a story as endless as the ocean . pjo / allie jackson

0.2 taxi ride from hell

0.2 The Worst Taxi I've Ever Been On, Which is Saying Something, Because I'm From New York

Now, under different circumstances, I would've been really happy to see Luke. Despite the many ways that he drove me to the edge of insanity and beyond, he had become my best friend last summer on our quest to find Zeus' bolt. And the bond we had formed had deepened over the past few months of hanging out at camp or texting (or IMing) each other.

But I loathed being embarrassed, and the way I'd struggled in the fight against the cannibals had been humiliating. So, I was pissed more than anything. Luke wasn't doing himself any favors by giving Tyson such cold looks.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I snapped, trying to pull myself to my feet in the water.

"Comin' to get you," he replied casually.

I forced myself out of the ocean to meet him as he followed behind me. His blue eyes scanned me with a look of concern, but he knew better than to say anything.

"Have you heard what happened?" Luke asked. His gaze flickered to Tyson again, who was watching us with wide eyes. A look of distaste crossed his face, and I hastened to reply before Tyson could get upset.

"To Grover? I had a dream about him being chased last night. Or do you mean camp? 'Cause all I know about that is from Chiron IMing me yesterday evening and telling me stuff was happening, so to be prepared whenever I come back. And to delay whenever that was as much as I could."

"'Stuff,'" Luke snorted bitterly, looking uncharacteristically dark. "Sure, guess that's one way of putting it."

"What happened?" I demanded, stepping closer to him and crossing my arms.

"Where'd you pick that up?" Luke jerked his head at Tyson and changed the subject.

My eyes went from curious to a glare. "That is a he, and he has a name," I snapped at him. "It's Tyson. And don't go avoiding the question, Castellan. What the hell happened at Camp?"

"How'd you know i— his name?" Luke asked me incredulously, correcting the pronoun at my vicious glare.

"He told me!"

"That thing can talk?"

"I talk," Tyson confirmed. "JB called Allie 'daughter of the Sea God'?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "Poseidon is my father."

Tyson frowned at that. "But—"

"Damn," Luke muttered. He sighed, obviously unhappy with whatever he had decided, then turned back to me. "C'mon," he ordered, ignoring my lethal glare and beginning to head for my front yard. "We've gotta go," Luke continued. "Bring, uh, Tyson. We need to check out before the cops get called."

I hated it when he was right.

Jerking my head at Tyson to get him moving, we walked over towards the road, away from my beach house.

"Alright," Luke said once we'd hit the road. "Here'll do."

"Do for what?" I demanded grumpily.

"Summoning the Grey Sisters' cab," Luke explained, glancing down at me. "Remember it?"

I nodded after a moment of furious thought. That was right. In the Ancient Days, the Grey Sisters had lived in a cave and peddled information for money or whatever. Now they drove demigods and other Greek mythological beings around the New York area.

"Right then," Luke nodded. "Got a drachma? We'll need to pay extra for Tyson and because this place and camp are both out-of-metro."

I sighed and started making my way back towards the house.