Today, July 14th, marks my one year on fanfiction. In celebration, I am updating as many of my stories as I can. I completed a chapter for this one, and I'm almost done with Storm Rising's chapter.
kamblamstar- It wasn't Zoe's choice who came. It was Bianca's quest and Zoe volunteered for it. When she heard Jackson was coming, she didn't like it, but taking any other siblings would probably mean that one would be a male.
Ceberus01- Today.
HADES SHOULD BE KING- the seven as you refer to, aren't really a thing anymore now that Annabeth abandoned Percy and Percy went to the Void. I have already chosen the spy and can't change it.
FluffyJS21- Jillian has a role later. She will not be going on the quest so it is natural she did less this chapter.
Previously at Hoover Dam,
Two men walking slowly toward them from the edge of the dam. They wore gray camouflage outfits that flickered over skeletal bodies. On the west side of the dam, a black van swerved to a stop in the middle of the road, nearly plowing into some old people. The van doors opened and more skeleton warriors piled out. They were surrounded.
Jackson silently cursed himself. How could he have been so stupid to let the monsters get close? Why had they even stopped here?
"We need to get off the top of the dam now," Jackson ordered. "We'll be sitting ducks up here."
Annabeth led the group to the stairs going down to inside the dam. The first thing they arrived in of course, was the dam snack bar. The cafe was packed with kids enjoying french fries, burritos, slushies, and sodas. The elevator that must have went down into the turbines and the visitor's center opened with a pleasant ding. Four skeletal warriors stepped out. Two more ran down the stairs we had just descended. All of them were armed with batons and pistols.
Then Thalia had a brilliant idea. "Food fight!" She yelled, grabbing a kid's burrito and flinging it at a skeletal warrior. Bianca caught onto the idea and threw a grape soda at another. The sparta held out it's baton to avoid being hit with the can and ended up puncturing it. Purple liquid spewed out, drenching the sparta and the nearest kids in a sticky liquid. The other kids went completely nuts and started throwing their burritos and baskets of chips and sodas at each other, shrieking and screaming. The skeletons tried to aim their guns, but it was hopeless. Bodies and food and drinks were flying everywhere.
"Zoe, get them outside and try to find transportation out of here!" Jackson yelled to her. The daughter of Atlas grabbed Thalia and Annabeth, dragging them outside. "Bianca, help me kill these guys!"
"How the heck I am supposed to do that?" Bianca yelled back, drawing her stygian iron knife.
"I don't know!" Jackson swung his axe through the arm, chopping two skeletons in half. As soon as the Chaotic steele made contact with the bones, the sparta burst into flames. Bianca engaged one of the sparta, baton versus knife. She stepped in and stabbed the sternum of the skeleton, exploding him into fire. A bullet bounced harmlessly off of her nemean lion fleece. Soon, the six skeletons in the snack bar were defeated, though they were hardly out of the woods yet. There were still six more sparta outside, closing in on their friends without weapons that could kill them.
"Come on!" Jackson called. They raced out of the dam, dodging burritos and chips.
Outside, the remaining skeletons had backed the three girls into the pavilion with the bronze statues, their backs to the mountain. The skeletons moved forward, forming a crescent around them. Zoe had her bow pointed at one of the skeletons with an arrow noched. Annabeth had her dagger out in front of her protectively. After a moment, Jackson realized that the two were guarding Thalia. The daughter of Zeus wasn't injured, but instead staring up at the huge bronze statue, her mouth moving silently. Of course! The statues were dedicated to Zeus! Zoe or Annabeth must have convinced her to try praying to her father again.
Three of the skeletons fired their guns while the other three wielded their batons menacingly. Jackson threw his axe, but it would be too late.
Just before the bullets could hit the three girls, a flash of bronze blinded them momentarily. The six skeletons was thrown backwards, Jackson's axe passing over their bones until it returned to his hand. The bronze angels stepped in front of Zoe, Annabeth, and Thalia, folding their wings like shields. Bullets pinged off of them like rain off a corrugated roof. Both angels slashed outward, and the skeletons went flying across the road.
"Man, it feels good to stand up!" the first angel said. His voice sounded tinny and rusty, like he hadn't had a drink since he'd been built.
"Will ya look at my toes?" the other said. "Holy Zeus, what were those tourists thinking?"
Bianca and Jackson stood there, too momentarily stunned to do anything. On the other side of the road, the skeletons stood up and loaded their guns again.
"Trouble!" Annabeth said.
"Get us out of here!" Thalia yelled.
Both angels looked down at her. "Zeus's kid?"
"Yes!" Thalia said impatiently.
"Could I get a please, Miss Zeus's Kid?" An angel asked.
"Please!"
The angels looked at each other and shrugged. "Could use a stretch," One decided, scooping up Annabeth and Thalia. The other angel grabbed Zoe.
"Wait!" Annabeth said. "Those are our friends too."
