First Person: Emily
"We're going to need some of your food, sir," I said. "To use as bait, you see." I snatched a bowl of Thai noodles in mac-and-cheese sauce, and a tubular pastry that looked like a combination burrito and cinnamon roll. "Come on, guys." I led them out of the parking lot before any of them could lose their cool.
"Anyone else wanna kill that dude?" Audrey asked.
"That man…" Hazel muttered before smacking the side of a bus-stop bench. "He needs to die. Again." Hazel was internally shaking with anger, fear, and regret. I put my arms around her and tried to send waves of calmness, but her insecurities were fighting back.
"We'll get him," I promised. "He's nothing like you, Hazel. I don't care what he says." She shook her head.
"You don't know the whole story. I should have been sent to Punishment. I…I'm just as bad-"
"No, you're not!" Frank shouted, his hands balling into fists. He looked around like he was searching for anybody who might disagree with him - enemies he could hit for Hazel's sake. "She's a good person!" He shouted across the street. A few harpies squawked in the trees, but no one else pain them any attention. Hazel started at Frank before reaching out tentatively, as if she wanted to take his hand but was afraid he might evaporate.
"Frank…I-I don't…" But he seemed to be wrapped up in his own mind.
"I could intimidate that old man," He offered. "Maybe scare him-"
"Frank, we can't scare him," Veon said. "He holds the power here, plus he's blind so that's a major downside. Besides, we get on his bad side, he doesn't tell us the information. We can keep it for a backup, but right now that's not a very good choice. We just need to think this through."
"Hazel," I said, trying to draw that power that allowed me to say the right things. "You are not that man, understand? You are not his equivalent, and he is not your superior. You deserve Elysium, Hazel, I can tell that from here. You were willing to give it up for your mom, you were willing to give your life to buy the world much needed time, even if was only a few decades. You were brought back for a reason, Hazel. Nico didn't stumble upon you while looking for his sister and settle for the next best thing. I believe you've been brought back to finish what you started. Your mother never wanted to bring about the end of the world, and in the end, you both gave your lives to stop Alcyoneus's rise when no one else could. Now we're going to finish that giant for good, you hear me?" Hazel looked to me in surprise for a moment and then nodded.
"Right, so what's the plan?" Veon asked.
"Maybe we can get that red harpy to talk to us."
"You're going to use that food at bait?" Audrey asked.
"More like a peace offering."
"Always like her to chose the peace-offering route," Zy said. "Right, let's go. That harpy ought to tell us a bit about Phineas. There has to be some way we can swindle information out of him, and if anyone will know, it'll be the harpy that causes him the most trouble. It stands to reason that she's studied and learned some about him if she's able to get close to that food and cause Phineas harm."
"Right, let's go," Percy said. "We'll have to make sure that the other harpies don't steal anything, okay?"
"How are we gonna find her?" Frank asked.
"We let the harpies come to us, and hope she's among them," I said. "Like Percy explained, you keep the other harpies away so we can find her and negotiate information for the food." I uncovered the Thai noodles and unwrapped the cinnamon burrito. We walked down the street, the other's on guard with their weapons drawn as the fragrant steam wafted into the air. The harpies fluttered after us, perching on trees, mailboxes and flagpoles, following the smell of the food. A part of me wondered what mortals saw through the Mist. Maybe they thought the harpies were pigeons and the weapons were lacrosse sticks. Maybe they just thought the Thai mac and cheese was so good it needed an armed escort.
"There," Zy said pointing. We looked to see her circling above a stretch of parkland that ran for several blocks between rows of old stone buildings. Paths stretched through the park under huge maple and elm trees, past sculptures and playgrounds and shady benches. We crossed the street and found a bench to sit on, next to a big bronze sculpture of an elephant.
"Looks like Hannibal," Hazel said.
"Except it's Chinese," Frank said. "My grandmother has one of those." He flinched. "I mean, hers isn't twelve feet tall, but she imports stuff…from China. We're Chinese." He looked at us who were smiling and/or trying very hard not to laugh. "Can I just die from embarrassment now?"
"Don't worry about it, Frank," Zy said. "I spent a good deal of time in China. Nice eye with the Chinese elephant part. Now, let's see if we can make friends with the harpy." I held up the noodles and allowed the smell to sail upwards - spicy peppers and cheesy goodness. The red harpy circled lower.
