"And you're sure you know how to drive?" Illia questioned the girl beside her, tucking a few spare knives into her belt.
Zoë nodded wearily, strapping herself into the white Camp Half-Blood Van.
"Yes, of course," She poked her foot towards the two pedals at her feet. "How different can this be from driving a motor car?"
Illia bit back a response, watching as the others began to pile into the van.
At least Thalia isn't driving.
"You," Zoë pointed to her, then to the seat beside her. "Pistol."
Illia blinked. "What?"
"She means shotgun," Thalia rolled her eyes behind her, taking a seat beside Grover, Bianca squeezing in after her.
Zoë shot her a glare. "Yes, whatever."
The group began to head to Manhattan, Illia watched in amazement as the skyline of buildings towered over her.
"Curse you!" Zoë yelled, cutting through the half-bloods conversation behind her. She slammed her palm on the horn, watching as another car passed her.
Illia suppressed a laugh "Zoë, I don't think you're supposed to honk the horn every time someone passes you."
Zoë grunted in response.
"Where did you even learn how to drive, anyway?" Thalia asked behind her.
Zoë leaned back in her seat with an agitated huff, traffic coming to a complete halt in front of them.
"A while ago."
The brief conversation ended there, Zoë continuing to drive all the way to Maryland before she finally pulled over due to Thalia and Grover's nagging.
They stopped at a rest stop near a few others buildings, the icy air greeting Illia as she stepped out of the van.
Nothing weird about a bunch of teenagers heading into a convenience store at 3pm.
The store was small, Illia immediately heading towards the bathroom. With a sigh she slumped in the slightly dirty stall, a headache pounding behind her eyebrows. She began to dig through her jacket for some ambrosia, but stopped when she realized she had left it behind.
Great, way to go Illia, leaving everything you own behind.
Her stomach dropped.
Shoot, I left Stanley back at camp.
Someone was bound to stumble upon the gnome in curiosity. Illia dug her fingers into her palms, the wraps slightly coming undone.
With a sigh, she came out of the stall, fiddling with the wraps on her hands. Illia began to unwrap them, freezing halfway through. She stared at them in shock, her hands slightly shaking.
The previous cuts in her palms were gone, not even leaving the familiar scars behind.
"Okay," She whispered hesitantly to herself, "That's… a thing."
She tossed the dirty wraps in the garbage before she let her mind race any further. She began to scrub her hands absentmindedly, feeling numb. She glanced up at the mirror, her appearance taking her by surprise.
To say she looked disheveled would be a severe understatement.
A teenage girl stared back at her, her round face framed by auburn curls that had sneaked their way out of her braid. She had wide, almost doe-like hazel eyes, her pale skin blending into the beiges of the restroom.
She turned away quickly, wiping her hands on her jeans, before heading back out into the store.
Grover was plucking various candy bars off of the displays, before Zoë made him put them all back.
Bianca shot her a worried glance, seeing how pale the other girl's face had become.
"Are you alright?" She whispered to her gently as the group headed out of the store, Thalia, Grover, and Zoë arguing in front of them.
"Yeah," Illia shrugged, trying to hide her shaking hands. "I'm fine."
"-Grover, are you sure?" Thalia asked, her tone disbelieving.
"Well…" The satyr trailed off undecidedly. "Pretty sure. Ninety-nine percent. Okay, eighty-five percent."
"And you did this with acorns?" Zoë asked in a similar tone.
The satyr looked offended. "It's a time-honored tracking spell. I mean, I'm pretty sure I did it right."
Illia's eyebrows knit in thought as Zoë handed her a map she had grabbed inside. She frowned, remembering Grover's words about heading to D.C.
"D.C is about sixty miles from here, we can make it in pretty decent time." She glanced up at the taller girl beside her. "If traffic isn't as bad."
Bianca's eyes lit up. "Nico and I…" She trailed off, her voice faltering. "We used to live there. That's… that's strange. I'd forgotten."
Zoë frowned as she took the map from Illia. "I dislike this," she began. "We should go straight west. The prophecy said west."
'Oh, like your tracking skills are any better?" Thalia growled.
Zoë made an aggressive step towards the other girl. "You challenge my skills, you scullion? You know nothing about being a Hunter!"
"Oh, scullion," Thalia responded in mock fear. "You're calling me a scullion? What the heck is a scullion?"
The two continued to argue as the sound of footsteps filled her ears, the vibrations deafening, yet there was something familiar about them.
Percy.
Illia glanced behind her, trying to find any trace of him.
Right, he's probably invisible like he was the other night.
She swallowed, trying to push away the sound of his footsteps.
