It took them over ten hours to drive from the Hoover Dam to San Francisco, after factoring the stops for food and breaks – after all, Thalia was still a mortal, and she couldn't drive forever. By the time they pulled into an open spot near the Embarcadero Center, it was already mid-day, and the sun was glaring as harshly down as it could in winter on the city of San Francisco. The next day was the Winter Solstice. They were running out of time.
Thalia shut off the van's engine as the four questers sat in silence. Turning around, she had an inquisitive look as they all stared at one another.
"Ideas?" she asked.
"Well," Grover began, his tone uncertain but hopeful, "the 'bane of Olympus' is supposed to show us the way, but we don't know what it is."
"So we need to find this monster," Percy suddenly said, picking up on what Grover was hinting at. "We find it, and it'll lead us to Artemis." He smiled as everyone else nodded their heads.
"Wait," Bianca spoke up. "What's the monster?"
Everybody froze. They were trying to follow the trail of a monster, yet they had no idea what the monster was, much less where that trail began or led. Then Grover sat up straight, as if jolted by electricity.
"Nereus!" he cried. Thalia and Bianca looked at him with confused expressions, while Percy's eyes widened in an 'ah' moment.
"The old man of the sea," Percy whispered. "But where do we find him? I mean, sure, we're on the coast, but the West Coast is huge. He can anywhere in San Francisco – or further."
"Well, I think we can assume that he'll be in San Francisco," Thalia pondered out loud. "The quest is almost certainly pointing us here, where Mount Othrys is rising again. If someone as old and knowledgeable as Nereus were to be anywhere at a time like this, it'd be here, in San Francisco. We need to get onto the street and start looking for trails." The others all hummed a tone of agreement, and they quickly exited the van, stretching as they jumped onto the pavement.
"You know," Percy commented as he exited the van, "I'd assume someone that's called 'the old man of the sea' would be near the sea. Shouldn't we look at the piers and whatnot?" Bianca nodded in agreement as she looked at the older girl. Thalia pursed her lips as she slowly nodded as well.
"Percy and I will take the piers north of Embarcadero," Thalia stated, readying her can of Mace and checking her bracelet. "You two," she continued, looking at Grover and Bianca, "take everything south of it. Use Grover's sense of smell to sniff out everything that's off, but try to keep to the piers." The two nodded, and they headed off, Grover's nose already tilted upwards and sniffing. From a distance, Thalia saw Bianca giggle at Grover's antics.
"Righto, you ready?" Percy asked, causing the girl to turn back toward him. With a quick nod, the two set off towards the piers, relying on their senses to hopefully tell them when something was 'off' in the bad ancient Greek way.
"What do we do if we find Nereus?" Percy asked, glaring at all of the potential "this could be Nereus" people, which included anyone that was over fifty and had a beard, and trying not to look like a creep.
"If I remember my myths correctly, Hercules needed Nereus to find the Golden Apples of the Hesperides." Thalia held her chin with one hand in thought. "I think when Nereus jumped into the sea, Hercules held on as tightly as he could until Nereus gave up." She smiled at her words. "Well, this makes it pretty easy for you then, right?"
Percy nervously chuckled as they reached the pier. It was filled with old homeless people that fit Percy's search descriptions, but most of them were pretty average – regular (if bad) smells and no "I can and will smite you" auras. It wasn't until they reached the end of the pier that Percy found someone that stood out.
Rather, his smell stood out. The awful stink of rotten fish permeated the space between the two demigods and the old man that was sleeping in a pair of dirty pajamas. His belly was fat and poked out from underneath his shirt, while his long, messy, and unkempt white beard was stained and dirty. Thalia prodded Percy forward against his protests, and he reluctantly edged forward slowly, his hand in his pocket and on his pen. When he was right by the old man, Percy reached down and grabbed the sleeping man's shoulders, jostling him awake.
The old man yelped and grabbed Percy in response, his iron-like grip nearly crushing Percy. "Help!" he cried, though Percy felt like the old man needed no help. Vaguely, Percy heard cries of indignation in the distance from the other homeless people that were on the pier, but he paid them no attention as he and Nereus wrestled with one another, the latter doing his very best to try and shake off the demigod.
