Chapter 31

When I Say Marco, You Say Meal

It was a small crowd that turned up to see us off. Daedalus was there, which was probably the first time he'd stepped outside since starting what I'd taken to calling the Super Secret Project (SSP, for short). Luke was there, and Kelli had crawled out from whatever rock she'd been hiding under the last couple weeks. The two of them were with Prometheus, talking in hushed tones. When she saw me pass, Kelli shot a trademark wink.

Bianca and I approached Daedalus, backpacks slung over our shoulders with the essentials— toothbrushes, spare clothes, and baggies of money. The side pockets had packages of ambrosia and each of us carried a steel bottle of Nectar. In addition, we each had some personal effects. For Bianca, that was her bow and a quiver of arrows, both attached to her bag. For me, it was a set of magic tableware I hadn't quite figured out how to get working and, for some reason, a piece of bark.

I couldn't really explain what convinced me to bring the Kallikatzaroi's gift with me. I'd felt bad leaving it discarded next to my bed where someone might throw it out, so I'd stuffed it in before thinking too hard.

"Good morning," Daedalus greeted us. "Did you two sleep well?"

"Surprisingly," I said. "Where's Mrs. O'Leary?"

She usually stayed in the woods hunting, but I'd been hoping she'd show up, especially since I might never make it back.

"She's out of town," Daedalus said. "But, while we're on the topic, catch."

He fished out an identical whistle to the one I broke in Antietam, down to the chilly sensation catching it.

"And, while I'm giving gifts…"

This time it was two identical metal orbs that came from his seemingly bottomless pockets. Daedalus gave one to me and the other to Bianca, setting them gently in our hands.

"Take extra care with those," he warned. "I don't mean to alarm you, but if you ever find yourself in an awful situation, slam it against the ground as if you were cracking an egg. Then throw it, and make sure you're as far as you can be when five seconds are up."

Bianca, who had begun casually playing catch with hers, paled and snagged it out of the air, very placing it carefully into a side pouch.

Daedalus looked around, frowning. "I made three so that each of you would have one, but you seem to be missing your third. Did you decide against bringing someone else?"

Bianca and I shared a look.

"He's coming," I said.

"Guys! Guys wait for me! You aren't leaving yet, are you?"

Across the courtyard, struggling to pull an overstuffed jumbo suitcase, was Emmitt.

When he'd finally inched his way over he bent down, breathing hard. "Glad… I made it… in time."

"We told you to pack lighter," I said.

"I know," he panted. "But I just couldn't leave anything behind. You know Lucas would forget to water my plants, and what if we need to swim? Or cook?"

He patted the side of his suitcase, and one of the zippers burst. A pile of pans and books spilled out with titles like So You're Taking on a Feat and 101 Ways to Escape Monsters Without Fighting. Emmitt yelped and hurried to shovel the mess back in.

Daedalus stared on, bemused. "Well, I suppose everyone has their own approaches."

"Hey," I said to him, "There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

The alone at the end went unsaid, but he still got the message.

"Bianca," Daedalus said, taking out the third orb, "why don't you take this and explain what it does, and why it might be a good idea not to cram it into that bag."

"Gotcha," Bianca said, grabbing Emmitt's arm and leading him away. "Let's go have a chat about bombs."

As soon as they were gone, I dove into the story about Nera and the cloaked man, covering every weird thing that'd happened in the last week.

When I'd finished, Daedalus stroked his goatee. "Sounds positively sinister."

"I know you're busy," I said, "but I thought maybe you could, I don't know, look into it a little? I'd do it myself, but I'm a little busy."

"I can't make any promises, Percy." Daedalus whipped out a notepad and began scribbling down everything I'd told him. "I'll keep it in mind, though. If I come into any free time, I suppose I could see if I can turn anything up."

I relaxed immediately. "Thanks a bunch. Ask Victoria if you need anything. I know she'll help."

Somebody whistled, and I looked up to see Prometheus waving by the gate. Bianca and Emmitt were already next to him, looking my way.

"Seems like my queue."

"It certainly does," said Daedalus.

We stood a second in silence. Eventually, he gave me a stiff pat on the shoulder.

"Good luck, Percy. I really do hope you come back."

