𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗧 𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗗
⚖︎
Jackie Karev has been different for her entire life. Even in the orphanage, she was the odd one out.
She just wasn't expecting to find her people at military school, of all places.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗜𝗥 𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗣 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗗 in the middle of Cloudcroft. It was a really small town; Jackie could see pretty much everything from where they stood. If they walked farther down Main Street, they'd pass the school and a couple cafés. If they turned right down the nearest side street they could stop at a couple tourist stores or a grocery store, and if they went left, they'd arrive at a little cluster of ski cabins.
"Great," Thalia said, looking around. Her tone was completely bland. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."
"There's a coffee shop!" said Grover, as if it solved any of their problems.
"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. Bianca and I will check in the grocery store. Percy, Marielle, and Jackie–you three head to those souvenir shops. Maybe someone here can give us directions.
They agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes.
Marielle still hadn't made eye contact with Percy after promising to help with his dream–as long as he found a way to show it to her. Jackie wasn't exactly sure how that was possible, but Percy had acted like it was somehow achievable, like through sheer force of will he'd drag Marielle into his dream to psychoanalyze his subconscious. But despite Marielle's chilly attitude, she fell into their habitual line–Percy on the streetside, Jackie in the middle, and Marielle examining every storefront for any hint to where they were located.
They passed several stores before Marielle caught sight of something good through a window. She nudged Jackie's arm, gestured with her head, and pushed open the gift shop's door. Percy and Jackie fell into line behind her.
Marielle headed straight for the counter, where a bored teenager was sitting, propping their feet up. Below the cash register were a couple racks of maps.
Percy split off and headed to the right, where there were a couple shelves of chips and crackers. Jackie supposed demigods on quests didn't have the luxury of eating full meals very often.
Jackie followed Marielle as she nudged the teenager's feet aside in order to spread out a full road map of New Mexico. "Cloudcroft, Cloudcroft, Cloudcroft . . ." she muttered, blue eye-green eye scanning the map. With a chill, Jackie wondered if she could see the future now, with those eerie eyes that felt like they peeled back every layer Jackie had ever put up. "Where are you . . ."
The teenager looked up from their magazine–one of those cheesy Cosmo-People-US Weekly type gossip rags with new pictures of whatever celebrity scandal that was popular that week on the cover. With one of her perfectly painted nails, she pointed to an empty spot on the map, in a veritable dead zone, miles from any highway or interstate. "We're here," she said boredly. Jackie was struck with the realization that if this girl was a demigod, she'd definitely be her sister. This was Drew if Drew had been trapped in a small New Mexico town instead of being given free range in New York as a child. "Good luck getting out."
