❝In a fight, they're lethal. Around each other, they melt❞
"I'm fine." I said, trying to hide the frown and tears that threatened to spill.
Percy looked at me once.
"I'm not going anywhere, unless you tell me what's wrong," he declared and I would h...
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"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 Percy's arm like it was the most important thing in the world. I glided over to them and smiled.
"Thalia, if you were to fall, I could easily catch you." I laughed, knowing they sounded absolutely crazy, talking to thin air.
"Are you invisible, Val?" She asked.
"Yep, it helps with longer routes. Saves more energy if I don't have to concentrate on keeping myself visible the entire time while flying."
"Is that why you almost passed out when we were following them?" Percy glanced over in the direction of my voice.
"Yep. Didn't want to freak you out by going invisible." I grinned. "We had just met after all."
"Are... are we very high?" Thalia's voice trembled a little bit.
I looked down. Below us, a range of snowy mountains zipped by. I stretched out my arm and shoved snow off one of the peaks.
"Nah," Percy said. "Not that high."
"We are in the Sierras.'" Zoe 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!" our 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?" I asked.
"We automatons gotta have some fun once in a while, right?" our 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 and I laughed. "They're kids, man."
"Oh, right." If bronze statues could blush, I swear Hank did. "Back to flying."
"Who keeps laughing. Its pretty." Chuck said and I flew next to him, turning visible again. I waved as he yelped and gilded over. I slowly faded back in the background.
We sped up, so I could tell the angels were excited. The mountains fell away into hills, and then we were zipping along over farmland and towns and highways.
Grover played his pipes to pass the time. Zoe got bored and started shooting arrows at random billboards as we flew by. Every time she saw a Target department store—and we 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. I ended up grabbing her hand after a while and that seemed to calm her down a little.