The angel holding her blocked the gunfire while his buddy ran over and picked the two of them up. They flew straight up, over the dam and the river. The skeleton warriors shrinking to tiny specks below them while something orange jumped on them. Jackson shrugged it off as the sound of gunfire echoed off the sides of the mountains.
"Tell me when it's over," Thalia said. Her eyes were shut so tight, Jackson could see it from the other angel. The statues were holding on to them so they couldn't fall, but still Thalia clutched his arm like it was the most important thing in the world.
"Everything's fine," Annabeth reassured her.
"Are… are we very high?"
Jackson looked down. A range of snowy mountains zipped by. Annabeth stretched out her foot and kicked snow off one of the peaks.
"Nah," She said. "Not that high."
"We are in the Sierras," Zoe called over the rushing sound of the wind. Zoe, Bianca, and Jackson hung from the arms of the statue. "I have hunted here before. At this speed, we should be in San Francisco in a few hours."
"Hey, hey, Frisco!" Annabeth's and Thalia's angel said. "Yo, Chuck! We could visit those guys at the Mechanics Monument again! They know how to party!"
"Oh, man," The other angel said. "I am so there!"
"You guys have visited San Francisco?" Bianca asked.
"We automatons gotta have some fun once in a while, right?" The statue said. "Those mechanics took us over to the de Young Museum and introduced us to these marble lady statues, see. And—"
"Hank!" the other statue Chuck cut in. "They're kids, man."
"Oh, right," Hank looked like he blushed. "Back to flying."
The angels got excited and started to speed up. The mountains fell away into hills, and then they were soaring over farmlands. Zoe got bored and started shooting arrows at random billboards as they flew by. Every time she saw a Target department store she would peg the store's sign with a few bulls-eyes at a hundred miles an hour. Thalia kept her eyes closed the whole way, her lips moving in a silent prayer. Jackson spent the whole time mulling over the quest's prophecy and what it would mean for their success. Six people had left camp to rescue Nico and Artemis. Imogene was taken in the desert. The next two lines referred to who would go on the quest and them being chased by the sparta. The ophiotaurus had yet to make an appearance, but Jackson guessed it would appear when they got closer to Mount Othrys. The crap about the hunter and campers combining was unimportant. However, the titan's curse must one with stand was worrisome. Nico had been holding the sky for several days now. Add in the line about a fate decided by the family hand, it was not going to be good.
"Bianca, we're here," Jackson shook the daughter of Hades up from her nap.
"Where you guys want to land?" Hank asked.
"Whoa," Bianca said, taking in the scene before us.
The city looked clean from this distance, but not anywhere near anything in the Void. Ringed by green hills like a necklace, fog draped over the city like a cloak. There was a huge bay and ships, islands and sailboats, and the Golden Gate Bridge sticking up out of the fog. Jackson wanted to take a photo and send it as a postcard to his siblings.Greetings from Frisco. Haven't Died Yet. Wish You Were Here.
"There," Zoe suggested. "By the Embarcadero Building."
"Good thinking," Chuck said. "Me and Hank can blend in with the pigeons."
Everyone looked at him.
"Kidding," he said. "Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humor?"
As it turned out, there wasn't much need to blend in. It was early morning and not many people were around. A homeless guy completely freaked out when the angels landed on the ferry dock. He screamed when he saw Hank and Chuck and ran off yelling something about metal angels from Mars. The angels flew off to party with their statue friends after saying good bye.
Some of the fog shimmered in front of us into a misty rainbow. A familiar auburn haired girl with sea green eyes appeared in the iris message.
"Hey, Jillian," Thalia said.
"Hi, Thalia. Is Annabeth here? I need to ask her something."
Annabeth stepped into the view of the rainbow. "Right here. What did you need to ask me?"
Jillian fiddled with her water droplet pendant. "So this morning, I was flying Blackjack over the ocean, the pegasus we rescued from the Princess Andromeda," Jillian added at Zoe, Bianca, and his confused looks. "The hippocampi surfaced and said they needed my help because a sea creature was trapped. I swam down there to find a baby cow serpent trapped in a fishing net. Even after I freed Bessie, I couldn't get it out of my mind. I asked your siblings, but none of them had read about it. Chiron has been busy all day breaking up a fight between the hunters and campers. Malcolm suggested I contact you."
Crossing her arm, Annabeth taps her finger to her chin. Zoe's eyes widen at the story. "I don't remember reading anything about a cow serpent-"
"Thank thee, Jillian! We have to go retrieve the monster!" Zoe exclaimed.
"Wait!" Jillian began, but Zoe had already swiped her hand through the message.
"What was that for?" Annabeth turned on Zoe.
"We know the monster. All we have to do is get Nereus to tell us where it is," Zoe explained. "The ophiotaurus was a sea creature with the head of a cow and the tail of a serpent."
