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

0.4 i'm walking on sunshine

0.4 Actually, It's More Like I Was... Driving Sunshine? Does That Even Make Sense? 

Artemis assured us that dawn was coming, but she could've fooled me. It was colder and darker and snowier than ever. Up on the hill, Westover Hall's windows were completely lightless. I wondered if the teachers had even noticed that the di Angelos and Dr. Thorn were missing yet. I didn't want to be around when they did. With my luck, the only name Mrs. Gottschalk would remember was "Allie," and people would remember seeing me and I'd be in the middle of a scandal.

The Hunters broke camp as quickly as they'd set it up. I stood shivering in the snow pulling Luke's jacket as tight against me as I could (unlike the Hunters, who didn't seem to feel at all uncomfortable), and Artemis stared into the east like she was expecting something. Bianca sat off to one side, talking with Nico. I could tell from his gloomy face that she was explaining her decision to join the Hunt. I couldn't help thinking how selfish it was of her, abandoning her brother like that.

Thalia and Grover came up and huddled around me, anxious to hear what had happened in my audience with the goddess and knowing I was freezing my ass off.

When I told them, Grover turned pale. "The last time the Hunters visited camp, it didn't go well."

I grimaced. Luke had told me what he'd heard happened, so I wasn't particularly looking forward to their visit, either.

"How'd they even show up here?" I wondered, changing the subject. "I mean, they just appeared out of nowhere."

"And Bianca joined them," Thalia said, disgusted. "It's all Zoe's fault. That stuck-up, no good—"

"Who can blame her?" Grover interrupted. "Eternity with Artemis?" He heaved a big sigh, an awed expression on his lips. For a moment, it made me grin. Then I realized I was waiting to hear Luke make a sarcastic comment, and my expression fell again. Gods, I wished I knew if he was alright.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "You satyrs," she scoffed. "You're all in love with Artemis. Don't you get that she'll never love you back?"

"But she's so... into nature," Grover swooned.

"You're nuts," Thalia declared flatly.

"Nuts and berries," Grover said dreamily. "Yeah."

Finally, the sky began to lighten. "About time," Artemis muttered. "He's so-o-o lazy during the winter."

I grimaced again. It was no secret that many of the gods didn't know how to feel about me. Most would probably strike me dead if they knew they wouldn't offend my father. I was actually quite worried when Artemis first walked up to me as I was basking on the beach in East Hampton. I didn't know if she was sent there to kill me, but then she offered me a spot on the hunters. That told me she tolerated me, but I knew that would change if I were to offend her.

Now Apollo, I didn't know about. I could be dying soon, who knew? Two gods at once. That was just fantastic. As if the day wasn't bad enough, we had to add yet another Olympian to the mix. I wondered briefly how she expected Apollo to transport us all. Surely we weren't going to ride in the sun chariot, right?

There was a sudden burst of light on the horizon. A blast of warmth.

"Don't look," Artemis advised. "Not until he parks."

I averted my eyes, and saw that the others were all doing the same. The light and warmth intensified until my dress felt like it was melting off of me. Then suddenly the light died.

I looked. And I couldn't believe it. It was a red convertible Maserati Spyder. I had to force myself to keep from dropping my jaw. Fuck my fetish for cars. It was literally so awesome it glowed. Then, I realized that it was glowing because the metal was hot. The snow had melted around the Maserati in a perfect circle, which explained why I was now standing on green grass and my heeled boots were wet.