Disney Disaster: Chapter Two

There was a time when Nathan was a pretty sucky ass driver.  Even Ember was better at him, able to do the doughnuts and hairpin turns.  She could have been a Nascar driver with how good she was.  Nathan, well, he was always lucky to not run into every mailbox they found.  So he was pretty surprised that they were able to leave Camp Half-Blood without him running over any unfortunate campers.  

“We should have told Chiron that we were taking off,” he said quietly, glancing over at Neirda who sat in the passenger seat.  She didn’t hear him, she had her earbuds in and he scowled, yanked them off and repeated her question.

“He’ll figure it out. Not the first time I’ve left Camp without telling anyone. Tons of people say you spout out that prophecy, so they’ll tell him.” She shrugged, going through her songs. “Relax and focus on the road. You’re a sucky driver.”  

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know,” Nathan muttered.  A rabbit ran out in front of him and it took everything he had to not swerve and crack into a lightpost.  Instead, he hit the thing.  The car made a thump and he cringed, blushing and sighed.  “Maybe you should drive.”

Nerida cocked a brow. “You killed Thumper.” She commented. “Yeah, I should drive.”

“Can I drive?” Zack asked from the backseat.

“No.” Nerida and Nathan intoned. Nathan pulled over and Nerida took his spot in the drivers seat. Since they were the same height, she didn’t have to adjust the seat or the mirrors. She drove off at a much faster speed than Nathan, hitting curves and dodging animals without a single problem.

Zack moaned from the back seat, leaning forward so that his elbows were resting on both of their seats.  “Can I at least pick the song?” he whined.

Nathan glanced over at Nerida exasperatedly.  “If we don’t do something, he won’t shut up,” Nathan said.  

“Fine.” She told Zack. “But as the driver I have veto power. If I can’t stand it, it changes. Got me?” She felt as if she was talking to a child.

“Gotcha, cap’n.”  Zack gave her a grin and turned on the radio, flipping through the stations until the blonde found one that he liked.  “Found one!” He let it play and Nathan looked back with a snarl.  Beyonce.

“You lost your music privileges.”

“Fine, I’ll change it!”

Finally, Zack settled on William Topely.  Not the classical music that Nathan would have preferred, but it was better than Beyonce.  Anything was better than Beyonce.  

“So, it’s gonna take about three days to drive to Cali,” Nerida said. “I’ve been there before, but not near the Park, so I don’t really know where it is. Or how we’re going to get in because I so don’t have the cash to get into Disneyland.”

“We don’t need cash,” Nathan said, pulling his switchblade out of his pocket.  “I can Shadow Travel us in.  And I can probably take the whole car with us if we can’t stand three days with Zack.”

“Hey, I can still hear you, you know!”

“What we have to worry about is monsters.  None of us knows what we’ll be finding when we get there.”

“Or on the way. We lose this van and it’s going to take a long damn time to get to Cali,” Nerida said. “You can’t Shadow Travel across the country without hurting yourself or becoming dead weight. We need to avoid conflict and get there as soon as possible. Though a quick Shadow Travel here and there would be okay, right?” She glanced at Nathan.      

Nathan hesitated. That would take a ton of energy.  Before he had contemplated it, but having the option out in front of him...but as Zack started singing along to Topely, he knew he didn’t have any choice and he nodded quickly.  “Yeah,” he said with a nod.  “I’ve got this.  Just make him shut up so I can focus.”

“Okay. Anything else? Stop the car? Drive straight? Have you done this before?” Nerida looked nervous, a first for Nathan. Nothing seemed to bother her. “Zack shut up!” She commanded. She looked tense. Zack stopped singing, and for once didn’t make a rude or inappropriate comment.

“Just keep driving,” Nathan said.  He would try to land them on a road, if he could.  Nerida didn’t look like she liked his plan.  She slowed, but kept driving at a smooth and steady pace.

Nathan took a deep breath and closed his eyes.  He had complete silence, which was good.  He’d need his focus for this.  He immediately began searching through the shadows.  In an instant, the car was sucked into a tunnel of total darkness.  Blacker than darkness, it was like an abyss with shadows that churned around them like waves.  Before, it had been scary, a bit nerve wracking.  Now, it was almost like he was snuggled up inside a blanket.  He felt safe, secure in the shadows.  Zack and Nerida looked like they were about to puke.

For Nathan, it was like they were passing hundreds of windows, the darkness opening up into light, whether it be the shadow in the umbrage of a tree or a cave opening out into a desert.  He finally picked one out, flat ground and he opened his eyes, the van pushing itself out of the tunnel of darkness.

The car skidded onto the ground...and went straight towards an edge that led down off a cliffside and into Lake Michigan. Nerida, to her credit, didn’t scream. Zack made a choking noise that sounded as if he’d swallowed a mouse. Nerida stomped on the brakes, sending them into a wild skid. Her face was dead white, but her eyes were vividly blue. The van screeched like a dying cat, and Nathan gripped on to the Chicken Strap and the Oh Shit bar. He figured they were both well used in this situation. He could only thank the gods that he wasn’t driving. The van was sideways now, and Zack had fallen in the backseat-he hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt.

The van came to a slow, shaky stop, mere inches from the edge of the cliff.

Zack panted as he clamored towards the front.  “That was close.”

“Yeah it was,” Nathan muttered.  Nerida swallowed.

“By all the gods,” She said. “We are never Shadow Travelling in a car again, do you hear me Nathaniel Barrow?”

“I’m not complaining.”  He shifted to sit up straighter, when he felt the van tilt.  He froze, turning wide eyes on Nerida.  “Did you feel that?”

“No one move,” She whispered. Too late. The van groaned. Nerida reached for the door, and Nathan did too. The look she gave him clearly said “Move!” The ground gave, and before anyone could even grip their door handles, the van tumbled into the lake.

Someone yelled or screamed. Nathan didn’t know who or whether it was him. His eyes were locked on the water rushing up towards them.  The van was beginning to flood with water.  In a mad scramble he tried at the doors, trying to push and force them open but the harder he pushed the more it seemed to resist him, hundreds of thousands of pounds of water fighting against him. He was so afraid he felt like he was choking, his eyes stinging as he threw his shoulder against the door.  

This wasn’t happening.  This couldn’t be happening.  He couldn’t swim for Christ’s sake!  He saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Nerida was lifting her foot to kick out the window and Nathan’s eyes widened.  “No, don’t!” he shouted.

“I’m the daughter of Poseidon! It’ll be okay. Just stay calm!” She shouted as she kicked the window open. It seemed as if the entire lake swept into the van, completing his panic.  He was sucked out of the car like he was attached to a magnet and he lost all sense on where he was, what was up, what was down.  He was spinning and churning in the water, being sucked down by the sinking van beside him.  

He felt a hand on his shoulder.  He couldn’t even register that he could breathe as soon as she touched him, he instinctively kicked out in panic and the water came rushing back.  He could see Zack choking to his left, and the shape rushed over to him, leaving Nathan in darkness.  Water filled up his lungs, spots blurring his vision and with one last gurgled breath, his vision went black and he sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan.