Hello everyone,

Thank you all for reading my story. Disclaimer: I don't own any excerpts from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse.

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Unlike other authors, I will continue to post even if my review count does not rise. I'm just that nice.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719

Περσεύς 13

One Shall Be Lost in the Land Without Rain...

We rode the boar until sunset, which was about as much as my back end could take. Imagine riding a giant steel brush over a bed of gravel all day. That's about how comfortable boar-riding was.

I have no idea how many miles we covered, but the mountains faded into the distance and were replaced by miles of flat, dry land. The grass and scrub brush got sparser until we were galloping (do boars gallop?) across the desert.

I hadn't been to this exact area before, at least not that I knew of; however, I knew we were in Arizona. I'd been to Phoenix before. Ironic that I'd met a phoenix in Phoenix.

As night fell, the boar came to a stop at a creek bed and snorted. He started drinking the muddy water, then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chewed it, needles and all.

"This is as far as he'll go," Grover said. "We need to get off while he's eating."

Nobody needed convincing. We slipped off the boar's back while he was busy ripping up cacti. Then we waddled away as best we could with our saddle sores.

After its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled around and galloped back toward the east.

"It likes the mountains better," I guessed.

"I can't blame it," Thalia said. "Look."

Ahead of us was a two-lane road half covered with sand. On the other side of the road was a cluster of buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop that looked like it hadn't been open since before Zoe Nightshade was born, and a white stucco post office with a sign that said GILA CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crooked above the door. Beyond that was a range of hills...but then I noticed they weren't regular hills. The countryside was way too flat for that. The hills were enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. It was a junkyard that seemed to go on forever.

"No," I gulped. "Not this place."

The other gave me weird looks but shrugged them off. Thalia turned to Grover. "I don't suppose you got another wild boar up your sleeve?"

Grover was sniffing the wind, looking nervous. He fished out his acorns and threw them into the sand, then played his pipes. They rearranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense to me, but Grover looked concerned.

"That's us," he said. "Those five nuts right there."

"Which one is me?" I asked.

"The little deformed one," Zoe suggested.

"Oh, shut up."

"That cluster right there," Grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."

"A monster?" Thalia asked.

Grover looked uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge…"

He pointed straight toward the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked like something on an alien planet.

I inquired further, having a feeling of what we were about to face. "Wait, Grover. This is a junkyard, the Junkyard of the Gods to be exact. If there is a challenge, it has to be something Hephaestus threw out. Like..."

"An automaton!" the satyr exclaimed. "Sometimes knowing you're not that naive is wonderful."

"But what kind of automaton?" asked Bianca.

"Talos," I replied, causing Zoe to pale. "Well, at least a prototype. I ran into this place when I was on the run. Hephaestus found me here and warned me because I once found this cool statue of some god...sort of like what Nico had."

"Really? Like, his Mythomagic game?" Bianca asked. I nodded. "What god is it?"

"I forgot. Like I said, I was here a long time ago, back when I was nine or ten."

"Well," interrupted Thalia. "We should set up camp. I don't feel safe going through there at this time of day. And if you are correct about Talos, we shouldn't go when it's not bright out."

We decided to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning as Thalia suggested. None of us really wanted to go Dumpster-diving in the dark.

Zoe and Bianca produced five sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. I don't know how they did it, because the packs were tiny, but must've been enchanted to hold so much stuff. I'd noticed their bows and quivers were also magic. I never really thought about it, but when the Hunters needed them, they just appeared slung over their backs. And when they didn't, they were gone.

The night got chilly fast, so Grover and I collected old boards from the ruined house, and Thalia zapped them with an electric shock to start a campfire. Pretty soon we were about as comfy as you can get in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.

"The stars are out," Zoe said.

She was right. There were millions of them, with no city lights to turn the sky orange.

"Amazing," Bianca said. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way."

"This is nothing," Zoe said. "In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution."

Although I was a city-boy, I knew she was right. It is because of human light pollution from the cities that make looking at the stars so hard. I wonder what is was like in the old days...

"What was it like back then, Zoe?" I asked. "Like, back before industrialization and stuff."

"It was less safe for humans, that can be said," she replied. "But for us Hunters, we did the exact same as we do know. We hunt dangerous animals, though going on a quest to save Artemis has never happened."

