I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON RICK RIORDAN DOES! I only have rights to Atlanta and, just Atlanta. The stories are still in Percy's POV.
After Athena was born fully armed from Zeus' forehead, Triton, son of Poseidon and messenger of the seas, became foster parent to the goddess and raised her alongside his own daughter, Pallas. The sea god taught both girls the arts of war.
Chapter Ten: Atlanta Ruins a Perfectly Good Bus
It didn't take me long to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur horn-along with Atlanta's- in my cabin, which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack Grover had found for me.
The camp store loaned me and Atlanta fifty dollars each in mortal money and ten drachmas each. These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for nonmortal transactions-whatever that meant. He gave Annabeth, Atlanta, and me a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose of it would burn us up, literally.
Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told Atlanta and I had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector.
Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.
Atlanta had packed similar too me: extra change clothes and a toothbrush.
We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus.
Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood our mother and the surfer dude I'd seen when Atlanta and I were recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never surprised. Today, though he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face, and neck.
"This is Argus," Chiron told me and Atlanta. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."
I heard footsteps behind us.
Luke came running up the hill, carrying two pairs of basketball shoes.
"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you."
Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around.
"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me and Atlanta. "And I thought…um, maybe you could use these."
He handed Atlanta and me the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal.
Luke aid, "Maia!"'
White bird's wings sprouted out of the hells, startling us so much, we dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.
"Awesome!" Grover said.
Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course I don't use them much these days…" His expression turned sad.
I didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that Luke had come to say good-bye. I'd been afraid he might resent Atlanta and me for getting so much attention the last few days. But here he was giving us a magic gift…it had Atlanta and me blush almost as much as Annabeth.
"Thanks," Atlanta muttered.
"Hey, man," I said. "Thanks."
"Listen Percy, Atlanta…" Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you two. So just…kill some monsters for me, okay?"
We shook hands. Luke patted Grover's head between his horns, then gave a good-bye hug to Annabeth, who looked like he might pass out.
After Luke was gone, I told her. "You're hyperventilating."
"Am not."
"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?" Atlanta asked.
"Oh…why do I want to go anywhere with you and Percy?"
She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.
Atlanta and I picked up our flying shoes, and I had a sudden bad feeling. I looked at Chiron. "We won't be able to use these, will we?"
He shook his head. "Luke meant well, children. But taking to the air…that would not be wise for either of you."
Atlanta sadly handed her shoes to our mother. I nodded, disappointed, but then I got an idea, "Hey Grover. Want a magic item?"
His eyes lit up. "Me?"
Pretty soon we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.
"Maia!" he shouted.
He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.
"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"
"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.
Our mom hugged us both tightly, crying. Atlanta and I were also crying, hugging her back tightly. She made us swear to come home safe. We promised. She eventually let us go after what felt like hundreds of kisses and hugs.
"I love you both, so much. Please, please stay safe and look out for one another," She cried.
"We will mom," Atlanta said.
"Promise," I said.
She kissed us each one last time, hugging us tightly. She let us go, and left the hill crying not looking back. I knew if she did, she come running back and not let us go. Before Atlanta and I could follow, Chiron caught our arms. He begun to wipe mine and Atlanta's tears away. "I should have trained you both better," he said. "If I only had more time. Hercules, Jason-they all got more training."
"That's okay," Atlanta sniffed.
"I just wish-" I said.
I stopped myself because I was about to sound like a brat. I was wishing my dad had given me a cool magic item to help on the quest, something as good as Luke's flying shoes, or Annabeth's invisible cap.
"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you get away without this."
He pulled a pen and a necklace from his coat pocket and handed it to me and Atlanta. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removeable cap. Probably cost thirty cents. Atlanta's necklace was small one, with a large clam pendant with a small fork charm at the end.
"Gee," I said. "Thanks."
Chiron chuckled. "Atlanta we had this made, under the impression you were Poseidon's daughter. You simply need to pull the fork of the chain. Percy, the pen is a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one."
I remembered the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when I'd vaporized Mrs. Dodds. Chiron had thrown me a pen that turned into a sword. Could this be…?
I took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, I held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand.