"We won't hurt you," I promised. "We just want to talk. Thai noodles for a chance to talk, okay?" The harpy streaked down in a flash of red and landed on the elephant statue. She was painfully thin, her feathery legs like sticks. Her face would've been pretty except for her sunken cheeks. She moved in jerky birdlike twitches, her coffee-brown eyes darting restlessly, her fingers clawing at her plumage, her earlobes, her shaggy red hair.
"Cheese," She muttered, looking sideways. "Ella doesn't like cheese."
"So your name's Ella?"
"Ella. Aella. "Harpy." In English. In Latin. Ella doesn't like cheese." She said all that without taking a breath or making eye contact. Her hands snatched at her hair, her burlap dress, the raindrops, whatever moved.
"Well, I also have this burrito. I don't think it has cheese." Quicker than I could blink, she lunged, snatched the cinnamon burrito, and appeared atop the elephant again.
"Gods, she's fast!" Hazel exclaimed.
"And heavily caffeinated," Frank guessed. Ella sniffed the burrito. She nibbled at the edge and shuddered from head to foot, cawing like she was dying.
"Cinnamon is good. Good for harpies. Yum." She started to eat, but then the bigger harpies swooped down.
"Veon, give me a lift!" He kneeled with his hands together and I put my foots in his hands. He launched me up the elephant statue and I wrapped my arms around Ella, protecting her from the scratching, pecking, and pummeling of the other birds. "Go away!"
"Hey, harpies!" Audrey called. "Who wants some noodles?!" She chucked the Thai noodles as far as she could.
"Go after them!" I ordered with all the charm speak I could muster. "You love noodles!" The harpies diverted their attention to the noodles and began to fight over them. Maybe Ella didn't like cheese, but I guess that didn't mean all of them did too. I saw Hazel, Frank and Percy staring at the fight over the Thai and realized I'd accidently affected them too. "Not you three! Yo! Focus!" The three of them shook their heads and seemed to forget what just happened a moment ago. When the harpies dispersed, there were no more noodles left.
"Ella, have you eaten the burrito?" I asked. There was squirming beneath me and the sounds of Ella eating as fast as she could. When I pulled away from her, the burrito was gone. Ella was still trembling, the gash on her back from Phineas bleeding. She picked at her feathers, pulling out tufts of plumage.
"S-small Ella," She stuttered. "W-weak Ella. You help Ella."
"We can get you more food," I promised. "We want to be your friends, and we can get some more food for you, but-"
"Friends," Ella said. "'Ten seasons. 1994 to 2004.'" She glanced sideways at Percy, then looked in the air and started reciting to the clouds. "'A half-blood of the eldest gods, shall reach sixteen against all odds.' Sixteen. You're sixteen. Page sixteen, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. 'Ingredients: Bacon, Butter.'"
"Ella…what was that you said?" Percy asked, seeming a little dizzy.
"'Bacon. Butter.'" She caught a raindrop out of the air.
"No, before that. Those lines…I know those lines."
"Story of my life," Zy muttered.
"And mine," Veon agreed.
"Yep," Audrey said. Next to them, Hazel shivered.
"It does sound familiar," She said. "Like…I don't know, like a prophecy. Maybe it's something she heard Phineas say?" At the name Phineas, Ella squawked in terror and flew away. "Wait! I didn't mean…Oh, gods, I'm stupid."
"It's all right," I said. "Look." Ella wasn't moving as quickly now. She flapped her way to the top of a three-story red brick building and scuttled out of sight over a roof. A single red feather fluttered down to the street. "That could be her nest. Multnomah County Library."
"Let's go see if it's open," Percy said. I hopped down from the elephant and we headed across the street and into the library. For demigods who are dyslexic, a library is our worst nightmare, but Audrey and I had worked on our reading for most of our lives, so we're pretty good at it. We jogged through the lobby, but then Percy froze in his tracks.
"Percy?" Frank asked. "What's wrong?" I sensed he was struggling for his memories of Annabeth. That's right. As a daughter of Athena, Annabeth liked books and architecture, and this place reminded me of her even though I wasn't as close to her as Percy. Said person slammed his fist into the side of a bookshelf, anger at his lost memories hitting him.
"Percy?" I asked gently. "Calm down. You'll remember eventually." I put my hand on his shoulder and felt his built up anger at his missing memories. Anger was easy to quell when it was a regular demigod and I was making physical contact, so I swept calmness over him like a tidal wave over a fire. With a few breaths, his anger faded.
