Hello everyone,

Thank you all for reading my story. Disclaimer: I don't own any excerpts from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse.

I'm sorry to bother you about the poll, but I realized that people weren't realizing they could vote for two so I set up a survey for you to fill out. Go to my profile page to find it (Survey Monkey).

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Unlike other authors, I will continue to post even if my review count does not rise. I'm just that nice.

Since the previous chapter was so short, I wrote this chapter before I even uploaded chapter 10. So, to make this process go a little faster, I'm uploading this at the same time as chapter 10.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719

Περσεύς 11

Sun West Line

We were crossing the Potomac when we spotted the helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model just like the one we'd seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward us.

"They know the van," I said. "We have to ditch it."

Zoe swerved into the fast lane. The helicopter was gaining.

"Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover said hopefully.

"The military probably thinks it's one of theirs," I said. "How can the General use mortals, anyway?"

"Mercenaries," Zoe said bitterly. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid."

"But don't these mortals see who they're working for?" I asked. "Don't they notice all the monsters around them?"

Zoe shook her head. "I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."

The helicopter kept coming, making a lot better time than we were through D.C. traffic.

Thalia closed her eyes and prayed hard. "Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?"

But the sky stayed gray and snowy. No sign of a helpful thunderstorm.

"Thalia," I said. "You know gods can't interfere right now. Gods damn...I wish I'd thought of bringing an RPG."

"Yeah, I don't think shooting down that helicopter will earn us any prizes from the military," said Grover meekly.

"And Percy? You can shut the hell up."

"There!" Bianca said. "That parking lot!"

"We'll be trapped," Zoe said.

"Trust me," Bianca said.

Zoe shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. We left the van and followed Bianca down some steps.

"Subway entrance," Bianca said. "Let's go south. Alexandria."

"Anything," Thalia agreed.

We bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind us for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later we were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from D.C. As our train came above ground, we could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after us.

Grover let out a sigh. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."

Bianca looked pleased. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."

Grover frowned. "New? But that station looked really old."

"I guess," Bianca said. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway."

Thalia sat forward. "Wait a minute. No subway at all?"

Bianca nodded.

I bit my lip as the others looked at her with confused looks.

"Bianca," Zoe said. "How long ago…" Her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louder again.

"We need to change trains," I said. "Next station."

Over the next half hour, all we thought about was getting away safely. We changed trains twice. I had no idea where we were going, but after a while we lost the helicopter.

Unfortunately, when we finally got off the train we found ourselves at the end of the line, in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow. Lots of snow. It seemed much colder here. I was glad for my new lion's fur coat.

We wandered through the railway yard, thinking there might be another passenger train somewhere, but there were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow, like they hadn't moved in years.

A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. We must've looked pretty pathetic, because he gave us a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!"

We huddled around his fire, Thalia's teeth were chattering. She said, "Well this is g-g-g-great."

"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.

I made eye contact with the homeless dude who gave me a sly wink. I narrowed my eyes, but the homeless guy just gave us a huge, idiotic smile under a tangle of a beard.

"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoe said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

I gazed miserably around the rail yard. Somewhere, far to the west, Annabeth and Luke were in danger. Artemis was in chains. A doomsday monster was on the loose. And we were stuck on the outskirts of D.C., sharing a homeless persons fire.

"You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," I said. "You know of any?"

He pointed one greasy hand.

Suddenly I noticed a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.

"That's…convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh…"

She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of us was cold and empty, as if he'd taken the flames with him.

An hour later we were rumbling west. There was no problem about who would drive now, because we all got our own luxury car. Zoe and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover was playing race car driver behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. And Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.C.

"Join you?" I asked her.

She shrugged, so I climbed into the shotgun seat.

The radio was playing the White Stripes. I knew the song because it was one of the only CDs I owned that my mom liked. She said it reminded her of Led Zeppelin. Thinking about my mom made me sad, because of her death. I frowned as Kronos' words repeated in my brain giving me another headache.

"Nice coat," Thalia told me.

