The day the aquifers dried out, half the town left. The day after, only the desperate remained.

The days of a glittering Las Vegas were long gone. Once the Colorado river began to dry out, it got too expensive to transport water to the city. Afterall, they were in a desert. As the hotels and casinos went out of business, the people went with them. With the cost of water and the lack of rain, they couldn't afford to stay there.

At the beginning, they began to depend on groundwater. There wasn't much of it, but it was supposed to last them a good few months, at least until it rained again but it never did.

Nico sat in the back of the van as Bianca filled the tank with gas. Vegas was becoming unbearably hot and they needed to leave. There was nothing there anymore other than empty buildings that have been raided a few times too many. They had about twenty gallons of water on them and a few cases of gold coins. Nobody wanted paper money anymore. It was a bit of a joke now, considering that large forests became an obsolete thing and trees were too expensive a luxury to grow. Luckily for them, Bianca traded cash for gold early on in the drought. People called them drachmas in the city states.

It seemed that the only people who were doing okay were in these cities. In the US, they were all by the coasts or the Great Lakes, although those were in constant war. Fresh water sources were being drained too quickly and with the lack of rain to replenish them, they became a rarity. Most people depended on the ocean water instead. Desalinization and the machines to do it were costly, but in the time of drought, freshwater was the most valuable thing there was. It was a slow process that creating a lot of waste, but what choice did they have? They ruined the Earth already.

None of it made sense to him, how there was absolutely no rainfall for over a year. Even scientists were puzzled by the discovery, considering the atmospheric temperature didn't even rise from the year before. The results, however, were devastating. Developing countries were hit the hardest, within a few months of the start of the drought, at least a billion were dead. That number climbed at an alarming rate once aquifers and wells dried out. At that point, the city states began to form. Large governments were failing because they were unable to provide their citizens adequate water supplies. Citizens saw it as politicians trying to hoard the water and broke away from them. The city states ranged in size, but there was one thing all of them shared: water and the need to protect it. Most city states had farms and a constant supply of food but there was just enough. Getting turned away wasn't unheard of.

Bianca had heard from a friend that those on the west coast were getting crowded so they decided to head the opposite way.

"Ready to go Nico?" Bianca hopped into the driver's seat and strapped down a small barrel of oil on the seat besides her.

She had only begun driving once most of the people left Vegas. Their blue van was found at the side of a freeway with the keys in and the motor still running. Nico wasn't sure what to make of her driving, but considering that the roads were probably empty of traffic, it was good enough.

"Westover…"

"Maine. Just on the other side of America. It's supposed to be colder there and I heard their aquifers are still quite full," Bianca replied as she tossed Nico her phone, "lead the way."

As they drove, Nico watched them leave Vegas behind. They were only there two months before the drought began. Their mother had just passed away and they were sent here while the Child Protective Services tried looking or their father. He wasn't sure what happened to those people. They probably assumed that they had left Vegas with the first wave of people. It wasn't until three months into the drought that the United States became nothing more than a city state itself. Considering that neither of them were aspiring politicians or had any combat skill, D.C. didn't seem to be the place for them.

It was rather dull, looking out the window. The sky was a bright blue, the way it always was now. Other than that, everything was some shade of brown. They were already in a desert and without rain, the fragile ecosystem just fell apart. Once in awhile, they would pass by an abandoned car graying on the side of the road. At least he hoped that they were abandoned. Heat stroke was a bit too common of an occurrence now, with so few people having the luxury of carrying water around.

He had always known that the population was a mere fraction of what it was before but it didn't hit him until they had gotten out of Nevada. During the whole ride, he saw no one. There were many unkempt and raided houses, but not a single person. Anyone who was alive was long gone. Those that remained were probably rotting somewhere or escaping like they were.

"It's named after a military school by the ocean."

"Hmm?"

Bianca pointed at the phone in his hands, "Westover. It's the name of the school where they have their machines. Almost all of the water for the city state is made there. The aquifers are only used for agriculture."

"They're still accepting?"

"Yup. At least as far as I know. I have a friend there that said they are."

