Chapter Twenty Two - Railroad Plot

As it turned out, we were only a few miles out from Newark according to the mapquest coordinates on Medusa's ancient computer. Apparently, with the sun hidden behind storm clouds, we'd been wandering through the woods much longer than we'd realized yesterday. Before we left, Ferdinand gave us his own blessing of safe travel that didn't involve a rendition of girl pop on reed pipes. Thanks to that, and the fact that the rain had stopped sometime the night before, we made it to the city limits without incident.

Considering we'd had enough excitement with busses to last a lifetime, and none of us had any desire to fly with Zeus currently pissed off at me, we decided to check out the options at the train station.

"Alright, as I see it we have a couple of options," I said. "One, we can grab a train ticket from here to L.A. with a stop in St. Louis and in Denver. We've definitely got enough money for four tickets, but only just. It'd also mean spending around twenty seven hours stuck on a train until we get to St. Louis, and then we'd have to be sure to catch the train before it left if we did get off."

"Ugh," Andromeda shuddered.

"Seconded," Annabeth said.

"Our other option would be getting tickets to Indianapolis. It's closer, so we'll be there faster, but it's still around twenty two hours. But I know some people in Indianapolis that might be able to help us."

"Only might?" Grover asked.

"If they can't, we grab a ticket at the station there," I said.

"Who are these people you know?" Andromeda asked.

"A couple of former Hunters of Artemis," I said.

"Hunters of Artemis," Grover sighed, a smile on his face. "I vote we do that."

"Andromeda?" Annabeth asked, shoving Grover. "It's your call. I'm staying neutral on this one."

"I have nothing but respect for the hunt," Andromeda said. "They do great things, and we've had a few girls come through the Farm House that were better off with them. But how sure are you that they can help us?"

"I stayed with them for a while last year," I said. "Emmie helped me brush up on my physical fitness while Brit and Jo taught me most of what I know about magic. Jo's actually really knowledgeable about it considering her mom is the goddess of magic. Even if they can't help us out overtly, they'd still be a useful source of advice and information."

"Well, it's not exactly out of the way," Andromeda said. "So even if they can't help, we'll still be going in the right direction."

With that decided, we bought our tickets and boarded the train. Amazingly, we managed to stay in place a full ten minutes before Andromeda abruptly stood up.

"I'm going to go find the dessert car," she said.

"That sounds really good," Grover said. "I'll come too. You know... for protection."

"From the dessert bar?" Annabeth asked with a smirk.

"You know how shifty some sandwich cookies can be," Grover said, completely straight faced.

"Well, we'll just have to interrogate them all," Andromeda stated. "Race you there!"

"You don't even know where it is," Grover called as Andromeda took off running. "Hey, wait for me!"

The last thing I heard as the door closed behind them was some old guy's voice berating the two of them for running. Once they were out of sight, I turned to Annabeth; "So, was there any particular reason why people seemed to be giving Percy the cold shoulder back at camp?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, taken aback by the sudden question.

"He brought it up before the funeral," I said. "And I kept an eye out afterward. Before he got claimed it was like he was... well, not super popular, but people seemed to like him well enough. Afterward, it was like suddenly there was an invisible line around him that kept everyone at a distance. Aside from Grover, I don't think anyone even approached him just to talk or hang out."

"It's complicated," Annabeth said.

"Well, I've been told I'm smart," I said. "Try to explain it to me."

"He shouldn't exist," Annabeth said, bluntly.

"Excuse you?" My eyes flared and the temperature around us jumped up a couple degrees.

"Sorry, that's not what I meant," Annabeth backtracked. "Like I said, it's complicated. He's the son of Poseidon, yeah?" I nodded. "Right, well you see, back in the forties there was a certain global conflict you might have heard a thing or two about called World War Two. That was basically a fight between the children of the Big Three gods - the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other."

"World War Two was..." I blinked. "What?!"

"Yeah," Annabeth nodded. "After the war, it was realized that the children of the Big Three were too powerful. They were affecting the course of mortal events on too grand of a scale. Causing too much carnage. Zeus and Poseidon got together and... convinced Hades to make a pact with them swearing that they would no longer have any children with mortals. They sealed it with an oath to the River Styx."

"And after sixty years, Poseidon was the first to break it," I said.

"Not exactly," Annabeth whispered, looking at her lap. "Zeus broke the oath first. He fell in bed with a mortal woman and had a daughter."

"So there's a daughter of Zeus running around somewhere?"

"She died," Annabeth said hoarsely. "Before she could get to the camp. Twelve years old, and she sacrificed herself so her friends could survive."

"Oh," I said.

"Yeah," she whispered. "That's why I said he shouldn't exist. His parentage is basically one giant bullseye on his back."

"Well, that just means we'll have to have his back," I said.

"I don't think I can," Annabeth said. "Poseidon and my mom don't exactly get along. Neither one of them would probably appreciate me socializing with him."

"Forgive me for saying this, but that's bullshit."

"It's true," she said.

"Doesn't make it not bullshit," I shook my head. "We aren't our parents. Isn't it the point of the next generation to make things better than the previous generation left them? Besides, your mom saying you can't hang out with a child of Poseidon would be pretty damn hypocritical..."

"Hey! Do not talk bad about my mom," Annabeth glared.

"I'm not," I said. "It's the truth. I mean, she was raised by Poseidon's son Triton - and his daughter was more than just a best friend, she was like a sister to your mom. Athena even took her name as an epithet. Pallas Athena."

Annabeth was silent for a moment, then sighed; "I get what you're saying, I do. And I can't promise that it'll be easy, but I'll at least try to give him a fair shake. Judge him for who he is, not who he's related to."

"That's all I ask," I said.

"And that goes for you as well," She smirked. "Just because you're his sister doesn't mean his brain is automatically soft boiled."

"Hey!" I pouted, causing her to laugh.

After that, the atmosphere in our car became a bit more relaxed.

"So," Annabeth spoke up, "What will you do after Summer? I mean, knowing that Percy's basically got a target on his back and all that."

I hesitated. On the one hand, I knew that I wanted to try to rescue my mom from the Underworld. On the other, there was no way I was going to reveal that particular plan. They'd try to talk me out of it or worse... try to stop me.

"I'm most likely going back to stay with uncle Joe. I was planning to see if he'd take Percy in as well when it got closer to the end of Summer," I said. "I definitely don't want him going back to his home. Not without mom there. I've met his... our... stepdad once. Once was more than enough."

"You sound like Luke talking about his dad," Annabeth laughed.

"No, really," I shook my head. "This guy is awful. Everything about him from his attitude to his utter lack of personal hygiene. There's no way in Hell that Percy's going back there if I can help it. The man is a bully at best and abusive at worst. He's exactly the sort of man Lady Artemis and her hunt would enjoy purging from the world. Hey, there's an idea..."

"No calling down divine judgement on the mortals," Annabeth said, smacking me on the head. "You know, Andromeda's mom runs a sort of halfway home for demigods. Maybe you and he can go there if things don't pan out with your uncle."

Living with Andromeda? Me? I fought to keep from blushing as my imagination filled my head with images of sleepovers in a shared room or sitting at a table in our pajamas eating cereal next to her. Maybe she'd even let me play with... er... style her hair. I saw Annabeth looking at me with a raised eyebrow and quickly shook my head to gather my thoughts.

"Is that where you go during the rest of the year?" I asked, deflecting. "I kinda got the feeling you don't exactly get along with your mortal parent."

"I got along well enough with my dad," Annabeth said, frowning. "Sometimes. When he was paying attention at least. You know Athena doesn't give birth, right? She's a maiden goddess. I was delivered in a golden chariot that descended from the sky. You'd think that would have made an impression, right?"

"Definitely sounds like something you'd want a picture of at the very least," I said.

"Right?" Annabeth chuckled softly. "It's actually my dad's wife that I don't get along with. She seemed to think I was a bad influence and a troublemaker - even at age seven. She's part of the reason I ended up running away from home actually. But to answer your question, no. I stay at camp all year. Besides, as the cabin leader, I need to be there for my siblings.

"Like you are right now?" I asked, grinning. "You sure seemed quick to leave when it meant going on a quest."

"This is different!" She protested.

"Uh huh," I said, making sure to sound extra sarcastic.

"Shut up!" She blushed, smacking me again as I laughed.

"Are we interrupting something," I heard Grover ask. We looked up from our fake fight to see that Andromeda and Grover had returned, and they'd brought cheesecake.

The rest of the ride was mostly uneventful. On the one hand, that was a welcome change of pace from being assaulted by monstrous lonely older women at seemingly every turn. On the other hand, that meant we were bored! Annabeth and Grover ended up getting into a serious thumb wrestling match while Andromeda almost shook the seat loose from the floor with how much she was bouncing her leg and I retreated to flipping back and forth through my enchanting book, marking pages for easier reference.

Thankfully, my expanded refrigerator bag worked perfectly, and we were able to have bacon cheeseburgers - discreetly warmed up by yours truly - for dinner. That night my sleep was thankfully uninterrupted by strange dreams of half naked girls - though, I did get the impression that somebody was calling my name from a long way off. By the time we reached Indianapolis the next day, we were truly grateful to be off the train. I just hoped my friends would be able to help us out.