Psyche, bitch, you thought. Feliz Navidad, motherfuckers.
Note: slanted dialogue is mentally spoken.
Previously
"You're not that bright, are you?" I heard a voice say while my mind was still groggy from the bright light and pain that I had just gone through.
"I have been saving up power for fourteen years - FOURTEEN!" The person sounded angry, I tried desperately to open my eyes, now being able to feel the gravel below me. "Just for it all to go down the godsdamned drain! I was going to give us all our memories back - but no! I instead had to waste all that power to save your ass from fading. I was screaming at you to not do it, that lightning and electricity is one of our greatest weaknesses. But you still did it!" I could hear the voice clearer, it sounded familiar.
"Oh, get the hell up!" I felt myself being grabbed and hoisted up, gasping when I felt new found energy fuel me. My sea green eyes shot open and stared into a pair of blue ones. The other person's eyes were narrowed, and suddenly they shifted to sea green, the same shade of my own. I took a long look at the face of the angry person who now stood with a snarl and narrowed eyes, pushing away from me.
I was looking at myself.
Continued
I take a good few steps back, just staring at the guy in front of me. He looked the exact same, except for his hair, it was cut a lot nicer and neater.
"What? Cat got your tongue? Never looked in a mirror before?" Look-a-like asked with his arms crossed over his chest. I looked at his clothes, gray dress shirt with dress pants, shirt untucked and wrinkled. Like a more mature and nicely dressed version of himself.
"Chaos' sake, kid, you lose your hearing?" He asked, taking a step closer. I took another step back.
"Who are you? Why do you look like me?" I asked, watching him. Look-a-like raised his arms, left eyebrow raised.
"Can't and won't hurt you, don't worry," He said, taking a step back. "I'm Perseus, the Perseus who got turned on by my mother and sister." He said.
"..." I stood there, staring at him. His eyes narrowed. "Erebus, are you playing a prank on me? It isn't funny."
"Wow, Erebus? Never been confused with him before. I'm just gonna assume you're confused as I can no longer look into your thoughts like I used to." 'Perseus' said, dropping his arms to his sides and stepping closer to me. "Kid, I get that this is a confusing thing, but can you really deny hearing me before you were, quite literally, blown away?"
"Do not lead Talos that way! Turn the other, back to the junkyard, just don't go that way! It's stupid-insane!" The voice reverberated inside my head. I had paused in my movements, stopping Talos for a second before continuing on my path back towards the empty highway.
"Kid! Listen to me, don't act like you can't hear me! You hit those power lines and get caught, you're dead! Go the other way!" I ignored the voice in my head. I remember thinking the lines couldn't possibly hurt that much, maybe a slight shock, nothing too bad could happen. Go through them and I'd be gold, free reign to take care of Talos.
And then I had Talos walk right into them. The pain was horrific, just constantly shooting throughout my entire body. If I had actual control and wasn't writhing in pain, I might've been able to move Talos, to get away from the power lines. But it simply wasn't possible.
"Dammit, kid!" Was the last thing I had heard before I blacked out from the pain.
I shook my head. "How? Explain to me how you're here, and I might believe you." I told him.
'Perseus' sighed. "Fine, when you came to be, my reincarnation of a sort, there had to be some part of me inside you, correct? How else were you suppose to retain my past memories? Well, over the years, that part inside you starts to gain power, takes from yours to feed it, starting day one of your life on Earth. As it gained more and more power, I came to be. Think of me as an embodiment of past memories, since I am technically not the 'real' Perseus." He said. "So, do you believe me?"
The dream from last night, Hemera saying that there was a power source coming from me focusing power on my mind. I looked at him, sighed, and then nodded.
"There you go, thinking rationally for once in your life," Perseus said, the same crooked smile I had was on his face. Then his eyes widened, an expression of realization on his face. "I forgot to mention, you're the only one who can see me." He said quickly.
I had turned around to look at where I was and stopped short, turning my head to the side. "What?"
"Haha, yeah, you kinda look insane talking to yourself," Perseus said, pushing his sleeves up and clearing his throat.
"And you never thought to tell me this beforehand?"
"It never came up."
"You're an ass."
"I'm you."
"Oh, gods, I can't win a verbal argument. It's just constant back and forth or I'll always lose." I say with realization dawning on my face.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Perseus said, crossing his arms.
"From my point of view, it is," I said, sending him a glare. I lowered my voice. "Can't you, like, talk to me in my mind like the others do?" I asked.
