FIVE. RAILWAY CHILDREN

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THE SIX OF THEM had managed to get back to the van, but it was clear that they needed to get rid of it. This idea became extremely evident when they realized that they were being followed by a military helicopter.

"They know the van," said Percy from where he sat next to Matheo, gripping onto the seat as Zoë drove as quickly as she could. "We have to ditch it." At those words, the girl swerved into the fast line, making Percy collide into Matheo's shoulder.

Grover peered up at the helicopter, giving the other's a nervous smile. "Maybe the military will shoot it down." He said hopefully, trying to make the others feel better. "The military probably thinks it's one of theirs." Percy crushed Grover's hopes right then and there.

"How can the General use mortals, anyway?" Percy asked over all the commotion. "Mercenaries. It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid." Matheo can see himself doing that, if he was going to be completely honest.

"But don't these mortals see who they're working for? Don't they notice all the monsters around them?" Percy kept asking questions, and usually Matheo would be okay with it, but he really wished he would shut up.

"They might not be able to see that much through the Mist." Matheo said from where he sat, voice stern. Zoë nodded from the driver's seat. "Your friend is correct. I do not know how much they can see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."

Matheo swallowed at those words, agreeing silently.

Overhead, he could hear the helicopter getting closer and closer, while they stayed almost completely still in traffic. Thalia nervously peered behind her at the helicopter before turning ahead, pressing her palms together and closing her eyes. "Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?"

It was obviously not that easy, because nothing happened whatsoever. The sky remained sad and dull. "There!" Bianca piped up, pointing at a parking lot to their right. "That parking lot!"

"We'll be trapped."

"Trust me." And it seemed Zoë did, because not a second later she merged so she could get into the parking lot with no problems. The parking lot was south of a river, and the sound of water rustling filled Matheo's ears once he got out of the van.

"Subway entrance. Let's go south. Alexandria." Bianca said, Matheo had no complaints. He just wanted to get out of there so he could chill out for a moment. "Anything."

They bought a total of six tickets, keeping covered as they waited for the train to arrive. It only took a few minutes and they were aboard the southbound train, heading toward Alexandria.

There was a moment of panic between the group when the train made it's way above ground. However, the helicopter didn't chase after them. Matheo let himself breath.

"Nice job, Bianca," complimented Grover, letting out a relieved sigh. "Thinking of the subway."

Bianca smiled happily at that, seemingly pleased that she was able to do something useful for everyone. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we use to live in D.C."

Matheo stopped what he was doing and raised an eyebrow, looking at the younger girl. "New? But that station looked really old." Grover frowned as he thought back to the rusty old train station. That was true. The station looked as though it were three seconds from falling apart.

"I guess," Bianca shrugged. "But trust me. when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway." That didn't seem right.

"Wait a minute. No subway at all?" Thalia asked from where she sat. It was strange because even before she had been turned into a tree for a few years, she still had subways before then. "Bianca." Bianca turned to look at Zoë with a raised eyebrow. "How long ago. . ." Before she could even ask, the sound of a helicopter whirring echoed.

"We need to change trains. Next station." Percy said, and Matheo nodded along with his words.

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THEY ACTUALLY ENDED UP switching trains twice in less than thirty minutes. Matheo had lost track of where they were going, but he was sure of one thing: when they got off the train, it was freezing.

An immediate shiver flew down his spine as soon as the breeze hit him, and he couldn't help but bring his hands to his arms, rubbing them to keep himself warm.

One good thing that came from this, though, was the fact that they had lost the helicopter.

The six of them walked through the railway, silently hoping that they could find another train to hop onto, but there were none. The only trains that Matheo saw looked like they hadn't been touched in years.

When they had got about halfway down, they spotted a homeless guy next to a trash can fire, hands outstretched at the flame. The man turned to look at them and gave them a smile, revealing his missing teeth. "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!" Matheo wondered why so many people talked bad about the homeless when they were the kindest.

