---

---

Nancy took a swig of water, looking grateful as she pretended to let Madalyne help her up to her feet. People were starting to leave finally, the crowd thinning, and the man she had tried to pickpocket clearly wasn't saying anything at all. The ruse had been a success and Nancy relaxed, loosening up. "I think I might've just gotten a bit heat sick or something," Nancy said, just in case anyone was still watching her or listening to what she was saying. She let Madalyne help her off of the train, only completely ending her act once they were off the train and out onto the station platform.

"Thank gods mortals are so thick," she said with a sigh of relief. "Hope that didn't bother ya too much, Niah - the entire fibbing thing." They had been spending a lot of time in close quarters lately and she had more or less learned that the Oath Binder couldn't lie. She wasn't sure if it was Niah being incapable of it or if Niah just wasn't comfortable with it, but she didn't want to push Niah to do something she wasn't willing to do. "And yes, spill the beans."

"It is okay. I avoided it mostly. I've probably told like two direct lies ever." She shivered slightly at the memory. "Right, so good news. There are routes to Mount Rushmore. Two of them. Bad news. One of them is a flight we can take. The other requires a car and an eight-hour drive." Niah didn't know how to drive. And had no clue how they would get tickets on a flight.

Niah pulled her notebook open and showed them the notes she had jotted down. With the airport, they would need to leave from, and the turns they would need to get from Fargo to Mount Rushmore. It was a long trip. The flight would be the fastest, but identification and money would be required with a lot of security between them and the flight. The car might be easier to con from someone, which Niah didn't particularly like the idea of, but it might be necessary.

"If we can get to a Western Union I can call my dad and see if he'll wire me money. That could at least take care of that part of it, but uh, I didn't exactly come to America via the usual routes." She had taken a flight, but her paperwork had all been temporary two years ago. She had been too young for any proper identification. No one had questioned her then, but now things weren't guaranteed to be so easy.

---

---

---

---

Madalyne smirked and laughed a little bit at Nancy's comment about mortals being really dumb, but then again they couldn't really see through the Mist either. "Well we got what we needed." Madalyne said looking over towards Niah as told them the routes that they could possibly take. Both requiring money to get, the flight would probably be more expensive even more since her time and she hadnt flown on an airplane in years either as well, the car ride wouldn't be to bad to get onto.

"I'd go with a car ride, but that is just my opinion, though I don't know how to drive honestly." Madalyne said softly hopefully they would be able to find a bus that could take them there or if they were lucky enough they could maybe scam some people into money. "Though we used up all of our money for the train ride so we might have to do some sort of scam again." Madalyne said while looking over at Niah for a moment.

---

---

Nancy grimaced slightly as Madalyne pointed out their lack of funds. They had some money left over from earlier, but that was barely enough to buy a meal, not nearly what they would need for plane tickets. She didn't know how to drive. Madalyne mentioned that she didn't either and Nancy was guessing that Niah similarly didn't. She really wished that they had gotten more money from the Legion before they left, but hindsight was twenty twenty. She paced back and forth for a moment, before she came up with an idea. "I can't drive... but how hard can it be?" Nancy asked. "However, I have an idea for the money issue... Everywhere demigods go, there's bound to be a monster, right? How about we poke around Fargo when we get there, find the biggest bad that we can, kill it, and then take all of its loot?"

"Any monster worth its stuff should probably have enough for us to hire a cab or something - or even to buy a bus ticket to get there." She was vaguely aware that there was some sort of ride sharing thing on phones, but she didn't even want to consider how to use one of those things. She sensed that Niah wasn't comfortable with the plane option - that was another thing that had changed since her time in the hotel. Planes had so much more security now. "And if that doesn't work... We could pray to our godly parents, see if one of them is feeling nice."