I really tried looking at Zoe. Something about her looking so similar to the Titan in my dreams gave me a funny feeling. I had a bad feeling about the relationship between them, but at the same time, my gut instinct told me to trust Zoe. It was a weird combination.

Grover sighed. He was still looking up at the stars like he was thinking about the light pollution problem. "If only Pan were here, he would set things right."

Zoe nodded sadly.

"Maybe it was the coffee," Grover said. "I was drinking coffee, and the wind came. Maybe if I drank more coffee…"

I smiled sadly. "I don't think coffee is going to be the answer, Grover. But about finding Pan...you know what that means, don't you?"

"What?"

"You gotta go back to New Mexico to find him."

Grover sighed. "You're right. Maybe...maybe New Mexico will solve this problem. He has to be in this state somewhere. He couldn't have radiated that much power after 2000 years of hiding. We're so close!"

"What I want to know," Thalia said, looking at Bianca, "is how you destroyed one of the zombies. There are a lot more out there somewhere. We need to figure out how to fight them."

Bianca shook her head. "I don't know. I just stabbed it and it went up in flames."

"Maybe there's something special about your knife," I said.

"It is the same as mine," Zoe said. "Celestial bronze, yes. But mine did not affect the warriors that way."

"Maybe you have to hit the skeleton in a certain spot," I said.

Bianca looked uncomfortable with everybody paying attention to her.

"Never mind," Zoe told her. "We will find the answer. In the meantime, we should plan our next move. When we get through this junkyard, we must continue west. If we can find a road, we can hitchhike to the nearest city. I think that would be Las Vegas."

I winced as I saw Thalia beginning to open her mouth. Bianca beat him to it, though.

"No!" she said. "Not there!"

She looked really freaked out, like she'd just been dropped off the steep end of a roller coaster.

Zoe frowned. "Why?"

Bianca took a shaky breath. "I… I think we stayed there for a while. Nico and I. When we were traveling. And then Percy, and then...I can't remember…"

Zoe gave me a pointed look.

I sighed. "She was trapped in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, just like you and I, Thalia."

"Wait," Grover said. "What's the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"

"Didn't Thalia tell or Luke or Annabeth tell you the story? Years ago," I said, "Thalia and Luke got trapped in that casino for five years. It is enchanted so that time on the outside passes faster than time on the inside. The games in there are supposed to keep you wanting to stay forever, sort of like a modern-day take on the Lotus-eaters...but they aren't the Lotus-eaters."

"And how would you know about it?" Zoe asked warily.

"I got trapped in there myself," I explained. "That's where I first met Bianca and Nico. I was ten years old. Bianca was probably eleven...body-wise."

"Now here's the tricky part," said Thalia. "How old are you in terms of your birth date?"

"I…I don't remember. Please, I really don't want to talk about this."

Zoe sat forward, her eyebrows knit with concern. "You said that Washington, D.C., had changed when you went back last summer. You didn't remember the subway being there."

"Yes, but—"

"Bianca," Zoe said, "can you tell me the name of the president of the United States right now?"

"Don't be silly," Bianca said. She told us the correct name of the president.

"And who was the president before that?" Zoe asked.

Bianca thought for a while. "Roosevelt."

Zoe swallowed. "Theodore or Franklin?"

"Franklin," Bianca said. "F.D.R."

Thalia sat there wide-eyed and shocked.

"Franklin Delano Roosevelt," I said. "He was a son of Zeus—"

"And not the last president," Zoe said. "Bianca, that was about seventy years ago."

"That's impossible," Bianca said. "I…I'm not that old."

We stayed silent for a while, but my head was swarming with questions, like bees in a hive. How had the di Angelo siblings gotten out of the hotel? Who came and got them? Why?

Before I could think about it more, we were hit with a blazing light from down the road. The headlights of a car appeared out of nowhere. I was half hoping it was Apollo, come to give us a ride again, but the engine was way too silent for the sun chariot, and besides, it was night-time. We grabbed our sleeping bags and got out of the way as a deathly white limousine slid to a stop in front of us.

I suddenly felt angry and my eyes widened. I put my hand to my waist and watched as the back door of the limo opened up right next to me.

Before even I knew what was happening, a sword had clattered to the ground and I was pointing my gun at a surprised recipient.

He was a big man with a crew cut, a black leather biker's jacket, black jeans, a white muscle shirt, and combat boots. Wraparound shades hid his eyes, but I knew what was behind those glasses—hollow sockets filled with flames.

