Chapter 7

Cassie looked around, "the gods wouldn't throw any of this stuff away if it wasn't cursed or defective. Everything here has some flaw or problem that couldn't be fixed. It's best if we ignore everything and make our way west."

They didn't get far when Bianca suddenly ran down the hill. "Look!" she raced around some bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver in the moonlight, "A Hunter's bow!"

She squeaked in surprise when the bow began to shrink and became a hairclip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's like Percy's sword!"

Zoe's face looked grim, "leave it, Bianca."

"But…" she started to protest

"Cassie is right it is here for a specific reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay here." Bianca reluctantly put the hair clip down.

"I don't like this place," said Phoebe.

The hills and valleys of junk across the junkyard seemed to go on forever. If it hadn't been for Ursa Major, they would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same.

They tried to leave the stuff alone but some of it was too cool to not pick up. Grover found a broken tree made of metal. It had been chopped to pieces, but some of the branches still had golden birds on them. Cassie even saw a wand that was said to looked like the Elder Wand sitting in her vault.

Finally, they found the edge of the junkyard about a half-mile ahead of them, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert. But between them and the road…, "What is that?" Bianca gasped.

Ahead of them was a hill much bigger and larger than the others. It was like a metal mesa, the length of a football field and as tall as a house. At one end of the mesa was a row of ten thick metal columns, wedged tightly together.

Bianca frowned, "they look like…"

"Toes," said Grover.

Bianca nodded, "Really, really large toes."

Zoe, Cassie and Luna all shared a look. Who would leave large statues of toes in the middle of a junkyard? "Let's go around," said Phoebe, "Far around."

Ping

Zoe raised her bow but then realized that it was only Grover. He had apparently thrown a piece of scrap metal at the toes and hit one, making an echoing noise proving that they were hallow inside.

"Why did thou do that?" Zoe demanded.

Grover cringed at the angry huntress, "I don't know I don't like fake feet?" After a few minutes of walking, they reached the highway, an abandoned but well lit stretch of asphalt.

"We made it out," said Zoe. "Thank the gods."

A huge sound stopped them in their tracks. It sounded like a thousand trash compactors crushing metal at the same time made them freeze. Everyone turned around and saw that the massive scrap mountain was boiling, rising up. The ten toes tilted over and they could see why they looked like toes, they were toes. The mountain rose up to show that it was actually a huge bronze giant in full Greek battle armor. He was impossibly tall, a huge skyscraper with legs and arms. Gleaming wickedly in the moonlight, he looked down at them, which was hard as it looked like half of his face had partially melted off, like a green army man if left next to the microwave too long. His joints creaked with rust from disuse and on his chest, written by what could have been a huge hand, were the words WASH ME.

"Talos," Zoe gasped.

"Who's Talos?" asked Grover in a shaky voice.

"A huge statue that guards a path into the sea of monsters," Luna said. "Jason and the Argonauts had to face against him. But this isn't the original, most likely a prototype or defective copy."

The metal giant didn't seem to like the word defective. He moved a hand toward his sword belt and drew his weapon. With a horrible sound of clanging metal on metal, he brought out his sword. It was a hundred feet long, easy. It looked rusty and dull but being hit by that thing would be like being hit by an ocean liner.

"Someone took something," said Zoe. "Who took something?" She immediately glared at Cassie.

Cassie raised her hands to show they were empty, "Just because my father it the god of thieves, doesn't mean that I would want to take something from here.

Bianca got a guilty look on her face but before anyone could comment on it, the defective Talos took a step forward, cutting the distance between them in half and making the ground shake.

"Run!" yelled Grover. It was a good plan but it was hopeless, the giant thing could keep up with them easily. Everyone had split up, just like they had done against the lion and the boar. Phoebe brought out her shield and ran down the highway. Talos swung his sword and brought down a whole row of power lines, which sparked across the road and into Phoebe's path.

Zoe was shooting arrows at the giant's face but they all shattered harmlessly against the metal. Cassie knew that arrows wouldn't work and brought out her wand, sending bolts of magic at the giant. Whatever magic in the statue seemed to counteract the magic in the attacks and the blasts only seemed to slow it down slightly. Grover bleated like a baby goat and climbed up the mountain of metal.

Cassie, Luna, and Bianca had somehow wound up hiding behind the same chariot "You took something," said Cassie.