He raised an eyebrow while shrugging. "I can't do that, but I can put myself back into your fucked up head, giving me access to your thoughts and stuff, but losing a body." He said.
I thought over the options. "How do you get back inside my head?" I asked.
"Easy, close your eyes."
"Hell, no."
"Kid, just do it."
"Fine," I said while closing my eyes and breathing out. I expected to get a weird feeling like something was going through and into my body or something. Nope. Instead, I felt as if someone had punched me in the face.
"What the hell?" I yelled, holding the left side of my face with my eyes clenched shut, a throbbing pain resonating from my left temple.
"Hey, it worked! Didn't expect to do that first try!" I heard the ever annoying voice of myself say.
"You punched me!"
"I went through all this work for us to talk in your head, don't make me get back out!" My eyes shot open, realizing that I had been shouting in public. I looked around, I was in an alley, but there was a homeless guy and a woman staring at me. Dammit!
"Why'd you have to punch me?" I ask, rubbing the left side of my face and making my way out of the alley.
"I didn't punch you, that was me figuratively jumping back inside your head. Painful, isn't it? Lucky I got in first try." Perseus said. I grimaced, imagining the pain multiple times over.
"Do you know where we are?" I asked.
"You don't wanna know where we are, though, just how you can get back to your friends," Perseus said. I could just picture him smiling. How does anyone deal with me?
"Then can you tell me how to get back to them?" I asked.
"Sure! But you need clothes, I put some cash in your pocket, one hundred bucks. Go and grab some clothes from the store across the street." Perseus told me. I stopped in my tracks, looking across the road from my position in the alley still. The clothes store stood there, people walking in and out with bags in hand. I then looked down at my clothes, my shirt was singed and ripped towards the bottom, the pelt I was actually still wearing on my shoulders, pants didn't look much better, and then my jacket was completely gone.
"I hate myself."
"So do I. Now get going, the longer you wait, the more people will stare."
I sighed, then started the trek to get myself clothes.
I came out twenty minutes later with a lighter pocket and hearing Perseus laughing.
"Can you stop?" I asked in my head.
"Obviously not." I let out a loud sigh and pushed the sleeves of my new, white shirt up, adjusting the belt at my waist which held my black pants up.
"So where am I going?" I ask him. I went to turn around and was caught off guard by a sudden wave of weakness and a slight throb in my head. I dropped to my knees, left hand going to my head while my right supported my body and made sure I didn't completely drop.
"Sorry about that. You're gonna need to take the extra money you have left and get a ride to the Hoover Dam." Perseus says. I slowly pushed myself back up, waving off a man approaching to help me.
"You okay, young man?" He asked.
I nodded. "Yeah, dizzy spell just caught me off guard. Thanks anyways." I told the man. He nodded and walked off. The friendly smile I had on for the man dropped from my face. "The Hoover Dam?"
"Yeah, that's where they're heading. If you get a ride there right now, you might even be able to arrive there before they do." Perseus said. I felt myself get a confused look.
"How do you know the rest of the group is heading for Hoover Dam?" I asked.
"It's why you suddenly got weak. I used some of your power, which you don't know how to use, to find out." Perseus said. "And I'm not teaching you how to use it, so don't bother asking. I only used it because it was needed." He then added on.
"If that's the case, we could've sent them an iris message," I said, crossing my arms and looking around for a possible taxi or ride.
"You're a special kind of stupid. They think you're dead, kid. If you just iris message them when they're in slight mourning, they'll think you're a monster or a being messing with them." Perseus said, a slight bite in his words that made me wince.
"Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry."
"Don't be, just find a car and let's get goin'" Something about that took the edge off of what I felt. I breathed out.
"Tell me if you see a taxi, okay?"
"Will do!" Perseus responded with, going silent afterward. This was gonna be fun.
It took the both of us about ten minutes to get a ride to the dam, and then all we had to do was wait.
"This is nice. Just me and you..."
"Don't make it awkward," I said, closing my eyes and listening to pop music which the driver had playing.
"Excuse you, I'm trying to make it less awkward!" Perseus said. There was a silence after that, one which unsettled me.
"Perseus?" I asked in my head.
"You think I can get out right now?" Perseus asked. "I like being able to hear your thoughts and all, but having an actual body was real nice,"
I paused, thinking for a second. I wasn't awake when he had first gotten out. "How does it feel for you to remove yourself?" I asked. There was a long, drawn-out pause.
