A web of fates | Percy Jackson and the Olympians

XII| a blessed pig

They'd arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. The sign said WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO.

The air was cold and thin. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets.

Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.

Daphne was freezing by the time they got to Main Street, which was about half a mile from the train tracks.

As they walked, Percy told Grover, Theo and Daphne about his conversation with Apollo the night before—how he'd told them to seek out Nereus in San Francisco.

Grover looked uneasy. "That's good, I guess. But we've got to get there first."

They stopped in the middle of town. You could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.

"Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."

"There's a coffee shop!" said Grover.

"Yes," Zoë said. "Coffee is good."

"And pastries," Grover said dreamily. "And wax paper."

Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about you two go get us some food. Theo, Daphne, Percy, Bianca, and I will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."

They agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable coming with them, but she did.

Inside the store, they found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car.

"You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo," the clerk said doubtfully. "That's down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars."

The clerk looked so lonely, Percy bought a rubber rat. Unlike him, Daphne 'borrowed' some food and drinks.

Then they headed back outside and stood on the porch.

"Wonderful," Thalia grumped. "I'm going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion."

"But the clerk said—" Theo began.

"I know," she told him. "I'm checking anyway."

They let her go. Daphne knew how it felt to be restless. All half-bloods had attention deficit problems because of their inborn battlefield reflexes.

They couldn't stand just waiting around.

"Nice rat," Bianca said at last, breaking the silence.

Percy set it on the porch railing. Maybe it would attract more business for the store.

Theo and Daphne sat down, not caring if the floor was dirty. Daphne opened the bag of chips that she borrowed and began eating them.

Percy, being the thief he was, tried to take one but Daphne quickly snatched the bag back; she held it close to her body.

"So... how do you like being a Hunter so far?" Percy asked.

She pursed her lips. "You're not still mad at me for joining, are you?"

"Nah. Long as, you know... you're happy."

"I'm not sure 'happy' is the right word, with Lady Artemis gone. But being a Hunter is definitely cool. I feel calmer somehow. Everything seems to have slowed down around me. I guess that's the immortality."