Niah would be okay with busking or asking her mortal father for help. She did have a fairly decent relationship with him. "Mine might send a boat or a surprise river." Niah shrugged. Her experience with her mother was limited. "But willing to give it a try when we get to Fargo. Both plans even. We do make a formidable group. I can draw attention to myself with the anger thing. You two could flank it." She was like Hulk but could make other people Hulk out.

"I miss payphones." Niah cast her gaze around them making sure there wasn't anything for them to be worried about. She was hungry and sore from the train. Yeah, their trip had been, so far, not awful. Heck none of them had even gotten hurt. Though it was possible their ruse to get the phone might backfire, which was part of the reason Niah hated lies. They were dangerous if they got out of control. Heck, how would they explain three teens around the same age calling each other sister? Adoption? Foster care? Probably one of those.

"I can't drive either if that wasn't obvious. Maybe we should ask for driving lessons after this. Like with real cars." She sighed, and shoved her sketchbook away. "But a cab or bus might work. We'd have to figure out what the bus lines and changes would be though. Though, an eight hour cab ride is really expensive I bet." Niah chewed on her lip thinking.

---

---

---

---

Madalyne thought for a moment she wouldn't mind taking some pent up anger on some monsters, and see what they could manage to steal off of their dead body. She looked towards Niah when she suggested contacting her father to funnel some money to her, she wasn't sure if calling would be a good idea though they could possibly put him at risk to. "I mean its up to you if you want to call him Niah." Madalyne said, though it would probably be really nice for Niah to talk to her father, they weren't to far from Fargo now which was a good thing as well.

"So, lure some monsters to us, kick their asses and then pawn off whatever they got sounds easy enough." Madalyne said giving them two a smile, though she wasn't sure what they could actually get or how much something would be worth, cyclops were pretty easy to come by and they did tend to have a lot of junk as well that they could try and sell off. "Though i'd be safer taking a bus or something rather then having any of us driving, but I would be down for driving lessons and getting a drivers license once we get back to Camp Jupiter."

---

---

Nancy snickered slightly at the idea of a surprise river. She just had this mental image of them standing in the streets of Fargo, Niah praying to her mother, and then SURPRISE! Where there had once been an office building was now a river with a little yellow inflatable raft that somehow went all the way to Mount Rushmore. For whatever reason in her imagination, the boat was manned by a beaver dressed up in a rain coat and galoshes as well. "Can I just say, I think we were really too quick to dismiss this surprise river plan? I think it's got real potential," Nancy said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "As for driving lessons - yes. I think we start small though with bumper cars. Highly educational."

The daughter of Apollo then suddenly lost the mirth in her expression, as she sat down on the ground, her legs crossed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her deck of tarot cards. Nancy wasn't even really sure if she could trigger a vision - she hadn't tried before. She didn't like her power of prophecy at all, fearing that she would eventually end up some shriveled old Oracle - or even worse, a complete ditz like her half sister Alexandra. "hoc me odisse," she mumbled in Latin, more or less translating to I hate this. With her eyes closed, she tried to trigger a vision of some rich monster in Fargo.

Nothing happened at first.

Her fingers then felt incredibly cold and chilly, as Nancy felt some magnetic force pull her. She pulled a single tarot card from the deck in the upright position - the Devil. The card symbolized addiction, green, consumerism, materialism. Her vision flashed for a moment, seeing the den of a cyclops in the junk yard in Fargo, before it all cleared. Nancy's head was pounding like she had pulled an all nighter before an exam fueled by only skittles and red bull. "Urgh... When we get to Fargo, we need to head to the junk yard. There's a cyclops den there."

"Could do a combination of them." Niah suggested. She could get a couple hundred from her dad, which would be food, and then whatever they got from the monster they took out would give them the transportation fees. She did grin at the idea of a surprise river. Her own imagination about it was a bit grimmer than Nancy's. Since Styx was so tied with imagery of death Niah did not want to be involved in a surprise death river popping up in the middle of a major city. Assuming Fargo was a major city.

