Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.

Chapter Thirteen

Dam Fights and RED Girls

At the edge of the dump, we found a tow truck so old it might've been thrown away itself. But the engine started, and it had a full tank of gas, so we decided to borrow it.

Thalia drove. She didn't seem as stunned as Zoe or Grover. Usually, I wouldn't have taken this so badly. I had seen so many losses already over my life, usually it barely blipped my radar (unless I was particularly close to them, of course). But the thing was that I had argued with Bianca, right before she sacrificed herself to save us. I had considered her selfish and she had proved to be anything but. And now she was dead, and I could never apologize.

"The skeletons are still out there," Thalia reminded us as I hotwired the truck. "We need to keep moving."

She navigated us through the desert, under clear blue skies, the sand so bright it hurt to look at. Zoe sat up front with Thalia. Grover and I sat in the pickup bed, leaning against the tow wench. The air was cool and dry, but the nice weather just seemed like an insult after losing Bianca.

My hand closed around the little figurine that had cost her life. I couldn't even tell what god it was supposed to be. Nico would know.

Oh, gods… what was I going to tell Nico? He was going to be devastated. I had never had to tell someone that their only family was dead before.

"It should've been me," I said, feeling guilt-stricken. "I should've been the one to go into the giant."

After all, Bianca had known about this world for only a few days. I had known for years, and at eighteen, I was hitting the expiry date for a half-blood. Bianca had so much life left to live. I knew that soon enough I would have to suppress my guilt and grief, but I decided that I to wait a little while. Bianca was a good person and she deserved to be mourned.

"Don't say that!" Grover panicked. "It's bad enough that Ana's gone, and now Bianca. Do you think I could stand it if…" He sniffled. "I can't lose anybody else, Luke. I'm not strong enough."

"Ah, Grover…" I reached out to grasp his shoulder, my throat tight.

He wiped under his eyes with an oily cloth that left his face grimy, like he had on war paint. "I'm… I'm okay."

But he wasn't okay. Ever since the encounter in New Mexico he seemed really fragile, even more emotional than usual. I was afraid to talk to him about it, because he might start bawling. If only Ana were there, she would have known what to say, how to help him. And not just because of their empathy link, but because that was who Ana was. But she wasn't here, and I needed to focus on getting her back.

The tow truck ran out of gas at the edge of a river canyon. That was just as well, because the road dead-ended.

Thalia got out and slammed the door. Immediately, one of the tires blew. "Great," she hissed, scowling bitterly. "What now?"

I scanned the horizon. There wasn't much to see. Desert in all directions, occasional clumps of barren mountains plopped here and there. The canyon was the only thing interesting. The river itself wasn't very big, maybe fifty yards across, green water with a few rapids, but it carved a huge scar out of the desert. The rock cliffs dropped away below us.

"There's a path," Grover pointed out. "We could get to the river."

I tried to see what he was talking about, and finally noticed a tiny ledge winding down the cliff face. "That's a goat path," I said.

"So?" he asked.

"So, the rest of us aren't goats," my voice was dry and I gave him a replica of Ana's 'are you kidding me?' stare. He didn't notice, having already started for the path.

"We can make it," he insisted. "I think."

I thought about that. Then I looked over at Thalia and saw how pale she'd gotten. Her problem with heights… she'd never be able to do it.

"No," I decided. "I think we should go farther upstream."

"But—" Grover began to protest.

I shot him a steely look, silently reminding him who the leader of the quest was. "Come on," I said firmly. "A walk won't hurt us."

I glanced at Thalia. Her eyes said a quick "Thank you". I gave her a half-smile and left it at that.

We followed the river about half a mile before coming to an easier slope that led down to the water. On the shore was a canoe rental operation that was closed for the season, but I left a stack of golden drachmas on the counter and a note saying IOU two canoes on Mental Ana's urging. This whole having Ana as my conscience thing was starting to get frustrating. Who ever heard of a son of Hermes apologizing for stealing something?

