𝓞𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓶𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓼 ~ 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

XV

THE NEXT AFTERNOON, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. my three friends hadn't showed since we were at camp, but for me I smelt like a fresh bouquet of flowers .

"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

"We can't use phones, right?"

"I'm not talking about phones."

Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.

"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.

"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth, Val?"

"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."

"I got nothing" 

Percy managed to get out his last bit of change and passed Grover a quarter, which left him two nickels and one drachma from Medusa's place.

"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."

"What are you talking about?"

He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."

"Instant messaging?"

"Tris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?"

Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."

soon enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.

I put my palm out to percy. "Drachma, please."

He handed it over.

I raised the coin over my head. "O goddess, accept our offering." She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden

shimmer.

"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then I was looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House.

Standing with his back to us at the railing was a sandy-haired guy in shorts and a smaller boy with brown curly hair and an orange tank top. The tall one was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.

"Car, Luke" I called.

They turned, eyes wide. I could swear carter was standing three feet in front of me through a screen of mist, except I could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.

"Vee!" Carters scarred face broke into a grin. " Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

"We're...uh...fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought-Chiron—I mean-"