Hey guys, I got another chapter for you. Let's get on with it:
You know, despite all her faults, Zoe sure could drive like a bat out of hell. I'm not sure if she was using some subtle manipulation of the Mist, but somehow we made it down Long Island, through New York City, and was half way across New Jersey in the span of a couple of hours without the cops pulling us over for speeding. In the passenger seat of the van was Bianca, while Grover and Thalia rode in the middle, and I was stuffed into the back.
It wasn't comfortable by any stretch of the imagination, but Zoe and Bianca had insisted that I ride as far away from them as possible. In fact, I'm pretty sure they would've strapped me to the roof of the van if they could have gotten away with it. But I kept my mouth shut and tinkered with some various bits I had brought along for entertainment. Starting an argument would only make the trip even more miserable.
Zoe's insane driving down I95 continued, and it was only when we got to the outskirts of Baltimore did she finally pull over at a rest stop for fuel and to use the bathroom. I was the last out of the van, savoring the crackle that ran up my legs and into my back as I stretched. Thalia must have heard some of the pops, cause she looked at me with an eyebrow raised in concern.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Fine," I replied as I stretched my arms above my head, "just folded up for too long."
"You need to stretch out across the seat, not fold yourself into a ball like that," she said. I rolled my head from side to side until I heard and felt an audible pop. With that, I looked at her with a grin.
"Not as safe that way, especially with Zoe behind the wheel. Come on, let's get a snack or something," I said, motioning toward the convenience store that was apart of the rest stop. The three of us started to head inside while Zoe put fuel in the van. Or rather, I took about five steps and came to a grinding halt. Grover ran ahead, almost forgetting his fake shoes in his race to get to the bathroom. But Thalia had noticed that I stopped.
"What?" she asked.
"I forgot my damn gadget pack at Camp," I replied, irritated. As the name indicated, my 'gadget pack' as I called it was basically a satchel that contained some devices that would be helpful in a fight. I'd forgotten it when we went to Bar Harbor, and now I'd forgotten it for the quest.
"If we're lucky you won't need it. Now come on, Zoe's got us all on a time limit," Thalia said before leading the way inside. We split up, I guess so Thalia could use the bathroom herself. I looked through the store's isles, eyeing the various snacks and trinkets that were for sale.
It felt odd, standing there like that. In the old days, we'd only come into stories like this to grab a couple things off the shelves before trying to slip out unnoticed. If that failed, you had to be prepared to sprint for the nearest tree line to avoid getting caught by the police for shoplifting. Now, though, I had to remind myself that I had plenty of money in my pocket. No reason to steal, no reason to run.
As I was deciding between two different flavors of pringles, I saw Thalia reappear and make her way over to me. For a moment, we stood there side by side in silence, looking at the various different colored tubes of chips.
"Can I ask you something?" she finally said.
"No, the pizza flavor doesn't really taste like pizza," I said. She gave me a glare, and I instantly shut up.
"Why did you kiss me, during the capture the flag?" she asked. I felt a chill creep over me, and I avoided eye contact with her.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," I muttered.
"That's not the reason and we both know it. I want the truth, Jack. Why?" she pressed. I still didn't look at her, but rather picked up a can of sour cream and onion and read the nutrition facts on the side of the can.
"Maybe...there was another reason why," I finally said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her cock her eyebrow in an expectant manner, like she was waiting for me to say more.
"And that reason was…?" she coaxed when I didn't say anymore. I finally sighed and looked at her.
"Do I have to say it?" I asked. I was silently pleading with her to end this uncomfortable situation we had found ourselves in. But Thalia had a knack for being able to sense weakness, and almost seemed to get a thrill out of making others uncomfortable.
"Say what?" she asked. The tone in her voice was clear. She knew what I was hinting at, but she wanted to hear me say it out loud. I saw the glint in her eyes, and I felt a brief moment I felt a pang of hurt and anger shoot through my chest. It felt like she was on the verge of laughing at me, and was just waiting for me to make a fool out of myself.
"I think you know," I said, putting the can of chips back before turning to leave the aisle. My voice had a bit of an edge to it. A hand appeared on my wrist, and I froze in place.