The six of theme awkwardly made their way to the fire, using this as an opportunity to talk things over and get warmed up. "My hooves are frozen." Grover complained, and Thalia sent him a pointed glare. "Feet." Percy corrected and Grover nodded along with that, pretending that's exactly what he had said.

"Maybe we should contact camp." Bianca proposed, turning to look at Zoë. "Chiron—." Zoë quickly cut her off with a firm shake of the head. "No. They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

Matheo raised an eyebrow at that. They seemed to be doing a fantastic job at that right now. They definitely weren't in some random town in D.C., sharing a fire with a homeless guy. "You know. You're never completely without friends." The homeless guy spoke up with a lisp because of the missing teeth.

"You kids need a train going west?" The six of them nodded, all of them trying to ignore the cold that rushed through their bodies. The homeless guy nodded with a smile and pointed his hand at something. A freight train carrying many cars.

That was . . . convenient?

"That's convenient." Thalia said from where she sat, raising an eyebrow as she turned to look back at the guy. "Thanks, uh. . ." She trailed off and the others turned to look as well.

The homeless guy was gone, and the fire had seemingly disappeared into thin air, the cold air rushing to take its place.

If Matheo wasn't confused before, he sure as hell was now. But, he decided to not ask any questions. The six of them got up quickly, making their way to the cars on the freight train. Were they about to commit grand theft? No. They were just hitching a ride on the train, of course.

"Hey, Matheo." The red-haired boy hummed as he turned around, looking at Percy. "I'm gonna ride with Thalia and see if I can't figure some things out. . . maybe get rid of the tension between us. Would you mind riding along with Grover?" Matheo didn't mind one bit. He would like to get to know Grover, anyway, he seemed like a nice guy.

"Yeah, I can do that." He told Percy with a slight nod. "Good luck." Percy pressed his lips together in a smile, nodding his head. Matheo sighed and turned on his heel, making his way to the Lamborghini that Grover had crawled into.

He brought his fist up to the tinted window me knocked, watching as the window slowly rolled down, a wide-eyed Grover staring straight at him. "Mind if I join you?"

"Uhm—No! Not at all! Completely—Completely fine by me!" Way to be slick. Matheo chuckled as he shook his head, sitting down in the passenger seat.

It was awkwardly silent, and it was evident to both. Matheo just leaned his head against the back of the seat as he tried not to think about it. "So. . . how long have you and Percy been friends?" Grover asked, twiddling his thumbs.

Matheo hummed at the question. "About a year." Grover clicked his tongue at that and nodded. "Cool. Cool, cool, cool." Matheo pressed his lips together as he tried not to laugh at that. Grover was way more awkward than Percy described him as.

"You're a good friend, Grover. Percy really admires you." Matheo told him, trying to ease the tension between the two. He truthfully would like to get to know the satyr more, considering they were both friends with the same person. "Does he really?" Grover asked with stars in his eyes.

"Yeah. He might not have said it directly, but it's pretty obvious."

"Woah."

Matheo turned his body so that he was facing Grover now, who was sprawled out on the backseat. "You don't have to be nervous. I promise I'm not the spawn of satan like they say." Grover nodded slowly, giving the boy an awkward smile.

"I mean. . . you are a little scary. . . but I see that now." Grover's eyes widened when he said that, and he shot up from his seat. "I mean! I never thought you were a spawn of satan, I just meant. . . I just meant that others think you're evil. No! That's not what I meant either. Ugh!" He buried his head in his hands and Matheo couldn't help but laugh.

"That's alright, Grover. I'm not offended. I'm used to it." Matheo comforted, and Grover looked at him, sadly. It seemed as though it had finally dawned on his what he had meant by that. "Oh. . . I'm sorry."

"Like I said. It's alright, don't worry about it." The two of them snapped there head toward the drivers seat when the door was pulled open. It didn't take them but a few seconds to realize it was Percy, a grim look on his face.

