A BLACK HEART CHAPTER 6
A/N:- So… here's the sixth chapter! Hope you all are liking the fic so far! On with the story!
"Go," Percy said, emptying yet another glass of water. "They will be hunting you Zoe, I'll distract them."
"No," Bianca said firmly, grabbing his hand. "You are injured, you should rest, we will take care of them."
Percy shook his head. "You won't be able to."
But after seeing the girls' stern looks of disapproval, Percy sighed. "Fine then, let's go. But, before that."
The son of Hades stomped on the ground as multiple cracks appeared and skeletal hands grasped at the openings. Right in front of their eyes, a dozen red-coat skeletons appeared, armed and ready to fight at their master's command.
Percy simply left them with a single message, "Deal with them."
Hector was just looking at the demigod in awe as the son of Hades said, "Gather along, everybody!"
-TIME-SKIP-
Zoe was driving the van in which Percy had shadow-traveled them all when suddenly, they saw a big black helicopter, just like the one they had seen in the Westover Hall, their guns armed and ready.
"They know the van! We have to leave it and find another mode of transport!" Hector said franticly.
"There!" Bianca said. "That parking lot!"
"We'll be trapped," Zoe said.
"Trust me," Bianca said.
Zoe sighed and reluctantly shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river.
Soon, they left the van and followed Bianca down some steps, but not before Thalia sent a few sparks up the vehicle's fuel tank.
"Subway entrance," Bianca said as they ran forward. "Let's go south. Alexandria."
"Anything," Thalia agreed.
As soon as they got into the subway, they saw the only train leaving.
"Well, fuck that! There goes the train!" Phoebe said.
"What should we do now?" Hector asked as he rubbed his hands together to generate warmth.
"Wait," Percy said who had been redoing his bandages with a spare roll from Phoebe's magical huntress pouch.
"Fuck," Bianca said as her teeth chattered as she wrapped herself in her huntress blanket.
It was freezing cold, with piles and heaps of snow everywhere. It was a kind of a railway yard, without any other passenger trains, just freight trains, that didn't look like they had traveled in years.
After walking some distance, they finally saw a light, a sign of humans. The all ran towards it, to find out that it was in fact a fire crackling.
Sitting around it was a homeless man, who wore a torn jacket over another one, with several holes patched and a beanie over his head, with tufts of blond sandy hair coming out from beneath. He donned Christmas socks, with black boots. His eyes however were sapphire in color and were sparkling, and his name tag read 'Fred.'
Seeing the demigods, Fred gave them a toothless grin, and his teeth, the remaining ones, were as bright as the sun.
"You guys look a little roughed up! Do you want to get warmed up?" He asked.
"Uh… Y-Y-Y-Y-e-a-aah—h, s-ur-e." Thalia said, and they all huddled around the fire with Fred.
When Percy looked back, he saw that Bianca's and Thalia's teeth were chattering, and Hector was shivering badly. Zoe and Phoebe seemed to be unfazed by the cold. And of course, Percy didn't have any objections to the freezing temperatures.
"This is great!" Hector said, his shivering gone down a little.
"Yeah! My feet were freezing, but now it's better!" Thalia said.
"You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends."
His expression seemed kind. "You kids need a train going west?"
"Yes, sir," Percy said, putting two and two together as he looked at him with wide eyes. "You know of any?"
The god noticed and winked as he pointed with one greasy hand.
Suddenly there was a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.
Percy just gave him a look that said, 'Bruh, really?'
To which Fred just nodded with another wink.
"That's… convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh…"
She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone, nowhere to be seen. The environment had returned to cold and freezing, as if he'd taken the flames with him.
An hour later they were all rumbling west.
Zoe and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Hector was playing race car driver behind the wheel of a Lamborghini and Thalia had configured the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.C. Phoebe the huntress was relaxing comfortably in a BMW 8 series convertible.
Percy himself was lying in a Dodge Viper which was completely black in color. Out of the window, he saw Hector talking to Thalia.