I pulled the brown duster around me, thankful for the warmth. "Yeah, but the Nemean Lion wasn't the monster we're looking for."

"Not even close. We've got a long way to go."

"Whatever this mystery monster is, the General said it would come for you. They wanted to isolate you from the group, so the monster will appear and...wait."

"Wait what?"

I frowned. "They said they wanted to isolate you, as if you were going to help them. But if this monster is something that is the bane of Olympus, likely it's going to be something you have to battle."

She shrugged. "Maybe they want me to die and find a way to manipulate it so that it looks like it was the gods' fault. Then you would join them. I mean, if you really care for me."

"Well, either way you're being used as bait."

"Great, because I love being used as bait."

I chuckled before turning serious. "No idea what the monster might be?"

She shook her head morosely. "But you know where we're going, don't you? San Francisco. That's where Artemis was heading."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I went through San Francisco once when I was a kid. It's kind of a nice city. The Bay Area."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "Then I guess you weren't paying attention to Mount Tam, or rather, the Mountain of Despair."

"Mountain of Despair," I repeated. "Atlas is the General, then. I know that for sure."

"I was afraid of that," Thalia answered.

I looked out of the windshield, the sun shining through the steel-mesh side of the freight car. It made the car shine just a tad brighter than what it would have been if completely dark. I glanced over at Thalia who was staring out her window. I watched her as her face slowly turned angry. She seemed to be thinking about something that was aggravating her.

Then I noticed a shadow that was cast across her face by the afternoon sun. I thought about how different she was from Zoe—Zoe all formal and aloof like a princess, Thalia with her ratty clothes and her rebel attitude. But there was something similar about them, too. The same kind of toughness. Right now, sitting in the shadows with a gloomy expression, Thalia looked a lot like one of the Hunters.

Then suddenly, it hit me: "That's why you don't get along with Zoe."

Thalia frowned. "What?"

"The Hunters tried to recruit you," I guessed.

Her eyes got dangerously bright. I thought she was going to zap me out of the Mercedes, but she just sighed. I almost joined them," she admitted. "Luke, Annabeth, and I ran into them once, and Zoe tried to convince me. She almost did, but…"

"But?"

Thalia's fingers gripped the wheel. "I would've had to leave Luke."

"Oh."

"Zoe and I got into a fight. She told me I was being stupid. She said I'd regret my choice. She said Luke would let me down someday."

I watched the sun through the metal curtain. We seemed to be traveling faster each second—shadows flickering like an old movie projector.

"Well, at least she was wrong," I said. "Turns out I'd be that one." I chuckled emotionlessly and looked out the windshield again. "Because you love being the one who took someone else's metaphorical heart, crushed it, and then stomped on it."

"Or you love being the one who gets your heart taken out, crushed and stomped on," she replied. "But I guess...I guess it's kind of historical. I'm just afraid that one day Annabeth may suffer the same fate as I did."

I looked at Thalia sadly. "Why? You don't trust Luke?"

She shook her head, which surprised me. When she turned her head to me, her eyes were red, but I couldn't if it was anger or sadness. "I used to trust you more than Luke, even when we fought. You just seemed so trustworthy...I can't believe that you would...do what you did."

I sat in silence, not wanting to argue against or for her case.

"So...I—I hate the Hunters, and I always have but..." She looked up at me. "Percy. What do you think of me joining the Hunters?"

I felt like my own heart was being crushed and stomped on. "Now that I've realized my mistake," I said, trying hard to keep my voice from cracking, "it's completely your choice, Thalia. As long as you do what you believe will make you happy or feel better...or to escape feeling tormented, I'm fine with it. If the gods offered you immortality, I'd urge you to take it."

After brief silence, I sighed. "You know what, Thals. Forget my stupid, thoughtful thoughts. They're stupid and frankly, all I've done is make things worse. I'm just going to be blunt about this." I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about all of the pain I caused you. I'm sorry about all of the heart-wrenching betrayal you felt when I snapped at you. I'm sorry for being so reckless and careless toward your feelings. I don't deserve to be forgiven. I just...I made a mistake. Yes, I let Annabeth call me Seaweed Brain, and that is not fair that you can't. I just...forget me."

She gave me a look that looked a mixture of bitterness, sympathy and sadness.

"Join the Hunters," I told her. "It'd get you away from me, wouldn't it?"

She put her hand on top of mine before punching my face. "You're ridiculous, Percy," she said, her eyes a little teary. She was laughing a little, though. "Now, get out of my car. You're making me feel weak and insecure."

I felt so sorry about all of my actions that I didn't argue.

"Maybe Zoe can teach us a good lesson sometimes," I said, a smirk tugging at the corner of my lips.

Thalia glared at me before zapping me and shutting the power windows. But I could see the slightly amused face she wore before I could no longer see her.

I sighed sorrowfully. "Maybe you can teach me a few things, Zoe Nightshade."

I sat in the driver's seat of Grover's Lamborghini. Grover was asleep in the back. He'd finally given up trying to impress Zoe and Bianca with his pipe music after he played "Poison Ivy" and caused that very stuff to sprout from their Lexus's air conditioner.

As I watched the sun go down, I thought of Atlas and Artemis. I was afraid to go to sleep. I was worried what I might dream.

"Oh, don't be afraid of dreams," a voice said right next to me.

I looked over. Somehow, I wasn't surprised to find the homeless guy from the rail yard sitting in the shotgun seat. His jeans were so worn out they were almost white. His coat was ripped, with stuffing coming out. He looked kind of like a teddy bear that had been run over by a truck.

"If it weren't for dreams," he said, "I wouldn't know half the things I know about the future. They're better than Olympus tabloids." He cleared his throat, then held up his hands dramatically:

"Dreams like a podcast,

Downloading truth in my ears.

They tell me cool stuff."

"Apollo?" I guessed, because I figured nobody else could make a haiku that bad.

He put his finger to his lips. "I'm incognito. Call me Fred."

"A god named Fred?"

"Eh, well…Zeus insists on certain rules. Hands off, when there's a human quest. Even when something really major is wrong. But nobody messes with my baby sister. Nobody."

"Can you help us, then?"

"Shhh. I already have. Haven't you been looking outside?"

"The train. How fast are we moving?"

Apollo chuckled. "Fast enough. Unfortunately, we're running out of time. It's almost sunset. But I imagine we'll get you across a good chunk of America, at least."

"But where is Artemis?"

His face darkened. "I know a lot, and I see a lot. But even I don't know that. She's…clouded from me. I don't like it."

I scratched my head. "That doesn't sound good. But, I mean, she's most likely on the Mountain of Despair."

Apollo paled. "What?" he squeaked.

"Mountain of Despair," I said. "I had a dream—"

"The General you'd mentioned," he said, finally realizing that fact. "He's Atlas, General of the Titan Army. His place for the world was on the Mountain of Despair, where the Atlas Mountains in Africa were. He held up the sky there. You're sure Artemis is there."

"Yes, I'm pretty sure. Annabeth was used to lure here."

Apollo cursed. "My sister's just really gotta love saving maidens...not that it isn't good that the mortal is still alive, but—URGH!"

Grover sleep-bleated in the back seat.

"What about the monster Artemis was seeking?" I asked. "Do you know what it is?"

"No," Apollo said. "But there is one who might. If you haven't yet found the monster when you reach San Francisco, seek out Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea. He has a long memory and a sharp eye. He has the gift of knowledge sometimes kept obscure from my Oracle."

"But it's your Oracle," I protested. "Can't you tell us what the prophecy means?"

Apollo sighed. "You might as well ask an artist to explain his art, or ask a poet to explain his poem. It defeats the purpose. The meaning is only clear through the search."

"In other words, you don't know."

Apollo checked his watch. "Ah, look at the time! I have to run. I doubt I can risk helping you again, Percy, but remember what I said! Get some sleep! And when you return, I expect a good haiku about your journey!"

I wanted to protest that I wasn't tired and I'd never made up a haiku in my life, but Apollo pulled something out of his pocket. "And I believe you have the bullets for this."

