Chapter VIII

As the track surfaced and we watched the helicopter still circling around at the parking lot, I turned to Bianca.

"Really good thinking with the subway" I told her and she nodded pleased with herself.

"When me and Nico came through here last summer, I saw it. I was really surprised to see it, it wasn't here when we lived here before." She said and again I stumbled over her words.

"Bianca, Washington's subway is from the seventies, it's not that old, but it's not exactly new either. Are you sure you didn't just forget about this station?"

"I am," She said slightly upset. "Trust me, it wasn't there when we lived here as little kids."

"Well, you've kept yourself well for a sixty year old."

I smiled as I saw her lightly flustered face, she was really cute like this. But I pushed those thoughts away. Not only was she a Hunter, this was neither the time nor place for thoughts like these, the Spartoi could appear nearby anytime now and that helicopter might start to chase us again.

Speaking of which, it seemingly was doing just that. The sound of the rotor blades got louder again and the ominous black shape drew closer, throwing a large shadow engulfing the tracks below.

"We need to change trains," Percy said. "Next station."

There was a murmur of agreement and we did just that. Multiple times. After switching trains thrice in just half an hour we were utterly lost and standing at the end of the line, in an old industrial area. Old rusty freight cars covered in snow sat around us, they looked as if they had been standing here for a good twenty years, which didn't seem too unlikely.

A cold wind blew through the railroad yard and the others shivered and I would even go as far as to say that it was somewhat uncomfortable. Perhaps it was colder than I thought, because we must have seemed quite desperate, so much so that a homeless man called over to us.

"Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!"

I tried not to look too suspicious at him, I didn't care that he was homeless, but anyone unknown offering help to demigods might just be a monster looking for a snack. But from toothless yet warm grin I got the feeling he was no threat to us.

Well this is g-g-great." Thalia said with chattering teeth.

"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.

"Feet." Percy corrected him, but I felt like that just made it stranger.

"Maybe we should contact Camp," Bianca said. "Chiron-"

"No," Zoë said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

I nodded. "There isn't much they could do anyway, we are too far away and in a race against time."

"You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends. You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," Percy answered. "You know of any?"

The man raised a hand, pointing at one of the long freight trains. Sun west line it read on the side of the carts, when we turned back he was gone. Very subtle I thought, couldn't the totally unknowable immortal that just helped us not at least choose something less obvious, that didn't scream I'm the god of the sun.

A good hour later I was sitting within a Lincoln Limousine, in light of the luxurious accommodation provided I was a lot more forgiving of his lack of subtlety. I was enjoying not having to do anything and was about to fall asleep when someone knocked on the blackened glass. I looked up startled as Percy entered.

"You always were a spoiled kid weren't you, of course you picked a limo." He teased as he entered, but there was something dampening his usual cheer.

"Of course, only the best." I said with a grin, though he again didn't share it.

"Something bothering you?" I asked and he nodded and I sighed. "Mind telling me?"

"What's the mountain of despair?" He asked and I sat up. "Thalia told me to ask Zoë, saying she's the expert, but I guess you know why I don't want to."

"Othrys, does that ring any bells? The great fortress of the Titans, his palace and our destination." I stated. "It's a magnet for monsters and trouble, part of the reason we don't see that many demigods from the area."

"Oh," Percy said, surprised.

"Oh indeed," I said and narrowed my eyes. "But that's not really what has you so down is it?"

"I think Annabeth wants to join the Hunters..." He said with weak voice.

"What made you think something like that?" I asked, surprised myself now.

"Thalia said something about it, besides, I found those recruitment flyers of them in her backpack." He explained and I nodded in understanding.

"It seems not unlikely that she considered it, Annabeth has her own troubles and the Hunters offer a certain route of escape." I started and watched him slump a bit.

"But don't dread Percy, I don't think she would have actually done it, trust me on that." I continued and he raised his brow. "Just a bit of forethought, let's just say I have a hunch."