"Darn it, I'm a half-blood! I want information!" Percy yelled. His words seemed to have the opposite effect of what they were intended for – Nereus struggled even more.
"Heroes! Why do they always pick on me!" The struggle became like a rollercoaster for Percy as he tried to stay on while Nereus tried to throw him off. As they neared the water, an idea popped into Percy's head.
"Damn, don't fall into the water, you old coot!" he muttered as loudly under his breath as he could. Nereus took the bait and laughed as he jumped into the water, seemingly assured of victory against the upstart brat that was trying to cling onto him.
Instead, what he found was an even tighter pressure on his shoulders as Percy's grip strength was enhanced to extraordinary levels, courtesy of his heritage. Still, Nereus had a few tricks up his own sleeve. A second into the water, and Percy found himself holding onto a slick black seal.
Nereus didn't waste any time, diving straight to the bottom of the ocean before changing direction and going straight up in an attempt to shake Percy loose. In the span of seconds, Nereus took the form of a dozen different fish before turning back into a human.
"Why won't you drown?" he yelled, futilely struggling in the water.
"I'm Poseidon's son," Percy replied, still holding on tightly.
"Damn that usurper!" Nereus wailed, but his resistance grew weaker as he struggled to make it back to the docks. When he finally pulled himself out of the water, he collapsed into a mess of ripped clothing and limbs, his chest heaving with deep, large breaths. Percy, on the other hand, pulled himself out of the water with gusto, and if anything, he looked more refreshed and energetic than before he had fought with Nereus.
"You got him!" Thalia yelled as she ran over. Grover and Bianca were right behind her. Percy threw Thalia a playful eyebrow-raise as if he were saying 'you doubted me?' before turning back to the tired old man.
"Oh wonderful," Nereus muttered, covering his eyes with a hand. "An audience for my humiliation. What is it going to be, the normal deal? Let me go if I answer a question?" He said that last part sarcastically, some of the pent-up anger over the last few millennia leaking out in his words.
"Wait, one? I've got more than one question," Percy said.
"Only one question per capture – that's standard!" The Old Man of the Sea uncovered his eyes, staring at both Percy and Thalia as if he knew a secret of the universe about them that they didn't about themselves.
"Interesting," he muttered to himself, too quietly for any of the demigods to hear. "Most interesting."
Somewhere in the back of Percy's mind, a little nagging voice was telling to ask about Annabeth – and he did want to ask about Annabeth, but only to make sure she was alright. That voice was feminine, and although it was quiet and small, it had an alluring quality to it…
Percy shook his head, flinging a few drops of water away as he re-focused on the Old Man of the Sea.
"All right, Nereus, tell us where to find this terrible monster that can bring an end to the gods – the monster that Artemis was hunting."
Nereus smiled, a sight that was wholly unpleasant and devoid of actual humor.
"Oh, that's easy. It's right there." He pointed right past Percy's feet, into the water.
"What?" Percy exclaimed, whirling around.
"The deal is finished!" Nereus yelled, quickly turning into a fish and flipping into the sea. Percy cursed as he readied himself to jump into the sea to follow the old sea god, but Thalia's voice stopped him.
"Wait, what's that?" she asked. Percy looked straight down as he heard a loud 'moo' sound.
"Bessie?" the son of Poseidon asked, reaching down to pet her.
"He says his name isn't Bessie," Grover gasped out, shocked that he could understand the creature.
"Uh, you can understand him?" Percy asked.
"He speaks a form of old animal speech," Grover explained. "He says his name is the Ophiotaurus."
"Which means serpent bull, but what does that tell us?" Thalia questioned out loud.
Another moo came from the Ophiotaurus, and Grover nodded as he took it in.
"It says that Percy is his protector, and that he's running away from bad people. He says that the bad people are close."
"Wait, how'd you get that out of one 'moo'?" Bianca asked, bewildered by the turn of events.
"More importantly," Thalia interrupted, "this is the monster that can destroy Olympus?"
They all fell silent at this prompt.
