Chapter 13: We Visit the Junkyard of The Gods
Percy grimaced. This was it. Bianca's death. He looked towards Nico and gave the younger boy a grim nod. Nico immediately went pale and began blinking rapidly. Will looked at him in concern as Nico found that he was struggling to breath. He was not ready to hear this. He would never be ready. Glancing up, he saw his father watching him with a grim expression. Nico nodded, knowing his father would understand and Hades' expression grew even darker as he knew immediately what his son was trying to convey.
Nico could only pray that it would not be descriptive. Although, knowing Percy's thoughts it probably would be. His breathing became even more ragged. He could feel Will rubbing his back and quietly asking him what was wrong.
"Bianca." Nico whispered. Will's eyes flashed with understanding.
"Do you want to go out? The others wouldn't mind." Nico considered. Did he want to? Yes. He definitely did but some part of him did not. He wanted to hear what had happened. He simply had to know.
"No. I might need to...when it comes but I'll stay for now." He said.
"Ok. Just tell me if you need to leave. Heck just squeeze my hand and I'll make our excuses." Will told him as he took Nico's hand in his own.
"Thank you." Nico whispered. He was incredibly grateful to have the strong presence of Will beside him. He had no idea how he would possibly get through this without it.
Hephaestus' eyes had widened slightly.
"You best be careful in there." He stated. Percy and Nico both scoffed.
"Why?" Leo asked.
"A junkyard of the Gods is usually where dad's botched projects end up. Or just things he started and discarded." Beckendorf explained. "All of which are dangerous if disturbed."
We rode the boar until sunset, which was about as much as my back end could take. Imagine riding a giant steel brush over a bed of gravel all day.
"Ouch." Will said, wincing.
"All day?" Travis let out a sympathetic groan.
"I'm impressed you could feel your backend after that." Chris muttered.
"Trust me, I'd rather have not felt it." Percy told him.
That's about how comfortable boar-riding was. I have no idea how many miles we covered, but the mountains faded into the distance and were replaced by miles of flat, dry land. The grass and scrub brush got sparser until we were galloping (do boars gallop?)
"Yes." Annabeth stated.
across the desert. As night fell, the boar came to a stop at a creek bed and snorted. He started drinking the muddy water, then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chewed it, needles and all. "This is as far as he'll go," Grover said. "We need to get off while he's eating."
"Great. He's leaving you in the middle of a desert." Beckendorf complained. Athena and Artemis both stiffened. A land without rain. Artemis suspected the first casualty would be coming up. Which would be Bianca as Atlas was not likely to follow them to the desert. He would be waiting at the mountain. Artemis sighed sadly. She hated it when her Hunter's died.
Nobody needed convincing. We slipped off the boar's back while he was busy ripping up cacti. Then we waddled away as best we could with our saddle sores. After its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled around and galloped back toward the east. "It likes the mountains better," I guessed. "I can't blame it," Thalia said. "Look." Ahead of us was a two-lane road half covered with sand. On the other side of the road was a cluster of buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop that looked like it hadn't been open since before Zoe Nightshade was born, and a white stucco post office with a sign that said GILA CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crooked above the door. Beyond that was a range of hills… but then I noticed they weren't regular hills. The countryside was way too flat for that. The hills were enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. It was a junkyard that seemed to go on forever.
"Well you're not going to find a new ride around there." Chris sighed.
"And it's probably a long walk to anywhere that will have somewhere to get a ride." Reyna agreed.
"Whoa," I said. "Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia said. She looked at Graver. "I don't suppose you got another wild boar up your sleeve?" Grover was sniffing the wind, looking nervous. He fished out his acorns and threw them into the sand, then played his pipes. They rearranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense to me, but Grover looked concerned. "That's us," he said. "Those five nuts right there." "Which one is me?" I asked. "The little deformed one," Zoe suggested.
Everybody sniggered except Percy who just pouted.
"Oh, shut up." "That cluster right there," Grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."
"So avoid going left." Dakota suggested.
"It's not that easy." Grover told him regretfully.
"A monster?" Thalia asked. Grover looked uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge…" He pointed straight toward the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked like something on an alien planet. We decided to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. None of us wanted to go Dumpster-diving in the dark.
"I wouldn't go dumpster diving at all. Dad doesn't like it if you touch his stuff." Beckendorf warned.
"Understatement much." Percy scowled angrily.
Zoe and Bianca produced five sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. I don't know how they did it, because the packs were tiny, but must've been enchanted to hold so much stuff.
"Mary Poppins bags." Rachel grinned.
"What?" Almost everyone looked confused by this.
"It's a movie." Rachel told them. "Mary Poppins is a magical nanny…"
"Mary Poppins was actually a daughter of Hecate." Annabeth stated.
"What?" Rachel asked in astonishment. "No way!"
"Yeah. She was a bit different to the mortal film version but they got most of it right. Why do you think she was so good with magic? She also is distantly related to Hermes I think which is why she used her magic to essentially prank the family into taking better care of their kids." Annabeth smirked. "She went around helping out young demigods so their families would look after them better until they were old enough to go to Camp."
"That is amazing." Rachel said. "I will never be able to watch that movie the same way again. So was Bert a demigod too?" She asked eagerly.
"Yep. He was a son of Hermes."
"Yeah. I should have guessed that." Rachel laughed.
I'd noticed their bows and quivers were also magic. I never really thought about it, but when the Hunters needed them, they just appeared slung over their backs. And when they didn't, they were gone.
"That's pretty useful." Beckendorf said.
"Yes it is." Thalia grinned. "Hunter's secret though."
"Aww." Both he and Leo groaned.
"We'll just have to come up with our own version." Leo suggested. Beckendorf nodded eagerly.
The night got chilly fast, so Grover and I collected old boards from the ruined house, and Thalia zapped them with an electric shock to start a campfire. Pretty soon we were about as comfy as you can get in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.
"Sooo, not very then?" Gwen guessed.
"Not at all." Percy grimaced.
"The stars are out," Zoe said.
Artemis smiled. Zoe had always loved the stars.