It reassured him, but not enough. Somehow, the idea terrified him, that they were going to be turned away at the gates. All he could think about when he thought about Maine was blueberries. He had done a project years ago on the state. All he could remember was that wild blueberries were the state fruit. Yes, they were going to turn Bianca and him away from their stupid blueberry farms. If there was one thing he liked about Vegas, it was that nobody cared about them. They were able to come and go as they pleased. When they decided to move from their little apartment to the lobby of the Lotus hotel, the people who remained hardly blinked an eye. It was almost like a community, except it wasn't. They all needed to survive and they didn't take from anyone still living there. It was nice.

Nico rested his head on a Louis Vuitton suitcase that Bianca used to hold her stuff. She had claimed that she got it for the quality, but from how she treated the bag, he knew she thought it was pretty. Everything had been packed since the first day the aquifers dried out. It was going to be a long ride.

It took about three days to get to Maine. He couldn't help but feel as if they had not moved at all, at the state border, it was still brown and barren. He wasn't sure what he expected, it was a worldwide drought after all, but he never expected that Maine was going to look like the deserts of Nevada. Bianca got on the phone with one of her friends as she began to drive down streets. The houses and stores that they passed by were all empty. It didn't seem that there was anyone living there. They had passed by people as they drove, but those people didn't look as if they would have wanted to help them. They were all walking in the direction they were driving. Still, it was comforting, seeing people. He had heard news on the radio that there were thieves that attacked travelers, so they decided to keep a good distance away. They were low on water and it was better to not take any risks.

"Right up there," Bianca said, a bit of a smile in her voice.

Nico climbed out of the back to look out the front window. There was no gate. Instead, there were people, sitting outside and walking around. It was so normal but he hadn't seen such a thing for so long.

A copper skinned girl with dark hair was waving at the car. When Bianca saw her, she rolled down the windows and stopped the car.

"Zoë!" Bianca practically leapt out of the car to hug her friend.

Zoë stuck her head into the van and smiled even wider than before when she saw Nico, "I'm glad to see you two made it here safe! I'll bring you to the lady in charge. We've been waiting for you. Just park your car over at my place."

Zoë jumped into the back of the car and sat on one of their suitcases. Nico watched as the two girls talked animatedly about the city, not that there seemed to be too much in it. There were no stores open and not too many people. The houses were painted bright colors, as if to take the attention away from the lack of lawns. Zoë stopped them in front of a two storied Victorian styled house with a marble statue of a woman crying. An intricate black fence surrounded the house and a red stone path led to the door.

"You live here?" He had tried to hide it but the shock was evident in his voice.

She nodded and grabbed one of the suitcases, "Just bring your stuff inside. We can just walk to the town hall."

The inside of the house was even more elaborate than the front, it seemed to be completely furnished and a bit too homey for a single girl to live in.

Bianca was too stunned to speak and clumsily dropped her suitcases to touch a portrait on the wall.

"Five bedroom and six bathrooms. They all have running water."

Nico but down his bag in the living room. This house really did looked lived in. There were pictures on the mantle of the fireplace and throws draped over the couches. He couldn't understand how a thing like that could exist alongside the disaster.

"I'll show you guys your bedrooms," Zoë offered, taking a hold of Bianca's shoulder as if she was comforting her.

Bianca, taken out of her daze, shook her head, "I want to see if we can get registered first. I mean if you don't mind."

Nico knew that his sister was worried too, that the city wouldn't accept them.

"Not at all. Follow me." She led them out of the house and around to the back. In the fence, there was a gate that she opened for them. On the other side of the fence was an even larger building. From the domed top and greek styled architecture, he decided that this was probably the town hall. They circled around to the front of the building where they a giant fountain stood. Unlike the empty pools he was used to seeing, this one was running. Water trickled down the body of a woman dancing, giving the illusion that she was dancing in the rain.

It was as if the building was mocking the drought. Despite the lack of grass, white rose bushes lined the front of the building. A few willowy looking trees gave shade to the young women sitting beneath them. A few women, all dressed similarly to Zoë walked inside. They all wore flowing white blouses, some military like jacket, dark jeans, and heavy boots. Their hair was tied back in a braid and their faces were almost glowing.