"We need to go upstream," Zoe said. It was the first time I'd heard her speak since the junkyard, and Mental Ana fussed about her about how bad she sounded, like somebody with the flu. "We shall have to paddle."

"The rapids don't seem too bad, at least," I muttered as I helped Grover to carry the canoes over and put them in the water.

Thalia pulled me aside as we were getting the oars. "Thanks for back there."

"Don't mention it."

She nodded, exhaling heavily. "Would you take Zoe?" she asked. "I think, ah, maybe you can talk to her."

"She's not going to like that," I warned.

"Please?" Thalia begged. "I don't know if I can stand being in the same boat with her. She's… she's starting to worry me."

It was about the last thing I wanted to do, but I nodded. If Zoe was so bad that Thalia was starting to worry about her... At least I had Mental Ana for guidance on what to say, even if I'd prefer the real one.

Thalia's shoulders relaxed. "I owe you one."

"Two." I joked, shooting her a grin. She smirked back, though I'm sure the tired strain in her eyes only echoed my own.

"One and a half," she said, before she turned and helped Grover get their canoe into the water.

As it turned out, we didn't even need to worry about paddling. As soon as we got in the river, I looked over the edge of the boat and found a couple of naiads staring at me.

They looked like regular teenage girls, except for the fact that they were underwater. Ana loved chatting with the naiads at camp. She got very annoyed when people implied that they were shallow. Said that they had 'hidden depths' (no pun intended. Seriously, she will punch you for laughing at the expression) and were very kind. I figured I could see if that kindness applied to all naiads, or just the ones at Camp.

"Hey," I said, giving them a flirtatious smile.

"What're you doing?" Thalia asked while the water spirits made a bubbling sound that may have been giggling, though I wasn't sure.

"We're heading upstream," I told them, ignoring Thalia. "Do you think that you girls could—"

Before I could even finish, the naiads each chose a canoe and began pushing us up the river. We started so fast that Grover fell into his canoe with his hooves sticking up in the air.

"I hate naiads," Zoe grumbled from behind me.

A stream of water squirted up from the back of the boat and hit Zoe in the face.

"She-devils!" Zoe went for her bow.

"Whoa," I said, reaching back to stop her. "They're just playing."

"Cursed water spirits. They've never forgiven me."

"Forgiven you for what?" And did it have anything to do with my dream?

She slung her bow back over her shoulder. "It was a long time ago. Never mind."

We sped up the river, the cliffs looming up on either side of us.

"What happened to Bianca wasn't your fault," I told her eventually. "It was my fault. I came up with the plan, and I let her go. I was the quest leader. I should've been the one to go, not her."

Her shoulders slumped. "No, Luke. It was not your fault. It was mine. I pushed her into going on the quest. I was too anxious. She was a powerful half-blood. She had a kind heart, as well. I… I thought she would be the next lieutenant."

"But you're the lieutenant." It was a foolish, naïve sentence. I knew perfectly well that everybody died eventually, even the Hunters. But Zoe was one of those things that seemed like they'd stay the same forever. I couldn't imagine the Hunt without her.

She gripped the strap of her quiver. She looked more tired than I'd ever seen her. "Nothing can last forever, Luke, you know that as well as I. Over two thousand years I have led the Hunt, and my wisdom has not improved. Now Lady Artemis herself is in danger."

"Look, you can't blame yourself for that," I insisted. "There was nothing you could have done, even if you were there. The monster she was hunting was strong enough to defeat the Goddess of Hunting herself. If you were there, maybe things would have turned out worse because she was concentrating on protecting you. Her being captured was not your fault, Zoe. I know it wasn't."

Zoe didn't answer.

The cliffs along the river were getting taller. Long shadows fell across the water, making it a lot colder, even though the day was bright.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the photo of Ana with Anaklusmos, and passed it back to her. "You made that sword, didn't you?" It was more of a statement than a question, really.

"Who told thee?"

"I had a dream about it."