"I assume it didn't go to well?" Matheo asked from where he sat, and Percy grumbled as he shut the door. "No. I made her even more upset. Can't just shut up for once in my life." He said as he crossed his arms over his chest. It was obvious that he didn't want to talk about it, so Matheo and Grover didn't say a thing.

Matheo watched as the sun sunk down, the sky turning from a pale blue to a dark navy within thirty minutes, and it dawned on him how tired he was. He tried his best to not fall asleep just in case Percy needed someone to talk to, but he did let himself doze, leaning up against the car door with his eyes closed.

However, it was hard to not fall asleep from the soft noise of the train gliding against the tracks.

And maybe because he'd been awake for so long.

But he did eventually fall asleep early in the morning. It had been after Percy had fallen asleep as well, so he didn't feel as bad about it.

"I won't be able to see him that much."

It was a feminine voice. Powerful and fierce.

"Why not? He's just a baby, he'll need his mother."

This time it was a man. He seemed more timid and confused.

Matheo knew he was dreaming, because it didn't make sense to him. He could see a wooden door slightly ajar, light shining out into the hallway he was in.

"I know. I know it will be hard. But I must. I will protect him as much as I can, but it's. . . It's safer for him." Matheo peered around the doorway, looking at the scene behind it.

A man was sitting on an office chair, a colorful blanket in his arms — it was obvious that there was a baby wrapped up in it. The woman he was hearing was standing in front of him. She was dressed is darker clothing, unusual for the colorful scenery in the room, and she had long blue, almost black, hair.

"He's just a baby." The man said with a frown on his face. He looked down at the baby in his arms and pushed the blanket back a little. The baby had little strands of red-hair resting on its crown.

It was Matheo.

"I know, darling. I don't want to do this." The woman seemed very sincere when she said that, kneeling down to place a gentle hand on the baby's head.

"I promise with all my heart I will protect him, no matter where I am." She said as she looked up at the man in the chair.

It was then that Matheo was able to piece together that these people were his father and mother — Hecate. He backed away when his father turned to look at the doorway, as if he'd be able to see him.

"I understand. I wish it didn't have to be like this." Hecate smiled sadly at the man and baby, pulling both of them into a gentle hug.

Matheo felt something warm bubbling in his chest as he watched the scene play out in front of him. Hecate cared about him, and his father had, too. He had heard that his father had died, and when he was five, his aunt had told him it was cancer.

He looked like a healthy man as he held a younger Matheo close to him, smiling at him as the baby tried to grab ahold of his nose.

Matheo wishes he could be that happy now.

Matheo felt someone grab his arm and quickly jumped awake, fists thrown up in a fighting stance. When his eyes shot open he saw Percy with his hands thrown up in defense, a small smile pasted on his face. "Woah, dude, it's just me." Matheo swallowed thickly as he thought about how embarrassing this would be later.

"It's morning, you were the only one still asleep. . ." Percy looked at Grover, who nodded slowly. "The train just stopped, we gotta go." Matheo nodded and quickly rubbed the haze of sleep away from his eyes, allowing himself to be dragged by Percy past the metal curtains — where the girls were already waiting for them.

Percy had one hand stuck in his pocket as he looked pretty intensely at Zoë, and Matheo wondered if something had happened while he had been asleep. He shook his head and started to follow the three girls, straying away from everyone — except for Percy, who refused to be too far from him.

It was cold outside when they finally exited the station, and it was making Matheo regret wearing nothing but the think hoodie.

He didn't think it would've been that cold.

Matheo felt Percy let go of his arm, finally, and the watched as the boy stopped walking so that he could walk beside Grover, whispering to him. Matheo didn't want to pry about whatever he was saying, so he instead looked at his surroundings.

Beside him, there was a rusty sign that read 'WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO' and Matheo couldn't help but be shocked that they were already across the country. He stopped walking when he noticed that the girls did too.