With Nancy's vision, she nodded. "Alright we will take care of the junkyard, any extra cash we need to make it to Mount Rushmore, and eat, I'll ask my dad for." That seemed like a good way to handle it. She didn't want her dad to worry about her, but he did love her a lot and wanted her to be safe and happy. Talking with him was always an exercise in not saying too much. Even if he had had relations a goddess it didn't mean he totally understood his daughter's world. "And I get a new book." She held up her finished reading book.

---

---

---

---

Madalyne looked at Nancy for a moment and laughed slightly and shook her head slightly at a random river appearing in the middle of the city, and then it taking them to Mount Rushmore. "As much as it is a fun idea, I don't really think it would be possible." Madalyne said to her best friend as she sat down, and pulled out her deck of tarot cards. For as long as she had known Nancy she didn't know if she could actually force out a vision of her own. And then coming out of it Madalyne offered a hand to help her back up to her feet, finding a junkyard shouldn't be to hard really. "Shouldn't be to hard then finding one, are you okay Nancy I've never seen you try and force out a vision of your own?" She asked.

Madalyne smiled at Niah and gave her a nod, they could use some food once they get there and finish the rest of their journey to get the gem from the dragon inside of Mount Rushmore. "We should hit a burger king or something once we do get there." Madalyne suggested, she really did love their food and wished that there was one in New Rome. "Should we get back onto the train?" Madalyne asked as she noticed people starting to get back on now.

---

---

Nancy's head was pounding, but she nodded at Madalyne as her best friend helped her up to her feet. "Truthfully didn't even know I could do that," she admitted. Prophecy was a rare gift among the children of Apollo. The only other one she knew with it was Alexandra and Nancy avoided her like the plague. She had even heard some stories about people with prophetic abilities ending up being cursed if they didn't do exactly what the gods wanted - one of her half-siblings had been cursed for sharing the future, she couldn't remember his name. Cassandra had been cursed to have no one believe her. And even if those with prophetic abilities weren't cursed, they ended up old and withered or with an inappropriate sense of rage towards stuffed animals.

"Oh gods, I could kill for some chicken fries..." Nancy agreed wistfully. Her stomach then growled in agreement. With people going back onto the train, she figured that they might as well follow suit. She didn't want to have to rely on Madalyne's magic to stop the train on a routine basis, that couldn't have been easy. "Yeah, let's go," Nancy said, before getting back on board.

"Probably shouldn't make a habit of it." Niah said about Nancy forcing a prophecy and then followed onto the train. She slumped into her seat. Thankful they had gotten a chance for fresh air and good stretch. "Oh gods I love the chicken fries. Dip them in mustard. That's the best." She knew it was a little weird to dip it into mustard but she preferred it.

Niah put her sketchbook on the table. "Okay, I'm not great at geography. Or whatever would be required to know that rivers appearing randomly cannot be good for the local populace. Though, the mist might keep it hidden or something." Niah's eyes lit up. "That's right, you were going to show us how to control the mist. Get to teaching. We've got hours to go before Fargo." She grinned at Madalyne.

---

---

---

---

"Maybe you can pickpocket some aspirin from someone on the train?" Madalyne suggested teasingly, she knew that the whole prophecy gift was never a really good thing at least Apollo. Madalyne sat back down in the chair across from Nancy as the train started to move and smiled a little bit remembering trying their chicken fries for the first time they were really good. "I personally prefer to dip them in their ranch sauce or buffalo sauce." Madalyne said, as she looked at Niah and nodded towards her remembering that she did promise that she could try and teach them how to use the Mist.

"Right sooo, I guess best reference would be like the Force in Star Wars, its always around us though its the thickest in San Fran as we already know. It can be molded into whatever your mind wants it to be, or like the Chimera earlier trick the senses of anyone or anything." She the closed her eyes and held out her hand and focused on something simple as a notebook and pen materialized in front of them, as she set her hand back down. "Try something easy and simple like I did."

It was sundown by the time the train had finally made it to the Amtrak Station in Fargo, Madalyne had been doing her best to teach them some magic and to control the mist as well. When they got there Madalyne looked at a nearby clock seeing that the time was around 8PM, she got off of the train again for the last time, looking over at Nancy. "So, wheres this this junk yard?" Madalyne asked Nancy.

---

---

The Mist and Nancy were not friends. No matter how much she tried, scrunching her face up, she couldn't make anything appear. At one point she thought she had managed to make something happen, only for it to have been someone discretely smoking a few seats over from them. She had eventually just given up on it, more or less telling Madalyne that she would just need to rely on her for any and all Mist related incidents in the future. She couldn't get the Mist to do what she wanted and Nancy didn't see a point in trying and failing at it forever. She had plenty of gifts and curses after all, she didn't really need another one.

She got off the train at Fargo with the others, yawning a bit as she stretched out her legs and rolled her wrists some until they went pop!, releasing pent of tension. "It's on the other side of town," Nancy recalled. "Is Fargo a big city? I hope not... If it is, we might want to borrow some bikes or something to make things go a bit faster." Her stomach growled as well. Maybe after they stole from the cyclops, they'd be able to grab a bite to eat as well. And a shower. Nancy was pretty sure they all were starting to smell at this point and there was only so much travel sized deodorant could do.

Niah followed Madalyne's instructions. She was able to get a couple of dollar bills to appear on the table but quickly made them disappear. She thought of the implications of what she had just done and wondered if any demi-god had done that. Made fake money with the Mist. She frowned. The rest of the trip she just played around with it a little bit. She seemed to be getting the hang of it. More than Nancy had.

Finally, they were in Fargo. Niah made sure they had all of their stuff and stepped off the train with a sigh. She was relieved to be off of the train. The trip had been so far straightforward, and now they were looking for trouble. "Maybe we should ask for directions. I don't know anything about Fargo, let alone North Dakota." There were disadvantages to being a foreigner.

---

---

---

---

Madalyne stretched slightly as she looked at her two friends and started to think a little bit on where they should go from here, she had never been to this city either. "I think getting some bikes would help getting around pretty quickly." Madalyne said as she started to leave the station and looked around. Seeing some people were walking and going on about their day, as Madalyne looked around she started to get the sense that they were being stalked yet again, as she looked around. Madalyne noticed a man with a rather large belly was a ways behind them.

"Hey guys, we are being followed." Madalyne said to both Niah and Nancy, as she noticed the bicycle shop just across the street now, as she crossed the street, the man was keeping their distance from them, but she opened the door to the bicycle shop. She saw all the various kinds of bikes that they had on sale, seeing their prices were really expensive in her opinion as well. "So, how do you think we should get them?" Madalyne asked looking at her two friends since they didn't have much money really on them anymore.

---

---

She groaned slightly as Madalyne mentioned that someone was following them. They never had an easy time of things. Nancy wanted to inform the universe that they had already picked a monster to fight in Fargo - the cyclops at the Junk Yard - and that whoever was stalking them could be assigned to another demigod in North Dakota. "Maybe we can ask the monster for directions," she whispered to her friends, voicing her frustration slightly. She really wanted an easy quest eventually - one where they just needed to grab a sandwich from the coffee place in New Rome and bring it to the barracks. That would've been a nice one.

But then again, Nancy had to be honest - killing monsters was fun. It was just tiring.

They slipped into the bike shop and Nancy looked around. "I think I've got this. I'm the bard of the group, after all." She had played some D&D at the Lotus Hotel and Casino - not a lot, but enough to have a vague understanding of the different classes. She cleared her throat and went up to the person behind the counter. She knew that her voice could be used as a weapon - sure, she liked to change its pitch and shatter things, but that wasn't all she could do.

