to Leo's engineering. The sails remained fastened to the rigging, unneeded while the ship was in the air. Festus' ruby eyes glowed in the darkness, and while I was sure he'd noticed my arrival, he didn't make any attempt to talk to me.

Yes, like Leo, I too understood Creak and Squeak as languages. It was a useful skill when learning to deal with sophisticated mechanical devices.

If my memory serves correctly, Percy and Annabeth were sitting on the glass bay doors about now. Wanting to save them from Coach Hedge's wrath but still wanting to give them their privacy, I made a mental note to teleport them back to their rooms before the sun rose.

In the meantime, I needed to do something other than think or grieve for at least five minutes. I knew where I'd be heading by the end of the week and deserved some me time. God only knew how I'd get out of this mess the second time around.

I softly sighed to myself as a golden violin with its matching bow materialized in my hands. Though this wasn't my preferred instrument, I've had a song stuck in my head for the past few days that needed an outlet.

I rested my chin against the chin rest and started playing, a sweet, calming melody filling the air. Despite the song's lack of a name, I couldn't deny the peace settling into my bones as my fingers danced along the strings while I dragged my bow back and forth. Apollo had taught me this song ages ago. According to him, he wrote it for me after the first nightmare I'd had while under his care. According to Artemis, this was the first lullaby Leto sang to the twins on the day of their births, which only made it that much more precious.