"But if this cow thingie is even the monster Artemis was hunting, why would it matter where it is? Jillian saw it in the Atlantic Ocean this morning. How would it get all the way to the West Coast in less than twelve hours?" Annabeth asked, huffing.
"It will come to Thalia," Jackson said. Technically, it would respond first to Bianca since she was the prophecy child, but it had a connection to all children of the big three and he didn't want to reveal Bianca's heritage. "It can transport from body of water to body of water if it is summoned."
"Then we don't even need to consult Nereus," Bianca reasoned. "All we have to do is get near the ocean and have Thalia summon it."
"Come on!" Zoe took off down the streets, stepping around tourist item carts and food vendors. The rest of them followed her around corners, through alleys, and along a sunny boardwalk.
As they jog towards the end of the pier, Jackson spots a flash of an orange striped paw among the row of hedges lining the boardwalk. A furry tail swishes in the dirt. Then a little, meow.
"You guys go ahead. I have to check something out," Jackson said.
Zoe nodded. "We'll be there," She pointed to the approaching end of the pier. Jackson stepped onto the sidewalk cutting through the hedges before kneeling down. A pair of yellow olive eyes peered at him from under the bush. Then another, and another, until twelve sets of eyes were looking at him. All at once, they emerged from under the hedge.
Each cat look like a cross between a saber tooth cat and a tiger. Their markings and colors were that of an orange and black tiger, but the ears were more back like a saber tooth cat. Though had been much smaller when he had last seen them, Jackson recognized the kittens from the Museum of Natural History, where the mortal working for the General had accidentally planted the wrong teeth.
When they had popped out of the soil, the felines had been about the size of four month old kittens. Now, just a few days later, they were much larger than the size of a regular cat. Jackson dug around in his backpack until he found a packet of beef jerky. Placing a piece on his palm, he offered it out to the nearest cat. Cautiously, the kitten nibbled on it before snatching it up. Giving each cat a small piece, Jackson sat back on his heels.
"Why are you following me?" Jackson mused out loud, not expecting the kittens to answer.
We follow the one carrying the gifts of the creator, A voice reverberated around in his head. Stunned, Jackson fell backward.
"Did you just talk?"
Yes, Several voices replied.
"Umm, so who is this creator and why can I understand you?"
The creator is the one who made this earth and our parents, One cat stated.
You can understand us because you are related to the great creator, Another added.
"Oh, you mean, Chaos," Jackson put the pieces together.
Yes, the great creator of all. What do you want us to do?
"Follow us, but stay hidden. Alert me if there are any monsters around. Can you do that?"
Of course.
"I have to catch up with my friends, but here," He dropped a bag of beef jerky. The cats excitedly ate the meat as Jackson headed down the pier.
Thalia sat on the edge of the dock as the ophiotaurus swam around before butting his hand against Bianca's hand. The front half was a calf—a baby, with black fur and big, sad brown eyes and a white muzzle—and its back half was a black-and-brown snaky tail with fins running down the top and bottom, like an enormous eel.
"MOOOOOOOO!" The serpent, Bessie, Jillian had called it, lifted his head. Jackson's eyes widened as he translated the old animal speech. The Last Children had been taught several languages, along with a few words of old animal speech, but Jackson wasn't as adapt at the language as his siblings, the children of Gaia, were. Having the creator of all fish as a step dad helped to understand it though.
"He says he's running from the bad people. He says they are close," Jackson said.
"How did you know that?" Annabeth eyed him suspiciously.
Mentally slapping himself, Jackson wondered how stupid he could have been for that slip up. "Well, he is obviously scared from the wide look in his eyes," Jackson began, not really sure where this was going.
Thankfully, Zoe saw the pickle he was in. "I am a fool," Zoe said suddenly. "I know this story! We could have known who the monster was sooner."
"What story?" Bianca questioned.
"From the War of the Titans," she said. "My… my father told me this tale, thousands of years ago. This is the beast we are looking for."
Bianca looked at the swimming Ophiotaurus. "But… he's too cute. He couldn't destroy the world."
"That is how we were wrong," Zoe said. "We've been anticipating a huge dangerous monster, but the Ophiotaurus does not bring down the gods that way. He must be sacrificed."
"MMMM," He lowed.
"How could anyone hurt him?" Thalia scratched his ears. "He's harmless."
Jackson nodded. "But there is power in killing innocence. Terrible power. The Fates ordained a prophecy eons ago, when this creature was born. They said that whoever killed the Ophiotaurus and sacrificed its entrails to fire would have the power to destroy the gods."
"MMMMMM!" He obviously did not like the words sacrifice or entrails.
Thalia stared at the cow serpent with wonder. "The power to destroy the gods… how? I mean, what would happen?"
"No one knows," Zoe said. "The first time, during the Titan war, the Ophiotaurus was in fact slain by a giant ally of the Titans, but thy father, Zeus, sent an eagle to snatch the entrails away before they could be tossed into the fire. It was a close call. Now, after three thousand years, the Ophiotaurus is reborn."