As they entered the building, the women stared at them, although not menacingly. The interior of the building was decorated by shimmering cloth draped about the room and vases of white orchids. It felt breezy. The woman at the front desk nodded at Zoë but did not acknowledge either of them.

Zoë knocked on a large wood door, "My lady, my friends have arrived."

The double doors were pushed open and two women on either side of the door bowed deeply.

A rather young girl sat at the end of room on a few plush pillows. She couldn't have been older than thirteen. She had auburn hair, pulled back into a braid like the rest of the girls. Her face was pale and while he thought the other girls in the room seemed to have an uncanny glow to them, she glittered. Her eyes were the oddest shade of silver that he had ever seen and reflected the room effortlessly. She wore a white dress, made of a material similar to the cloth drapes along the walls.

Despite her young appearance, she had the expression of someone much older. There was the slightest smile on her face and she seemed completely relaxed.

"Introduce them to me, Zoë."

Zoë ushered them forward and took a short bow before addressing her, "This is Bianca, she was a friend of mine back when we went to school in Washington together. Her mother took care of me once. She passed away a while before the drought. She's very hardworking, I'm sure she'll make an amazing maiden, Artemis."

Artemis hummed, "Bianca, how old are you?"

Nico couldn't help but feel that he was being ignored.

"I'm eighteen." He could almost hear Bianca say "m'am". It was strange. He swore, Artemis was a child. She had to be, but with the way Zoë bowed to her and the way she spoke gave her an authoritative feel. Was she really in charge of this place?

"How do you mind working in the dirt?"

"I don't mind it at all. In D.C. my mother had a vegetable garden. I used to help her all the time."

"That's perfect." Artemis exchanged a look with Zoë who suddenly began to clap her hands together. "I am sure my maiden, Zoë Nightshade, knows the perfect job for you."

Bianca looked back at him with a wide smile before turning back to Artemis and bowing, "Thank you so much! What about Nico? He's sixteen. I'm sure he can help out."

Artemis turned to him and examined him a bit too much for comfort. He must have been quite the sight. Everything else in the room was white and even Bianca was coincidentally wearing a white shirt. Short and scrawny, he didn't look much. He wore a worn out black shirt and black jeans, that didn't really help in making him look any bigger. On top of that, he had his bulky aviator jacket, which was pretty dirty considering they weren't able to wash it. Suddenly, he also realized something else, he was probably the only male in the building, at least from what he saw so far.

"He can work the fields."

"Fields?" He asked. He was sure he didn't see any fields.

Artemis has already turned back to Zoë, "Show Bianca around, why don't you dear? I'll make sure someone is sent to pick up her brother tomorrow so he can work."

He wanted to say something, but Bianca looked happy. She had never been this happy, not since before their mother died. So he kept his mouth closed. Artemis still unsettled him, but she didn't seem dangerous, not in the least. When they thanked her, she nodded and picked up a harp from behind her pillows. The other women in the room led them out and closed the door behind them. As they left, he could hear the soft strums of the harp behind the door.

He didn't trust this place. He couldn't help but feel that he was being glared at. Something just wasn't right about it all. Still, for Bianca, he wouldn't complain.

"It'll be so much fun, Bianca!"

As they were leaving, Nico tried his best to look for another male. Maybe he wasn't looking clearly, but no. He was the only one. Zoë, realizing what Nico was looking at pointed at the building.

"This building is just for our lady, Artemis. Usually only her maidens are allowed to come in."

"Maidens?"

Zoë nodded excitedly, "Yup! You see all those girls? We're all her maidens. We vow to stay with her and protect her."

"Why?" Nothing about vowing to and protecting a child seemed to make sense to him.

"She is what keeps us so healthy around here. We're one of the few city states that have this much fresh game. They only come because of her. There isn't a lot of animals left but somehow, those that do find their way here. We have a forest you know."

He was searching for any sign on her face that it was a joke but found none. She was dead serious that Artemis was some type of game bait and that they had a forest. As far as he knew of, forest were completely destroyed if not rotting. He had heard of new religions forming that attempted to make reason for the drought or tried to make people saints and saviors but he thought they were only a joke. Now here he was, listening to Bianca's friend spout nonsense. Wasn't Zoë college educated? He was sure she was.

