Chapter IX

I didn't exactly relax when the door of the limousine slid open and a sword came out, right at my brother's throat. Clearly those were no mortals, which meant they were a potential threat. But, Percy was still breathing, meaning they weren't here to kill us, at least for now. Though the man that now stepped out, Percy carefully moving away from him, made me rethink that.

He had a very tough-guy-esque appearance, black leather jacket, muscle shirt, combat boots, you get the deal, just a very douchey vibe. I wanted to punch him, or anyone really, something about him just made me angry. This, together with Percy's look of recognition made me realize just who that was quite soon.

"Not so fast now, are you, punk?" He asked.

"Ares." Percy growled, confirming my thoughts.

Percy had told me about their meetings beforehand and how he had managed to beat the god of war in a duel. Surely he wasn't fighting at full potential, but it really makes you think, Ares has been defeated by a twelve year old demigod, Diomedes, who was only mortal and the giants Ephialtes and Otis.

Really he was the only Olympian to ever get defeated by any non-immortal. I couldn't help but think just how pathetic he was truthfully speaking. I don't think any other Olympian has such a bad track record when it came to fighting and that as the god of war, quite embarrassing.

"At ease, people." Ares said as he turned to us and snapped his fingers.

My sword clattered to the ground and instinctively my hand went to my knife at my belt. I tried to pull it but my fingers kept slipping off the hilt, despite my continuous attempts to grab it. Finally I got a hold of it, but still couldn't pull it out.

"Someone's stubborn, huh?" He asked as he turned to me. "That's good, why don't you go ahead and attack me? Perhaps I would get the war I hoped for when father learned about you, he was soooo close to smiting you then and there. Believe me, Your father wouldn't have let that go from the way he was threatening him and I would have had some world war grade entertainment."

As he said that I let go of my knife again instantly, not only did I want to avoid him somehow getting me to ram it into that blabbering face of his, but only because I happily realized something else. Poseidon, my father, actually seemed to care about me. I didn't quite know what to think about that, but it surely was a good thing in my mind.

"This is a friendly meeting." He declared while digging his blade deeper as he turned back to Percy. "Of course I'd like to take your head for a trophy, but someone wants to see you. And I never behead my enemies in front of a lady."

"What lady?" Thalia said.

"Well, well. I heard you were back." Ares acknowledged as he turned to her, as if he hadn't noticed her before.

"Thalia, daughter of Zeus," Ares mused. "You're not hanging out with very good company."

With him present I couldn't help but agree.

"What's your business, Ares?" Thalia asked. "Who's in the car?"

"Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you. Particularly not them." He said, looking towards our two Hunters. "Why don't you all go get some tacos while you wait? Only take Percy a few minutes."

It didn't take a seer to know who was waiting in that car and I surely didn't like the idea of Percy talking to her, where Aphrodite intervened death and tragedy usually followed inevitably. It really was no surprise her and Ares were so drawn to each other, they both were narcissistic, cruel assholes.

"We will not leave him alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoë insisted.

"Besides," Grover added, "the taco place is closed."

With a snap of Ares' fingers that problem was seemingly solved as life returned to the taco restaurant, light shining out of the windows and the CLOSED sign switching to OPEN.

"You were saying, goatboy?" He asked Grover, who didn't dare answer.

"Go on," Percy said. "I'll handle this."

He didn't seem confident in handling this at all and I sent him a warning look. Hopefully he knew what he was doing, but if he did, he didn't show it, only looking at me confused. I sure hoped he didn't get himself cursed or transfigured there, the last thing I needed was a brother who was a snake.

"Alright then." Thalia said. "I don't like this, but I guess we should get some tacos."

None of us truly seemed happy about it but we all followed her suggestion. The only good thing about this would be getting some food. Questing made me hungry and who knew when I'd get some food again, perhaps this would be my last meal.

We stepped in and despite it's lively appearance there was no human in sight. A bell rang as we entered and the kitchen could be heard springing to life. Settling down in one of the booths we waited for the food and Percy as we looked out at the limousine.

"I don't like this one bit," I remarked, fingers drumming anxiously. "Drawing her attention near never ends well."

"Her? You know who's in there?" Thalia asked and I raised a brow.