Thalia sat down on the dock. She stretched out her hand. Bessie reluctantly from Bianca to her. Thalia placed her hand on his head. Bessie shivered. Thalia's expression bothered him. She almost looked… hungry.
"We have to protect him," Annabeth told her. "If Luke gets hold of him—"
"Luke wouldn't hesitate," Thalia muttered. "The power to overthrow Olympus. That's… that's huge."
"Yes, it is, my dear," Said a man's voice in a heavy French accent. "And it is a power you shall unleash."
Jackson tensed. He had been so busy trying to keep Bianca's secret hidden that he had ignored the tiger cats' warnings and his instincts. Standing behind them, his two-color eyes gleaming wickedly, was Dr. Thorn, the manticore Ophiotaurus made a whimpering sound and submerged. Summoning a small whirlpool, Jackson swept it out farther to sea.
"This is just perrrr-fect," The manticore gloated.
He was wearing a ratty black trench coat over his Westover Hall uniform, which was torn and stained. His military haircut had grown out spiky and greasy. He hadn't shaved recently, so his face was covered in silver stubble.
"Long ago, the gods banished me to Persia," The manticore said. "I was forced to scrounge for food on the edges of the world, hiding in forests, devouring insignificant human farmers for my meals. I never got to fight any great heroes. I was not feared and admired in the old stories! But now that will change. The Titans shall honor me, and I shall feast on the flesh of half-bloods!"
On either side of him stood two armed security guys, some of the mortal mercenaries from the Natural History Museum with the General in D.C. Two more stood on the next boat dock over, just in case escape was possible that way. There were tourists all around—walking down the waterfront, shopping at the pier above them, but they would only impede the demigod's battle.
"Where… where are the skeletons?" Annabeth asked the manticore.
He sneered. "I do not need those foolish undead! The General thinks I am worthless? He will change his mind when I defeat you myself!"
"We beat you once before," Thalia said.
"Ha! You could barely fight me with a goddess on your side. And, alas… that goddess is preoccupied at the moment. There will be no help for you now."
Jackson pulled out his axe. "But now you don't have your backup helicopters. So we're even."
"I would hate to kill you before Thalia's great victory," The manticore mused.
"Great victory?" Thalia asked.
"Surely it is clear," the manticore said. "This is your moment. This is why Lord Kronos brought you back to life. You will sacrifice the Ophiotaurus. You will bring its entrails to the sacred fire on the mountain. You will gain unlimited power. You will overthrow Olympus."
"Spare the daughter of Zeus. She will join us soon enough. Kill the others," The manticore instructed his guards.
Zoe notched an arrow and aimed it straight at a guard's head. The guards raised their guns. Jackson charged the manticore while Zoe fired fart arrows at the guards to cause confusion. Tourists screamed as the guards shot blindly into the air. Annabeth and Thalia tried to join him in fighting.
"Back off!" He snarled at the two of them. "Thorn is mine. We have a score to settle."
"Yes, Jackson Last, did it start when I took that little boy over the cliff?" Thorn taunted. "Or was it when we kidnapped your sister?"
Jackson left forward, slashing a wide arc at the beast. Thorn roared as the axe blade pierced his skin. Swiping back, he was blocked by Jackson's axe. As the son of Thalassa pushed the manticore back, he summoned the power of the sea up through the boards of the pier. Ropes made of water wrapped the paws of the manticore. With a flick of his wrist, the water froze, holding the manticore down. Dr. Thorn tried to fire missiles at him, but Jackson sliced them all neatly in half. His axe made a satisfying thwack! as the blade chopped off the monster's head. The body disintegrated until only a spiky cross bow was left. A black and silver emblem gleamed on the bow before both disappeared. Chaos had it now.
The four girls had each incapacitated a mortal guard. Zoe blunt arrows at their heads, leaving nasty bruises. Thalia shocked hers until he was unconscious. Bianca and Annabeth catapulted the remaining two out to sea.
"What now?" Bianca said after they had dumped the remaining guard's weapons into a nearby trash can.
"We keep the Ophiotaurus safe," Annabeth said.
"But we must get there by sunset," Zoe said.
"Get where?" Thalia asked.
Zoe's face was the color of the fog. She pointed across the bay, past the Golden Gate. In the distance, a single mountain rose up above the cloud layer. "The garden of my sisters," she said. "I must go home."
"The only time to enter the garden is at sunset," Jackson explained.
"Why?" Bianca looked a little confused.
"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Jackson said. "We can only enter their garden as day changes to night."
"But what of the Ophiotaurus?" Zoe asked. "We must protect it.
Bianca stared at the Ophiotaurus. "That thingie that Jillian used to contact us-"
"An iris message," Annabeth corrected.
"Yeah, that, can we send one to her?"