She was right. There were millions of them, with no city lights to turn the sky orange. "Amazing," Bianca said. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way." "This is nothing," Zoe said. "In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution." "You talk like you're not human," I said.
"She is a Hunter." Artemis stated simply.
"But before that she wasn't human either." Percy said. Artemis nodded.
Zoe raised an eyebrow. "I am a Hunter. I care what happens to the wild places of the world. Can the same be said for thee?"
"When you're best friends with Grover you have no choice but to care." Percy stated.
"You should care about the wild anyway." Artemis glared at him. "Not simply because your friend wishes you too." Percy shrugged. He did care but he often had far more important things to think about. Like staying alive and stuff.
"For you," Thalia corrected. "Not thee" "But you use you for the beginning of a sentence." "And for the end," Thalia said. "No thou. No thee. Just you" Zoe threw up her hands in exasperation. "I hate this language. It changes too often!" Grover sighed. He was still looking up at the stars like he was thinking about 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…"
"I somehow doubt coffee is the answer." Hermes frowned. His son had disappeared before coffee was even invented, why would that be what caught his attention.
"I didn't have any other ideas." Grover sighed.
I was pretty sure coffee had nothing to do with what had happened in Cloudcroft, but I didn't have the heart to tell Grover.
"Thanks, Perc."
"Anytime, G-Man."
I thought about the rubber rat and the tiny birds that had suddenly come alive when the wind blew. "Grover, do you really think that was Pan? I mean, I know you want it to be." "He sent us help," Grover insisted. "I don't know how or why. But it was his presence. After this quest is done, I'm going back to New Mexico and drinking a lot of coffee. It's the best lead we've gotten in two thousand years. I was so close."
Hermes smiled eagerly. If Grover was indeed Pan's chosen then he would send another sign regardless of what the Satyr did.
I didn't answer. I didn't want to squash Grover's hopes.
"I appreciate that." Grover smiled. Percy grinned at him. Grover had been correct in the end anyway, despite Percy's doubts.
"What I want to know," Thalia said, looking at Bianca, "is how you destroyed one of the zombies. There are a lot more out there somewhere. We need to figure out how to fight them." Bianca shook her head. "I don't know. I just stabbed it and it went up in flames." "Maybe there's something special about your knife," I said. "It is the same as mine," Zoe said. "Celestial bronze, yes. But mine did not affect the warriors that way." "Maybe you have to hit the skeleton in a certain spot," I said. Bianca looked uncomfortable with everybody paying attention to her. "Never mind," Zoe told her. "We will find the answer.
"It's a pretty important answer." Connor said.
"Yeah, with eleven more of those things out there, I'd want to know how she did it right then. Not later when they've caught back up and there is no time left." Travis agreed.
In the meantime, we should plan our next move. When we get through this 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." I was about to protest that Grover and I had had bad experiences in that town, but Bianca beat us to it. "No!" she said. "Not there!" She looked really freaked out, like she'd just been dropped off the steep end of a roller coaster.
"What's her issue?" Drew rolled her eyes, looking up from her nails.
"Bianca spent a long time in the Lotus Casino." Silena reminded her sister. "It probably would have been disorientating coming out after a few weeks, especially given they didn't seem to realise how long had really passed."
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…" Suddenly I had a really bad thought. I remembered what Bianca had told me about Nico and her staying in a hotel for a while. I met Graver's eyes, and I got the feeling he was thinking the same thing.
"At least you solved one mystery for her." Nico sighed.
"Bianca," I said. "That hotel you stayed at. Was it possibly called the Lotus Hotel and Casino?" Her eyes widened. "How could you know that?" "Oh, great," I said. "Wait," Thalia said. "What is the Lotus Casino?" "A couple of years ago," I said, "Grover, Annabeth, and I got trapped there. It's designed so you never want to leave. We stayed for about an hour. When we came out, five days had passed. It makes time speed up." "No," Bianca said. "No, that's not possible."
"You're going to freak her out." Annabeth warned.
"Yeah but it was important." Percy said. "It explained a lot."
"You said somebody came and got you out," I remembered. "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."
Hades felt bad for his daughter. Maybe he should have intervened personally after all. He had not realised how much the transition would affect his children and they deserved some sort of explanation. Not to mention it would ease their transition into the world if other demigods knew they needed to be told about the time period as well as their heritage.
Zoe sat forward, her eyebrows knit with concern. "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. She told us the correct name of the president. "And who was the president before that?" Zoe asked. Bianca thought for a while. "Roosevelt." Zoe swallowed. "Theodore or Franklin'?" "Franklin," Bianca said. "F.D.R." "Like FDR Drive?" I asked. Because seriously, that's about all I knew about F.D.R.
"Really, Percy?" Annabeth looked pained. Percy just grinned sheepishly and shrugged.
"Yep. I hated history."
"You hate all subjects." She rolled her eyes.
"Hey, I liked Latin." He replied, grinning at Chiron.
"Bianca," Zoe said. "F.D.R. was not the last president. That was about seventy years ago." "That's impossible," Bianca said. "I… I'm not that old." She stared at her hands as if to make sure they weren't wrinkled. Thalia's eyes turned sad. I guess she knew what it was like to get pulled out of time for a while. "It's okay, Bianca, the important thing is you and Nico are safe. You made it out."
"That's the most important thing." Clarisse nodded. Hades grimaced. Yes, his daughter made it out but she was certainly not safe.
"But how?" I said. "We were only in there for an hour and we barely escaped. How could you have escaped after being there for so long?" "I told you." Bianca looked about ready to cry. "A man came and said it was time to leave. And—" "But who? Why did he do it?" Before she could answer, we were hit with a blazing light from down the road. The headlights of a car appeared out of nowhere. I was half hoping it was Apollo, come to give us a ride again,
"I wish I could." Apollo gave him an apologetic grin. "But isn't it nighttime at the moment?"
"Yeah." Grover nodded.
"You could have taken my chariot." Artemis told her brother.
