10. Who Says Lightning Never Strikes Twice?
It didn't take me long to pack. I had taken a pocket notebook when I first came to camp and had drained five pens of their ink and mixed that ink with some of my blood to create sealing ink and I had filled the notebook with storage seals. I sealed the Minotaur horn in the last seal of the note book and sealed my extra clothes and toiletries in the front of the notebook. All I had to do when I left the Big House was take a quick shower and seal my dirty laundry in the section of my notebook labeled Dirty Laundry and head to the camp store where I was loaned one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas.
These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used anything less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions. He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of something that he called nectar and a Ziploc bag of squares of some kind of food that he called ambrosia. He explained to me that they were the food and drink of the gods and should only be used in emergencies if we were extremely hurt. Too much of the stuff and our blood would literally burn.
Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. It wasn't as easily hidden as any of my kunai were but it was still a good weapon to have. Speaking of my kunai, while I was waiting for the others with Chiron who had taken me to the camp store, I put seals onto the kunai pouch that would keep ay metal detectors from picking up the steel in them. I would have done the same for the Celestial Bronze but Chiron had told me that the stuff wasn't detectable by mortal scanners. Annabeth and I would have to be physically searched for them to be found. That metal just kept getting better and better in my opinion. It was too bad the stuff was too heavy to 'properly' throw further than twenty feet like a proper kunai though.
Grover meanwhile wore a pair of fake feet and pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. The bright orange backpack that he was bringing was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his father had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no.12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded terrible on reed pipes.
Once Annabeth and Grover were ready, they waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the camp, and then we all hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that housed Thalia's spirit. When we got up there, Chiron, who was in his wheelchair, introduced to us the head of camp security, a guy named Argus who supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. He was in a chauffeur's uniform right now so I could only see the extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.
As Chiron was telling us that Argus would be the one taking us to wherever it was I needed to go first and I shook his hand, my ears picked up the sound of familiar footsteps running towards us. I turned around and saw Luke running towards the hill carrying a pair of basketball shoes. I quickly put a smile on my face even as I hid all of my emotions as he shouted "Hey! Glad I caught you before I left!"
Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around, and I smirked once again remembering how Hinata used to act around me.
"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me. "And I thought…um, maybe you could use these."
He handed me the sneakers, which I instantly recognized as must being the magic shoes that he got from his father. Grinning, Luke confirmed my suspicions as he said "Maia!" White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels and I let the shoes go allowing them to hover in front of me until the wings folded up and disappeared. The shoes started dropping before I caught them.
"Awesome!" Grover said.
Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad as you can guess. Of course, I don't use them much these days…" His expression turned sad.
Despite myself trying to keep my guard up in case Luke was the betrayer from the prophecy, my eyes widened as I said "Why the hell not? I mean yeah, I never saw you use them, but I would think having something that could make you fly would be awesome."
Luke shrugged and said "Not really much fun when you can fly circles around the valley in five minutes. Plus I can't really use them outside of the valley."
I nodded in understanding before I thanked him for them. Luke then shook my hand as he told me to bring back some monster trophies. He patted Grover's head between his horns next, then gave a good-bye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out causing me to chuckle as I thought 'Definitely like Hinata. I just hope Luke doesn't betray us. I don't think the girl could take it if he did.' After Luke was gone, I poked her in the shoulder and said "You're hyperventilating."
"Am not." Annabeth said with narrowed eyes.
I smirked and leaned over to whisper in her ear "Don't worry, I'll keep the fact you let him capture the flag instead of you to get on his good side a secret."
Annabeth turned red as she began sputtering, finally she said "Oh, why do I want to go anywhere with you?"
She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys. I chuckled and said "Maybe not quite like Hinata was." Looking at the shoes Luke gave me, I frowned. Whether or not Luke was going to betray us, these shoes were bound to come in handy. But considering who my father was and what was going on right now, I'd have to be insane to use them. I grinned as I realized that there was someone who would probably enjoy using them and not have to worry too much about a lightning bolt using him as target practice while he was in the air.
