CHARMOLYPI ➸ Percy Jackson²

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ONE—Slow Dancing in the Dark

─── ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽☼☾.* :☆ﾟ｡ ───

A week into what was supposed to be a relaxing winter break, Lux and Ciaran's mom helped pack their bags, stuffing them with weapons and ambrosia, and piled them into the family's SUV. Along the way, they picked up their friends: Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia.

It had all the makings of a road trip—the snacks, the radio playing the latest hit song, the trees drowned in snow rolling by, the anticipation that made them unable to sit still. But then again, this was the foreboding kind of anticipation. The kind that made them fiddle and shuffle their feet instead of asking if they were there yet.

It took eight hours to drive from New York City to Bar Harbor, Maine. None of the demigods talked much during the entire journey. Not feeling discouraged by the silence (or perhaps because of it) Emma and Percy's mom Sally filled the car with their chatter, trading embarrassing childhood stories that made Percy and Ciaran blush. Lux wasn't spared from this, but at one point, she was too busy trying to keep herself awake to care.

Since Lux and Ciaran's dad George was away at a conference, Sally had volunteered to go, in part because she was worried about her son. The moms traded places driving at the halfway point and continued their conversation. It wasn't every day that they had to drive their children and their friends to a mission, and they needed something to get their minds off it.

By the time they finally got to Westover Hall, it was getting dark, and every passenger in the car received way too much information on how cute Percy looked in a bathtub when he was three years old and how Ciaran used to smear food onto his cheeks as a baby.

Thalia wiped the fog off the car window and peered outside. "Oh, yeah. This'll be fun."

Westover Hall looked less like a boarding school and more like a villain's castle that one would see in an animated movie. The black stone exterior was so dark that it stood out even as night began to descend. It stood on a snowy cliff overlooking a frost-ridden forest on one side and a gray churning ocean on the other.

"Are you sure you don't want us to wait?" Sally asked.

"No thanks, Mom," said Percy. "I don't know how long it will take. We'll be okay."

"Are you sure? We don't want you to not have a ride home," Emma chimed in.

"It's okay, Ms. Jackson, Mrs. Rhodes." Annabeth smiled reassuringly. "We'll find our way back."

They became less tense. In their minds, Annabeth was the most sensible and levelheaded girl they'd ever met.

"All right, dears," Sally said. "Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes, Ms. Jackson," Thalia replied. "Thanks for the ride too, Mrs. Rhodes."

"Are you certain?" pressed Emma. "Do you have extra clothes? It's really cold today."

"And you have our phone numbers, right?"

"Mom—"

"Lux, I made sure to pack you some extra arrows, right?"

"What about your ambrosia and nectar, Percy? And a golden drachma just in case you need to contact camp?"

"Mom, seriously!" he burst out. "We'll be fine. Come on, guys."