"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not get into," Chiron told me. "It name is Anaklusmos."
" 'Riptide' " I translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.
"Use it for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. Try not to show the blade to mortals, or threaten them with it. It will not hurt them, but it's best not to involve mortals into our affairs."
I looked at the wickedly sharp blade. "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals? How could it not?"
"The sword, and your trident Atlanta, is celestial bronze, a divine metal found deep in the core of earth, which is Gaia herself. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creatures of the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They are not connected to any divine being. And I should warn you: as demigods, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."
"Good to know," Atlanta said.
"Now recap the pen."
I touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. I tucked it in my pocket, a little nervous, because I was famous for losing pens at school. Atlanta won't even let me borrow one of her pens, after I lost her favorite glitter purple ink pen.
"You can't," Chiron said.
"Can't what?" Atlanta asked.
"Lose the pen," he said. "It is enchanted, as is your necklace Atlanta. Both will always reappear in your pocket, and around your neck. Try it."
I was wary, but I threw the pen as far as I could down the hill and watched it disappear in the grass. Atlanta unclasped her necklace, reclasped it and threw it down the hill too.
"It may take a few moments," Chiron told us. "Now check your pocket, Percy."
Sure enough, the pen was there, and shortly after mine came back, Atlanta's necklace was back around her neck.
"Okay, that's extremely coo," I admitted. "But what if a mortal sees us pulling out a sword and trident?"
Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Percy."
"Mist?"
"Yes. Read the Iliad. It's full of references to the stuff. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans. You will see things just as they are, being half-bloods, but humans will interpret things quite differently. Remarkable, really, the lengths to which human will go to fit things onto their versions of reality. I will teach you and Atlanta how to manipulate it next summer, when you are more comfortable."
I put Riptide back in my pocket.
For the first time, the quest felt real. Atlanta and I were actually leaving Half-Blood Hill. We were heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone. (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one,, it would be worse than sending up a flare.) We had no weapons stronger then a sword and trident to fight off monsters and reach the Land of the Dead.
"Chiron…" Atlanta said. "When you say the god are immortal…I mean, there was a time before them, right?"
Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Kronos, the lord of Titans, called his region the Golden Age because men lived in innocent and free of knowledge. But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment. It was only in the early region of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan brought fire to mankind, that your species begun to process, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you and your brother may recall. Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western civilization was born."
"But the gods can't die now, right? I mean, as along as Western civilization is alive, they're alive. So…even if we failed, nothing could happen so bad it would mess up everything, right?"
Chiron gave her a melancholy smile. "No one knows how long the Age of the West will last, Atlanta. The gods are immortal, yes. But then, so were the Titans. They still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment, reduced in power, but still very much alive. May the Fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chao of the past. All we can do, children, is live and hope."
"Live and hope…sounds easy enough."
"Relax," Chiron told us. "Keep a clear head. And remember, you have each other, Grover, and Annabeth. Whatever you two face, you face it together and with your friends."
That's worried about.
When Atlanta and I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer camp send-off by your typical centaur.
Argus drove us out of the countryside and into Western Long Island. It felt weird to be on the highway again, Atlanta sat in the front next to Argus, Annabeth and Grover sitting next to me-Grover in the middle of us- as if we were normal carpoolers. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy. I found myself staring at every McDonald's every kid in the back of their parents' car, every billboard and shopping mall.
"So far so good," I told Grover. "Ten miles and not a single monster."
Annabeth gave me an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."
"Remind me again-why do you hate Atlanta and me so much?" I asked.
"I don't hate you two."
"Could've fooled us," Atlanta said.
She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look…we're just not suppose to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."
"Oh sure, live by your parents example. Last I checked you were Annabeth, and Percy was Percy. You are not your parents. Why are they rivals anyway?"
Annabeth sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in her temple, which is hugely disrespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater soring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."
"They must really like olives," I said.
"Oh, forget it."
"Now, if she invented pizza-that I could understand."
I said, forget it!"
In the front, Atlanta turned around shooting her a look, Argus cleared his throat. "None of those real reason Athena hates Poseidon. Don't get me wrong, she can't stand what he and Medusa did and that didn't help her hatred for him, but it's not the reason."