I reached over to him and did something I rarely did, even with family, I gave him a hug. I wasn't that much of a touchy-feely person usually, but Percy seemed in desperate need of support.

"But enough of that, those depressing thoughts won't do you any good." I told him decisively "How about something more productive, mind telling me word for word what the general said?"

He sighed but nodded as I pulled a notebook out of my backpack. Inside I kept notes of all I knew of the enemies planning, of course all written in the tongue of the old times, I couldn't risk spies learning just what I knew if they ever got their hands on it. As Percy talked I scribbled and wrote, correcting details. It wasn't much he could tell me, but I still got a better estimation of their current progress, every bit of information could make a distance.

"Well I think I should get going," He said. "Unless you want to pester me with any more questions?"

"No," I answered. "But I want to say sorry I guess, for how I treated you after the game. I was just angry, I really wanted to win and we did, but it just seemed so irresponsible what you did."

He sighed. "It's alright, you aren't wrong, I should have told you before going, but the opportunity was just too good."

"I can understand that well enough, catch some sleep will you?" I said as I mockingly waved him out of the car.

I stretched as I put the notebook aside, perhaps I should follow that advice myself, there wasn't much I could do anyway. I doubted anything would bother us while we were inside a shut moving freight train, so I strapped off my armor. I had grown used to wearing it, even sleeping in it. It wasn't too great of a bother, the armor was very light, it was after all crafted by magically talented smiths, as such had many boons, it grew with me, it was lighter, more durable, really if they weren't so evil the Telkhines would be quite admirable, not that it made it any more comfortable to sleep in.

Suddenly the door opened again and I called out, still busy with my armor.

"Back so soon Percy?" I asked while fiddling off one of the greaves.

"I am offended thee would mistake me for thy brother." The familiar arrival said with slight amusement.

Surprised I looked up at the lieutenant of the Hunt, what was she doing here?

"Zoë," I acknowledged as she sat down, of course as far away as possible.

"You write in the old tongue," She stated as her eyes landed on my notebook.

"Sometimes," I said. "Important things, sensitive information, the number of people that speak it and aren't hopefully still in the pit is not that large, doubly so among the Campers."

She reached over to it and skimmed through it. I had no problem with her reading it, she probably knew all of it beforehand anyways.

"How sure are thee about thy estimates?" Zoë asked "Six months till the elder titans are free at the earliest, eight at the latest? How do thee even get those numbers?" She inquired with worry as she handed it back.

"Compiled information from the last strategy meetings I attended, estimations in relation between them," I explained before admitting. "and a lot of educated guessing."

"As to how sure I am?" I continued. "Decently, perhaps my estimates are off a bit, a few weeks, sometimes a month even. But I doubt you came here to rifle through my notes, so why are you here?"

"With our current path we are bound to reach a desert soon." She stated and I nodded.

"The land without rain." I agreed and she nodded grimly as well.

"Yes, two will be lost, so many of us will not live to see the end of this."

"Lost and dead are not the same are they now? Your goddess is lost as well, isn't she?" I said hopefully.

"I am afraid I can't share thy optimism." Zoë said bitterly.

I looked at her, she looked miserable and I got the feeling she was including herself in those who won't live to see the end of this.

"You will be the one to perish? That's what you think isn't it?" I stated, she didn't react, but her opinion on that topic was clear.

"Does Bianca know?" I asked and she shook her head.

"I did not want to burden her with it."

"So why come to me?"

She remained silent.

"You know it must not be you who dies." I said and she shook her head again.

"Who else is it to be? You know our destination as well as I do. You know who we will face." Zoë insisted.

"You are right, but we can't be sure what the prophecy truly means." I argued. "Perhaps someone who isn't even part of the quest members will die. Perhaps the Olympians decided to kill Thalia, she's almost sixteen, they could seek to prevent the Prophecy. Perhaps they'll kill me, they have reason not to trust me.

