A web of fates | Percy Jackson and the Olympians

XV| percy is so fashionable

"Tell me when it's over," Thalia said. Her eyes were shut tight.

The statue was holding on to them so they couldn't fall, but still Thalia clutched his arm like it was the most important thing in the world.

"Everything's fine." Percy promised.

"Are ... are we very high?"

Daphne looked down. Below them, a range of snowy mountains zipped by. She stretched out her foot and kicked snow off one of the peaks.

"Nah," She said. "Not that high."

"We are in the Sierras!" Zoë yelled. She and Grover were hanging from the arms of the other statue. "I have hunted here before. At this speed, we should be in San Francisco in a few hours."

"Hey, hey, Frisco!" Percy's angel said. "Yo, Chuck! We could visit those guys at the Mechanics Monument again! They know how to party!"

"Oh, man," the other angel said. "I am so there!"

"You guys have visited San Francisco?" Theo asked.

"Theo, do you have to make small talk with the weird talking statures?"

"Oi!" One of the statues exclaimed giving Daphne a miniature glare, not that it bothered the daughter of Hermes - who just shrugged.

"Sorry, I guess."

"We automatons gotta have some fun once in a while, right?" Their statue said. "Those mechanics took us over to the de Young Museum and introduced us to these marble lady statues, see. And-"

"Hank!" the other statue Chuck cut in. "They're kids, man."

"Oh, right." If bronze statues could blush, Daphne swore Hank did. "Back to flying."

They sped up, so Daphne could tell the angels were excited. The mountains fell away into hills, and then they were zipping along over farmland and towns and highways.

Grover played his pipes to pass the time. Zoë got bored and started shooting arrows at random billboards as they flew by.

Every time she saw a Target department store and they passed dozens of them-she would peg the store's sign with a few bulls-eyes at a hundred miles an hour.

Thalia kept her eyes closed the whole way. She muttered to herself a lot, like she was praying.

"You did good back there," Percy told her. "Zeus listened."

It was hard to tell what she was thinking with her eyes closed.

"Maybe," she said. "How did you get away from the skeletons in the generator room, anyway? You said they cornered you."

Percy told them about the weird mortal girl, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who seemed to be able to see right through the Mist.

Daphne thought Thalia was going to call Percy crazy, but she just nodded.

"Some mortals are like that," she said. "Nobody knows why."

"Well, the girl was annoying," Percy said. "But I'm glad I didn't vaporize her. That would've been bad."

Thalia nodded. "Must be nice to be a regular mortal."

She said that as if she'd given it a lot of thought.

Daphne fell asleep soon after.

*•*

The battle was raging. Demigods scattered across the floor, dead.

Even though it was a dream, Daphne couldn't help but believe she had caused all their deaths. It was her fault.

The daughter of Hermes turned around and immediately wished she would wake up.