She studied me. I was sure she was going to snap at me for intruding into her business, but she just sighed and handed the picture back again. "It was a gift. And a mistake."

"Who was the hero?" I asked.

Zoe shook her head. "Do not make me say his name. I swore that I would never speak it again."

"You act like I should know him." I frowned, running a list of heroes through my mind. "All as womanizing as their godly fathers are, of course," Mental Ana snarked bitterly in my mind. I grimaced in agreement. Nowadays, we weren't so bad. But back in the Ancient Days? It was disgusting how badly women were treated, it really was.

"I am sure you do, hero. Don't all you boys want to be just like him?"

Her voice was so bitter, I decided not to press. I looked down at the photo, and for the first time, I wondered if the sword really was cursed. And what it meant for Ana, to carry it.

"Your mother was a water goddess?" I asked.

"Yes, Pleione. She had five daughters. My sisters and I. The Hesperides."

"The girls who live in a garden at the edge of the West. With the golden apple tree and a dragon guarding it. Yeah, I met your sisters." My voice was flat as I remembered my trip to the Garden. Without realizing, I reached up to rub at the scar that slashed over my face, feeling it itch in remembrance.

I felt Zoe's gaze on me, but she didn't ask about my quest. She talked about the damn dragon instead, and I tried to block out the memories that threatened to blot out my awareness of the world as I listened to her.

"His name is Ladon," Zoe told me, her voice wistful. "I helped to raise him, fed and tended him as if he were my child."

"The stories only mention four sisters," I commented carefully, guessing what must have happened from what she had said already.

"There are now." Her tone was dead as she spoke. "I was exiled. Forgotten. Blotted out as if I never existed."

"Why?"

Zoe pointed to my photo. "Because I betrayed my family and helped a hero. You won't find that in the legend either. He never spoke of me. After his direct assault on Ladon failed, I gave him the idea of how to steal the apples, how to trick my father, but he took all the credit."

"Heracles."

Before Zoe could confirm my suspicion, the naiad gurgled loudly to gain my attention. The canoe was slowing down.

I looked ahead, and I saw why.

This was as far as they could take us. The river was blocked. A dam the size of a football stadium stood in our path.

"Hoover Dam," Thalia declared. "It's huge."

We stood at the river's edge, looking up at a curve of concrete that loomed between the cliffs. People were walking along the top of the dam. They were so tiny they looked like flies.

The naiads had left with a lot of grumbling—not in words I could understand, but it was obvious they hated this dam blocking up their nice river. Our canoes floated back downstream, swirling in the wake from the dam's discharge vents.

"Seven hundred feet tall," I announced. "Built in the 1930s."

"Five million cubic acres of water," Thalia continued.

Grover sighed as he finished of the impromptu mini-lecture. "Largest construction project in the United States."

Zoe stared at us. "How do you know all that?"

"Annabeth," I said the name woodenly. "She liked architecture."

"She was nuts about monuments," Thalia added, her gaze fixed on the ground. "Even as a little girl. She loved to tell us these random facts about different things and places."

"Spouted facts all the time." Grover sniffled. "So annoying."

We nodded. Zoe was still looking at us strangely, but I didn't care. It seemed like cruel fate that we'd come to Hoover Dam, that Annabeth had always wanted to visit. Did she still want to visit it? I wondered silently to myself. Did she still want to build something that would last millennia? Or was the destruction of Western Civilization her only desire?

"I want to go up there," Thalia declared suddenly, her jaw tight.

"Thalia-" I began, not even sure what it was that I wanted to say.

"You are mad," Zoe decided. "But that's where the road is." She pointed to a huge parking garage next to the top of the dam. "And so, sightseeing it is."

We had to walk for almost an hour before we found a path that led up to the road. It came up on the east side of the river. Then we straggled back toward the dam. It was cold and windy on top. On one side, a big lake spread out, ringed by barren desert mountains. On the other side, the dam dropped away like the world's most dangerous skateboard ramp, down to the river seven hundred feet below, and water that churned from the dam's vents.