"Do you truly believe that thyself?" She asked.

I met her gaze, her onyx eyes seemed to be one thing reflecting her age, despite her youthful appearance. One thing became clear as I met her eyes, she had come to terms with her death if it meant success on this quest. It must be terrifying to see your death coming towards you and that less than a week away, I was impressed she could remain as composed as she did.

"Predicting how prophecies will end is a recipe for disaster, for one will try to prevent them. I am only naming possibilities." I said, deflecting the question. "But honestly, I don't know what to believe. My rational part tells me that you are probably correct, but that doesn't mean you should write yourself off like that."

"I have not written myself off boy." She flared up, but didn't continue, her anger fading and she turned away.

"I have wasted enough time talking to thee." Zoë decided and got up, leaving without another word.

Scowling I remained as she left, what had she wanted from me, was she truly that distressed as to just talk to me for no deeper reason? surely not, I had no problem with her, but from the way she treated men I had doubt she'd call me a friend, so why talk to me of all people.

Admittedly I was still worried about her, as I would be for anyone that I at least considered an ally if they told me they'd be dead soon. What I had said gnawed at me as well. I had always considered it a very real and looming possibility for the Olympians to just incarcerate me.

I was sure they saw a good reason for it too, so could I even blame them? I doubted I would act much differently as a god, sacrificing a few half-bloods to push this war further away? A good deal if you asked me, but still I like being alive. I wasn't even sure I would get into Elysium and I sure didn't want to become another nameless mindless soul wandering Asphodel, doubly so if I didn't even get to die a proper death before that.

With those happy thoughts I closed my eyes and soon slipped to sleep.

I scrunched my eyes at a map of Cloudcroft, New Mexico, and the surrounding area which I had bought in one of the tourist stores. As amazed as I was by the distance we had covered with the train in a couple of hours, almost two thousand miles, I couldn't help but wonder why we couldn't have ended up somewhere less desolate.

"We could walk to Alamogordo, it would take eight, maybe seven hours if we pulled through." I said doubtfully.

"And then?" Zoë asked skeptically. "How on from there?"

"I don't know, perhaps we could get to El Paso somehow. I'm sure we can somehow get a car there. From there we could take a Greyhound or something to LA and then up north." I proposed, still unsure.

"Walking for eight hours through the wild, that's an invite for trouble." Thalia criticized and I glared at her.

"Might I remind you that all of you were very much opposed to borrowing a car."

"We won't just steal a car, our situation is not nearly desperate enough for that." She argued and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine then, so tell me how you see us getting out of here, if you don't want either." I asked, upset.

"I only spoke my mind, why do you have to get so riled up?" She retorted and stopped.

I halted as well and met her glare, holding against her electric blue eyes, in spite of the storm that was raging in them. I wasn't going to let her push me around when I was in the right.

"I am not riled up," I said. "If you think you have a better plan just say it."

"Ooh a coffee shop!" Grover exclaimed distracted and I heard Zoë murmur in consensus.

"I think it's best if you three get some coffee and food, Percy, Bianca and I will go ask in that shop over there." Thalia said, pointing to a nearby store. "Let's just meet back here in fifteen minutes."

"This seems to be for the best, besides, some coffee would be great." Zoë agreed and I knew there was no gain in arguing with both of them, so I just nodded.

Really it had been a good idea to get some food, I was a lot less grumpy with the smell of coffee in my nose. We remained silent as we ordered, there wasn't a long line, which was unsurprising considering it was still quite early and without much snow this year the tourists weren't exactly crowding the place. I couldn't help but glance at the lieutenant with worry occasionally, which didn't go unnoticed by her, though she didn't mention it.

When we returned, Percy and Bianca were talking. Their conversation seemed surprisingly important from their serious expressions and whatever Percy had just said Bianca was quite angry about it. Thalia wasn't in sight, but I didn't put too much thought into it.

"Hey," I said, drawing their attention. "We've got something for you."

