CHAPTER 10: STARBUCK AND THE DRAMA QUEENS
The alarm clock on Sholeh's nightstand rang, shattering the silence that pervaded Hades cabin. The demigod rolled over, floating in that happy place between sleep and wakefulness, until it shrilly chimed again.
Groaning, Sholeh forced herself to get out of bed, though it was still dark out. She looked over to see that Nico had already left, and suddenly the girl realized what day it was. Oh my gods, the quest is today. Sholeh turned to leave before realizing that she still hadn't packed.
"Shit," she swore and ran over to her dresser. Grabbing a duffel bag, Sholeh frantically threw clothes, food, and whatever she thought could possibly be of use into it and then ran out the door, only to run back into the cabin two seconds later. Sholeh reluctantly grabbed the ruby encrusted dress her mother had given her and sprinted out of the cabin.
"Well, look who finally decided to show up," Thalia said with a smirk when Sholeh arrived at the Big House panting.
"It's too bad you didn't," the daughter of Hades and Hestia snapped.
"It's too bad you were born," Thalia replied with equal malice, before Chiron wisely stepped between the two.
"Stop that right now," the centaur commanded. "This quest requires cooperation above all." Thalia and Sholeh glared angrily at him for ending the argument, though Chiron stayed firmly planted. Percy and Nico looked at the centaur with amazement; not many would dare anger one daughter of the Big Three, let alone two.
"The van is over here," Nico cautiously, not wanting to invoke the wrath of either girl.
"Fine," Sholeh grumbled, walking over to the van. She threw her duffel bag in and turned around. "Who's driving?"
"I am," Thalia replied, getting in the van and sitting in the driver's seat.
"Whoa, no way," Sholeh replied. "I am not getting in that vehicle with her driving it." She knew that she was being difficult, and probably annoying the others to no end, but everything about Thalia offended her. Sholeh had an instant aversion to the demigod, which couldn't be explained in reasonable terms.
"Sholeh!" Chiron scolded. "Why not?"
"She's not even sixteen, for one thing—"
"I'm only one day less than sixteen!"
"Also," Sholeh ignored the other demigod, "I don't believe that someone of such fragile mental stability should be trusted with the lives of three other people." Thalia's face turned bright red with anger as Hades' and Hestia's daughter continued.
"Oh, and her father wants to kill me," Sholeh continued, oblivious of Thalia's fury, "So I really think that having his daughter drive the van I'm traveling in would make it way too easy for Zeus."
"That's it!" the insulted demigod yelled, and grabbed her spear. In a movement reminiscent of a lighting bolt striking the earth, Thalia brought it up to Sholeh's throat so that it nicked her skin. A drop of blood trickled slowly down Sholeh's neck and Zeus' daughter watched it fall to the ground. Then she met Sholeh's eyes. They were defiant and wild, though Sholeh was technically at Thalia's mercy.
Thalia's spear slowly began to grow tremendously hot from touching Sholeh's skin. The daughter of Hades released enough of her anger that it manifested itself in the heat emanating from her body. Thalia suddenly yelped and dropped the spear when it glowed and burned her hands. In an effort to cool them, the demigod frantically blew on them as her enemy laughed. Chiron took this as an opportunity to intervene, however.
"Stop that, both of you, NOW!" the centaur bellowed, shoving both girls backward. None of the demigods had ever seen Chiron so angry, let alone violent, and were shocked. "Get in the van!"
"This is turning out just like my family road trips," grumbled Sholeh as she and the other heroes piled into the van. "Excellent."
Thalia stubbornly took the driver's seat and started up the engine. Sholeh, on the other hand, sat in the back alone and stared out the window.
The Camp Half Blood van pulled out of the driveway to sputter along the road. Sholeh, seeing Apollo cabin, frantically leaned out the window to see if Leo had come to say goodbye, but there was no one there. She sadly sat back down and pulling out an iPod from her duffel bag, turned up the already deafening, angry music to drown out her thoughts.
