When the blue color faded away, I found myself sitting in with the questers and Percy in the middle of a huge dump site.
Apparently, Percy had talked with Aphrodite.
"What did she want with you?" Bianca asked.
"Oh. Uh, just to be careful in her Husbands junkyard. Don't pick anything up."
Zoë raised her eyebrows suspiciously. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip for that. Be careful, Percy. The love goddess has led many astray."
Thalia sighed. "For once, I agree with Zoë, Percy. You can't trust Aphrodite."
Grover was looking at Percy as if he was staring into his soul. There were a few rumors that they had an empathy link.
Percy looked anxious to change the subject of conversation.
"So, how do we get out of here?"
Zoë looked up at the night sky. "That way," she said, pointing towards a direction.
I looked up too. Zoë was correct.
"Ursa Major looks different this year," I said.
Zoë nodded sadly. "The fine bear has been trying to capture the Hyades since the Medieval Renaissance."
The Hyades? I remembered their joyful smiles, singing sweet little songs. Until the day happened and Hyas was gone.
I wiped a tear off my face.
Zoë led the questers towards the west, forcing them and I to climb over mountains of metal, bronze, and flaming junk. The stuff reeked like crazy and it was a miracle that nobody had stepped on a piece the wrong way and gotten a junk piece impaled in their feet.
Bianca picked up a hairpin out of curiosity. It very quickly turned into a bow.
She gasped. "Look. It's like Percy's sword."
Zoë grimaced. "Put it down Bianca."
"But-"
"Things get thrown out here for a reason. Its all defunct junk."
"You think we're going to get attacked by that?" Percy asked.
Thalia glared at him. "Zoe's right, Percy. Thing get thrown out here for a reason."
"That's the second time you've agreed with Zoë." Percy muttered. Thalia ignored him.
As they traversed hills and mountains of "junk", I found several interesting old items. An old sundial that I could've sworn that Calypso had had. A rusty dagger that seemed the right shape to be one of the Hyades' weapons. And...
An elegantly carved bow with curved edges and strings that did not unravel.
Hyas' bow. In a kind of trance, I picked it up. I'd thought it had been lost forever when the Palace had been raided and Hyas' bow was lost. But here it was, sitting in a "Junkyard".
I slung it over my back.
"What did I tell thou about picking stuff up?" Zoë said.
"This is an exception," I replied, somewhat angrily.
"Thou will get us all killed! Put it down, now," Zoë ordered.
"Make me," I said. Zoë couldn't possibly understand why this bow was so important to me.
Zoë lunged forward, reaching for the bow. I wasn't fast enough to push her arm out of the way so I pulled back.
"Whoa! Stop it y-" someone said.
Crack!
The bow snapped in half.
I gasped. Clenching my fists, I smacked Zoë in the head, propelling her 30 feet away, straight into a dump pile.
Despite the blow, Zoë managed to take out her bow and fire an arrow, right into my right foot.
Pain flared and the momentary anger I'd had disappeared for a little bit, replaced with the pain of having a projectile stuck in my foot.
Percy and Thalia came over to me. Bianca and Grover came to Zoë's aid, not that she needed any.
"Hang on Kath. This might hurt," Thalia said, putting her hands on the arrow.
Thalia gripped the arrow tightly and pulled it out, with a slight gasp from me.
"Ouch!" I yelped as the arrow finally came out.
"That had to be three octaves higher than your regular voice," Percy said as he gave me a drink of nectar and a cube of ambrosia. The ambrosia reminded me of Leto's amazingly flavored crackers as they always did. The nectar didn't taste any less good.
The wound started fading away slowly but the pain was still there.
Zoë had gotten out relatively unscathed and she glared at me with her eyes. I glared back.
I tried getting up but my bones seemed to be fractured. Sharp pain shot through the bone making me wince in pain and fall back down.
Percy and Thalia each put a hand on around my back and helped me up.
Gods forbid, I might have to use crutches. I picked up the cracked bow that had once been so elegant. Blinking back tears, I held it in my left arm. Describing the bow as elegant would be a lie now.
Percy and Thalia helped me walk and there was a silent unanimous agreement between the questers that they'd walk around the huge mounts that were separating them from a road with an old truck.
It seemed like ages had passed when my foot finally touched down in worn asphalt.
"Thank the Gods. We got through." Zoë said.
But apparently, the Gods still wanted sacrifices after all these years.
The metal mountain that had been in the way of the questers started moving, presenting a pair of dented, rusty, feet. And then I realized just what the mountain was.
The mountain was a huge metal character. It's whole body was the size of a skyscraper, it's sword longer than the Titanic. Rusty metal scraps flew off it's body, raining the junkyard with more junk. It was impossibly tall.
"Talos," Zoë said.
"Who?" Percy asked.
"Talos. One of Hephaesteus' creations," Thalia said, "But that can't be the real one. It's too small."
Offended Thalia's wording, the statue lifted swung it's sword, forcing Zoë and Grover to roll.
Percy took out his pen sword and Thalia wielded her spear but they couldn't attack without leaving me behind.
"Percy, help Kath," Thalia said. She let go of me and ran off to help the questers fight off the enormous body.
"Uh... I'll go too. Stay here Kath!" Percy said, letting go of me too, causing me to fall on my butt. Percy ran off, saying sorry a few times.
Just then, Luke Castellan who was hiding behind the truck dragged me into a smaller car that had been hidden behind the truck.
Luke looked too good after having carried the sky. His blond hair and athletic complexion reminded me of Hermes when Hermes had been young. What ruined the image was the scar that ran down his face.
"I've been waiting all day for the perfect moment," he said, turning the engine on, "Atlas wants some results."
"I've got them," I said, holding up a tiny bracelet and a watch.
The bracelet turned into a replica of Aegis as soon as I finished the sentence. Just as quickly, It turned back into a bracelet. Percy's watch did the same thing afterwards. The shield showed pictures of Percy and his friends fighting monsters as if it made the shield look scarier. Hyas' bow was still in my arm.
"Good. He might not kill you afterwards," Luke said, slamming his foot on the gas pedal.
The car raced away from the junkyard and the questers.