I do not own Percy Jackson or any of the characters.
Cold
I stare down the road in silence. We ended up just outside a small town in the mountains of New Mexico, as I expected, except that there was no easy way to leave the town. calling a cab would take an hour and a few hundred dollars, there wasn't enough snow to ski or snowboard, and no mode of transportation out. It kind of reminded me of my own hometown, except my hometown was in the middle of the woods, not the mountain.
"I'm going to go ask at the rest of the houses if there's a way out of town that doesn't involve walking," Thalia says.
"I'll come with you," I say.
"Actually, I want to do this alone," Thalia says. "I...need some time to think."
I nod and she walks away. Percy gives me a concerned look. Ever since we woke up, she's been like this. Saying she needs space, or to think. I don't know what I did to make her mad, or to push her away, but I wish she'd tell me so I can apologize. I glance at the coffee shop where Zoe and Grover are buying us all coffee and pastries. Then, I look to the other side and stop, seeing someone walk down a side street and out of view. I step around the railing of the grocery store's railing and glance at Percy and Bianca, who are both looking between me and the street I'm staring at.
"I'll be back in a minute," I say. "I'm going to go ask down this way."
Percy nods and I walk away, resisting the urge to deploy my bow yet. Once I round the corner, however, I yank my new knife out of its sheath, only to find myself inexplicably lying on my back, the wind knocked out of me and my knife spinning in the hand of my attacker.
"Now now, Adam," the person says. "Is that any way to say hello?"
"Fuck you," I wheeze. "I wish you had stayed dead."
"Come now, I did you a favor," the man grins. "I took that parasite out of you."
"You tortured me!" I snap, grabbing for the knife, only for the man to catch my hand and slam me into the ground, twisting my arm almost out of socket.
"Relax," he says. "I'm not actually here to fight, and I have no intention of harming you again, if you don't make me. I came to give you a warning."
"What's that?" I growl.
"The creature that you got this knife from is an ancient and dangerous creature, as well as being ridiculously difficult to kill," he says.
"I know," I growl. "I put an arrow in his brain, but he was still around to kidnap Annabeth. How'd he get through the barrier anyway? And how the hell are you so strong?"
"I'm like...what's the mortal term...special forces?" he says. "As for the creature, I don't know how it got through the barrier, but an arrow to the brain won't kill it. Neither will this knife."
"What then?"
"Burn it," the man says. "All of it. It can regrow from a single piece."
"Including that knife?" I ask.
"No," the man says. "It would seem that this finger has been replaced. In any event, you have to expect to die. It grows stronger the longer it is alive. you won't be able to fight it this time."
Thanks for the warning, now let me up," I growl.
"As you wish," he says, throwing the knife into the ground beside my head, releasing my arm.
I stand, picking up the knife and turn to him.
"One last thing," he says. "He's immune to all forms of poison, including his own. That knife will do nothing but annoy him."
"Good to know," I say. "I'll stick Luke with it instead, then."
The man simply smiles and walks away, whistling to himself. I put my knife away and turn, stepping around the corner and starting back. Zoe and Grover are back already, and no one seems to have noticed me having any trouble. However, as I'm walking toward them, birds from Grover's coffee cup peel off of the cup and transform into actual birds, flying away. Then a rubber rat Percy had bought in the grocery store, still not sure why it sells them, transforms into a real one, squeaks, and flees from them. Then, Grover collapses. I run over, arriving at the same time as Thalia, who has her spear in-hand.
"Hey guys, I just...what's wrong with Grover?" Thalia asks.
"I don't know," Percy says. "He just collapsed."
I extend my bow as Thalia glances over her shoulder, fear playing across her features for a moment. "Pick him up."
"What is it?" Zoe asks.
"They're here," Thalia says.
The others swear as I nock three arrows and Percy picks up Grover. We run away from the grocery store quickly, trying to escape our invulnerable pursuers. However, as we reach the edge of town, the first two step out of the trees to either side of the road. They'd updated their wardrobe. They now bear blue New Mexico State Police uniforms. I swear, raising my bow and aiming at one. As I do, they draw their pistols, aiming at Percy. Thalia expands Aegis, but the skeleton warriors pay it no mind. I grit my teeth, preparing to fire, only for Zoe to set a hand on my arm.