"Too obvious. Dad would notice immediately." Apollo reminded her. She nodded grimly.
but the engine was way too silent for the sun chariot, and besides, it was nighttime. We grabbed our sleeping bags and got out of the way as a deathly white limousine slid to a stop in front of us. The back door of the limo opened right next to me. Before I could step away, the point of a sword touched my throat. I heard the sound of Zoe and Bianca drawing their bows. As the owner of the sword got out of the car, I moved back very slowly. I had to, because he was pushing the point under my chin. He smiled cruelly. "Not so fast now, are you, punk?" He was a big man with a crew cut, a black leather biker's jacket, black jeans, a white muscle shirt, and combat boots.
"Ares!" Zeus thundered. "You definitely have no reason to be interfering on this quest." Apollo, he might not like his interference at all but he did understand. Ares had no interest in this.
"I have no idea why I'm there." Ares frowned.
"I do." Aphrodite beamed gleefully. That sounded like her car.
"You as well." Zeus turned his glare onto the Goddess. "Your interference will have nothing to do with the quest I'm sure."
"Then I'm not really interfering." Aphrodite smiled beautifully. "Simply having a conversation with a demigod."
"You'd better not be giving him a side quest or something." Poseidon glared warningly at Aphrodite.
"Oh, I doubt that's what I'm there for." She grinned, looking between Percy and Annabeth. Percy was very red in the face while Annabeth looked curious.
Piper grimaced. If her mom was there it wasn't for anything good. She felt bad for Percy, who she assumed her mom was there to see.
Wraparound shades hid his eyes, but I knew what was behind those glasses—hollow sockets filled with flames. "Ares," I growled. The war god glanced at my friends. "At ease, people." He snapped his fingers, and their weapons fell to the ground. "This is a friendly meeting." He dug the point of his blade a little farther under my chin.
"Yes. Completely friendly." Hephaestus said sarcastically.
"For Ares that is." Hermes put in. "He hasn't taken Percy's head off."
"He wouldn't dare." Poseidon growled.
"Of course I'd like to take your head for a trophy, but someone wants to see you. And I never behead my enemies in front of a lady." "What lady?" Thalia asked. Ares looked over at her. "Well, well. I heard you were back." He lowered his sword and pushed me away. "Thalia, daughter of Zeus," Ares mused. "You're not hanging out with very good company."
"Oh, like you're great company." Apollo scoffed.
"What's your business, Ares?" she said. "Who's in the car?" Ares smiled, enjoying the attention. "Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you. Particularly not them." He jutted his chin toward Zoe and Bianca. "Why don't you all go get some tacos while you wait? Only take Percy a few minutes." "We will not leave him alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoe said.
A few people looked surprised by this.
"Wow. That's weirdly nice of her." Silena frowned.
"Zoe takes her jobs very seriously. Percy is now a member of her quest and so she will not leave him behind or in trouble." Artemis said sternly.
"Besides," Grover managed, "the taco place is closed." Ares snapped his fingers again. The lights inside the taqueria suddenly blazed to life. The boards flew off the door and the CLOSED sign flipped to OPEN. "You were saying, goat boy?"
"Well, at least you guys get some food out of it." Jason said warily.
"Go on," I told my friends. "I'll handle this." I tried to sound more confident than I felt. I don't think Ares was fooled. "You heard the boy," Ares said. "He's big and strong. He's got things under control." My friends reluctantly headed over to the taco restaurant. Ares regarded me with loathing, then opened the limousine door like a chauffeur. "Get inside, punk," he said. "And mind your manners. She's not as forgiving of rudeness as I am."
A few people nodded. Aphrodite was known to be quite temperamental.
When I saw her, my jaw dropped.
The Goddess giggled happily.
I forgot my name. I forgot where I was. I forgot how to speak in complete sentences. She was wearing a red satin dress and her hair was curled in a cascade of ringlets. Her face was the most beautiful I'd ever seen: perfect makeup, dazzling eyes, a smile that would've lit up the dark side of the moon.
"Aren't you sweet." She cooed. Percy put his face in his hands. Why was this in the stupid book? It certainly wasn't essential to their quest. It could have just said they came and then left again.
Thinking back on it, I can't tell you who she looked like. Or even what color her hair or her eyes were. Pick the most beautiful actress you can think of. The goddess was ten times more beautiful than that. Pick your favorite hair color, eye color, whatever. The goddess had that. When she smiled at me, just for a moment she looked a little like Annabeth.
Annabeth now went bright red while Apollo scowled in annoyance and, while he would never admit it, jealousy. Aphrodite was looking between the three of them with great interest. Inwardly she was squealing with excitement. This story just got much more interesting now that it was a love triangle. She did adore a good love triangle. All the best stories started with those.
Then like this television actress I used to have a crush on in fifth grade. Then… well, you get the idea. "Ah, there you are, Percy," the goddess said. "I am Aphrodite." I slipped into the seat across from her and said something like, "Um uh gah."
The females in the room rolled their eyes.
"Well, at least if he can't talk then he can't be rude." Beckendorf chuckled.
"Yeah. This might actually turn out to be a good thing." Will agreed.
She smiled. "Aren't you sweet. Hold this, please." She handed me a polished mirror the size of a dinner plate and had me hold it up for her. She leaned forward and dabbed at her lipstick, though I couldn't see anything wrong with it. "Do you know why you're here?" she asked. I wanted to respond. Why couldn't I form a complete sentence? She was only a lady. A seriously beautiful lady. With eyes like pools of spring water… Whoa. I pinched my own arm, hard.
"Good." Piper muttered. It was weird hearing someone practically drooling over her mother.
"I… I don't know," I managed. "Oh, dear," Aphrodite said. "Still in denial?" Outside the car, I could hear Ares chuckling. I had a feeling he could hear every word we said. The idea of him being out there made me angry, and that helped clear my mind.
"Never thought I'd be grateful Ares was around." Percy muttered. Aphrodite pouted. Next time she would have to make sure to leave her boyfriend behind. It was always wonderful when they were so awestruck.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said. "Well then, why are you on this quest?" "Artemis has been captured!" Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Oh, Artemis. Please. Talk about a hopeless case.
"What do you mean a hopeless case?" Apollo asked through gritted teeth.
"Nothing at all." Aphrodite told him breezily, clearly not caring.
I mean, if they were going to kidnap a goddess, she should be breathtakingly beautiful, don't you think? I pity the poor dears who have to imprison Artemis. Bo-ring!"
"Well feel free to do something useful and find the monster yourself. Then you can get yourself captured and save us all some bother." Artemis snapped. Ares glared at Artemis but Aphrodite didn't seem bothered.
"But she was chasing a monster," I protested. "A really, really bad monster. We have to find it!" Aphrodite made me hold the mirror a little higher. She seemed to have found a microscopic problem at the corner of her eye and dabbed at her mascara. "Always some monster. But my dear Percy, that is why the others are on this quest. I'm more interested in you." My heart pounded. I didn't want to answer, but her eyes drew an answer right out of my mouth. "Annabeth is in trouble."
Apollo gritted his teeth and told himself they were just friends. Percy wanted to save his friend.
Annabeth could feel the heat pooling in her cheeks even worse than before. She was almost worried they would catch on fire soon. It also made her think. Aphrodite had visited Percy and clearly had been trying to steer him in the direction of realising he had feelings for her. Yet he still hadn't said anything or acted on them and this had been a year and a half ago. She didn't think the love Goddess was wrong, per say, and yet something was obviously stopping Percy. Not to mention, since they had been here he had been nothing but friendly. Usually there were some telltale signs that he had liked her but they seemed to have disappeared.
Aphrodite beamed. "Exactly!" "I have to help her," I said. "I've been having these dreams." "Ah, you even dream about her! That's so cute!"
"Those dreams were definitely not cute." Rachel muttered petulantly. She hoped that she would be coming into the story soon.
"My dreams never are." Percy complained.
"Demigod dreams suck, just not as much as Percy's usually do." Beckendorf nodded.
"No! I mean… that's not what I meant." She made a tsk-tsk sound. "Percy, I'm on your side. I'm the reason you're here, after all." I stared at her. "What?" "The poisoned T-shirt the Stoll brothers gave Phoebe," she said. "Did you think that was an accident?
"What?" Connor frowned.
"We wanted revenge on Phoebe for attacking us. Why would that have anything to do with you?" Travis asked.
"No idea." Aphrodite shrugged.
"Unless it was her who gave you the idea to use the poison. Normally your pranks don't actually hurt someone intentionally." Katie said thoughtfully. "Even if they deserve it. They might be very annoying," Here she glared at them, "But they don't cause people pain deliberately." The Stolls thought about this. It was true they never aimed to hurt people, even the Ares cabin when they probably deserved it. Still, it was unnerving to find out a Goddess and influenced their prank. Artemis was scowling at the love Goddess.
"How dare you use the demigods to hurt my Hunter."
"There will be no lasting damage." Aphrodite said dismissively.
"Oh so it would be fine if they prank your daughters to come out in painful hives for weeks? As long as there is no lasting damage of course." Artemis snapped. Aphrodite's eyes flashed dangerously at that. Piper, Drew and Silena exchanged concerned looks. They knew Artemis could do nothing to Aphrodite directly. Would they bare the brunt of her wrath?
"They wouldn't dare."
"It might not be their idea." Artemis said scathingly. Now the Stolls were exchanging worried looks. They didn't want to be used in a war between Goddesses. That would not end well for them. Especially if nobody was able to prove they had been influenced. The Aphrodite cabin would kill them.
"Leave my sons out of your petty issues." Hermes snapped. "They are not your tools to get revenge on each other." Jason started reading quickly to try and prevent the fight escalating even further.
Sending Blackjack to find you? Helping you sneak out of the camp?" "You did that?"
Now Dionysus, Poseidon and Chiron joined in glaring at the love Goddess. Percy could have died on this quest. He very nearly did not that long ago.
"Of course! Because really, how boring these Hunters. are! A quest for some monster, blah blah blah. Saving Artemis. Let her stay lost, I say. But a quest for true love—"
Apollo ground his teeth some more.
"Wait a second, I never said—" "Oh, my dear. You don't need to say it. You do know Annabeth was close to joining the Hunters, don't you?" I blushed. "I wasn't sure—" "She was about to throw her life away!
"Joining the Hunters is not throwing her life away." Thalia scowled.
"Of course it is." Aphrodite said dismissively. "No love is no life at all."
"There is far more to life than men." Thalia rolled her eyes.
"You're too young to understand." Aphrodite waved a hand. Thalia gritted her teeth. She was about to say something quite nasty in return when Artemis sent her a warning look. Reluctantly, she sank back into her seat glaring at the love Goddess.
Connor frowned to himself. He couldn't imagine Annabeth joining the Hunters of Artemis. Camp Half Blood without Annabeth was simply unimaginable. She was as much a part of the place as the Big House in his mind.
And you, my dear, you can save her from that. It's so romantic!" "Uh…" "Oh, put the mirror down," Aphrodite ordered. "I look fine." I hadn't realized I was still holding it, but as soon as I put it down, I noticed my arms were sore. "Now listen, Percy," Aphrodite said. "The Hunters are your enemies.
"No they aren't." Percy snapped. Aphrodite looked at him in surprise.
"But they…"
"Are not the enemy. Kronos is the enemy. Luke is the enemy." Percy glared. Hermes winced. "Quests are dangerous enough without you trying to turn us against each other." Quite a few people nodded at this. Poseidon, Apollo and Artemis were all scowling at Aphrodite. Even Zeus looked unhappy at this. "Not that it worked anyway." Percy added.
Forget them and Artemis and the monster. That's not important.
"Of course it's important!" Apollo yelled. How dare she say rescuing his sister was unimportant! "Your stupid little love story won't do any good if Olympus is destroyed."
"Love is very important. Just because your own love life usually ends in disaster." Aphrodite shot back. Apollo half rose out of his seat in anger.
"Enough!" Hestia said. Though her voice was quiet it carried over the arguing Gods and everybody stopped. "Of course Aphrodite considers her domain important, however the future of Olympus is at stake. If we lose to my father then none of our domains will matter." Aphrodite sank back and glowered at the floor. She might be technically older but nobody argued with Hestia.