Thalia was usually far less oblivious than Percy when it came to stuff like this, I had expected her to have figured it out by now.

"Come on Thals, who would Ares call a lady? It surely isn't Enyo in there." I told her.

"Right, Aphrodite." She realized and I nodded.

"I hope you know why I am not exactly happy with him meeting her." I stated. "Whether she wants to help at first or you draw her ire, it doesn't end well. You can ask, Atalanta or Helen, the men of Lemnos, Psyche, Pasiphae, Phaedra, Hippolytus and many more, though I am sure my point is clear."

"You really seem to have quite the grudge towards her." Thalia said before teasing. "Looking to join the Hunters? I don't think you qualify."

"Thou are not entirely right," Zoë said. "He mentioned a counter-example just now."

"Hippolytus?" I said, somewhat surprised. "He actually traveled with you?"

"Yes," She answered. "Though he was a special case, the last man to ever do so."

"Did you know him?"

"No, at least not properly, he was forced to leave shortly after I joined." Zoë answered, sounding almost... disappointed?

"He died." I stated factually.

"Temporarily," She said, slightly amused. "but he still had to leave."

I thought for a moment, trying to remember what happened to the legacy and son of my namesake.

"He was sent to Italy wasn't he? Didn't he even become a god, Virbius or something?"

"Yes, my Lady had to send him away, for his own safety from Aphrodite's wrath that is." She explained, seemingly thinking back to those times. "He served her as a priest, but that tale of him ascending to godhood is mere fabrication I believe. The Romans started worshiping him centuries after he died."

"Well perhaps dying an old man is a greater achievement for a demigod than godhood." I mused and Thalia nodded. "Though, I guess I am the only one of us that isn't chronologically eighteen yet."

"Don't remind me..." Bianca groaned and I chuckled at her reaction.

We sat in silence for a while, waiting for both our food or Percy. I was continuously watching the car, though I tried to avoid looking at the bored war god outside of it. Finally the door slid open, Ares reached inside and pulled out my brother. I sighed in relief, though I still remained tense as I watched them talk. I couldn't hear what they were saying but it didn't seem too friendly.

As he let go of him I relaxed for a moment and heard a bell ring from the counter, which I assumed meant our food was ready. Before anyone could rise to get it though Ares snapped his fingers and my vision grew blurry and shaky. The world spun and turned and I grew nauseous, before regaining my wits as we found ourselves in a junkyard, presumably the one nearby.

I barely caught a stumbling Percy before he crashed into me. He looked quite shocked, clearly whatever they had discussed had left quite an impact.

"Whoa there Perce, everything alright?" I asked him with concern.

"Uh, yeah, just met Aphrodite." He said and I nodded.

"Figured as much already, so what did she want?"

"Oh, uh, not sure," He said. "She said to be careful in her husband's junkyard. She said not to pick anything up."

"Sure Percy, and she wanted to talk to you specifically, to say that?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Perhaps she said some other stuff as well." He admitted.

"Be careful, Percy. Aphrodite has led many heroes astray." Zoë warned.

For once I agree with Zoë," Thalia said. "You can't trust Aphrodite."

I murmured in agreement and for an awkward moment nobody said anything till Percy spoke up again.

"So... How do we get out of here?"

"That way," Zoë said pointing. "That is west."

"How can you tell?" Percy asked, confused.

"Ursa Major is in the north," she said, somewhat condescendingly. "which means that must be west."

"You know Zoë," I started. "One could just use the moon, far simpler and more reliable, especially when it is full like today."

"Smartass." Thalia complained.

I didn't answer as we crested the first of the hills, a true sea of metal spread out before us. From the sheer amount of gold, silver, bronze and steel before me I was sure this whole junkyard was worth nearly billions in material worth alone. This was not to mention the divine marvels all around, broken statues, discarded swords and shattered shields, sure, none of them were intact, but the craftsmanship was still admirable.

"Whoa," Bianca gasped. "That stuff... some of it looks like real gold."

"It is," Thalia said grimly. "Like Percy said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."

While I knew she was right, it was still hard to suppress my desire to scavenge and plunder this place. Perhaps that was just my heritage, sons of Poseidon were quite often notorious bandits and pirates.