"Ares," I growled.

"You've improved, punk," he said, grinning cruelly at me. "Maybe we should spar sometime."

"Depends," I said, holding my gun still, pointing it at his skull. "If you're still brainwashed, I'd be happy to shoot a bullet through your skull. That'd hurt, god or not. If you don't mind a demigod who can actually beat you in combat, be my guest."

The war god grinned and snapped his fingers. The gun popped out of my hand and I felt to see where it had went. It had reappeared in my pocket.

When I looked up, Ares was making his way over to Thalia.

"Hey!" I called. "What are you doing?"

"My girlfriend loves gossiping," he said, grabbing Thalia and pulling her over to the limo. She scowled fiercely at the war god but followed him. "She just wants to talk a little bit to Thalia."

"Aphrodite?" I asked.

He just smiled and said, "Why don't you bring your little friends to get tacos or something, Jackson? The daughter of Zeus is only gonna be a few minutes."

"We will not leave her alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoe said.

"Besides," Grover managed, "the taco place is closed."

Ares snapped his fingers again. The lights inside the taqueria suddenly blazed to life. The boards flew off the door and the CLOSED sign flipped to OPEN. "You were saying, goat boy?"

I locked eyes with Thalia. She nodded bravely and I was immediately convinced that she was going to be okay.

"Come on, girls and goat," I said. "Thalia can handle this."

Zoe took a reluctant step backwards before leading Bianca and Grover to the taqueria. I glared at the war god. "You better not take her away. I promise that I'll come find you and kill you if you do. I beat you when I was twelve. Apparently I've improved. Don't mess with her or you'll get a sword up your podex."

Ares glared back at me before his head twitched. "Leave, punk, before I incinerate you."

"Go, Percy," Thalia said. "I'll be fine. It's only Aphrodite. She won't kill me...hopefully."

I nodded and jogged to catch up to the others as they entered the taqueria. As soon as we entered, the smell of tacos filled up my nostrils. I saw four plates full of tacos sitting on the table closest to the door, steam rising up from the melted cheese.

"Oh my gods," Grover groaned. "That looks so delicious. I wish they had enchiladas, though .Enchiladas are the best."

"You can have mine," I said and went to a seat facing the window. I plopped onto the seat and looked out at the white limo. I gave a menacing look to the god standing outside of the limousine, who was chuckling, as if what Thalia and the love goddess were talking about was funny.

I was too busy thinking about Thalia and Aphrodite that I didn't even notice the presence next to me until a fist came flying at my face.

I turned around to glare at Zoe while I clutched my face in pain. "What the Hades was that for?"

"Because you wouldn't listen to me," she growled. Then she breathed in slowly and calmed herself down. "Now, let's just try to have a civilized conversation before I decided to rip your head off."

I rolled my eyes but agreed.

Zoe started off the conversation. "About the prototype of Talos...are thou lying? Is the prototype actually there?"

I nodded solemnly. "Yeah. It's there. Trust me, even if I am a male hero."

Zoe stared at me. "Why the emphasis on male and hero?"

"Am I not that to you? Am I not just a regular male hero, one who destroys the lives of himself and the lives of the ones around him?"

Zoe stayed silent.

I looked at her and realized she looked, of all things, guilty. I breathed deeply. "Look, Zoe. You don't have to look that way. I am who I am. You can't change someone's view just because you want them to. I've learned that with you."

She nodded silently and we sat there uncomfortably for the next half a minute or so.

"I've lived with Artemis for so long, being the lieutenant of the Hunters," she started suddenly. "She taught me the ways of men, being disrespectful and untrustworthy. I've seen many examples of that. Men are cruel and heartless, though there are some exceptions. Those exceptions we leave alone. But never, in the many years I've been lieutenant of the Hunters, have I met someone like Perseus Jackson."

"What do you mean?"

"You broke Thalia's heart," she said. "It is something I can tell. I've heard that thou are the cause, yet thou still hang around her, trying to win that broken heart back. Why did it break in the first place? What foolish thing did thou do to break her heart in the first place?"

I looked down. "I was angry. I was reckless. I was all of the things you describe as a man. I took it out on her when she called me stupid...even though it was just a joke. I knew she really liked me...and I like her, too, but I took her heart and crushed it into a pancake."

