Sunburn- phoebus apollo

-xiv. rhea has a civil chat with the god of war

THE NEXT AFTERNOON, June fourteenth-seven days before the summer solstice-the train rolled into Denver. They hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas and unfortunately, Rhea's bag only contained of clothes and first-aid supplies. None of them had showered since they left Camp Half-Blood, which was painfully obvious.

"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

"We can't use phones, right?" Percy asked.

"I'm not talking about phones."

They wandered downtown for about half an hour, though Rhea wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird for the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere they turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at her, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.

They finally found an empty self-service car wash. They veered toward the stall furthest from the street, keeping their eyes open for the police. They were four adolescents hanging out in a car wash without a car-any cop worth his doughnuts would figure they were up to no good.

"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.

"It's seventy-five cents," Grover grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."

Rhea took off her bag and brought out the stash of mortal money. She took out a dollar bill, too lazy to count the exact amount and handed it to Grover.

"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arms gets tired of pumping."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked.

Grover fed in the dollar bill, receiving the change and set the knob to FINE MIST. "IM-ing."

"Instant messaging?" Rhea asked, tilting her head.

"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

"Apollo never told me about this," Rhea mumbled under her breath, making Percy glare half-heartedly at her. She shuffled her feet, giggling nervously. "Forget I said anything."

"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?" Percy asked incredulously.

Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."

Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.

Annabeth held her palm out to Rhea. "Drachma, please."

She handed it over.

Annabeth raised the coin over her head. "O goddess, accept our offering."

She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.

"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then they were looking through the mist at strawberry fields, the Long Island Sound in the distance. Standing with his back to them was a sandy-haired boy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.

"Luke!" Percy called.

"Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "Is that Rhea and Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"