Jackson pulled a golden drachma from his bag. Slicing off the water fountain nearby, he willed it to turn into mist. He didn't want to reveal his powers yet. Even though he had showed powers over water fighting Thorn, the others were too busy to see. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept this offering and show us Jillian, daughter of Poseidon, most likely at Camp Half Blood."
The mist shimmered until two people in bronze armor fighting in an arena appeared. The one had long auburn hair and was wielding a familiar blue blade. Curly black hair poked out from under the other fighters helmet. The boy swung a hammer at the girl.
"Jillian! Leo!" Annabeth called.
The fighters turned around, tugging off their helmets. "Hey, what is it?" Jillian asked.
"I need you to go to the ocean and summon the ophiotaurus," Bianca instructed.
"The loafy rust?" The latino boy, Leo, asked.
Annabeth sighed, like they went through this a lot. "The ophiotaurus, named Bessie by Jillian, was a half bull half serpent sea creature. It has the power to travel between bodies of water. That it why we need you to go to the ocean and summon it."
"And you're saying it will just come to me?" Jillian sounded incredulous.
"If you think hard enough about it, it should," Jackson commented.
"Then what do we do with it once it comes here?" Jillian asked. "Wait Leo, do you have any of those water proof fences?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah, Beckendorf and I made a few a last week."
"I don't even want to why you guys made water proof fences," Thalia put her hand on her forehead.
Grinning wildly, Leo tugged on Jillians arm. "Come on, Beck will help us set them up."
The mist dissolved as Jillian swiped her hand across it. Jackson knelt down on the pier. "Go to Long Island, Bessie. Go back to Jillian," In his head, he was mentally telling the serpent to go in the language of fish. With a small pop, Bessie disappeared from the glittering green ocean.
"I guess it worked," Thalia shrugged. They began jogged along the waterfront. The shopping center pier where they had fought the manticore and mortals was far behind. Their direction was the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was a lot farther than it seemed. The sun was already dipping in the west.
"We need a car," Thalia said.
"Thalia's right," Bianca said. "We do need a car. But there's nobody to help us here. Unless we, uh, borrowed one."
"Wait," Annabeth said. She started rifling through her backpack. "There is somebody in San Francisco who can help us. I've got the address here somewhere. I can never remember it."
"Who?" Zoe asked.
Annabeth pulled out a neatly folded piece of notebook paper and held it up. "My dad, Professor Chase."
The daughter of Athena led us down a few nice streets until we reached a nice sized tan house surrounded by a green lawn. Annabeth hesitated a bit at the front door. Jackson took the opportunity.
"I'm not one to deny the fact that we need transportation, but if this is a trap, I swear to all the gods..." He let the threat hang.
"Why would it be a trap?" Annabeth's eyes narrowed.
"Because, remember, you talked with the enemy and you weren't watchful enough to protect my sister on your watch," He reminded her, his voice cold.
"I told you that-"
"Annabeth," Thalia cut in. "Just swear it on the Styx. We are wasting time."
"Fine. I swear on the river Styx this is not a trick. Happy?" She promised as thunder boomed overhead. He nodded and she rang the door bell.
A man wearing an old-fashioned aviator's cap and goggles. He looked so weird, with his eyes bugging out through the glasses, that the five all took a step back on the front porch.
"Hello," He said in a friendly voice, not noticing Annabeth who had hidden behind Thalia. "Are you delivering my airplanes?"
"Um, no, sir," Zoe said.
"Drat," he said. "I need three more Sopwith Camels."
"Dad?" Annabeth said, finally stepping out from behind Thalia.
"Annabeth," Dr. Chase stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her. "It's so good to see you. Come inside, we have much to talk about."
Ducking back under her father's arm, she stood a little bit away from him, clearly uncomfortable with the hug. "I would love to, but we have a serious deadline that we have to make."
Annabeth's dad pulled off his hat and goggles. He had sandy-colored hair like Annabeth and intense brown eyes. It looked like he hadn't shaved in a couple of days, and his shirt was buttoned wrong, so one side of his collar stuck up higher than the other side.
"You'd better come in," he said.
There were LEGO robots on the stairs and two cats sleeping on the sofa in the living room. The coffee table was stacked with magazines, and a little kid's winter coat was spread on the floor. The whole house smelled like fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies. There was jazz music coming from the kitchen. It seemed like a messy, happy kind of home—the kind of place that had been lived in forever.
"Dad!" A little boy screamed. "He's taking apart my robots!"
"Bobby," Dr. Chase called absently. "Don't take apart your brother's robots."
"I'm Bobby," the little boy protested. "He's Matthew!"
"Matthew," Dr. Chase called, "don't take apart your brother's robots!"
"Okay, Dad!"
Dr. Chase turned to us. "We'll go upstairs to my study. This way."
"Honey?" A woman called. Annabeth's stepmom appeared in the living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She was a pretty Asian woman with red highlighted hair tied in a bun.
