Percy was pleased to say that she learnt something today- something that she would definitely like to share with anyone who could get their hands on this piece of advice - even if it was the hard way : Sliding down a 1500m cliff at 70miles an hour…yeah….not really a good idea. Half-way through her joyride, when she wasn't looking back to make sure that she wasn't being followed by the snake sisters, she was busy dodging huge, sharp boulders 'n' trees and trying to make sure that she was headed towards the highway.
But even that was short-lived. She had other major problems ahead of her, a problem that required her complete and undivided attention – a 5 story building with one freakin huge glass dome right at the top – at the end of her ride. Who builds this stuff…don't these people know that it poses a huge problem for demigods who like to go snowboarding in the middle of the city? Are they that clueless?
With rows of trees on her right and big, pointy and inviting boulders on her left, there was absolutely no way that Percy could make her way around this one. She managed to swivel sideways at the last moment, to avoid breaking her legs on impact.
Her rucksack skittered on the dome and sailed through the air. The bag pack went one way. Percy went the other. As she fell towards the highway, a horrible scenario flashed through her mind: her body smashing against an SUV's windshield, some annoyed commuter trying to push her off with the wipers. Stupid sixteen-year-old kid falling from the sky! I'm late! Of all the ways she thought she would have died, this definitely wasn't how Percy pictured it. Miraculously [a little too miraculously], a gust of wind blew her to one side – just enough to miss the highway and crash into a clump of bushes. Just before she landed, a sort-of memory flashed through her mind, more like a bit of advice to avoid any broken bones –drop down while tilting and roll. Gods only know when she learnt that. The fall wasn't soft, but it was way better than tarmac.
Percy groaned. She wanted to lie there and pass out, but she had to keep moving. The gorgons won't let a small, harmless cliff - a minor discomfort – get in their way. She struggled to her feet. Her hands were scratched up, but no bones seemed to be broken. Thank gods! It also seemed that her backpack landed no more than a few feet beside her. Finally, she thought, a bit of luck.
Somewhere on the sled ride she'd lost her sword, but Percy knew it would eventually reappear in her pocket in pen form. That was part of its magic - that much she knew. She glanced up the hill. The gorgons were hard to miss, with their colourful snake hair and their bright red Rockridge Market hall vests. They were picking their way down the slope, going slower than Percy but with a lot more control. Those chicken feet must've been good for climbing.
Percy figured she had maybe five minutes before they reached her. To her right, a tall chain-link fence separated the highway from a neighbourhood of winding streets, cosy houses and eucalyptus trees. The fence was probably there to keep people from getting onto the highway and doing stupid things – like sledding into the fast lane on some makeshift support – but the chain-link was full of big holes. Courtesy, she was sure, of the local teens. Percy could have easily slipped through if she wanted to.
Maybe she could still find a car and drive west to the ocean. It was undeniably tempting. She didn't like stealing cars or anything else for that matter, but over the past few weeks, in life-and-death situations, she'd 'borrowed' several, including a police cruiser. She'd meant to return them, but they always seemed to be destroyed by all those pesky monsters running after her.
She glanced east. Just as she'd figured, a hundred yards uphill, the highway cut through the base of the cliff. Two tunnel entrances, one for each direction of traffic, stared down at her like eye sockets of a giant skull and a muddy rolling tongue which seemed to be taunting her. In the middle, where the nose would have been, a cement wall jutted from the hillside, with a metal door like the entrance to a bunker. It might have been a maintenance tunnel. That's probably what mortals thought, if they noticed the door at all. But they
couldn't see through the Mist.
Percy knew the door was more than that. It was where her instincts were screaming at her to go. Two kids in armour flanked the entrance. They wore a
bizarre mix of plumed Roman helmets, breastplates, scabbards, blue jeans, purple T-shirts and orange trainers. The guard on the right looked like a girl, though it was hard to make out from where Percy was currently standing.
The one on the left looked to be a stocky guy with a bow and quiver on his back. Both kids held long wooden staffs with iron spear tips, like old fashioned harpoons. Percy's internal radar was pinging like crazy now. After so many horrible days, she'd finally reached her goal. Her gut told her that if she could make it inside that door she might finally find the safety she desired since the wolves had sent her south. So why did she feel such dread?
Further up the hill, the gorgons were scrambling over the roofs of the apartment complexes along the highway. At the rate at which they were jumping from roof-to-roof, they were probably 3 minutes away – maybe less. Part of her wanted to run to the door in the hill. She'd have to cross to the median of the highway, but then it would be a short sprint to what would supposedly be home. She could make it before the gorgons reached her…definitely…though she still didn't like her chances.
The rest of her wanted to head west to the ocean. That's where she'd be safest and strongest. It was like an inner calling. What is part of sea, must return to the sea. She had absolutely no idea where that came from and no time to figure it out.
Those Roman guards at the door made her uneasy. Something inside her said: This isn't my territory. This is dangerous.