"I guess so," Grover shakily responded.
Thalia sighed. "Well, I don't know how that's supposed to work, but we need to protect it. It's got the power to destroy Olympus, and that's definitely something we can't let fall into the enemy's hands.
"Unfortunately for you," came a cultured and heavy French accent from the side of the pier, "it is too late to avoid that."
Percy's blood chilled as he realized that they had been surrounded. The Ophiotaurus gave a little whine and submerged underneath the water. Standing near them was none other than the manticore himself, Dr. Thorn, and there were human mercenaries with guns standing around the pier.
"It is, however," the manticore continued, "not too late for you to join us, my dear. This could be but the beginning of your greatest victory." He gestured toward Thalia. "You have the power to destroy Olympus and the corruption it represents that has driven so many great heroes to despair. When you turn sixteen, you will sacrifice the entrails of the Ophiotaurus, and that will grant you unlimited power to destroy the Olympians!"
Percy glanced at his friend, shocked to see her standing still and not refuting any of the manticore's words.
"Your friend Luke is prescient – he has foreseen this, and made the decision to join the right side. The stronger side. You can rule this world with him under the watchful eye of the Titans," the manticore spoke to Thalia directly. "You have no reason to fight for the Olympians; what have they ever done for you? Your father abandoned you, and now they only seek to use you for their dirty work. Come! Call the beast and it will follow you."
Thalia was silent.
"Thalia, snap out of it!" Percy pleaded, touching her shoulder. She turned around, her eyes revealing conflict and confusion. It scared Percy. He had no idea that she had such negative feelings towards the Olympians. But it was also more than that…
"Luke," she whispered, her eyes staring straight at Percy but looking far beyond. He felt his heart seize in that moment. Of course, for him it was never going to be like that. How could he have ever thought that he could compete with Luke Castellan of all people?
Shaking slightly, Percy turned toward Grover, and the satyr quickly understood, pulling out his pipes and playing a quick riff. The manticore yelled and the human mercenaries raised their guns, but before they could figure out which one of the four kids was a bigger threat, the wooden planks they stood on grew branches, entangling their legs and tripping them. Bianca followed up by sending an arrow into the pack of mercenaries, letting loose a cloud of yellow smoke upon impact. The human mercenaries were left coughing and wheezing, and as Dr. Thorn bellowed in anger, Percy grabbed Thalia and dragged her with him, ignoring the twinge in his heart and the fact that Thalia was only half-heartedly keeping up with him.
The four down the pier and ducked behind a nearby water fountain. On one side was a kiosk, and on the other was the sea itself, a few rocks here and there that some sea lions took full advantage of to tan themselves. They were trapped, and they had a manticore and many mercenaries encroaching upon their position. Grover played his pipes furiously as Bianca did her best to barrage the enemies with arrows, but it did little to halt their advance.
"Thalia," Percy whispered, staring straight into his friend's blue eyes. She looked more lost than he had ever seen her, and it frightened him. "Please don't abandon us."
There was a breath of silence.
"I-"
"Percy!" Grover yelled, in-between breaths, cutting Percy off. "Jump into the sea! You can at least save the Ophiotaurus!"
"I won't leave you guys," Percy responded, still kneeling in front of Thalia but his head turned to face his satyr friend. "We'll fight together." He felt a grip on his shoulder, and turned around again to see Thalia with her eyes closed, slightly shaking as she had a hand on his shoulder.
"Percy," she breathed. "I-I'm sorry," she shakily said, as she opened her eyes. They were moist. "I won't abandon you, Percy."
Percy pursed his lips, putting both hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry about it. Just, just stay here." He left her behind the safety of the fountain as he stared at the oncoming opposition. Then he saw the mist of the fountain water.
"Drachma," Percy whispered, and Grover understood. The satyr dug out a gold coin and tossed it to the demigod. Percy quickly said the words and an image appeared. Unfortunately, it was an image of none other than Mr. D himself.
"Do you mind?" the god of wine lazily said, as he rummaged through the refrigerator.
"Where's Chiron?" Percy shouted.