Thalia walked in the middle of the road, far away from the edges. Grover kept sniffing the wind and looking nervous. He didn't say anything, but I knew from experience that he smelled monsters.

"How close are they?" I asked him lowly.

He shook his head. "Maybe not close. The wind on the dam, the desert all around us… the scent can probably carry for miles. But it's coming from several directions. I don't like that."

I didn't either. It was already Wednesday, only two days until winter solstice, and we still had a long way to go. We didn't need any more monsters, making things harder and delaying us.

"There's a snack bar in the visitor centre," Thalia said.

"You've been here before?" I asked, surprised. Certainly not with me, and I didn't remember her ever mentioning having been either.

"Once. To see the guardians." She pointed to the far end of the dam. Carved into the side of the cliff was a little plaza with two big bronze statues. They looked kind of like Oscar statues with wings.

"They were dedicated to Zeus when the dam was built," Thalia explained. "A gift to him from Athena."

Tourists were clustered all around them. They seemed to be looking at the statues' feet.

"What are they doing?" I wondered.

"Rubbing the toes," Thalia said. "They think it's good luck."

"Why?"

She shook her head. "Mortals get crazy ideas. They don't know the statues are sacred to Zeus, but they know there's something special about them."

"When you were here last, did they do anything?" I didn't want to ask, but if it turned out that they were automatons, we could be in trouble.

Thalia's expression darkened. I could tell that she'd come here before hoping for exactly that—some kind of sign from her dad. Some connection. And, of course, it was futile. "No. They don't do anything. They're just big metal statues."

"Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoe said. "We should eat while we can."

Grover cracked a smile. "The dam snack bar?"

Zoe blinked. "Yes. What is funny?"

"Nothing," Grover said, trying to keep a straight face. "I could use some dam french fries."

Even Thalia smiled at that. "And I need to use the dam restroom."

Maybe it was the fact that we were so tired and strung out emotionally, but I started cracking up, and Thalia and Grover joined in, while Zoe just looked at us. "I do not understand."

"I want to use the dam water fountain," Grover chuckled.

"And…" Thalia tried to catch her breath. "I want to buy a dam T-shirt."

I busted up, and I probably would've kept laughing hysterically all day, but then I heard a noise: "Moooo."

The smile melted off my face. I wondered if the noise was just in my head, but Grover had stopped laughing too. He was looking around, confused. "Did I just hear a cow?"

"I think so," I agreed, eyeing the place warily. "Anybody able to think of any type of cow-related monsters?"

"I did not hear anything," Zoe offered, though she still scanned the area carefully.

"I didn't either," Thalia added.

"Must've been nothing then," I murmured. "You guys go and get some food, I'll just do a sweep and meet you in the snack bar."

They nodded and headed for the visitor centre while I wandered over to the edge of the dam. And when I looked over the railing, there it was.

The same cow-serpent thing that I had seen while walking along the beach the day we left, was splashing around in the river, trying to get my attention.

"Moo!" Her (Mental Ana was calling her Bessie, so I just went with it) voice was urgent, like she was trying to warn me of something.

"How did you get here?" I asked. We were thousands of miles from Long Island, hundreds of miles inland. There was no way she could've swum all the way here. And yet, here she was.

Bessie swam in a circle and butted her head against the side of the dam. "Moo!"

She wanted me to come with her. She was telling me to hurry.

"I can't," I told her. "My friends are inside."

She looked at me with sad brown eyes. Then she gave one more urgent "Mooo!," did a flip, and disappeared into the water.

I hesitated. Something was wrong. She was trying to tell me that. I debated what to do, but then I was distracted from thoughts of Bessie. The hairs on my arms started to bristle. I looked down the dam road to the east and I saw two men walking slowly toward me. They wore grey camouflage outfits that flickered over skeletal bodies.

They passed through a group of kids and pushed them aside. A kid yelled, "Hey!" One of the warriors turned, his face changing momentarily into a skull.

