AN: Here is the next chapter of Finding Their Place. I am trying to get a more stable updating routine but it is very hard because of how sick everyone in my house gets and how complicated my family is with everyone being on Disability, not having a job, or being retired. I finally finished updating everything for my new computer so you shouldn't have to wait months on end anymore.

I have decided to change Cedric's last name back to Diggory because it seems to fit better in the story. I will be as if he never changed it in the first place. Eventually I hope to change it in the first chapters as well but for now you will just have to go with it.


Chapter 6

He pointed straight toward the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked strange and unnatural. Nobody wanted to chance the junkyard during the night so camp was made to try in the morning. Zoe, Bianca and Phoebe all pulled out enough sleeping bags for everyone out of their backpacks, the magic in the bags allowing them the extra space.

The air got cold fast so Grover and Phoebe collected some firewood from the ruined house and Luna set the wood on fire with her heliokinesis. They were soon as comfortable as they could be in a ghost town in the middle of nowhere.

"The stars are out," said Zoe as they relaxed. They looked up and saw she was right; there were millions of them.

"Amazing," said Bianca, "I've never actually seen the Milky Way."

"This is nothing," said Zoe. "In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution."

Grover sighed. He was still looking up at the stars like he was thinking of the light pollution problem. "If only Pan were here, he would set things right." Zoe nodded sadly. "Maybe it was the coffee," Grover said. "I was drinking coffee, and the wind came. Maybe if I drank more coffee…"

Everyone looked at him sadly. No one thought that coffee was the key to finding out what had happened in Cloudcroft but they didn't have the heart to tell him that.

Cassie looked thoughtfully at Grover before saying. "It was the Wild, no doubt about that." She looked at Grover, "He is the god of the Wild. New Mexico must have a wild spot, untouched by humans. Find that, and you might find Pan."

Grover smiled and nodded, already thinking of places in New Mexico that wasn't tainted by humans. "What I want to know," said Phoebe, looking at Bianca, "is how you destroyed one of the zombies. If we could all fight them, not just you, Cassie, and Luna then we could finish off the rest."

Bianca shook her head. "I don't know. I just stabbed it and it went up in flames."

"Never mind," Zoe told her. "We will find the answer. In the meantime, we should plan our next move. When we get through the junkyard, we must continue west. If we can find a road, we can hitchhike to the nearest city. I think that would be Las Vegas."

Both Cassie and Grover looked ready to object for some reason but Bianca beat them to it. "No!" she said. "Not there!" She looked completely freaked out.

Zoe frowned, "why?"

Bianca took a shaky breath. "I…I think we stayed there for a while. Nico and I. When we were traveling, and then, I can't remember…"

Both Cassie and Grover looked at her, concerned then their eyes lit up like they realized something. "Bianca," Cassie said slowly. "That hotel you stayed at, was it possibly the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"

Bianca's eyes widened, "how could you know that?"

"Wait," said Phoebe. "What is the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"

"A couple of years ago," said Cassie, "Grover, Annabeth, Percy, and I got trapped there. It's designed so you never want to leave. We stayed there for about an hour. When we came out, five days had passed. It makes time speed up."

Both Zoe and Phoebe looked at each other. "No," said Bianca. "No, that's not possible."

"You said that somebody came and got you out," said Phoebe.

"Yes."

"What did he look like? What did he say?"

"I…I don't remember. Please, I really don't want to talk about this."

Zoe sat forward, concerned. "You said that Washington D.C. had changed when you went back last summer. You didn't remember the subway being there."

"Yes, but..."

"Bianca," Zoe said, "can you tell me the name of the President of the United States right now?"

"Don't be silly," Bianca said. "George W. Bush."

"And the President before that," Zoe asked?

Bianca thought for a while, "Roosevelt."

Cassie was no expert on American history, but she knew that the last president was Bill Clinton.

Zoe swallowed, "Theodore or Franklin?"

"Franklin," said Bianca. "FDR."

Cassie took over, "Bianca," she said slowly. "Franklin Roosevelt was the American president during the early days of World War Two. That was almost seventy years ago."

"That's…that's impossible," said Bianca, "I'm…I'm not that old." She stared at her hands, as if to make sure that they were still young.

Phoebe looked at her sadly. "It's okay Bianca. The important thing is that you and Nico are safe. You're out now."

Suddenly there was a flash that blinded everyone. Headlights from a car had come out of nowhere from the road. Everyone grabbed their sleeping bags and got out their weapons; ready to face the deathly white Limo that had appeared out of nowhere that had stopped in front of them.

The person who came out was a big man with a crew cut, a black leather biker's jacket, black jeans, a white muscle shirt and combat boots. His wraparound sunglasses hid his eyes but there was no denying the power behind them.