Thalia drove the van on several interstates as its passengers sat in silence. Thalia and Sholeh were sulking, and Percy and Nico were too afraid to interrupt the girls' brooding, lest they be on the receiving end of either's fury. So the demigods traveled in this way for quite some time, until they were driving through Des Moines, Iowa.
Nico's hunger finally won out over his fear of the two girls. "Uh, not to be a bother or anything," he said, getting a glare from Thalia and no response from Sholeh, "but we've been driving for, like, ever, and I'm starving."
"Well, didn't you bring food?" Thalia asked angrily.
"I did! It was sushi, and Percy threw it out the window because he said it was cruel to eat fish," Nico complained, scowling at Poseidon's son. Percy began to protest that Nico wouldn't eat fish if he had ever spoken to one, but was interrupted.
"Who brings sushi on a quest anyway?" Sholeh asked, annoyed. "Doesn't it need to be refrigerated or it goes bad, or something?"
"I like sushi!" her half brother objected loudly.
"Okay, FINE!" Thalia yelled. "We'll stop for food. Gods, I hate this."
"The feeling's mutual," Sholeh muttered, as the van screeched to a halt in front of a Starbucks.
"Gods, I hate these stores," Thalia grumbled. "They charge like, seven dollars for a lousy cup of coffee."
"Tell me about it," Percy agreed. "Grover loves this place though." Poseidon's son looked sad; he usually went on quests with Grover and Annabeth, but now was stuck with three other children of the Big Three who pretty much hated each other.
"Does anyone know the drachma exchange rate?" Nico asked eagerly, grabbing two sandwiches and a pastry.
"No," Sholeh replied, shaking her head. "Anyway, how would you exchange drachmas for dollars even if you did know it? It's not as if you can just waltz up to an ATM machine and—"
Her sarcasm was ended as a golden machine rose up from the floor in front of Nico. It looked exactly like an ATM machine except the letters 'DTM' replaced the normal logo and it was made of solid gold. Engravings of the Olympian gods covered the machine, and it glowed so brightly that Sholeh had to cover her eyes. "What in Hades is that?" she asked, stunned.
"It's a DTM," Nico explained, as if machines made of precious metals appeared all the time, "Divine Teller Machine. Hermes started to lobby for the gods to get them ages ago, but they were actually put into use just three years ago."
The son of Hades typed in his PIN number and got out a bunch of drachmas, which he then put again into the machine to exchange them for dollars.
"Ooh, the dollar's weak now," Nico said excitedly. "One drachma is almost four dollars. That's great, I have my savings in drachmas." When he was finally done exchanging the money, Sholeh stood astounded. Her half brother bought food for everyone and sat down at a table.
"Erm, OK," she said. "That was weird."
"What, never seen a DTM before?" Thalia asked scathingly, sitting across from Sholeh and eating a tuna sandwich. "Oh right, I forgot. Kronos protected you from ever being attacked by monsters and you never had any contact with demigods. While other heroes fought monsters constantly," Thalia was now furious, "you lived a happy, ignorant life without ever facing danger or—"
"I didn't ask for this!" Sholeh yelled back at her.
"No, but gods damn it, you got it!" Thalia slammed her fist into the table and the mortals around them stared. "While other demigods were killed so young, without a chance to survive, you were totally safe. When me, and Annabeth, and Luke were roaming the country just to stay alive, you lived a normal life!" The two demigods stood up as Thalia screamed. Sholeh's face was drained of all color and her eyes seemed to reflect the fires of Hades.
"You think I don't know that?" Sholeh yelled back. "You think I don't know that this was shoved on me? That I lived, when so many others died?" She advanced towards Thalia menacingly. "And do you think I'm not tortured by that? That I wish, all the time, that it was someone else who had this prophecy, that I was anyone but myself?"
A look of surprise crossed Thalia's face, but the daughter of Zeus crossed her arms angrily and started to yell back at Sholeh.