"Who are our guests?" She asked.
"Oh," Dr. Chase said. "Annabeth brought..."
He stared at us blankly.
"Frederick," She chided. "You forgot to ask them their names?"
They introduced themselves a little uneasily, but Mrs. Chase said she'd bring some cookies and sandwiches and sodas up to the study. She smiled as they ascended the stairs. "Nice meeting you, Thalia. I've heard a lot about you."
Upstairs, the quest members walked into Dr. Chase's study and Bianca let out a, "Whoa!"
The room was wall-to-wall books. There was a huge table with miniature tanks and soldiers fighting along a blue painted river, with hills and fake trees and stuff. Old-fashioned biplanes hung on strings from the ceiling, tilted at crazy angles like they were in the middle of a dogfight.
Dr. Chase smiled. "Yes, the Third Battle of Ypres. I'm writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a much greater role than they've been given credit for."
He plucked a biplane from its string and swept it across the battlefield, making airplane engine noises as he knocked down little German soldiers.
Zoe came over and studied the battlefield. "The German lines were farther from the river."
Dr. Chase stared at her. "How do you know that?"
"I was there," she said matter-of-factly. "Artemis wanted to show us how horrible war was, the way mortal men fight each other. And how foolish, too. The battle was a complete waste."
Dr. Chase opened his mouth in shock. "You—"
"She's a Hunter, sir," Thalia said. Dr. Chase's eyes widened.
"Dad," Annabeth said, a bit harshly. "We need to hurry.
"You saw the Sopwith Camels?" Dr. Chase said, ignoring her. "How many were there? What formations did they fly?"
"Sir," Jackson broke in. "My sister and Bianca's brother are in danger. If we don't rescue them by tomorrow, they die.
That got his attention. He set the biplane down.
"Of course," he said. "Tell me everything."
It wasn't easy, but the group tried their best.. Meanwhile, the afternoon light was fading outside. Time was ticking. As they finished, Dr. Chase collapsed in his leather recliner. He laced his hands. "You travelled so far."
"Sir, we need transportation to Mount Tamalpais," Zoe said. "And we need it immediately."
"I'll drive you. Hmm. it would be faster to fly in my Camel, but it only seats two."
"Whoa, you have an actual biplane?" Bianca said.
"Down at Crissy Field," Dr. Chase said proudly. "That's the reason I had to move here. My sponsor is a private collector with some of the finest World War I relics in the world. He let me restore the Sopwith Camel—"
"Dad," Annabeth interrupted. "Just a car would be great. And it might be better if we went without you. It's too dangerous."
Dr. Chase frowned uncomfortably. "Now wait a minute, Annabeth."
"Snacks," Mrs. Chase announced. She pushed through the door with a tray full of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and Cokes and cookies fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips still gooey. Thalia, Bianca, and Jackson inhaled a few cookies while Zoe said, "I can drive, sir. I'm not as young as I look. I promise not to destroy your car."
Mrs. Chase knit her eyebrows. "What's this about?"
"Jackson's sister and Bianca's brother are in danger," Dr. Chase said. "On Mount Tam. I would drive them, but… apparently it's no place for mortals."
Mrs. Chase nodded. "Then they'd better get going."
"Right!" Dr. Chase jumped up and started patting his pockets. "My keys…"
His wife sighed. "Frederick, honestly. You'd lose your head if it weren't wrapped inside your aviator hat. The keys are hanging on the peg by the front door."
"Right!" Dr. Chase said.
Zoe grabbed a sandwich. "Thank you both. We should go. Now."
We hustled out the door and down the stairs, the Chases right behind us. Running out to the yellow VW convertible parked in the driveway, Dr. Chase unlocked it before handing the keys to Zoe.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" Thalia demanded.
Zoe glared at her. "I cannot control traffic."
"You both sound like Jillian's mother," Annabeth replied.
"Shut up!" They said in unison.
Zoe weaved in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking on the horizon when they finally got into Marin County and exited the highway. The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and around the edges of steep ravines. Zoe didn't slow down at all.
"Why does everything smell like cough drops?" Thalia asked.
"Eucalyptus." Zoe pointed to the huge trees all around us.
"The stuff koala bears eat?"
"And monsters," she said. "They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons."
"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?"
"Believe me," Zoe said, "if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus too."
Ahead on the road. loomed Mount Tamalpais. It was a small one, but it looked plenty huge as the car sped towards it.
"So that's the Mountain of Despair?" Annabeth asked.
"Yes," Zoe said tightly.
"Why do they call it that?"
She was silent for almost a mile before answering. "After the war between the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides."
"The General," Annabeth said. Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. "What's going on up there? A storm?"
Zoe didn't answer. But Jackson knew beneath those clouds, Nico was struggling under the sky. Artemis was in chains and Fern was stolen. They had to hurry.
"We have to concentrate," Jackson said. "The Mist is really strong here."