"Iounno," I could actually picture him shrugging his shoulder. I had to resist the urge to sigh.
"Wait a sec," I told him, looking and making sure the driver wasn't watching me in case this hurt like it did when Perseus got back into my head. "Okay, go for it," I said, bracing my hands on the seat cushions and tensing.
For a split second, I thought that it actually might not hurt, then I felt the worse pressure build up behind my eyes and my head throbbed. You know that dull pain you feel in your ears from your sinuses sometimes? Or I think it's from your sinuses, anyway, that pain started up in my ears and spread to my temples and finally ended between my eyes. Then Perseus was sitting in the seat next to me, one leg crossed over the other and arms behind his head.
"One blink 'yes', two blinks 'no'. Did that feel like the punch?" Perseus asked. I kept my head forward with my eyes shut. I reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose. I let out a breath and blinked twice.
"Really? Did it hurt?" He then asked. I blinked once and he winced. "Two blinks for a lot and one blink for not that much." I didn't blink. "Okay, one blink for not as much as the punch but still a lot, and two blinks for 'I'd rather go to hell than experience it again'." I paused and my eyes narrowed in a 'What the hell?' and then I blinked once.
"Okay, thank you for taking the survey, we'll contact you once again once we have arrived at our location. Have a good nap, Mr. Jackson." Perseus said. I pushed all my thoughts aside and decided to do just that, go to sleep.
"Hey, how long do you think it will take for us to get to the dam?" I asked the driver before I would close my eyes. The driver looked in his early thirties with short brown hair and pretty casual clothes consisting of a T-shirt and jeans.
"Maybe another half hour."
"Okay, thanks, man," I said, leaning back and closing my eyes.
"No problem."
"Bianca?" I ignore it.
"Bianca, come on, talk to us."
"Thalia, leave her be, she needs time." I hear Zoë tell Thalia.
"Zoë, she hasn't spoken to anyone ever since the junkyard," Thalia says. I can feel her eyes staring at me as I walk ahead of everyone and continue up the goat trail which would get us to the Hoover Dam.
"I've noticed, Thalia, but she needs time."
"Can you two stop talking as if I'm deaf? I hear everything." I say over my shoulder, slowing my pace.
"We'll try to be quieter," Zoë says.
"No, we won't. We were all there, Bianca, Percy's death is as much our fault as it is yours if that's what you think." Thalia says, raising her voice slightly. I stop and turn around.
"Except it isn't," I say, glaring down at her since she was on a lower part of the path. Her face was pale and she was sweating slightly but still stared straight at me with defiance clear in her eyes. "He went into that machine because of me, not you guys, me!"
"He went in there on his own accord!" Thalia yelled.
"Yeah, to protect me and keep me from getting in danger!" I yelled back. "He told me before going in there, so don't you dare try to tell me otherwise!" I yelled. Thalia took a step back. "Stop yelling!" Grover shouts. My gaze snapped from Thalia's face over to him.
"I understand, this is tough on all of us. But fighting each other isn't going to do us any good, and I don't believe Percy would want it that way." He says, a tired look in his eyes. My gaze shifted downwards.
"He is right," Zoë says. "I understand that this might be harder for you, Bianca, but we can't be fighting like this. As Grover said, I don't believe Percy would want to see this." Silence settled upon the group after Zoë finished.
"How am I supposed to tell Nico?" I ask, lifting my head up to look at the three of them.
"You don't have to, it was my job as a satyr to protect everyone, and I failed," Grover says, taking a step towards me.
"You didn't fail, Grover -" Thalias starts before being cut off.
"I did, if anyone should've gotten hurt, and Zeus forbid, die, it should've been me." He says, stopping her. "It was my job, and I take full responsibility for failing it."
"We need to keep moving," Zoë says, breaking the silence after Grover's speech.
"Yeah, and from here on out, none of us die, alright, guys?" Thalia says. "We're all going to survive this quest and give Percy's name the justice it deserves, he saved all of us, in the end."
"Well, I wouldn't give the boy that much gratitude."
"Zoë!"
"Okay, fine! I suppose he did save us, in the end." Zoë says, looking away slightly.
"Aww, that was adorable." Zoë turned her nose up, looking at Thalia.
"What was?"
"You not admitting Percy actually saved you and being all prideful," Thalia said with a laugh, walking past Zoë and stopping to stand beside me.
"Wha-"
"She's not wrong," I say, stopping Zoë mid-reply.