Bianca shook her head, "no," her voice was quivering.

"Throw it down, maybe the giant will stop."

"It's too late."

"What did you take?" Before she could answer, a large sounding creaking noise got their attention as the sky was suddenly blotted out.

"Hey Talos!" yelled Grover, who was at the top of the mountain made of scrap, trying to get the giant's attention. Talos ignored him and lifted his sword, looking at the three teens. Grover started playing a quick melody on his pipes and the downed power lines started to dance. One power line with a live wire hit the back of the giant's leg and wrapped around it, sending volts of electricity through the giant's backside. Talos turned around, creaking and sparking; Grover had bought them a few seconds.

"Come on!" yelled Cassie as she and Luna started running, they turned back when it was clear that Bianca was still rooted to the spot. When they ran up to her she pulled out a tiny figurine, a tiny model of a god.

"It, it was for Nico. It was the only statue he didn't have."

"Throw the statue down," said Cassie, trying to be comforting while not panicking at the same time. "Talos might leave us alone if you do." Bianca reluctantly threw it down, but nothing happened.

Talos kept advancing on Grover. It stabbed its sword into the junk hill, narrowly missing Grover by a few feet, but causing a junk avalanche to fall on top of him so they couldn't see anything anymore.

"No!" yelled Cassie, bringing out her wand. An arc of blue magic flew from the spear tip shot out hitting the giant in his rusty knee, which buckled. The giant collapsed onto one knee but was almost immediately up again. It was impossible to tell the possible emotions the giant was showing, having his face half melted, but it was clear that he was as ticked off as any twenty-story tall warrior could be.

He raised his foot to stomp down and they could see that the bottoms of its shoes had soles like sneakers did. There was a hole in its heel, like a small manhole, but it was painted with bright red letters saying: FOR MAINTENANCE ONLY.

"Crazy idea time," said Cassie.

"Anything," said Bianca, eager to make up for her mistake of starting all of this and willing to do whatever it took.

Cassie told her about the hatch, "There has to be some sort of levers or switches or something in that thing."

"We could control it from the inside," said Cassie, understanding. "The only question is, is it safe inside that thing? Odds are it should be pretty hot in there."

"How would we get inside though," asked Phoebe, "you would have to stand under its foot! We would get crushed."

"Distract it," said Luna, looking glassy eyed. "I'll just have to time it right."

Bianca shook her head, "no, I'll do it."

Both Cassie and Luna shook their heads, "It is Phoebe's job. It has to be her" said Luna with certainty.

"Never doubt a child of Apollo when it comes to the future," Phoebe said looking grim knowing she would die. Luna used her magic to make sure that Bianca didn't run off to do it herself.

Zoe had the monster's attention at the moment. She had figured out that the giant was big, but slow. It was possible to stay close and then run around Talos to dodge the attacks. At least it was working so far.

Phoebe was right next to the monster's foot, trying to balance herself on the junk hill that swayed at the monster's huge weight.

Zoe yelled out, "What are thou doing?"

"Get it to raise its foot!" Phoebe yelled back.

Zoe shot an arrow that went right up the monster's left nostril. Talos straightened and shook its head.

"Hey junk boy!" Cassie yelled. "Down here."

Just as Cassie ran forward and slashed at the giant with her twin blades, Luna shot magical lightning from her wand, hitting the monster's back. The magical blades made a large gash in the bronze and the lightning shot up Talos' back. Unfortunately, their plan to get the monster's attention worked. After Talos was done shaking off the magical electricity, he lifted its foot, ready to stomp them both. Unable to see what Phoebe was doing, they both ran for it, being thrown a good ten feet from the shockwave Talos had made, Luna and Cassie skidded down the road.

Talos advanced on the, ready to finish them off when Grover came out from the junk hill he had been buried under. He played a tune on his pipes and another power line hit the giant. Talos turned, and Grover should have run but he was obviously exhausted from using so much magic. He took a few steps, before collapsing, not getting up.

"Grover!" yelled Bianca. She, Luna and Cassie all ran toward him but they knew it was too late. Talos raised his sword and was about to impale Grover, and then his movements were froze. Talos cocked his head to the side, as if he was listening to a strange sound. He then started to wave his arms in strange ways, and then he raised his fist and punched himself in the face.

"Go Phoebe!" yelled Bianca.

Zoe looked at them horrified, "she is inside?"