“It’s huge,” she said. “That—that’s where the Gitchell Hotel used to be. My mom and I stayed there our first week in Alaska. And they’ve moved City Hall. It used to be there. ”
She led them in a daze for a few blocks. They didn’t really have a plan beyond finding the fastest way to the Hubbard Glacier, but Percy smelled something cooking nearby—sausage, maybe? He realized he hadn’t eaten since that morning at Grandma Zhang’s.
“Food,” he said. “Come on. ”
They found a café right by the beach. It was bustling with people, but they scored a table at the window and perused the menus.
Frank whooped with delight. “Twenty-four-hour breakfast!”
“It’s, like, dinnertime,” Percy said, though he couldn’t tell from looking outside. The sun was so high, it could’ve been noon.
“I love breakfast,” Frank said. “I’d eat breakfast, breakfast, and breakfast if I could. Though, um, I’m sure the food here isn’t as good as Hazel’s. ”
Hazel elbowed him, but her smile was playful.
Seeing them like that made Percy happy. Those two definitely needed to get together. But it also made him sad. He thought about Annabeth, and wondered if he’d live long enough to see her again.
Think positive, he told himself.
“You know,” he said, “breakfast sounds great. ”
They all ordered massive plates of eggs, pancakes, and reindeer sausage, though Frank looked a little worried about the reindeer. “You think it’s okay that we’re eating Rudolph?”
“Dude,” Percy said, “I could eat Prancer and Blitzen, too. I’m hungry. ”
The food was excellent. Percy had never seen anyone eat as fast as Frank. The red-nosed reindeer did not stand a chance.
Between bites of blueberry pancake, Hazel drew a squiggly curve and an X on her napkin. “So this is what I’m thinking. We’re here. ” She tapped X. “Anchorage. ”
“It looks like a seagull’s face,” Percy said. “And we’re the eye. ”
Hazel glared at him. “It’s a map, Percy. Anchorage is at the top of this sliver of ocean, Cook Inlet. There’s a big peninsula of land below us, and my old home town, Seward, is at the bottom of the peninsula, here. ” She drew another X at the base of the seagull’s throat. “That’s the closest town to the Hubbard Glacier. We could go around by sea, I guess, but it would take forever. We don’t have that kind of time. ”
Frank polished off the last of his Rudolph. “But land is dangerous,” he said. “Land means Gaea. ”
Hazel nodded. “I don’t see that we’ve got much choice, though. We could have asked our pilot to fly us down, but I don’t know…his plane might be too big for the little Seward airport. And if we chartered another plane—”
“No more planes,” Percy said. “Please. ”
Hazel held up her hand in a placating gesture. “It’s okay. There’s a train that goes from here to Seward. We might be able to catch one tonight. It only takes a couple of hours. ”
She drew a dotted line between the two X’s.
“You just cut off the seagull’s head,” Percy noted.
Hazel sighed. “It’s the train line. Look, from Seward, the Hubbard Glacier is down here somewhere. ” She tapped the lower right corner of her napkin. “That’s where Alcyoneus is. ”
“But you’re not sure how far?” Frank asked.
Hazel frowned and shook her head. “I’m pretty sure it’s only accessible by boat or plane. ”
“Boat,” Percy said immediately.
“Fine,” Hazel said. “It shouldn’t be too far from Seward. If we can get to Seward safely. ”
Percy gazed out the window. So much to do, and only twenty-four hours left. This time tomorrow, the Feast of Fortuna would be starting. Unless they unleashed Death and made it back to camp, the giant’s army would flood into the valley. The Romans would be the main course at a monster dinner.
Across the street, a frosty black sand beach led down to the sea, which was as smooth as steel. The ocean here felt different—still powerful, but freezing, slow, and primal. No gods controlled that water, at least no gods Percy knew. Neptune wouldn’t be able to protect him. Percy wondered if he could even manipulate water here, or breathe underwater.
A Hyperborean giant lumbered across the street. Nobody in the café noticed. The giant stepped into the bay, cracking the ice under his sandals, and thrust his hands in the water. He brought out a killer whale in one fist. Apparently that wasn’t what he wanted, because he threw the whale back and kept wading.
“Good breakfast,” Frank said. “Who’s ready for a train ride?”
The station wasn’t far. They were just in time to buy tickets for the last train south. As his friends climbed on board, Percy said, “Be with you in a sec,” and ran back into the station.
He got change from the gift shop and stood in front of the pay phone.
He’d never used a pay phone before. They were strange antiques to him, like his mom’s turntable or his teacher Chiron’s Frank Sinatra cassette tapes. He wasn’t sure how many coins it would take, or if he could even make the call go through, assuming he remembered the number correctly.
Sally Jackson, he thought.
That was his mom’s name. And he had a stepdad…Paul.
What did they think had happened to Percy? Maybe they had already held a memorial service. As near as he could figure, he’d lost seven months of his life. Sure, most of that had been during the school year, but still…not cool.
He picked up the receiver and punched in a New York number—his mom’s apartment. Voice mail. Percy should have figured. It would be like, midnight in New York. They wouldn’t recognize this number.