"See, depression herself agrees with me!" Thalia says towards Zoë.
I pushed the blue-eyed girl's arm. "Hey!"
"What?" Thalia asked, rubbing her arm. The action reminded me of Nico and the smile which used to be on my face dropped and they all took notice of it.
"Hey, don't worry. We'll handle it together whenever we get to it." Grover said.
I nodded. "Thanks," I said. "We should really head up now," I added.
"I've been saying that for the past few minutes, but no one listens," Zoë says.
"Well, come on, then, we're wasting daylight," Thalia says, being the first to start moving back up toward the giant dam which stood before us. I stuck to the back this time around, the tension from before being dismissed and a comfortable feel taking its place. We could do this, Percy's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain.
"Thanks for the ride," I tell the driver. Jase, I learned his name was.
"It was no problem," He replied, taking the money I held out and soon driving off from the dam he'd dropped me off at.
"So, how 'bout scaring your friends half to death?" Perseus asked. I rubbed my face of any signs of sleep, ignoring him. "If you don't respond I'm jumping back into your head."
"Please, don't," I whispered behind my hands, faking a yawn.
"If you had headphones or somethin' we could pretend you're in a call or something." Perseus offered.
"Well, I don't have any on me, at the moment," I say, beginning to walk towards the dam's visitor center.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"The visitor center. There's gotta be food there," I say, continuing to walk. I stopped shortly after, though, seeing Perseus wasn't following. My eyebrows scrunched up, staring at him. He was staring over the dam's edge, shorter hair than mine blowing slightly in the breeze with his dress shirt ruffling.
"Perseus?" I ask, knowing no one was around to see or hear. His head snapped up, his eyes a blue once again before switching back to my own eye color.
His head went back to the dam again, though. "What's up, kid?" He asked, voice taking on a more serious tone. I took notice of this, he only called me 'kid' when in particular moods. I walked over and looked over the edge of the dam, trying to see what he was looking at, but Perseus turned and grabbed my arm, pulling me along before I was able to.
"Hey!"
"Come on, you wanted to eat, right? We can find your friends along the way," Perseus said, pulling me towards the visitor center and not letting go until we were away from the edge. I took one last look towards the edge before going ahead of Perseus and making my way to the center.
Once I got to the center, Perseus right behind me and dodging people who had no clue he was there, I paused before walking in, noticing a familiar head of spiky black hair staying a safe distance away from the edge of the dam. A smile formed on my face and I looked around for the others. Perseus took notice of this, looking around before shrugging his shoulder and sitting criss-cross on the ground with his head propped on his fist. It's getting hard to remember that I'm the only one who can see him. I soon picked out the others, who soon began to walk closer.
"Ooh, here they come! Quick, hide!" Perseus says, jumping up from his position on the ground.
"What? No!" I say, turning to him before looking back towards the group approaching the doors of the center. Their heads looked to me at my outburst.
"Percy?" I hear Bianca ask, wide eyes staring at me. I went to say 'hey' before the sudden, stabbing pain in my temple sent me to the ground, right hand keeping me up while my left hand flew to the left side of my face. I put my head to the ground, whispering a curse as my left temple throbbed. Why did that have to hurt so damn much?
"The hell did I say, kid? I said hide, not wave at 'em." I hear Perseus say in my head. I sat up, letting out a groan.
"What are you?" I hear Zoë say and I crack open my eyes. The group stared at me, Bianca's eyes filled with a haunted look, Thalia and Grover staring at me in shock, and Zoë with distrust. "Bianca, step back and do not look." She then adds.
I pick myself up off the ground. "What do you think I am? A skinwalker?" I ask, cracking my jaw and looking towards them. Somehow this all wasn't causing a scene, thank the gods.
"I wouldn't shoot the possibility down," Zoë replied, hand reaching for the knife strapped to her thigh which was hidden in mist.
"I'm Perseus," I say.
"You're a liar," Thalia said, speaking up and stepping out with growing anger in her eyes. "Percy died."
"In the huge animatronic, Talos? I mean, I guess I technically blew up but didn't, per se, die." I say, using my arms to gesture around.
"I don't believe you," Thalia says, taking a step closer, mace canister in hand. I was hurt a little by this, but I understood why this was happening.
"What d-"
"If you're Percy, what deal did you make to Nico before we left for the quest?" Bianca asked.
I smiled slightly. "I made a deal with him that I'd learn how to play Mythomagic if he stopped being annoying," I answer easily. She walked towards me, sliding her dagger into a sheath before hugging me.