"I'll show you," she offered. Bianca, who was just absentmindedly admiring the fountain, grabbed Nico's arm.

"Please do!"

Nico sat in the field of blueberries. Even with a worldwide drought, Maine had blueberries. He could barely see the storage house at the end of the fields. There was a chain link fence surrounding the fields but from where he was, he couldn't see a thing. The girl overlooking him appeared to be roughly his age. She wore what all the other maidens wore except she had a bow under one arm and a quiver of arrows strung across her back. He had wanted to ask what it was for, but the way she looked at him told him he should keep quiet. He didn't mind it but he couldn't help but wonder if it was really necessary. The only people out in the fields were completely unarmed, unless plastic cartons counted as weapons.

"When you fill thirty of those, you can leave."

He sighed and went back to looking for more ripe berries. It wasn't difficult work but he didn't particularly like crouching around in the dirt and his fingers were beginning to get stained blue.

Yesterday, when Zoë first brought them to the forest, which conveniently overlooked the fields, he couldn't think. The trees were real. He remembered the way Bianca took a leaf in her hand, examining it. There was no way any city state had enough water to sustain a forests, not when they had so many people dependant on them. The trees were a mix of evergreens and aspens, all old growth trees. They looked strong, indestructible. Birds and squirrels crowded the canopy and upper branches, rustling them. Insects flew about the ground, landing on bushes and flowers. It didn't seem possible that it could exist. He had run his hands over the rough bark, trying to see if it they were plastic.

It felt as if they were in a different world, one without the drought. Birds were fucking singing. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that the breeze was moving the leaves. A small squirrel had come down to check on them. He hadn't seen one up close since before the drought. Not a lot of animals were able to survive without water. It got close enough to them to see that they were alive and then scurried back up the trees.

He had wondered how they afford to have such a luxury but decided not to ask. A forest in their type of world was worth more than gold. The feeling of standing in one was incomparable. Different grasses grew all around him, coloring the forest floor different colors of greens and yellows.

The forest wasn't huge, only covering one hill and a bit of the land around it, but after having seen only leafless trees on their way over and the willows in front of the town hall, it was breathtaking.

Zoë had tried to tell them about the watering system for the trees but he doubted that either of them heard anything.

"Don't crush the leaves."

Nico looked up at the new maiden. At least he thought she was one, her hair was too short to be tied into the braid all the others wore and she didn't wear the uniform the rest of them more. She wore all black. Everything about her was black, other than her pale skin and blue eyes. Still, she had the strange glow the rest of them had. He wasn't sure if he was going insane. No one glowed. It was probably some strange makeup.

He moved his foot, "Sorry."

"Phoebe, don't let the new kid mess up so soon."

Phoebe looked down at him and turned away, "I'll make sure not to let it happen again."

Unlike the other maiden, who pretty much refused to look at him, she didn't seem to dislike him at all. Which was rather nice, considering she too carried a bow. He couldn't really understand why people would use bows, but the arrows looked sharp.

"You're the new girl's brother?"

"Yeah."

She smiled and stuck out a hand, "Thalia, Thalia Grace. I'm one of Artemis's lieutenants."

He decided he liked her, "Nico, Nico Di Angelo."

Thalia stopped midway and dropped his hand. He didn't know what was happening. She took the bow out from under her arm and strung in one of her arrows. A second later, he heard something fall onto the ground behind him.

Two arrows pierced the animal, one in the eye and the other right above it. It looked like a giant hairy pig with horns. Maine was strange.

"Uhh… what's that?'

Thalia went over to the boar and poked it, it shivered, "Still alive. Strange. I'll take it to Artemis."

"What is it?" He asked again louder.

Phoebe and Thalia exchanged a look, "You can see it? It's just a boar."

"Boars look like that?" It was the size of a cow, there was no way a pig could be that size. The horns that stuck out were shiny and gray, as if they were made of metal. No, it couldn't be.

"Around here they look like that. Don't worry about it, Phoebe is more than capable of taking care of them."