Turning to Grover who was still staring at the shoes in awe, I grinned and said "Hey Grover, want a magic item?"
Grover's eyes lit up as he said "Me?"
I nodded and said "I'm afraid I can't use these considering what's going on right now. But I'm sure you'd get a kick out of them."
Grover looked at me like I had just told him he could eat all the enchiladas in the world and I was paying for them. Pretty soon, we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.
"Maia!" He shouted.
He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.
"Practice, you just need practice!" Chiron called after him.
"Aaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.
"Lots of practice." I said and Chiron nodded before he pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. I looked at it in confusion, since it looked like an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. Probably cost thirty cents.
Seeing my confusion, Chiron said "Percy, that is a gift from your father. I've kept if for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one. Now I know that your fighting style relies more on kunai but since you can make swords out of wind as well I am sure that you can use this well."
So it was a magic item. And a weapon type as well by the sounds of it. Taking a guess at how to use it, I took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, I held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand besides my kunai.
As I turned the weapon in my hands getting a good look at it, Chiron said "That sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into." Chiron told me. "Its name is Anaklusmos."
"Riptide." I instantly translated, stories of the sword filtering through my head as I continued to study it.
"Use it only for emergencies Percy." Chiron warned me. "As you know, no hero should harm mortals, which is why we use celestial bronze as the main metal for our weapons. Mortals are simply not important enough for the metal to kill. Unfortunately, as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."
I snorted as I touched the pen cap to the sword tip and watched as the sword turned into a pen again. Putting it into my pocket, I said "Yeah well, after fighting a war or two I've learned a few things about avoiding getting hurt."
Chiron nodded before he said "One more thing you should know about that sword. You cannot lose it. It is enchanted so that it will always reappear in your pocket."
I grinned as I said "So it has the equivalent of a self-summoning seal on it. That's cool."
Chiron gave me a few last minute words of advice before he sent me off to the others. When I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back and saw that Chiron had discarded his magic box and now stood proud under Thalia's tree with his bow high in salute. I took Riptide out for a moment and returned the salute before I turned to join the others.
I climbed into the front passenger seat and when Argus asked me where to go I said "Take us to Eagle's Roost air field. We need to go there before we can head west."
Grover and Annabeth blinked in surprise and Argus frowned but he started the SUV's engine anyway and we were on our way. Ten miles into our trip, I slipped into sage mode and expanded my senses. I didn't pick up any non-human presences that I couldn't account for and so I let it slip as I said "No monsters tracking us so far. Looks like we'll actually be able to get out of this car without it getting hit by lightning first eh Grover?"
Grover gave a nervous chuckle as he nodded. Annabeth gave me an irritated look as she said "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."
I rolled my eyes at the insult and said "Remind me again why who our parents are makes such a big difference to you? Before that CTF game we got along just fine. Now it's like you can barely stay within five feet of me without thinking up some insult that you want to call me. I'm actually impressed that you lasted this long."
Annabeth had the dignity to look ashamed as she folded her Yankees cap and said "Look…we're just not supposed to get along, Okay? Our parents are rivals."
I turned around and glared at her and said "And why the hell does that matter? Is my name Poseidon? Is your name Athena? NO! We are not our parents so stop being a short sighted idiot and interact with people based on your own observations, not what your mother says. Geez, I know we're not Romeo and Juliet, but grow a spine and make your own bonds because you want to, not because of your parent!"
Annabeth flinched and looked out the window. I sighed and instantly regretted the harsh words even if they needed to be said. Grover meanwhile kept silent although he did pull out an old soda can from his backpack and began nervously chewing on it. When I turned back forward I saw Argus look at me and give me a small nod showing that he at least agreed with me although the frown I could see showed that he thought I shouldn't have been so rough either causing me to sigh again.