"Yeah," I agreed nonetheless. "There is a good reason this junk was thrown away, no matter how good it looks it is not worth it."

I wasn't sure whether I was more reminding myself or the others, but both seemed to be justified.

"Junk?" Grover asked, offended, holding a beautiful crown of gold and silver. "You call this junk?"

He took a large bite out of it. "It's delicious,"

"And probably cursed." I said dryly as Thalia knocked it out of his hands.

"I'm serious." She insisted.

"Let's just continue." I said with a sigh, but it was no use.

"Look," Bianca said, already rushing downwards, metal clattering as she descended. "A Hunter's bow."

As she picked the silver bow up it shrunk down, till it took the form of a hairpin, shaped like a crescent moon.

"It's just like Percy's sword!"

Zoë looked grim, I wondered if she recognized the bow. "Leave it, Bianca."

"But-"

"It is here for a reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay in this yard." She stated. "It is defective. Or cursed."

"I don't like this place," Thalia said and I heard Percy make some comment as we clambered through the valleys and over the hills of scrap.

I didn't touch anything as we moved, but still couldn't keep myself from occasionally awing at certain items. Just walking past giant mechanic eagles made of pure gold or gigantic silver mirrors thrice your size was rather hard, the latter giving me the strong urge to stop and look at myself, which I did for a good minute before Thalia dragged me away.

After perhaps an hour of walking we finally reached the top of hill from which we could see the edge of the scrapyard. It was half a mile away, but at least we saw our way out and the highway illuminated by weak lights.

But there was a last obstacle, another hill of metal, a mountain even. Like a cliff face it stretched in front of us, easily five hundred yards long. At one end ten columns protruded, the tallest of them in the middle and getting smaller outwards, almost like toes.

Bianca frowned. "They look like-"

"Toes." Grover finished, seemingly I wasn't the only one with such thoughts.

"Really, really large toes." She said.

"Let's go around," Thalia said. " Far around."

"But the road is right over there," Percy protested. "Quicker to climb over."

"You want to climb that?" I asked, gesturing to the wall of metal in front of us.

The sound of metal hitting metal sounded and I looked around, no one had moved, no one except Grover, who was holding another piece of scrap metal.

"Why did you do that?" Zoë demanded annoyed, causing the satyr to cringe from her glare.

"I don't know. I, uh, don't like fake feet?" Grover said.

"Come on." Thalia said. "Around."

No one stood to argue this time, we all wanted to get away from the junkyard and especially those toes. Thankfully we reached the highway within a few more minutes of walking, despite the fact we had to circumvent the hill.

"We made it out," Zoë said. "Thank the gods."

You'd think in her millennia she would have learned that such words were an invite for trouble. And of course trouble came, behind us a deep rumble sounded. I turned around and swallowed.

It looked as if the mountain itself was rising. Out of the scrap a man rose, though man didn't do it justice. A giant statue, fully armored like a hoplite, which seemed silly considering it was made of bronze, was getting on its feet. It was easily twenty stories tall, a walking skyscraper and I doubted it was here to have a friendly chat with us.

"Talos!" Zoë gasped.

"Who- who's Talos?" Percy stuttered.

"The guardian of Crete, one of Hephaestus' creations." I explained.

"But this can't be him, he's too small, a defective model perhaps." Thalia said and he turned to us.

"It doesn't matter, we don't have time for this," I said before yelling. "Run! Out into the open, perhaps he'll give up."

The others seemed to like the idea of putting some distance between us as well and so we did just that, moving as fast as our feet could carry us. The giant seemingly had no intention of letting us go though and with massive, slow steps, each crossing enormous distance, moved towards us.

"Someone took something," Zoë said as we ran. "Who took something?"

I really didn't feel like this was the time for accusations, blaming each other wouldn't solve anything.

"I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief." Percy defended himself from Zoë's look of scrutiny.

"Scatter!" Thalia suggested.

Seeing that we had no hope of outrunning him we did just that, spreading out. Thalia moved along the highway, shield drawn, I doubted it would do her much good against the gargantuan sword the statue wielded. I saw Grover scampering away and watched as Bianca and Percy dashed in another direction.

