I apology for the long wait, but life is busy. I hope you will enjoy the cahpter and leave a review.
As always I want to thank all of you for reading and of course reviewing. You are great.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.
Aurelia's POV
The sounds of the car's engine were the only thing that broke through the silence that had settled upon the group after leaving the Junkyard of the Gods. All of the surviving members of the diverse group of Questers were lost in their own little imaginary worlds as they tried to understand and to cope with the events of the last few hours in their own ways.
Zoë's gaze never moved from the road as she sat behind the wheel of the car, her hollow eyes always forward as she put all her concentration into the simple task of driving, she was already experienced with the lost of friends through out her long life, it had happened more times than she cared to remember, but that didn't mean it was easier for her to lose the girls she chose to embrace and care for as family, just that she was more accustomed to loss as horrible as that sounded.
Thalia and Percy on the other hand sat in the back of the car together with their heads leaning on the cold glass of the door windows looking out into the landscape in a dull haze, not having said or done a single thing since they entered the car and sagged down into their places, while Grover sat despondently between them with moist eyes and a sad look on his face as he gazed silently at his hooves without looking around or saying a word.
Aurelia herself, sitting next to Zoë in the front passenger seat, was having a hard time coping with the lost of her new adopted family member. She had embraced Bianca as a sister from the very beginning and after seeing her nearly give her life for Zoë in the meuseum, without hesitation she knew that Bianca had seen them as family too. She couldn't help but continually think back on what happened and how the full car came to feel so empty.
...
Thinking back to the fight that had taken place only an hour ago felt like she was watching the memories through thick blurry glass. Soon into their fight with the gigantic, mechanical statue thing they had ended up cornered together before they could escape or scatter. They had found themselves with their backs to a massive wall, a wall made of trash, yeah, but it still was a wall.
Once they realised they were trapped Thalia had attacked first and grabbed the giant's attention. She used the enemy's sheer size and slow movements against him evading all it's attempts to stamp her to death with her quickness and agility. Not being able to defeat the metal construct or even hurt it however, they settled for a holding tactic while desperately searching for any idea or strategy that could work to help save them on how to battle the monster between them and safety.
It was in that moment of frantic brains storming that Bianca had chosen to break out of their loose formation from standing beside Percy and sprinted straight under the descending foot of the giant killer machine Talos. Her eyes firmly focused on it's underside where she had spotted a small hatch to its insides. Time itself had seemed to slow down for the shocked group as the enormous foot crashed into the ground causing it to rip up even more of the landscape about them and another large cloud of dust to join the masses of it already thrown into the air.
...
Those had been the last moments of Bianca Di Angelo, Hunter of Artemis and her sister. With her self-sacrifice she had saved the lives of those on the quest at the horrific and steep cost of her own. Not only had she shown the skill expected from Artemis' Hunters in entering the fast approaching small hole in the giants foot she also had shown an unprecedented selflessness in giving her own life in the process of shutting down and destroying the massive automaton.
For the members of the Quest she would for ever remain in their hearts and minds as a kind hearted selfless person who despite her accident in waking up the automaton had given her all to undo her mistake.
Soon after leaving the Junkyard they had been lucky enough to find an unused truck with a near full gas and had claimed it for their own before taking off to continue on their journey.
...
It took a long while for any of the Questers to break the silence that had settled over them like a dark and heavy cloak. Percy was the first to speak saying something about how he should have been the one to go inside and tried harder, causing Grover to have an emotional breakdown sobbing. It was very shortly into his crying fit that they reached the end of the car's fuel leaving them at the end of a road near a river canyon.
The Questers without any transportation now that the car had broken down decided to follow the river until they came to a canoe rental. Dispite the rapids being far too swift for anyone to normally travel the river with a son of Poseidon on the team that didn't really matter.
During their canoe ride Aurelia took the chance to confront Zoë, who since the Junkyard had been even more quiet than usual, almost totally silent when not acting as their guide and leader.
"It's not your fault, you know?" - Aurelia stated to Zoë.
"I shouldn't have pushed for her to join the quest! I should have chosen one of the veteran Hunters instead. It's just that she was such a powerful Half-Blood and I was sure that we needed all the help we could get to help My Lady Artemis!" - Zoë replied fiercely.