The rest of the trip was passed in relative silence with me just giving directions to our destination. I guided Argus back towards Manhattan and had us cut straight through before we came out on the other side. Twenty miles later, we joined highway 278 and rode it for thirty minutes before I had Argus take an exit near a small forest. We turned again onto a road that went between the trees when we came to a sign that was in the shape of a Chinook that said Eagle's Roost. Underneath that was a sign that said Want To Know How To Fly It? We'll Teach You. We traveled down the path between the trees for a good ten minutes before we came into a clearing and I smirked at the widened eyes everyone else had as we finally arrived at our destination.
Eagle's Roost airfield was a square mile big with six hangers in a row at the back and a small office building just off to the side of the entrance to the woods. There were four large helicopter pads in the center of the field with the rest of it filled with grass that was kept at six inches tall. Finishing the look were the six different hangers with a different helicopter in each one. The first one had a Huey followed by an Apache, then a Chinook, next was the Bell 206 model that most people associated with police forces and finally there was a HH-65 Dolphin that was used primarily as a hoist-rescue vehicle. The sixth hanger had its two large doors closed but the others assumed that there was a helicopter in there as well.
"Seaweed brain, what are we doing here?" Annabeth asked with her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
I ignored her for the moment as I told Argus to park in front of the office. As the multi-eyed man did as told, I turned around and said "We're here to collect a favor and our ride. And before you start bitching at me about the fact that I can't go into the air without a lightning bolt shooting whatever I'm in out of the sky, know that such a thing has already been taken care of when it comes to these helicopters. I'll explain everything else in a little bit." Having said my peace, I opened the car door and hopped out with the others following my example.
I walked over to the office door and quickly went in. There was the usual welcome desk that was parallel to the door and I smiled at the young African American lady sitting at the desk receiving one in return as I said "Hey Reese, how is it going?"
"It is going very well Naruto. Your clones have just finished applying the proper seals on the Osprey's rotors last night and we just finished putting them together an hour ago. Our performance checks on them should be done within the next half hour. I'm assuming that the fact you have others with you means your mission is starting right?" Reese said and I nodded to her question and grinned at the excellent timing we seemed to have.
Turning back around to face the others, I said "We seem to have VERY good timing. Over the last few months of this school year, I've had a squad of super charged clones helping modify this company's latest acquisition and they're finishing their work today. With any luck, we'll be able to take the Osprey on its maiden flight to the west coast and back. If not, then the Chinook will serve our purpose just as well."
"What about lightning strikes Percy?" Grover asked as he nervously looked at the ceiling as if one of the superheated bolts of electricity would strike them any moment for even thinking about entern the Lord of the Sky's domain.
It was Reese who answered as she placed a few errant pieces of paper in their respective folders before standing as she said "Thanks to Naruto's seals, any lightning bolts that actually hit our helicopters are absorbed and sent to a special battery designed to store it for future use. These batteries coupled with the expanded fuel tanks Naruto designed with seals ensures that we don't have to make as many fuel stops as our helicopter's non modified counterparts. And his non turbulence seals ensure that the ride will be a lot smoother as well."
"Oh." Grover said already looking a lot calmer. Annabeth frowned and opened her mouth to make an argument but instead closed her mouth since if whoever ran this company allowed Naruto to put these seals on their helicopters then they must work. Reese merely chuckled before she led them back out of the office and towards a long bed pickup that held bench seats in the back and a larger than normal sliding window on the back wind shield. Naruto hopped over the side of the truck and landed on the bench next to the windshield and the others followed while Reese opened the truck's driver side door and slid in. As she cranked the engine, Reese looked over her shoulder and said "So who did the 'guys upstairs' turn out to be Naruto?"
I grimaced and said "The Greek gods."
Reese grimaced at that as well and said "Oh boy, dad's not going to be happy to hear that. He never did like most of the stories about them."
"Him and me both." I said with a frown before I turned as Annabeth poked my shoulder and said "What?"
Annabeth had a frown on her face as she said "Percy, what did you tell these people? And why is she calling you Naruto?"