"What is?" Grover asked.
"Well before I tell you, you need to know some things. When she was born, Zeus sent her to Atlantis to be raised by Poseidon, but he was busy raising his own children and running a kingdom. Instead of Poseidon, his son Triton raised her alongside his daughter, Pallas. One day an accident happen while they were sparing. Athena couldn't stop and Pallas couldn't parry Athena like she always did. Pallas was killed in a horrible accident. Poseidon accused Athena of doing it on purpose and convinced his wife and son of the same thing. Athena's hated Poseidon and his family since."
"I-I didn't know that about mother," Annabeth said.
"She doesn't like talking about."
We went silent after that.
Argus dropped us at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from my mom and Gabe's apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with mine and Atlanta's picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THESE SIBLINGS?
I ripped it down before Atlanta, Annabeth, and Grover could notice.
Argus unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.
I thought about how close Atlanta and I were to our old apartment. On a normal day, our mom would be home from the candy store by now. Smelly Gabe was probably up there right now, playing poker, not even missing her.
Grover shouldered his backpack. He gazed down the street direction I was looking. "You want to know why she married him, Percy?"
I stared at him. "Were you reading my mind or something?"
"Just your emotions." He shrugged. "Guess I forgot to tell you and Atlanta satyrs can do that. You guys, were thinking about your mom and stepdad, right?"
Atlanta looked down at her feet. I nodded, wondering what else Grover might've forgotten to tell us.
"Your mom married Gabe for you and Atlanta," Grover told us. "You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura…Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you both, and either of you haven't been near him for a week."
"Thanks," I said.
"And the nearest shower is where?" Atlanta said.
"You should be grateful, Atlanta. Your stepfather smell so repulsively human he could mask the present of any demigod. As soon as I took of whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering Percy's scent for years. If you both hadn't been with him every summer, you both probably would've been found by monsters long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you both. She's a smart lady. She loves you both a lot to put up with that guy-if that makes you feel better."
It didn't, but I forced myself not to show it. Atlanta's eyes got misty and I knew it didn't make her feel better either. I grabbed her hand, holding it tightly. We'll see her when we get back to camp, I thought. And eat all the candy we can stomach.
I wondered if Grover could still read my emotions, mixed up as they were. I was glad he, Atlanta, and even Annabeth were with me, but I felt guilty Atlanta and I hadn't been straight with them.
The truth is I didn't care about retrieving Zeus's lightning bolt, or saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble. The more I thought about it, I resented Poseidon for never visiting me, never helping our mom by sending child-support, and even for what he did to Athena. He'd only claimed me because he needed a job done, dragging me and my sister into trouble.
Hades was no better. He tried to kill our mother, Grover, and us unfairly.
You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, the Oracle whispered in my mind.
Shut up, I told it.
The rain kept coming down.
We got restless and decided to play Hacky Sack-Annabeth decided to read her book instead- with one of Grover's apples. Grover, Atlanta, and I weren't too bad, we only dropped the apple a few times.
The game ended when I tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared-core, stem, and all.
Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but Annabeth, Atlanta, and I were too busy cracking up.
Finally the bus came. As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy-enchiladas.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."
But I could tell it wasn't nothing. I stared looking over my shoulder too, Atlanta also seemed to catch on and looking around as well.
I was relieved when we finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. We stowed our backpacks, Atlanta she kept hers on her back. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.
As the passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand onto my knee. "Percy, Atlanta."
An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and my heart skipped a beat.
It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face.
Atlanta and I scrunched down in our seats.
Behind her came two more old ladies: on in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds-same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers.
They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. Two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.
The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering.
"I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime," Atlanta said shakily.
"I said, if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "You and Percy are obviously not."
"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortals!"
"You can say that again," Atlanta said.
Grover did and Atlanta lightly punched him in the arm. If I wasn't so scared I might have laughed.
"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."
"They don't open," Grover moaned.
"What idiot designed this bus to have non-openable windows?" Atlanta muttered.
"A back exit?" Annabeth suggested.
There wasn't one. Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.
"They won't attack us with witnesses around," I said. "Will they?"
