The Twins Of Poseidon

I Do NOT Like My Cousin

The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and I was sure that was obvious since I could smell my friends from a mile away and they could probably smell me. 

"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.

"She's not talking about phones Percy." I said. 

We wandered through downtown for about half an hour. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city. Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.

"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, as Grover took out the spray gun and I checked my pockets for change. 

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

"Two nickels." I said handing them to him. "Annabeth?" I asked 

"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out." Percy fished out his last bit of change and passed Grover a quarter, which all together left us with two drachmas and 3 more nickels. 

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

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked still confused. 

Grover fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing." 

"Instant messaging?" Percy guessed. 

"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." 

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

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 Percy. "Drachma, please." He handed it over. She 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 I was looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us at the railing was a sandy-haired guy 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. 

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

"We're ... uh ... fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face, she normally acted like this when she thought she looked bad and Luke came out of no where and she wanted to look nice.