"Those won't hurt them," she says.
"Might slow them down," I say. "Then you guys can all run."
Grover, who's standing but only barely remaining that way, swoons and leans on Bianca just as two more step out behind us, trapping us.
"Damn," I sigh. "I guess we've only got one real option."
"What, die fighting?" Thalia asks. "It's not all it's cracked up to be. Trust me."
One of the skeletons pulls out a cellphone, making a clicking sound into it, obviously calling the other skeletons.
"It's near," Grover says dreamily, still leaning on Bianca.
"It's here," Percy says.
"No, the gift," Grover says. "The gift from the Wild."
"The Wild?" I blink before looking at Grover. "Grover, what was that earlier?"
Grover simply sighs and I roll my eyes, turning back toward the skeletons in front of us.
"We'll go four-on-four," I say. "Bianca can stay with Grover, that way they'll both be safe."
"Agreed," Zoe nods.
"The Wild!" Grover shouts suddenly.
A warm wind blew across us just as Percy charged. Then, in an action I will honestly say I could never see coming, Percy slashed a bullet out of the air, deflecting it off the edge of his sword. The Edge. Not the flat part. The edge. The thin part you use to cut people with. A few steps later, he reached the skeleton as it drew a baton and I snapped out of my stunned stupor. I turn to the other skeleton before us, planting an arrow in each eye and one in its heart. It staggers back several steps before stopping and roaring loudly. Behind me, I hear another roar, either Zoe or Thalia making their skeleton mad as well. However, two more gunshots went off and Percy went down hard. But then he pushed himself back up, the bullets falling off his coat and bouncing away. I grin. I want one. I duck as my skeleton, who charged me with his baton after I shot his pistol out of his hand with an arrow, swipes at me, then split it up the front, spinning as Thalia shouts in surprise and pain. She's holding her shin where the skeleton managed to land a lucky hit. I place an arrow in its foot as it moves to step forward, pinning it to the ground and making it drop, landing hard. Bianca, who's passing by, jabs it with her hunting knife, and the thing shrieks, erupting into flames before going out, leaving a pile of ash and a police badge.
"How'd you do that?" Zoe asks as I spin, removing my skeleton's arm before he can hit me with his baton, then decapitate him.
I back up as the others do the same. Bianca's traded her bow for her knife, claiming to maybe have gotten in a lucky stab, but I think there's more to it. The skeletons do too, because they don't let her anywhere near them. Suddenly, just as I'm driving an arrow into one of the skeleton's faces and shoving it away, the trees behind the skeletons all but exploded. A boar thirty feet tall and bristling with brown hair, and with tusks the size of canoes charged out, squealing loudly before raking the three skeletons aside with its tusks. And it did well too. The skeletons actually took flight, sailing through the air over the trees into the sides of the mountain where they all exploded into a shower of bones. The pig turned on us and I drew my bow back, Thalia raising her spear.
"Don't kill it!" Grover shouts.
"That's the Erymanthian Boar," Zoe says. "I don't think we can kill it."
"I can," I say. "I don't think this one's immune to poison. And I've got two excessively deadly types."
"It's a gift!" Grover pleads. "A blessing from the Wild!"
"Are you talking about Pan?" I ask.
"Yes!" Grover shouts, nodding vigorously.
The Boar squeals and swipes at us, but we all dive out of the way, Percy bringing Grover with him.
"It wants to kill us!" Percy shouts.
"Of course!" Grover says. "It's wild!"
"So how is that a blessing!?" Thalia demands.