"I'm…I'm all right," He said. "Just got dizzy for a sec. Let's find a way to the roof." We split up and searched around, until Veon called that he'd found a stairwell with roof access. At the top was a door with a handle alarm, but someone had propped it open with a copy of War and Peace. Outside, Ella the harpy huddled in a nest of books under a makeshift cardboard shelter. The others approached slowly as not to scare her, but she didn't pay them any attention. She picked at her feathers and muttered under her breath, like she was practicing lines for a play. I walked over and sat down next to her.
"Hi, Ella. Sorry we scared you off earlier." Percy kneeled down next to me.
"Look, I don't have much food, but…" He took some of the macrobiotic jerky Iris gave him out of his pocket. Ella lunged and snatched it immediately, but when she huddled back into her nest and sniffed it, she sighed and tossed it away.
"N-not from his table. Ella cannot eat. Sad. Jerky would be good for harpies."
"Not from…oh, right. That's part of the curse. You can only eat his food."
"There has to be a way," Hazel said.
"'Photosynthesis. Noun. Biology. The synthesis of complex organic materials.' 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…'"
"What is she saying?" Frank whispered.
"She's reciting lines of books," I said. Around Ella were a large number of old and mildewed books. Some had prices written in marker on the covers, like the library had gotten rid of them in a clearance sale.
"Photosynthesis from the dictionary, and that funny run on sentence from some book that we read in high school," Veon said.
"Farmer's Almanac 1965," Ella said. "'Start breeding animas, January 26th.'"
"Have you read all of these, Ella?" Audrey asked. She blinked.
"More. More downstairs. Words. Words calm Ella down. Words, words, words." Percy picked up a book at random - a tattered copy of A History of Horseracing.
"Ella, do you remember the…um, third paragraph on page 62-?"
"'Secretariat,'" Ella said instantly. "'Favored three to two in the 1973 Kentucky Derby, finished at standing track record of one fifty nine and two fifths." Percy closed the book, his hands shaking.
"Word for word."
"That's amazing," Hazel said.
"Cool," Veon agreed.
"She's a genius chicken," Frank added. Ella's knowledge was truly astounding, but I realized another reason why Phineas may want to capture Ella. Ella had recited a prophecy about a half-blood of the eldest gods that reached sixteen, and it was most likely about Percy. If Ella knew more prophecies, then Phineas might be able to utilize his knowledge of the future and match the prophecies in a kind of timeline.
"Ella, we're going to find a way to break the curse," I declared. "Would you like that?"
"'It's Impossible,'" She said. "'Recorded in English by Perry Como, 1970.'"
"Nothing's impossible. Now, look, we want to find a way to break this curse and beat…Phineas." Ella shook her head vigorously.
"N-n-no! No Phineas. Ella is quick. Too quick for him. B-but he wants to ch-chain Ella. He hurts Ella."
"We won't let him hurt you, I promise." I pulled some nectar out of my bag. I slowly put my hand on Ella, and though she flinched, she eventually relaxed. I poured some nectar on her back and her wound from Phineas began to close. "See? That's better."
"Phineas is bad. And weed whackers. And cheese."
"Absolutely. We won't let him hurt you again. We just need to figure out how to trick him. You harpies must know him better than anybody. Is there any way we can trick him?"
"N-no," Ella said. "Tricks are for kids. 50 Tricks to Teach Your Dog, by Sophie Collins, call number 636-"
"Okay, Ella," I said, sending waves of calmness through my hand and into her. "What weaknesses does he have?"
"Blind. He's blind."
"Is there any way to convince him to help us?"
"Chance. Games of chance. Two to one. Bad odds. Call or fold."
"So he's a gambler?"
"Phineas s-sees things. Prophecies. Fates. God stuff. Not small stuff. Random. Exciting. And he is blind." Frank rubbed his chin.
"Any idea what she means?"
"Phineas sees the future," I said. "He knows tons of important events, but he can't see small things. He can't see what will happen in moments that aren't big, and as someone who can see the future, he takes joys in gambling things he can't predict. He can't see random occurrences, spontaneous games of chance. That makes gambling exciting for him. If we can tempt him into making a bet…"
"You mean if he loses, he has to tell us where Thanatos is," Veon said. "But what do we have to offer? He seems to be the guy who likes high stakes. Two choices: one you live, one you die. If one of our lives are on the line, he may agree to it, as long as there's something big in it for him in return. We're not giving him Ella, that's for sure."
"But what would a blind old man who can see the future and brought back from the dead…?" I began before realization struck me. "Wait a minute…A blind old man!"