"I've been leading the hunt for more than two thousand years now as it's lieutenant and I've been part of the hunt for even longer than that! And still nothing has changed! I make the same stupid mistakes! I should have gone with Artemis when she left or insisted I went alo..."
Here Aurelia interrupted her - "And what would have that accomplished? What would have been your chances against a monster Artemis herself couldn't defeat?"
Zoë stayed silent and looked away before staring straight ahead at the naiads Percy had called to help.
"They never forgave me" - She said as one of them splashed water at her.
"Who never forgave you?"
"Do you remember how you asked me what I knew about the quest you others knew not?" - Zoë asked instead of an answer.
"I think thou deserves to know my story. You already know how thy am the daugther of a Titan. I told you your first night in camp. What thou does not know is that my father is none other than Atlas himself. Let me start from the beginning. I once was an immortal..." - With that Zoë began telling her story to Aurelia.
Zoë story was a story of betrayal and lose. Betrayed by the one she loved and trusted most, Heracles the hero of heroes. Loss, when she was abandoned and disowned by her family and losing not just them but also her powers and immortality. Thankfully she had found a new family with the Hunters, just like Aurelia, and ever since she had dedicated her entire being to them.
It was not long after Zoë had finished with her story that they felt the canoes begin to slow down. A look ahead showed clearly why, the river was blocked by an enormous dam.
Percy and the others as they got closer surprised the two Hunters by beginning to state random facts about the dam like it's height, 700 feet, the decade it was built in, the 1930s, and how it could hold up to 5 million cubic acres of water.
Seeing their faces Percy explained with a simple – "Annabeth." - The name of the girl they lost in Maine. She had a thing for architecture, he said.
It was quickly decided that they would go up there, partly because the campers wanted to honour their missing friend but mainly because it was the road they had to take anyway.
It took a long time, about an hour, for them to reach the dam. For Aurelia it was a stunning experience. She never had seen something like it. With Pan she had seen the wonders of nature and the Dursleys would have never taken her somewhere, so this was the first time that she had seen the power humans have over nature and how they bent it to suit their needs. She now could clearly see where Pan was coming from. She herself saw that there needed to be a change. She had already seen big citys like New York, which she had seen from Appolo's chariot, and Washington D.C. and now in her mind the pieces came together, she saw the damage done to the wild and nature as a whole. There was no harmony anymore between the wild and humankind.
It was still an amazing sight but it stood for natures downfall, something completely against her nature and beliefs, it was something she would fight for to stop from happening.
All in all her mood didn't improve. While she looked across the huge walls of the dam the rest of the group decided it was a good chance to find something to eat. Faintly she thought she heard a 'Moo!' but this was a desert and with no cow in sight she put it to the back of her mind as she joined up with the rest of the group. Percy however quickly left once the got onto the Dam saying that 'he would be back soon'.
It wasn't long after that when he ran back looking rather shaken and joined them with the words, – "We gotta go!"
His breathing was heavy and uneven as if he had ran the way here and more. Before anyone could ask for details they all heard the clattering what was chasing him and quickly searching behind him saw the skeletons. A look through the panorama window showed a small skeleton army approaching.
As the skeletons drew nearer Grover had a crazy but surprisingly genius idea, he threw his taco inside a room that was full of kids yelling 'food fight', thankfully getting immediate and effective results. In the up coming chaos of the food fight the Questers managed to hurriedly flee outside but before they could truly escape they were cut off by a small group of skeletons guarding the exits stopping them in their tracks and were soon blocked off from retreat as their food covered comrades finally reached them from the way they came.
Standing with their backs to two huge gold statues with wings they were surrounded. Just before the skeletons closed in on them Percy and Thalia had the saving idea, with Thalia desperately asking, almost begging her father, Zeus gave his blessing to the two angel statues who awoke to life. The Questers already bunched and surrounded around the statues quickly climbed on as the statues took to the air leaving the skeletons behind with thankfully no way of following.
...
The fly towards San Francisco was eventless other than Percy telling the group how he had discovered the skeletons and was helped by what must have been a clear sighted mortal, one Rachel Elizabethe Dare.
