Love Against All Odds

Zoe - Eurynomos

The landscape outside the window blurred by in a mix of dense woods and occasional stretches of empty highway, the kind that made me feel like I was floating somewhere between awake and asleep. We'd been on the road for hours—driving from Long Island to Sonoma County was no joke, especially when you were doing it in Oskar's secondhand, beat-up red Ford Ranger Wildtrak. He called it Ruthie, a name that somehow suited the old truck's scrappy, worn-out look. She ran on what felt like sheer willpower alone. Oskar was obsessed with this thing, even if it rattled with every bump and sounded on the verge of falling apart. Now and then, he'd reach out and pat the dashboard like it was an old friend, muttering something about her being "reliable."

Reliable wasn't the word I'd use. Clunky? Definitely. Unpredictable? Absolutely. But somehow, despite my scepticism, Ruthie had gotten us this far.

We were deep into the West now, the air outside growing cooler and crisper as we wound our way through the hills and forests of Northern California, heading toward Sonoma County. The sun was setting behind the mountains, casting long shadows over the road ahead, and with each passing mile, I felt the weight of our mission pressing down harder on my shoulders.

The search for Percy had been relentless and, so far, completely fruitless. Every time we stopped—whether at a dingy diner or some forgotten town along the way—we'd ask questions and try to pick up any scrap of information that might lead us to him. But we always came up empty. It was like chasing a ghost.

Annabeth was feeling it even worse than we were. She was in D.C. with Butch, searching every lead, every possible location, but coming up with the same nothing. She grew restless and desperate each day, and it started to show. Whenever we connected with her through Iris's messages, her frustration was palpable, seeping through the cracks in her usually composed demeanour. She was good at keeping it together, but lately, her voice had taken on an edge, her words sharper.

We stayed in touch with her as much as possible, but each conversation left me more helpless. She depended on us to find him, and so far, we had nothing to offer but vague reports of dead ends and dusty roads.

I glanced at Oskar, his hands gripping the steering wheel tighter than usual. He hadn't said much in the last hour; his focus honed in on the road ahead. I knew the frustration was eating at him, too.

"We're getting close," I said, "Sonoma County's not far now."

Oskar nodded, but his eyes stayed on the road. "Yeah. Annabeth said Nico mentioned some tunnels out this way. Old, dangerous, probably not on any modern map." His voice was steady, but I could hear the tension beneath it. Nico's leads were always a mix of solid intel and cryptic warnings. The tunnels were supposed to connect to the Underworld somehow—just the kind of place where someone could vanish.

The Ford Ranger rattled as we hit another rough patch of road. The trees were growing denser around us, their branches casting eerie shadows as the last light of the day faded. I shifted in my seat, adjusting my jacket to ward off the growing chill. Something about the approaching darkness, the looming redwoods, made me feel like the forest was swallowing us.

"We'll need to check in with Annabeth soon," I said, watching the sky darker. "She'll want an update. Even if it's nothing."

"Yeah," Oskar agreed. He reached out and patted the dashboard again, a small habit that always made me smile. "First thing we do when we stop."

Eventually, the smooth highway gave way to rougher, winding roads as we entered Sonoma County. The scenery was breathtaking in a wild, untamed way—tall, towering redwoods on either side of us, their ancient trunks casting long, eerie shadows. The air smelled cleaner and fresher here, but there was an undercurrent of something I couldn't place. It felt like we were stepping back in time, leaving the modern world behind as we delved deeper into this rugged terrain.