Sunburn- phoebus apollo

- xi. rhea decides that she hates creepy garden gnomes

IN A WAY IT WAS NICE to know that there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really back luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day. 

So, there they were, Annabeth, Grover, Percy and Rhea, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind them, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in their noses. 

Grover was shivering and braying, his goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."

Rhea was also in shock, the explosion of bus windows still ringing in her ears. But Annabeth kept pulling them along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

"All our money was back there," Percy moaned. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight-"

"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?"

"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine." 

"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."

"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth.

Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans.... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."

"On the bright side," Rhea piped up, before cringing. "Uh, pardon the pun. But I still have a bag."

She shrugged off the backpack that was still on her shoulders, making the other's jaw drop. 

"H-how?" Percy sputtered. 

"Eh, you can thank Apollo for that." Rhea waved a hand dismissively. "Almost screamed my ear off when I set it down."

"Wait, so you can talk to him?" Annabeth asked, confused. 

"Er, yeah." She shuffled around uncomfortably. "Ever since I was a little. About five, I think."

"What?" Percy demanded. "So you knew-"

"Yeah."

"How come you didn't tell me?" Percy whined. "I'm your brother."

"An annoying one," she retorted. "And Apollo told me not too. Technically, he's doing all this behind Zeus's back. He may get in trouble."

Percy grumbled. "So is that why you always talk to yourself?"

Rhea shot him an annoyed look. "I do not."

"Yes you do," Percy said. "You sometimes say random shit out of nowhere and look happy while doing so." 

Grover snickered.

"I'm not talking about this anymore with you," Rhea said, dismissing the topic. "You should thank Apollo for helping us."

Percy snorted, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "Yeah, right."

**********

After about a mile of walking, Rhea started to see neon lights up ahead. They kept walking until they saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light.

It was one of those roadside shops that sell lawn flamingos and all sorts of animal statues to decorate a garden. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above the gate was impossible to read, because if there's anything worse for Rhea's dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English.