"Sight," Ella muttered, reading my thoughts. "Sight is good for blind men. Healing…nope, nope. Gaea won't do that for Phineas. Gaea keeps Phineas b-blind, dependant on Gaea. Yep."
"Gorgon's blood," Everyone except Hazel said together.
"What?" She asked, clearly unhappy at being the only one left out.
"A game of chance," Veon said. "Two options, live and get his sight back or die. High stakes. Lives on the line. Something big in it for him. All standards are met." Frank brought out two ceramic vials he got from the Little Tiber after Percy and Audrey defeated the gorgons.
"Genius. Unless we die, of course."
"Don't worry about that," Percy said. "I've got a plan." Percy began to explain.
"But we can't guarantee you'll survive!" Hazel protested.
"Gaea wants him alive, right?" Audrey asked.
"He plays an important role in her rise," Zy said. "That much I can see clearly. There are things I have to keep quiet since the future is a dangerous thing, but I'd put my bets on Percy being more important that that old seer."
"Well, if she puts her bets on something, I'd follow her lead," Veon said.
"Trust me, it's best not to go against her," Audrey agreed. Reluctantly, the others agreed.
"Are we clear on what you're going to say?" Zy asked. Percy nodded. After a little convincing from me, I got Ella to agree to come with us. Phineas was right where we left him in the middle of the food truck parking lot. He sat on his picnic bench with his bunny slippers propped up, eating a plate of greasy shish kebab. His weed whacker (which I'd reluctantly had to leave with him last time we were here) was at his side, and his bathrobe was smeared with barbecue sauce.
"Welcome back!" He called cheerfully. "I hear the flutter of nervous little wings. You've brought me my harpy?"
"She's here, but she is not yours," I declared. Phineas sucked the grease off his fingers. His milky eyes seemed fixed on a point just above my head.
"I see…Well, actually, I'm blind, so I don't see. Have you come to kill me, then? If so, good luck completing your quest."
"I've come to gamble," Percy said. The old man's mouth twitched. He put down his shish kebab and leaned toward Percy.
"A gamble…how interesting. Information in exchange for the harpy? Winner take all?"
"No, the harpy isn't a part of the deal." Phineas laughed.
"Really? Perhaps you don't understand her value."
"She's a person!" I declared. "She isn't for sale. We understand her value perfectly, and that's why you aren't getting your hands on her today."
"Oh, please! You're from the Roman camp, aren't you? Rome was built on slavery. Don't get all high and mighty with me. Besides, she isn't even human. She's a monster. A wind spirit. A minion of Jupiter."
"News flash, it's the 20st century," Veon said. "Time changes things." Ella squawked nervously, backing away.
"'Jupiter. Hydrogen and helium. 63 satellites.' No minions. Nope." I put my arm around Ella's wings and sent her more waves of comfort and calmness. Percy brought out the ceramic vials.
"I have a different wager. We've got two flasks of gorgon's blood. One kills; one heals. They look exactly the same. Even we don't know which is which. If you choose the right one, it could cure your blindness." Phineas held out his hands eagerly.
"Let me feel them. Let me smell them."
"Not so fast," Zy said. "First you must agree to the terms."
"Terms…" Phineas was breathing shallowly, and I could sense his waves of eagerness to take the offer. "Prophecy and sight…I'd be unstoppable. I could own this city. I'd build my palace here, surrounded by food trucks. I could capture that harpy myself!"
"N-noo," Ella said nervously. "Nope, nope, nope." A villainous laugh is hard to pull off when you're wearing pink bunny slippers, but Phineas gave it his best shot.
"Very well, demigod. What are your terms?"
"You get to choose a vial," Percy said. "No uncorking, no sniffing before you decide."
"That's not fair! I'm blind."
"And I don't have your sense of smell," Percy countered, Zy having provided him with counters to anything Phineas could say beforehand. "You can hold the vials. And I'll swear on the River Styx that they look identical. They're exactly what I told you: gorgon's blood, one vial from the left side of the monster, one from the right. And I swear that none of us knows which is which." He looked to Veon. "Uh, you're our Underworld expert. With all this weird stuff going on with Death, is an oath on the River Styx still binding?"
"Oh yeah," He said. "Styx knows that death is far from the only punishment for breaking her oaths. A number of times she can deal out things much worse than death, and with death no longer an option, well…you don't wanna break a vow right now. She'll make death look like a mercy. Trust me, you break an oath that you're just gonna eat something and then don't, and she'll basically declare war on you. Scary." Phineas stroked his beard in thought.