She flinched as my green eyes turned sapphire as I said "I told them the truth as far as I knew it." Reese chuckled drawing attention back to her as she said "Naruto came to our airfield seven years ago and explained how he was reincarnated in this realm as a favor from the one in charge of his to the one in charge of this one. He also explained that he had only a few years to prepare for some unknown mission and that he needed a support base in case things headed south. Once he proved he was telling the truth, he made a deal with dad. He'd modify our helicopters for us with his seals as well as help fund us and we would give him a lift to wherever he needed to go once his mission began. Dad also threw in lessons on how to fly helicopters since he thought that it would come in handy if he couldn't reach us for whatever reason but still had access to a chopper."
"And how did he help fund you?" Argus asked with a confused frown on his face.
This time it was me who chuckled as I said "I transformed into my adult form from my previous life and walked into the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in Buffalo with a hundred dollars. Five hours later, I walked out ten grand richer with a polite request from the manager to please stay the hell away from her establishment from now on."
Argus, Annabeth, and Grover stared at me with wide eyes and slacked jaws as Reese chuckled again and said "Dad still won't let him play poker with him and the rest of the employees if it's for cash. He'd made that mistake once during our annual poker tournament six years ago and he wiped the floor with us."
"Hey! I gave most of that back didn't I?" I asked in a mock hurt voice.
Reese snorted and said "Yeah, fifteen hundred out of two grand. Just face it Naruto, you're too good at gambling for your own good. On another note, we're here."
I mock pouted at Reese even as I hopped out of the truck as she parked in front of the service entrance next to the hangar holding the company's Osprey. As they approached the door, everyone could faintly hear the sound of shouting over the sound of helicopter engines running. Reese stopped at the service entrance where a large plastic box holding high tech sound proof earmuffs with radio mikes attached to the right ear was bolted to the side of the building and pulled out a set as she said "Ear protection from this point on. Their already set to the right channel so please don't fiddle with the controls." Once everyone had a set of ear protection on, she flicked the switch next to the mike and said "Dad, it's Reese. I've got the original Naruto with me and some associates of his."
There was a moment of silence before a strong voice came over the radio telling her to bring us in. Reese opened the door and walked through with me right after her. The others followed us before they stopped at the sight of four of my clones transformed into my twenty four year old self on top of and along the sides of the Osprey along with a team of two workers performing last minute hull integrity checks alongside them while the two rotors turned in their upright positions causing a mild downdraft. Another clone was visible from the cockpit with another worker, both with clipboards as they ran through a mock preflight check sequence. Four other clones were standing on a balcony with radar guns to measure the rotors' speeds and thermo cams to record the heat coming from the engines. Three other clones came out of the back with another team of two workers who each gave thumbs up to the large African American who was standing in front of the hangar's massive double doors. Said man nodded before he looked at the cockpit and made the universal cut off sign. The pilot gave a thumbs up before he and the clone with him began flipping switches causing the rotors to slow down before they fully slowed to a stop.
As soon as the rotors came to a full stop, everyone working on the Osprey moved the head phones to around their necks with the others mirroring their actions. Then the man at the hangar doors walked over to our group and said "Naruto, good to finally see the original you again." The man pouted as he said "You didn't even come yourself when I called telling we were ready for your help with the Osprey. You just sent these guys." He jerked his thumb at the group of clones who had joined everyone else with placing their headsets on a table on the side of the hangar.
"What would you want with the Boss Richie? He's nothing but a little squirt right now!" the clone closest to the now introduced Richie shouted an I shouted back at him "Oi! I'll have you know I can still kick your ass no matter what size you are!" The clone waved my statement off as he and his brothers laughed before they all dispelled now that their assigned task was done giving me a rush of memories of the group leaving Yancy academy and coming here to help with getting the Osprey properly modified. "Cheeky bugger." I muttered rubbing my head from the rush of memories.
Richie chuckled before he turned serious as he said "So what's the situation Naruto?"