"Why is it that I've never met a man who puts himself down for everything specific thing he does?" asked the Hunter.

"Why is it that when people drill something into your head, you begin to believe them?" I asked, my eyes turning sad. "Why is it that whenever people call me stupid, jokingly or not, I seem to start believing them? Am I really stupid? Why is it that whenever I'm called a stupid boy, I remember how my mother spoke of the heroes of ancient Greece?"

Zoe gave me a curious look.

"When my mother told me stories of the heroes of ancient Greece, she always had a tinge of bitterness," I explained. "She never spoke of them highly. It was as if she was just telling me that the Greek heroes were worthless, but that I would be the only one, aside from Perseus, to have a good ending, to become a good person."

Zoe nodded grimly. I figured she remembered about Medea, Calypso, Ariadne and most importantly, herself.

I'd figured out my dream, who the hero was that betrayed Zoe Nightshade and left her for dead. In this short period of time, I'd figured out that Zoe was indeed a daughter of Atlas, a Hesperid. She was the fifth Hesperid, the only one to get disowned by her family and wiped out from history. I knew she had to be betrayed as she was a Hunter, but I never would have expected it to be Heracles, the strongest but stupidest hero to ever live.

"And the reason you hate me so much...it's not me, is it?" I asked. She clenched her teeth. "It's because who I remind you of, though I'm not as handsome or strong. It's the sword and the cloak."

She gritted her teeth. "Stop speaking, Percy."

I pulled Anaklusmos out of my pocket. I grabbed Zoe's hand gently and placed the pen in her hand. She flinched but eventually tightened her grip on the ballpoint pen. I watched as it miraculously shimmered, turning itself back into a hair clip, the very one I saw in my dream.

"Anaklusmos," I said.

"The current that takes one by surprise. And before you know it, you have been swept out to sea," Zoe replied sadly. She gripped onto the hair clip tightly and closed her eyes. She looked as though she were trying to crush my weapon. If she could, I'd be impressed...and kind of pissed.

Then I realized something. "You said you like a normal person!"

She shook her head, a tiny smile tracing her lips. "I have always been able to say it that way. And remember, that was a Greek translation. I am able to say you properly. It is your that I have trouble with."

Her eyes snapped open, shining with despondency. "Take thy stupid sword back," she said and threw it at me. I caught it and put it back into my pocket.

"Zoe, are you okay?"

She nodded. "How did you know? How did you know it was Heracles?"

"I had a dream, a dream showing me how Anaklusmos originated," I replied. "Chiron always told me that this sword had a tragic history. I'm sorry. If it helps, Heracles died a painful death."

"It doesn't, boy, but thank you for trying," she said. She shivered and stared at me weirdly. "I never thought I'd feel friendly to another boy again."

That's when a thought hit me like a bullet train. "We're headed for the Junkyard of the Gods, correct?" I asked. "Where the Talos prototype is?"

"Yes," Zoe said, frowning at the sudden change in topic. "Why?"

I looked down. "Make sure no one touches anything in the junkyard. And for what it's worth, I'll sacrifice myself when the time comes."

Zoe gave me a blank look. "What did you say, boy? What do you mean sacrifice when the time comes?"

I gulped. "Where are we?"

"Arizona."

"What is the climate here?"

"Hot and dry."

"And does it ever rain?"

Zoe's eyes widened. "You can't just choose to sacrifice yourself. The Fates choose who dies. You can't."

"It's probably me...and if it's not, I'll make it me," I said as confident as I could. "We've come too far to lose such valuable assets now. Bianca can't die...I made a promise to Nico to keep her safe. I can't lose Thalia. She may be able to live without me, but me without her...that is impossible. And you. You are a leader of this group. You can't die. Grover needs to find Pan. He needs to be the 'chosen one' and find Pan."

"Why not thyself?" Zoe asked. "Would you rather kill thyself to keep your friends and family alive?"