I had a feeling that, if I made it back, luck wouldn't have much to do with it. But I gave him a nod. "See you in a bit."

I jogged toward the glittering obsidian wall.

The bear twins that guarded the front gate were more talented than I'd realized. At least one of them had their license.

A souped-up Chevy SUV was waiting for us at the top of the fire road, engine already on.

"Get in," one of the twins called from the passenger-side window— Agrius, considering he had strung together a coherent sentence, two words or not.

The car had been altered to have a higher ceiling, and still the two in the front seats had to hunch and pull their knees up to fit. Considering one of them was driving, I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

Prometheus didn't have to duck, just about. "Put your bags in the back," he told us. "Oreius will drive to Sacramento. From there, we have train tickets for Seattle."

Emmitt, Bianca and I piled into the backseat. I had no idea how long a drive it was to Sacramento, but I hoped it wasn't far. The whole interior smelled of soggy fur.

Oreius turned the key in the ignition and looked to his brother. "Which way?"

All of us stared at him, even Prometheus. "The only way, dimwit," said Agrius, pointing downhill. "Or do you feel like driving off the side?"

I hoped he didn't. After a short shoulder on either side, the ground sunk away steeply, rocks and scraggly trees dotting the terrain to the tree line. Losing the road would be a one-way trip.

Oreius hummed a jaunty tune instead of answering, but he did keep the car straight as he pressed on the gas.

"Hey," I said, "quick question here, and I don't mean to say he shouldn't be, but why is Oreius driving? Because… wait that's exactly it, he shouldn't be."

Agrius stretched the paper map in his hands, struggling to read it with his arms jammed to his sides. "Any of you kids ever driven?"

We shook our heads.

"There you have it. My brother's too stupid to follow a map to his own house, let alone a whole new city. Which leaves us with— RIGHT!"

The last bit was screamed at Oreius, who had gotten distracted watching a vulture and begun to veer. Agrius reached across and yanked the steering wheel. The tires shrieked and stray pebbles took a long tumble off the road as our car jerked back on path and straightened out.

By the time it ended I was plastered against my seat, Emmitt's legs over mine and Bianca's arm braced across my neck.

"Close one, huh?" Agrius chuckled.

"Indeed," Prometheus agreed. "That would've been quite the delay."

I didn't know about that. If anything, it seemed like a shortcut… straight to the Underworld.

On my right, Emmitt looked over with wide eyes. "Are we going to die?" he whispered.

"Nah," I said. "It'll be fine. I think."

"Ooh, birdie!"

"Oreius no!"

Somehow, we made it off the mountain in one piece. After a near miss in a crosswalk with a family of four, we merged onto the 101 heading north.

Holding my breath the whole way down must've tired me out, because it wasn't long before the steady speed of freeway driving lulled me to sleep.

I was right in the middle of a very pleasant dream filled with blue dolphins and birthday cake when I was jarred awake by a loud BUMP! and the whole car shaking.

When I opened my eyes, we were off the road in a fruit orchard, only our back wheels still on the paved shoulder.

"Welcome back to the land of the awake," Bianca said tightly, "where our driver could rather crash than drive over a plastic bag."

Oreius yowled, trying to pull his snout free from the steering wheel where it had gotten jammed. Agrius was already out of the car, Prometheus standing next to him. We pulled ourselves from the backseat and joined them.

I could see it behind us, blowing around in the wind of passing cars— a plastic bag, like you'd get from Target or Walmart or any other chain store. None of the other cars seemed inclined to swerve away from it, except ours.

"No damage to the axel," Agrius growled, kneeling to study the underside of the car. "Should drive fine. Provided we can get it back on the road."

"Well," Prometheus said, a slight edge to his voice, "you'd best get pushing then, oughtn't you?"

Agrius caught it too. "Right away, sir!" He lumbered around to the other side of the car. "Oreius, if you don't get your idiotic tail out here in the next three seconds Kronos help me…"

"Where are we now?" I asked.

It was an orchard of some kind. A wire fence ran a couple of feet away from us, so old it wouldn't keep out a fly. On the opposite side, rows of trees went as far as the eye could see, which wasn't that far at all. Thick fog coated the ground and chilled my face.

"A bit west of Davis," Prometheus said. "About thirty minutes out from Sacramento Valley Station. In a walnut grove, to answer more specifically."

Bianca scowled. "I don't even like walnuts."

At least we didn't have far left. Eager to be back in a warm car, I joined Agrius and his newly-emerged brother in pushing ours back on the road. Emmitt joined me a moment later, but even with the two of us I felt like wheels on a submarine— only there for show.

All of a sudden, Emmitt quit pushing and turned around. "Did you hear that?"

I grunted. "Yep. Sounded like the wheels scraping back on the road. So if we just push a little more…"

"No, not that." Emmitt was staring off into the orchard. "The voices."

I was a little busy, but I listened. More than that, I heard them. Three voices, one male two female, like a mom, dad, and their daughter, drifting out of the fog.

"Please!" came the little girl's voice. "Help, anybody! We're stuck!"

"I'll give you money," the man's voice pleaded. "I'm rich. You want gold? Stocks? Just save our kid."

The mother's voice sounded like it was crying. "Not my only baby!"

Emmitt stepped forward. "They're in trouble. We have to do something."

The voices were getting louder. By now, all of us had noticed.

"Are you crazy?" Bianca asked. One hand was gripping her bow, the other searching for the quiver clipped to her bag. "You want to go toward that?"

I found myself agreeing. "Emmitt, let's think about this. We're in a hurry, aren't we? And besides, I'm sure somebody else will stop for them."

"Please," the mother's voice was repeating. "Please, please, please, please…"

"Somebody, anybody," babbled the little girl. "I need a hero to save me!"

Emmitt's resolve snapped. "By then it could be too late," he said. "I'll be back in a minute."

And he sprinted away, hopping the collapsed fence before being swallowed by the fog.

"Stupid," Bianca cursed, so worked up she managed to do it in Ancient Greek.

I stepped away from the car, letting Agrius take over my spot.

"Something's up," I said. "The little girl said we're stuck, but the parents are talking like it's only her."

Agrius sniffed the air. "There's no mortals out there. Well, not before your friend ran off, anyway."

"If whatever's out there isn't mortal," I said, "then what is it?"

Agrius frowned. "Hard to say. Smells like venison, mixed with something exotic."

Bianca and I made eye contact. I drew Aelia, finger on the eraser.

"We're going after him, aren't we?" Bianca asked resignedly.

"I am," I told her. "You stay here. Somebody has to watch Prometheus."

She didn't argue. I'd love to say it was because she respected me that much, but I think it had more to do with how little she wanted to plunge into that fog.

I took a deep breath and sprinted after Emmitt.

If you've ever played a game of Marco Polo, that's a little what searching for Emmitt was like, except a thousand times creepier with a side of possible death.

"Emmitt!" I called over and over again. "Where are you man?"

He couldn't seem to hear me, but I could still make out his voice.

"I'm on the way!" he was yelling. "Hang in there everybody!"

And then there were the family's voices, which seemed to be coming from every angle.

"Oh goody, a hero," said the little girl. "Those are my favorite!"

The deeper I got the thicker the fog became, until what had started as just annoying became a suffocating coat of cold. I could barely see my hands. It had gotten to the point I could've passed Emmitt a few feet to the left and never have known it.

All of a sudden an idea came to me. The fog was a problem. It was also water, just in a different form. I'd never tried before, but it didn't hurt to see if I could control it.

I raised my arms and shoved, focusing on translating the motion into the mist. I felt something, but just as soon my grip slipped. It was like pushing on curtains; the second my hands were gone, it would fall back to its original shape.

Sometimes, I wonder if The Fates use my life as a comedy routine. Like all of them are sitting around on their rocking chairs or La-Z-Boy recliners or whatever it is they sit on these days, going, "You know what would be a riot? If he walks straight into his friend the instant he stops paying attention!"

My forehead thumped the front of Emmitt's skull, and I winced from my second unintentional headbutt in two days.

"Percy?" Emmitt was rubbing his face. "I— I can't find them. I feel like I'm walking in circles."

"You are," I said. "Or I am. No other way we could've walked straight into each other."

"Can you clear the fog?"

"I tried. It just comes back after a minute, exactly like it was before."

Emmitt looked determined. "That's good enough. I think I got pretty close, all I need is a second where I can see."