"The magical kind or the natural kind?" Thalia asked.
"Both."
The gray clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain, and Zoe kept driving straight toward them. The forest was behind them now, into wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog.
"Look!" But the car turned a corner and the ocean disappeared behind the hills.
"What?" Thalia asked.
"A big white ship," Annabeth said. "Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship."
Her electric blue eyes widened. "Luke's ship?"
Annabeth nodded. "That's what Tyson was telling Jillian! The Princess Andromeda went to Panama so it could access the Canal, the fastest water way from coast to coast."
"We will have company, then," Zoe said grimly. "Kronos's army."
Great, Jackson thought. Atlas was sure to be there along with a handful of monsters acting as the Vanguard, but now a demon infested cruise ship? He tensed, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.
Thalia shouted, "Stop the car. NOW!"
Zoe must've sensed something was wrong, because she slammed on the brakes without question. The yellow VW spun twice before coming to a stop at the edge of the cliff.
"Out!" Thalia opened the door, rolling onto the pavement. The next second: BOOOM!
Lightning flashed, and Dr. Chase's Volkswagen erupted like a canary-yellow grenade. Jackson erected a force field over him and Bianca while Thalia shielded herself and Annabeth with Aegis. They were surrounded by wreckage. Part of the VW's fender had impaled itself in the street. The smoking hood was spinning in circles. Pieces of yellow metal were strewn across the road.
Annabeth helped a cursing Thalia up. "One shall perish by a parent's hand." She muttered. "Curse him. He would destroy me? Me?"
She thought the line referred to her. There was no way he could tell her that it was Zoe. That just wouldn't work.
Jackson sensed Zoe moving in the fog nearby. He stepped in beside her and touched her shoulder. "Zoe, step out of the fog before they start yelling your name. No sense waking Ladon earlier than we have to."
The two step out of the fog next to Bianca. Pulling Bianca to her feet, Zoe beckons to a bickering Thalia and Annabeth. "Silence, fools! Do you want to wake Ladon?"
"You mean we're here?" Thalia looks around.
"Very close," She said. "Follow me."
Sheets of fog were drifting right across the road. Zoe stopped and looked at Jackson. "Does thee know the way too?"
He nodded. "I'll go and you can bring up the rear," Jackson stepped into the drifting sheets of fog. The milky white stuff swirled around him. He could faintly hear Zoe advising the others to concentrate on him and go straight through the fog.
When the fog cleared, he was still on the side of the mountain, but the road was dirt. The grass was thicker. The sunset made a blood red slash across the sea. The summit of the mountain seemed closer now, swirling with storm clouds and raw power. The main path to the top was directly ahead, but a smaller side path branched off. And it led through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers: the garden of twilight, just like in the dream.
If it hadn't been for the enormous dragon, the garden of the hesperides would've been the most beautiful place on earth. The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such brilliant colors they almost glowed in the dark. Stepping stones of polished black marble led around either side of a five-story-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples. Their fragrance was overwhelming. Bianca inhaled deeply.
"That's smells amazing," She commented.
"The apples of immortality," Annabeth said. "Hera's wedding gift from Zeus."
Zoe looked sad as she watched Ladon the dragon sleep. The serpent's body was as thick as a booster rocket, glinting with coppery scales. He had a hundred heads exactly as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together. He appeared to be asleep. The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all the eyes closed.
Then the shadows in front of us began to move. There was a beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from the bottom of a well. They had to react fast.
"Thalia, Bianca, Annabeth, take the that side path up the hill. Keep as far away from the tree as you can. Wait for us at the top of the rise! Hurry!" Jackson instructed.
Bianca sensed the urgency in his voice. She grabbed the other girls and ran off towards the path, away from the tree as four figures shimmered into existence, four young women who looked very much like Zoe. They all wore white Greek chitons. Their skin was like caramel. Silky black hair tumbled loose around their shoulders. They looked just like Zoe—gorgeous, and probably very dangerous.
"Sisters," Zoe said.
"We do not see any sister," One of the girls said coldly. "We see one halfblood and a Hunter. But where are the other three who entered the fog?"
"No matter," Another sister said. "All of them will die anyways."
"That it where I believe you are wrong," Jackson stood beside Zoe. The girls studied him with their volcanic rock, glassy and completely black. One of the sister, the second youngest maybe, looked a little sad.
"Who is this?" The oldest asked. "Another hero? Just like the handsome strong one you brought last time?"
"Erytheia," Zoe growled.
Another sister, the youngest, laughed a bit of a harsh laugh. "I remember now, his name was Heracles. The one our sister willing left the garden for, and lost her immortality for, only to be abandoned," The sisters wore matching smirks, but the second youngest one, Aegle if Jackson remembered correctly, looked reluctant.
"I didn't give up my immortality, Arethusa!" Zoe shot back. "After I helped him, father had me thrown from the garden! My immortality was stripped away."