'You're right, of course,' said a voice next to her. Percy jumped. At first she thought Beano had managed to sneak up on her again, but the old lady sitting in the bushes was even more repulsive than a gorgon. She looked like a
hippie who'd been kicked to the side of the road maybe forty years ago, where she'd been collecting trash and rags ever since. She wore a dress made of tie-dyed cloth, ripped-up quilts, and plastic grocery bags. Her frizzy mop of
hair was grey-brown, like root-beer foam, tied back with a peace-sign headband which, without a doubt, was rotting. Warts and moles covered her face. When she smiled, she showed exactly three teeth. And those too were a mix of black and yellow, green and mouldy. It made Percy gag.
'It isn't a maintenance tunnel,' the decomposing hippy confided. 'It's the
entrance to camp.' A jolt went up Percy's spine. Camp. Yes, that's where she needed to go. The place that, her heart told her, was where she belonged. Maybe Annabeth and Thalia would be here. Maybe she would remember what was forgotten and maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay. Though she highly doubted it.
The old hippie lady raised her eyebrows. 'Not much time, child. You need to make your choice.'
'Who are you?' Percy asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know. The last thing she needed was another visit from her worst enemy. All it caused her last time was trouble. Loads and loads of trouble. Worst enemy? Where the heck did that come from?
'Oh, you can call me June.' The old lady's eyes sparkled as if she'd made an excellent joke. 'It is June, isn't it? They named the month after me!'
'Okay … Look, I should go. Two gorgons are coming. I don't want them to hurt you.' It was more or less the truth.
June clasped her hands over her heart. 'How sweet! But that's part of your choice!'
'My choice …' Percy glanced nervously towards the hill.
The gorgons had taken off their red vests. They were only a block away. Wings sprouted from their backs – small bat wings, which glinted like brass.
Since when did they have wings? Maybe they were Ornamental. Maybe they were too small to get a gorgon into the air. How in the world could such heavy and ugly things fly? Then again, how could Percy be the daughter of some ancient, rotting Roman god? Who was she to judge? Then the two sisters leaped off the last apartment building and soared towards her. Great. Just great.
'Yes, a choice,' June said, as if she were in no hurry. 'You could leave me here, at the mercy of the gorgons and go run to your ocean. You would be safe forever. You would live a long happy life. Or you could do an old lady a favour and carry her into camp.'
Wait. 'Carry you? Percy seriously hoped this fat-assed, ugly goddess was kidding. I mean, there is practically no one else who would do this to you. The old hag she was face-to-face with had to be a goddess…Right?
'Carry me to camp – across the highway, through the tunnel, across the river.' Percy didn't know what river she meant, but it didn't sound easy. June looked pretty heavy. On the plus side , the gorgons were only fifty yards away now – leisurely gliding towards her as if they knew their hunt was almost over. Percy looked at the demented goddess. 'And I'd carry you to this camp because – ?'
'Because it's a kindness!' she said. 'And if you don't the gods will die, the world we know will perish and everyone from your old life will be destroyed. Of course, you wouldn't remember them, so I suppose it won't matter. You'd be safe at the bottom of the sea …' Percy swallowed. The gorgons shrieked with laughter as
they soared in for the kill.
'If I go to the camp,' Percy said, 'will I get my memory back? Will I meet my friends and family again?'
'Family?' June mused 'Eventually, I'm sure,' she continued. 'But be warned, you will sacrifice much! You'll lose the mark of Achilles. You'll feel pain, misery and loss beyond anything you've ever known. But you might have a chance to save your old friends and family, to reclaim your old life.' The gorgons were circling right overhead. They could probably sense the power she expelled and were possibly unsure about their next move. Percy also wondered why June was stressing on the word family so much. I mean…she did have a family…..didn't she?
'What about those guards at the door?' Percy asked. June smiled. 'Oh, they'll let you in, dear. You can trust those two. So, what do you say? Will you help a
defenseless old woman?' Percy doubted June was defenseless or that she was even an old woman. At worst, this was a trap. At best, it was some kind of test. Percy hated tests. Since she'd lost her memory, her whole life was one big fill-in-the-blank – a failed test. She was _, from _. She felt like _, and if the monsters caught her, she'd be _.
Then she thought about Annabeth and Thalia, the only part of her old
life she was sure about. She had to find them.
'I'll carry you.' She scooped up the 5'1 tall woman. She was lighter than she expected. Percy tried to ignore her sour breath and also tried her level best not to gag again. It would sure make this annoying goddess less than pleased.
Percy ran for the door in the hillside. June got heavier with every step. Percy's heart pounded. Her ribs ached…oooh..yeah...they were definitely broken.
One of the guards yelled. The guy with the bow notched an arrow. Percy shouted, 'Wait!' But the boy wasn't aiming at her. The arrow flew over Percy's head. A gorgon wailed in pain. The second guard readied her spear, gesturing frantically at Percy to hurry. Fifty feet from the door. Thirty feet. 'Gotcha!' shrieked Euryale. Percy turned as an arrow thudded into her forehead. Euryale tumbled into the fast lane. A truck slammed into her and carried her backwards
a hundred yards, but she just climbed over the cab, pulled the arrow out of her head – quite sick by the way- and launched back into the air. Percy reached the door. 'Thanks,' she told the guards.
'Good shot.' Said the girl.
