In hindsight, I probably should have realized that we would be flying when I saw the six Pegasi waiting at the oak tree. I was stuck clinging for dear life to the snow white Pegasus while my heart tried to take a swan dive from my chest. The wind blew my auburn hair back and into my face but I didn't dare adjust my grip on the reins to fix it. Horses, especially these ones, were cool and everything but I didn’t like the fact that it was only this creature keeping me from falling hundreds of feet to certain death.
A high, childlike voice giggled in my head. "It's okay, I won't let you fall. I'm Aspros, by the way." The Pegasus' voice was clear and comforting and I relaxed slightly from her promise.
"Thanks. That’s really pretty. Aspros means white, right? Oh, and I'm Naida Hale."
Aspros laughed again. "You’re right, and thank you. And I know who you are. You're big news back at camp."
Just freakin' perfect. I really didn’t want to be big news anywhere except for in a swim meet. I groaned just as Percy rode up beside me. "You okay over there?"
"I've been better," I answered honestly. "I think that I'm definitely more equipped for the sea. But I'll admit that this is much better than a plane."
"We'll have ya'll there by nightfall," Blackjack reassured me. Knowing that my time up in the air was limited made me feel a little better.
I was just starting to relax when everything started going haywire. I loud, high shriek pierced the air and the sound of the wind picked up so that it was almost defining. A group of shadowy creatures surrounded us and made everything around me confusing. Their ghostly shapes were pretty indistinguishable but they were scary as hell. Aspros jerked underneath me, fighting to stay in the air. She neighed in terror and I could tell how quickly she was losing control of herself. I really didn’t like being so high in the air.
"What's going on?!" I screamed.
"Taraxippi!" Annabeth yelled back. “Ghosts that scare horses.”
I glanced around frantically to see that my Pegasus wasn’t the only one that was having a panic attack. Percy was only able to keep Blackjack in the air by sheer willpower and his ability to talk to the horse. One of ghosts flew in front of me and scared poor Aspros silly. "Going somewhere?" it cackled.
Aspros whinnied in panic and I felt myself falling but it’s not like I could blame her for getting so scared. The ghost grabbed me with icy hands that froze me to the core and weakened my body in ways I couldn’t even identify. "HELP!"
"Let her go!" Nico's voice shouted close by. The taraxippi screeched and I started to fall again.
"Gotcha!" Nico grabbed my and set me in front of him on the Pegasus.
"Where's Aspros?" I gasped out. "Where is everyone else?"
"They're fine. They all landed right before the other Pegasi got scared off. Yours is with Blackjack."
"Why didn't your Pegasus fly off?" I asked even though the question really wasn't a high priority.
"The taraxippi are afraid of me. They won't come anywhere near me." He shrugged. “It comes with being a child of Hades. No ghost would dare come after me.”
I hadn't realized until he said something that the taraxippi attacks had stopped. I looked down toward the ground and saw all nine ghosts had deadly looking weapons and were attacking the others. My eyes widened. "C'mon, we have to go help them."
He nodded once and sent the horse into a nose-dive, effectively leaving my stomach far behind. I squealed and instinctively threw my arms around his neck. We landed and it took me a second to get my footing right. When I was sure that I wouldn't fall over, I ripped the barrette from my hair and opened it so the sword popped out, which was way cooler when I was expecting it. I started slashing away at the horse-scaring-ghosts trying my best to be helpful to my friends. I guess that I was a little caught up in the battle because one of them was able to sneak behind me. When I turned, it let out a yell and sliced into my upper arm with its glowing bronze sword. I gasped and fell and I barely noticed as Nico plunged his own sword into its body. The others flew off screeching in retreat.
“This isn’t right. Taraxippi scare horses but they don’t attack demi-gods. Where did they even get celestial bronze swords? I thought they were a menace but not dangerous,” Annabeth frowned.
“Yeah, well something’s got them going into overdrive,” Grover wheezed out.
"Naida, are you okay?" Nico panted after he noticed how bad I was.
"N-no," I gasped out. There was a bloody gash right below my shoulder and my body was already a little weak from when one of them had grabbed me before. "It hurts." I whimpered in pain and squeezed my eyes shut tight.
"Tyson," I heard Percy order, "get her into that fountain."
I was vaguely aware of my half-brother scooping me up and then the cool water lapping up around me. I sighed in relief and then let myself fall into blissful unconsciousness.
“So what do we do now?" someone asked.
"I don't know. Let's wait for Naida to wake up and then we'll start making decisions," another voice whispered.
My other senses started coming alive at that point. The air smelled thick and dingy. I could hear slight waves. Cool water licked at my skin but I wasn't getting wet. I groaned lightly and forced my eyes open. It was dark but the city lights kept everything bright enough to see that I was still in a fountain near where the taraxippi attack had happened. No one was around when I hauled myself out.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Annabeth asked gently when I reached the rest area they’d set out a few yards from the fountain.
I smiled at her. "Fine, actually. I'm a little sore but that water sure helped. Where are we?"
"Somewhere in Minnesota. We're only halfway there with no ride," Grover complained.
"Relax, Grover, we've had worse," Percy reminded him.
I sighed deeply and rubbed my temples. "Well there has to be a train or bus or something. I'm sure we can figure something out."
"Money?"
"Tyson has a point. We have some gold drachmas but that's it," Annabeth said.
I groaned. "So we have thousands of miles to go and no way to get there. Any ideas?"
"Why don't you call Dad to see if he can send the Pegasi back," Percy suggested.
"Wh-what?" I stammered stupidly. "No, I don't think that's a good idea. We can find a... a bank or something. I've got maybe three hundred in my account. That should get the six of us to Seattle, right?"
"Naida." I didn't like how... brotherly his tone was.
I whined, not an appealing trait but something I picked up from my mom. "Fine. How am I supposed to call him?"
"An Iris message," Annabeth explained. "Iris is the goddess of the rainbow. Just pay a drachma and she'll send a message to anyone. It's like using a very cool video chat."
After I’d exploded at him the night before, video chat wasn’t something I was looking forward to.

Notes

grasias a todos mis lectores y muchos, MUCHOS grasias a tmcar1 y Evil espresso drinks
(thank you to all my readers and lots and LOTS of thank you to [the above mentioned])
but on a sour note: sadness, my ratings have gone down :( since you guys are the ones giving me stars, what can i do better to get them back up? feedback is always appreciated!! XD