| chapter eighteen |

in which thalia drives ( and everyone almost dies )

THEY ALL PILED INTO THE VAN. The Hunters crammed into the back so they'd be as far away as possible from Apollo and the rest of the people that they didn't like. Bianca sat with them, leaving her little brother to hang out in the front.

"This is so cool!" Nico exclaimed, jumping up and down.

Naomi grinned. "I know, right?"

"Is this really the sun?" Nico asked Apollo. "I thought Helios and Selene were the sun and moon gods. How come sometimes it's them and sometimes it's you and Nia's mom?"

Downsizing," said Apollo. "The Romans started it. They couldn't afford all those temple sacrifices, so they laid off Helios and Selene and folded their duties into our job descriptions. My sis got the moon. I got the sun. It was pretty annoying at first, but at least I got this cool car."

"But how does it work?" asked Nico. "I thought the sun was a big fiery ball of gas!"

Apollo chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair. "That rumor probably started because Artemis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas. Seriously, kid, it depends on whether you're talking astronomy or philosophy. You want to talk astronomy? Bah, what fun is that? You want to talk about how humans think about the sun? Ah, now that's more interesting. 

"They've got a lot riding on the sun. . . er, so to speak. It keeps them warm, grows their crops, powers engines, makes everything look, well, sunnier. This chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every day, it drives across the sky from east to west, lighting up all those puny little mortal lives."

Nia furrowed her brows. "Puny little. . .?"

"That chariot is a manifestation of the sun's power, the way mortals perceive it," Apollo said. "Make sense?"

Nico shook his head. "No."

"Not really," Naomi said.

"Well then, just think of it as a really powerful, really dangerous solar car."

"Can I drive?" Naomi and Nico both asked at the same time, then looked at each other, grinned, and high-fived.

"No," Apollo said. "You're both too young. Besides, my father would probably blast you out of the sky, Naomi."

The daughter of Poseidon kind of sagged at that.

"Oo! Oo!" Grover raised his hand.

"Mm, no," said Apollo. "Too furry." 

"Too furry?" Nia squinted.

Apollo looked at Nia. "I'd let you drive, my young niece, but you've never driven before. Sorry!"

"Didn't really want to drive anyways," Nia muttered, "but thanks, I guess."

Apollo looked past Percy and focused on Thalia. "Daughter of Zeus! Lord of the sky. Perfect."

"Oh, no," Thalia shook her head frantically. "No, thanks."

"C'mon," said Apollo. "How old are you?"

Thalia hesitated. "I don't know."

It had been almost seven years since Thalia had gotten turned into a tree when she was twelve. By years, she should be nineteen, but she didn't look like it. Chiron had pretty much figured that she had stopped aging like regular people while in tree form.

Nia's uncle tapped his finger to his lips. "You're fifteen, almost sixteen."

"How do you know that?"

"Hey, I'm the god of prophecy — I know things. You'll turn sixteen in about a week."

"That's my birthday! December twenty-second."

Nia thought about the Great Prophecy: A child of the eldest gods / Shall reach sixteen against all odds. . .

"Which means," Apollo grinned, "you're old enough now to drive with a learner's permit!"

Thalia shifted her feet. "Uh—"

Naomi furrowed her brows. "But Thalia doesn't have a learner's permit—"

"I know what you're going to say," said Apollo, cutting Naomi off. "You don't deserve an honor like driving the sun chariot."

"That's not what I was going to say."

"Don't sweat it! Maine to Long Island is a really short trip, and don't worry about what happened to the last kid I trained. You're Zeus's daughter. He's not going to blast you out of the sky." Apollo laughed good-naturedly. No one joined him.

Nia stepped up, knowing about her intense fear of heights. "Thalia, if you want, I can drive—"

"Ah, nonsense," Apollo waved a hand. "Thalia'll be a natural! Take it away!"

THALIA WAS NOT A NATURAL.

She was gripping the steering wheel so tight, her knuckles were white. She looked like she was going to throw up.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked her.

"Nothing," she said shakily, shooting a clear look at Nia: Tell no one. "N-nothing is wrong." She pulled back on the wheel, and the bus lurched upward so fast Grover fell back, with Percy landing on top of him.

"Ow," said Grover.

"Sorry," Thalia said.

"Slower!" Apollo said.

"Sorry! I've got it under control!"

Nia grabbed onto a seat and made a chain with Naomi, Nico, Percy, and Grover. Naomi asked, "Really?"

"Yes, Naomi, really!" Thalia nodded, looking panicked.

"Thalia, lighten up on the accelerator," Percy suggested.

"I've got it, Percy," Thalia grit her teeth, the accelerator floored.

"My panicked expression begs to differ," Nia groaned.

"Loosen up," Percy said to Thalia.

"I'm loose!" said Thalia, literally looking as stiff as plywood.

"We need to veer south for Long Island," Apollo said. "Hang a left."

Thalia jerked the wheel and disconnected Percy from the human line and into Grover, who yelped.

Apollo suggested, "The other left."

Nia tried to keep calm. If they survived this, she would never complain about Argus's driving again.

"Ah. . ." said Apollo, sounding like he was forcing himself to keep calm. "A little lower. Cape Cod is freezing over."

"Yes," Nia muttered under her breath, "because that's the main issue right now. Not our own lives or anything like that."

Thalia tilted the wheel. Her face was chalk white, her forehead beaded with sweat.

The bus pitched down and someone screamed. It was probably Nia. Apollo had been thrown somewhere in the back of the bus, but he had started climbing the rows of seats.

"Take the wheel!" Grover begged him.

Naomi nodded in agreement. "Please! By the gods, please!"

"No worries," said Apollo, looking plenty worried. "She just has to learn to— WHOA!"

Nia looked down and watched as the snow began to melt off this little snow-covered New England town. Fires were even beginning to start.

"Fire!" Naomi cried. "That's fire!" 

"Pull up!" yelled Percy.

There was a wild light in Thalia's eyes. She yanked back up on the wheel and the fires were snuffed out by the sudden blast of cold.

"There!" pointed Apollo. "Long Island, dead ahead. Let's slow down, dear. 'Dead' is only an expression."

Thalia thundered toward the coastline of northern Long Island and there was Camp Half-Blood. Nia could've cried at the sight.

"I'm under control," muttered Thalia. "I'm under control."

"Control disappeared a long while ago!" Nia cried.

"Nia, not helping!" Percy shouted at her!

"Brake," Apollo said.

"I can do this."

"BRAKE!"

Thalia slammed her foot on the brake, and the bus pitched forward at a forty-five-degree angle, slamming into the camp canoe lake. Steam billowed up, sending several frightened naiads scrambling out of the water with half-woven wicker baskets.

"Sorry!" Naomi cried out to them.

The bus bobbed to the surface, along with a couple of capsized, half-melted canoes. Nia wiped the sweat from her face and slumped onto a seat.

"Well," Apollo said with an incredibly brave smile for a god that came so close to death. "You were right, my dear. You had everything under control! Let's go see if we boiled anyone important, shall we?"

y'all. . . it's been a week. a very, very busy week. i'm just gonna leave it at that

a lot of assignments and homework and stress so i'm not at my best, but i'm here anyway! i'm gonna try to get my life under control and get some writing done. ( sorry that this chapter is kind of short! )

anyhow, if you don't stan Nomi and Nico's platonic friendship, i don't stan you. sorry, i don't make the rules. *sips facts, not tea*

and side note: i just wanna make this very clear—

NICO. AND. NAOMI. ARE. JUST. FRIENDS. THAT. IS. ALL.

there will never be any kind of romantic relationship between them. they are BROTP ONLY. so i'd better not see any comments like that.

got it? good.

and. . . i think that's all for this update. sorry again that i've been kind of nonexistent. the next chapters will be much more interesting, i promise. 

talk soon!

—icedcoffeemug