Sure they did.

Phoebe had a proud look in her eyes and began to help tie up the hooves of the so-called boar. No way in hell was that a boar.

Thalia gave him a pat on the back before throwing the end of the rope over her shoulder, "Keep up the good work, buddy. I think we might just have some nice pork tonight."

He didn't like this place.

Zoë rested on the floor of the livingroom, surrounded in piles of decorative pillows and blankets. Thalia had come over and was in the kitchen making dinner: porkchops and blueberry sauce. Apparently, they were expecting guests.

Bianca was rambling about what they had done that day. They were renovating some of the houses so that excess grey water would be used for personal vegetable gardens instead of sewage water. He tried to pay attention, he really did but there was something stuck on his mind that he couldn't shake off.

There was just too much water. Even with all the things they were doing, it didn't make sense how this city state was able to live like this. Apparently, their only desalinization machines were in a school. As far as he could tell from what Zoe said, the city state consisted of about four cities. However, the only residents were maidens and their relatives. That is if they decided to take in their relatives. From the few young boys out in the fields, he doubted that many did. Couldn't they have taken more people in?

A knock sounded at the door, pulling him out of his thoughts.

Bianca, also a bit too comfortably wrapped in blankets, kicked him off the couch, "Go open the door, Nico."

As he opened the door, a few people bursted in, barely noticing him.

"Thalia! We're here! Your favorite people are here!"

Thalia ran out of the kitchen, completely ignoring the boy that had yelled and ran over to hug a rather tall blonde girl, "Annabeth! I've been waiting all day. I've missed you."

The boy who had been yelling pouted, which looked awfully strange considering he was about six feet tall, "What about me."

Two other men stood in the hallways. It was rather refreshing, having seen only maidens all day. Somehow, he still felt rather out of place. These people were just too…sunny?

Bianca didn't seem to be at all fazed by the guest. She just came over to introduce herself as if this was the most normal thing that could ever happen. It wasn't like her. She was usually much more cautious of people.

Thalia pushed them all to the dining room, where she presented them with fat hunks of pork chops covered in a purple sauce. The thought disturbed him, that he was eating that horned beast from before, but it tasted just like pork, maybe just a bit gamier.

Apparently, the name of the loud boy was Percy. Percy looked like the sea. It didn't make sense, but at the same time it did. His eyes were the color of sea water and he had this strange bronzey complexion to him. He was loud and expressive. Nico wasn't sure what to think.

Besides him sat Grover, who was either stoned or just a little off. Grover was rather short, with a goatee, dark hair, and a strange walk. He wore a large beanie that slumped in front of his head. He had refused the pork and seemed more than content eating a bowl of "lettuce". Nico wasn't exactly sure what type of vegetable was in there but it looked terribly similar to pine needles. He tried not to stare at him, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. Every time their eyes would meet, Grover would smile, pine needles stuck to his teeth and all.

Leo Valdez sat opposite of them. He was considerably shorter than the rest, although Nico begrudgingly accepted that the boy was just a tiny bit taller than him. Despite not matching any one else on height or even on weight, he managed to be the loudest. Zoë, for one, seemed rather irritated by him but said nothing. The little hispanic boy had claimed that he was the ingenious one that made the machines that filtered the water. Zoë had scoffed but again said nothing.

Somehow, he felt that Annabeth was the only sane one. While Leo decided it was a great time to tell Bianca about how he had installed the machine at the request of the lady Artemis, Annabeth would merely correct his exaggerations. Unlike the boys, she ate slowly and was having a rather quiet conversation with Thalia.

"How's it here? One of the maiden's castrate you, yet?"

Zoë glared at Leo.

"What?" It was about all he could manage to say.

Leo nudged his arm, "These girls aren't too fond of us men. That's why all the guys here work in the fields and get all the nasty work."

He hadn't realized it before but it appeared to be true. The only ones picking berries in the field were men.

"It's also why none of the men are allowed to carry weapons," Leo added.

Zoë sighed, shaking her head, "Only the maidens of Artemis are allowed to bear arms."

"That is rather un-American of you, Zoë," Leo chided, shoveling another spoonful or pork into his mouth.

"There is no more America," Zoë retorted.

"You're no fun."

Apparently, from what he heard from Annabeth, the group had come to check on the machines. Percy and Leo seemed to be the ones that knew how they were run.

"How many machines are there?" Bianca asked, her eyes wide.

Leo nearly fell out of his seat trying to answer, "There's about half a dozen but they're huge. The whole school is used as a storage device for them. I made most of them myself! I also made the machine that dispenses the brine back into the ground. It separates the salt from the other pollutants so we can figure where to put them. We can bring you there if you want!"

"Ehem," Annabeth interrupted, "We would if we could but at the moment Artemis believes that it is too dangerous to bring people in there. Even her maidens aren't allowed into the school. The pipes already connect to homes for domestic use. Each household gets a certain amount they can use. The maidens just figure out how to distribute it."

Leo seemed rather dissapointed that he couldn't show them the machines but brightened up as Thalia brought out a pie.

Nico looked down at his plate, where he had barely made a dent in the pork chop. Realizing this, Leo pointed at the plate.

"Are you going to finish that?"

"You can have it."

Without any hesitation, Leo wolfed it down, managing to finish it before the pie touched the table.

"Blueberry pie! My favorite," Percy exclaimed, shaking Annabeth to get his point across. Nico almost felt bad for thinking about it, but there seemed to be something wrong with the boy.

Zoë frowned, "Of course it's blueberry. Blueberries are pretty much all we have here."

Percy effectively ignored her and turned to Nico, "You're going to love it here. They have blueberries all year round because of Artemis's magic."

"Magic," Nico repeated, completely confused.

Annabeth smacked the back of Percy's head, "He's being stupid, ignore him."

The rest of the group exchanged glances and all looked at Zoë who then nodded. He turned towards Bianca to see if she had noticed the interaction but she was too busy helping Thalia cut the pie to answer. Something wasn't right.

The rest of dinner went well enough. The pie was sweet and rather refreshing considering that for the past year they practically only ate packaged food. The crust was flaky and warm. Leo had looked at his plate in hopes of finding leftovers but there wasn't a crumb left.

Afterwards, they all retired back to the living room where the girls quickly buried themselves in blankets. It wasn't particullarly cold, but it was chilly. The rest of them found themselves on the rug. Nico stuck close to Bianca, leaning on the couch she laid on.

"Do you guys live here?" Bianca inquired, stifling a yawn.

Percy laughed, "Nope. I used to live in New York City."

Grover, who hadn't spoke much the rest of the evening, shook his head, "It's part of Olympus now. It's not the biggest city state but it has a pretty big population."

"Yeah," Percy nodded, his smiled faltering, "me and my mom got invited to go to Atlantis a while after the drought began. She lives there now. It's really nice there. We have a lot of water to spare. Not enough to give it away, but hey, we got some fruit trees and that type of thing."

"Actually," Annabeth injected, "we all came from New York. Now we move around a lot. Percy and Leo are worth a pretty penny now with the need for people who know how to work the machines. I just help them design some things."

Grover smiled, "I just make sure they know where they're going."

Annabeth scoffed, "He's our agricultural expert."

"That's a fancy way of putting it," Grover mused, now munching on what looked like grass and shredded paper. Did the guy ever eat real food?

"Atlantis is really cool. You two should come some time. Maybe Thalia can get a break off of work and come too. We've got aquariums and huge plantations. It's really something."

"Really?" It came out breathier than he intended.

"Yeah," Percy scooted closer, his eyes sparkling, "There's a ton of boats too. We ship some of our fruit around. We don't have blueberries but we have other things. You should really see it."

The idea of boats and aquariums didn't seem to make sense but it sounded amazing. Percy continued to talk about Atlantis while Leo occasionally injected some random fact. Bianca has fallen asleep and everyone else was in a state of dozing off too. Percy had tossed him a blanket and he laid down on the floor, his lids drooping as he tried to keep himself awake. In the first time since the drought, he felt safe.

I already have the next chapter written. It just needs a lot of editing. But until then please tell me what you think. :)