I handed them both a cup of hot chocolate and we divvied up the pastries we had bought. Percy got a blueberry muffin, an intentional choice from me which he seemed quite delighted about. I finally could turn my attention to the cup of coffee and piece of cherry cake I had picked.

Looking at Percy and Bianca to my right, I wondered what they had spoken about. From the way Bianca had looked at him he must have said something quite upsetting, but I didn't want to be too nosey, not that I had the chance to anyways as Zoë spoke up.

"We should do the tracking spell, Grover, do you have any acorns left."

The satyr confirmed that he did in fact, have acorns left, when he suddenly froze up mid sentence.

Something pushed through the air, it felt primeval, hard to describe, like a breeze of spring and summer, full of life, entirely unfitting with the surrounding landscape that looked somewhere between dead and asleep. It was accompanied with a whisper, an eerie voice, not quite intelligible, though its tone was warning.

"Grover, thy cup." Zoë gasped.

The birds of his cup had peeled off and flown away and I looked to my own, the roses decorating mine had luckily not sprung out, which would have been far more inconvenient. But it didn't remain with his cup, the strange rubber rat sitting in front of Percy was filled with life as well, turning quite real before skidding off.

Grover collapsed to the ground, he wasn't quite unconscious, it was more like he was having a seizure in a way, though that comparison seemed also unfitting.

We gathered around him, as he lay there stammering in the snow, he seemed unhurt, just confused. I spotted Thalia approaching quickly, she was running towards us, her expression panicked.

"Hey!" She called. "I've just... What's wrong with Grover."

"I don't know," Percy said. "He collapsed."

As if to support his statement, Grover groaned loudly.

"Well, get him up!" Thalia said. She had her spear in her hand. She looked behind her as if she were being followed. "We have to get out of here."

Thalia was quite right, we had to get out of there, though our pursuers had no intention of letting us. When we reached the edge of town, the first of the Spartoi appeared. Three of them, dressed in new blue police uniforms, I wondered if they had murdered some poor mortal cops for those, but didn't have time to think as they drew the accompanying handguns.

I scowled as I pulled my helmet on, hopefully it would hold against small arms fire. My sword appeared in my hand and I attentively watched our opponents.

"Back up!" Thalia ordered and we all obeyed.

Not that it was of much use as another three appeared behind us, blocking the road. One of the new skeletons drew a phone and spoke or rather chattered into it, his jaw bones clapping against each other as it lacked teeth or gums for that matter.

"It's near, the gift of the wild." Grover moaned.

We didn't quite have time for delusions, with each passing second the Spartoi were encircling us further and their reinforcements were getting closer. As if coordinated I burst forward and Percy picked the same moment to charge.

I struck towards the two skeletons on the left, intent on forcing them to engage in melee. I pushed forward, feeling a bullet glanced off my side seemingly without damage, though I was rather sure the rib below was bruised heavily, if not broken. But it was well worth the pain as my sword arced upwards, cracking through the first one's spine, sending it crumbling apart.

Drawing my blade across to the other one's neck I was met with a baton. It was annoyingly strong for some heap of dead flesh and bones. I let go of my sword, my off hand and my now free right hand grabbed the dagger at my belt. I reached around him as we stood in deadlock, ramming the blade into his spine. I pulled out again before stabbing again, this one was a lot sturdier.

But after the third stab it was done and he split apart. I turned to the others, Thalia was dealing with one of them, her spear not exactly the optimal weapon since getting stabbed bothered them little as I had experienced myself.

I saw one attack Bianca, who at the last minute rammed her knife into him and he burst into flames before turning to ash. I didn't have time to think about that though as the piles of bones closest to me started reforming.

Pulling back to the others I cursed, it mattered little just how often we killed them, eventually they'd overwhelm us, one by one falling to the odds. Whatever Bianca had done, hers wasn't reforming, though none of the others came near her.