"-Woah, you two." Grover cut in nervously, standing between the two fuming girls. "Come on."
"Grover's right," Illia replied to no one in particular. "D.C is our best bet.
Zoë turned to her, not looking very convinced. She nodded reluctantly. "Very well. Let us keep moving."
"You're going to get us arrested, driving," Thalia grumbled. "I look closer to sixteen than you do."
"Perhaps," Zoë snapped in response. "But I have been driving since automobiles were invented. Let us go."
The group continued south, the van racing past several buildings on their way. Illia watched in amazement as the group passed a large river, that Bianca said was called the Potomac. Zoë finally parked the van at a curb, Grover pointing towards one of the larger buildings lining an even larger building.
Illia nearly feel out of the van, seemingly hearing all of the sounds of the city at full volume.
"Illia?" Zoë questioned, eyes wide. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," She gasped, standing up shakily. "It's just a lot."
Thalia shot her a sympathetic look, her electric blue eyes taking in their surroundings. "I get what you mean."
"We should go!" Grover piped up in excitement, turning to Thalia eagerly. "I've never been to a museum!"
Thalia nodded reluctantly, Zoë letting out a small snort before the group began to head towards the building.
The building was huge and made of a mix of brick and glass, a large wing-like structure framing the entrance.
Thalia stuck her head in the doorframe cautiously, Illia noticing the lack of people inside right away as the group slipped inside.
She let out a sigh of relief, the pounding in her head subsiding slightly.
Grover began to dart around to all the different exhibits, letting out various 'oohs' and 'ahhs' along the way. The main part of the museum was huge, with aircrafts dangling from the ceiling. There were three levels of balconies curling around the main room, allowing people to look at things from any angle.
The rest of them slowly followed Grover around, Zoë letting out the occasional impatient sigh. After about a half hour, a thudding noise entered Illia's ears.
Before she could react, someone slammed into Thalia at full speed, knocking her into an Apollo space capsule beside her.
Grover let out a small shriek in surprise, Zoë and Bianca immediately pulling out their bows, arrows aimed at a wide-eyed Percy's chest.
"Wait!" She managed to get out, realization flashing in Zoë's eyes.
"You! How dare you show thy face here?"
"Percy!" Grover cut in, relief in his tone. "Thank goodness."
Zoë glared at him, causing the satyr to blush. "I mean, um, gosh. You're not supposed to be here!"
"Luke," Percy breathed, trying to catch his breath. "He's here."
Thalia lifted herself up from where she had been knocked over. "Where?"
He then began to recount what had happened, explaining how he had seen Dr. Thorn, Luke, and the General in the Natural History Museum.
Illia's face paled at the mention of the general, flashes of her dreams coming back to her.
He's looking for me.
"The General is here?" Zoe interrupted, a stunned expression on her face. "That is impossible! You lie."
"Why would I lie?" Percy asked angrily. "Look, there's no time. Skeleton warriors-"
"What?" Thalia demanded, glancing around quickly. "How many?"
"Twelve," Percy breathed. "And that's not all, That guy, the General, he said he was sending something, a 'playmate', to distract you over here. A monster."
The group exchanged looks, Illia cutting in with a worried expression.
"We were following Artemis's trail, and Grover was pretty sure it led here. Some powerful monster scent…" Illia trailed off, stomach pooling with dread. "She must have stopped here looking for whatever monster she was hunting, but we haven't found anything yet."
"Zoë," Bianca whispered nervously. "If it is the General-"
"It cannot be!" Zoë snapped back in response, Bianca recoiling slightly. "Percy must have seen an Iris-message or some other illusion."
"Illusions don't crack marble floors," Percy replied.
Zoë took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "If Percy is telling the truth about the skeleton warriors," she began. "We have no time to argue. They are the worst, the most horrible… we must leave now."
"Good Idea," Percy agreed.
"I was not including thee, boy," Zoë responded angrily. "You are not part of this quest."
"Hey," he retorted. "I'm trying to save your lives."
"You shouldn't have come, Percy," Thalia cut in, her mouth in a firm line. "But you're here now. Come on, let's get back to the van."
"That is not thy decision!" Zoë snapped.
Thalia turned to glare at her. "You're not the boss here, Zoë. I don't care how old you are! You're still a conceited little brat!"
Zoë's became livid, opening her mouth to respond before Illia cut her off. "Zoë, now isn't the time to argue about this!" Exasperation edging her tone. "You all can fight later, but now-"
A deep growl cut her off, the low tone echoing through the museum.
They all turned in the direction of the noise, the blood draining from Percy's face. Screams echoed around them, Illia wincing at the vibrations of something enormous bounding up the ramp in front of them.