"In most cases, yes," I confirmed. "Zoe...I've lived my life far more than any gang member or even some adults. I grew up on the streets, Zoe. I never said it out loud...or thought about it, but I've seen rape, pedophilia, sex trade, gangs and drug deals, and even more. I've seen things I shouldn't have seen, the screaming of children as they watch their mother be raped by a robber. I've done things I shouldn't have been doing, brutally murdering horrible men and women in this world who do things that deserve the death penalty. But I try to stay positive. I try to stay on the light side of things. Thalia and Luke were lucky. They stayed in the swampy areas, away from the city. I've always been a city-boy: always have, always will. The city and surrounding suburban areas are where crimes happen most, even though it doesn't occur that often. Some things are worth dying for, and to keep my powerful friends alive to stop Kronos from unleashing that kind of terror on Western Civilization is one of them. Stop Kronos, not for me, not just for those who die trying to stop the Titan Lord, but for all of those victims, the poor children and women and men who get beaten, raped and tortured in the slums of towns."

Zoe stared at me with a horrid fascination.

She opened her mouth to say something but before she could, my world turned upside down, did a three-sixty, and appeared standing on the side of the road where Thalia was lying.

"What did she want with you?" Bianca asked, once Thalia told us about Aphrodite.

Thalia glanced at me and we locked eyes. "Nothing really," she said. "Just to stay away from her husband's junk."

Zoe narrowed her eyes. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip to tell thee that. Be careful, Thalia. Aphrodite has led many astray."

"I agree with Zoe," I said. "Aphrodite just has a way of twisting minds to her liking, as if we're puppets on her strings."

"So," Thalia said, anxious to change the subject, "how do we get out of here?"

"That way," Zoe said. "That is west."

"How can you tell?" I asked.

In the light of the full moon, I was surprised how well I could see her roll her eyes at me. "Ursa Major is in the north," she said, "which means that must be west."

She pointed west, then at the northern constellation, which was hard to make out because there were so many other stars.

"Oh, yeah," I said. "The bear thing."

Zoe looked offended. "Show some respect. It was a fine bear. A worthy opponent."

"You act like it was real."

"Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!"

We'd reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors.

"Whoa," Bianca said. "That stuff…some of it looks like real gold."

"It is," I said grimly. "Like Thalia said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."

"Junk?" Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver, and jewels. It was broken on one side, as if it had been split by an axe. "You call this junk?"

He bit off a point and began to chew. "It's delicious!"

Thalia swatted the crown out of his hands. "We're serious!"

"Look!" Bianca said. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver in moonlight. "A Hunter's bow!"

She yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's just like Percy's sword!"

Zoe's face was grim. "Leave it, Bianca."

"But—"

"It is here for a reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay in this yard. It is defective. Or cursed."

Bianca reluctantly set the hair clip down.

"I don't like this place," Thalia said. She gripped the shaft of her spear.

"You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?" I asked.

She gave me a hard look. "Zoe is right, Percy. Things get thrown away here for a reason. Now come on, let's get across the yard."

"Jeez, I was just joking," I muttered. "You think I don't know what's here?"

We started picking our way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, we would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same.

I'd like to say we left the stuff alone, but there was too much cool junk not to check out some of it. I found an electric guitar shaped like Apollo's lyre that was so sweet I had to pick it up. Grover found a broken tree made out of metal. It had been chopped to pieces, but some of the branches still had golden birds in them, and they whirred around when Grover picked them up, trying to flap their wings.

Finally, we saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of us, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert. But between us and the road…

"What is that?" Bianca gasped.

Ahead of us was a hill much bigger and longer than the others. It was like a metal mesa, the length of a football field and as tall as goalposts. At one end of the mesa was a row of ten thick metal columns, wedged tightly together.

Bianca frowned. "They look like—"

"Toes," Grover said.

Bianca nodded. "Really, really large toes."

I saw Thalia and Zoe over to me. I nodded. "That's Talos. Don't take anything now. If you do...well, one of us is going to die."

"Let's go around," Zoe suggested. We all agreed hastily.

After several minutes of walking, we finally stepped onto the highway, an abandoned but well-lit stretch of black asphalt.

"We made it out," Zoe said. "Thank the gods."

But apparently the gods didn't want to be thanked. At that moment, I heard a sound like a thousand trash compactors crushing metal.

I whirled around. Behind us, the scrap mountain was boiling, rising up. The ten toes tilted over, and I realized why they looked like toes. They were toes. The thing that rose up from the metal was a bronze giant in full Greek battle armor. He was impossibly tall—a skyscraper with legs and arms. He gleamed wickedly in the moonlight. He looked down at us, and his face was deformed. The left side was partially melted off. His joints creaked with rust, and across his armored chest, written in thick dust by some giant finger, were the words WASH ME.