I became serious as well as I said "We got two of the three head honcho Greek gods arguing over a missing artifact that we need to find and retrieve in ten days. Primary suspect is the Lord of the Dead and me and my companions need a lift to Los Angeles to either confirm and retrieve it or to get a lead on where it is if it is not there. Then we need to be back here within ten days with said artifact if we want to avoid a war between said Greek Gods."
Richie's face screwed up in slight disgust as he said "Ah damn it, why'd it have to be the Greek Gods? Those guys were nothing but trouble for mortals back in the day." Annabeth opened her mouth to tell Richie not to say such things if he didn't want said Gods to take offence but a look from Naruto stopped her as he said "Which is why we need to get to LA and back as soon as possible."
Richie nodded and said "Right, well they're no C130s but the Chinook and Osprey can easily make that trip." Glancing over his shoulder at one of the two, he said "The Air Force is still a little jumpy about us having one of these, so I wouldn't recommend taking it on a cross country trip right now. On another note, I was already planning on sending the Chinook to Detroit to pick up some specialized parts. I've got no problem with the guys taking you to LA and back afterwards."
I snorted as I said "Not surprising they'd be nervous considering all the red tape we had to go through to acquire her in the first place. So the Chinook it is, how long before we can head out?"
Richie turned back to our group and said "Give us thirty minutes to gas up and log our flight path to Detroit with the right people and then we'll be go for wheel's up."
I grinned as I said "Great, the sooner we're in the air, the sooner we can come back."
Thirty minutes later, Archie was on his way back to Half Blood Camp and I was sitting inside the Chinook next to Annabeth and Grover as our two pilots, two former Air Force pilots named David and Andrew, taxied said helicopter onto a helipad and performed their final preflight checks. As the rotors of the Chinook began building speed, Naruto clicked the mike on his headset and said "Andrew, what's the eta to our first stop?"
Andrew's voice filtered over the radio as he said "We're heading for Detroit first so we have to deal with the cold front that's currently coming from the north. Even with your anti turbulence seals, that's going to affect our time a bit. At cruise speed, we should get there in just under four and a half hours."
"Roger that." I said before I looked over to Grover and Annabeth and said "Better settle in you two, this is going to be a long trip." Putting action to words I shifted to a crossed legs pose and closed my eyes and began drawing natural energy in order to detect anything coming towards us during the flight. Annabeth and Grover traded looks before they two settled in as the Chinook lifted off of the ground and spun to face the south east before it began moving both forward and up out of the surrounding woods before picking up speed as it reached cruising altitude. We were finally on our way.
It was an hour later when we hit our first snag in the trip. I could sense a massive thunderstorm building about ten miles out and there were three non-human signatures in the building storm, one of which was familiar to me. My eyes snapped open revealing bar shaped pupils as David's voice called over the radio "Naruto, we've got one hell of a thunderstorm coming out of nowhere ahead of us."
I got out of my seat and walked up to the cockpit as I said "It seems Zeus has had enough with letting us travel in his domain. I'm actually surprised he's lasted this long without doing anything about it." I entered the cockpit and whistled at the sight of the thunderstorm that was now easily fifty miles wide and growing. Frowning, I said "Any chance of going around it?"
"Not with how fast that thing is growing. It'll be on us before we can turn more than a few degrees. We're just going to have to weather this." Andrew said even as he took his left hand off of the pilot's main directional controls and placed it against the bulkhead on his left and made a twisting motion. The seal underneath his palm reacted to the motion and I felt the chakra in the seal add more power to the atmospheric seals on the outside of the helicopter. I was about to tell Annabeth and Grover to put on their seat harnesses when a piercing cry filled the air and Mrs. Dodds and two of her friends came hurtling out of the still rapidly approaching storm towards us screaming bloody murder.
"What the hell?!" David shouted before jerking his joystick to the left causing the Chinook to turn in that direction avoiding the three furies who made a wide banking turn and began to chase us as we entered the storm. I made a snap decision and said "Open the belly hatch. Stay on course no matter what, I'll take care of them." I ignored Andrew's shouted "Are you crazy?" and walked over to the hatch that was beginning to open thanks to David knowing that I had a plan and took off my headset as Annabeth shouted "What's going on Percy?! Why's the hatch opening?"