He watched as they looked around, Thalia's lips curled as she looked around, crossing her arms over her chest. "Great. No his station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out." Yes, that did seem like a bit of a problem.

Matheo brought a hand over his eyes to try and shield them from the bright clouds above them, also trying to find something. "There's a coffee shop!" Grover said excitedly, and Matheo couldn't help but notice that his stomach rumbled at those words.

"Yes," said Zoë from where she stood, looking as professional as ever. "Coffee is good." Grover hummed along with those words, looking like he was dreaming. "And pastries. And wax paper."

Thalia shook her head and sighed. "Fine. How about you two go get us some food. The rest of us will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions." Thalia proposed, and it didn't take long for everyone to agree. The sooner they got to their destination, the better.

When they walked into the store, they immediately noticed a lone clerk. Matheo stayed behind as the others walked over to the man, trying to figure out what to do. He watched as Percy awkwardly bought a rubber rat, probably because he noticed the man was so lonely.

Percy turned and walked over to where Matheo stood, holding the rubber rat. "He said we could call for a taxi Alamogordo. But, he said it would take at least an hour and it'd be very expensive." Matheo grumbled at those words, bringing his jacket closer to his body as they walked out onto the porch of the store.

"Wonderful," Thalia said grouchily, not in any mood to be stuck. "I'm going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion." She proposed, already starting to walk down the stairs that led down to the road. "But the clerk said—."

"I know," she grumbled at Percy, and Matheo couldn't help but narrow his eyes at her. "I'm checking anyway."

There seemed to be some sort of tension between the two half-bloods, and even if Matheo was extremely curious, he tried not to pry. He placed a hand on Percy's shoulder, nodding his head over to the stairs when the boy finally turned to look at him.

He made his way over to them and took a seat, Percy quickly sitting down next to him. Bianca shuffled on her feet from beside them, and Percy turned to look at her. "Nice rat." She finally said as an attempt to ease the awkwardness. Percy turned to look at the rat and set it on Matheo's lap. "So. . . how do you like being a hunter so far?"

Matheo looked at Percy with a distasteful look, grabbing the rubber rat that he had set on him. He turned it so that he was staring right at its eyes. Lifeless, dull, so full on energy. He grimaced the discolored brown and gray that was in splotches around its body, setting it down on the stair railing next to him.

"You're not still mad at me for joining, are you?" Bianca questioned as she moved to sit on the other side of Percy. "Nah. Long as, you know. . . you're happy." Bianca hummed at those words and Matheo finally turned to look at her — no longer distracted by the rat.

"I'm not sure if 'happy' is the right word," the girl admitted. "With Lady Artemis gone. But being a hunter is definitely cool. I feel calmer somehow. Everything's seemed to slow down around me. I guess that's the immortality." She finished and Percy nodded along with her words.

"Nico didn't understand my decision." She said after a few moments of silence, and Matheo thought back to the young half-blood that had been fighting alongside him and Percy in capture the flag. "He'll be all right," said Percy, as if trying to reassure her. "Camp Half-blood takes in a lot of young kids. They did that for Annabeth, and Matheo over here."

Matheo hummed to agree with what the boy had said, despite how much he disliked the story behind them. "I hope we find her. Annabeth, I mean. She's lucky to have a friend like you." Anyone would be lucky to have Percy as friend, even if he was annoying half the time. "Lot of good it did her."

"Don't blame yourself Percy. You risked your life to save my brother and me," Bianca comforted from where she sat, the breeze softly blowing loose hair away from her face. "I mean, that was seriously brave. If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't have felt okay about leaving Nico at the camp. I figured if there were people like you there, Nico would be fine." Matheo could tell that her words touched his heart based on the way the corners of his mouth twitched up ever-so-slightly. "You're a good guy."

"Even though I knocked you down in capture the flag?" Bianca laughed at that, shaking her head slightly. "Okay. Except for that, you're a good guy."

