Michael
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By morning, we'd arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. The sign said WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO. The air was cold and thin. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny. I'd even let my new lion friend out to hunt for a while. I ended up naming him Ajaz, after one of the strongest Greek warriors to ever leave, something that even Zoe had to agree with.

We stopped in the middle of town. You could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.

"Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."

"There's a coffee shop," I pointed out.

"Yes," Zoe said. "Coffee is good."

Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about you two go get us some food. Killian, Bianca, and I will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."

"Switch with Michael," Zoe told Thalia. "Let him go with Bianca and Killian."

Thalia looked surprised, but agreed at her insistence.

We agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable coming with us, but she did.

Inside the store, we found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car.

"You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo," the clerk said doubtfully. "That's down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars."

The clerk looked so lonely, I bought a rubber rat. Then we headed back outside and stood on the porch.

"I'm going to get some food," Killian said. He seemed awkward around Bianca and I. After my conversation with Zoe last night, I couldn't blame him.

He walked down the street to the coffee store.

Bianca and I stood together awkwardly. I mean... It's been years since we've been able to talk one-on-one like this, and now we were older. I wasn't sure what to say, especially now that I knew her past and her experience on this quest.

"Nice rat," she said at last.

I set it on the porch railing. Maybe it would attract more business for the store.

"So... long time no see, huh?"

"We saw each other yesterday."

"That's not what I mean." I shook my head. "It's been ages, hasn't it? Since Vegas."

Her expression became clouded. "I guess. It's probably been longer for you than me. After all, I did...I..."

"Hey, hey," I said, rushing forward to catch her as she swayed. I grabbed her hand and set it on the railing. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped it with all her strength. "Hey, it's okay, Bianca, it's okay. Look at me." I cupped her face, helping her focus on me. "I know, okay? You don't have to say anything."

She nodded, trying to steady her breathing. It took a couple minutes, but finally she settled.

"Sorry," she said, not meeting my eyes. "I...I have nightmares, still."

"I understand," I told her. "Trust me. Listen, we won't talk about it here. We'll wait until we're back at camp, where you'll feel safe."

She nodded again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, the onyx orbs were teary.

"Than..." Her voice died out as she tried to speak.

I shook my head. "Don't. Just focus on the air around you."

She nodded. I had her put both hands on the railing to help keep herself grounded and we waited for the others to come back.

After a few minutes, Thalia ran up. I didn't see Killian or Zoe with her, which worried me. Also, she had her spear out. Never a good sign.

"We need to go!" she shouted at us.

"Where's Zoe and Killian?" I asked, about to hop over the railing, Before I could, however, it seemed to crumble to dust. The rat I had placed on the rail had fallen to the ground and was slowly decaying. I glanced over at Bianca to see her face white with fear. "Bianca! B, calm down! It's alright, it's alright!"

"What's going on?" Thalia asked, running up to her.

"PTSD," I said shortly. "The closer we get, the worse it becomes."

"Closer we get? To whe-" Thalia stopped short, realization dawning on her face. "Oh, shit! I didn't realize! I'm so sorry, Bianca!"

"It's fine," I assured her. "Where are Zoe and Killian?"

"Here!" shouted Zoe. They were running down the street like the devil was after them. They skidded to a halt beside Thalia. Killian seemed to be having a harder time breathing than Zoe was. "The boy made a wall of fire, which seemed to have slowed them down, but we must-"

It was then that she noticed Bianca's state of panic. She cursed.

"Grab her," she ordered me. "We need to run. Now."

Without hesitation I scooped Bianca up and threw her over my shoulder. Together, we ran down the street, heading for the path down the mountain.

We made it to the edge of the town before the first two skeleton warriors appeared. They stepped from the trees on either side of the road. Instead of gray camouflage, they were now wearing blue New Mexico State Police uniforms, but they had the same transparent gray skin and yellow eyes.

They drew their handguns. I'll admit I used to think it would be kind of cool to learn how to shoot a gun, but I changed my mind as soon as the skeleton warriors pointed theirs at me.

Thalia tapped her bracelet. Aegis spiraled to life on her arm, but the warriors didn't flinch. Their glowing yellow eyes bored right into me.

I formed an ice sword in my hand, but I wasn't sure of the stopping power ice had on bullets. Besides, I was carrying Bianca. I couldn't let her get hit.

Zoe drew her bow and Killian ignited his hands on fire.

"Back up," Thalia said.

We started to—but then I heard a rustling of branches. Two more skeletons appeared on the road behind us. We were surrounded.

I wondered where the other skeletons were. I'd seen a dozen at the Smithsonian. Then one of the warriors raised a cell phone to his mouth and spoke into it.

Except he wasn't speaking. He made a clattering, clicking sound, like dry teeth on bone. Suddenly I understood what was going on. The skeletons had split up to look for us. These skeletons were now calling their brethren. Soon we'd have a full party on our hands.

"An invincible cat would be good right about now," Thalia muttered.

"Sorry, can't exactly control him."

"We'll have to go one-on-one," Thalia said. "Four of them. Four of us. Maybe they'll ignore Bianca that way."

"Agreed," said Zoe.

I carefully set Bianca down, which was hard to do one handed. I'd have to watch her and make sure none of the skeletons got anywhere near her.

Thalia and I charged the two in front of us.

The first skeleton fired. Time slowed down. I won't say I could see the bullet, but I could feel its path, the same way I felt the moon's rays. Did I forget to mention that I can feel that? Anyway, I deflected it off the edge of my blade and kept charging.

The skeleton drew a baton and I sliced off his arms at the elbows. Then I swung my sword through his waist and cut him in half.

His bones unknit and clattered to the asphalt in a heap. Almost immediately, they began to move, reassembling themselves. The second skeleton clattered his teeth at me and tried to fire, but I knocked his gun into the snow.