"Jack, please. If it is what I think it is, I want to hear you say it," she said, her voice much softer now. I wanted to tell her how I felt. How she made me feel. But I couldn't. The words wouldn't form, and every time I tried to get them to form in my head it sounded wrong.
"You're one of my oldest friends, Thals. And...maybe...well...maybe it's more than that," I finally said without looking back at her. Suddenly I was wishing that I had Annabeth's Yankees cap, or better yet, that Hades would just open the Underworld right there in the middle of the store and feed me to Cerberus.
I felt the hand slide down and her fingers intertwined with mine before she gave a reassuring squeeze. Turning, I looked back at her again. She looked like she was in the same thought process I was in, like there was something she wanted to say, but didn't know how to actually say it.
"Jack…" she started. Suddenly, Grover was next to us, panting heavily like he had just sprinted a lap around the entire rest stop.
"Guys! There you are, I think I got something," he panted. Thalia let go of my hand a stood up a little straighter.
"What?"
"I did a tracking spell with the acorns, Artemis went south, into DC," he said, holding out his hand to show a palm full of acorns.
"Well, at least we're headed in the right direction," I said.
"We need to tell the others. Zoe wants to catch I70 and head west," Grover said. Thalia's mouth became a thin line, and I could tell that she was gritting her teeth.
"As much as I'd hate to admit it, you're right. Zoe's too focused on the 'head west' bit of the prophecy," Thalia agreed.
"So we're in agreement that you two need to convince her to head into DC?" I asked. Thalia cocked her head at me in confusion.
"Us two?"
"Yes. You two. Zoe hasn't exactly been overly tolerant of me since we left Long Island, and I don't really see her changing her tune now," I said.
"He's right, Thalia. Zoe has seemed almost spiteful to Jack since we left. If he tries to convince her, she might avoid Washington entirely," Grover pointed out, rubbing the acorns with his thumb nervously. Thalia let out a sigh as she looked out the window of the store toward the van.
"Alright. Go wait in the van, we'll handle this," she finally relented. I gave a shrug, grabbed a packaged brownie off the shelf, and headed to the checkout counter. Personally I was both relieved and frustrated at the same time. Grover's interruption had both put an end to Thalia's grilling and ground whatever confession she had been making to a halt.
If we weren't trying to maintain a time table and a low profile, I'd probably have thrown my hammer threw a window out of frustration.
"Don't fold yourself up again, Jack" Thalia said as I finished paying and went to head outside. I gave her a nod before opening the door and stepping out into the crisp December air. As I headed to the van, Zoe and Bianca made their way inside the store. Neither one of them acknowledged me as they passed, and I was content to do the same. All I really wanted to do at that point was get back on the road and eat my brownie.
Thankfully, Thalia and Grover were able to convince Zoe to head to DC. I went to sleep not long after we left the rest stop. When I came too, it was because Thalia leaning across the middle seat to shake my shoulder.
"Hey, wake up big guy," she said with a low voice. I blinked and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.
"Where are we?"
"The Smithsonian," she replied. To be more specific, it was the Air and Space Museum. While I stretched out again, Grover was crouched on the ground, looking over his acorns like they were a set of dice.
"Are you sure?" Zoe asked.
"She's definitely been here," Grover replied.
"Why would Artemis come here?" I asked, "This is the opposite of the forest."
"Milady was tracking a beast of some sort. The trail must have led here," Zoe answered. Grover took a deep whiff and looked around.
"There's a scent. It's faint. I can't tell what it is, but it's defiantly monster of some kind," he said. We all looked up at the building looming over us.
"Guess we're going to see the rockets," Thalia said before starting toward the front doors. Getting through admissions was tougher than I would have liked. See, unlike the bows that Zoe and Bianca had, or Thalia's spear, there wasn't some special hiding place or alternate form for my hammer. It wasn't some specially blessed weapon, it was just my lucky hammer that I used in the forge. Sure, blessed metals like Celestial Bronze are a quick and easy way to kill monsters, but I've found that bashing the absolute crap out of them works just as well.