"So I choose which vial to drink. You have to drink the other one. We swear to drink at the same time."
"Right," Percy said.
"The loser dies, obviously. That kind of poison would probably keep even me from coming back to life…for a long time, at least. My essence would be scattered and degraded. So I'm risking quite a lot."
"But if you win, you get everything," Percy wagered. "If I die, my friends will swear to leave you in peace and not take revenge. You'd have your sight back, which even Gaea won't grant you." The old man's expression soured, and I could feel that Percy struck a nerve. Phineas wanted to see. As much as Gaea had given him, he resented being kept in the dark.
"If I lose, I'll be dead, unable to give you information. How does that help you?" I smiled, as we had already addressed this earlier as well.
"You write down the location of Alcyoneus's lair ahead of time. Keep it to yourself, but swear on the River Styx it's specific and accurate. You also have to swear that if you lose and die, the harpies will be released from their curse."
"Those are high stakes. You face death, Percy Jackson. Wouldn't it be simpler just to hand over the harpy?"
"Not an option." Phineas smiled slowly.
"So you really do understand her worth. Once I have my sight, I'll capture her myself, you know. Whoever controls that harpy…well, I was a king once. This gamble could make me a king again."
"You're getting ahead of yourself. Do we have a deal?" Phineas tapped his nose thoughtfully.
"I can't foresee the outcome. Annoying how that works. A completely unexpected gamble…it makes the future cloudy. But I can tell you this, Percy Jackson - a bit of free advice. If you survive today, you're not going to like your future. A big sacrifice is coming, and you won't have the courage to make it. That will cost you dearly. It will cost the world dearly. It might be easier if you just choose the poison."
"Choosing the poison guarantees an even worse fate for the world," Audrey said. "He'll face trials, but that's our life. If he survives, he gets the chance to prevent things, and a chance is the biggest gamble a demigod can have."
"Just as you like the joys of an unpredictable gamble, we prefer the uncertainty of our lives," I said. "You can see the future, yes, but all beings know one thing for certain about the future as well. We are going to die. Those who are immortal, invincible, seemingly eternal, will all meet an end at one point or another. Whether it's within the next week, or after the stars have blinked out. Even the gods will end, maybe not in death, but ceasing to exist. Whether Gaea rises or falls, whether we succeed or fail, nothing will last forever. But knowing that, we will take pleasure in the gamble we call life. I assume you can make the connection. Though you can see the future and such, you can't predict the outcome of this game. Though we know we are all going to die, we don't know the events that come beforehand. Death is a certainty one way or another. Living isn't. It can go any way, and we're going to take that chance. So, do we have a deal?"
In the trees around the parking lot, the harpies gathered to watch as if they sensed what was at stake. Zy said Percy's odds were high, though she also mentioned that her powers of predictability were weakening. His odds could be one hundred or zero, no fifty-fifty. But it was clear Phineas would agree. We'd planned this out perfectly, and his greed for power was going to make him take this risk. He grinned.
"I swear on the River Styx to abide by the terms, just as you have described them," He said. "Frank Zhang, you're the descendant of an Argonaut. I trust your word. Zytaveon, you know the risks of breaking an oath to the River Styx. Zyanya, a goddess like you understands the importance of a vow. If I win, do you and your friends Emily, Audrey, and Hazel swear to leave me in peace and not seek revenge?"
"I swear it on the River Styx," Veon said.
"As do I," Zy said.
"I swear," I said.
"Me too," Audrey agreed. Frank's hands were clenched so tight, I thought he might break his spear, but he managed to mumble his response.
"I swear it."
"I swear as well," Hazel concluded.
"Swear," Ella muttered. "'Swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon.'" Phineas laughed.
"In that case, find me something to write with. Let's get started." Zy pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from the bag at her right hip and passed them to the seer. He turned and scribbled something on the paper before he put it in his bathrobe pocket and passed back the pen. "I swear this is the location of Alcyoneus's lair. Not that you'll live long enough to read it."
"Veon?" Zy asked. Veon drew his lance and swept all the food off the picnic table. Phineas sat on one side and Percy sat on the other while the rest of us stood behind Percy. Phineas held out his hands.
"Let me feel the vials." Percy gazed at the hills in the distance and I could tell he was making a silent message to Gaea. She said he was important and he needed to be alive until we made it north? Well then she was going to have to prove who was more important, him or Phineas, because one of them was about to die. Phineas curled his fingers in a grasping motion.