Strangely enough the giant seemed quite focused on them. Not to say it didn't try to crush us, but it definitely wanted to kill them the strongest. Perhaps Zoë had been right, maybe Percy had taken something, or perhaps Bianca, though I doubted it with either of them.

"Percy! Bianca!" I yelled towards them, drawing their attention. "Come to me!"

Reluctantly they did and as they turned the giant dedicated turned to follow them. A plan was forming in my head, perhaps the oldest tactic of mankind was about to be used, luring big things into a pit. If it worked with mammoths it could work with giant statues. Only problem, there was no hole, but I had a way to solve that.

"Behind me!" I ordered as it lumbered towards us, each step shaking the earth.

I took a deep breath, preparing myself.

"Take a step back." I warned as I lifted my sword, gripping the hilt with both hands.

With a powerful thrust I brought it down, ramming it into the sand. The sandy ground burst and trembled around me and cracks began to appear in front of me. Rapidly those cracks grew and surged forward, widening, already a good couple of inches wide. I heard metal crash in the distance as avalanches of scrap tumbled down the hills.

The giant had stopped, pushing his sword down in an attempt to steady himself. The earth roared as it pulled apart further, the cracks becoming gaps and the giant losing his footing again. I pushed the blade deeper, sinking to my knees as I doubled my efforts.

I saw the giant raise his left foot, but with all the weight in one place the ground finally broke. Caving in below his right leg like a giant maw, he slipped into it, his left leg disappearing in the ground. He stumbled as he fell, buckling over forward and rested motionless. An eerie silence filled the valley after the crashing sounds of metal had subsided.

Relieved I stopped and the earth pulled back together, closing and shifting, enclosing the leg in a crushing embrace of rubble and rock.

"Showoff," I heard Percy mutter. "How come you get the earth-shaker part of dad's powers."

I looked intently at him and Bianca, the giant had gone after them and if I was correct that meant one of them had taken something.

"Who of you took something?" I asked them both, though my eyes were focused on Bianca, she seemed to be hiding something.

"You took something did you not?" She shook her head.

"No!" She insisted, voice still terrified.

"Come on, I can tell you are lying, what was it?" I demanded.

"That bow?" Percy asked.

At that moment I heard something creak loudly behind me and turned around. Talos was getting up again, his body rising. I swallowed as he pushed his hands to the ground and pressed upwards, his leg dislodged itself slightly from the earth. I doubted the ground would hold him much longer, minutes at best, seconds at worst.

"Any ideas how to stop him?" I asked tired.

"Nothing." Bianca said and I turned to Percy.

"I've got something," He paused. "but it's sort of crazy."

I shrugged. "Go ahead."

"Alright," He said. "See that maintenance hatch at the back of his right foot."

He pointed towards the heel where indeed a hatch could be seen, red letters were around it, though I couldn't decipher them.

"I'll go inside, maybe it can be controlled from the inside."

"No, I am doing it." I said, shaking my head.

"What? Why?"

"I failed to stop him, it's my responsibility to fix that." I insisted.

"No, I am doing it." Bianca now interrupted.

"Absolutely not." Both me and Percy said at once.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small metal figurine, like those Nico had played with.

"It... it was for Nico. It was the only statue he didn't have." She said, her voice shaky.

"How can you think of Mythomagic at a time like this?" Percy asked, perplexed.

"Drop it. Maybe it will stop." He told her hopefully.

She did as he asked. But nothing happened, the giant only seemed to intensify his efforts and now managed to pull his right leg out till his knee.

"It won't." She said bitterly. "I'll go, it's my fault he came after us, my responsibility."

My jaw clenched as I thought back to the prophecy, two shall be lost in the land without rain. She reached down and picked the statue back up, handing it to my brother.

"If anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him... tell him I'm sorry." She said.

"Bianca! No!" Percy said, but she had already taken off.

"Don't wait on me!" I told him as I followed her.

I heard Percy call after me but ignored him as I sprinted forward. What I was doing was suicidal, I was well aware of that. But those thoughts didn't matter to me, I couldn't let her die, not like this.

Talos made another tremendous push and pulled his leg free. The metal was dented and the foot deformed, but it seemingly was still functional. He raised his undamaged foot, the left one, just as Bianca reached him. She jumped upwards and slipped through the hatch, entering the giant's foot.