This did start to raise a problem, as at this point I was a teenager trying to walking into a national museum with a hammer stuck through my belt. Any sane security guard would assume that I was there to start smashing exhibits. To my surprise, it was actually Bianca who came to my rescue. She took my hammer and stuck it in her pack, and then held her finger to her lips, telling me to be silent. I did as I was told and walked through the metal detectors with the others, waiting for the alarms to be tripped.
There was only silence as Bianca passed through without a care or alarm in the world.
"How did you do that?" I asked when we were a little ways into the building.
"Hunters' backpacks are immune to mortal detection equipment, Boy. How do you think we get around so much?" Zoe asked.
The Air and Space Museum was set up so that the main portion of it was this wide open building with three levels of balconies running around it. Various planes and other aircraft were scattered about, suspended in the air by wires. We walked around, admiring the different craft and objects, both big and small.
My head was abuzz with information regarding pretty much everything I saw. Didn't matter if it was a Wright Brothers prototype or the Bell X-1, I knew all about it, it's top speed, how to handle it, everything. Most of them, if I had a spare half hour and a tool kit, I could probably up and fly right out the front door if I wanted to.
"You look like a kid in a candy store," Thalia said when she noticed the stupid grin that had formed on my face.
"What can I say?" I asked as I looked up at the Spirit of St. Louis, suspended as if it was still in flight, "I'm a gear head."
"Men. It doesn't matter if it's Icarus or Howard Hughes, why can't thou keep thine feet on the ground?" Zoe asked. I just shrugged and kept walking, not really having an answer to her question and not really wanting one. Blacksmith, not a philosopher, remember? As we made it to the top floor, we came across a pod from one of the Apollo missions, and suddenly I saw my chance.
"Hey, Zoe? Out of curiosity, how did Artemis take the fact that the first crewed missions to the moon were named after Apollo?" I asked. Zoe didn't so much as flinch or even look away from the display in question.
"I believe she turned the director of that film project into a doe, if I remember correctly," she answered.
"Film project?" Thalia asked.
"Oh yes, does thou really believe they actually visited the moon when my lady drives her chariot? It was all a fake," Zoe answered. I frowned really hard at that, and I wasn't sure if it was from her not getting worked up like I wanted, or that she just confirmed that the moon landing was a hoax.
I didn't get much time to think about it, as a blur suddenly slammed Thalia into the capsule. To be more accurate, it was Percy, and he had just ran full bore into Thalia, knocking both of them off balance. Grover yelped in surprise, and both Zoe and Bianca had their bows at the ready in a flash before anyone could recover. Unsurprisingly, Zoe didn't lower her bow when she realized who it was.
"You! What is thine doing here?!" she demanded.
"Percy! Thank the gods!" Grover said in relief. A glare from Zoe made him blush and chew his lower lip.
"I mean, gosh, you shouldn't be here," he said halfheartedly. Thalia, for her part, looked like she was about to unleash a whole thunderstorm's worth of lightning out of her eyes. Percy, however, was bent over with his hands on his knees, panting like he'd just sprinted here from Manhattan.
"We don't have much time," he said through gasps of air," Luke, he's here." For the second time that day, I felt a chill fall over my body, but this time for a totally different reason. My eyes caught Thalia's. All of her anger was gone, replaced in an instant with concern.
"Where?" she asked, her hand moving toward activating her shield. Zoe and Bianca lowered their bows, but kept them notched.
"The Natural History Museum. He's there, talking with Thorn and some guy called the General," Percy answered. Zoe, for the first time I could remember, looked stunned.
"The General is here? That's impossible, you lie!"
"Why would I lie? Look we don't have time for this, the skeleton warriors…"
"Skata! Spartoi?! How many?" I questioned.
"Twelve. Here, you're gonna need this," Percy answered as he took a pack off from around his neck and thrust it at me in a hurried manner. My eyes went wide with delight, followed immediately by pant ruining levels of fear when I realized that he had my gadget pack, and was handling it in a really haphazard fashion.