I took the head of one who had just reformed, before he could draw his weapon. Killing them before they got up wasn't exactly fair, but we couldn't keep coming back, so it certainly evened out. I kicked his bones apart, hoping to hinder his reform process slightly. I blocked the other's baton and Percy stabbed into him from my right. I nodded thankfully towards him.

Our remaining time was probably best measured in minutes, perhaps seconds even. One way or another, it didn't look good, the skeletons were reforming or advancing on us, more were on the way. I was about to do something drastic such as summoning an earthquake in the hope that the earth would swallow them or they'd get smashed by falling trees.

Though it seemed the earth had decided to rumble on her own as a deafening squeal sounded. With thunderous sounds a house tall boar crashed through the trees and into the skeletons. Its tusks, which were nearly as tall as me, though dirty, looked frightening, all the more so since it had just sent the five skeletons flying or stomped their remains into dust and splinters.

Thalia raised her spear to attack it, though Grover stopped her, claiming it was a gift from the wild. I like nature, I really do, but if those were the kind of gifts it gave us I perhaps had to reconsider. Bianca had the same thoughts and when she voiced her concerns about the boar being a blessing it seemed insulted and charged her.

Bianca rolled beneath its legs, gracefully avoiding getting gored or trampled. Coming up behind him as he smashed into the town entrance sign.

"Keep moving!" Zoë called.

We all agreed that this was a good idea and so we did just that, the Zoë and Bianca dashed away into opposite directions. Grover played some notes on his pipes as he danced around the boar. I was unsure whether he was trying to calm him or do something else entirely.

I retreated carefully, keeping my eyes on the boar, not that it made any difference as its attention was drawn elsewhere.

As soon as he had spotted Thalia standing with Aegis out he focused his rage entirely on her and in consequence Percy standing beside her. If it wasn't such a deadly serious situation it could have been considered comical to watch the giant boar chase the two frantic demigods as they weaved in between trees which the bulldozer-pig then plowed down.

"We have to go after them!" I called as I started to run after them, following the path of destruction.

The others joined as we followed the obvious tracks of the beast. We clambered up the hill, reaching train tracks that led through a tunnel. I didn't question how the pig had even fit through it as we passed through. The scene before us looked as if someone had just bombed the area. The old wooden railway bridge in front of us had a gaping hole in its middle and we could see something huge struggling in the snow below.

A small track could be seen in the hillside next to the bridge, Percy and Thalia were standing at the end of it, the latter as pale as the surrounding snow.

We made our way down to them and I inspected the boar in the snowdrift and rubble of the bridge.

"I see you went for the classical way," I noted, remembering the way Heracles had driven him into a snow field, tiring him out before picking him up.

"A blessing of the Wild," Grover stated as he looked at it.

"I agree, we must use it." Zoë said and I tried not to look at her too skeptically.

Not only did I find it somehow questionable to ride a giant boar I also felt like it was a bit wishful thinking of the two to assume this was a blessing from Pan. Not to discourage the Satyrs but I was very much positive the god had faded long ago with the state the world was in.

"Hold up," Thalia said irritably, shaking pine needles from her hair, though honestly they suited her well in light of her previous state. "Explain to me why you're so sure this pig is a blessing."

"It's our ride west." Grover said, still awed. "Do you have any idea how fast this boar can travel?"

"Fun," Percy said. "Like… pig cowboys."

"Ah, see, I knew the cowboy hat will be a fitting gift." I remarked with a smirk and he threw me a tired look, much to everyone's amusement, I could have sworn even Zoë had a hint of a smile for a moment.

"We need to get aboard. I wish… I wish I had more time to look around. But it's gone now." Grover said sadly.

I found it strange that he was referring to it as getting aboard, but with its size the boar might as well be a train or a ship, a landship for that matter, or as anyone besides Zoë would call it, a tank. But he didn't seem bothered as he climbed on top, with a bit of care I followed, the bristles were not exactly comfortable, nor was the spiny ridge its back was.