It was early morning when the group landed under a bridge, shocking and freaking out a poor homeless man who took off screaming. Soon after that the flying automatons who the campers had learned to call Hank and Chuck left themselves claiming they were going off to visit some friends.
Once arriving in the City, in order to catch Nereus, Zoë who had previous experience with him told Percy that he would have to 'blend in' to get close to him, which meant they had to clothe him in things from something called a 'Goodwill drop box'. He looked so ridiculous that the rest of the group beside Zoë nearly burst into laughter every time they looked at him.
Watching Percy fight a really ragged looking homeless man was interesting but what was amazing was the true fight between the two that started as soon as they hit the water. The sea strengthened them both and the power the sea god's son displayed was stunning making it clear that while he was powerful on land, in the sea he was in a whole other league, managing to hold his grip on Nereus even as the immortal turned himself into a massive killer whale.
After Percy managed to subdue him the group came down the pier where Percy dragged their temporary prisoner out of the water in order to question the 'old man of the sea'.
Percy as the one who captured him asked the question, - "All right, tell me where we can find this monster that could bring an end to the gods."
"Ha, that's easy!" - The answer came, - "He's right there!" - Pointing behind him.
"Where?" - Percy asked.
"The deal is completed. You asked your question!" - With that the old man turned into a goldfish leaving Percy's hands grasping nothing but air and quickly jumping back into the sea.
The creature the god had pointed out was an odd one. It was a mix between a large serpent and a bull, making for one crazy but strangely harmless looking beast.
Upon seeing the serpent-cow Percy looked confused, - "Bessie?"
It was lucky that Grover was able to speak to the monster. In the following conversation it was discovered that the Ophiotaurus, as it's real name was obviously not Bessie, was the monster which could bring the gods downfall. It had to do with the power the killing of innocent brought with it. A power channeled through sacrifice. In the story Zoë told them, the last time the Ophiotaurus walked, or rather swam, this earth the sacrifice was interrupted by Zeus using an eagle to steal the Sea Bulls remains before they were burned and could be used against the Gods. In order to harness their power the Bull just be killed and the remains burned in fire, but after dying before the remains were stolen by Zeus before they could be used by the killer.
Before they could come to an decision on how to handle this new situation and what to do an old friend of the group, excluding Aurelia, interrupted them. It was Dr. Thorne the manticore, Aurelia recognised it as the one the demigods were fighting when she first saw them.
How the monster managed to sneak up to them was a question to Aurelia. Even if he had evaded her senses Grover definitely should have smelled something. Not that it mattered at the moment though.
Definitely in their favor was that the manticore had come alone except for two mortal mercenaries, something he claimed was to prove something to the 'General', as became clear in his short monologue.
Following was the manticore in trying to convince Thalia into changing sides coaxing her with the promise of ultimate power. Sadly it looked as if he would succeed in his efforts as Thalia wavered making Aurelia decided it was time to act. With a mighty leap she jumped straight at the monster claws extended.
Dr. Thorne was about to discover that not all Half-Bloods were weaklings. She engaged with him in battle which she soon dominated. Fast and strong were her attacks and in a matter of minutes the enemy was defeated and dead or in Thorne's case dust not standing a chance against such a powerful group of fighters. It wasn't even a real fight, as soon as Thorne was down the mortals were dead meat to Aurelia, who showed them no mercy.
"We have to bring the Ophiotaurus to Camp Half-Blood. It has to be saved." - Percy said after quickly looking away from the bloody work of seeing Aurelia slay the mortals while looking pale.
So it was decided to contact camp where they got Dionysus instead of Chiron. After telling him what happened and about the serpent-cow the group came to the decision to have Grover ride the cow back to camp which said satyr refused to do at the beginning, but thankfully in the end the group succeeded in convincing him.
Mr D's parting words caused for another stir inside the group. - "...Oh, I think the huntress knows..."
Zoë, put on the spot by the god's words, told the rest of the group where she had determined that they had to go to complete the quest, the Garden of her sisters, the Hesperides. She told them that they had to enter at sunset as it was the only time the way was open and they would be able to enter the Garden. If they missed the sunset they had to wait until the next day, and seeing as the next day was the Winter Solstice and they would be too late for the meeting and their deadline they couldn't miss it.
