I don't own any characters except Cade!! You'll see who he is in this Chapter!
I Take A Trip To Nowheresville, U.S.A.
Of course, other than a few minor setbacks, Camp was going great, you know, protecting my sword from every little speck of dust, and dying of anxiety of finding out where Grover was… Going great!
But finally after a sleepless night, I awoke to new energy. Finally we could all learn about our satyr. I woke early, so I could beat the rush to the Big House, but everyone had the same idea as me. I threw on some clothes and joined the stampede to the big house. I wasn't really worried about how I was gonna' get to my satyr until now. I couldn't fly or else I'd be blown up by Zeus, and driving would take to long. So, I had to hope my satyr would be on the coast somewhere. After ten minutes or so of waiting in line, and keeping an eye out for the Stoll brothers, who were cutting all of the campers, it was my turn. A little paper with all sorts of words sat in front of me. It took a minute with my dyslexia, but I finally managed to read it. It said:
Perseus Jackson: Grover Underwood Partner: Annabeth Chase
I almost shouted with delight when I read that, but managed to stay quiet. That is until I read the rest.
Location: Boise, ID
Where is that? I Thought. My natural senses told me it wasn't by the ocean. Maybe it's close enough to drive? Wait… Where's Idaho? Is ID Idaho? I could have asked a thousand questions, but Annabeth yelled "Hey Seaweed Brain! Hurry up!" I finished up and waited for Annabeth to finish reading. "So, we're together, that's good. Looking for Grover, That's great, In Idaho…"Annabeth said to me as she finished. "Where's Idaho?" I asked. Annabeth rolled her eyes. "It's Northeast from California, and west from Oregon." She explained. "Boise Is the state's capitol and it's in the Southwest area." That cleared things up, but I haven't ever heard of Boise. Then the question came back. "How do we get there" I asked. "Well Chiron must have thought of something…" Replied Annabeth. "Let's go see.
We went inside the big house, and spotted Chiron, in wheelchair form, over by the window. " Uh… Chiron?" He looked up. "I was expecting you. Transportation problems?" He said. "Uh…Yeah." I replied lamely. "Well ever since the rise of kronos, Hermes has been thinking of ways to help, so he decided to start his own airline chain for Demigods." I raised an eyebrow. "Well basically, it's a safe way of flying for demigods. Zeus won't harm you on SandleWings airlines." "oh…" I remarked. "The planes will be here at 1:00 sharp… don't be late." We left soon afterwards, finding ways to waist time while we waited for the planes.
First, Annabeth insisted we make a plan. We decided the plane ride would be nine hours or so. So by then, it would be 8 in Boise, according to Annabeth. She decides we would check all of the local coffee shops, and Mexican restaurants first. Then we would by a hotel room. I Decided that if we didn't already have Grover we would Check all of the schools websites, to see if Grover as there. If we still didn't have luck, we would check the parks and zoos. We would have to find him sooner or later right? Chiron said to give him an Iris message when to go home, and the plane would meet by Turner Gulch on Lucky Peak Lake. Annabeth worried about finding Lucky Peak, but I know where all water masses are, so it wouldn't be hard.
We still had an hour to kill before lunch, so we decided to see what other teams had planned. It seemed like we were the only ones who were going west, except for a couple guys I California.
It must have been the longest hour of my life… listening to other peoples plans and stuff. But Annabeth was enjoying herself, so I didn't stop her. Finally lunch came. I ate my taco as slowly as possible… just so I could kill an hour, and it must have worked, because right as I finished my second taco and my third handful of Doritos, The planes were here.
The planes were small enough to be a jet. It was colored tan, and had a winged sandal logo. It didn't have a stairway loading dock, like planes I've seen, it was just a ladder with a few pegs missing.
