Rick Riordan The Titan’ s Curse- 03
" And now you ' re thinking about following them on the quest," I guessed. " How did you know that?" " Because if it was my sister, I ' d probably be thinking the same thing. But you can ' t." He looked defiant. " Because I ' m too young?" " Because they won ' t let you. They ' ll catch you and send you back here. And … yeah, because you ' re too young. You remember the manticore? There will be lots more like that. More dangerous. Some of the heroes will die."
He shoulders sagged. He shifted from foot to foot. " Maybe you ' re right. But, but you can go for me." " Say what?" " You can turn invisible. You can go!" " The Hunters don ' t like boys," I reminded him. " If they find out—" " Don ' t let them find out. Follow them invisibly. Keep an eye on my sister! You have to.
Please?" " Nico—" " You ' re planning to go anyway, aren ' t you?" I wanted to say no. But he looked me in the eyes, and I somehow couldn ' t lie to him. " Yeah," I said. " I have to find Annabeth. I have to help, even if they don ' t want me to." " I won ' t tell on you," he said. " But you have to promise to keep my sister safe." " I … that ' s a big thing to promise, Nico, on a trip like this. Besides, she ' s got Zoe, Grover, and
Thalia—" " Promise," he insisted. " I ' ll do my best. I promise that." " Get going, then!" he said. " Good luck!" It was crazy. I wasn ' t packed. I had nothing but the cap and the sword and the clothes I was wearing. I was supposed to be going home to Manhattan this morning. " Tell Chiron—" " I ' ll make something up." Nico smiled crookedly. " I ' m good at that. Go on!" I ran, putting on Annabeth ' s cap. As the sun came up, I turned invisible. I hit the top of Half- Blood Hill in time to see the camp ' s van disappearing down the farm road, probably Argus taking the quest group into the city. After that they would be on their own. I felt a twinge of guilt, and stupidity, too. How was I supposed to keep up with them. Run? Then I heard the beating of huge wings. Blackjack landed next to me. He began casually nuzzling a few tufts of grass that stuck through the ice. If I was guessing, boss, I ' d say you need a getaway horse. You interested? A lump of gratitude stuck in my throat, but I managed to say, " Yeah. Let ' s fly."
44
Chapter Nine
I Learn How To Grow Zombies
The thing about flying on a pegasus during the daytime is that if you ' re not careful, you can cause a serious traffic accident on the Long Island Expressway. I had to keep Blackjack up in the clouds, which were, fortunately, pretty low in the winter. We darted around, trying to keep the white Camp Half-Blood van in sight. And if it was cold on the ground, it was seriously cold in the air, with icy rain stinging my skin.
I was wishing I ' d brought some of that Camp Half-Blood orange thermal underwear they sold in the camp store, but after the story about Phoebe and the centaur-blood T-shirt, I wasn ' t sure I trusted their products anymore.
We lost the van twice, but I had a pretty good sense that they would go into Manhattan first, so it wasn ' t too difficult to pick up their trail again.
Traffic was bad with the holidays and all. It was mid morning before they got into the city. I landed Blackjack near the top of the Chrysler Building and watched the white camp van, thinking it would pull into the bus station, but it just kept driving.