Am I spoiling you yet?
We arrived in D.C. to catch a train west.
I have no idea why D.C. was chosen, but Bianca picked it, and Zoë and Phoebe agreed.
My opinion, apparently, didn't matter. So I stayed quiet, listening to my music.
Lamb of God? Best fucking thing I've heard all my life.
Walk With Me In Hell was my favorite song, followed by Redneck and then Laid to Rest.
The first of which was playing as we walked into a museum, the NASA one. Had a lot of planes and stuff.
Bianca vanished into a shadow, and I began to take in my surroundings.
Ordinary mortals. Giant ass cat. Skeleton handlers holding a silver scarf. A strongman in a tux, followed by a pair of faces I had hoped not to see.
The Manticore and Kronos himself.
"Percy Jackson! Our old friend," shouted the strongman. I quirkier an eyebrow, and saw Zoë pale out the corner of my eye.
"And you brought friends! Is Artemis letting men into her Hunt now, boy? That's a lot of girls you spend all your time with," the Manticore spat.
They thought I was part of the Hunt? Oh! The outfit.
Damn whoever did that to the darkest recesses of metal.
"Why don't you introduce yourself, big guy? I know your friends there," I said, my hand on Riptide's pen form.
"You mean you don't know? You travel with my treacherous daughter, and you know not of ATLAS!?" I tapped my chin.
"Atlas... Atlas... Hm... Titan of Strength. No. You look like a Jimmy to me." The big cat roared. It shimmered into a large, golden lioness the size of a Mazda car.
The mortals inside ran away, screaming.
"Ooh, damn! Dent-X will fix that breath right up, kitty," I said. It charged me, with five of the seven skeletons behind it.
"Sparti," Phoebe yelled. Silver arrows roared past me, pelting the skeletons as I drew Riptide.
"Zoë! Wake the fuck up," I yelled. She was frozen in place. The lioness's claws swiped down at me, but I dodged.
The lioness roared, and charged me like a bull. I rolled to the right, and swung my blade down on it's side.
Only for Riptide to bounce off.
"Oh. Lovely." I put Riptide away, and looked for a water fountain.
Found one!
I ran as fast as I could, and power slid underneath the lioness, before grabbing her rear legs and swinging them to the side.
With a mighty quake, the Nemean lioness fell. I forced the water in the fountain to rise into the air, and shoot forward at me.
The water hit my back, and I extended my arm. A trident of ice formed, and a net of water shot over the lion. Freezing the water, I ran to it, pried open it's mouth, and forced my trident into it's throat.
"Boom boom, motherfucker," I said, as my trident exploded into thousands of tiny shards of ice.
The monster became dust, and I smiled softly.
Twenty dagger sized claws and a golden pelt were left behind, which I grabbed.
"You killed it," a dry voice said from behind me.
I turned, and saw Phoebe leaning heavily on Zoë, who had spoken.
"Hm? Oh. Yeah, apparently. Do we have a fire? Our lady could use this more than me," I said, holding the pelt up.
Phoebe looked at me oddly, set Zoë down, and lit a fire with Zoë's scarf.
"Bianca killed the Sparti. A child of Hades is the only person who can kill them, apparently. Now explain what you meant by 'our lady', and that outfit," Phoebe said.
I held the pelt and twelve of the claws over the fire.
"For Lady Artemis," I said. The pelt and claws vanished, and I handed two to each of the girls.
"The claws can cut anything. May be useful. Now. The outfit isn't my first pick. It's a part of a joke being pulled on me. My clothes will be silver for a day, and I have bear it. I highly suspect Lady Artemis is at fault for it. I said our lady, because I owe Lady Artemis three favors. One favor for a summer of sleeping under the sky at night. She's like an older sister to me. So before you shoot me, under pretenses that I'm a pervert, remember I have two girlfriends who are quite okay with skewering me," I said.
Bianca spoke next.
"That guy in the tux. Who was that," she asked. I opened my mouth to answer, but Zoë beat me to the punch.
"Atlas... Titan of Strength and Endurance and Holder of the Sky. And my former father," she spat.
"Oh dear... This whole quest is a massive fuck-your-happiness trap," I muttered.
Phoebe heard me.