"How can we even be sure this the Erymanthian boar? I asked Zoë curiously as she climbed up. "And not, say, the Calydonian boar, not that I don't believe you."

"An understandable question, at least if one has not hunted it before." She acknowledged. "Both are children of the Crommyonian Sow, though this one is far larger and the latter one can be well recognized by its coat, it is of a reddish color. Not to mention it is even more aggressive."

Content with the answer I turned to face back front, quite frankly I wasn't sure how anything could be more aggressive than this boar, but decided to take her word for it, she surely knew what she was talking about on this matter.

The boar ran for hours and when the godforsaken pig finally stopped it was past sunset already.

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

Everyone seemed to be very glad to get off. I shared that sentiment, though I wished the boar would have stopped either somewhere less desolated or somewhere less dry. Judging from the cacti it was munching on and the sandy ground this was without doubt a textbook desert, certainly a land without rain if you wanted it so.

As if to confirm that this was indeed not just a desert ecologically speaking but also quite deserted, a ghost town spread out in front of us. Though really the sad excuse of a town didn't deserve that title, a few houses that looked like they were ransacked multiple times, a post office which probably hadn't seen traffic since the forties and a single taco shop, its neon sign long out. A road sign helpfully told us that this is or rather was Gila Claw, Arizona.

Much stranger than the ghost town was the junkyard stretching out behind it, from what could be seen in the utter dark hills upon hills of scrap, old cars, devices and what not, rose behind the town. It felt like a giant was looming over me as I stared at the mountains of metal and the long shadows they threw. Junkyards were dangerous enough on their own, but this one felt not quite normal.

"I don't like the look of that." I muttered and heard murmurs of agreement.

"Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia said before turning to our satyr. "I don't suppose you got another wild boar up your sleeve?"

Grover did not seem to be listening. He sniffed the air anxiously, though he seemed unsatisfied. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a batch of acorns, before throwing them on the ground. As he played his pipes they rearranged themselves, I still couldn't make sense of how to interpret the patterns, but Grover reached a clear conclusion it seemed.

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

"Which one is me?" Percy interrupted.

"The little deformed one," Zoë suggested.

"Oh, shut up." Percy said.

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

"A monster?" Thalia asked.

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

He pointed at the junkyard and I sighed, usually I liked being right, I just more and more wished I wouldn't be so often when it came to this quest.

None of us were eager to enter it at night and we were all quite tired from the boar ride before so we unanimously decided to rest for the night. Zoë and Bianca conjured up six foam mattresses and sleeping bags for us, I assumed they hadn't actually packed their bags and could just pull out whatever was considered basic equipment out of them.

A fire of wood boards taken from the town was crackling in front of us soon. Besides the sounds of said fire it was quite silent. This place was so far from civilization, there weren't even any cars visible. The sky was clear and the stars were spreading out above us and the moon was also visible, though I still couldn't shake the feeling it felt weaker.

"The stars are out," Zoë said happily.

I hummed in agreement, stargazing was one of the things I had been able to do far less these last months. I was a big fan of it really, beyond the background of the constellations they also had quite the practical use, astronomical navigation came very naturally to me, which was unsurprising considering my heritage, but it was fun really, sure I could use my innate orientation on the ocean but it could be used anywhere. If I had the equipment with me I could probably figure out where we were exactly.

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

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

"It's not like they are gone entirely, I used to enjoy watching them from the pacific, humans have only settled so much of the earth after all."

"Too much..." Zoë sighed.

"You talk like you're not human," Percy remarked and I wasn't sure who of us he was addressing.

"I am a Hunter. I care what happens to the wild places of the world. Can the same be said for thee?"

"For you," Thalia corrected. "Not thee"

"But you use you for the beginning of a sentence."

"And for the end," Thalia said. "No thou. No thee. Just you"

Zoë threw up her hands in exasperation. "I hate this language. It changes too often!"