I decided to trust him. Squinting, I took a deep breath and swept my arms like an umpire calling a runner safe. The effects were immediate. It was as if someone had started a helicopter right where we were standing, minus the noise. Fog blasted away from us until we were in our own little clear pocket, thirty feet in diameter.

One more thing with the fates: the real punchline always comes later. And this time, they'd changed genres— from comedy, to horror.

Because perched in the walnut branches directly above us, was the most horrifying creature I had ever laid eyes on.

From the hooves to the neck it had the body of a bull elk, if instead of eating grass that elk spent all day swimming in piles of meat. Blood stains, tufts of fabric, and bits of old meals were plastered in its fur. Its neck rippled with powerful muscles. Eyes, red and maliciously intelligent, peered out of a lion's head with auburn-colored fur. Its jaw stretched open unnaturally wide, showing off bladed ridges where teeth should've been.

"Caught you!" squealed the whole family's voices at once, burbling from the back of the creature's throat.

"Leukrokotta!" Emmitt yelled.

"Duck!" I said, tackling him as the creature pounced.

Its powerful jaws snapped the air with the noise of a pile driver. I rolled off of Emmitt and swung my sword, not feeling all that confident. The thing was fast, and already the fog was drifting back in, killing visibility.

Then I had an epiphany. The fog.

The Leukrokotta lunged and I rolled out of the way, swinging my sword to keep it back. I turned my senses toward the water molecules around us, taking control of them for a third time that day.

Earlier I compared corralling the mist to pushing curtains. Now I learned something new. Like curtains, it's a lot easier to hold in shape when you wrapped it around something. Like, say, a head.

Instead of blinding us, the fog condensed into a ball starting at the Leukrokotta's neck and engulfing its head. The beast thrashed, bucking its hindlegs and biting. It was useless. Without being able to see us, it had as much of a chance of landing a hit as taking off in flight.

"No fair!" shrieked the little girl's voice.

I looked at Emmitt and jerked my head toward the road. "Run! I can't hold this thing long."

He didn't need telling twice. He put his head down and shot off, showing maybe all those pre-Competition runs had paid off. I followed much more slowly, backing up to keep my eyes on the monster.

It had begun cycling through voices. A teenager screaming about a lost phone. A toddler wailing for his missing toy. Playing children, frazzled businesswomen, stranded truck drivers… there was no end to them. The only similarity was that all of them were in trouble, and they all needed your help.

When I'd made it thirty feet I broke and ran. My grip was slipping, and I wasn't interested in waiting around for it to break free on its own. I could hear the motors from the freeway. The road couldn't have been more than a hundred feet away.

Behind me, the Leukrokotta realized it was free. "Let's go!" it shouted in a gruff male voice, followed by childish giggling as it took off in pursuit.

I drew level with Emmitt. "It's coming!"

"I'm not looking back!" he shouted.

"Then run!"

The monster was springing off tree trunks to make up ground. Every time it kicked off, the bark shattered. I pictured that sort of force applied to my skull and found an extra burst of speed.

We broke from the trees and saw the car was back on the road. If we got out of this, I swore to give Agrius and Oreius the longest, most premium flea baths known to man.

Emmitt lunged into the open car door. I could see the relief on his face, but when he turned, it morphed into fear.

"Percy, look out!"

I spun to find a deer-lion bullet firing toward me, the tree it had last used left partially uprooted. I wasn't going to make it.

With Anthea I might've been able to pierce the monster before it got to me, but Anfisa didn't have the reach and there was no time to switch. I thought I was done for.

Then an arrow pierced its right eye, and the Leukrokotta tumbled with a chillingly human yowl.

I leaped into the car, past Bianca with her bow raised.

"Amazing shot," I gasped.

"Drive!" she commanded Oreius.

The Leukrokotta gave a final desperate lunge. But with one eye gone, its aim was off. As Oreius slammed on the gas the monster fired behind us, tumbling over the median. The little girl's voice shouted, "Oh come on!" as a horn blared. A semi-truck smashed into it, carrying the monster West while we accelerated in the opposite direction.

When the three of us had collapsed in the backseat panting and coming to terms with the fact we were still alive, Prometheus leaned around his headrest.

"Buckle up, kids," he said. "Riding without a seatbelt is dangerous."

(-)