"Explain." Yaaaay. Demands from the butchest girl I've ever met.
"The lines of the quest's prophecy. Two pertain to me, two you girls, one more to Zoë, and one that is undefined."
"Four will head west to free the goddess in chains, One shall be lost in a land with no rain. Wisdom's pain shows the trail, Dead, Huntresses, and Campers prevail. The Titan's Curse must one withstand, Or find a fate worse than death at a parent's hand." Zoë's eyes lost some more of their natural glimmer. That pissed me off more than anything.
"Nobody is getting lost, and you sure as hell ain't finding the end of the line when we find that garden," I growled.
"We're wasting time. Come on. Bianca, we need a subway. You've lived here, right?" Bianca nodded, and we gathered our personal affects, and followed her to an abandoned subway station.
"This was in use the last time I was here," she muttered, looking around with a frown on her face.
"When? 1952," I asked. Then I remembered where she was found.
"You know what? Never mind. You came from the Lotus Casino. Gods know HOW old you are." A silver arrow found it's way into my hair.
"That's low, grandma!" A laugh came from the side, and we looked. The laugher was an old-ish man with blue eyes, and dirty blonde hair. He stood inside an old train car that carried a few cars. All of which were way above his pay grade.
"This train's headin' west. Five minutes till departure," he said.
We darted into the train car, but he grabbed me.
"Save our sister, Percy," the homeless man said quietly.
"Apollo," I muttered to him.
"Fred, for now. And Athena wanted you to carry this on you." A hat materialized in his hands, and he handed it to me.
A choked sob came from my throat, when I saw the hat.
"I can't... It's hard enough she may be coming back on this quest," I said. He smiled softly, and pressed it into my hands.
"Take care, little bro... It'll settle out after this." The train moved, and I darted aboard the train.
"The quest is just going to free Lady Artemis, Apollo.. Atlas is going to need somebody to put him back under the sky," I said, before he flashed away.
"Perseus. We need to talk," came the voice of Zoë as soon as I stepped on.
"Lead the way," I said.
She led me into another car, and gestured for me to sit.
"Where did you get that blade," she asked, her eyes narrowed in a glare.
"Chiron. He gave it to me before my first quest. I hardly use it, unless I can't keep up my ice powers." I took it from my pocket, and revealed the sword.
She gasped quietly when she saw it.
"It was yours, wasn't it? Here. Anaklusmos is a wonderful blade, but my ice is just as good," I said, handing her the hilt. In my other hand, an ice copy of it formed.
"It was mine.. Before I was kicked out of my family..."
"Who took it?"
"Heracles... Son of Zeus..."
(Flashback)
"Thank you for the blade, pretty one," Heracles told Zoë, as he left garden with an apple in one hand, and Anaklusmos in the other.
"Wait! Take me with you," Zoë cried, looking fearfully at the place she lived. She knew she couldn't return, not now that she'd betrayed her duty and her sisters.
"Until the next city. No further, pretty one. My quest is a long and dangerous one. One unfit for a pretty woman to go on with me. I will come back, pretty one. I promise."
So Heracles took Zoë to the nearest city. But before they reached it, he showed his true colors, and attempted to force himself upon the much weaker girl. But unawares to either, Artemis was hunting, and found him before he could commit the depravity.
Her half-brother escaped, with his apple and her blade, but missing his withered grapevine.
(Flashback End)
"Zoë! We have company," Phoebe said, as she ran into the car.
The Huntress and I ran back with her, and I tensed at what I saw.
A spirit stood stood in front of Bianca, and the two were talking.
Silvery blonde hair shimmered as laughter rang out in the train car.
The laughter of a dead woman.
"Anna," I breathed, shaking. The spirit turned, and I looked into her eyes for the first time in a long while.
Pale grey eyes looked at me, smiling.
Her ghostly body stepped up to me, and I gasped as her cold hand touched my cheek.
My cheek tingled, and I felt a stray tear escape.
"Wisdom's pain shows the trail," she said.
I collapsed, unable to stand any longer.
"I saw you die, Anna..." The ghost smiled sadly, and knelt next to me.
My companions had been oblivious to that...
A fact I was reminded of by three simultaneous sharp intakes of breath.
CUT!
R&R.