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The group arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains.
The sign said WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO. The air was cold and thin. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.
Even with her lion-skin coat, Elaine was freezing by the time they got to Main Street, which was about half a mile from the train tracks. As they walked, Elaine and Percy told Grover about their conversation with Apollo the night before—how he'd told them to seek out Nereus in San Francisco.
Grover looked uneasy. "That's good, I guess. But we've got to get there first."
They stopped in the middle of town. You could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.
"Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."
"There's a coffee shop!" said Grover.
"Yes," Zoe said. "Coffee is good."
"Agreed." Elaine said.
"And pastries," Grover said dreamily. "And wax paper."
Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about the three of us go get some food. Elaine, Percy, and Bianca will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."
They agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable leaving Zoe, but she did.
Inside the store, they found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car.
"You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo," the clerk said doubtfully. "That's down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars."
The clerk looked so lonely, Percy bought a rubber rat while Elaine stifled her laughter. Then they headed back outside and stood on the porch.
"Awesome," Percy grumped. "I'm going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion."
"But the clerk said—" Elaine started.
"I know," he told her. "I'm checking anyway." He handed her the rat and left without another word.
Elaine let him go. She knew how it felt to be restless.
Bianca and Elaine stood together awkwardly.
"Nice rat," she said at last.
Elaine set it on the porch railing.
"So ... how do you like being a Hunter so far?" She asked. Bianca pursed her lips. "You don't think I was wrong for joining, do you?"