I growled. "Who took something? I told you that someone is going to die!"

He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon. The sound of it coming out of its sheath was horrible, metal screeching against metal. The blade was a hundred feet long, easy. It looked rusty and dull, but I didn't figure that mattered. Getting hit with that thing would be like getting hit with a battleship.

The giant defective Talos took one step toward us, closing half the distance and making the ground shake.

"Run!" Grover yelped.

Great advice, except that it was hopeless. At a leisurely stroll, this thing could outdistance us easily.

We split up, the way we'd done with the Nemean Lion. Thalia drew her shield and held it up as she ran down the highway. The giant swung his sword and took out a row of power lines, which exploded in sparks and scattered across Thalia's path.

Zoe's arrows whistled toward the creature's face but shattered harmlessly against the metal. Grover brayed like a baby goat and went climbing up a mountain of metal.

Bianca and I ended up next to each other, hiding behind a broken chariot.

"You took something," I said. "That bow."

"No!" she said, but her voice was quivering.

"Give it back!" I said. "Throw it down!"

"I…I didn't take the bow! Besides, it's too late."

"What did. you take?"

Before she could answer, I heard a massive creaking noise, and a shadow blotted out the sky.

"Move!" I tore down the hill, Bianca right behind me, as the giant's foot smashed a crater in the ground where we'd been hiding.

"Hey, Talos!" Grover yelled, but the monster raised his sword, looking down at Bianca and me.

Grover played a quick melody on his pipes. Over at the highway, the downed power lines began to dance. I understood what Grover was going to do a split second before it happened. One of the poles with power lines still attached flew toward Talos' back leg and wrapped around his calf The lines sparked and sent a jolt of electricity up the giant's backside.

Talos whirled around, creaking and sparking. Grover had bought us a few seconds.

"Come on!" I told Bianca. But she stayed frozen. From her pocket, she brought out a small metal figurine, a statue of a god. "It…it was for Nico. It was the only statue he didn't have."

"How can you think of Mythomagic at a time like this?" I said.

There were tears in her eyes.

I bit my lip worriedly. "Put it back in your pocket," I ordered. I took off my lion's fur and put it on Bianca.

"What are you doing?" she asked as I struggled with putting the lion's fur on her.

The giant kept coming after Grover. It stabbed its sword into a junk hill, missing Grover by a few feet, but scrap metal made an avalanche over him, and then I couldn't see him anymore.

"No!" Thalia yelled. She pointed her spear, and a blue arc of lightning shot out, hitting the monster in his rusty knee, which buckled. The giant collapsed, but immediately started to rise again. It was hard to tell if it could feel anything. There weren't any emotions in its half-melted face, but I got the sense that it was about as ticked off as a twenty-story-tall metal warrior could be.

He raised his foot to stomp and I saw that his sole was treaded like the bottom of a sneaker. There was a hole in his heel, like a large manhole, and there were red words painted around it, which I deciphered only after the foot came down: FOR MAINTENANCE ONLY.

"Crazy-idea time," I said.

Bianca looked at me nervously. "Anything."

"Distract the metal monster," I told her.

"What are you doing?"

"You'll find out!"

I dashed towards the metal monster's leg and grabbed Triametalla out of my left pocket.

Thalia had its attention for the moment. She'd learned that the giant was big but slow. If you could stay close to it and not get smashed, you could run around it and stay alive. At least, it was working so far.

I got right next to the giant's foot, trying to balance myself on the metal scraps that swayed and shifted with his weight.

Zoe yelled, "What are you doing?"

"Get it to raise its foot!" I said.

Zoe shot an arrow toward the monster's face and it flew straight into one nostril. The giant straightened and shook its head.

"Hi-ya!" Thalia yelled and electricity crackled from her spear. It caught the attention of the metal beast and he raised his foot to crush Thalia. I braced myself and ran under the hole in the foot. I waited until the foot was around eight feet in the air before hopping into the hole and finding myself tangled in a whole bunch of wires.

I grunted and slashed at them with Triametalla. I used the tangled ropes as handholds and footholds, climbing my way to the top. I wasn't sure what was happening outside, but on the inside electricity was sparking everywhere, seemingly ready to kill me.

It was weird coming face to face with morality. I felt a lot different than I did a couple of years ago in the St. Louis arch. I'd blowtorched that monument and then jumped six hundred feet into the Mississippi River. Then, I'd been scared. Now, I was scared...but less scared.