"Careful, CAREFUL! You'll kill us all if you swing it around like that," I said, reaching out and snatching it away from him.
"Whatever, look, the General guy is sending some kind of monster this way to distract you guys," Percy said. Grover, Thalia, and I all shared a glance.
"We tracked Artemis here. She was following some kind of powerful monster scent, but we haven't found anything yet," Grover said.
"Zoe, if it is the General…" Bianca started.
"It cannot be! Percy must have seen an Iris message or an illusion," Zoe interrupted.
"Illusions don't crack marble floors," Percy deadpanned. The huntress in question took a deep breath to steady herself. I'd never seen her so unnerved like this.
"If Percy is telling the truth about the Spartoi, there's no time for argument. We must leave, now," she finally said when she got a grasp on her nerves.
"Good idea," Percy said.
"I was not including thee, boy! You are not apart of this quest!" Zoe snapped.
"I'm trying to save your lives!" Percy countered.
"You shouldn't have come, Percy. But, you're here now, so we should get back to the van," Thalia said.
"That is not thy decision," Zoe said.
"You're not in charge here, Zoe. I don't care how old you are, you're still a conceited little brat!" Thalia spat.
"You never had any wisdom when it came to boys, you've let this one blind you, let you lose your way," Zoe growled, nodding in my direction.
"Now hang on," I said.
"Don't you bring…" Thalia started, but a loud growl cut her off. She had looked like she was about to plant her fist into the bridge of Zoe's nose, but the new noise made everyone freeze in place. Somewhere below, a kid yelled out in delight while the adults screamed. Up the ramp came a lion the size of an F350. It's fur, claws and teeth gleamed in the light as it slid to a halt and roared at us. Both Thalia and I deployed our shields, while Percy drew his sword.
"The Nemean Lion, nobody move, separate on my mark and keep it busy," Zoe said.
"Until when?" Grover asked.
"Until I think of a way to kill it, GO!" Zoe yelled. We separated as the lion roared and pounced forward. Thalia extended her spear and fired a bolt of lightning at beast, zapping it in the flank and then jabbing at it like she was a lion tamer. My hand went to my belt, only to grasp at thin air. I looked down in surprise, and then remembered where my hammer was.
"BIANCA, I NEED MY…" I didn't get to finish as the lion turned and pounced at me. My shield came up, just in time to catch the full brunt of the big cat's attack. The thing was the size of a truck, and it hit like one too. I felt the impact in my bones as I struggled to keep from being flattened on the spot.
Metal screeched as the beast raked it's claws across the face of my shield. Despite my attempt to stay upright, the weight proved too much and I was forced backwards. The lion and I went through the glass railing and fell toward the floor, three stories below. Luck must have been on my side, as I landed on one of the suspended planes. The beast on the other hand, fell the full distance and cracked the floor with it's impact.
"Zoe! Target the mouth!" Percy shouted from somewhere down below.
"No clean shot!" came the reply from overhead. I rolled over and looked down from my perch on the wing. The lion was circling the main lobby, looking up at us like it was waiting for another chance to pounce. Despite cracking a solid marble floor, it was up and moving around like nothing had happened. Reaching into my pack, I produced a metal and glass cylinder about the size of a soda can. I let out a whistle, getting the beast's attention. It sat up on it's hind legs and roared at me, and at that instant I let go of the cylinder.
Apparently it thought it was a cat toy, cause it made to swat at it. It managed to hit it, batting it to the side for a distance of about five feet before it exploded. Green fire swarmed the lion, knocking it off it's feet and leaving it yowling. Despite being knocked over and clearly in pain, it didn't look like my little grenade had done any real damage.
"You had Greek Fire grenades in there?!" Percy yelled.
"Find something to jam it's mouth open!" I yelled back. The plane I was on shifted, and I began to slide toward the end of the wing. Realizing that I was about to fall the full distance to the floor, I coiled my legs up and jumped instead. I slammed into the railing for the second floor, groaning as I felt the air being forced out of my lungs.
Coughing, I pulled myself up and over the railing, collapsing to the ground as I struggled to get air back into my lungs. I haphazardly got back to my feet and headed toward the ramp that led toward the ground floor. What I found there was sheer, utter chaos.