"Lord Ares," Cassie said carefully.

The war god turned to the others, "at ease, people."

He snapped his fingers and all of their weapons fell to the ground.

"This is a friendly meeting," said Ares

"What's your business Ares?" Phoebe asked, "Who's in the car?"

Cassie shook her head to get the images of violence out of her mind, "Aphrodite," she spat, "Goddess of love and beauty no doubt."

Ares simply gave a grunt, "not bad girly. But I doubt she would want to meet any of you, particularly you three." He referred to the three Hunters. "Why don't you get some tacos while you wait? Only take Cassiopeia a few minutes."

"We shall not leave her alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoe said.

"Besides," said Grover, "the taco place is closed."

Ares snapped his fingers and the lights of the taco stand suddenly turned on. The boards in front of the door flew off and the closed sign switched to open. "You were saying, goat boy?"

"Go on," said Cassie, though she sounded slightly nervous, "I'll handle this."

"You heard the girl," said Ares. It was the last thing they wanted to do, but everyone reluctantly shuffled off to the taco place, leaving Cassie at the mercy of the god of war and the goddess of love.

As soon as they were through the doors, Phoebe sat down out of frustration, trying to get rid of the feelings of rage.

Zoe sat down next to her, "rage aura is a specialty of Lord Ares. It always hits those unused to the effects the hardest, especially if they have a lot of pent up anger."

Phoebe nodded and tried to force herself to relax. She just had to remind herself that all of the people she hated were a whole ocean away; they couldn't find her even if they wanted to.

Zoe nodded and waited for the others to get back. Looking up, Phoebe saw that they somehow got the food they asked for, even if there were no employees. The whole place looked like it had come from a horror movie, but that made sense since the war god brought the place back. She was sure that Lady Hestia or even Lady Hera would have done a better job.

Bianca sat down next to her with enough food for the both of them. "Did you have a bad time with Lord Ares' powers as well?"

Bianca nodded slowly, "yeah, but it wasn't as bad as you apparently. I was too busy freaking out about my past to really notice."

Phoebe nodded and grabbed a taco off the tray before commenting, "That guy is disgusting, how can anyone stand him!"

Grover just nodded as he ate the napkins, "apparently Aphrodite can, but no one knows how."

Phoebe nodded, "who knows what she is spewing into Cassie's head right now."

Zoe nodded as well, "indeed, the goddess of love has always been devious."

Luna smiled, "like that girl that didn't want to fall in love even though Aphrodite wanted her to so she got protection from Lady Artemis?"

Zoe nodded, wrinkling her nose, "yes, and Aphrodite made her fall in love with a bear instead. I do not blame Lady Artemis for leaving her behind. She and the bear got along far too well."

Phoebe smirked, "I keep forgetting how old you are Zoe, and you saw that whole thing, didn't you?"

"Yes, and it is an image that is burned into my brain, thank you." Zoe looked quite disgusted by that imagery.

They all finished their food in silence. When they were done they looked out the window and saw Cassie talking to Ares again. Ares seemed to be threatening her, and then he snapped his fingers and everyone suddenly felt like they just sun in circles. When the world came into focus again, all they could see were the mountains of junk around them. Ares had transported them into the junkyard.

Turning to Cassie Bianca asked, "So what did Lady Aphrodite want with you?"

"Well, first she told me off when I sabotaged her attempt to make Connor use a T-Shirt covered in diluted Centaur's blood on Phoebe."

"What!" Exclaimed Phoebe

"Apparently she wanted Percy Jackson to go on the quest, but I ruined it when I stopped her, and then again when Luna caught Percy hiding in the back of the van. Once she was done she told me to not take anything in her husband's junkyard," explained Cassie.

Phoebe seemed eager to change the subject, not wanting to dwell on the fact the goddess of love had tried to poison her, "so, how do we get out of here?"

Zoe and Cassie looked at the stars. Cassie frowned, "well, we have to go west…"

"That way," said Zoe. "That is west. Ursa Major is in the north," she said, "which means that must be west." She pointed west then at the constellation she had referred to.

"Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!"

They had reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight; broken heads of bronze horses, smashed chariots, tons of metal swords and shields and various other weapons, along with more modern stuff like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors.

"Whoa," said Bianca. "That stuff…some of it looks like real gold!"

"It is," said Phoebe grimly. "Like Cassie said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."

"Junk," Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver and jewels. It was also broken on one side, as if someone had split it in half with an axe. "You call this junk?"

He bit off a piece and began to chew, "it's delicious."

Phoebe swatted the crown out of his hand. "I'm serious."