Back To Black | Luke Castellan

08

They continued their journey and got train tickets. The four of them crammed into one of the cabins. It was late so they all went to bed, or most of them. Percy and Annabeth were up while Nadia and Grover were out.

It was dawn and they got ready and went out and got breakfast. "Two days until we reach Los Angeles. Plenty of time before our deadline to reach the underworld." Grover said.

"Yay. Two days until I can meet my dad." Nadia sarcastically said with a fake smile. "Can I ask a dumb question?" Percy asked.

Annabeth looked at him and tilted her head. "It's like you need me to make fun of you." She said.
"Shoot." Grover said.

"I've never been to Los Angeles before. I'm guessing neither of you have been to Los Angeles. So how will we have any idea where we're going?" Percy asked them.

"No idea. But that's like step 37 and we're still on step four. Cross that bridge when we get there." Grover said. "Follow up stupid question."

"Dude." Annabeth said.

"And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end." Back in Jersey, I told you the Oracle said this quest would fail. And no one mentioned it since. Seems like something we ought she taking a little more seriously." Percy said and looked out of the window.

"Hey. Look at that. Are those..."

"Centaurs." Nadia answered as they looked out at them running in the fields. "No one even knows they're there." Percy said.

"There used to be herds of them everywhere." Grover said. He looked over at him. "What happened to them?"

"Humans."

He sighed. "A few thousand years ago, the god of the wild, Pan, disappeared. And ever since, without Pan to protect the natural world, humans have been trying really hard to chip away at it."

"The bravest satyrs volunteer to become searchers, trying to find Pan. None have ever returned." Annabeth said to him.

"Your uncle we found in Medusa's, Ferdinand. He was a searcher?" Percy asked and Grover slightly nodded his head.

"The oracle didn't say the quest would fail. 'Fail to save what matters most.' That could mean a lot of things. That's how prophecies work, that's how fate works. It could mean a lot of things." Annabeth said.

"The harder you work to understand, the harder it gets to understand. Sometimes, you've just gotta let it come to you when it's ready."

"Excuse me." A man said and they turned to see a police officer. "Can I see your tickets, please?" He asked. Annabeth reached in her bag and handed it to him.

He took it and looked at it and looked back at them. "You're in cabin 17B?" He asked.

He had them follow him and they looked to see their cabin completely destroyed. "You wanna explain?" The officer asked.

"Wait, wait, you think we did this?" Percy asked. "Did you?" He asked. "I mean..... how? And why?" Percy asked.

"Sir, when we left to get breakfast, everything was intact. We don't know how this happened." Grover said. The officer turned to a lady and another cop. "We got a witness here, says she heard the window smash, and then she heard children's voices." He explained.

"Oh, come on." Nadia said.

"Can you tell me what time you left the cabin?" He asked. "Are we under arrest?" Annabeth asked him.

"I don't think you wanna take that time with me, little girl." The officer said. She looked back at him. "Are we under arrest?" She asked, loudly.

The officer went to put his hands on her and Nadia swung at him and punched him in the face. "Don't touch her or call her little girl." Nadia said.