"Thanks for not dying." She mumbled.
I hugged back. "You're welcome."
"Really? Not, 'I'll keep Bianca safe' or anything?" Thalia asks, almost dropping her canister in shock.
Bianca stepped back. "That's why I asked. If it wasn't Percy, whoever was posing as him would've said something like that."
"Smart," Zoë says while stopping in her movement to grab her knife.
"Smooth, kid. But how are you gonna explain your miraculous survival?" I hear in my head.
"How're you still alive?" Grover asks, staring at me. Curse Perseus and all he stands for.
"You jinxed it, asshole," I say to Perseus.
"Eh, it was inevitable." Was his reply.
"That is a good question, and one which I'm not sure how to answer," I say, hands together in front of me.
"How come?" Thalia asks.
"Honestly, I'm not completely sure how I didn't die. But despite that, I am one-hundred percent sure that I didn't die and was just brought back or something of the sort." Informing them about Perseus would do more harm than good, so I just spouted a half-truth.
"Well, maybe we'll figure it out later on," Bianca offers.
"Yeah, maybe, but right now I'm really hungry," I say, taking a step back and closer to the visitor center.
"There's a snack bar in the visitor center," Thalia said, moving with me.
"You've been here before?" I ask, turning fully to head toward it.
"Once, I came to see the guardians," she answered, pointing to the far end of the dam. There was a little plaza with two big bronze statues carved into the side of the cliff. They looked kind of like the Oscar statues but with wings.
"They were dedicated to Zeus when the dam was first built," Thalia explained. "A gift from Athena."
There were tourists crowded around them, staring at the statues' feet.
"What are they all doing?" I questioned, stopping to stare at the crowd oddly.
"Rubbing the toes," Thalia answered. "They think it's good luck."
"O... Okay." I say, shaking my head lightly. "Did you come here... hoping for some kind of sign from your dad?" I ask, watching as her features darken.
"No, because they don't do anything. They're just big, stupid metal statues which dumb mortals think will actually help them."
"Come on, let's find the dam snack bar." Zoë interrupted, stepping between me and Thalia with Bianca and Grover not far behind. "We need to eat and then leave, we only have two more days left before the winter solstice."
I cracked a smile, staring at Zoë.
She looked back at me with a raised brow. "What is it?"
"Nothing," I say, turning back to the visitor center and biting my lip.
Grover snickered behind Zoë, making her turn her confused gaze on him. "What is it?"
"You know, I think I could use some dam french fries." was his only reply. Thalia started cracking up along with Grover and I had to suppress my laughter. Bianca came up and stood beside me, hiding her own little smile.
Zoë blinked at all of us. "I do not understand."
"I don't get it, either," I heard the voice of Perseus say in my head. I smiled wider.
"Yeah, I want to buy a dam T-shirt," Thalia says, joining Grover as the both of them laugh harder at Zoë's expense.
I would've added something on but my attention snapped to the north edge of the dam as I heard a noise.
"Moooo."
The smile disappeared from my face. I looked around to see if anyone else had heard it and met eyes with Grover as he looked around confused. "Was that a cow?"
"A dam cow?"
"No," Grover said, looking around more. "I'm being serious."
The group was silent for a moment, trying to listen. "I don't hear anything," Zoë said, breaking it.
My gaze went back to the north edge, remembering how Perseus had acted earlier.
"Percy, you okay?"
"He got blown up a couple hours ago, Thalia," Bianca says.
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, I'm fine," I say, beginning to head over to the northern edge, ignoring the voice of Perseus in my head. "I just a need a minute,"
"What's wrong?" Zoë asked, unmoving.
"Nothing's wrong, just go on ahead. I'll catch up with you guys in a minute." They hesitated for a second before all walking away, Bianca giving me one last glance before following the rest of the group to the visitor center.
I jogged to the north edge, looking over as I heard another moo. There, about thirty feet down in the lake, but I could see it clearly as I was a son of Poseidon, was an Ophiotaurus, staring up at me.
"What the fuck," I said to myself, turning to look around at everyone else around the edge. There were groups of kids running along the dam, senior citizens, some families, but nobody seemed to pay any attention to the cow serpent below.
"I told you to not look," I hear Perseus' voice say in the back of my mind. I ignored him, angry at the huge thing which he had been trying to keep from me.
