Shattered

Dream

Over the next half hour, all they thought about was getting away safely. They changed trains twice. Percy had no idea where they were going, but after a while they lost the helicopter.

They had decided to ditch the van when they noticed the helicopters that surrounded the museum. The following chain of events had gone exactly the same as the previous time around.

Unfortunately, when they finally got off the train they found themselves at the end of the line, in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow. Lots of snow. It seemed much colder here.

They wandered through the railway yard, thinking there might be another passenger train somewhere, but there were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow, like they hadn't moved in years.

A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. they must've looked pretty pathetic, because he gave us a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!'

Percy honestly wanted to laugh at how oblivious he had been. Already knowing the identity of the homeless man, he wondered how he hadn't caught on the last time.

Apollo's hair, although grimy and dirty, still shone with a radiant glow, and his bright blur eyes hele thousands of years of knowledge.

They huddled around his fire, Thalia's teeth were chattering. She said, "well this is g-g-g-great."

"Maybe they should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoe said. "They cannot help us anymore. they must finish this quest ourselves."

"You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," Percy said. "You know of any?"

He pointed one greasy hand.

Suddenly Percy noticed a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN west LINE.

"That's... convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh..."

She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of us was cold and empty, as if he'd taken the flames with him.

"I think his name was Fred." The boy couldn't help himself from uttering those words.

Perseus was seated cold and alone in a probably very expensive sports-car on a train which was their ticket of going west without actually walking! Percy mean- imagine four tired looking teenagers, -led by one in a silver parka with a bow slung over her shoulder to top it all off- in battered clothing walking all the way from Long Island, New York to the west... Their destination was rather ambiguous... All they knew was that they had to move west.

Well... ambiguous to anyone who wasn't Percy or Zoe. He knew perfectly well that their destination was of course Mount Tamalpais, the Garden of the Hesperides.

As Percy watched the sun go down, Percy was afraid to go to sleep. He was worried about what he might dream.

"Oh, don't be afraid of dreams," a voice said right next to me.

He looked over. Percy wasn't surprised to find the homeless guy from the rail yard sitting in the shotgun seat. His jeans were so worn out they were almost white. His coat was ripped, with stuffing coming out. He looked kind of like a teddy bear that had been run over by a truck.

"If it weren't for dreams," he said, "I wouldn't know half the things I know about the future. They're better than Olympus tabloids." He cleared his throat, then held up his hands dramatically: