Well, there you have it. Jacob's dead, the group is almost to San Francisco. Will Jacob return from the dead? How will Rachel react to his death? What's gonna happen when the group get to Frisco and tries to Hunters…and more importantly, Annabeth sees her parents again? You'll just have to keep reading…AND REVIEWING!
We found a little café in Denver after about fifteen minutes. We sat down at a table and ordered pastries and drinks, although none of us were very hungry. No one talked much. Rachel stared at the table, her eyes red from crying. Annabeth had taken her hand and was talking quietly to her, which surprised me more than anything else.
"Maybe he's not dead," she said hopefully. "Maybe Zeus saved him, like Thalia."
Nico shook his head. "I felt his life ending, a few minutes before it happened, actually. But he's in the Underworld now. He's gone."
Rachel broke down again, and Annabeth glared at Nico, who gave her the "what-did-I-do?" look.
Grover finally looked up and wiped his eyes. "Look, I wish he was still here as much as you guys do, but he made a sacrifice for us, and now we've got to act on it. He wouldn't want us just sitting here crying over him while Kronos is tormenting the Hunters."
"Goat boy is right," said Tyson. "It is time to act." I looked at him, impressed.
"Well, the first thing we should do is Iris-message Chiron and tell him everything that's happened," Annabeth said. "Maybe he can give us advice."
"She's right," I said. "I'll do it. Annabeth, Grover, come with me. Nico, I need you to find a good hotel we can stay at for the night. Money isn't a problem." I winced, thinking I might regret that later, but I left Nico talking to the waiter and walked outside to the back of the restaurant with Annabeth and Grover.
Once we were out of sight, I willed air to become water. The dying sun barely gave us enough light, but I managed to allow the water vapor I had made to catch it so it made a rainbow. Annabeth took a drachma and tossed it in. "O goddess, accept our offering."
The drachma shimmered and disappeared.
"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.
The rainbow flashed and rippled, and then we were looking over the valley that was Camp Half-Blood. Chiron was standing on top of the hill, touching Thalia's tree and talking quietly to Clarisse.
"Chiron!" I called.
He turned, surprised, then he beamed when he saw us. "Percy! Annabeth, Grover, you're alive!"
"Um…yeah," said Grover, obviously a little unnerved by this statement.
"My apologies, but we were beginning to think you all had died a horrible death," Chiron said. We winced, but the centaur didn't seem to notice. "Are you all right? Where are the others?"
We told him our story, from the time we had been dropped off at Penn Station until Jacob's last stand on the cliff. I watched their expressions change from shock to confusion to finally grieving when we told them the fate of Zeus's son.
"Poor Jacob," said Chiron. "There is no braver way he could have died. We will honor his life as soon as you return. I am very sorry."
"He was a good kid," said Clarisse angrily. "It shouldn't have ended that way for him. I swear, if I get ever get my hands on Luke…" she stopped there, although I had a vague idea what she had in mind.
We nodded sadly. "Chiron, how are things at camp?" Annabeth asked nervously. "Is everyone okay?"
Their expressions grew grim. "We were just discussing that," said Chiron. "We have been preparing for war. Extra training is currently in progress. We have readied the pegasi and other magical creatures to transport us to Mount Tamalpais at any time. As soon as you need us, we will be ready."
He spoke as though we were war generals, and I couldn't help marveling at how much the upcoming war was changing things. Soon, we would be going against the Titan Lord's strongest forces, and if there was anyone I wanted behind me in that fight, it was Camp Half-Blood.
"We'll let you know," I promised.
"Good," said Chiron. "What are your plans now?"
"We find a way to get to San Francisco," said Annabeth. "And then we'll assault Mount Tam and free the Hunters. Hopefully, Artemis will rejoin our side again, and we'll be ready to face Luke and his army."
She sounded so determined, and I knew she had said we on purpose. She wanted to be by my side for this, and I was so grateful I felt my eyes stinging again. It was also the first time she had called him Luke instead of Kronos. I squeezed her hand in gratitude.
Chiron and Clarisse nodded. "Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena," said Clarisse. "Go get 'em, Wise Girl."
Annabeth smiled. Chiron said, "Well, keep in touch. Oh, and about Nico…"
But the effort of holding the water in the air was starting to strain me, and the final rays of the sun were sinking below the hills. I heard, "Mother…Nico…tell him…" then he finally gave up. "Good luck!" he called, then I finally let the water go and we were alone in the back of a Denver café.
--
We walked back into the café and found the others sitting at the table. "There's an inn about three blocks down from here," said Nico as we approached. "The manager says it's not too expensive, and plenty comfortable."
"Sounds good," I said. "Let's roll."
We paid for our pastries and left the café. On the way to the hotel, I told Nico and the others what Chiron had said, although I didn't mention what he had said about Nico that hadn't got through.
Nico nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me," he said. "But how are we going to get to San Francisco?"
We all admitted that we didn't know. We decided to postpone discussion until morning.
After a few minutes, we found the hotel: a ten story Hilton Suites, nothing grand, but not too shabby, either. Grover and me went in first, because we figured it would look suspicious if we all rented a room at once. We decided the cheapest would be just to get two rooms, and let the girls sleep in one and the guys in the other. Grover and I got a room each, then the others snuck in quietly and we crammed into the elevator.
Our rooms were on the same floor, which was good in case of an attack or anything like that. The room was simple: two double beds, a foldout couch, a TV set and DVD player, and one bathroom with a small shower. Nothing too fancy since the majority of us had stayed at the Lotus Hotel.
We took turns taking showers and changing into the fresh clothes we had stolen from Old Navy through manipulation of the Mist (I didn't like it, but one whiff of our clothes and stealing suddenly seems like a good idea). Then I kissed Annabeth goodnight and laid on the bed with Grover, while Nico slept on the couch, since Tyson needed a whole bed to himself. The bed felt so good after five nights of sleeping on a mat on the hard earth, and as soon as the lights were out, I was asleep.
I had trouble sleeping, mostly because Grover mumbled in his sleep and kept kicking me with his hooves, and Kronos tormented me with nightmares all night long. Come, little hero, he would say. So close to your destination, and yet little do you know that you will have already failed before you get there.
That being said, I wasn't in a good mood when Nico hit me with his pillow and told me to get up.
We checked out of the hotel and walked onto the street. We passed by an electronics store, and I saw a TV blaring the news. It told of a group of teenagers causing attacks all throughout the country, from there attack in New York to Nashville, and they might have even been the cause of the nuclear explosion that occurred right outside of Denver the previous evening. The news reporter showed a blurry photo of us, and told the world that anyone who sees us should call the police immediately so that we can be arrested.
I gulped and moved quickly past the store.
We got out into the street and Tyson said, "Now what?"
"I guess we should find a taxi or something to at least get us into the-"
BANG!
Without warning, a giant green monster burst out of the street and cornered us in front of a store. It hissed angrily; it was a giant green chameleon, with beady black eyes, scaly green skin, and a long, pink tongue that suddenly lashed out.
"Duck!" Tyson yelled. We all jumped out of the way as the tongue smashed a huge whole in the wall of the store. The monster hissed and its scales changed from green to red and black. Its battle colors.
"This figures," murmured Annabeth next to me, disappearing with her knife drawn. I uncapped Riptide, thinking the same thing.
The monster lashed out again, sending three mortals flying. As its tongue came back, Annabeth tried to cut it with her knife, but it was too fast. Then the chameleon turned and struck once more, this time hitting Rachel. She had nothing to defend herself with, so she just flew back a few feet and landed on the street.
"Rachel!" I cried, but I didn't have time to make sure she was okay. The monster made a triumphant sound in its throat and it changed to a dazzling shade of gold, so bright that I could barely look at it. It spun and its tail came at me. I barely got out of the way. Then Nico managed to crawl up its leg and jump on its back. It reared and bucked like a rodeo bull, but Nico managed to stay on.
"Percy!" Grover said. He looked determined. "It's from the Wild! Another one from Artemis! If I can talk to it…"
The tongue lashed out again and he didn't get the chance to say anything else, but I knew what he was thinking.
I looked around frantically and saw a hardware store nearby. The window had been smashed through, and I saw a coil of thick rope among many other items that had been thrown off their racks. I ran over and grabbed it. The storeowner didn't protest; he was too busy screaming and running around in circles.
I ran back to the giant reptile. Nico was somehow still hanging on. "Nico!" I called, tossing the rope to him. He reached up and caught it, understanding. He threw the coil around the chameleon's neck. Then Grover and Tyson stayed at the front, distracting it, while Annabeth and I secured the rope around its muzzle. It groaned in protest and turned a deep shade of crimson, trying to break through, but Annabeth was good at knots and they were second nature to me being the son of the Sea God.
"Whoa, boy!" Nico said, pulling on the two lengths of rope like a horse's reign. The monster reared one final time and then gave up. Grover walked up and stroked its head, whispering to it in a series of hisses and gurlgly sounds. After a moment, the monster turned green again and calmed down.
Annabeth reappeared next to me and looked at Grover. "What does he say?" she asked.
"He says Artemis commanded him to do this against his will. He didn't want to, but he says if we take off the muzzle and stop attacking him, he'll take us to Frisco," said Grover happily.
"Are you serious?" I said. "That's awesome! Good going, G-man." The others nodded and added their praise, and Grover blushed.
Rachel walked up, scraped up and bleeding. "That's it," she declared. "I need some kind of weapon."
Grover tended to her and the others while I cut through the rope on the chameleon's mouth. I stroked the chameleon's head, and its pink tongue came out and licked my face. It reminded me of the hellhound, Mrs. O' Leary, who had belonged to our ex-swords master, Quintus, last summer. But she had gone to the Triple G ranch last November, when the weather on Long Island got too cold for her. I missed the gigantic hellhound a lot, even if she did slobber on me and pin me to the ground every time she saw me.