Thalia charged in and ran her spear through its chest. The strike lifted it up in the air. I swung my sword and decapitated it in one swift strike. It's bones clattered to the floor.

But they were quickly reforming.

"How're we supposed to kill these things?" I asked backing up as the first one picked it's gun back up.

"I don't know!" Thalia yelled at me, raising her shield to deflect a bullet strike. "You're the mythology expert!"

"You've been a demigod longer than me!"

A sudden burst in heat distracted me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Killian lighting one on fire. It was so hot that the skeleton's bones literally evaporated.

"Look out!" Thalia shouted.

I turned, but it was too late. Skeleton #2 tackled me to the ground. It raised it's baton, ready to smash my head in. Then, all of a sudden, the whole skeleton erupted into flames, leaving me covered in ash and a police badge on my chest.

Standing above me was Bianca. With her hair swept to the side by the frigid wind, her eyes glinting dangerously, I couldn't think of anything else but "Hermosa."

"How'd you do that?" Thalia yelled, deflecting another bullet.

Bianca turned and said, "I don't know! I did it last time, too!"

"Well, do it again!"

But the other two skeletons were wary of her. They stayed out of her reach.

"Here," I said, rolling over. I placed a hand on the ground. Ice spread from my touch, rushing over to where the skeleton stood. My ice crawled up it's legs, freezing it in place. "Do it now."

The skeleton lowered it's pistol, but that was shot out of it's hand by Zoe. Behind her, Killian was melting the last skeleton's gun in its hands as they grappled for it.

Bianca lunged forward, driving a hunting knife into the skeletons chest. He, too, burst into flames and ash.

"Heads up!" Killian yelled. He grabbed the last skeleton by its collar and threw it towards Bianca. She turned and the skeleton landed on her blade.

As it's ash drifted to the ground, Zoe began picking up arrows.

"We should keep moving," she said. "We need to keep heading west. We do not have much time left."

"How are we going to get down the mountain fast enough?" Thalia asked.

A roar answered her question. Out of the woods bounded Ajax, except I wasn't entirely sure it was Ajax. His pelt had been changed to a soft white with gray lines, almost resembling a Siberian tiger. He still had his mane, but it looked fluffier, like snow.

"Well, three of you can ride him," I said. "The fourth can come with me."

"Go with you?" Zoe asked. "What do you mean?"

"Who's willing to let me hold them?"

Thalia and Killian screamed as they rode Ajax as he raced down the mountain, Thalia in fear and Killian in excitement. Zoe's eyes were bright as she held tightly onto Ajax's mane, her smile wider than I've seen it.

A few yards away, I slid down an ever-expanding slide of ice. I held Bianca in my arms as she stood on my feet, her shoes in her hands. She was pulled flush against me. I could feel the rapid beating of her heart through her chest against mine. She smelled vaguely of vanilla.

The ice path curved around trees and overgrown undergrowth. I just slid along seamlessly, my feet gliding on the ice.

Ajax's massive paws pounded against the ground as he raced along. He followed the road, which was fortunately empty. Would've been awkward if a mortal saw three teens riding a giant cat down the road.

In no time we reached the bottom of the mountain. At the bottom we found a rest stop. We asked around if there were any abandoned cars that were still drivable. Fate seemed to be on our side as there happened to be a truck that was big enough to fit all of us.

Zoe and I had a bit of an argument about who was going to drive which she eventually won by convincing me that I could drive on the way back. How that happened, I have no idea. But before we knew it, we were back on the road.

We drove until sunset, which was all I could take in the back of the truck. I was kicked into the bed of the truck for arguing with Zoe and was sick and tired of bouncing around, afraid of flying out every time she hit a pothole head on.

I had 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 driving across the desert.

It was a miracle we still had gas as Zoe pulled up to a taco shop that looked like it hadn't been open since before she was born. Around us wasn't much better. A boarded-up house 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.

The thought made me nervous. Percy had said to avoid a junkyard, right? Well, how are we supposed to avoid a junkyard that stretched as far as the eye could see? Stupid fuck.

We decided to camp for the night and go through the junkyard in the morning. None of us wanted to go Dumpster-diving in the dark.

Zoe produced five sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of her backpack. I don't know how they did it, because the pack was 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 Killian and I collected old boards from the ruined house, and Killian ignited them with a small ball of fire 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."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I remember always being excited to spot Orion in the sky. I loved seeing the Three Kings in the sky. I'd use them to find my favorite star: Sirius."

"The brightest star in the sky," Killian said. "I think I see it now."

I felt a smile crawl across my face. Being able to see all this...It was beautiful. The galaxy, this universe, it was beautiful. And I was so grateful to be reminded of that.

"If I ever have a chance," I started, "I would want to clear up the pollution in the air. Everyone deserves to be able to see this every night, no matter where they are."

"The Olympians haven't been the best when it comes to protecting the environment," Zoe said bitterly. "Pan, the Lord of the Wild, hasn't been seen in thousands of years because of his diminished domain. I know my lady and her brother try their best, but they're two gods. Against an entire world of humans who don't care, it seems like an impossible battle."

"If I ever become a god, I'll make it my personal mission to help clean up the earth. It's beauty shouldn't be tainted."

"Hm." I looked back down to find Zoe smiling at me. "I would like to see that beauty again. And Bianca is right: you do have a way with words."

Bianca let out a squeak and covered her face, making the rest of us laugh. The others chattered among themselves, but I stared at Bianca.

Her blush covered her cheeks in a reddish hue, made deeper by the light of the campfire. Her dark eyes reflected each individual flame.

Looking at her made me feel guilty. I couldn't explain it. It was just this pit in my stomach, gnawing at my meta-physical insides. Maybe. I don't know. All I knew was that tomorrow was going to be rough.