Percy sighed, he didn't have anybody to talk to, except himself, of course.
But, just as he thought that, he heard a really cheerful "HEY THERE!"
Percy turned around to see Fred, not looking homeless at all anymore, He was wearing a hot red leather jacket over a bright yellow sweatshirt. His sandy blond hairs were free of the beanie, and completely black sunglasses covered his eyes.
"Apollo?" Percy asked.
"Shhhh!" Apollo said with a finger on his mouth, but his lips were curled up into a smile. "I'm incognito right now! So call me Fred only."
"But why are you here?"
"Eh, my sister was kidnapped, don't you think I should atleast make sure that the people going to save my sis are safe!"
"Oh, Thanks then."
"Now, tell me, what do you want to talk about."
"Well, I am confused, I am a son of Hades, tasked to only rescue my siblings and bring them back, but till now, I haven't done anything. I just took them and came to camp, not sending them to my father. Then, Annabeth and Artemis get captured, and even when they are not my responsibility, like I don't know them at all, yet still I went on this quest. And now Bianca, my sister, doesn't want to talk to me at all, just because she became a hunter, and I am a male. I just don't know why am I doing this!" When Percy finished his rant, he looked at Apollo who was in deep thought.
"See Perce, you have a deep past, and a deep ancestry, that goes far back before you became Uncle H's adopted son. You are special. It's your ancestry that makes you attached to anyone you meet, and you will do anything to make sure they survive, but listen to me." Apollo said. "Dying to win, and winning to die are completely different things. You have a lot of potential and abilities, but the only thing holding you back is your mindset. You don't understand how to give your best. You are great at teamplay, but remember, life isn't a teamsport, it's an individual sport."
"But isn't working with other people with cooperation good and necessary?" Percy asked.
"It is, but when you die, you will always be completely alone. You believe that in the worst-case scenario, you can solve anything with the cost of your life. Like right now, I can see that you are thinking of sacrificing your life to save whoever is going to die. You want it to be you so that someone else can live. While that is good, you should understand that what would happen after you, what would happen if you did die, what would happen to the people and the family you leave behind? Think about that, and you can go far more ahead than you are right now." With that Apollo completed his speech.
"Whoah! Didn't know you were capable of that Ap— Fred!" Percy said. "Thanks!"
Apollo just smiled.
"Anyway, do you know where Artemis is being held?"
Fred's cheerful demeanor darkened,
"I know a lot, and I see a lot. But even I don't know that. She's… clouded from me. I don't like it."
"Fine, do you know which monster your sister was hunting?" Percy asked.
"No," Apollo said. "But there is one who might. If you haven't yet found the monster when you reach San Francisco, seek out Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea. He has a long memory and a sharp eye. He has the gift of knowledge sometimes kept obscure from my Oracle."
Then he checked a non-existent watch,
"Ah, look at the time! I have to run. I doubt I can risk helping you again, Percy, but remember what I said! Get some sleep! And when you return, I expect a good haiku about your journey!"
Percy nodded and said, "Bye Fred!"
Apollo waved his hand, and then vanished in a golden flash of light.
Percy just sighed and reclined back on his seat and fell asleep.
When he fell asleep, he immediately slipped into a dream.
In his dream, he was somebody else, wearing an old-fashioned Greek tunic, which was a little too breezy downstairs, and laced leather sandals.
The Nemean Lion's skin, which he was pretty sure he had given to Hector, was wrapped around his back like a cape. He was running somewhere, being pulled along by a girl who was tightly gripping his hand.
"Hurry!" she said. It was too dark to see her face clearly, but he could hear the fear in her voice. "He will find us!" It was nighttime. A million stars blazed above.
They were running through tall grass, and the scent of a thousand different flowers made the air intoxicating. It was a beautiful garden, and yet the girl was leading Percy through it, as if they both were about to die.
"I'm not afraid," He tried to tell her.
"You should be!" she said, pulling Percy along.