A wire dropped down in front of me and zapped me. I jumped as the electricity coursed through me body. As I made my way up, I cut the wires that were inside, making sure to disable as much as I could.

The entire frame of the leg shook and I felt the hum of more electricity enter the beast. I grabbed the side of the leg I was climbing up and retracted it immediately after I got shocked. This caused me to fall a couple of feet into more open-ended wires. I got shocked even more, my heart feeling like it was about to be overcharged.

I shuddered and continued climbing until I reached the part that I considered the heart. It was just a huge machine, the heart of the automaton being an electric motor. The wires attached to the motor came from all over, stretching from the bottom of Talos' foot to his head.

I took a deep breath in before I pulled Anaklusmos out. I uncapped my sword and prepared myself. I closed my eyes and hacked at all of the wires that were connected to the automaton's heart.

Tendrils of electricity and sparks shot out like a firecracker making more electricity course through my body. I screamed Suddenly, more wires snapped and my clothes quickly caught fire. More electricity zapped my body until I could hear myself scream. All I could hear was this low buzz, my screaming being drowned out.

Pain racked through my body like crazy, as if Zeus was killing me slowly and painfully. I looked down at my body, which was charred heavily. More explosions of sparks flew, making my entire body catch fire. I couldn't hear myself scream, but I figured this was about as dead I could possibly be. I figured the electricity had disabled my nervous system. In the dead heat of Arizona, the electricity made my clothes catch fire like crazy, eating away at my clothes as easily as Grover eating enchiladas.

That's when the voice came to me.

Percy Jackson, a raspy voice hissed.

"Not you!" I heard myself yell.

Be careful what you say, son of Poseidon, the voice hissed. I am the only reason why you are not dead my now. I protect you, for it is not your time to die. You will be lost in the land without rain as you must come with me to stay alive.

"I'd rather die than come with you," I yelled.

Haha. You don't realize who I am, do you? the voice said. I am not Kronos, but a friend. I will put you in Kronos' territory, only because that is where you are destined to go. Save your friends, save Olympus.

My eyes widened. "Coeus?"

Hello again, Percy, he said. It has been a long time since we've spoken.

"Why...how are you helping me?"

I am a Titan, Percy, one of the original twelve. I am far from weak, especially as I have not been weakened by being in Tartarus for the past couple of thousand years. However, my limits limit you from going straight back to your friends. You've learned this lesson throughout your life: you must work for victory.

"So...I'll be saved but in a prison in Mount Othrys?"

Unfortunately. You will be taken prisoner by my nephew, Atlas. However, your friends, Thalia, Zoe, Bianca and Grover will be at the mountain by tomorrow evening. You will not awaken until tomorrow afternoon, your wounds being too severe. This is even worse that your stab wound from the summer. I fear that only Kronos may be able to preserve your body as the way it was, though it would take a lot of his strength.

"Why...why can't you heal me?"

I have, and I will, but not enough. With me, your scars will still remain.

"I don't care about scars!" I shouted. "I want to go back to my friends. I want to kill that traitor Ethan Nakamura. And I want to eradicate Kronos from this world once and for all!"

In time, my friend, in time. Beware my nephew. He is almost as cruel as Kronos, my wretched brother. Your scars will forever remain if you choose not to go through Kronos. There will always be a flesh wound along your right arm and right leg, an inch-wide scar where your skin will never completely grow back that spans your forearm and your shin.

"What if I heal myself in water? Will the scars go away?"

Maybe to a thin line; however, that line will always be there, whether it is the size of a hairline crack or that one inch.

"All...all right, Coeus. I will do that. Will my face be affected?"

I'm sure your girlfriend wouldn't want you to be too harmed. I will take away all harm done to your face. Remember, I will dump you in water. Maybe the scars will become thin lines, like a long shallow cut made by a knife.

"Yes, sir."

And remember, your quest to save Artemis is no longer a quest. For the bane of Olympus has not been found, and your group members do not know of it, finding Artemis is now a hunt.

"A hunt that must be completed by the Winter Solstice."

Yes. Good luck, Percy Jackson. Take care.

And then I fell unconscious for real.

Hey everyone,

Hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks to those who've put this on their favorites, followed and reviewed.

Disclaimer: I don't own any excerpts taken from Rick Riordan's book Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse.

I also apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719