'That should've killed her!' the archer protested.
'Welcome to my world,' Percy muttered.
'Frank,' the girl said. 'Get them inside, quick! Those are gorgons.'
'Gorgons?' The archer's voice squeaked. It was hard to tell much about him under the helmet, but he looked stout like a wrestler, maybe fourteen or fifteen. 'Will the door hold them?'
In Percy's arms, June cackled. 'No, no it won't. Onward, Percy Jackson! Through the tunnel, over the river!'
'Percy Jackson?' The female guard was darker-skinned, with curly hair sticking out the sides of her helmet. She looked younger than Frank – maybe thirteen. Her sword scabbard came down almost to her ankle. Still, she sounded like she was the one in charge. 'You're obviously a demigod. But who's the –?' She glanced at June. 'Never mind. Just get inside. I'll hold them off.'
'Hazel,' the boy said. 'Don't be crazy.'
'Go!' she demanded.
Frank cursed in another language – was that Latin? – and opened the door. 'Come on!' Percy followed, staggering under the weight of the old
lady, who was definitely getting heavier. She didn't know how that girl Hazel would hold off the gorgons by herself, but right now, Percy was too tired to argue. Her sanctuary awaited her.
As the 3 ran deeper into the hillside, the rocky ground turned into mosaic. Lights changed to torches which burned but didn't smoke. They gave the tunnel an ancient affect. Behind them, the gorgons' screeches echoed in the tunnel. Hazel shouted. Percy was tempted to dump June and run back to help, but then the entire tunnel shook with the rumble of falling stone. There was a squawking sound, just like the gorgons had made when Percy had dropped a
crate of bowling balls on them. She glanced back.
The west end of the tunnel was now filled with dust. 'Shouldn't we check on Hazel?' she asked. 'She'll be okay – I hope,' Frank said. 'She's good
underground. Just keep moving! We're almost there.'
'Almost where?'
June chuckled. 'All roads lead there, child. You should know that.'
'Heaven?' Percy asked.
'Rome, child,' the old woman said. 'Rome.'
Percy wasn't sure she'd heard her right. True, her memory was gone. Her brain hadn't felt right since she had woken up at the Wolf House. But she was pretty sure Rome wasn't in California.
They kept running. The glow at the end of the tunnel grew brighter, and finally they burst into sunlight. Percy froze. Spread out at her feet was a bowl-shaped
valley several miles wide. The basin floor was rumpled with smaller hills, golden plains and stretches of forest. A small clear river cut a winding course from a lake in the center and round the perimeter, like a capital G.
The geography could've been anywhere in northern California – oaks and eucalyptus trees, gold hills and blue skies. That big inland mountain – what was it called, Mount Diablo? – rose in the distance, right where it should be. But Percy felt like she'd stepped into a secret world. In the center of the valley, nestled by the lake, was a small city of white marble buildings with red-tiled roofs. Some had domes and columned porticoes, like national monuments. Others looked like palaces, with golden doors and large gardens. She could see an open plaza with freestanding columns, fountains and statues.
A virtually impossible five-story-tall Roman coliseum gleamed in the sun, next to a long oval arena like a racetrack. Across the lake to the south, another hill was dotted with even more impressive buildings – temples, Percy guessed. Several stone bridges crossed the river as it wound through the valley and, in the north, a long line of brickwork arches stretched from the hills into the town. Breathtaking.
The strangest part of the valley was right below her. About two hundred yards away, just across the river, was some sort of military encampment. It was about a quarter mile square, with earthen ramparts on all four sides, the tops lined with sharpened spikes. Outside the walls ran a dry moat, also studded with spikes.
Wooden watchtowers rose at each corner, manned by sentries with oversized mounted crossbows. Purple banners hung from the towers. A wide gateway opened on the far side of camp, leading towards the city. A narrower gate stood closed on the riverbank side. Inside, the fortress bustled with activity:
dozens of kids going to and from barracks, carrying weapons, polishing armour. Percy heard the clank of hammers at a forge and smelled meat cooking over a fire. Something about this place felt very familiar, yet not quite right.
'Camp Jupiter,' Frank said. 'We'll be safe once –'
Footsteps echoed in the tunnel behind them. Hazel burst into the light. She was covered with stone dust and breathing hard. She'd lost her helmet, so her curly brown hair fell around her shoulders. Her armour had long slash marks in front from the claws of a gorgon. One of the monsters had tagged her with a 50% OFF sticker.
'I slowed them down,' she said. 'But they'll be here any second.' Frank cursed. 'We have to get across the river.' June squeezed Percy's neck tighter. 'Oh, yes, please. I can't get my dress wet.' Percy bit her tongue. If this lady was a goddess, she must've been the goddess of smelly, heavy, useless hippies. But she'd come this far. She'd better keep lugging her along. It's a kindness, she'd said. Yeah, a kindness my ass.
If this was a test, she couldn't afford to get an F.
She turned her head back towards the river. Might as well get this over with. She stumbled a few times as they ran for the river.
A/N : Hey Guys! Thanks for the amazing response for the first chapter. Don't forget to take a minute to review! :)