She had long dark hair braided down her back. Her silk robes glowed faintly in the starlight.
They raced up the side of the hill. She pulled Percy behind a thorn bush and they collapsed, both breathing heavily.
He didn't know why the girl was scared. The garden seemed peaceful, without any sign of danger. And Percy felt strong, Stronger than before.
"There is no need to run," He told her. "I have bested a thousand monsters with my bare hands."
"Not this one," the girl said. "Ladon is too strong. You must go around, up the mountain to my father. It is the only way." The hurt in her voice was surprising. She was really concerned.
"I don't trust your father," Percy said, in a stronger voice.
"You should not," the girl agreed. "You will have to trick him. But you cannot take the prize directly. You will die."
Percy chuckled. "Then why don't you help me, pretty one?"
"I… I am afraid. Ladon will stop me. My sisters, if they found out… they would disown me."
"Then there's nothing for it." He stood up, rubbing his hands together.
"Wait.'" the girl said. She seemed to be agonizing over a decision.
Then, her fingers trembling, she reached up and plucked a long white brooch from her hair. "If you must fight, take this. My mother, Pleione, gave it to me. She was a daughter of the ocean, and the ocean's power is within it. My immortal power."
The girl breathed on the pin and it glowed faintly. It gleamed in the starlight like polished abalone.
"Take it," she said. "And make of it a weapon."
Percy laughed.
"A hairpin? How will this slay Ladon, pretty one?"
"It may not," she admitted. "But it is all I can offer, if you insist on being stubborn."
The girl's voice softened his heart and he reached down and took the hairpin. As he did, it grew longer and heavier in his hand, until he held a familiar bronze sword, it was Hector's sword, Riptide!
"Well balanced," Percy said.
"Though I usually prefer to use my bare hands. What shall I name this blade?"
"Anaklusmos," the girl said sadly. "The current that takes one by surprise. And before you know it, you have been swept out to sea."
Before Percy could thank her, there was a trampling sound in the grass, a hiss like air escaping a tire, and the girl said, "Too late! He is here!"
-DREAM-ENDED-
"AAHH!" Percy woke up screaming, he was totally drenched in sweat from head to toe.
Hector was looking at him weirdly, when Percy looked at him, he screamed out even more and jumped back.
"Hey, man don't worry, I won't hurt you, what happened?"
"Nothing, nightmare, your sword…" Percy said pointing to Hector's pocket, breathing heavily.
"Oh, ok, anyway, let's go, I was coming to wake you up, it's morning, the train stopped. Come on!"
"Oh, fine, I am coming," Percy said with a smile.
Percy shook off the drowsiness and followed behind Hector, he was pretty sure that the girl he had seen was Zoe, but he didn't say anything about it.
Outside were snowy mountains with Pine Trees, and the red sun rising in between of them. They'd arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. The sign said 'WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO.' The air was cold and thin.
The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.
Hector was freezing by the time they had reached the main street. As they walked, Percy told Hector and Thalia about the conversation with Apollo, only telling them about the Nereus part, omitting the rest.
"First of all, that's great that you got a visit from a god." Hector said.
"That's good about Nereus and all, But keep in mind, that we have to get there first." Thalia said.
They stopped in the middle of town. One could see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.
"Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."
"There's a coffee shop!" said Phoebe.
"Yes," Zoe said. "Coffee is good."
"And pastries," Phoebe said.
Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about you two go get us some food. Hector, Percy, Bianca, and I will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."
They agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable coming with them, but she did.
Inside the store, they found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car.
"You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo," the clerk said doubtfully. "That's down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars."
The clerk looked really lonely, so Percy bought a rubber rat and talked with him about the weather and the snow for a few minutes.
Before heading back, Percy gave him a wad of few thousand dollars and winked.
"Why?" The man asked, bewildered.
"Consider it a gift from god."
Once out, Bianca playfully asked, "How much money do you have, bro?"
