Chapter 21: Most Parents Just Skype

The airport, it turned out, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. After dropping my car off in parking (It took Sophie nearly fifteen minutes to assure me my car would be in good hands until we got back.) we had made our way to our gate. The tickets Mr. Gilmore was able to get were, to my surprise and joy, first class! Although I knew how much airline tickets cost, not to mention first class tickets. I tried to convince her that these were too much, but she waved my concerns off.

"I don't travel coach." she stated as we sat in the lounge waiting for our flight to board. "Just relax Sarah, it's no biggie."

Maybe to her it was no biggie, but my mom raised me to know a value of a dollar. As soon as I could I would repay her father.

"So what's the plan when we do land in L.A?" Gwen asked as she look off at the random people walking past. I noticed her fingers twitching every time one got too close. We were tense, monsters attacking us in the middle of an airport wouldn't be the ideal situation. Percy told me a lot about his past encounters with monsters. How he was accused of a lot of the damage they caused, most of them being explosions.

"We get to the entrance and from there we'll play it by ear. Honestly I don't know what we'll find down there or if we're even welcome at all."

"Yeah having a pulse isn't exactly a pass to the world of the dead when you stop and think about it." Gwen joked.

"Do you think Nico is there? Isn't he like you're boyfriend or something?" Sophia asked curiously. "It's the talk of the camp you know."

"What?"

"Yeah. Everyone's wondering if you guys have hooked up yet or if you're even together at all."

I felt the blush creep onto my face despite how hard I tried to fight it. "People just need to mind their own business. But you do have a point. If Nico is in the Underworld he could help us find Death."

"And if not you guys can make out, so no down side right?" Gwen smirked. There was no use lying to Gwen and say I didn't like Nico. But I couldn't exactly say we were together. Hell, I didn't know if we were a couple or not. It was one of those things we hadn't got around to discussing yet.

Finally our flight was boarding and we easily found our seats. The big cushioned seats and friendly smiles of the flight attendant did little to ease my nerves as the plane took off. Truth be told I'd never flown before and I didn't see myself loving it. It wasn't until we were airborne for half an hour before my nerves settled enough to doze off, the perfect way to spend this flight.

~Page Break~

"..rh."

"..arah."

"SARAH!"

My eyes flew open and I jolted up straight. I took one look around and had to do a double take. I was back at my house in Queens, sitting on the porch swing like it was any other day after school. The only difference was there was no one around. Mrs. Riley usually walks her dog Pumpkin around this time every day. There are no cars passing by and I can't hear anything at all. Which is strange because I'm positive someone yelled and woke me up. What was I doing here anyway? Wasn't I just on a plane?

"Well finally, I thought you'd never wake up." an annoyed voice said from the doorway.

There, standing as if he owned the house, was Mr. D and I'm not very good at reading people, but I could see he was pissed. Too bad I wasn't in the mood to deal with him.

"Why are you here? And where is here anyway? This looks like my house, but something isn't right."

He comes to stand in front of the swing and I'm still sitting. He just stares down at me like I'm a small kid that got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. I just glare right back, there was no way I'd back down, even if technically I was slightly in the wrong here.

"We are at your house, but we are also not. Think of it as paradox. You can move this swing and make noise when you walk around, but you're also not here."

I was confused, but I didn't show it. "So it's like a dream, just one with more control."

"At least this shows you're not a complete idiot. It took awhile before Peter Johnson got the idea, in fact, I'm not sure he really understood."

I frowned at being called an idiot. There would never be a time where I got straight A's in school, but I knew a lot of things people my age didn't. I'm a lot of things, but I've never been stupid. Crossing my arms I leaned back in the swing.

"You know most parents just Skype when they want to talk." my voice dripped with sarcasm.

I guess this was the wrong thing to say, because in a split second he dropped his air of casual and went to straight to anger.

"I told you you were to stay at camp. I forbade you to go and you went anyway! You deliberately disobeyed me and ran off on a quest you are doomed to fail!" his eyes held purple flames and for a second I thought about breaking down, but I held fast.

"We're not going to fail! Why do you think I'm so incapable? This is what I'm born to do and you know it!"

"That doesn't matter." he growled.

"Like Hell it doesn't! If anyone else got this quest you wouldn't have bat an eyelash, but it's because I got it and suddenly you feel like putting your foot down."

"You are going to turn right back around and go back to camp and we are going to have a long talk about this."

I stood up trying to be intimidating, but it feel short because he had a good five inches on me. "You want to talk? Then talk now because I'm not coming back to camp until this quest is done."

"Yes you are!"

"If you want me to come back so bad why haven't you just poofed me back like you did back at the Mess hall?"

At that he fell silent, but his eyes still burned with anger, brighter even.

"Why didn't you just take me back when you found out I was gone, why go through all this? Unless you-" it clicked in my head "you can't can you?" His frowned got deeper, I didn't know that was possible. "You can't because I'm on a quest and gods can't interfere with quests too much can they? You can't take me off the mission, only I can." I smirked.

Mr. D got really close and I felt my legs shake a little, I hoped he didn't notice.

"I am a God. I can do more than you're small mind could comprehend. I can make a person go insane with just a glance." he said in a I-Am-A-God-And-Therefor-You-Will-Listen voice.

"Then take me back to the camp right now. End this little dream and make me go back" I challenged. When he didn't do anything but get redder in the face I stepped back. "I'm doing this mission. I'm going to find the guy I'm supposed to find and save him. Then and only then will I come back, but because of this-" I waved my hand between us. "I'm not sure that I'll stay."

Then the impossible happened. All his anger dropped and for a moment I saw a man who wasn't a god, the man I think Pollux was talking about. No! I couldn't get soft here! I backed all the way against the side of the house and squeezed my eyes shut.

"Sarah-"

"No! I'm leaving this messed up nightmare!"

No sooner had the words left my lips did I feel the ground fall away and I was falling.

~Page Break~

A finger was poking my cheek.

"Earth to Sarah, Earth to Sarah! Wake up!" Gwen said as she continued to poke my cheek.

I smacked her finger away and sat up. My glasses were down on the tip of my nose and, ew, I had drool running out of my mouth. I wiped it away with my sleeve and saw Gwen and Sophie looking at me.

"What?"

"You slept the entire plane ride and you looked like you were dead." Gwen said as she re-buckled her seat belt. We were getting ready to land.

"I really slept through it all?" Weird because I felt exhausted. I guess having a demigod dream will do that to you.

Sophie smiled. "Yep, you survived. Oh and don't worry, I won't tell Nico that you drool in your sleep." she winked at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Bite me."

"Save that charming attitude for the next flight."

I blinked twice. "Excuse me?"

Sophie just sighed. "We have a transfer in Houston and then we'll go to L.A."

I spent the remainder of the flight hitting my head against the window, causing more than a few people to look at me funny.