The sisters' eyes widen in shock. Recognition dawned on their faces like the sun over earth. "Goodbye, sisters," Zoe said, her voice still cold. With that she began walking silently with the gait of a trained hunter over the grass. Jackson gave the hesperides on last glance before following her up the mountain.
Just as they were almost out of Ladon's reach, something went terribly wrong. The winds had shifted ever so slightly, blowing their scent right into the nearby head of Ladon. The dragon sniffed deeply before green eyelids slid back to reveal its orange eyes with black slitted pupils. The narrowed shapes of the pupil narrowed further and the head darted out to strike Zoe.
"Zoe!" Jackson called, but it was too late.
Only years of being in the hunt kept Zoe alive. She twisted away from the dragon but Ladon still managed to sink his teeth into her side. Her face contorted in agony as she tried to run away. All of Ladon's heads were awake now, swarming above Zoe.
Then Jackson did a really stupid thing. It wasn't the stupidest he had ever done, but it was right up there with shooting Eros in the butt when he was three and tackling a full grown gorilla when he was five. He drew his axe and charged Ladon, giving Zoe time to get dragon dodged the blade, but a head was sliced off. Ladon reared back when the Chaotic steele and Oceanic steele mix touched his skin. Jackson took the chance and ran, pulling along struggling Zoe as he ran toward the top of the hill where Bianca, Thalia, and Annabeth stood. The dragon didn't try to pursue. He hissed and stomped the ground, but he was well trained to guard that tree. He wasn't going to be lured off even by the tasty prospect of eating some heroes.
Once they had reached the path that showed a scenic view of the garden, the two stopped, panting for air. The Hesperides resumed their song in the shadows of the garden.
"What happened?" Annabeth asked.
"We met a dragon with really bad breath," Jackson said before turning to Zoe. "Are you okay?"
She waved him off. "We need to keep moving. Time is running out."
Realizing that Zoe wouldn't want to stop, the group continued up the hill. At the top of mountain were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half melted.
"The ruins of Mount Othrys," Annabeth whispered in awe.
"Yes," Zoe said. "It was not here before. This is bad."
"What's Mount Othrys?" Thalia sounded confused.
"The mountain fortress of the Titans," Jackson said. "In the first war, Olympus and Othrys were the two rival capitals of the world."
"Othrys was—" Zoe winced and held her side.
"You're hurt," Jackson said. "Let me see."
"No! It is nothing. I was saying… in the first war, Othrys was blasted to pieces."
"But… how is it here?"
Thalia looked around cautiously as we picked our way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken arch ways. "It moves in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists on the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain, is not good," Jackson added.
"Why?"
"This is Atlas's mountain," Zoe said. "Where he holds—" She froze. Her voice was ragged with despair. "Where he used to hold up the sky."
They had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of us, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl with black hair and a thirteen year old boy with pale skin. Nico looked ready to drop, but he was barely holding on. Fern, even with all of her training, was fading with the weight of holding the world. Artemis was no where in sight.
"Nico!" Bianca cried and tried to rush forward, though Jackson held her back. "What are you doing?" She hissed. "I need to go save my brother!"
"I know, believe me. My sister is there too. But we need a game plan," Jackson said.
"Atlas will be there," Zoe said, her voice strained. "But we need to find Artemis."
"Luke will be fighting too. Not to mention all the monsters," Thalia added. "We can't make a plan with such little information."
"You're right. Screw this. Let's just do it," Jackson replied.
The group ran forward to where Fern and Nico were drenched in sweat. A booming voice spoke behind us: "Ah, how touching."
Everyone turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Artemis was unconscious at Luke's side, bound in heavy celestial bronze chains, special for restricting power.
"Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."
Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than he had three days ago in D.C. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."
Thalia spat at him.
Atlas chuckled. "So much for old friends, dear nephew."
"Cousin?" Annabeth looked between Atlas and Luke.
"Yes, Annabeth, my mother wasn't a clear sighted mortal. She was a daughter of Koios, titan of the north, intellect, and foresight."
Annabeth's mouth drops open as she stares at Luke, but Atlas speaks first. "And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."
"We won't let you hurt her," Thalia said, summoning Aegis.
The General sneered. "As if you could defeat the great Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. But alas, you have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter."
Thalia frowned. "A family matter?"
"Yes," Zoe said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."
Jackson looked around at the scene. Nico and Fern wouldn't last much longer under the sky. Artemis wouldn't be any help unconscious. The dracena and Luke would have to be restrained for long enough. Suddenly it clicked.
"We're all family, Atlas," Jackson drew his axe. "I challenge you."
How was it? I hoped you enjoyed it.
Could we try to get to a hundred reviews with this chapter? Also I would really appreciate it if you voted on the poll on my profile about your favorite character in this story. I would like to know what you think.
Remember to review! And check out the updated Storm Rising!
Thanks!
~Snow Wolfe6631~