Chapter 10

Monsters Get Weirder

~Annabeth~

We got our coffee and muffins – or, in Grover's case, a fancy looking "scone" – and sat down at a table next to our mortal assistants to eat our breakfast. Although we were all hungry, Nissa, Percy, and I couldn't bear the thought of eating. Grover nibbled at his scone nervously, but he didn't drink his coffee. Instead, he started nibbling on the paper bag his scone had come in. I knew what was going through the demigods' – minus Iliana – minds: when the brown-haired boy Perry had asked Siri on his iPhone 4GS about what magical things could be found at a place called Best Buy, the answer that the app had produced sounded a bit too much like the description of a certain monster.

"I really wanted to just stay away from the hydras," Grover murmured into his half-eaten paper bag. "Why does there have to be a hydra? And what is it doing – protecting the torch for the person that stole it? Did it steal the torch?"

"Hydras aren't smart enough to steal torches, Grover," I answered him calmly. Off to my left, I heard the Mexican girl – Andrea (assuming that that's what "Drea" was a nickname for) – burst out laughing. I shook my head and continued. "It's probably just a minion for the real torch thief, so it probably is protecting it."

If it had been possible for vampires to pale, Nissa would've been as white as the icing drizzled on Grover's scone – take my word for it, the vanilla bean icing was pure white. I honestly didn't think Nissa would be able to eat or drink anything other than blood, but she nervously took a sip of her coffee – probably just to maintain a normal image around her boss. "I haven't seen a hydra since . . . since before I died," she whispered.

Keller must've been tuning in to our conversation with her super panther ears, because she decided to speak up. "Whoa – what? Nissa – what's a hydra? There are no hydras in the Night World." She took a swig of her straight black, unsweetened coffee before continuing. "Personally, I thought that kid Perry meant we'd have to face down another dragon like Azhdeha. I mean, we could do it – Azhdeha was the worst. Anything after him would be a piece of cake."

I was tired of hearing that name – Azhdeha, I mean – without knowing what story went along with it. I sighed and picked off a chunk of my muffin, throwing it at Keller. She turned to glare at me, and for the longest – scariest – moment of my life, I thought she was going to morph into panther form and attack me. To prevent her from doing this, I hastily said: "Azhdeha. This, 'dragon,' or whatever, that you keep talking about. What is the deal with this? What – or who – is an Azhdeha, and what the Hades happened?"

Keller's glare faded, and she closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "Azhdeha was a dragon. By dragon, we all just thought at first that that meant that he was a 'shifter from a long time ago – they were called dragons back then, when they ruled the earth. Their seat of power was the horns on their head – they gave them the ability to change into anything they so desired. Apparently, that meant that they could also turn into actual dragons." She sighed shakily and paused for a moment, reaching out and grabbing Galen's hand for comfort. With another shaky breath in an attempt to keep calm, she continued. "When we were sent by Circle Daybreak – a secret Night World organization – to find Iliana, the dragon had been awoken and was working for the enemy: the vampires that wanted to destroy all the Wild Powers. He was our hardest opponent to fight by far – I almost died for the first time fighting him. Galen took on his form as a leopard, and Iliana unleashed her witch powers and proved to us that she really was the Wild Power."

She glanced at Galen and squeezed his hand, and then he turned toward me. "That's the whole story, Annabeth."

I sat back in my chair – resolving to finally take a bite of my muffin. I glanced sideways and saw that Percy had already done so, and Nissa still hadn't touched hers – she only occasionally took sips of her coffee. Turning my attention to the table we sat at, I took the first bite of my muffin after not eating for a couple of days.

It was delicious.

After eating, we met the mortals by our car to discuss the game plan. The blonde girl – Nikki – kept eyeing me suspiciously, and she whispered something under her breath to the girl Andrea that sounded like "Percabeth." While she didn't seem to know what it meant, Perry did – he laughed a little. I had no idea what that meant, either – and, besides: how did this Nikki girl know so much about us? And, for that matter, how could she see Grover's goat legs?

"So . . . we need to help you find the torch of the goddess of magic and get it back to her before Halloween?" Gage asked, obviously disbelieving the whole situation.

All eight of us nodded.

"But after this, we can't go with you to Vegas." Nikki didn't ask it as a question.

Keller groaned. "Exactly. I don't care how much you humans beg and plead, but you can't come to Vegas with us."

Something suddenly clicked in my head, and I realized how wrong Keller was to tell the mortals that they couldn't come with us to Vegas. I grabbed Keller's wrist and pulled her off to the side for a second to explain my reasoning. "We need them to come to Vegas with us." Keller began to protest, but I held up my hand to stop her. "We've been to Vegas on a quest before. It can get . . . tricky, to say the least. We need some Nevada natives – even if they aren't from Vegas – to help us."

"We have witch connections in Vegas to help us!" Keller hissed angrily. "Thierry Descouedres lives in Vegas! We don't need some dead-weight humans following us around! That's just a liability!"

