CHAPTER EIGHT
( TRAVELING, SLEEPING,
AND MAYBE SOME BONDING )

A HUNDRED YARDS FROM the main road, they found a marshy clearing to settle down at for the night. It was obvious that some older local kids used the area for parties. The ground was littered with trash – flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers – and there were even a few pieces of plastic floating in the more watery parts of the clearing.

Kali, like the others, stuck to the drier areas closer to the trees. She had no desire to get near the dirty, muddy, trashy and shallow water at the moment. As she sat down by one of trees with two of the blankets they took from Aunty Em's, she longed to be back at camp. To sit in the lake with the naiads, and let Elidy and Thyia finally teach her underwater basket weaving.

As everyone settled down in their self-designated spots, no one made a move to light a fire. None of them wanted anymore unwanted attention – the two previous fights with the Kindly Ones and Medusa were enough – so the four of them sat in the darkness in their still damp clothes.

"We should sleep in shifts," Annabeth told them, and rubbed at one of her eyes. "We don't need to stay unguarded."

Kali involuntarily yawned as she nodded. Exhaustion was catching up to all of them. "That's a good idea."

"I'll take first watch," volunteered Percy, and Kali was only a little surprised that Annabeth didn't argue. She just curled up on her own pile of blankets, and began snoring the second her head hit the ground.

"I'll do the next one," Kali said, laying down as well. She listened to the flutter of Grover's shoes as he moved to sit in one of the trees.

"Alright. Night, Kali," Percy said. The sentiment was echoed by Grover half a second later.

Kali grunted out, "G'night," but had no idea how coherent it was. She gradually and steadily fell asleep to the sounds of Percy and Grover talking about Pan and the pollution.

+++

By the time Grover woke her up for her turn to keep watch, it felt like no time had gone by. Grover told her that it had been a couple or so hours when she asked him, so she did get some sleep. It just felt like she didn't. As he settled down for her shift, she rubbed at her eyes and then snatched a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos from the small pile of snacks they took from Aunty Em's.

Kali didn't know what she was expecting, really. It was nothing exciting, and it would stay that way unless a monster somehow already tracked them down. She didn't mind it, though. The quiet, calm atmosphere of the marsh was refreshing after everything that just happened to them. For a little bit, at least.

Ten minutes in, boredom hit her like a speeding eighteen wheeler. Because Percy, Annabeth, and Grover were asleep, she had no one to talk to. There were no fish in the marshy, shallow water close by, either. Other than the city lights far off in the distance and the few stars that shone in the sky, it was completely dark. Except for periodically eating a chip from the bag, she had nothing to do. It was almost physically painful. The only good things were the noises of random bugs and nocturnal animals. If it stayed completely silent she might have lost her mind within moments.

Puffing out her cheeks and then letting the air out, Kali stood. She paced around their little area as quietly as she could. She kept an eye and ear out for anything unusual, and ate her chips, stuffing the plastic in a pocket once they were gone. At some point, around an hour into her watch, she ended up standing in the water up to her ankles and paced there until she decided to go through the motions of sword practice. The water gave her enough energy to not immediately fall asleep on her feet anytime soon, and with something physical to do she felt more at ease than before.

Time passed relatively quickly after that. By the time she walked over to Annabeth to wake her up – because she was closest to her, and also because Percy looked dead to the world – a couple of hours had gone by. Her arms and hands were sore, and she felt ready to immediately pass out again with the lack of water keeping her energized. After shaking the water out of her shoes and socks, she gently roused Annabeth.

"Hey. It's your turn," Kai said. The blonde groaned, and her eyes squeezed tight. "Hey, Annabeth. Wake up or I'll toss you in the water."

Annabeth huffed but finally sat up, rubbing a hand over one eye. "No need for threats, geez."

Kali was too tired to come up with a response to that other than a noncommittal hum. Not caring if Annabeth minded, she laid down in the free spot of her pile of blankets. The last thing she heard before she fell asleep was, "You better not drool like your brother."

+++

Some odd hours later, Kali woke up from a thankfully dreamless sleep on her own time. The sun was up, much to her relief, and as she turned her ahead away from the sun ray that felt like it was actively trying to blind her, she saw that Grover was walking back in their direction with something pink in his arms.