The lion was using it's paws to bat out the last of the green flames. Thalia had relocated to this floor and was still doing her lion trainer approach. Grover was running around, playing his reeds like a frantic pirate. Percy was no where to be seen, and Bianca and Zoe were taking pot shots at the beast from somewhere overhead.
"Where's Percy?" I called.
"Gift Shop!" Thalia yelled back.
"What the hell is he…" I didn't get to finish as the lion swiped at Thalia like she was a cat toy, launching her into the side of a rocket. She hit the ground and didn't move. I felt my blood boil and I saw red before I charged forward. My fist was held up with a gout of flame belching from it like a blowtorch, while my other hand kept my shield raised in case big fluffy decided it wasn't afraid of fire anymore.
It worked, the lion retreated, and I quickly put myself between it and Thalia. I let the flames dissipate as I took a knee and panted. Using fire like that took a lot out of me, and I didn't have much practice keeping the flames going like that to begin with. If I was going to stay in this fight, I'd need my weapon back.
"Bianca!" I yelled again. This time, my hammer came tumbling end over end toward my head from one of the balconies above. I caught it and fell into a defensive pose in one fluid motion. The lion bared it's teeth and tensed it's legs as it prepared to launch itself at me. It's fur might have acted as armor, but one thing I had learned in all those years of training was that someone wearing armor could still be pummeled to death, which was exactly what I intended to do after it hurled itself at me again.
"HEY!" It was Percy, coming back from the Gift Shop with an arm full of silver packets. The lion turned toward his voice and roared, which proved to be a mistake. With the skill of a Yankee's pitcher, Percy launched one of the packets down the beast's gullet. It's eyes bugged out of it's head as it reared back on it's hind legs, making a gagging noise. Percy fired two more packets right behind the first, forcing the mouth open further.
"Zoe now!" he yelled. Two, four, six, eight, ten silver arrows appeared in the pink maw of the lion. It fell backwards, landing in a disorganized pile, dead.
Morals ran about screaming as alarms blared. Zoe and Bianca dropped from a balcony and landed next to Percy, while I finally took my eyes off the lion's body and checked on Thalia. She had a fresh bruise on the side of her cheek, and her eyes were a little out of focus.
"You alright?" I asked, checking her bruise.
"Got my bell rung, but I'm alright," she answered. I took her hand and helped her to her feet. We joined the others, standing around the lion's body.
"The hell were you throwing?" I asked. Percy tossed me one of the packets. It was a freeze dried ice cream sandwich.
"Space food. I had my mom buy me some when I was little. The stuff was awful," he explained. We watched as the body lion melted, leaving behind only it's pelt.
"Take it, Percy Jackson," Zoe said.
"You killed it," Percy said.
"I believe thine ice cream sandwich did that. Take the pelt, Son of Poseidon, it is rightly yours," Zoe replied. Percy hesitantly picked up the pelt, which morphed into a golden duster.
"Not really my style," he muttered before sliding the coat on.
"We have to go. The guards won't stay confused for long," Grover said. I looked around and realized that what he was true. None of the security guards had joined in the fight, or were trying to arrest us, and apparently the reason was because they were all running around like they had lost their minds. Seriously, one of them had jumped the admission desk and was licking one of the windows.
"You did that?" Percy asked. Grover nodded.
"Just a small confusion spell, it'll end pretty quick," he said in an reserved fashion.
"Alright, man!" I praised, giving him a fist bump.
"We need to go, look!" Zoe said, pointing outside. A group of gray men in gray uniforms were marching across the Mall, heading straight for us.
"Go. They're hunting me. I'll lead them off the trail," Percy said.
"No. We all go," Zoe said, surprising all of us.
"But, you said…"
"You are part of the quest now, and as much as I don't like it, there's no arguing with fate," Zoe said reluctantly, "YOU are the sixth member, and we don't leave anyone behind."
And cut. That's all for this time around. Please feel free to read, review, let me know what you liked or didn't like, and I'll see you all in the next one.