"Million time's the wealthiest billionaire's net worth," Percy said nonchalantly as he finished his ice cream.
Hector and Thalia just stared at him open-mouthed.
Soon, they headed back outside and stood on the porch.
"Wonderful," Thalia grumped. "I'm going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion."
"But the clerk said—" Hector was cut in the middle.
"I know," she said. "I'm checking anyway."
"I am going with you!" Hector said franticly and stood up.
Thalia shrugged, and they both went down the street. Bianca and Percy were now standing alone.
"Nice rat," she said.
"Thanks, So… how do you like being a Hunter so far?" Percy asked.
She pursed her lips. "You're not still mad at me for joining, are you?"
"Nah. Long as, you know… you're happy."
"Thanks Percy, being a Hunter is definitely cool. I feel calmer somehow. Everything seems to have slowed down around me. I guess that's the immortality."
Percy glanced at Bianca, she seemed better than before, she glowed in the dark, like the moon, and her silver parka shimmered in the moonlight. Percy suddenly realized, that he would soon die and mix with the soil, but Bianca, his sister, would never age and look like the same powerful 14 year old.
"You know, I gave Nico a gift before I came on this quest, I just realized that I didn't give you anything, and I don't know if it is ok to give it to you now, now that you are a hunter and are supposed to stay away from males, but still, take this."
Percy dipped his hand into a shadow, and brought out two daggers, half stygian iron, and half silver.
"Here, I made these for your birthday, but I just figured that I should give them right now."
Bianca took them in her hands and twirled them around to take a better look at it, it fit perfectly in her fist.
"Thank you Perce!" Bianca said. "I would totally hug you right now, but let's just settle for this." She said, giving Percy a side bear hug.
"Thanks sis." Percy said as they entangled.
Just then Zoe and Phoebe returned.
"We have to leave." Zoe said.
"Why what happened?" Percy asked.
"That." Phoebe said, pointing towards 4 spartus coming their way.
"Shit!" Bianca said. "We are only four, how can we fight against four skeletons?"
"Don't worry! You guys are not alone!" Hector said, as he was running up the street with Thalia.
"It's 6 against four now." But just as Thalia said that, four more Spartii came from behind a bush.
They were surrounded, but Percy wondered where the other 6 Spartus were, because he had seen 12 at the Smithsonian.
"We have to get over with this quickly," Zoe said.
"Actually I have an idea," Percy said.
Everyone turned towards him, but he just smiled and slammed his foot on the ground, making it shake and crack.
Out of the crack in the ground, came out 3 big skeletons, they once belonged to US Confederate Soldiers, and even had rifles and other weapons.
"Help us," Percy commanded, and they got in positions.
Thalia smiled, while Hector said, "Just three this time?"
"I mean, we have to fight as well, don't we? We can't just let the dead do all the work for us." Percy replied.
The first spartus fired at them, and Percy acted quickly, twisting his ring to bring out his sword, and sliced the bullet cleanly in half.
Seeing that, the rest were surprised, but they also brandished their weapons, as the skeletal warriors shot at the spartii. The dead rushed forward, but were destroyed in a matter of few seconds by the Spartus.
Percy was shocked, but he rushed forward as well and brought his weapon down, and stabbed the spartus right in the middle, who then burst into flames and disintegrated.
The other bad skeletons grew wary of him, and avoided his blade.
"How did thou do that?" Zoe asked.
"I don't know!"
"Well, do it again, because it worked." Bianca said, as she thrusted the twin daggers that Percy gave her into the chest of another Skeleton, which also, burst into flames.
"You too?!" Thalia asked. "Why aren't our attacks working on them?" She asked as she stabbed a skeleton with her spear. The bones unknitted and clattered to the ground, but then just rearranged itself back.
"Yeah, I guess it only works with children of Hades." Bianca said as she shot an arrow into the skull of the spartus Thalia was fighting.
Actually, everyone except for Percy and Bianca were having a hard time-fighting. They quickly retreated back.