When everyone was slightly healed, we all jumped on the chameleon's back. It could carry us all easily, even with Tyson on it. The mortals were still running around, screaming like crazy. "We should do something about them," Annabeth commented. Nico and I nodded. Together, the three of us snapped our fingers, and I thought hard of all the mortals believing this had been caused by rebel vegetarian teenagers trying to stop the killing of animals.
All the mortals on the streets went crossed-eyed and babbled stupidly for a second, then they shook their heads and started talking about how wild teenagers were these days. They didn't appear to see us or the giant chameleon we were on, and Grover quickly hissed instructions to the chameleon. It pulled out of the streets and began bounding out of the city, heading west towards Utah.
--
Riding a twenty-foot long chameleon is less than comfortable, but it was even faster than the Gray Sisters' taxi. Within two hours, I could see San Francisco rising up before us. Mount Tamalpais was in the distance, black mist swirling around its peak so thickly you couldn't see the upper quarter of the mountain. It made the city seem slightly less beautiful than the last time I had seen it, but it was still breathtaking.
"Should we go to your parents' place?" I asked Annabeth as the chameleon bounded alongside the interstate.
She swallowed, and then nodded. "I guess so," she said. "It'll be okay. I mean, me and my dad have been doing better, but still…"
I took her hand and stroked her knuckles with my thumb. "Don't worry," I said. "I'll be right there with you."
She looked at me gratefully, and I kissed her, knowing she needed my reassurance. A year ago, or even a week, she probably would have smacked me for doing that, but now she just smiled and leaned against me. She gave Grover directions to her dad's place, and he relayed them to the chameleon. It dropped us off a couple of blocks off, and we thanked it walked toward Annabeth's house as it bounded off into the trees to rejoin its giant reptile friends.
We found the Chase's house quickly and I rang the doorbell. There was a shuffle of footsteps, and then the door opened to a pretty Asian woman who was counting bills and didn't look up for a minute. "Finally, you know I ordered that pizza over half an hour ago, you might want to think about…" she stopped when she saw us. "Annabeth?" she said. "Percy, Grover! What are you all doing here?"
"Hi…Mom," said Annabeth. "We sort of need some help."
She looked confused, but she just said, "Please, come in." We walked inside and did quick introductions, since she only knew three of us. "Your father's upstairs, playing with his war toys," she said. Annabeth grinned, and I had to smile too. Annabeth's father was an…interesting character.
Mrs. Chase turned to the staircase. "Frederick!" she called. "Our daughter is here!"
"What?" came a muffled yell from above. There was some stumbling, and then Dr. Chase burst from the stairs, still wearing his aviator's cap and goggles. "Annabeth!" he said, coming down the stairs and hugging her tightly. "Thank goodness you're safe! Is everything all right? Who are all these people?"
"I think we should talk in the den," said Mrs. Chase. "Bobby and Matthew are at a friend's house, so they won't be here to bother you. Please, come sit down."
We obeyed her. The pizza man finally came a few seconds after we were settled, and Mrs. Chase brought in two extra-large pepperoni-sausage pizzas. "We're big pizza people," Annabeth murmured to me. I smiled.
"Please, help yourselves," said Dr. Chase, pulling off his aviator's cap and taking a slice for himself. When everyone was sitting down, he said, "Now, what can we help you with?"
We looked at each other, and then Annabeth, with some help from the rest of us, told the Chases pretty much everything, from the picnic at Goode to Jacob's arrival to the quest to the Parthenon and the strange limo. We told him about the graveyard, me getting together with Annabeth (which was indescribably uncomfortable, but Annabeth felt like it needed to be said), of Jacob's sacrifice, of Denver and the attack this morning, and finally of our ride into the city.
Now, you'd think, after a story like that, they'd say something like, "Wow, you guys are amazing!" or "That sounds so dangerous! I can't believe you're still alive!"
Instead, Mrs. Chase rushed forward and hugged her stepdaughter and me. "Aw, you kids are together now?" she said. "That's so cute!"
"Mom!" protested Annabeth. My face felt hot.
"Now, wait just a minute, young man," said Dr. Chase, looking sternly at me. "We need to have a talk about…"
"Oh, Frederick, they're kids, for heaven's sake!" said Mrs. Chase. "Leave them be."
Dr. Chase stared at her, then nodded reluctantly. "So, what's your plan now?" he asked us.
We looked at each other. "We assault Mount Tam," said Nico finally. "And rescue the Hunters."
"Sounds like a pretty big deal for six teenagers," said Dr. Chase. "Are you sure you don't want help?"
We shook our heads. "We need to do this on our own," I said. "It's my quest…our quest." I looked at my friends. "We have to save the Hunters and return Artemis to the gods, and avenge Jacob's death."
Dr. Chase still looked concerned, but he nodded. "Well, it sounds like you've got a lot to talk about," he said. "Come on, I'll take you upstairs, and you can discuss your tactics."
Well, there you have it! I leave for camp this morning, right after church, but as soon as I get back I'll begin writing the climax of the story! Stick with me, people! We're almost there!