"Just shut up!" Sholeh screamed, losing the little control she'd had over her emotions. Her reason told her to walk away before she did something unforgivable and the girl turned to walk towards the van. However, at the door, she ran into a very odd sight. In front of Sholeh were bright orange boxers on a pair of very hairy legs. Looking up, she saw the very angry Minotaur.
"Oh gods." Sholeh whispered a split second before the Minotaur charged at the girl. She ducked but ended up crouching awkwardly on the floor, with her arms flailing wildly. Crashing into a display of mugs which all bore the distinctive Starbucks mermaid logo, Sholeh thrashed around on the floor to escape the Minotaur's horns. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that one mug that said 'Safe, sound, and happy in Des Moines.' I can't imagine a time I've ever been less safe, sound, or happy, Sholeh thought angrily and dodged a punch from the monster. Well, that's irony for you.
Percy and Nico began to attack the Minotaur, trying to draw it away from the girl. After a moment, Thalia reluctantly began to fight it as well. The bull man bellowed, but continued to assault Sholeh alone. The mortals in the Starbucks screamed in horror. Sholeh wasn't sure what they saw, and was too busy fighting for her life to care. Percy grabbed a piping hot soy milk- no cream, no sugar- coffee from one nearby customer and dumped it on the Minotaur's head. It thundered in anger and jabbed its horns toward Sholeh again.
The Minotaur narrowly missed Sholeh as she crawled through the mess of spilled coffee and food. Seeing Percy pour the beverage onto the monster's head, Sholeh began to yell at him, her voice even louder than the Minotaur's. "Percy! What the Hades was that supposed to do?"
In response, the boy pulled out Riptide to slash at the Minotaur. His lunge, however, barely grazed its arm because it had already moved to try and crush Sholeh, who was now cornered.
The inexplicable rage Sholeh felt in dangerous situations again came over her. She screamed, "Fine! I'll kill it myself," and pulled out the dagger she kept in a sheath belt around her waist in one swift motion. Without any remorse, Sholeh stabbed the celestial bronze knife into the Minotaur's stomach and twisted it. Her eyes were angry and dark watching as the monster dissolved into golden dust. Its horn clattered to the floor and Sholeh picked it up, trying to ignore the disgusting, coffee-drenched, state she was in.
After Thalia manipulated the Mist so the mortals believed that they had witnessed the filming of a movie about zombies in a coffee shop, she and the other demigods walked out to the van.
"You have got to be kidding me," Sholeh said furiously, seeing the state of their transportation. The van's wheels, radio, and seats were missing and it was covered in spray paint that read, 'Centaur ROX!' and 'Dude, wheres my carr?', all spelled atrociously. Scattered around it were empty beer bottles and hoofprints. Clearly, a band of rambunctious centaurs had seen fit to have a party on their van.
"I should never have let them off that ship!" yelled Percy.
"Now how the Hades will we get to Mount Tam?" Nico grumbled. Sholeh walked over to inspect the damage further.
"Well, one of them dropped something very heavy on the engine," she said, looking at the mangled wires and metal. "It looks like a horse landed on it."
"They left our stuff," Percy said in a strangled voice, pulling their duffel bags out of the vehicle.
"Great. We're in Iowa, with no means of transportation, and need to get to California. We only have a couple days worth of food, and how much money do we have, Nico?" his half sister asked.
"Well, funny story, that," the boy replied with an awkward laugh. "You see, the DTMs aren't quite finished, they're sort of prototypes, and I accidentally, sort of… deleted my account on it."
"Fantastic," Sholeh said sarcastically. "We have absolutely no money and no way to reach California. And," she continued, now more frustrated than she had ever been, "I am drenched in coffee and gods-know-what-else." Sholeh had never been a quitter, but now wanted just to take a hot shower and be back at Camp Half Blood with Leo. Then again, she thought, getting more depressed by the second, he didn't even come say goodbye to me.
"Well, you do look and smell rather disgusting," Thalia replied, looking at Sholeh with eyebrows raised, "But I know how to get to California."
"And how the Hades is that?"
"We walk."