"We've got company!" I shouted back before I coated my body in wind chakra and ran to the hatch before I dove out and freefell for thirty feet. Then I pushed the wind chakra surrounding me out of my feet and I shot towards the three furies whose eyes widened at my actions. That was the last action Mrs. Dodds took since the next instant I was right in front of her with Riptide already out and taking her head off as I shot past her. I quickly threw my feet in front of me and shot back at the other two furies who barely had time to squawk in shocked rage at me before they both dove down to the ground to avoid the same fate as their sister.
I scowled down at them even as a lightning bolt tried to blast me into oblivion only for me to feel it coming thanks to sage mode and I upped the amount of wind chakra surrounding me even as I dodged the bolt by a few inches. Looking up, I shouted "You're going to have to do better than that you overgrown spark plug!" I dodged a retaliatory second bolt before I looked back down and saw that the two furies had come out of their dive and split apart, now coming at me from my right and left as they pulled out whips that immediately caught fire. Sighing, I capped Riptide before I ran through hand signs. Finishing the last one just as the two furies launched their whips at me, I shouted "Try this on for size you two! Wind Style: Shredding Cyclone Jutsu!" The air around me suddenly began spinning in a rapid vortex before said cyclone suddenly expanded and slammed into the two furies. They had just enough time to scream in pain before they erupted into explosions of sand.
I spared a moment to watch the wind quickly disperse the dust around me before I poured more wind chakra down my legs and shot after the Chinook which had continued its path dodging a third lightning bolt as I raced to catch up to it. When I caught back up, I could see lightning striking the rotors of the helicopter one after another only for the electricity to be absorbed by the seals on said rotors. Shaking my head at the sight, I muttered under my breath "They never learn do they?" Zeus apparently heard me because all of a sudden the bolts stopped trying to bring the Chinook down and instead began coming after me.
My eyes widened as I felt the bolts change targets and cursed before I changed my direction and proceeded to dive towards the ground twisting as I did to avoid the bolts coming. I was still taking hits from every fifth bolt but the wind shield around me caused the bolts to fizzle out to little more than static shocks that barely tingled. I wasn't paying any attention to that though. Instead I was more worried at how far the Chinook was pulling away from me while I was trying to dodge the bolts of lightning and how tricky it would be to get back inside with all of the static electricity surrounding me without causing a rather unwanted surge once I made contact. Then I sensed how a bolt of lightning decided to strike the Chinook instead of me and I sensed the electricity being absorbed and shrugged as I thought 'That'll work.'
Plan in mind, I shot back to the Chinook. Thirty minutes later I finally caught up to it and I pulled up along its side scaring Annabeth and Grover as I applied chakra to my hands and latched on. The atmospheric seals along the side that were glowing lit up even more as they absorbed all of the static electricity I was carrying even as I began crawling down to the still open hatch with the lightning bolts now hitting the rotors again. I reached the hatch and crawled inside panting as I finally allowed the wind chakra that had kept my body from becoming extra crispy go. A moment later, I stood up and grabbed my discarded headset and said "David, close the hatch."
The hatch began closing as David said "Welcome back mate." Andrew cut in with "You're crazy Naruto. You do know that right?"
I noticed Annabeth giving me a look which said she agreed and I chuckled as I plopped down in my seat, completely exhausted from playing catch up with the Chinook. Closing my eyes as I leaned my head back, I said "So I've been told. Any sign of the storm ending soon?"
Andrew chuckled as he said "None. Which is why we're currently running on battery power. Might as well use all the juice your buddy the thunder god is so graciously giving us."
I gave another chuckle before I said "Well, I'm going to take a nap now. Wake me up when we get to Detroit." I stayed awake long enough to hear a confirmation before I allowed my body to fall into the sweet nothingness of sleep.