I cocked my head to the side. "You're not a very good strategist, are you?" When she just looked at me, I groaned and rolled me eyes. "I'm a daughter of Athena – meaning, that I'm the best when it comes to wisdom and battle strategy. The mortals are Nevada natives. Where we went to when we went to Vegas on one of our quests – they may not be affected by the magic that is used there. They may be able to keep us sane in that city of insanity – because I have a feeling that we'll get stuck in that place again. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

Keller scowled at me. After a long moment, she burst out laughing. "Y-you can't be serious! We have two witches with us – one is a daughter of Hecate and the Witch Child! We have connections to other witches in Vegas. We have all the protection we need from whatever screwy magic is worked at this place!"

She turned to go back to the group. I whispered "That's what you think now" under my breath before turning back and following Keller back to the group.

~Keller~

After my conversation with Annabeth, I was doomed to believe that she was crazy. These nerdy humans had no place in this quest. We had plenty protection! Hell, we had an entire community of witches at our back!

. . . So why did I have the strangest feeling that Annabeth was right?

"To Best Buy!" Winnie proclaimed as we hopped into our car. I decided that we would follow the humans to Best Buy – it would cut back on a lot of confusion. Once we got there and parked, we leapt out of the car.

"Everyone have their weapons?" Annabeth asked, her hand resting on the hilt of her dagger. Percy showed her his pen-sword, Nissa produced her ironwood fighting stick, Galen and I Turned halfway to reveal our claws, and Winnie and Iliana let sparks of magic fly around on their fingers. "Excellent," she said, looking as grim as ever. "Let's go."

The humans followed us closely behind – they were jabbering about a multitude of things: if Tim would come back and work at this Best Buy after he got done at Chapman, what questions they would ask Mr. V when they got back to school, what Drea might do at a future debate tournament and how soon she needed to talk to Mrs. Jones . . . The overuse of proper nouns that I'd never even heard of bored me greatly. Didn't they have anything to talk to us about? I was surprised that Nikki didn't have any input or questions for us!

Despite my better judgment, the demigods led us into Best Buy – that is, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Nissa – Grover doesn't really count as a demigod, but he fits into that group. As soon as we stepped one foot into the building, the four of them stopped abruptly; causing Galen, Iliana, Winnie, Nikki, Perry, Drea, Gage and I to all slam into them like a pile-up of cars. The Greek freaks eyes were all wide, and their jaws looked like they were going to fall to the floor. When I tried to follow their gaze, I saw nothing – at first. After I actually concentrated on the three Best Buy workers standing by a set-up of the new video-gaming system the Play Station Move and on the little wand thingy that went along with it, the air shimmered around the guys and the station. Where the wand sat on the edge of the display table by the game system, a flaming torch sat. Somehow, the flames didn't burn the table. When I looked back to the guards, my own mouth dropped to the floor. The three guards that had been standing by the gaming system fused together, becoming a three-headed reptilian monster . . .

. . . That looked a little bit like a dragon without wings.

"Hydra," I heard Nikki whisper under her breath, and all eight of the original quest members turned to look at her questioningly.

"How do you know that?" Annabeth said, her voice shaking with fear. Something must've seriously been up – I hadn't really seen Annabeth scared throughout all our time spent on this quest so far. "How can you see that? You shouldn't be able to see that!"

Nikki rolled her eyes and put her hand on her hip. "I'm an artist. I see things that people normally wouldn't see when it comes to the creative aspect of things. And I'm in love with Greek mythology," she said, as if that explained everything. "Oh, plus – I love Rick Riordan's books." She looked at Annabeth, Percy, and Grover intently, like the name "Rick Riordan" should have some significance to them. None of them demonstrated any sign of response.

I glanced back at Annabeth. "Why wouldn't you be able to see it? It's ten feet tall, and the middle head breathes fire!"

Before Annabeth could answer, Perry whistled. "Siri really doesn't lie!"

Ignoring what Perry and I had just said, Annabeth continued to look incredulously at Nikki. "How can you see it? You shouldn't be able to see through the Mist! Unless . . ." She glanced sideways at Grover, and then at Percy, before turning her attention back to Nikki. "Are you a demigod?"

Nikki looked at her friends, and all four of them burst into laughter. "No – I'm not a demigod!" she said, taking a deep breath and regaining her composure.

Nissa glanced at Grover at the same time Annabeth and Percy did. "Is she?" Nissa asked, a slight hint of fear that was totally uncharacteristic of the vampire.

Grover squinted at Nikki momentarily, and – sniffed! – the air around her before turning back to the Greek freaks. He shook his head. "Nope. Just a mortal that can see through the Mist, is all."

I shook my head to clear it. "OK – if we're gonna kill this monster and get the second torch, are we gonna fight this thing?"

Annabeth paused. "I would, but look at it!"

I turned to look at the hydra, or whatever it was called, and I nearly felt my jaw dislocate and drop to the floor. The hydra was now holding the torch and waving it around in front of a TV screen, while a boy that looked about ten-years-old waving around an actual Play Station Move wand. Wait – was the hydra actually using Hecate's flaming torch to play on the video game with the kid?

"These monsters just keep getting weirder," Percy muttered under his breath.