"What are you doing all the way over here?" I call down. No way a creature like this could've just swum here when the last time I had ever heard, it was making laps around the upper Atlantic Ocean, around the coast of Long Island.
It only swam in circles, butting its head against the side of the dam. "Moo!" It was as if it was trying to get me to come down as and follow it. As crazy as it sounds, it somehow sounded as if it was in a hurry.
"Yo, I can't go down there," I say over the ledge. "I've got people waiting for me inside."
It stared up at me with its sad brown eyes, letting out one last drawn out, "Mooooo," before it did a flip and disappeared into the water.
I hesitated, stupidly debating jumping over the edge to go find it, follow it. But then my body tensed and I felt the hair on the back of my neck and arms bristle. I looked down the dam road to the east and saw two men walking slowly toward me. They had on gray camouflage outfits which flickered over their skeletal bodies. They passed between a group of kids, pushing them aside as the moved toward me. A kid yelled out but one of them only turned its head, the mist hiding its skull momentarily disappearing as the kid screamed out, running away along with the rest of the group.
I cursed, backtracking and then running for the visitor center.
I was almost to the stairs when I heard tires squeal and turned my head to see a black van swerve to a stop in the middle of the road, nearly plowing into some old people.
The doors of the van opened and more Spartai piled out of it. I bolted down the stairs and through a metal detector, the security guard which stood there yelling at me to stop. I did not.
I ran through exhibits, ducking behind tourists and tour groups. I searched frantically for the rest of my group but couldn't see them anywhere. Where was the fucking snack bar?
"Hey, stop!" the guard who had been at the metal detected yelled out at me. I looked around, eyes catching onto an elevator with its doors closing, a tour group inside of it. I had no choice and bolted for it, sliding inside just before they closed fully.
"We'll now be going down seven hundred feet," the tour guide said cheerfully. She looked like a park ranger, with long black hair pulled back in a high ponytail and tinted glasses. I guess she didn't notice that I was being chased and just assumed that I hesitated to get on, scared of the elevator. "Don't worry, ladies and gentlemen, the elevator hardly ever breaks."
"Does this thing go to the snack bar?" I ask.
A few of the group chuckled behind me. The tour guide looked at me, something about her gaze making my skin tingle.
"We're going to the turbines, young man," she said. "Weren't you listening to my fascinating presentation upstairs?"
"Of course. Is there any other way out of the dam?" I question.
"It's a dead end," a tourist behind me says. "For heaven's sake, the only way out is through the other elevator."
The doors opened after he said it.
"Go right on 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 on with the group.
"And young man," the tour guide called out, making me pause in my steps. I turned to look at her. She pushed down her glasses slightly with one finger, staring at me with startling grey eyes, like storm clouds. "There's always a way out for those clever enough to find it," she said with a smile playing on her lips.
The doors closed with the tour guide still inside, leaving me alone. I grimaced, staring at the closing doors. Why was Annabeth's mom so hot?
"Really, dude? That's the only thing you can think of right now?" Perseus voice said criticizingly.
"Don't judge me," I say back, picking up on a ding which came from around the corner, the unmistakable sound of clattering skeleton teeth soon following it.
I ran after the tour group, through a tunnel carved out of solid rock. It seemed as if it ran on forever. The walls were moist and the air hummed with electricity and the road of water. I came out on a U-shaped balcony that overlooked this absolutely huge warehouse area. Fifty feet below, enormous turbines were running. It was a big room, but as I looked around, I didn't see any other exits, unless I wanted to jump into the turbines and get churned up to make electricity. I had already been blown up within a single day, I wanted to keep my near deaths down to a minimum of one for now. Wait, counting the almost being crushed by the foot of the Talos prototype, it was two. I wanted to keep my near deaths down to two within a single day.
Another tour guide was talking over the microphone, telling the tourists about water supplies in Nevada. I prayed that Thalia, Zoë, Grover, and Bianca were okay. They might already be captured, or eating at the snack bar, completely unaware that we were being surrounded. And my dumbass self had managed to trap myself in a fucking hole hundreds of feet below the surface.
I sighed angrily and 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 someplace I could hide. I kept my hand near Revenge on my wrist, ready to attack anything at a moment's notice.
By the time I had managed to get to the opposite side of the balcony, my nerves were practically shot. I backed into the hallway and watched the tunnel which I had first come from.
Then right behind me I heard a sharp Chhh!, and in my defense, it sounded a lot like the voice of a skeleton.
Without thinking, I tapped Revenge and spun, slashing out with my sword.
