Leah POV
Whoo! California. Leah smiled to herself. She, who rarely got to travel, was way excited. Right now though, she was in California, on the way to Canada! Wow!
Leah would have loved to see Hollywood and Beverly Hills etc, but unfortunately they had a quest to complete. Maybe later. Leah, Michelle and Will started by eating burgers in a Californian cafe (I made that up. All Californians back there, you can tell me if any good one exists and I'll try to eat there one day. Haha.) They needed the appetite anyway.
The burgers were so delicious, they ate three each. While they ate, they talked.
"What should we do after eating? Is there a fire nearby? We need to get to Quecbec really soon." said Will in between mouthfuls of burger.
"Lemme see..." Michelle whipped out the iPhone and begin swipping the screen like a pro. "Hmm...there's one about a kilometre away. If you're good in geography, we should be there really soon. There's a map provided." Michelle opened the digital map, and near Nicole Kidman's Hollywood star was a fire! (why there was a fire near her star they had no idea)
"Hey, my geography sucks, but I'm positive I know where her star is! Anyone should know! Let's go now!" Leah said excitedly. She stuffed her last burger into her mouth, and ignoring Michelle and Will's protests (they were ordering their fifth burger), she dragged them towards the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
After getting lost a couple of times (turns out asking tourists for directions wasn't a good idea, so in a way geography was still needed), they finally reached Nicole Kidman's Hollywood star. "Wow...oh my gosh, I see Jennifer Anniston's and Michael Jackson's!" Michelle squealed and was about to run towards the other stars. Leah had to use all her will power to hold her back. "Michelle. Quest first. Jennifer Anniston and Michael Jackson later."
"Fine!" Michelle sulked, "But, um, where's the fire?" Leah looked up. Sure enough, there was no fire in sight, except for a smoking cigarette butt...Leah frowned. Were they expected to go to Quecbec through the fire of a cigarette butt?
Apparently, Will must have thought so too. "What the heck? Is that even allowed?" he scowled. "Guess we'll have to try!" Michelle said, and before Leah and Will could stop her, she walked happily onto the cigarette butt...barefoot.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Hot! Hot!" Michelle sqwacked as she jumped around and around like a grasshopper. Many tourists that walked by stared at her, then some took out their cameras and took pictures of her as if she were a tourist attraction. Michelle forgot about her burnt foot and curtseyed as the cameras flashed.
"What in the name of Apollo were you even doing barefoot!?" Will called out. "Dunno, just felt like it! It's really cooling this way, try it!" Michelle answered while curtseying. Leah rolled her eyes. "Michelle..." she muttered something about burning idiots that liked to make a spectacle of themselves, then pulled Michelle out of the crowd. Will tended to her foot (since he's the son of the god of healing), which thankfully wasn't badly burnt. Michelle kept clapping her hands and saying, "That was so cool!"
"Anyway," Leah interrupted, "apparently since Michelle went into the fire without us (she glared at Michelle. Michelle blushed.) and didn't get transported into goodness knows where, that fire was obviously too small for us to travel anywhere."
"So where's the real fire?" asked Will. "Who knows, unless Hermes assumed that such small a fire could bring us anywhere." Michelle said.
"No, Hermes cannot be such an idiot (I hope). Or, this is a trap..." Leah's voice trailed off as she noticed a woman with flaming hair wearing brazen slippers in the crowd. Flaming hair...could this be a sign?... The tourists walked past the woman, instead off screaming Oh my gods! That woman's hair is on fire! Must be the Mist. The woman looked exactly like a vampire... but a beautiful vampire, tall, elegant and slender. Her lips were rose red,and she was deathly pale. She looked like one of those creepy porcelain dolls with painted wide eyes, the kind that comes right off the toy shelf, crawls to your bed and strangles you! You know, like the evil kind. But a very, very, very pretty doll. Leah had to try her hardest not to scream and run away.
"Greetings, demigods." The woman smiled, her teeth showing. They were stained with blood and looked like fangs. "I am Empusa, demigoddess of Greece."