Nancy cleared her throat slightly. She then started to sing to the shopkeeper, asking him through song to give them the bikes they needed for their journey. She sang of Madalyne's creativity, Niah's honor, and her own badass-ery. She sang of the trials they had faced so far along their journey, how desperately they needed to get to Mount Rushmore. And by some miracle, as she sang her final note, it worked.

"Girls? We got the bikes. Thanks, man," she told the guy with a smile. "Also... Any idea which way to the junkyard?"

"That actually might work." Niah said, as she looked at the monster following them. "This one is going be immune to your music." Niah looked back at Nancy as they slipped into the bike shop. She blushed slightly as Nancy sang compliments about them. They needed another way out. Niah looked around and spotted the back exit sign.

"Let's go out the back." She tried to conjure up copies of the three of them, but that failed. Nothing happened. At least she could say she tried. Niah took one of the bikes and started toward the back exit. "Mads, think you can make them think we left a different way? They have super bad eyesight, and are polite to a fault." She hoped she had said enough that the other two got what creature she was referring to without saying its name. She didn't want to draw more attention than necessary.

---

---

---

---

"Yeah theres a junk yard at the far end of town to the north, i'll get the three of you our best bikes." The store clerk said as he turned and started to leave for the back to grab the three bikes. She gave Nancy a slight smile and blushed at her with the compliment that she had made, as Madalyne turned to look at Niah. She wasn't sure which monster that Niah was referring to at all sadly, but she nodded towards her and smiled. "One distraction coming right up." Madalyne said as she used the mist, a small gust of wind and three identical versions of them were there. And then the three of them suddenly ran out through the front door, the monster easily taking the bait and started to run after the three of their Mist clones down the street.

A few seconds later the store clerk came in with three adult bikes for them and smiled. "Here you ladies are." He said as Madalyne smiled at the man and nodded towards him. "Thank you sir." Maddie said as she took the bike and started to make her way towards the back alley of the store pushing the door open and held it open. "Lets get going you guys." She said as Madalyne got onto her bike and started to pedal her way there now.

---

---

Nancy raised an eyebrow. She had no idea what sort of monster Niah was describing - immune to music, polite, and with poor eyesight. She zeroed in on that second fact. "What, are we being hunted by Canadians now?" she joked. Nancy didn't know if any group in the world had bad vision - she knew the British supposedly had horrible teeth. And of course, every society loved music - maybe by being immune, Niah meant deaf? Were they being hunted by deaf, nearly blind Canadians? She was a bit disappointed that Madalyne effortlessly sent a distraction to get rid of the monster with the Mist. She wanted to know what this monster looked like and what, exactly, it was capable of.

She grabbed her bike from the three and followed Madalyne out through the back, before mounting. "I hope the cyclops lair isn't too grody... I'd rather bag my face than have to breathe cyclops farts," she complained. Nancy then started pedaling and it wasn't too long until she reached the Junk Yard she had seen in the vision. They were at the far north end of town now. "So, we kill the monster, take its cash and valuables, see if we can get enough for tickets to Mount Rushmore," she summarized, mostly since her ADHD addled brain would've forgotten why exactly they were there if she didn't repeat the plan.

Niah laughed at Nancy's joke. "Not quite." She decided to write out the monster's name when they got to the junkyard. She was a little short of breath when they got there. The exercise she was used to was less cardio. Niah pulled her sketchbook out and wrote down Blemmyae, then showed it to Nancy and Madalyne. Knowing there was one near-by had made her extra reluctant to say its name out loud.

With Nancy's recap of the plan, Niah nodded. "I just realized I didn't factor in if getting into Mount Rushmore costs money too." She sighed. Hopefully, the cyclopses here had a good stash of treasure, actual treasure, and not just garbage. Niah looked around, trying to assess what options they had. "Okay, I see eight monsters. It looks like the best way is through the back door. We should distract them. I don't want us to split up, but dividing them is probably our best bet. Mads could use the Mist to distract them, and I'll attack them from behind. Nancy, you sing them deaf or kill them like you did the bikers."