"Ah!" the kid yelled, and his whole group backed away.

I ran for the visitor centre to get to the others.

I was almost to the stairs when I heard tires squeal. On the west side of the dam, a black van swerved to a stop in the middle of the road, nearly ploughing into some old people.

The van doors opened and more skeleton warriors piled out. I was surrounded.

I bolted down the stairs and through the museum entrance. The security guard at the metal detector yelled, "Hey, kid!" But I didn't stop.

I ran through the exhibits and ducked behind a tour group. I looked for my friends, but I couldn't see them anywhere. Where was the dam snack bar?

"Stop!" The metal-detector guy yelled.

There was no place to go but into an elevator with the tour group. I ducked inside just as the door closed.

"We'll be going down about seven hundred feet," our tour guide said cheerfully. He was a park ranger, with black hair like a surfer's and tinted glasses. I guess he hadn't noticed that I was being chased. "Don't worry, everybody, the elevator only breaks on Thursdays." He gave a cheerful chuckle and the tourists laughed back.

"Does this go to the snack bar?" I asked him.

A few people behind me laughed again. The tour guide looked at me. Something about his gaze made my skin tingle.

"To the turbines, kid," he replied. "Weren't you listening?"

"Oh, uh, sure. Is there another way out of the dam?"

"It's a dead end," a tourist behind me said. "For heaven's sake. The only way out is the other elevator."

The doors opened.

"Go right ahead, folks," the tour guide told us. "Another ranger is waiting for you at the end of the corridor."

I didn't have much choice but to go out with the group.

"And kid," the tour guide called. I looked back. He'd taken off his sunglasses. His eyes were sea green. Just like Ana's typically were. A colour that she had inherited from her father. Though sometimes they changed shades, sea green was their default colour, for lack of another word. "There's always another way out."

The doors closed with the tour guide still inside, leaving me alone.

Before I could think too much about the man in the elevator, a ding came from around the corner. The second elevator was opening, and I heard an unmistakable sound—the clattering of skeleton teeth.

I ran after the tour group, through a tunnel carved out of solid rock. It seemed to run forever. The walls were moist, and the air hummed with electricity and the roar of water. I came out on a U-shaped balcony that overlooked this huge warehouse area. Fifty feet below, enormous turbines were running. It was a big room, but I didn't see any other exit, unless I wanted to jump into the turbines and get churned up to make electricity. I didn't.

Another tour guide was talking over the microphone, telling the tourists about water supplies in Nevada. I prayed that Thalia, Zoe, and Grover were okay. They might already be captured, or eating at the snack bar, completely unaware that we were being surrounded. Meanwhile I, in a fit of utter stupidity, had trapped myself in a hole hundreds of feet below the surface.

I worked my way around the crowd, trying not to be too obvious about it. There was a hallway at the other side of the balcony—maybe some place I could hide. I kept my hand on Halcyon, ready to strike.

By the time I got to the opposite side of the balcony, my nerves were shot. I backed into the little hallway and watched the tunnel I'd come from. Mental Ana was having a fit in the back of mind about how screwed we were.

Then right behind me I heard a sharp Chhh! like the voice of a skeleton.

Without thinking, I spun, slashing with my sword.

The girl I'd just tried to slice in half yelped and dropped her Kleenex.

"Oh my god!" she shrieked furiously. Oddly, she seemed more indignant than frightened. "Do you always kill people when they blow their nose?"

The first thing that went through my head was that the sword hadn't hurt her. It had passed clean through her body, harmlessly. "You're mortal!"

She looked at me in disbelief. "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I'm mortal! How did you get that sword past security?"

"I didn't—Wait, you can see it's a sword?"

The girl rolled her eyes, which were green like Ana's. But it was a grass green like most mortals had, instead of Ana's vivid sea-coloured eyes that changed shades. She had frizzy reddish-brown hair. Her nose was also red, like she had a cold. She wore a big maroon Harvard sweatshirt and jeans that were covered with marker stains and little holes, like she spent her free time poking them with a fork.

"Well, it's either a sword or the biggest toothpick in the world," she said. "And why didn't it hurt me? I mean, not that I'm complaining. Who are you?"

She asked so many questions so fast, it was like she was throwing rocks at me. I couldn't think of what to say. I knew the skeleton warriors were still chasing me. I had no time to waste. But I just stared at the redheaded girl in shock, Mental Ana snapping at the back of my mind about men being idiots.

"Who are you?" I demanded. "How could you see through the Mist? That shouldn't be possible!"

She huffed indignantly. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare. What's the Mist and why shouldn't I be able to see through it? If you don't start answering me, I'm going to scream for security."

"No!" I cried. "I mean, I'm kind of in a hurry. I'm in trouble."

"In a hurry or in trouble?"

"I'm in a hurry, because I'm in trouble!"

She started to say something else, but then she looked over my shoulder and her eyes widened. "Bathroom!"

"What?"

"Bathroom! Behind me! Now!"

I don't know why, but I listened to her. I slipped inside the boys' bathroom and left Rachel Elizabeth Dare standing outside. Later, that seemed cowardly to me. I'm also pretty sure it saved my life.

I heard the clattering, hissing sounds of skeletons as they came closer.

My grip tightened on Halcyon. What was I thinking? I'd left a defenceless mortal girl out there to die. I was preparing to burst out and fight when Rachel Elizabeth Dare started talking in that rapid-fire machine gun way of hers.

"Oh my god! Did you see that guy? It's about time you got here. He tried to kill me! He had a sword, for god's sake. You security guys let a sword-swinging lunatic inside a national landmark? I mean, jeez! He ran that way toward those turbine thingies. I think he went over the side or something. Maybe he fell."

The skeletons clattered excitedly. I heard them moving off.

Rachel opened the door. "All clear. But you'd better hurry."

She looked shaken. Her face was grey and sweaty.

I peeked around the corner. Three skeleton warriors were running toward the other end of the balcony. The way to the elevator was clear for a few seconds.

"I owe you one, RED."

"Don't call me RED," she ordered before continuing quickly. "What are those things? They looked like—"

"Skeletons?"

She nodded uneasily.

"Do yourself a favour," I replied seriously. "Forget it. Forget you ever saw me."

"How very movie-esque" Mental Ana snarked. "Shut up" I thought back as Rachel stared incredulously at me.

"Forget that you tried to kill me?"

"That was an accident," I told her smoothly. "But yeah. That, too."

"But who are you?"

"Luke—" I started to say. Then the skeletons turned around. "Gotta go!"

"What kind of name is Luke Gotta-go?"

I bolted for the exit.

The cafe was packed with kids enjoying the best part of the tour—the dam lunch. Thalia, Zoe, and Grover were just sitting down with their food.

"We need to leave," I gasped. "Now!"

"But we just got our burritos!" Thalia complained.

Zoe stood up, muttering an Ancient Greek curse. "He's right! Look."

The cafe windows wrapped all the way around the observation floor, which gave us a beautiful panoramic view of the skeletal army that had come to kill us.

I counted two on the east side of the dam road, blocking the way to Arizona. Three more on the west side, guarding Nevada. All of them were armed with batons and pistols.

But our immediate problem was a lot closer. The three skeletal warriors who'd been chasing me in the turbine room now appeared on the stairs. They saw me from across the cafeteria and clattered their teeth.

"Elevator!" Grover said. We bolted that direction, but the doors opened with a pleasant ding, and three more warriors stepped out. Every warrior was accounted for, minus the one Bianca had blasted to flames in New Mexico. We were completely surrounded.

Then Grover had a brilliant, totally Grover-like idea.

"Burrito fight!" he yelled, and then he flung his Guacamole Grande at the nearest skeleton. It was a perfect bullseye.