I didn't know how I moved as fast as I did, I was still a good hundred feet away when she entered. But somehow I did move that fast. I felt weightless as I did so, wind-like even, faster than ever. Within the blink of an eye I had crossed the distance and leapt upwards, my hands barely grabbing hold of a rung above the hatch.

Grabbing onto the bar I swung myself upward, through the hatch and into the automaton. It was dark inside and smelled of oil, the only light came from small orange lamps in the wall. I heard someone climbing above me and spotted a ladder leading up.

"Bianca." I called up as I started climbing.

"Theseus?" She asked, her voice shaky. "What are you doing here? I told you it's my responsibility!"

"And I told you it was mine. I am not letting you die here." I said decisively.

"Turn back." She said pleadingly.

"Not a chance."

She remained silent after that as she climbed and I followed her. Quickly we reached another hatch, from the time we were climbing it seemed to be somewhere in the stomach region. She pushed it open and entered and as I pulled myself up after her into the room she looked at me and spoke up again.

"Please, go back, I don't want you to die for my mistakes." She was begging at this point and looked distraught.

"No, no one of us is dying, pull yourself together." I told her and she froze up.

"Bianca, please," I was now pleading myself. "The others need us."

She nodded slowly before looking around.

"How do we stop this thing?" She asked, trying to stay calm.

I searched the room, it was hard to see anything, the lights were flickering around us. A control surface spread all around the room, filled with switches and levers, buttons and dials. I doubted anyone but Hephasteus understood this thing and there was no instruction manual in sight, not that we'd have the time to read one.

"I am not sure, unless you see an off switch, I don't think we have much of a choice besides wildly smashing buttons." I said unhappily.

She seemingly liked the idea as little as I did, but nodded and stepped towards the console, she flipped one of the switches and the statue surged around. I pulled a lever myself and something rumbled inside the body. I moved on to a couple of dials, picked one and twisted it. The giant seemed to be decrepit as it came right off, revealing loose wires beneath it.

To my left Bianca was trying to pry something open. She pulled her knife and rammed it into a slit on the surface, before pushing a bronze plate aside. Within it she revealed a smaller array of levers and control sticks.

"Manual controls?" She guessed hopefully and I shrugged.

She pulled the middle one back and the giant stopped in its tracks, before moving again, though seemingly backwards. It was hard to tell from its inside, but it seemed to actually be controls.

"Keep going!" I told her and she did, moving one of the sticks.

Something shook the giant's body, as if a plane had just smashed into it. Bianca pulled another lever and the giant tipped backwards. Instinctively I grabbed onto a handle and grabbed her arm as the statue's back angled at forty-five degrees and she tumbled back.

The giant straightened himself again and I pulled her back to her feet. I was about to turn my attention back to the controls when the lights went out. The only lights left came from a couple of glowing red buttons. If pop culture taught you anything then that red buttons meant doom, so I really didn't want to touch them.

But I guess Bianca carried no such hesitation as he hit one of them. Everything ground to a halt, all lights went out and then all Hades broke loose. A panel on the ceiling crashed out and sparking cables swung out. I pulled her away just as they smashed into the ground where she stood moments before.

"Thanks," She breathed out.

In the same moment something behind us burst and I heard metal crash and strike the wall next to us, sending yellow sparks flying, lighting up the room for a second.

"We have to get out of here." Bianca said.

Easier said than done, I couldn't see anything in the pitch-black darkness, though she seemed unbothered by it. She grabbed my arm and pulled me along through the room. I heard something crash down behind us and felt the ground give way below me, though Bianca held firm with her grip.

"Got you!" She called as she dragged me up and onward.

Suddenly she stopped, shaken.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"The hatch, it- it won't budge. We are trapped, we'll die in here."

"Bianca." I called to her but she didn't listen.

"Two shall be lost in the land without rain, that's what the prophecy said, wasn't it?" She asked, her tone defeated.

"Listen to me," I told her. "There is no point in giving up, think of Zoë, think of the Hunters, think of Artemis, they need you."

She remained still and I heard the giant crumble around me. So I made one last, desperate attempt.