Annabeth was also awake, yet Percy was still asleep. Once she sat up, Annabeth threw a bag of Cheetos and a water bottle at her. She caught them both with only minor fumbling. Grover sat nearby with what she finally saw was a pink poodle. He made them say hello to it.

Kali stared at the poodle – pink, dirty, and unhappy about something – and awkwardly greeted it. Annabeth did it more stiffly. No matter how they said it though, Grover was pleased and the dog seemingly relaxed.

It wasn't long after that when Annabeth went to wake Percy.

"Well,"Annabeth said as he finally opened his eyes, "the zombie lives."

Kali stared at him. He had the same look on his face from the other day in the cabin, right before Grover found them to say that Mr. D wanted to speak to him.

"How long was I asleep?" he asked.

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed him a bag of chips. It bounced off of his chest and into his lap. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."

Percy looked at Grover. He squinted at his friend, still half asleep, and then his eyes widened a little.

The dirty pink poodle yapped. It somehow sounded suspicious.

"No, he's not," Grover said to the poodle.

Percy blinked. "Are you...talking to that thing?"

The poodle growled.

"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

Grover ignores the question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."

Percy looked to Annabeth. When she didn't show any signs of this being a joke, his eyes then moved to Kali.

"Just do it," she said.

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," he said. "Forget it."

"Percy," Annabeth said, "I said hello to the poodle. Kali said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."

Gladiola growled.

Percy said hello.

With that over with, Grover began to explain that he had found Gladiola in the woods. They struck up a conversation, which was when Gladiola had admitted to running away from a local rich family. They posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't want to return to his family, but he was willing to do so if it meant he could help out Grover.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked.

"He read the signs," said Grover. "Duh."

"Of course. Silly me."

"So we turn in Gladiola, we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles," Annabeth explained, using the same type of tone she would during Capture the Flag. "Simple."

Percy stayed quiet for a second, thinking. Kali ate some more bites of her Cheetos before rolling the small bag up, and then stuffed it in a pocket to save the rest for later.

"Not another bus," he finally spoke, wary.

"No," Annabeth agreed the same moment Kali emphatically said, "Absolutely not."

Annabeth pointed downhill. There were train tracks, only now visible thanks to the morning light. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."

+++

They spent two days on the Amtrak train. They passed by grain fields that looked like amber waves, went through rolling hills, and over rivers that were both beautiful blue and muddy brown. It should have been relaxing, especially since they weren't attacked even once, but it wasn't. All four of them were too much on edge to fully relax. Kali felt like they were constantly being watched from all directions – above and below, and by a few passengers that stared just a second too long for comfort.

Each one of them tried not to draw too much attention on themselves, but Percy even more so. His name and picture got plastered on the front pages of multiple newspapers across the East Coast. On the Trenton Register-News there was a picture taken by a tourist from the bus explosion. It had she and Percy in frame, just as they got off of the bus. Percy's sword was a metallic blue in his hands, and as was Kali's; her hair blocked most of the sword's sheath on her back, so it looked like a small drawstring pack. Percy had a wild look in his eyes. Only the side profile of Kali's face could be seen.

Other than a partial look at her face, Kali thought that she got lucky. Then she read the blocks of text underneath the picture.

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers with who police believe they have identified correctly as eleven-year-old Kali Beaumont. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson and Beaumont fled the scene. Based on eyewitnesses accounts, police believe the children may be traveling with two teenage accomplices. Jackson's stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.

Beaumont's adoptive father, Ralph Beaumont, has also offered a cash reward to bring young Beaumont home, saying that all he wants is for her to come back home safely. He says that he and her younger siblings are worried and miss her dearly, and after the tragedy of his wife's death, he doesn't want to lose her too.

Unfortunately neither of these men were able to give police any clues on to why Jackson and Beaumont are traveling together.