Now, if you have never been hit by a flying burrito, count yourself lucky. In terms of deadly projectiles, it's right up there with grenades and cannonballs. Grover's lunch hit the skeleton and knocked his skull clean off his shoulders. I'm not sure what the other kids in the cafe saw, but they went crazy and started throwing their burritos and baskets of chips and sodas at each other, shrieking and screaming at the top of their lungs.

The skeletons tried to aim their guns, but it was hopeless. Bodies and food and drinks were flying everywhere.

In the chaos, Thalia and I tackled the other two skeletons on the stairs and sent them flying into the condiment table. Then we all raced downstairs, Guacamole Grandes whizzing past our heads.

"What now?" Grover asked as we burst outside.

I didn't have an answer. The warriors on the road were closing in from either direction. We ran across the street to the pavilion with the winged bronze statues, but that just put our backs to the mountain.

The skeletons moved forward, forming a crescent around us. Their brethren from the cafe were running up to join them. One was still putting its' skull back on its shoulders. Another was covered in ketchup and mustard. Two more had burritos lodged in their rib cages. None of them looked happy about it. They drew their batons and advanced.

"Four against eleven," Zoe muttered. "And they cannot die."

"It's been nice adventuring with you guys," Grover said, his voice trembling.

Something shiny caught the corner of my eye. I glanced behind me at the statue's feet. "Whoa," I mumbled. "Their toes really are bright."

"Luke!" Thalia said. "This isn't the time."

But I couldn't help staring at the two giant bronze guys with tall bladed wings like letter openers. They were weathered brown except for their toes, which shone like new pennies from all the times people had rubbed them for good luck.

Good luck. The blessing of Zeus.

I thought about the tour guide in the elevator. His sea-green eyes and his smile. Both of them so like Ana's eyes and smile. What had he said? There is always another way out.

"Thalia," I said. "Pray to your dad."

She glared at me. "He never answers."

"Just this once," I pleaded. "Ask for help. I think… I think the statues can help us."

Six skeletons raised their guns. The other five came forward with batons. Fifty feet away. Forty feet.

"Do it!" I yelled.

"No!" Thalia refused. "He won't answer me."

"This time is different!"

"Who says?"

I hesitated. "Poseidon, I think."

Thalia scowled like she was sure that I'd gone crazy.

"Try it," Grover pleaded.

Thalia closed her eyes. Her lips moved in a silent prayer. I put in my own prayer to Ana's father, hoping I was right that it had been him in that elevator—that he was trying to help us save his only mortal daughter.

And nothing happened.

The skeletons closed in. I raised Halcyon to defend myself. Thalia held up her shield. Zoe pushed Grover behind her and aimed an arrow at a skeleton's head.

A shadow fell over me. Mental Ana suggested that it was the shadow of death. Then I realized it was the shadow of an enormous wing. The skeletons looked up too late. A flash of bronze, and all five of the baton-wielders were swept aside.

The other skeletons opened fire. I summoned Ana's battered shield for protection, but I didn't need it. The bronze angels stepped in front of us and folded their wings like shields. Bullets pinged off of them like rain off a corrugated roof. Both angels slashed outward, and the skeletons went flying across the road.

"Man, it feels good to stand up!" the first angel said. His voice sounded tinny and rusty, like he hadn't had a drink since he'd been built.

"Will ya look at my toes?" the other said. "Holy Zeus, what were those crazy tourists thinking?"

As stunned as I was by the angels, I was more concerned with the skeletons. A few of them were getting up again, their bodies reassembling as their bony hands groped for their weapons.

"Trouble!" I warned.

"Get us out of here!" Thalia yelled.

Both angels looked down at her. "Zeus's kid?"

"Yes!"

"Could I get a please, Miss Zeus' Kid?" an angel asked.

"Please!"

The angels looked at each other and shrugged.

"Could use a stretch," one decided.

And the next thing I knew, one of them grabbed Thalia and me, the other grabbed Zoe and Grover, and we flew straight up, over the dam and the river, the skeleton warriors shrinking to tiny specks below us and the sound of gunfire echoing off the sides of the mountains.