"Bianca, think of Nico, you don't want to leave him like this do you?"

This seemed to jolt her back to life.

"You are right, I can't die here." She said decisively.

The body shook once more, before we went into free fall. She grabbed my hand as we tumbled, but we never hit any of the walls. Instead we just kept falling through the dark, at least that was what it felt like.

I blinked as I regained my senses, we were standing in a dark room, no, a cave entrance. Bianca stumbled, shaking. I pulled her to her feet, she didn't look good, pale and weak.

"You don't look good," I told her.

"I'm- I'm fine..." She drawled as her eyes closed and she slumped down, I barely managed to catch her.

I set her down on the ground, propping her up against the cave wall. I inspected her, she was breathing normally, good. I next checked her pulse, but everything was in order there as well, it was fast sure, but we had almost died just now. She probably was just very exhausted. I searched through my coat pockets and luckily found my small trusty nectar flask and pulled it out.

Normally giving an unconscious person something to drink was a terrible idea, it might get in their lungs and cause more problems, but nectar was a different story. I put it to her lips and let a decent jig flow out. Instantly, color returned to her face and her breathing steadied and I capped it again.

I sat down and leaned against the wall next to her, trying to reconstruct what had just happened. We were inside Talos minutes ago, everything went dark, we fell and then we were here. Outside seemed to be some sort of forest, which meant we were quite far away from the desert. How had we gotten here?

A strange idea popped into my mind, shadow travel. I had heard about it before. Hellhounds and other beings of the Underworld could do it, but that would mean that Bianca was somehow related to the Underworld herself.

Though now that I thought about it, it started to make all the more sense. She could see in the dark and she had managed to permanently destroy the Spartoi. Grover had said they were powerful demigods and Thorn had seemed eager to get them. Kronos clearly wanted them, he wouldn't make such efforts for normal demigods, which meant they were important.

Hades couldn't be her father, could he? It was a dangerous thought, but it seemed to hold water and would answer a lot of questions posed over these last few days.

I looked worriedly at the demigoddess next to me. If she really was a daughter of Hades, she was at risk. The prophecy could apply to her as well and Zeus and Hades were probably at even worse odds than Zeus and my father. If he learned of her identity, it could well be that he wouldn't refrain from smiting her.

Although... unlike Percy, Thalia or I, she was no child of a broken oath, was she now? She wasn't that old physically, but since her aging had been dramatically slowed due her stay in that hotel, she could easily have been born before World War two ended, she probably was even. Surely Hades hadn't broken his oath before his brothers, his children were rare enough as it was, it seemed far more likely that she was in that place since the forties.

Though I was unsure if Zeus cared about such semantics, she was still eligible for the prophecy nonetheless. Restless I rose back up and walked to the edge of the cave, watching the forest as I pondered those thoughts.

I looked back at Bianca, she was talking, though no words came out of her mouth. It was quite cute honestly, she seemed really peaceful asleep, much less burdened than she did before. I smiled as I watched her and heard rain start outside, which brought me to a thought.

Reaching inside my pockets I fished around for a drachma, but I found nothing. I had hoped to contact Percy and the others via Iris Message, but without payment that wouldn't work. Perhaps it was better this way, they thought us dead probably, the prophecy got its fair share, two were lost in the land without rain.

I thought back to what I had told Zoë the night before, that the prophecy didn't mean that two had to die. I hadn't really believed it myself, but was quite correct it seems, judging from the fact we were, in fact, not dead.

Slipping back down next to Bianca I couldn't help closing my eyes, I was exhausted, the earthquake had pulled quite a lot of strength from me and it was early morning by now. I forced my eyes back open, I couldn't leave her unguarded in such a vulnerable state. But it was hard to fight the urge to sleep with the calming rain outside and my weakened state. With a yawn my eyes fell shut again and I dozed off, despite my best efforts to stay awake.

AN: This took some time, but I am very happy with it, probably my favorite chapter yet. Earthquakes are really hard to describe as a power, which I assume is the reason that Percy doesn't use them, besides them being really impractical oftentimes.

With that, thanks to everyone of you who read this far, followed, favorited or even reviewed,

as always feedback in any shape or form is appreciated!