The girl I tried to slice in half yelped and dropped her Kleenex to the ground.
"Oh my god!" she shouted. "Do you always try to kill people when they blow their nose?"
The first thing that went through my head as she said that was that my sword hadn't hurt her. It had instead passed clean through her body, harmlessly. "You're mortal?!" I exclaimed.
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 my own with a slight shake of her head. She had frizzy reddish-brown hair. Her nose was also red, like she had a cold. She wore an oversized 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 word," she said. "And why didn't it hurt me? I mean, not that I'm complaining. Who are you? And whoa, what is that you're wearing? Is that made of lion fur?"
She asked so many questions all in rapid succession, it was like she was throwing rocks at me. I couldn't think of what to respond with.
I looked behind me, knowing that the Spartai were still following me. I didn't have the time to waste answering all of the questions this girl had for me, but I just stated at her and thought quickly, remembering a lesson Ananke had taught me about using the mist to fool mortals.
I snapped my fingers in front of the girl, concentrating hard on making her believe me. "You don't see a sword," I told the girl, "It's just a watch."
She blinked at me, looking affronted. "Um, no. It's still a sword, weirdo."
I could hear Perseus cackling.
"What the fuck! Who are you?" I ask.
She huffed indignantly. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Now, are you going to answer my questions or should I scream for security?"
"No!" I quickly said, eyes widening in panic. "I mean, I'm, like, kind of in a hurry. I'm in trouble."
"In a hurry or in trouble?"
"Ah, both."
She looked over my shoulder and her eyes widened, grabbing my shirt sleeve and pushing me behind her. "Bathroom!"
"What?"
"Bathroom! Behind me! Now!"
I shook my head but didn't hesitate, listening and slipping inside the boys' bathroom, leaving Rachel Elizabeth Dare standing outside.
I heard the clattering of teeth, hissing sounds of skeletons as they came closer. I pressed my ear against the door of the bathroom.
My grip tightened on Revenge. What the fuck was wrong with me? I had just left a mortal girl out there to die. I prepped my hand against the door, getting ready 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 kid? It's about time you got here. He tried to kill me! He had a sword, for god's sake. You security guys really 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."
I hear excited clattering come from the skeletons then the sound began to move far away, the Spartai leaving.
The door opened and Rachel stared at me. "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, Rachel Elizabeth Dare."
"What are those things?" she asked. "They looked like-"
"Skeletons?"
She nodded uneasily, looking at me.
"Do yourself a favor," I say. "Forget all about this and that you ever saw me."
"Forget you tried to kill me?"
"Yeah. That, too." I say, a slight smile on my face.
"But who are you?"
"Percy-" I started to say before my eyes snapped to the skeletons as they began to turn back around. "Gotta-go!"
"What kind of name is Percy Gotta-go?"
I couldn't correct her as I had already bolted for the exit.
The cafe was packed with kids enjoying probably the best part of the tour - the dam lunch. Thalia, Zoë, Grover, and Bianca were just sitting down with their food as I ran up to them.
"We've got to leave," I quickly gasped. "Now!"
"But we just got our burritos!" Thalia said.
Zoë stood, muttering an Ancient Greek curse. "What did you do?"
The cafe's windows wrapped all the way around the observation floor, which gave us an absolutely beautiful panoramic view of the Spartai army which 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.
However, our immediate problem was a lot closer. The three skeletal warriors who'd been chasing me in the turbine room now appeared at the stairs. They saw me from across the cafeteria and clattered their teeth together.
"Elevator!" Grover exclaimed. We all ran in that direction, but the doors quickly opened with a pleasant ding, and three more warriors emerged. Every warrior was accounted for, minus the one Bianca had blasted to flames in New Mexico. We were completely surrounded.
But, Grover had a brilliant idea, picking up a burrito off of a table and holding it up.
"Burrito fight!" he yelled out, throwing his Guacamole Grande at the nearest skeleton.
I don't know if you've ever been hit by a flying burrito before, but in terms of deadly projectiles, it's up there with grenades and cannonballs. I watched in slow motion as the burrito sailed through the air, connecting smack dab with the head of the warrior and knocking his skull clean off his shoulders. Now, I'm not sure what everyone else in the cafeteria saw, but it obviously wasn't good as they went crazy and began throwing their burritos and baskets of chips and sodas as each other, shrieking and screaming.
The skeletons tried to aim at us with their guns, but it was futile as bodies, food, and drink flew everywhere.