Silence fell upon the three of them once again, and Matheo tried not to notice the stares he was getting from Bianca. "So, what's the story with you and Nico? Where did you go to school before Westover?" Percy broke the silence yet again, almost as if he noticed how awkward Matheo was.

"I think it was a boarding school in D.C.," Matheo raised an eyebrow at that. She thinks? "It seems like so long ago." She admitted, scratching the back of her neck. "You never lived with your parents? I mean, your mortal parent?"

Bianca shook her head at the question and looked out at the road in front of them — where Zoë and Grover were starting to head toward them. "We were told our parents were dead. There was a bank trust for us. A lot of money. I think. A lawyer would come by once in a while to check on us. Then Nico and I had to leave that school."

"Why?"

Bianca seemed as though she couldn't remember it too clearly. Matheo watched her with furrowed eyebrows as she tried to piece together information. "We had to go somewhere. I remember it was important. We traveled a long way and we stayed in this hotel for a few weeks. And then. . . I don't know. One day a different lawyer came to get us out. He said it was time for us to leave. He drove us back east, through D.C., then up into Maine. That's when we started going to Westover." It was a lot of information at once, but Matheo was finding it strange that she didn't remember all that much.

She remembered the important parts, at least.

"So you've been raising Nico pretty much all your life? Just the two of you?" At least she had someone. Matheo shook his head at those thoughts, knowing it wasn't okay to think that way of someone else.

She hummed to agree and nodded as well. "That's why I wanted to join the Hunters so bad. I mean, I know it's selfish, but I wanted my own life and friends. I love Nico — don't get me wrong — I just needed to find out what it would be like not to be a big sister for 24-hours a day." Matheo could understand where she was coming from. There was only so much interaction he could take in a day, it would be exhausting to go for 24 hours straights.

"Zoë seems to trust you," said Percy, letting his elbows rest on his knees, finally, after having them awkwardly placed by his sides. "What were you guys talking about, anyway — something dangerous about the quest?"

"When?"

"Yesterday morning on the pavilion. Something about the General." Matheo winced when he saw the darkened look on Bianca's face. It was obvious he wasn't supposed to be there. "How did you. . . The invisibility hat. Were you eavesdropping?" Percy noticed his mistake pretty quickly.

"No! I mean, not really, I just —."

He was cut off when Zoë and Grover walked up, letting Percy crawl out of the hole he had dug himself into. Percy was handed a blueberry muffin and Matheo happily took the croissant that was being handed to him by Grover, a boyish smile plastered on his face. He was happy that Grover seemed to finally be coming around.

"We should do the tracking spell." Zoë proposed from where she stood, sipping on her coffee. "Grover, do you have any acorns left?" Grover stopped mid-chew and looked at her, eyebrows slightly raised.

There was a sudden breeze, but Matheo knew better than to just dismiss it — as was Zoë. "Grover, thy cup." Grover got the message immediately and dropped his coffee cup. The birds that were on the cup seemed to peel off of it before flying away, and the rubber rat that Matheo had set down earlier scurried away.

Matheo was quickly to grab Grover when he noticed that his knees had buckled, saving him the pain of waking up with a bruised arm or leg. The others crowded around as well to make sure that the satyr was okay. "Hey!" Matheo heard Thalia yell after finally reuniting with them. "I just. . . What's wrong with Grover?" She stopped mid sentence when she saw Grover unconscious in Matheo's arms, giving the boy a suspicious stare.

"I don't know, he just collapsed. Thankfully, Matheo caught him." Thalia hummed but still kept a watchful eye on Matheo. He wishes he could say that he didn't care.

Grover groaned, put it didn't sound like he was in pain, so that was good. "Whatever, get him up." Thalia looked around carefully — almost as if someone were following her. "We need to get out of here."

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VANA'S CORNER !
sorry for not uploading for a while, i
have been swamped with end of year
exams and other surprise projects
BUT i'm almost done with them
so HALLELUJAH!!