You just concentrate on finding and saving Annabeth." "Do you know where she is?" Aphrodite waved her hand irritably. "No, no. I leave the details to you. But it's been ages since we've had a good tragic love story." "Whoa, first of all, I never said anything about love.
"Yes. Stop putting words in his mouth." Apollo glared some more.
"I'm the Goddess of love. He doesn't need to say it." She rolled her eyes.
And second, what's up with tragic!"
"To her it's not interesting if it isn't tragic." Piper said in growing annoyance. Her mom was so embarrassing.
"Stay out of my son's love life." Poseidon stated.
"You can't tell me to stay out of my domain." Aphrodite looked at him as if he were stupid.
"You don't interfere with every single love story out there. You can stay out of Percy's." Poseidon reiterated with a stern glare. Aphrodite made no response except to scoff. Like she would ever ignore a love story that was so interesting.
"Love conquers all," Aphrodite promised. "Look at Helen and Paris. Did they let anything come between them?" "Didn't they start the Trojan War and get thousands of people killed?" "Pfft. That's not the point. Follow your heart."
"Yeah, see, I'd rather not get thousands of people killed." Percy said firmly. "Or allow Olympus to be put in danger to follow my heart." He had wanted to find Annabeth desperately but he knew Artemis was more important. It had been pure luck Annabeth was held in the same place as Artemis because he would have stayed with the other questers regardless. Or at least he liked to think so. Mainly because he'd have gotten himself killed if he attempted a rescue on his own and that wouldn't help Annabeth either.
"But… I don't know where it's going. My heart, I mean." She smiled sympathetically. She really was beautiful. And not just because she had a pretty face or anything. She believed in love so much, it was impossible not to feel giddy when she talked about it. "Not knowing is half the fun," Aphrodite said. "Exquisitely painful, isn't it? Not being sure who you love and who loves you? Oh, you kids! It's so cute I'm going to cry." "No, no," I said. "Don't do that."
A few people snickered at that.
"And don't worry," she said. "I'm not going to let this be easy and boring for you.
Percy snorted. He wouldn't be surprised if meeting Rachel had been designed by the Goddess as well. If he hadn't known the Gods had no powers at the moment, he would have sworn she was messing with him now too, given his developing crush on Apollo. Which he would never ever admit to out loud. It must just be a reaction to the attention the God had been paying him. At least that's what he told himself. Besides, Apollo would never be interesting in him that way. Gods didn't have relationships with mortals. Just brief flings. It was simply impossible given that he would die. His whole lifetime was the blink of an eye to Gods. Plus he was likely to be dying pretty soon, even by mortal standards, knowing his luck. It had to run out eventually and he'd already ridden his luck to extremes in the past few years.
No, I have some wonderful surprises in store. Anguish. Indecision. Oh, you just wait." "That's really okay," I told her. "Don't go to any trouble." "You're so cute. I wish all my daughters could break the heart of a boy as nice as you."
"Why would you want your daughters to break people's hearts?" Reyna asked carefully. "Wishing a broken heart on someone is simply cruel." She would never forget her own meeting with Venus in Charleston. Aphrodite opened her mouth to answer but Jason started reading again.
Aphrodite's eyes were tearing up. "Now, you'd better go. And do be careful in my husband's territory, Percy. Don't take anything. He is awfully fussy about his trinkets and trash."
"At least you gave them a warning. There was at least some use to your visit." Athena huffed.
"What?" I asked. "You mean Hephaestus?" But the car door opened and Ares grabbed my shoulder, pulling me out of the car and back into the desert night. My audience with the goddess of love was over.
"Thank goodness." Apollo muttered to himself.
"You're lucky, punk." Ares pushed me away from the limo. "Be grateful." "For what?" "That we're being so nice. If it was up to me—" "So why haven't you killed me?" I shot back.
Poseidon sighed. Well at least Aphrodite seemed to like his son. He may not like her interest in his love life, which was going to be complicated enough if Apollo had his way, but Ares wouldn't dare kill Percy if it upset her. Even if he did dare to risk Poseidon's own wrath.
"Did you want him to kill you?" Triton asked. He was genuinely concerned given what he had read the previous night.
"No." Percy said. "His aura just affects me a lot."
It was a stupid thing to say to the god of war, but being around him always made me feel angry and reckless. Ares nodded, like I'd finally said something intelligent. "I'd love to kill you, seriously," he said. "But see, I got a situation. Word on Olympus is that you might start the biggest war in history. I can't risk messing that up. Besides, Aphrodite thinks you're some kinda soap-opera star or something. I kill you, that makes me look bad with her. But don't worry. I haven't forgotten my promise. Someday soon, kid—real soon— you're going to raise your sword to fight, and you're going to remember the wrath of Ares."
"Ares." Poseidon growled warningly. His son was about to go and face a Titan. Not just any Titan but Atlas. The General of Kronos' army. If Ares' curse caused Percy to get hurt he would make the God of war regret it.
Clarisse frowned worriedly. While she figured Percy had deserved some punishment for how he had treated her cabin and her dad in his first summer at Camp, she didn't want him getting hurt or killed because of her dad's stupid ego. Percy had beaten him fairly as much as she hated the idea.
I balled my fists. "Why wait? I beat you once. How's that ankle healing up?" He grinned crookedly. "Not bad, punk. But you got nothing on the master of taunts. I'll start the fight when I'm good and ready.
"So, never then." Nico muttered.
"Yeah, Percy beat you when he was twelve with almost no training. Plus he's only getting better." Thalia scoffed, glaring at Ares. The God glared right back for daring to imply the sea brat could beat him again. He had gotten lucky. Nothing more.
Until then… Get lost." He snapped his fingers and the world did a three-sixty, spinning in a cloud of red dust. I fell to the ground. When I stood up again, the limousine was gone. The road, the taco restaurant, the whole town of Gila Claw was gone. My friends and I were standing in the middle of the junkyard, mountains of scrap metal stretched out in every direction. "What did she want with you?" Bianca asked, once I'd told them about Aphrodite. "Oh, uh, not sure," I lied. "She said to be careful in her husband's junkyard. She said not to pick anything up."
