Snow White- Percy Jackson¹ (Slow Updates)

Chapter Nine

A Stowaway, Lion and Homeless Guy

🍎

The drive to their destination went surprisingly smooth with only a few standouts. One was the fact that Zoe was the driver for this quest. She had another argument with Argus (apparently, she didn’t trust him and wanted to be the one to chauffeur everyone) and it resulted in him giving her the keys out of frustration.

Zoe’s driving can be described as…reckless at best. There were a lot of sharp turns and swerving that left the passengers gaining bruises on their shoulders and bumps on their heads. Thalia was absolutely furious with how the Hunter was driving, and if she wasn’t held back by her seatbelt or the fact that the car was moving, Snow believed she would’ve wrestled Zoe for the wheel.

The next standout is when Grover insisted he needed to do a tracking spell to determine specifically where they needed to go and to accurately track Artemis' footprints. He did so through gathering acorns and having a private spot in a convenience store. His result was they needed to head to D.C. Zoe was annoyed by this, because D.C. was south, the complete opposite of west as stated in the prophecy. Plus, she didn't fully trust Grover’s methods, doubting that that's where Artemis was going. She didn’t hold back in expressing this too. Surprisingly–at least to Snow–she was ruled out.

Bianca was all for it, Snow trusted Grover’s skills far more and Thalia would rather put faith in Grover than on Zoe.

And it lead to this funny moment:

“Oh, like your tracking skills are better?” Thalia growled.

Zoe stepped toward her. “You challenge my skills, you scullion? You know nothing of being a Hunter!”

“Oh, scullion. You’re calling me a scullion?” Thalia barked.

“What’s that?” Snow asked curiously.

“I have no idea!” replied Thalia.

Ultimately, Zoe resigned and they made their way towards D.C. All through the drive, Snow had been wondering when Percy was going to show up. No doubt he realized that Phoebe was still at camp, meaning they were one member short. She had a feeling that he would ride Blackjack to get there, if to avoid getting caught by Mr. D and the fact Argus’ car is currently being used by them.

As they crossed the Potomac River into central Washington, that’s when Zoe decided to ease up on the driving. Once they parked at the curb, everyone got out. Grover pointed toward one of the big buildings lining the Mall and Thalia nodded, making the five of them trudge off into the cold wind. Snow could feel her cheeks turn red and she winced when the harsh wind hit her face. It felt less like wind and more like tiny ice pricks nipping at her face. Snow hoped there was warmth wherever they were going.

They stopped when Grover did, right in front of a big building that said NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM. Thalia checked the door. It was open, but there weren’t many people going in. Too cold and school was out for the holidays. They proceeded to slip inside.

The main part of the museum was one huge room filled with rockets and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. Three levels of balconies curled around, so one can look at the exhibits from all different heights. The place wasn’t crowded, only filled with some families and a couple of tour groups of kids, most likely doing a holiday school trip.

The group headed to the top-floor balcony and started looking around for any signs or clues. Snow found herself drifting from the quest and focusing on the building itself. While she was nowhere near interested in rockets or airplanes, she had to admit that the place did look cool. The structure of the building especially made it more interesting, with the way it allowed people to see the place from different angles and heights.