Apparently, the pig feels offended, because it squeals loudly and spins on Thalia, charging. She rolls out of the way and it destroys the town announcing the town's name instead. Then, it turns toward me, snorting, pawing the ground, and charges. I roll my eyes, rolling out f the way and take off sprinting up a nearby hill, Thalia and Percy running with me, apparently also feeling like getting away from the boar as it charges after us. One the way up the hill, the trees barely slow it down, but they keep us alive. Then, on the way down, the pig is slipping and sliding too much to keep up. We're sprinting along a set of old train tracks before I even notice them. Percy's in the lead, and ahead is a large covered tunnel. On the far side, a rickety old train bridge. There's a huge gap that the bridge spans, and as we near it, I'd guess it's about seventy feet. However, as we near it, Thalia goes white as a sheet.
"No!" she screams.
I wince in sympathy and pick her up, throwing her over my shoulder as Percy and I run for the bridge.
"No!" she pleads. "Stop! Please! I can't!"
"Trust me Thalia!" I shout over both her and the pig that's gaining on us.
Thalia continues to shout but isn't struggling as much. However, we only make it about ten feet onto the bridge before the pig reaches it. Percy shouts in fear and I grit my teeth, leaping too the side. Thalia screams as I expand Aegis for her. She and I land beside each other on the shield, me with my arms around her to keep her falling off and injuring the arm attached to the shield. Then, Percy lands sideways across our laps and Thalia's free hand grabs onto him as she does her best to bust my eardrums, the shield skidding down the side of the gorge on rocks, mud, and a tiny layer of snow. Finally, we reach the bottom where the pig has landed in a snow drift almost as big as it is, trapping it. We skid to a stop and I sigh, shoving Percy off of us and standing, helping Thalia up.
"You're afraid of heights," Percy accuses Thalia.
"Don't be stupid," Thalia says.
"That's why you freaked out in Apollo's bus," Percy says. "Why you-"
"Percy, she'll zap you," I warn him.
"If you tell anyone, I swear-"
"No no, it's cool," Percy says before gaining a shit-eating grin that would have made Hermes proud. "It's just, the daughter of Zeus, Lord of the Skies, is afraid of heights."
Thalia begins to crackle with electricity, only for it to fade as Grover shouts down to us from above.
"Down here!" Percy calls out.
I fish some rope out of my pack and tie it to an arrow, then send the arrow into a tree at the top of the gorge. Zoe, who has just arrived with Bianca, takes the rope and ties it around the tree, and the three of them carefully make their way down to us.
"A gift of the Wild," Grover says, staring at the pig.
"Well, I certainly don't feel like walking," I say. "Anyone want to try pig riding?"
"You're joking," Thalia says.
"Nope," I grin, winking and running up the side of the snow drift.
Well, struggle is a better word since I sink to my knees. However, after a moment, I'm seated on the pig's back, clinging to its hair and watching the others expectantly. Thalia sighs heavily and walks over next, sitting in front of me. Which is fine with me, since it means that I have to hold onto her instead of the hair. Grover is next and gets on in front of Thalia, then Zoe behind me, Bianca behind her, and Percy in the rear. Grover tosses an apple in front of the boar, playing a quick tune consisting of short staccato notes and the apple hovers just above the boar's snout, spinning slowly. The boar goes nuts, struggling to get the apple, eventually breaking out of the snow and taking off at a charge. We ride it for hours, at least ten, until the sun sets. Miles into a desert, the grass and bushes being replaced by dry cracked ground, sand, and the odd cactus or two. Finally, the boar stops at a stream, drinking the water and ripping a cactus out of the ground to eat, needles and all. I drop to the ground without a word, the others following suit. As the others quickly put distance between us and the boar, I stop to fill up the six water bottles I had thought to pack before leaving camp. Then, I jog to catch up with the others.
"Percy, think you can clean the mud out of these?" I ask.
"Yeah," Percy nods, quickly doing so, leaving us each a bottle of fresh, clean water to drink.
We all stop after anther minute and stare. Before us is a cracked two-lane road with a rundown, long abandoned town on the far side. Then, there are piles of junk. Cars, appliances, broken Greek weapons. Miles of junk. Grover does a quick tracking spell and reports that we definitely have to go into the junkyard that's filled with broken weapons. So, we decide to make camp first.
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