Kali was vaguely aware of Annabeth telling Percy, and maybe her as well, to not worry. That mortal police could never find them. But Kali was too stuck on the second to last sentence. The fact that Ralph now knew that she wasn't at camp scared her a bit, and guilt churned in her gut for worrying Naia and Makoa. The one thing she was really, truly stuck on was all he wants is for her to come back home safely and he doesn't want to lose her too.

Those words made her brain screech to a halt.

Because even though Ralph wasn't a good guy, there were still good days. Days where Kali didn't have to walk on eggshells, where she didn't have to do something to take the bad attention away from Naia and Makoa, where they all laughed at the dinner table. Some days it felt as though he actually loved her like a real daughter. Like Auli'i never died, with Naia and Makoa happier than ever. Those days, as few and far between as they were, always gave her a false sense of hope no matter how hard she tried to remind herself that it never lasted.

Those days also made her the angriest. He obviously knew how to care for them and act like a good dad sometimes, so why didn't he do that all the time? And why did she fall for it every single time? Soak it up like a sponge only for it to get forcefully squeezed out a day or two later?

The second paragraph under the photo elicited those same feelings. Hope that she knew would get smacked back down when she saw him again (after all, he said he didn't want to lose her too, he said that, there's proof, it's right there), but with swelling wave of anger right behind it (at Ralph, at herself, because surely she learned her lesson by now, and if not she was the biggest idiot alive).

Kali didn't know which feeling would win out in the end, but there was a familiar pressure in her bones. The same pressure she felt moments before it snapped and she accidentally caused an earthquake in the middle of New York. The same pressure she felt when she got irrationally angry. It always happened in varying degrees. Some instances were easier to stay calm during than others, but ever since the winter solstice it's been unpredictable. Right now was some place in the middle.

Her hands tightened into fists in her lap as her mind brought up what was written out on the newspaper again. She was lucky that Grover, with his ability to sense emotions, didn't ask what was wrong, or if she was okay. She didn't know what she would say or do if he did.

+++

The reward money for returning Gladiola to his family wasn't enough to take them all the way to Los Angeles. The final stop was destined for Denver. It wasn't the most comfortable time, since they had to sleep in their respective seats – Kali sat by the large window with Grover beside her, and Percy and Annabeth sat across from them – but doable. Grover snored and bleated. It woke them all up at least once.

Kali woke up at one point to Annabeth and Percy doing their best to put one of Grover's fake foot back on before the other passengers saw while Grover still slept. When the crisis was averted, Kali dozed off again, but not completely. She was vaguely aware of the other two talking but didn't make herself wake up to be apart of it.

"How did you end up at camp?" Percy asked her an undetermined amount of time later when she woke up fully. It was dark outside, and Annabeth was now the one dozing off. She looked moments away from leaning either into the walkway or onto Percy. Beside Kali, Grover was half-awake and subtly people watching.

"I got chased by a sphinx," Kali said. "Me and my family took a trip to Long Island beach to camp for a few days, but it got cut short."

Percy stared in shock. "A sphinx? Like, body of a lion and head of a human, sphinx?" At her answering nod, he looked even more baffled.

"When I got to the camp's boarders Lee Fletcher ended up killing it, and Luke brought me to Chiron after I got checked on at the infirmary," she explained with a small smile.

"Is that what those scars are from?" He motioned to her...well, everything, but mostly her leg.

She unconsciously tensed up. "Um... No. No, I just twisted my ankle and bit my lip hard enough to make it bleed when I fell once." Kali looked at her forearm where the Kindly One scratched her. The now white scars were almost completely gone. "These are from the Kindly One that attacked me at my place. Lee says they'll heal completely, so the scars should be gone soon. The one on my cheek is from another monster that got a lucky strike during the school year." After easily telling that particular lie, she looked at her leg and hesitated.

Deep, thick, ugly scars wrapped around a few inches above her knee, and below halfway down her calf and shin. Kali poked the area around the scar closest to her knee. She barely felt it because of damaged nerves that were have yet to heal.

"These are from a shark attack," she finally said.

"I'm sorry, what?" Percy blurted.

Grover looked over at her, shocked. "You got attacked by a shark?"

Kali gave a jerky shrug. "It was a few years ago. Before I made it to camp." She poked at the area of damaged nerves again. "I'm numb right here."

