cover you now ; pjo

six ; dancing queen

Anela subconsciously heard the click of a stereo starting up and the whirring of a cassette tape, but simply waved her hand and turned over, grabbing one of the fluffy pillows and curling up into a fetal position. She vaguely heard giggling and a few guitar riffs, but assumed that it was a part of her dream, which included Peter K. and a game of spin the bottle.

Suddenly, trumpets blared loudly in her ear and she jerked up, rubbing her eyes. In front of her stood Stef and Carolyn, laughing their heads off and lip syncing to Earth, Wind, and Fire's September.

"Why the fuck is that so loud?" She asked, trying to sound angry, but failing. They were losing their minds with laughter and it was kind of adorable.

"It's a wake up call!" Stef shouted over the music. "We're spending the day seeing the sights of Chicago since we're ahead of schedule, and we don't want to waste any time."

The chorus started, and both girls launched into a dance. Anela pulled herself out of bed and trudged to the bathroom of the motel room to get dressed.

"Ba-da ya
Say do you remember
Ba-da ya
Dancing in September
Ba-da ya
Never was a cloudy day..."

Anela chuckled as she brushed her teeth. Stef had impeccable music taste. At least, what she had heard of it. She pinned back her hair and stepped out of the bathroom, where finally September had ended and Stef had turned off the shitty stereo she was playing it on, taking the cassette out and putting it back in her walkman. Gabi and Ben stood near the window, both trying to suppress laughter from Stef and Carolyn's shenanigans.

"Ok," Anela began. "Now that we can speak at a normal level once again, what did Stef say about spending the day in Chicago?"

"Well, we got here at midnight last night, and Gabi was kind enough to drag our basically asleep asses to this motel." Ben leaned against the wall, but quickly regretted it, standing back up straight and waving his hand to get the germs off, as it would seem.

Anela finally looked around the room. It was kind of gross, really just dusty, but it was obviously the cheapest option.

"Anela and I got the beds," Gabi continued. "Me because I brought you all here and Anela because she literally would not move without me carrying her."

Everyone giggled, and Anela shrugged. "What can I say? I love my beauty sleep."

"But really, we're here a day before scheduled. So we're going to look around the windy city. Chiron probably wouldn't approve, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him." Carolyn grinned. "I wonder if my aunt still lives here..."

"I picked up bagels this morning, Anela. There's still one by the door, so you can pick it up on our way out," Ben said.

"Everyone got their stuff? Let's head out!" Gabi said. Anela checked for her dagger, and then grabbed the last bagel as the halfbloods said goodbye to their motel room.

•••••

The group screwed around in State Street Mall for a while (they had to drag themselves away from the Prada shop when the stuffy clerk kicked them out for "trying without intent of buying"), then Ben had the brilliant idea to go down to Navy Pier.

The demigods sat on the edge of the pier, digging into ice cream. Anela's legs dangled over the water, and she closed her eyes to feel the breeze whipping her face.

"I'm gonna jump off," Ben said. He handed Anela his ice cream, and stood up. He jumped off the pier, twisting around and doing peace signs over one of his eyes as he grinned, splashing into the water.

"Reckless bastard." Gabi picked up Ben's ice cream cone (vanilla with sprinkles), and called down into the water. "Hey, Ben! I'm gonna eat your ice cream!"

A head poked up out of the waves. "No, don't eat it!" Ben shook his head wildly, and the girls burst out laughing. He was facing away from the pier.

"Don't worry bud, I wasn't gonna." Gabi laughed.

Ben pulled himself up, completely dry. He took his ice cream from Gabi and resumed eating it. "It is filthy down there." He said in disgust.

•••••

Ben spent all his time at the Lincoln Zoo talking to the various aquatic life, specifically the penguins.

Gabi pretended she could talk to eagles and spent five minutes yelling "SQUACK" at them.

Carolyn rode the carousel, her aura bright the whole time.

Anela and Stef did everything they possibly could.

•••••

"I don't want to pay to go up there."

Everyone stood at the base of the Willis Tower.

"But come on," Carolyn whined. "That's the tallest building in the world. We're standing beneath it. Can Gabi carry us up to the observation deck?"

Gabi's face tightened. "...No. I'm afraid of heights."

So they went back to Navy Pier and sat on the ferris wheel to watch the sunset.

It was the first time they had been truly quiet all day. Roughly over the radio they could hear "Take Me Home, Country Roads", and families clearing off of the pier. Carolyn hummed along.

The last rays of light disappeared from the horizon. Anela yawned, which caused a chain of yawning from everyone else. It had been a long day.

With Carolyn as a flashlight, they wandered through the city until they came to a bus stop.

"Portland, Oregon." They climbed onto the bus, and Anela's heart sank just a little bit. Their day in Chicago had been good. It was like they were in a little bubble, sealed from the responsibility they had. Now the world was starting up again, accompanied by the motor of a Greyhound as it pulled out of the station and headed northwest.

Gabi passed out blankets, and everyone dozed off rather quickly. Anela pressed her forehead against the window and watched the bright streetlights fade into the inky blackness of Illinois backroads. And although Stef was asleep, her music was still playing. In Anela's last seconds of consciousness, she heard the words that deep down she knew all of her friends were feeling.

"I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down
I feel my heart a trembling as
I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down, a'tumbling down..."