"You should be happy she speaks modern English at least," I said with a chuckle. "Some of the Oceanids are still stuck with middle English or don't speak mortal languages at all."

"How is he these times?" Zoë asked with sudden interest.

I thought for a moment. I was not really surprised by the question, she was his granddaughter after all. Though I doubted he had much time for his grandkids, he had more than ten thousand children after all. Every river was his descendant, the naidads in turn were his granddaughters as well, surely his grandkids numbered in the tens of millions.

"He's different, I guess, I never really got to see him too much, he lives isolated, disgruntled. I wouldn't go as far as saying he is necessarily evil, but his hate towards my father dominates him at the least. I don't really know what to think of him these days." I said angrily.

"I want to hate him and have good reason to and I do, but he is still in many ways closer to being my father than anyone else, he raised me for most of my life, even if only for his own purposes." I said with a defeated tone.

Zoë nodded sadly in understanding, I had no doubt she knew what it was like to have a at the very least difficult if not hateful relationship with your father figure. She did me the favor of not prodding further, which I was rather thankful for, I didn't like talking about that matter too much.

The conversation moved on and Grover spoke hopefully about what had happened and we wondered just how Bianca had managed to destroy Spartoi, much to her discomfort.

"Never mind, we will find the answer." Zoë said, shifting the attention to her before continuing.

"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."

Percy and Grover were about to protest when Bianca beat them to the punch.

"No!" she said, freaked out. "Not there!"

Zoë frowned. "Why?"

"I… I think we stayed there for a while." She started with a shaky voice. "Nico and I. When we were traveling. And then, I can't remember…"

Again something she couldn't remember. I frowned at that again, something was very wrong here.

"Bianca," Percy said. "That hotel you stayed at. Was it possibly called the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"

I roughly remembered the name from Percy telling me about his trip to get Zeus' bolt back, though I was rather distracted at the time.

Her eyes widened. "How could you know that?"

"Oh, great," Percy muttered.

"Wait," Thalia said. "What is the Lotus Casino?"

"A couple of years ago," I said, "Grover, Annabeth, and I got trapped there. It's designed so you never want to leave. We stayed for about an hour. When we came out, five days had passed. It makes time speed up."

I was rather sure it made time feel slower inside, than speeding it up outside, but that was sophistry so I didn't bother.

"No," Bianca said. "No, that's not possible."

"You said somebody came and got you out," Percy stated.

"Yes."

"What did he look like? What did he say?"

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

She looked uncomfortable but Zoë didn't relent instead joining in.

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

"Don't be silly," She said with a scoff before answering correctly.

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

"Roosevelt."

"Theodore or Franklin?" Zoë inquired further, realization dawning on all of us.

"Franklin, F.D.R." Bianca answered and I sighed.

"Bianca when I said you were sixty I was joking." I told her. "F.D.R has been dead since forty-five, that's sixty-two years."

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

We all looked on with pity, she looked just about ready to have a breakdown. I could relate to what it felt like when you felt out of place, but being taken from the forties was a whole different story.

"It's okay, Bianca, The important thing is you and Nico are safe. You made it out." Thalia consoled her.

"But how?" Percy asked. "We were only in there for an hour and we barely escaped. How could you have escaped after being there for so long?"

"I told you." Bianca insisted, tears in her eyes. "A man came and said it was time to leave. And-"

"But who? Why did he do it?" Percy prodded again.

I shot him an angry look, did he really have that little tact?

"Percy, I think that's quite enough for toda-" I cut off when suddenly two flashing headlights illuminated the road and a rather limousine stopped before us.

We moved away from it. Was this just some rich mortal? What would anyone be doing in the desert at this ungodly time and how didn't we hear the car approach? No, something supernatural seemed far more likely, perhaps this was the trouble Grover had mentioned.

I let my sword appear in my hands and prepared myself to face whatever could be in there.

As always, thanks for reading and please review!