A large lion headed towards them, with silver claws, it's golden fur glittering under the display lights.
"The Nemean Lion," Thalia managed to get out. "Don't move."
The creature roared in their faces, fangs gleaming like stainless steel.
"Separate on my mark," Zoë began, keeping her voice even. "Try to keep it distracted."
"Until when?" Grover asked, eyes wide.
"Until I think of a way to kill it. Go!"
Illia darted out of the way quickly, her hand finding its way to a knife at her side. Arrows began fly towards the monster, bouncing harmlessly against the lion's fur.
She glanced up to watch as Zoë and Bianca made their way up the Apollo capsule, firing arrows at it in vain. The lion swiped at the capsule, the two scattering off of it's back.
Grover stood a few feet away from her, frantically spitting out some kind of song on a reed pipe.
Thalia stepped in front of the beast, raising her shield to the monster, the Nemean Lion recoiling letting out a roar.
"Hi-yah!" Thalia yelled. "Back!"
The lion growled in response, turning its attention to Percy, who had whipped out his sword at some point. He began to slash at the beast, the blade clanging against its fur. The lion raked him with its claws, sending the boy flying into another airplane.
"Hey!" Illia yelled loudly, not knowing what in the world she was doing. "Over here!"
The beast turned towards her, letting out a loud growl.
Her eyes widened as she realized how dumb her plan was, the beast's mouth opening wide in a loud roar.
She squinted, the lion's pink tongue lolling out of its mouth.
That's it.
She could hear voices yelling in the distance, but the monster only had eyes for her.
The lion leaped towards her, time seeming to slow down. Illia raised her hand over head in one last attempt to not die, eyes squeezed shut as she anticipated the beast's weight on top of her.
But it never came.
The girl cracked one eye open, opening her other eye once she realized what had happened. Before her stood an almost twelve foot spike of concrete, the lion desperately grabbing on to a spacecraft nearby.
Did I…?
Before she could register what happened, the monster's weight caused the cords supporting the exhibit to snap, the lion leaping onto a model of the earth.
"Zoë!" She managed to shout, heaving herself to her feet. "Target the mouth!"
Arrows began to zip past her as she watched Percy try to dodge the lion's attacks.
"Grover!" Percy yelled. "Clear the area!"
Illia noticed a few dozen people below them, children running around the area screaming. Grover desperately began trying to corral them away from the monster, a loud snap echoing through the building. The spaceship exhibit crashed to the floor, Percy and Thalia jumping to the level below them.
The lion still was perched on the globe, taking in the two half-bloods.
Illia ran down the ramp, blood rushing through her head as she slid in beside the two.
Zoë and Bianca stayed on the upper level, the two darting around to try and get a good angle.
"No clear shot! Zoë yelled. "Get it to open its mouth more!"
Percy looked around wildly, his gaze settling on a gift shop.
"Illia, Thalia," he yelled, sprinting towards the shop. "Keep it occupied."
Thalia shot her a quick glance, before letting out a zap of electricity, zapping the lion in the tail.
The lion let out a guttural roar, pouncing on Thalia, who rolled out of it's way.
"Illia!" She yelled, thrusting her shield in the monster's face. "Distract it!"
She swallowed, knowing she was making another dumb decision, before running towards the beast. Before it could register what was going on, she slid underneath it, feeling the cold floor on her back. Boosting off the ground with her foot, she clutched onto the monster's side, heaving herself on top of the lion's back.
Thalia watched her with light in her eyes. "I mean that works-"
The monster cut her off with a roar, desperately trying to throw Illia off of it's back.
She dug her hands into the beast's soft fur, grabbing two handfuls quickly. With a sharp tug, she managed to cause it to stagger backwards, Illia trying to turn its large head towards the Hunters. Zoë and Bianca began to shower arrows onto the monster, Illia dodging them the best she could.
The lion's attention switched back to Thalia as Percy ran out of the store, clutching something in his hand.
"Percy," Thalia called. "Whatever you're going to do-"
Before she could finish the beast struck her with a large paw, nearly knocking Illia off of its back. Thalia flew towards the side of a rocket, her body sliding to the floor.
"Hey!" Percy yelled at the lion.
Illia gritted her teeth, realizing what he was trying to do. With a yank, she turned the beast towards the boy, the lion letting out a roar of protest.
Percy caught the lion mid roar, throwing something into its mouth. The lion must've not liked it very much, for it gagged loudly, Illia feeling the beast shake below her.
"Illia!" He yelled. "Jump!"
