PYRRHIC, percy jackson

━━ VII

"I KNEW YOUR SISTERS," Lyra suddenly said, breaking the silence.

Zoë was the only one who answered, knowing the sentence was for her. "Which ones?"

Her tone was not one open for a conversation, but she did not mind it. After witnessing her in battle, she remembered many things, many whispers from the sky, many stories. She felt connected to the hunter, in some weird kind of way. Maybe because she was as old as she was, maybe not, but she felt a tug on her gut towards her, so she would not ignore it.

"The Pleiades," she answered, and Zoë's shoulders dropped from their previous stiff stance. "The seven sisters up in the sky, bringers of rain. They were nice to me, asked me about my music."

Everyone looked curiously at the constellation, but she did not know exactly why. It was probably because Zoë did not tell them much about her past, she told herself, and they were interested in what she had to say. Though Lyra did not know much about her, either, only what the Pleiades told her, but it was nothing bad. Zoë had been a marvelous hunter, a great company for the dragon the Hesperides were meant to take care while in their garden, and even when she was no longer welcome at that place, the seven sisters told her of how she would always be remembered.

Lyra wanted that, so it was quite nice to talk to someone who had already achieved one of her goals.

"They told me of how-"

Percy suddenly interrupted her. "Wait, do you see that?"

He pointed upwards, where they could see a sleek, black helicopter. And it was coming straight towards them, so they engaged in a conversation about it while speeding along the fast lane, going through the military probably not shooting it down and the reason mortals were working for the General. The helicopter was going faster than them, given the lack of traffic in the sky, so they were running out of options to escape it, until Bianca piped up.

"There! That parking lot!"

"We'll be trapped," Zoë said.

"Trust me," Bianca breathed as she looked straight at everyone, showing how sure she was of her alternative.

Zoë shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. They left the van and followed Bianca down some steps.

"Subway entrance," Bianca said with a small smile. "Let's go south. Alexandria."

They bought tickets and got underground, looking behind them for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later they were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from the city, and while everyone was busy either resting or on the lookout for chasers, Lyra was occupied taking everything in: she had never been in a subway. Or under the ground. Not since Orpheus looked behind him and lost his wife, his life, and his lyre.

It was not a bad memory, opposite to what some may think, for in that single day she met both the ground and the sky, her new home. Of course, it led to her curiosity, to that day she fell from the sky and started living, so it was a good thing her owner could not control his impulses.

The train was nice, and the landscape was nothing like the Underworld, luckily, for she did not want to go to that horrible place ever again, not even her curiosity yearned to wander around it. As their train came above ground, they could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after them, so they were safe, hiding in plain sight.

Grover let out a sigh, relaxing to the point of placing his head on Lyra's shoulder, after quietly asking her if it bothered her. It didn't. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."