Nico swallowed harshly. He remembered Percy trying to give him a figurine and saying it was from Bianca. He had never given it much thought but now he wondered if she had picked it up in the junkyard. There weren't exactly many places to stop and buy Mythomagic figurines on the quest. Although, why it would be a junkyard was anyone's guess.
Zoe narrowed her eyes. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip to tell thee that. Be careful, Percy. Aphrodite has led many heroes astray." "For once I agree with Zoe," Thalia said. "You can't trust Aphrodite." Grover was looking at me funny. Being empathic and all, he could usually read my emotions, and I got the feeling he knew exactly what Aphrodite had talked to me about.
"Well, I could guess who she had talked to you about." Grover told him. "To be honest, it wasn't a difficult guess even if I hadn't been able to read your emotions."
"So," I said, anxious to change the subject, "how do we get out of here?" "That way," Zoe said. "That is west." "How can you tell?" In the light of the full moon, I was surprised how well I could see her roll her eyes at me. "Ursa Major is in the north," she said, "which means that must be west." She pointed west, then at the northern constellation, which was hard to make out because there were so many other stars. "Oh, yeah," I said. "The bear thing." Zoe looked offended. "Show some respect. It was a fine bear. A worthy opponent." "You act like it was real."
"Zoe is right. You should show some respect boy." Athena glared.
"You seriously still hadn't realised that the myths were all real?" Annabeth asked in exasperation. Percy just shrugged, looking sheepish.
"Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!" We'd reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors. "Whoa," Bianca said. "That stuff… some of it looks like real gold." "It is," Thalia said grimly. "Like Percy 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 broken on one side, as if it had been split by an axe. "You call this junk?"
"Yes." Beckendorf nodded. "Now put that down." He stated, looking grim.
"I can't do anything now." Grover reminded him.
He bit off a point and began to chew. "It's delicious!"
"Grover!" Annabeth hissed.
"Sorry." The Satyr winced, looking at Hephaestus. The God simply waved the apology away with a hand. That wasn't enough to set off his defenses. There was no intention to steal anything or take it out of the junkyard so he would be fine.
Thalia swatted the crown out of his hands. "I'm serious!" "Look!" Bianca said. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver in moonlight. "A Hunter's bow!" She yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's just like Percy's sword!" Zoe's face was grim.
"Why would a Hunter's bow be there?" Piper asked.
"The junkyard isn't just Hephaestus' creations. It is a home for anything that is cursed or defective. Most of it is Hephaestus' work but other things can be thrown in there too." Thalia explained.
"Leave it, Bianca." "But—" "It is here for a reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay in this yard. It is defective. Or cursed." Bianca reluctantly set the hair clip down. "I don't like this place," Thalia said. She gripped the shaft of her spear. "You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?" I asked.
Percy cringed at his own comment.
"Killer refrigerators?" Connor snickered.
"Anything is possible in that place." Beckendorf said.
She gave me a hard look. "Zoe is right, Percy. Things get thrown away here for a reason. Now come on, let's get across the yard." "That's the second time you've agreed with Zoe," I muttered, but Thalia ignored me. We started picking our way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, we would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same. I'd like to say we left the stuff alone, but there was too much cool junk not to check out some of it.
"Percy!" Poseidon groaned.
"Hey, it wasn't just me." Percy protested.
"That doesn't mean you should have been picking stuff up." Triton warned. Percy nodded. They had learnt that lesson the hard way.
"As long as they have no intention of stealing, it won't hurt them to look at things." Hephaestus informed the room at large. "The protections will only activate if they actually take something out of the junkyard." Poseidon heaved a sigh of relief.
I found an electric guitar shaped like Apollo's lyre that was so sweet I had to pick it up.
Apollo smiled at that. Percy had even remembered what his instrument was called. Given his seeming lack of knowledge on a lot of subjects, including most myths it seemed, it was pleasing he had remembered something like that. "I'm sure we can get you one that isn't defective." He promised.
"Wicked!" Percy grinned happily. "Thanks."
"You can play the guitar?" Grover asked his friend in surprise.
"No. It just looked awesome." Percy admitted.
"I'm sure I could be persuaded to give you some lessons." Apollo smirked.
"Instead of archery?" Percy asked hopefully.
"Hey! I thought you liked those. Plus you're just getting decent. You can't stop now."
"At this rate I'm gonna spend all my spare time in lessons." Percy pouted.
"So you don't want guitar lessons?"
"No. I do." Percy sighed. Between guitar lessons, archery lessons and Mist lessons from Chiron he was going to have no spare time. Still, it would be quite cool and at least two of those lessons were going to be interesting. Well, the Mist lessons should be interesting but could be frustrating if Chiron was right about how hard it would be to learn.
"Awesome." Apollo grinned. "We'll start once I manage to find you a guitar shaped like my lyre. Any special requests?"
"Can it be blue?"
"Of course."
"Wicked."
Grover found a broken tree made out of metal. It had been chopped to pieces, but some of the branches still had golden birds in them, and they whirred around when Grover picked them up, trying to flap their wings. Finally, we saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of us, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert.
"Good. Now hurry." Leo urged. He had a feeling something was going to go horribly wrong. If they had got through the junkyard without trouble the chapter title would probably have been named after Percy's talk with Aphrodite.
But between us and the road… "What is that?" Bianca gasped. Ahead of us was a hill much bigger and longer than the others. It was like a metal mesa, the length of a football field and as tall as goalposts. At one end of the mesa was a row of ten thick metal columns, wedged tightly together. Bianca frowned. "They look like—" "Toes," Grover said. Bianca nodded. "Really, really large toes."
Percy and Thalia both looked down sadly. Nico watched Percy carefully, fists clenched in worry. He felt slightly sick and the son of Hades was still deciding if he wanted to leave for this part or not. Suddenly he felt Will squeeze his hand and he looked up. Will was watching him in concern. He shook his head to say he didn't need to leave yet.
Zoe and Thalia exchanged nervous looks. "Let's go around," Thalia said. "Far around." "But the road is right over there," I protested. "Quicker to climb over." Ping.
Nico couldn't breathe. It felt like something was squeezing his chest. Hades didn't feel much better.
