Rick Riordan The Titan’ s Curse- 03
I noticed for the first time how strange it was that the guards hadn ' t rushed forward to arrest us. They were scrambling in all directions except ours, like they were madly searching for something. A few were running into the walls or each other. " You did that?" I asked Grover. He nodded, looking a little embarrassed. " A minor confusion song. I played some Barry
Manilow. It works every time. But it ' ll only last a few seconds." " The security guards are not our biggest worry," Zoe said. " Look." Through the glass walls of the museum, I could see a group of men walking across the lawn. Gray men in gray camouflage outfits. They were too far away for us to see their eyes, but I could feel their gaze aimed straight at me. " Go," I said. " They ' ll be hunting me. I ' ll distract them." " No," Zoe said. " We go together." I stared at her. " But, you said—" " You are part of this quest now," Zoe said grudgingly. " I do not like it, but there is no changing fate. You are the fifth quest member. And we are not leaving anyone behind."
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Chapter Eleven
Grover Gets A Lamborghini
We were crossing the Potomac when we spotted the helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model just like the one we ' d seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward us. " They know the van," I said. " We have to ditch it." Zoe swerved into the fast lane. The helicopter was gaining. " Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover said hopefully. " The military probably thinks it ' s one of theirs," I said. " How can the General use mortals, anyway?" " Mercenaries," Zoe said bitterly. " It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid." " But don ' t these mortals see who they ' re working for?" I asked. " Don ' t they notice all the monsters around them?" Zoe shook her head. " I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters." The helicopter kept coming, making a lot better time than we were through D. C. traffic. Thalia closed her eyes and prayed hard. " Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?" But the sky stayed gray and snowy. No sign of a helpful thunderstorm. " There!" Bianca said. " That parking lot!" " We ' ll be trapped," Zoe said. " Trust me," Bianca said. Zoe shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river.
We left the van and followed Bianca down some steps. " Subway entrance," Bianca said. " Let ' s go south. Alexandria." " Anything," Thalia agreed. We bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind us for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later we were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from D. C. As our train came above ground, we could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn ' t come after us. Grover let out a sigh. " Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway." Bianca looked pleased. " 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 used to live in D. C."
Grover frowned. " New? But that station looked really old."