The item that he'd pulled out of his pockets was a pistol, the very one Dr. Chase and I had experimented with during Mid-Term Break. He pulled out the ammo clip, loaded it with all the bullets I'd stuffed into my pocket (which was like five), and then stuffed it into my pockets.

Then he snapped his fingers, and the next thing I knew I was closing my eyes.

In my dream, I was somebody else. I was wearing an old-fashioned Greek tunic, which was a little too breezy downstairs, and laced leather sandals. The Nemean Lion's skin was wrapped around my back like a cape, and I was running somewhere, being pulled along by a girl who was tightly gripping my hand.

"Hurry!" she said. It was too dark to see her face clearly, but I could hear the fear in her voice. "He will find us!"

It was night-time. A million stars blazed above. We were running through tall grass, and the scent of a thousand different flowers made the air intoxicating. It was a beautiful garden, and yet the girl was leading me through it, as if we were about to die.

"I'm not afraid," I tried to tell her.

"You should be!" she said, pulling me along. She had long dark hair braided down her back. Her silk robes glowed faintly in the starlight.

We raced up the side of the hill. She pulled me behind a thorn bush and we collapsed, both breathing heavily. I didn't know why the girl was scared. The garden seemed so peaceful. And I felt strong. Stronger than I'd ever felt before.

"There is no need to run," I told her. My voice sounded deeper, much more confident. "I have bested a thousand monsters with my bare hands."

"Not this one," the girl said. "Ladon is too strong. You must go around, up the mountain to my father. It is the only way."

My inner-self got a stirring feeling at these words.

The hurt in her voice surprised the outer-me. She was really concerned, almost like she cared about the outer-me.

"I don't trust your father," I said.

"You should not," the girl agreed. "You will have to trick him. But you cannot take the prize directly. You will die.'"

I chuckled. "Then why don't you help me, pretty one?"

"I…I am afraid. Ladon will stop me. My sisters, if they found out…they would disown me."

"Then there's nothing for it." I stood up, rubbing my hands together.

"Wait." the girl said.

She seemed to be agonizing over a decision. Then, her fingers trembling, she reached up and plucked a long white brooch from her hair. "If you must fight, take this. My mother, Pleione, gave it to me. She was a daughter of the ocean, and the ocean's power is within it. My immortal power."

The girl breathed on the pin and it glowed faintly. It gleamed in the starlight like polished abalone.

"Take it," she told me. "And make of it a weapon."

I laughed. "A hairpin? How will this slay Ladon, pretty one?"

"It may not," she admitted. "But it is all I can offer, if you insist on being stubborn."

The girl's voice softened my heart. I reached down and took the hairpin, and as I did, it grew longer and heavier in my hand, until I held a familiar bronze sword.

"Well balanced," I said. "Though I usually prefer to use my bare hands. What shall I name this blade?"

"Anaklusmos," the girl said sadly. "The current that takes one by surprise. And before you know it, you have been swept out to sea."

Before I could thank her, there was a trampling sound in the grass, a hiss like air escaping a tire, and the girl said, "Too late! He is here!"

I sat bolt upright in the Lamborghini's driver's seat. Grover was shaking my arm.

"Percy," he said. "It's morning. The train's stopped. Come on!"

I tried to shake off my drowsiness. Thalia, Zoe, and Bianca had already rolled up the metal curtains. Outside were snowy mountains dotted with pine trees, the sun rising red between two peaks.

I fished my pen out of my pocket and stared at it. Anaklusmos, the Ancient Greek name for Riptide. A different form, but I was sure it was the same blade I'd seen in my dream.

I looked up at one of my quest companions and watched as she ordered the others around in an organized fashion. Her hair was braided, just like the way it had been in the dream. I watched as she gave me and Grover a distasteful look, but I continued staring at her.

About my dream, I was sure of something else, too. The girl I had seen was Zoe Nightshade.

Hey everyone,

Hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks to those who've put this on their favorites, followed and reviewed.

Disclaimer: I don't own any excerpts taken from Rick Riordan's book Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse.

I also apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719