In the chaos of it all, Thalia and I were able to tackle the two skeletons which had been on the stairs, sending them flying into the condiment table. All of us raced down the stairs, Guacamole Grandes whizzing by our heads as we took the stairs three steps at a time.
"What now?" Bianca asked as we burst outside.
I frantically looked around, not having an answer. I could see the warriors that had been on the road closing in on us from either direction. I quickly took off across the street, the rest of the group following behind me as I ran toward the winged bronze statues, unfortunately, it put our backs toward the mountain.
The spartai moved forward, forming a crescent around us. Their brethren from the cafe were running up to join them. One was still putting its head back onto its shoulders. Another was covered in ketchup and mustard. Two more had burritos lodged in their rib cages, and they didn't look all that happy about it. They drew their batons and advanced toward us.
"Five against eleven," I heard Zoë mutter beside me. "And they cannot die."
"Well, at least Bianca can kill them, right?" I say, my eyes switching between each one as they got closer. Zoë gave me a look and I could see Bianca's eyes were panicked, clenching her knives tighter in her hands.
"Well, it's been nice, guys," Grover said, his voice trembling slightly.
Something shiny caught the corner of my eye. I glanced behind me at the statue's feet. "Woah," I said, staring at the toes of the statue. "Their toes really are bright."
"You know, Percy," Thalia said, prepping Aegis in her left hand with her spear in her right. "I don't think this is the time."
I couldn't help but stare at the two giant bronze statues with tall bladed wings like letter openers, eyebrows furrowed in thought. They were a weathered brown except for their toes, which shone like new pennies from all the times people had rubbed them for good luck.
My eyes widened. Good luck. The blessing of Zeus.
My mind snapped back to my encounter with Athena, her grey eyes and her smile. There is always a way for those clever enough to find it.
"Thalia," I call out. "Pray to your dad."
She glared at me. "He never answers."
"Just this once," I pleaded. "Ask for help. I have a feeling the statues can give us some luck."
Six skeletons raised their guns while the other five came forward with their batons. Fifty feet away. Forty feet. My eyes looked to Thalia, searching her face as she stared back at me, her gaze switching between me and the spartai.
"Do it!" I yelled.
"He won't answer me, Percy!"
"This time will be different!"
"Who says?"
I hesitated for a split second. "Athena."
I watched Thalia scowl at me.
"Thalia, please," Grover pleaded.
Thalia closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose. I could see her lips move in silent prayer. I closed my eyes, as well, praying to Annabeth's mom, hoping that I was right and that she was trying to help us save her daughter.
And then, of course, nothing happened.
The skeletons closed in and I scowled, raising Revenge to defend myself. Thalia held up her shield. Zoë pushed Grover behind her, aiming an arrow at a skeleton's head. Bianca got onto her haunches, knives at the ready.
And then a shadow fell over me. I looked up, quickly realizing that it was the shadow of an enormous wind. The skeletons, however, weren't as quick as me. A flash of bronze and all five of the baton-wielders were swept aside while the other skeletons opened fire. I raised the Nemean Lion pelt for protection, but didn't need it as the bronze angels stepped in front of us, folding their wings like shields around us. You could hear the sound of the bullets pinging off of the wings. Suddenly, both angels slashed outward, and the skeletons went flying across the road from the force which the wings had hit them with.
"Bro, it feels so good to stand up!" the first angel exclaimed. His voice sounded tinny and rustic, 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 tourists thinking?"
I stared up at the guardians but quickly shook my head, focusing back on the skeletons as I saw a few of them getting up again, reassembling, bony hands grasping around for their weapons.
"They're coming back!"
"Get us out of here!" Thalia yelled.
Both of the guardians stared down at her. "Zeus's kid?"
"Yes!"
"Could we get a please, Miss Zeus's Kid?" a guardian asked.
"Please!"
The angels looked at each other then shrugged.
"I could use a stretch," one decided.
Next thing I knew, one of them grabbed Thalia and me while the other grabbed Zoë, Bianca, and Grover. Bianca and Zoë being held by a single arm. We flew straight up, over the dam and the river, the skeleton warriors shrinking into tiny speck below us and the sound of gunfire echoing off the sides of the mountains.
Been a while, boyos. Happy Christmas Eve!
I've gone back and edited all the previous chapters, making them a little bit better. The beginning is still pretty rough but gets a lot better as they finally get to camp and the quest starts.
Word count: 7,873