The Eclipse, Percy Jackson

Chapter 10

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. We hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and I was sure that was obvious.

“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?" Perseus questioned.

“I'm not talking about phones.” Annabeth replied.

We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, though Perseus looked a bit clueless. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.

Finally, we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered towards the stall furthest 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?” Perseus asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.

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

“Nothing since the bus.”

“Andy?”

“Don't look at me,” I said. "The dining car wiped me out.”

Perseus fished out his last bit of change (see what I did there) and passed Grover a quarter.

“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?”

“Iris-messaging,” I 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.”

Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapour and broke into colours.

Annabeth held her palm out to Perseus. “Drachma, please.”

He handed it over.

She raised the coin over her 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 we were 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 an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.

Luke.

“Luke!” Perseus called before I could.

He turned, eyes wide. “Percy!” His scarred face broke into a grin. 'Is that Andromeda and Annabeth, too? 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-”