"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded me. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."
"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"
She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof…?"
We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except without the sound of the rain.
Atlanta snapped her fingers. "Annabeth give Percy your hat."
"What? Why?" Annabeth asked.
"If he turn invisible, he can go up the aisle. Percy once you pass them, you throw the hat back to me. I'll make my way up and join you. We'll get the bus driver pull over, then you and Grover sneak past the demon grandmothers using the other passengers."
My hands trembled. I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees cap and put it on.
When I looked down, my body wasn't there anymore.
I started creeping up the aisle. I managed to get three seats sown, when Mrs. Dodds got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the restroom."
"So do I," said the second sister.
"So do I," said the third sister.
They all started coming down the aisle.
Once they were three seats passed me, I took off the Yankee's cap and tossed it back like a frisbee. I somehow managed to suck in the seat as Mrs. Dodds turned her head back towards me.
Atlanta put on the cap and disappeared. I watched the aisle, I know I couldn't see Atlanta, but it made me feel better.
Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked to the right of her. My heart was pounding.
Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I knew Atlanta was next to me. We were free. We made it to the front of the bus. We were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. I stayed in my seat, preparing for Atlanta to get the bus driver to stop, when I heard hideous wailing from the back.
The three old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same-I guess those couldn't get any uglier-but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.
The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"
The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw something, all right.
"They're not here!" Annabeth yelled. "They're gone!"
The Furies raised their whips.
Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.
What happened next was so impulsive and dangerous, you'd think Atlanta had ADHD.
The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was going on in his rearview mirror.
In a split second the bus jerked to the left. Annabeth, Grover, and I held on to the seats, as everyone howled as they were thrown to the right, the Furies smashed against the windows. Ha-ha.
"Hey," the driver yelled. "Hey-whoa!"
Atlanta and the driver wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind us.
We careened of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.
Somehow the diver found an exit. We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There are woods to our left, the Hudson Rover to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.
I guess Atlanta had another idea: She hit the emergency brake.
The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The Bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. I hope Atlanta avoided them.
The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans.
I looked at the open doorway. Atlanta and I were free to go, but we couldn't leave our friend, and Annabeth. Atlanta took off the invisible cap. "Hey!"
The Furie turned, baring their yellow fangs at us, and the exit suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. Mrs. Dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, about to deliver someone's F- math test. Every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather.
Her two ugly sisters hooped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled towards Atlanta and me like huge nasty lizards.
"Atlantis and Perseus Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You and your brother have offended the gods. You shall both die."
"I liked you better as a math teacher!" I told her.
"Like for real," Atlanta said.
She growled.
Annabeth and Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening. Atlanta took off the fork charm and it grew and grew until it was five-foot long trident. I took the ballpoint pen out of my pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.
The Furies hesitated.
Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again.
"Submit now," She hissed. "And you two will not suffer eternal torment."
Atlanta gave her a thumbs down, making an incorrect sound like in a game show. "Oh I'm sorry that, is the incorrect answer Mrs. Dodds. How embarrassing."
"Percy, Atlanta look out!" Annabeth cried.
Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around Atlanta's hand, while the other two Furies lunched at us.
Atlanta managed not to drop her trident. I stuck the Fury on the left with Riptide's hilt, sending her toppling backward onto a seat. I turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the whipped out of her hands.
"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"
The Fury I'd hilt-slammed came at me and Atlanta, talons ready, but Atlanta threw her trident and she exploded like a firecracker. I grabbed her trident and couldn't help but notice it felt like Riptide in my hands.
Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed, and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds legs tied up with her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.
"Zeus will destroy you both!" she promised. "Hades will have both your souls."
"Braccas meas vesimini!" I yelled.
I wasn't sure where the Latin came from. I think it meant "Eat my pants!"
Thunder shook the bus. The hair rose on the back of my neck.
"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at Atlanta. "Now!" We didn't need any encouragement.
We rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling: "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped my photograph before I could recap my sword, or hand back Atlanta's trident.
"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our-"
BOOOOOM!
The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof. But an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.
"Run!" Annabeth said. "She calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"
We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, and nothing but darkness ahead.