𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗔 𝗦𝗘𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗗 • 𝘗𝘑𝘖

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡

𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗦 𝗦𝗡𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗗 𝗛𝗜𝗦 fingers and the world did a three-sixty, spinning in a thick cloud of red dust. Jackie fell to her knees, unable to tell which way was up, and what on earth was going on.

When her vision cleared and she could stand up again, the limousine was gone. The road, the taco restaurant, the whole town of Gila Claw was gone. The demigods Ares had sent to get tacos were standing there, in the middle of the junkyard, mountains of scrap metal stretched out in every direction.

"Well," Jackie said. "She was not helpful, at all."

"What did she want with you?" Bianca asked. "Why did she come here?"

For a second, Jackie hesitated. She didn't want to give too much away, and, if she was being honest, she had no inclination to tell the group every little detail. Could you imagine just how embarrassing that would be? Oh, by the way, Percy and Marielle, my mom thought we'd be a really cute love triangle so she interfered with the quest. How cute! Like that wouldn't send them running.

"I had a dream before the quest," Jackie answered eventually. Marielle perked up, knowing exactly what Jackie was talking about. "She wanted to clear some things up. And she wanted to warn us about her husband's junkyard. She said not to pick anything up."

Zoë narrowed her eyes. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip to tell thee that. Are you sure there is nothing else?"

"For once, I agree with Zoë," Thalia said. "You can't trust Aphrodite."

Jackie shrugged, trying to feign nonchalance. "She's my mom," she said, exasperated. "She wanted to schedule a gossip session. I'm more concerned with getting out of this trash heap."

For a second, it looked like Zoë wanted to keep pressing for more, but Marielle stepped forward. "That way is west," she announced, pointing. Jackie never would have been able to guess, but Marielle said it with such confidence Jackie knew she was right. "We can start walking and see where that takes us."

"How can you tell?" Percy asked.

In the light of the full moon, Jackie was surprised at how well she could see Marielle roll her eyes. "Ursa Major is in the north," she said, like duh. "You can figure it out from there, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Percy said. "The bear thing."

Zoë looked offended. "Show some respect. It was a fine bear. A worthy opponent."

Percy and Zoë fell into line behind Marielle, who led the way, and Jackie, who didn't want to get involved. They were bickering about the legitimacy of Ursa Major, which, considering Percy was wearing the skin of the Nemean lion, wasn't a very unbelievable thing.

It was much more calm by Marielle, who's eyes hardly left the sky as she began to navigate her way up a giant pile of trash.

"Was I . . . wrong?" she asked quietly, so quietly Jackie could almost believe she hadn't even spoken. Her words got swallowed by the wind. "About Aphrodite's dream."