The Lightning Thief - Something's been Stolen

THE GOD OF WAR JOINS US FOR DINNER

(Not edited yet)

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, but I realized there was no point in feeling insecure about it, since the boys smelled much, much worse.

"Let's try to contact Chiron," I said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit." It was about time we called for a little guidance.

"We can't use phones, right?" Percy asked.

"I'm not talking about phones."

We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, looking for some kind of water dispenser for our Iris Message. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. The Rocky Mountains towered over us.

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, now that Percy was famous and Grover and I were part of the chase too.

I looked at Grover, gesturing to a stack of spray guns. He nodded.

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

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

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

Percy emptied his pockets of change and passed Grover a quarter, which left him two nickels and one drachma from Medusa's place. Good, at least we have one drachma.

"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?" Percy asked.

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?"

I told myself I shouldn’t get annoyed. After all, it isn’t his fault he was born with the misfortune of a bran full of seaweed.

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."

The late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into the ROYGBIV colour spectrum, allowing us to contact anyone and everyone- if we have a drachma.

I held out my hand. "Drachma, please."

Percy placed the drachma in my hand.

I raised the coin over my head. "O goddess, accept our offering."

Then I threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.

"Half-Blood Hill," I requested.

The mist opened up into a window, through which we could see Camp Half-Blood. Standing with his back to us at the railing, was Luke.

I though we would see Chiron, not Luke! I looked hideous. I didn’t wan him to see me like that! Trying not to blush too hard, I wanted to wipe the message away, but before I could, Percy called, "Luke!”