"Losing your nerve, Percy Jackson? Let me have them." Percy passed him the vials. The old man compared their weight, running his fingers along the ceramic surfaces. Then he set them both down on the table and rested one hand lightly on each. A tremor passed through the ground - a mild earthquake. I looked to Zy, and she moved her eyes to the left without moving anything else. Her Apollo ability to sense vibrations had told her that the vial on the left seemed to shake slightly more than the one of the right. Sure enough, Phineas grinned wickedly and closed his fingers around the left vial.
"You were a fool, Percy Jackson. I choose this one. Now we drink." Percy took the vial on the right, clearly shaking. The old man raised his vial. "A toast to the sons of Neptune." They both uncorked their vials and drank. That's when I saw Zy smile. Immediately, Percy doubled over, coughing and struggling to breath.
"Percy!" Audrey shouted.
"Oh gods," Hazel muttered.
"Nope!" Ella said. "Nope, nope, nope."
"Yes!" Phineas cried, sitting up straighter, grinning in triumph, blinking his eyes in anticipation. "Any moment now, my sight will return!"
"Percy? Percy?!" Audrey shouted, gripping his shoulders. "Percy, you can't die!"
"He's not," Veon muttered. "There's no death in him. Pain, sure, but no death."
"Know this, Phineas," Zy said. "My power of the future is not so impaired as you might think." Percy gasped for breath…and suddenly he could breathe again. At the same moment, Phineas hunched over like he's been punched. "Gorgon's blood is very sneaky. Blood from the left side will make you believe you're safe, before it kills you as painfully as possible. The cruelty of believing your safety and that you'll be healed only adds to the terror of when the true poison kicks in. Insult to injury, I suppose you could say. Not many know this, as no one's ever been stupid enough to gamble gorgon's blood. Heck, getting two vials, one from each side, is hard enough to procure in the first place. As for the right side, it makes you suffer a slight amount of pain in return for its healing properties. In essence, the two are exactly opposite, though I assume we've already established this. Thank you and goodnight, you sorry excuse for a seer."
"You…you can't!" The old man wailed and I tried to block out his emotions of betrayal and fear. "Gaea, you…you…!" He staggered to his feet and stumbled away from the table, clutching his stomach. "I'm too valuable…!" Steam came out of his mouth, a sickly yellow vapor rising from his ears, his beard, and his blind eyes. "Unfair! You tricked me!" He tried to claw the piece of paper out of his robe pocket, but his hands crumbled, his fingers turning to sand.
"No one tricked you," I said. "You made your choice freely, and we hold you to your oath." The blind king wailed in agony. He turned in a circle, steaming and slowly disintegrating until there was nothing left but an old, stained bathrobe and a pair of bunny slippers.
"Those," Frank said, "are the most disgusting spoils of war ever."
"Trust me, a few millennia of knowledge, and you'll have known worse," Zy said. She walked over and pulled the old man's note out of his pocket. Hazel prodded the robe with her sword. There was nothing underneath, and no sign that Phineas was trying to reform. She looked to Percy in awe.
"That was either the bravest thing I've ever seen, or the stupidest."
"So you were right," Audrey said. "Gaea really was willing to kill off her own servant just for you, Percy. That must mean you're really important."
"Well, I have no doubt that she plans to make his death a little more painful for forcing the choice upon her," Zy said.
"Plans," Ella muttered. "Plans and plots. The lady in the ground. Big plans for Percy. Macrobiotic jerky for Ella." Percy handed her the whole bag of jerky and she squeaked with joy. "Nope, nope, nope. Phineas, nope. Foods and words for Ella, yep."
"So what's it say?" I asked Zy. She held up the piece of paper.
"Hubbard Glacier."
"All that risk for two words," Percy muttered.
"It's a pretty famous place, and to our advantage. We've still got a long way to go, but it's near that tail part of Alaska, and pretty close to the Canadian border. If we can get him under the right circumstances, I might just be able to drag him the few miles we need to kill him. Of course, if Percy's dream is correct, which it most likely will be, we're going to have to face a pretty large army as well. It's still not going to be an easy task." In the trees around the parking lot, the other harpies finally overcame their shock. They squawked with excitement and flew at the nearest food trucks, diving through the service windows and raiding the kitchens. Cooks shouted in many languages, the trucks actually shook from the chaos, and feathers and food boxes flew everywhere.
"We'd better get going," Percy said. "We're running out of time."