Thalia hefted her spear and Zoe drew her bow, but then I realized it was only Grover.
Father and son both let out a breath that wasn't quite relief. They both just wished it would happen and be over. All of this tension was killing them and making everything worse.
He had thrown a piece of scrap metal at the toes and hit one, making a deep echo, as if the column were hollow. "Why did you do that?" Zoe demanded. Grover cringed. "I don't know. I, uh, don't like fake feet?"
"You wear fake feet all the time." Rachel said in confusion.
"And I hate them." Grover told her.
"Come on." Thalia looked at me. "Around." I didn't argue. The toes were starting to freak me out, too. I mean, who sculpts ten-foot tall metal toes and sticks them in a junkyard?
"I'd be more worried about whatever the toes are attached to." Beckendorf muttered.
After several minutes of walking, we finally stepped onto the highway, an abandoned but well-lit stretch of black asphalt. "We made it out," Zoe said. "Thank the gods." But apparently the gods didn't want to be thanked. At that moment, I heard a sound like a thousand trash compactors crushing metal. I whirled around. Behind us, the scrap mountain was boiling, rising up. The ten toes tilted over, and I realized why they looked like toes. They were toes. The thing that rose up from the metal was a bronze giant in full Greek battle armor. He was impossibly tall—a skyscraper with legs and arms. He gleamed wickedly in the moonlight. He looked down at us, and his face was deformed. The left side was partially melted off. His joints creaked with rust, and across his armored chest, written in thick dust by some giant finger, were the words WASH ME. "Talos!" Zoe gasped.
"Oh crap." Beckendorf breathed. "That's not good."
"What the heck?" Leo asked.
"Someone must have taken something." Hephaestus stated.
"Well, it wasn't Percy because that would have been noted." Poseidon said.
"It doesn't matter who." Hades snapped. "Someone took something and now that monster isn't just going to leave them alone."
"Who—who's Talos?" I stuttered. "One of Hephaestus's creations," Thalia said. "But that can't be the original. It's too small.
"Too small?" Gwen asked. "It sounded huge."
"And the original Talos was even bigger." Annabeth stated.
A prototype, maybe. A defective model. The metal giant didn't like the word defective. He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon. The sound of it coming out of its sheath was horrible, metal screeching against metal. The blade was a hundred feet long, easy.
"One hundred feet?" Jason reiterated.
"That's insane." Chris whispered.
It looked rusty and dull, but I didn't figure that mattered. Getting hit with that thing would be like getting hit with a battleship. "Someone took something," Zoe said. "Who took something?" She stared accusingly at me.
"Really not the time." Rachel shook her head.
"Plus it wasn't Percy." Apollo stated in annoyance. "Just because he's male doesn't mean he did it." Nico desperately wished everyone would just shut up so they could get through this part quickly.
I shook my head. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief." Bianca didn't say anything. I could swear she looked guilty,
Hades let out a pained breath. So his daughter had taken something, despite all the warnings, and it had cost her her life. The one small comfort was that he had not been the one to kill her.
Nico almost sobbed. Bianca had taken that stupid figurine for him. She had lost her life trying to get him a stupid toy because it was the only one he didn't have.
but I didn't have much time to think about it, because the giant defective Talos took one step toward us, closing half the distance and making the ground shake. "Run!" Grover yelped. Great advice, except that it was hopeless. At a leisurely stroll, this thing could outdistance us easily. We split up, the way we'd done with the Nemean Lion. Thalia drew her shield
"I don't think that will have an effect on an automaton." Beckendorf told her. She shrugged.
"It made me feel better."
"Fair enough."
and held it up as she ran down the highway. The giant swung his sword and took out a row of power lines, which exploded in sparks and scattered across Thalia's path. Zoe's arrows whistled toward the creature's face but shattered harmlessly against the metal. Grover brayed like a baby goat and went climbing up a mountain of metal. Bianca and I ended up next to each other, hiding behind a broken chariot. "You took something," I said. "That bow."
"Not really the time." Will told Percy.
"I had hoped that if she put back whatever she had taken it would stop the monster." Percy explained.
"Nope. Once something has been taken from dad's junkyard, nothing can stop the defenses." Beckendorf grimaced.
"Just wonderful." Jason groaned, worried for his sister.
"No!" she said, but her voice was quivering. "Give it back!" I said. "Throw it down!" "I… I didn't take the bow! Besides, it's too late." "What did. you take?" Before she could answer, I heard a massive creaking noise, and a shadow blotted out the sky. "Move!" I tore down the hill, Bianca right behind me, as the giant's foot smashed a crater in the ground where we'd been hiding. "Hey, Talos!" Grover yelled, but the monster raised his sword, looking down at Bianca and me. Grover played a quick melody on his pipes. Over at the highway, the downed power lines began to dance. I understood what Grover was going to do a split second before it happened. One of the poles with power lines still attached flew toward Talos' back leg and wrapped around his calf The lines sparked and sent a jolt of electricity up the giant's backside.
"Nice." Leo whistled.
"It will take more than that to destroy that monster." Annabeth said.
"Still, it should give Percy and Bianca time to move." Beckendorf stated.
Talos whirled around, creaking and sparking. Grover had bought us a few seconds. "Come on!" I told Bianca. But she stayed frozen. From her pocket, she brought out a small metal figurine, a statue of a god. "It… it was for Nico. It was the only statue he didn't have."
Nico's vision began to blur as tears started falling down his face. He turned to hide his face in Will's shoulder. He couldn't believe Bianca had died over a toy.
"How can you think of Mythomagic at a time like this?" I said. There were tears in her eyes. "Throw it down," I said. "Maybe the giant will leave us alone." She dropped it reluctantly, but nothing happened. The giant kept coming after Grover. It stabbed its sword into a junk hill, missing Grover by a few feet, but scrap metal made an avalanche over him, and then I couldn't see him anymore.
"Grover." Annabeth winced.
"I was alright." Grover said.
