Very nice predictions readers, but it's none of those. The Artemis theory is okay, but it never mentions Eric being good at archery... it's not her. The dogs are a big part of it, and it will become pretty easy to guess soon :) I've left a few clues along the way... Anywho, here is chapter 11, two updates in one day! I'm on a roll! Thanks for all your reviews, they are amazing!
Disclaimer- I don't own PJO.
Chapter 11- Don't Burn, Baby, Don't Burn
So we stood there watching the tall trees, so different from the treeless, sandy climate we'd just seen. The air smelled of pine, and Katie was right, ashes and fire.
"Right." I got on one knee and began to dig around in my backpack.
"To business." Eric said, smirking. I ignored him. I pulled out a few papers, then got up.
"Okay, so the Phoenix said the greatest of the mountains, by that he means the tallest, and by that he means Mt. San Antonio." I took another breath, priding myself in knowing all these facts. "Mostly known as Mt. Baldy, it's the tallest mountain in the San Gabriel mountains, but not the tallest in South California. I thought their base would be here. I mean, big location, hard to reach, all that stuff. They probably blocked off this-" I pointed to a road on my Mt. Baldy map I had ex-d out in red "road."
"That also explains all the 'boulder displacement.'" The gigantes must have blocked off all the trails and roads to keep everyone away. It's not like there's anyone here. The park is closed, the ski lift empty, it's the perfect storm. Except for the firefighters, I don't see them doing anything about them, unless they lay low while planning, getting them to think the fires have-" I was now talking more to myself then to them, but Eric cut me off.
"Okay, you can stop the Athena-kid-genius rant or whatever. I get it. Park empty, gigantes prancing around and playing with fire. Simple." He said grimly.
"Couldn't put it better myself." I said, now really rolling my eyes. "Now what I think we should do is check out where they are. Survey the scene." I said, carefully folding the maps and papers and putting them away in my bag.
"Can't we make camp now? It's like five." Katie said.
"Alright." I concluded. "We make camp and act tomorrow. Let's have a guard up. We switch every two hours. Guard gets my watch."
So we made camp in the clearing. We decided not to risk a fire.
"I haven't had a real meal since the plane." Eric complained.
"If you're so hungry, go rob the hiking store. There's one around the ridge. I'm sure you'll be able to break in easily." I answered sarcastically.
"Good idea." He concluded.
"You can't do that!" Katie said, the morals of the quest kicking in.
"I can and I will." He dug around in his bag, grabbing some things.
"What about paying?" Katie protested
"I'll leave a drachma or two on the counter. They're solid gold, aren't they?" he said as he receded into the trees, shining his flashlight ahead and carrying my map. Katie sighed.
"Rob a store, see if I care." She muttered, lying down on her bedroll. It was really dark, here. I sighed and hugged my knees. This whole thing seemed illogical. So then I did something I hadn't done in moths. I wished for a computer.
In the morning, we ate some of Eric's 'borrowed' food. Vitamin water, fruit and assorted granola. Better than our last staple, half energy bar and water.
I carefully put my apple core in a bush.
"So where's the trail?" Katie asked, looking around.
"What trail?" I asked. "There isn't one. Unless you want to walk three miles." She was quiet.
"You must have hiked here a lot." Eric observed. I stayed silent. I had never been hiking in my life. All the things I knew about it (quite a lot, actually) I had read. So we walked in the general direction of the mountain, according to my compass.
"Look." I said, pointing to a pine tree trunk. There were Greek words written there, seemingly grown into the trunk in the patterns.
"The trees nymph must have written it as a warning." I said.
"Beware of Pyrrhos, lord of the fotia gigantes, killer of our kind." Katie translated out loud. I realized all the pines we'd seen were nymph-less. They must have all left when the trees were burning down.
"Pyrrhos. The mastermind." Eric said, touching the words.
"Yes. Well, at least we're close." I sighed and trudged forward, hoping to be done with all the hiking soon. I was sick of it.
The next sign was fallen trees. Not burned, but knocked over. Violently, it looked like. Katie seemed sad, every once in awhile touching broken tree with a sigh. I feel into step with her.
"You alright?" I asked.
"Yeah." She mumbled, but looked up and smiled. "I'm ready to take on this Pyrrhos guy." I smiled back, knowing at least one of us was.
"See that?" Eric said in a whisper, pointing foreword. There was smoke hanging around charred trees in front of us. I could hear roars.
"Okay, stay low, the smoke stays up. And stay quiet." I said, leading the way. We walked through a place where there was once forest, but now there was ash a few inches deep everywhere. All that was left was black, gnarled tree trunks. We had to stoop low to keep from suffocating on the smoke.
Up ahead, I could see what looked like a huge fort wall made of tree trunks. Smoke rose from above it. There were roars and thumps I assumed were the gigantes moving around. I would look above the wall to try to see them, but I couldn't look up without chocking on smoke. We reached right about to the wall. It was solid, but I found a sizable spot in between two tree trunks we could look through. What we saw made me want to throw up.
It looked like a huge fort inside, the tree trunk walls surrounding an area the size of a football stadium. On the side we were on, there was a large stone table, on which was a variety of meats and plants. Food, I though. For Pyrrhos? The giants didn't eat those types of things. A bunch of terrified looking satyrs were placing it all on a large tray.
"He's enslaved the satyrs of the forest!" Katie exclaimed. I scowled. Three satyrs carried slowly picked up the tray and carried it away.
And then there was the gigantes themselves. They were the size of a two-story house, huge and lumbering. They had a head and four appendages the color of red earth. Like the book said, they had plants growing out of their backs. The things heads were the size of a monster truck wheel, with tiny eyes and nose slits, and one huge mouth. Most of them had grass growing all over their faces. They walked around, carrying trees or eating them. Most of the giants were lying on the ground, sleeping at one end of the fort, so it looked very hilly over there. There must have been fifty of them.
I was brought out of my revive by the sound of a human voice. Well, not quite. It was loud and raspy, angry. We got our first glance of Pyrrhos.
He was pretty big, but not bigger than his giants. He had a man's body, except larger, clothed in a red and gold one-shouldered tunic, and tall Greek sandals. His hair, well, he didn't really have any on his head, the top of his head was on fire, hot, red flame, like Hades in the Hercules Disney movie. His skin looked like hot coals- glowing yellow and orange and red.
I looked at my friends and gulped. The guy looked very intimidating.
"I need my maps! WHO HAS MY MAPS?" he thundered. His fists were flaming with fire. I assumed he could throw the fire. A trembling satyr came foreword with a bunch of parchment rolls tied in gold string.
"Your h-hands, sir." The satyr stammered.
"Yes." Pyrrhos said, extinguishing the fire in his hands. "Why is everything in this world so damn flammable?" He groaned and snatched the maps from the satyr's hands.
He studied them, then spoke to the camp in general.
"This is what we've been waiting for! In three days time, during the full moon, we shall climb to the top of this, the tallest mountain!" He pointed to Mt. Baldy, looming over the camp. "We shall start the flame that will engulf these mountains! The eternal flame shall not die!" And with that, he thrust a flaming fist in the air. The gigantes pounded their fist against the ground, causing a lot of the wall on the far side to fall. We were still covered, luckily.
"Fools!" Pyrrhos growled. "Fix that!" Then he strode off, carrying his maps, his tunic swishing around.
"And that's our cue." I whispered. We, as quietly and as quickly as possible, moved off. The hike was quicker, since it was downhill. We stayed silent the whole time. When we hit camp, we all sat down. I looked at my watch. 3 pm. I decided to speak up.
"Hey, Eric, did that store you broke into have a computer?"
:)