Digging her heel into its fur, she thrust herself off of it before it could throw her off, flipping in the air before sliding beside Percy on her feet.
"Zoë, get ready!" He yelled up towards the other girls. Behind her she heard screaming, Grover desperately playing another song on his pipes.
Illia dodged another blow from the lion, who was glaring at Percy, its eyes in slits.
"Can you get it to open its mouth?" Percy asked quickly, his gaze focused on the lion.
She nodded shakily, resting her hand on the marble floor.
Come on, Illia. You can do this.
She felt the vibrations from the beast on the floor, it's large feet rumbling the surface. With a flick of her palm, the surface beneath her trembled, a crack in the floor snaking its way towards the monster.
She let out a deep breath, imagining the floor flying up beneath it.
The floor let out a large cracking noise, the surface beneath the lion flying up, causing it to soar into the air.
It let out a deafening hissing noise, eyes wide from being catapulted six feet into the air.
"Snack time!" Percy yelled, throwing two more packets into the lion's mouth. It's eyes bugged as it slammed back onto the ground, the two packet's lodged in its throat. It opened its mouth wider, violently gagging on whatever Percy had thrown in.
"Now!" He yelled, arrows piercing the lion's mouth.
The creature thrashed wildly, falling backwards onto the cracked floor, finally staying still as it's body slammed against the floor once again.
The sound of alarms filled Illia's head, people were running to the exits as security guards running around the building in a panic.
She watched as Grover knelt by Thalia's side, helping the daughter of Zeus to her feet. Zoë and Bianca dropped from the balcony, Bianca's eyes wide as she helped Illia to her feet.
"That was incredible," She gasped. "How did you do that?"
Illia shook her head. "I'm not sure, to be honest."
Zoë flashed her a curious look, before turning to Percy cautiously. "That was… an interesting strategy."
"Hey," Percy shrugged, flashing Illia a smile. "It worked."
Zoë didn't argue with him.
Illia turned just in time to watch the lion melt into the ground, until there was nothing left but its fur coat, still shining under the museum lights.
"Take it," Zoë turned to the two.
She blinked. "You killed it."
She shook her head, a smile growing on her face. "I think you and Percy did that." She shrugged. "Fair is fair. One of you should take it."
Percy turned to her. "You should take it, you did most of the work anyway."
She opened her mouth to protest, he held up his hand to cut her off with a smile. "Besides, you didn't rat me out for coming."
"What?" Zoë exclaimed, eyes wide. "You knew?"
Illia let out a small laugh. "Yeah," She turned towards her friend. "What? You're saying I could have stopped him?"
Zoë let out a grunt, picking up the shrinking animal pelt, tossing it to her. "I would be angrier if you didn't just kill this monster."
She laughed again, taking the pelt from her, it shifted into a light brown hunting coat, the monster's soft fur lining the hood.
"We have to get out of here," Grover began as she slipped on the coat. "The security guards won't stay confused for long."
For the first time, she realized that the guards hadn't noticed the giant crack in the museum. They were staggering around the building, searching for something, a few running into each other.
"You did that?" Percy asked his friend.
Grover nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "A minor confusion song. I played some Barry Manilow. It works every time. But it'll only last a few seconds."
"The security guards are not our biggest worry," Zoë cut in. "Look."
Through the glass walls of the museum, Illia watched as a group of men made their way across the lawn. They were all dressed in camouflage outfits, gaze locked on the building.
"Go," Percy began. "They'll be hunting me. I'll distract them."
Before Illia could protest Zoë cut him off.
"No, we go together."
He stared at her in surprise. "But you said-"
"You are part of this quest now," Zoë continued grudgingly. "I do not like it, but there is no changing fate. You are the sixth quest member. And we are not leaving anyone behind."
Before I get into my quick lil a/n for the chapter, I thought I would respond to a comment I got on the last chapter (I'm moving the comments to the bottom from now on haha, go ahead and skip ahead if you're interested in the a/n)
GoldHazel: Ah thank you so much for the comment! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far :) As for who Illia's mother is… well, you might be onto something there :)
And there's chapter seven down! I didn't think I would like this chapter, since I'm not the best at writing fight scenes, (then again, having the books to use as reference helps a ton.) but I actually kinda like how this chapter came out. There's another fun sneak peak at Illia's abilities, which I'm really excited to continue working on. This chapter was also kind of an example of how I'm tweaking a few things, (i.e how they killed the Nemean Lion.) but the end result is still the same, which will hopefully be a pretty consisting thing throughout the story.
Also, thank you so much to GoldHazel and ivanna08mejia for favoriting the story! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
Until next time,
-snoot