Once Annabeth and I climbed in, the doors snapped shut, and a bored voice sounded. "Welcome to winged sandal airlines. Seatbelts must remain on AT ALL TIMES!! Enjoy!" We sat down on two of the wooden chairs duck taped to the ground. If that makes you nervous, just look at the seatbelt! It was a rope! We made ourselves as comfortorable as we could, and I prepared myself for the worst experience of my life. Annabeth pulled out a book, to pass the time, while I prayed to every god I knew. Suddenly, the plane lurched forward. I was shaking, but Annabeth didn't notice. The plane started going about 50 miles faster. I shook harder. It charged full speed ahead, and lunged into the air. By now I was shaking as bad as a dog who just took a bath. I thought full speed was bad… well we got about 100 feet higher, and everything just got silent. I felt like puking, because the plane was almost tilting all the way over… and suddenly SHOOF!! The plane bolted about 100,000 miles an hour forward. Annabeth screamed as her book flew to the back, and slammed against the wall. All you could see threw the window was a blur of flashing colors. My body was being binded to my chair, and the speed was closing my eyelids. I felt total numbness, and all I could think about was the duct tape coming off the chair, or my rope coming off. But that never happened. Suddenly, I felt something on my arm. I strained my neck to see it, but whatever was on my arm was squeezing it so hard, I thought I would lose my lunch AND my circulation! Great! Double whammy! As soon as I strained my neck to the limit, I noticed what was on my arm. It was Annabeth holding on for dear life. Her eyes were shut tight, and her head was relaxed on my shoulder. And then… Just as quickly as it started… it was over. We lurched to a stop so hard, I thought I would faint. But thank the gods… I didn't. The rest of the color in the world was catching up to us out side the window. We landed!
The second we stepped out of the plane, I collapsed. It took me a second to focus on my surroundings. We were by a bunch of golden brown hills, and there was a cliff. Above that cliff was a road with cars. And below everything there was… Water! We were on a lake shore. I scooted down to the water. The second my sweaty palm touched the water, I filled with new life. No longer did I feel the need to puke, but Annabeth did. She hurled herself to the nearest bush, and let it go. I was glad we were safe.
………………………………………
We followed the road down a very steep hill; I was still trying to keep balanced. It was a long boring walk. I decided not to bring up the fact that Annabeth was practically cuddling me in the plane. After about an hour I'd guess, we saw houses on the horizon. Unlike the 9 hour trip we expected, we were here in 10 minutes. So it was only noon here. Luckily right as our feet were about to die from that hike, we found a bus stop. We sat there on the bench talking about owls and fish, when the bus showed up.
Downtown Boise was called the BoDo. It was like, a 20th of Manhattan, and 100 times less crowded. And unlike my town, things were natural… serene. There were Blue Mountains and tan foothills everywhere you looked, and absolutely no pollution. It was actually…nice. The Bodo had to ns of coffee shops and Mexican food restaurants, so it took the day, until after dark to finish looking. So we found a nice Holiday Inn. And stayed there for a night.
I awoke to the tapping of keyboard buttons. Annabeth was already looking at websites of all the schools in Boise. It took about an hour, but I finally coaxed Annabeth to come eat breakfast.
"So any luck?" I asked as I took a bite of a waffle. It wasn't as good as my moms though… "A little" she answered. "There's someone named Jesse Underwood at a little Jr.High over by lucky peak. But why would he name himself Jesse?" I didn't know, but I did know we should check it out. So we did. It was a good ten minute bus ride, till we arrived at a new looking Jr high. A big rock in front said Welcome to Les Bois Jr. High, Home of the blazers!
I didn't ask questions as we popped up to the front desk" May I help you?" said a bored secretary, looking at her nails. "Yes, we're visitors." I said. She handed us stickers and pens without even looking at us. We didn't complain. We slipped down the hall. "So how do we find him?" I asked. She looked around, from a library, to a calendar, to a lunch menu. "I got it." she gasped. She told me her plan. "No way!" I yelled. She smiled "Yes way."
And that settled it.