"How rude," Mr. D responded, taking a long drink of grape juice. "Is that how you greet your mother?"
"Hello," Percy forced himself to say, yielding under the circumstances. "We're about to die! Where's Chiron!"
"How melodramatic, Peter Johnson. I'm afraid Chiron isn't here. Would you like me to take a message for him?"
"You're kidding," Percy whispered. "We're dead."
"We'll go down fighting," came Thalia's voice. It was still a little shaky, but it had regained much of its usual fiery nature. She was beside Percy, her shield expanded and her spear ready.
"And I thought you were being dramatic earlier. Well, as I'm still talking to you, I assume you've, once again, jumped the gun. What is the problem, exactly?"
Percy related the whole tale about the Ophiotaurus to Mr. D.
"Hm. Well, that's quite something. I see." Mr. D took another drink of his grape juice.
"You don't even care!" Percy screamed. "You're okay with just watching us die!"
Around them, more human mercenaries were showing up. Some were up on the rooftops, their rifles trained on their position, while others flanked Dr. Thorn, the manticore slowly but surely making his way toward them, his smile showing that he was savoring the moment.
"You could ask for help. Ask politely, that is. It's always been an option."
Percy would've rather gone down against the oncoming enemies rather than begged Mr. D for help, but even as he felt conviction in that thought, he remembered Thalia's tear-stained eyes as she struggled to make the choice between unlimited power and them. Between the Titans and the Olympians.
Between Luke and him.
And in that moment, Percy realized the magnitude of this moment for Thalia. She had made several hard decisions in one go, and had sacrificed a chance to be with Luke to be with them instead. She had let go of power beyond imagination for them. How could he let his selfishness hurt her?
"Please, Mr. D," Percy pleaded. "Help."
Dionysus looked at Percy, but said nothing.
"Spare the daughter of Zeus," the manticore said, a wide, gruesome smile on his face. "She will join us soon enough. Kill the others."
The human mercenaries lifted their guns. Percy pulled out Riptide and half-turned, ready to charge.
The smell of freshly crushed grapes wafted to Percy's nose.
An audible 'SNAP' filled the air.
And then the most inexplicable things happened.
Two of the mercenaries simply backflipped off the roof of a nearby building, their bones audibly cracking and shattering on impact. Another clawed his eyes out and then ran into a wall, repeated bashing his head until blood stained the bricks. Yet another jumped into oncoming traffic on the road, the sickening crack giving Percy all the indication he needed of what happened. And still more put their guns into their mouths and pulled.
It was an absolutely gruesome, horrendous sight. The sight of madness incarnate.
Bianca shook at the wanton violence in front of them, and Grover held onto her to comfort the young Hunter as she slid to the ground. Thalia look visibly shaken, and Percy felt sick watching what had just happened.
"Agh!" the manticore yelled. "I will deal with you brats myself!" Before he could make it two steps, however, a vine sprouted around him. As he struggled, another, and another, grew, until his entire body was covered with grape vines. New leaves and fresh clusters of baby grapes grew until he resembled nothing more than a thrashing bundle of green, and then, with a shriek and a crunch, there was no more movement.
Percy didn't think there would ever be anymore movement.
"Well," Dionysus finally said, closing his refrigerator and finishing off his grape juice. "That was fun."
"H-how…" Percy muttered, shocked by what he had just seen. Madness in its purest form. Utterly terrifying. Utterly disgusting.
"Such gratitude," Dionysus drawled. "The Mist will solve most of the mortals' issues. Here's a tip, Mr. Jackson. Go to Tamalpais." He changed gears as he stared at the equally shell-shocked Thalia. "It isn't easy to resist power, is it?"
The girl nodded.
Dionysus sighed, before looking up again at the duo. "Interesting," he whispered to himself. "Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace," he spoke up louder. "You would do well to remember the lessons you've learned today." With that, Mr. D cut the call, the image fading out to mist.
Percy silently looked over at Thalia, who was also looking at him. She shot him a shaky smile, the events that had just unfolded still affecting her.
She had chosen them over power. The Olympians over the Titans.
And him over Luke. His heart soared.
He was ready to take on the world.