"We'll need a car to make it in time." - Thalia concluded.
"And where could we find a car. We have no money left, so unless we 'borrow' one..."
"Hmm... There is someone who could help us, but..." - Thalia began before stopping herself.
Zoë grasped the chance viciously turning to Thalia anxiously - "Who is it?! We have to use every thing to reach the garden."
"Professor Chase. Annabeth's dad." - Came the short reply.
...
Professor Chase was a rather odd guy. His clothes were a bit messy and he was unshaved. Not in an unhygienic way, more like he just hadn't found the time. As he opened the door to his house he looked at them with an eager expression. - "Are you delivering my air planes?"
Percy said in response - "No sir, we're friends of Annabeth." - That got his attention and put an serious look on his face whipping away the hopefulness from just seconds before.
"Did something happen to her? Is she okay?" - He quickly asked. Seeing the looks of the group he seemed to get the idea and invited them into his study to tell him what was going on.
The doctor's study proved that he was a military history Professor. On a large table one could see an World War I model. Tanks, airplanes and little soldiers to foot made for an amazing pictuere. He mentioned during their conversation even that he had his own real World War I airplane on a field near by.
In the end it didn't take much to convince Dr. Chase to lend them his car. He was also very worried about his daughter.
...
Just before they could reach the garden a sense of danger made itself known to Aurelia and she was quick to warn the others about it, they were easily convinced that there was something wrong, so Aurelia figured they must have felt something too. They all managed to jump out of the car just before a massive bolt of lighting hit it, making it erupt in flames and sending metal pieces flying as shrapnel everywhere, luckily the car had continued down the road after they jumped, and even a second or two was enough time for the car to travel far enough that huddled on the road as the Questers were they didn't get injured by the blast.
They were forced to walk the rest of the way to the Gardens. Thalia was convinced that Zeus' was out for her blood remembering the 'One shall perish by a parents hand' – line of the prophecy.
"If you have forgotten there are two others here who are likely to be perish at the hands of their parents" - Aurelia said to Thaila reminding her that Aurelia's dad had already attacked them and that they were about to face the formerly mysterious 'General' who was as they now knew Zoë's father as well. Even Percy was sure that the Lightning bolt was Kronos' work not Zeus'.
The fog became thicker and thicker with every step they took towards the direction of the Garden. It took some time to arrive but once they reached the Garden the fog thankfully disappeared almost completely with only a small layer on the ground which twirled around their feet. The sunset painted every thing in a blood red colour filling it with the dying light of the day.
In front of the group laid the most beautiful garden Aurelia ever had seen. With the greenest grass and flowers in every imagible colour and shape. Even if it was just a garden, which meant a piece of tamed nature, it was stunning. If it wasn't for the dragon in the middle, wrapped around a huge tree spotted with shining golden apples that were shimmering enticingly, she could have lost herself for a time in the sight but as it was her instincts were set on the highest alert.
The dragon itself was enormous with countless vicious looking heads dripping venom. It was when four figures faded into existence in front of them that the group re-found their usual selves after being caught in the view of the apples or just the garden itself.
"Sisters." - Zoë started only to be cut off.
"We see no sister only a traitor in company of Half-Bloods. Go, or we will call upon Ladon."
"We will not go. We will find Artemis and free her. As simple as that." - Aurelia spoke angry that they dared to insult her friend and family.
It was about then that thing went down hill. The Hesperides woke Ladon in their anger and disappeared. The angry dragon was then successfully distracted by Zoë, at least partly. As the group was about half way to the trail leading up the mountain Ladon decided to have Zoë as a snack and attacked. With all her expereince and skill Zoë evaded the attacks and stopped Aurelia and Percy who had turned back and were about to attack the dragon to help their friend in need.
Luckly Thalia, too, drew her weapons and opened her shield with the Head of Medusa shown in all her glory causing the enraged dragon to flinch giving Zoë just enough time to sprint the way to the trail were the group meanwhile had gathered.
Together they all ran up the mountain soon reaching what looked to be the ruins of what once must have been a great and imposing city rivaling with Olympus itself in gereatness.
"The ruins of Mount Othrys, former seat of the Titans' power"
...
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