𝑂𝑐𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑝 •|𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗰𝘆 𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗼𝗻|•

Hampstead.

     "There's no one home and you're still still outside,
I wonder why.

What's wrong with a little bit of poison tell me,
I would rather be seen alive then dying by your point of view,

I do, I do, I do, I do."

──●◎●──

I felt as though the scenes of the past began to overlap the power of the present. All of my painful memories resurfacing and engulfing my heart in a wretched play of remembrance and power. Everything was starting to become a little too mentally straining for the four of us. I laughed at ten year old me, who was always excited about getting her own quest and proving her relevance and self worth. Sometimes I hate how ancient trauma makes your pain feel. As if it was an ancient family feud and not a thing that happened to you either three years ago or three minutes ago.

But I needed to stay focused , especially because I told Percy to worry about the physical anomalies of this quest and to leave that thinking to me. (And Annabeth)

So far right now everyone's goal was to get to Santa Monica and brace ourselves for whatever it was that awaited us there. Seven more days to the solstice.

──●◎●──

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 it was obvious. (Surprisingly, Y/N hasn't made a fuss over smelling.)

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

"We can't use phones, right?"

"I'm not talking about phones."

We wandered through downtown for half an hour, though I wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, Y/N used her hands to fan her face a deep frown settled on her face. Her deep e/c eyes flitting from place to place , I caught her eye for a fleeting moment and saw the conflicted flicker of emotion flash before it was gone as quick as it had appeared. She flashed me a reassuring smile and turned to face Annabeth when she called her name.

Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains ssemes to be staring at me, like a tidal wave crash into a city.

Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered towards the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for the patrol cars. We were four adolescent 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?" I asked , as Grover took out a spray gun.

"It's seventy-five scents," he grumbled.
"I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth, Y/N?"

"Don't look at me," Annabeth said. "The dinning car wiped me out."

"I'm always broke." Y/N snorted, grinning a little too mischievously as she eyes the water hoses. Which baffled me, because this is the same girl that pulled a plastic bag of coins out of the ocean and offered it to my mother.

I fished out my last bit of change and passed Grover a quarter , which left me two nickels and one drachma from Medusa's place.