"No!" Thalia yelled. She pointed her spear, and a blue arc of lightning shot out, hitting the monster in his rusty knee, which buckled. The giant collapsed,
Zeus gave his daughter a grim smile with a hint of pride. She nodded, a small smile on her own face.
but immediately started to rise again. It was hard to tell if it could feel anything. There weren't any emotions in its half-melted face, but I got the sense that it was about as ticked off as a twenty-story-tall metal warrior could be. He raised his foot to stomp and I saw that his sole was treaded like the bottom of a sneaker. There was a hole in his heel, like a large manhole, and there were red words painted around it, which I deciphered only after the foot came down: FOR MAINTENANCE ONLY. "Crazy-idea time," I said.
"Beyond crazy." Thalia grimaced. Percy sighed. Now Nico and Hades would find out it had been his stupid idea that had gotten Bianca killed. Honestly it should have been him. It was his plan, he should have done it.
Bianca looked at me nervously. "Anything." I told her about the maintenance hatch. "There may be a way to control the thing. Switches or something. I'm going to get inside." "How? You'll have to stand under its foot! You'll be crushed"
"No. That's far too dangerous." Poseidon told his son. Percy could only nod.
"Distract it," I said. "I'll just have to time it right." Bianca's jaw tightened. "No. I'll go."
No." Hades whispered miserably.
"She is very brave." Reyna murmured quietly.
"You can't. You're new at this! You'll die." "It's my fault the monster came after us," she said. "It's my responsibility. Here." She picked up the little god statue and pressed it into my hand. "If anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him… tell him I'm sorry."
Nico whimpered. Will held him tightly. There was nothing he could say to make this better so he didn't even try.
Hazel had gone very pale. Frank put his arm around her shoulders.
"You ok?" He whispered.
"She's my sister." Hazel muttered in a dazed tone. It was so strange for her, hearing about this. She felt desperately sorry for Nico but at the same time she felt a pain in her chest for the half-sister she had never gotten to meet.
"I'm sorry." Frank said. It was fairly obvious what was coming next so he didn't bother pretending everything was going to be ok.
"Bianca, no!" But she wasn't waiting for me. She charged at the monster's left foot. Thalia had its attention for the moment. She'd learned that the giant was big but slow. If you could stay close to it and not get smashed, you could run around it and stay alive. At least, it was working so far. Bianca got right next to the giant's foot, trying to balance herself on the metal scraps that swayed and shifted with his weight. Zoe yelled, "What are you doing?" "Get it to raise its foot!" she said. Zoe shot an arrow toward the monster's face and it flew straight into one nostril.
"Cool." Leo muttered to himself.
The giant straightened and shook its head. "Hey, Junk Boy!" I yelled. "Down here." I ran up to its big toe and stabbed it with Riptide. The magic blade cut a gash in the bronze. Unfortunately, my plan worked. Talos looked down at me and raised his foot to squash me like a bug. I didn't see what Bianca was doing. I had to turn and run. The foot came down about two inches behind me and I was knocked into the air. I hit something hard and sat up, dazed. I'd been thrown into an Olympus-Air refrigerator. The monster was about to finish me off, but Grover somehow dug himself out of the junk pile. He played his pipes frantically, and his music sent another power line pole whacking against Talos' thigh. The monster turned. Grover should've run, but he must've been too exhausted from the effort of so much magic. He took two steps, fell, and didn't get back up.
"I thought you said you were alright!" Annabeth shrieked.
"I was. I was just tired." Grover assured her.
"Grover!" Thalia and I both ran toward him, but I knew we'd be too late. The monster raised his sword to smash Grover. Then he froze. Talos cocked his head to one side, like he was hearing strange new music. He started moving his arms and legs in weird ways, doing the Funky Chicken.
A few people couldn't help but let out quiet chuckles, despite the horrible tension in the room. The image was just too funny.
Then he made a fist and punched himself in the face. "Go, Bianca!" I yelled. Zoe looked horrified. "She is inside?" The monster staggered around, and I realized we were still in danger. Thalia and I grabbed Grover and ran with him toward the highway. Zoe was already ahead of us. She yelled, "How will Bianca get out?"
"Through the foot?" Dakota suggested.
The giant hit itself in the head again and dropped his sword. A shudder ran through his whole body and he staggered toward the power lines. "Look out!" I yelled, but it was too late. The giant's ankle snared the lines, and blue flickers of electricity shot up his body.
"No. Bianca is still in there." Gwen winced. Nico gripped Will harder. Horrible images were flashing through his head and he was sure he was going to be sick.
I hoped the inside was insulated. I had no idea what was going on in there. The giant careened back into the junkyard, and his right hand fell off, landing in the scrap metal with a horrible CLANG! His left arm came loose, too. He was falling apart at the joints. Talos began to run. "Wait!" Zoe yelled. We ran after him, but there was no way we could keep up. Pieces of the robot kept falling off, getting in our way. The giant crumbled from the top down: his head, his chest, and finally, his legs collapsed. When we reached the wreckage we searched frantically, yelling Bianca's name. We crawled around in the vast hollow pieces and the legs and the head. We searched until the sun started to rise, but no luck.
Nico squeezed Will's hand and then got up and went over to his father. Hades opened his arms and hugged his son tightly. Persephone moved to sit with her mother to give the two some space.
Zoe sat down and wept. I was stunned to see her cry. Thalia yelled in rage and impaled her sword in the giant's smashed face. "We can keep searching," I said. "It's light now. We'll find her." "No we won't," Grover said miserably. "It happened just as it was supposed to." "What are you talking about?" I demanded. He looked up at me with big watery eyes. "The prophecy. One shall be lost in the land without rain." Why hadn't I seen it? Why had I let her go instead of me?
"It was not your fault." Apollo whispered harshly to Percy. "You can't fight prophecy."
"It didn't specify who was lost. It should have been me." Percy replied equally miserably. Apollo didn't answer. He figured the chapter should be over soon and then he would talk to Percy.
Here we were in the desert. And Bianca Di Angelo was gone.
There was a ringing silence in the room. It took people a few moments to realise that Jason had stopped reading.
"Chapter's over." He announced.
"Break time." Chiron stated firmly. "Let us go and have lunch."
Hades and Nico were the first to rise. They left the room swiftly. Everybody else waited a few seconds before leaving as well.