"Holy crap, seriously?" Percy leaned forward and poked the same spot. Curious, Grover sat up and leaned to watch. "You don't feel that?" When she shook her head, he pinched her.

"Wha– hey!" She smacked his hand on impulse. It didn't hurt, not really, but the action caught her off guard. "Don't do that!"

"I'm just testing it! You said you were numb."

"How does that not worry you?" Grover asked.

Kali shrugged. "I mean, the doctors said something about the shark hurting deep skin tissue, and there's a chance the nerves will grow back, so... Percy, stop!" She kicked at his knees when he pinched the area around the scar on her shin. He yelped, barely dodged, and immediately kicked back.

"I just wanted to know if that's numb, too!"

"You could've asked!" It was – all of the scars and the areas around them. The shark's teeth did some devastating damage. She once over heard how the doctors said they originally thought she might lose her leg – it was a miracle she didn't.

"What the heck is going?" Annabeth asked, groggy. She blearily glared at the three of them. Their little quarrel must have woken her up.

"Kali's leg is numb in some spots," Percy casually explained.

She blinked, then reeled slightly. "Whoa, what?"

Kali explained, and Annabeth's brows rose some. Before she could say anything though, Percy asked, "Hey, what kind of shark was it?"

"Tiger shark."

"So, what happened?" Annabeth asked. "You had to have been, like, eight. Right? Why were you anywhere where a shark could attack?"

The question wasn't asked maliciously, but it made Kali tense up again just the same. "My mo– ...the woman who adopted me took me out for an early morning swim on the beach. She wanted to help teach me how to surf, and she thought the waters were safe."

"Did she get attacked too?"

Kali looked back down at her scarred leg. She gently poked at one of the numb spots again, and nodded. Silence fell over them. Beside her, Grover shifted awkwardly in his seat. Annabeth took a quiet breath in, probably about to say something, but Percy beat her to it.

"I accidentally made my class fall into a shark tank once."

They looked at him with varying degrees of disbelief and bewilderment. "What?"

As he went on to tell the story, Kali relaxed. How he knew that she didn't want to talk about what happened anymore, she didn't know. The shift of conversation was nice, though. She gave him a thankful smile at one point when they made eye contact, and he sent her a subtle thumbs up.

+++

On June 13, toward the end of their two day trip on the train and eight days until the summer solstice, they went over the Mississippi River and entered St. Louis. The Gateway Arch appeared in the distance. Annabeth craned her neck to see it. It didn't look like anything special to Kali; just an upside down 'U' in the ground close to the brown river.

"I want to do that," said Annabeth.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?"

"Only in pictures."

"Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."

He laughed. "You? An architect?"

Annabeth's cheeks flushed pink. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just fear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."

Percy's eyes stayed glued to the Mississippi River, while Kali shrunk back some into her seat with crossed arms. Annabeth's eyes flicked between them guiltily.

"Sorry," she said. "That was mean."

"Can't we work together a little," pleaded Percy. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate? Besides, you and Kali seem to get along fine most of the time."

Annabeth had to think about it. "I guess...the chariot," she said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."

"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"

The train took them into the city. The Gateway Arch disappeared behind a hotel, Annabeth watching as it did so. "I suppose," she finally said.

They pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. On the intercom, a mechanized voice told the passengers that they had a three-hour layover before departing for Denver.

Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."

"Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing."

"Sightseeing?"

Kali's brows furrowed. "When did we decide to do that?"

"The Gateway Arch, and just now. This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"

She exchanged looks with Grover and Percy. She didn't know if it was the best idea to go or not. From the start, their luck hadn't been exactly good. Going on two days without getting attacked felt like a miracle, right now. She didn't want that streak to break just yet. Unfortunately, Annabeth was going to the Arch with or without them no matter what, and splitting up was probably the worst thing they could do.

"...Sure," Kali reluctantly said, and Annabeth smiled.

Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."

————

A/N— so this chapter is shorter than the others & the next one will most likely be the same, just fyi

in other news we finally know who's playing percy in the live action show!!! the kid is so adorable & has such strong percy vibes from what i've seen. i'm getting more excited for this show by the day, honestly