When Mallory returned back in front of the Big House, she was relieved to see no one was there yet. So, she slunk off and sat down next to the porch on the ground, hiding in the shadows. Her amber orbed gaze flitted about, taking in everything nervously; even she was taken aback about the eerie silenced of the Camp.
Stiffening, she heard loud footsteps and then realized it was only Percy and Thalia. She grabbed her backpack and stood, swinging it onto her shoulders and stalking toward the other campers, greeting them with cold amber eyes.
Thalia immediately murmured a sincere apology, but Mallory blew it off and stalked off toward the pine tree with the dragon and Golden Fleece. "Are you coming?" She snapped over her shoulder, seeing the expression exchanged between the two demigods. They caught up quickly and Percy inquired:
"Since you're the daughter of Hades, could we shadow travel to our first destination?"
Thalia nodded along to the simple and harmless question, but Mallory abruptly halted, eyes hard and cold as flint when she turned to them. "Hades may have claimed me," she hissed. "But I am not his daughter." Ignoring the shocked faces, she turned and stalked on. "Come on! We might be lucky to catch a taxi and ride it to the city!"
"She's crazy," Percy muttered and Thalia couldn't help but nod in agreement as the two raced after her.
Mallory's timing was right, and she flagged down a taxi for them to take to the city. The taxi parked beside Central Park, and Mallory paid the driver, closing the door as he peeled off, causing her to stumble and curse in irritation. Thalia and Percy exchanged amused glances before walking over. She glared at them, and for once Thalia could've sworn she saw a flicker of fear and wariness flit through Mallory's amber gaze, but if it was there, it was gone.
She shrugged it off and inquired, "Alright, Mallory, do you have any idea what to do?"
Mallory shouldered her backpack, and the sleeve on her right arm slid up slightly, but Thalia caught the sight of a scar and a Band-Aid. What's going on with her? She wondered as Mallory answered, "We go to the library."
"But we can't read!" Percy protested, causing Thalia to chuckle and Mallory's eyes to flash. "We're dyslexic, remember?"
"You two maybe," she hissed, tensing. "But I'm not." She turned and sneered, "They have headphones there so you can go onto the computer and listen to what articles have to say. Remember to look up the symptoms."
Thalia glared at her and turned to Percy. "Can we leave her there?"
The son of Poseidon looked tempted, but shook his head no, so they trudged after their unfriendly companion.
The sun was setting over the busy city by the time Mallory, Percy, and Thalia got to a large library, walking inside. The daughter of Hades immediately veered toward the medical section as Thalia and Percy headed to the computers, seeing that there were indeed headphones. Thalia groaned but took a computer, getting onto the internet and plugging in the headphones.
Mallory pulled out a large medical book and grunted at its weight, carrying it over to an empty table. Pulling back the hardcover, she skimmed through the table of contents and flipped the pages, trying to find what contagion matched the symptoms.
After searching for some long minutes, Mallory was able to pinpoint that the contagion was much like the sleep sickness. At least it got us somewhere, she mused, standing and closing the book shut and scooping it into her arms and pushing the chair in with her hip. She walked over to the book shelve and slipped the thick book back into place, heading back to Percy and Thalia when she froze, tensing in fear, amber eyes landing on him.
