"WHAT?!" Nico shouted.

"NOT IMPORTANT!" I screamed,tightening my grip on his wrist as people began to flood out of the gift shop.

I looked over my shoulder,they looked mad...LIKE REALLY MAD! I ran smack into someone. "Ray!" I shouted. "C'mon we gotta go!" I grabbed him as well and ran away with Greene in hot persuit. "OH MY GODS WHAT DID YOU DO!?" He shouted at me. I saw a small place,shaded by dumpsters. "HOLD ON!" I closed my eyes,held tightly onto my friends,and shadow traveled us to New Mexico.

Okay,so shadow traveling across 4 states is some what of a bad idea when it's only your second time doing it. I groaned and braced myself aginst a wall. "Where are we?" Greene asked. "N-New Mexico." I panted. "You jumped across 4 states?" Nico asked. I nodded. "Yup. What day is it?" Greene looked at his watch. "We left Camp Half Blood four days ago." I nodded. "Cool. by normal standards it would've taken us a month to get this far." "You tired?" Ray asked. I rolled my eyes. "No I'm totally not tired after jumping us across four states." "COFFFFEEE!" Greene shouted. "Say what?" I asked in confusion.

Greene led us into a Starbucks. I'd been into one oncebecause my mom had to work there for a while and I accidently set fire to it ,don't ask. "what can I get for you?" a lady asked,her strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. "Espresso." Grenne said. The woman dissipeared behind the counter for a while,coming out with a small cup,white steam billowing off the top.

"Try it!" Greene said,handing me the cup. I looked at the black steaming liquid. The only time I'd ever tried coffee was at the diner my mom was working at. She said it was a "Mom drink" And it was disgusting. Naturaly,I wanted to try it after she said that. And I regretted it.

I took a small sip. I grimaced,but took another sip. And another,and another. Soon enough,the cup was empty. "HOLY HADES GUYS I FEEL AWESOME!" I squeeled,throwing the cup into the trash can. "Oh gods you do not need caffine." Nico said,rolling his eyes. "Oh cool I was totally just thinking the same thing right now! We're like on the same wave length!"

"Guys do you wanna travel across the country!?" I asked,jumping around as we walked down the streets of New Mexico. "I Can TOTALLY shadow travel us there! Let's go!"

"Thanks Greene." Nico snarled. "we have to deal with this all the way to Arizona."

Greene flinched. "Yeah...this was not a good idea."

Little did I know,what goes up,must come down. When the espresso magic wore off I found myself falling asleep on Ray's shoulder. "What time is it?" Ray asked Greene,shrugging me off of him for the third time that day. "Bout' ten o' clock." Greene reported, headed down to a motel. Entering. "Room for one night please." Greene said,handing the man up front the cash. He kept looking at us,like he was trying to read our minds. "Have I seen ya'll somewhere?" he gulped." ?"Then,it dawned on him. ''THE PEOPLE FROM THE NEWS!" "Run!" Nico shouted.

I was alive and ready to run. We ran out of that motel faster than the speed of light. ''DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY!" the man shouted after us.

It felt like seconds,but almost everyone on the street was after us. We had run into a small town and were getting tired. We'd end up stoping at some point. "there!'' Nico shouted,pointing to a small garden as the crowd got held up by a traffic.

We ended up being all sandwhiched together under what I think were tomatos,they might have been squash too but that's not important. We sat there for what seems like hours until we no longer heard the people's chatter. "Thank gods." I sighed,letting out a breath I didn't know I had been holding in. "We have to lay low now." Nico muttered,twisting his skull ring around his finger. I nodded,opening my mouth to say something when I was interrupted by a scratchy old voice."freeze punks! I'm a world war two vet and I know how to go down on ya'" A beam of yellow light shone all over us. To clear everything up the plants were tomatoes.

"George!" A woman shouted angirlly,she had curly grey hair and rectangle glasses resting on her nose. She brushed her hands on a small white apron over her pink flowered pattern dress and playfully slapped her husband on the arm. "What have I told you about scaring children!?" The man pouted,looking at what must have been his wife. "Not to do it." She sighed in exasperation. "Come on out children,what do you want with my tomatoes?"

The woman allowed us inside. Instantly I ran into a sheet strung in the hallway. I moved it away,only to see they were strung all over the hallway. "What the-" "Oh never mind that dear." The woman said,turning to me with a smile. "George likes to use his ariplanes in the hallways sometimes." "Um..okay?"

The house was a small,cozy cabin. The woman led us into a small kitchen,everything was "grandma-fied''. You know what I mean,every thing was pastel or had floral pattern. "Please sit down!'' We sat down uneasilly. "So,what were you doing in the tomatoes?" Nico twisted his skeleton ring around his finger. "well you see." He began. "we were sorta on the run from the cops." "Oh what for?!' The woman asked,looking at us sympathetically. "They think we blew something up. Also I crushed some snow globes." I explained. The woman exaimned us closer. "You're the children from the newspaper!" She exclaimed. I nodded grimly.

"Well,can I get ya'll somthing to eat?" Nico looked at her,confused. "You're not gonna kick us out?" The woman shook her head. "Bah,I don't think kids like you could blow something up as big as a bus." "Seriously?" Greene asked in disbelief. The woman nodded. "I'm Martha. Now,if ya' don't tell me watcha want to eat I'll decide for ya' "

We ended up with what must have been breakfast,seeing it was 1 am. Bacon,scrambled eggs,toast with jam,waffles,and hashbrowns. Martha was a nice cook and I wasn't eating off the dollar menu again. "Thanks very much Ms." Greene said,smiling at her. "May I ask something though?" Martha smiled and nodded. "shoot."

"You said your husband liked to use his airplanes in the hallways?" She laughed. "Ah yes. My husband is a world war 2 vet. He's a..you kids might say a history buff." I pushed my empty plate away. "He wants to bring back memories from that?" Martha shrugged. "It keeps him entertained." Ray chuckled. "You make him sound like a four year old." Martha laughed out loud,slapping her knee. "Sometimes Ray,I think he is."

Our schedule was wayy off. We were most likely gonna wake up some time around noon. Nico and I shared a room with two twin beds. "You know what I can't figure out?" Nico said as he pulled back the covers to his bed. "what?" He got into bed and turned off the lamp. "How did you skip time?" He asked. I furrowed my brow in the dark. "Huh?"

"I was in the Lotus Hotel,stayed there for a while to skip time. Hazel died and I brought her back. You're so 'with the times'."

"Even if I did skip time,how would I know? I mean,do you think I died and came back?"

"No telling. You should ask dad yourself."

We didn't talk after that,just went to sleep.

I yawned and woke up,the sun shining through the window between Nico and I's beds. I groaned and sat up,brushing my bangs from my face. I went off to the bathroom,moving a sheet out of the way in the process. I re-did my hair and brushed my teeth,when I heard a knock on the door. "Fae dear,lunch is ready." "Thank you!" I replied. I placed my hand on the door knob to leave when I heard a BOOM and a scream.