"This isn't working, only Perce and Bianca are able to kill these things, and they are getting exhausted." Hector said.
"We need to run now." Zoe said.
"And go where?" Percy asked. "They know your scent, so they will follow you until you kill them, and you can't kill them."
"Then what will we do?" Phoebe asked.
"I have an idea!" Percy said.
"Go on." Bianca said.
Percy whistled loudly, like a taxi-cab whistle, and waited.
Everyone looked around confused, even the skeleton warriors, while Percy just smiled.
Soon, the trees behind the spartus rustled, and out came a big Hellhound. Completely black in color, with red eyes.
Instead of looking like a hellhound, it looked like a Large sized New Foundland Dog breed.
"WOOOOOFFFFFFFF" The dog barked, and then took three skeletons into its mouth and chewed on them. Then the hellhound turned towards the half-bloods.
"Mrs O'Leary!" Percy said and went near the dog to pet it, as the others watched over in horror. "Oh, how I missed you girl."
Mrs O'Leary licked Percy's face and wagged her tail.
"You have a hellhound named Mrs O'Leary?" Thalia asked.
"She is a gift from my dad, don't be rude to her. Come on, let's hop on." Percy said, and everyone climbed on the big dog. Thalia sat right behind Percy, behind whom sat Hector, behind whom sat Bianca followed by Phoebe and finally Zoe.
"Good, girl, now let's get out of this place, and if you find any bad skeleton, you are free to munch on it." Percy said.
Mrs. O'Leary nodded and then bounded off, occasionally eating a few spartii.
They rode on Mrs O'Leary until sunset, Percy wasn't sure how much they had travelled, but the mountains had faded into the distance, and were replaced by miles of flat, dry land. There was nothing there except for a few shrubs and cacti. It was entirely a desert.
"This is it, our next stop, Arizona. Or the land without rain." Percy said, as everybody slipped down from the dog's back.
Percy quickly summoned a bone for Mrs O'Leary to chew on and said, "Go, rest well, bye! We will meet again girl." And the dog nodded and bounded off.
Ahead of them was a two-lane road half covered with sand.
On one 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 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.
"Whoa," Percy said.
"Something tells me, that this place is no good." Thalia said.
Hector nodded, "This just gives off a bad vibe to me."
"Yes, thou are right." Zoe said.
"Anyway, let's set up camp for tonight, it's getting dark." Phoebe said.
Sure enough, the sun was setting, making the hills of metal look like something on an alien planet.
Zoe, Bianca, and Phoebe produced six sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks for them to sleep on.
The night got chilly fast, so Hector and Percy collected old wooden boards from the ruined house, and Thalia zapped them with an electric shock to start a campfire.
Pretty soon they were getting ready to sleep in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.
"The stars are out," Zoe said, as they lay down on their mattresses, Phoebe had already gone to sleep, while the rest were still awake, thinking about what to do.
"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," Hector said.
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?"
"Well… actually no…"
Zoe wore a 'Duh' expression.
Just then, they were hit with a blazing light from down the road. The headlights of a car appeared out of nowhere.
Everyone grabbed their sleeping bags and got out of the way as a deathly white limousine slid to a stop in front of them.
The back door of the limo opened right next to Hector and Percy, but before Hector could step away, the point of a sword touched his throat.
Percy quickly place his fist at the throat of the owner of the sword, who was coming out of the car.
Zoe and Bianca drew their bows, while Phoebe and Thalia brought out their hunting knives and spear.
A man came out, he was a big man with a crew cut, a black leather biker's jacket, black jeans, a white muscle shirt, and combat boots. Wraparound shades hid his eyes, but hollow sockets filled with flames were visible through them. Something about his eyes filled Percy with anger.
"Who are you?" Percy growled out.
"I am Ares, the god of war. Now step aside boy."
"Isn't that Kratos?" Percy asked.
"Don't be foolish! That video game is an insult to our existence!" Ares said, the flames in his eyes growing in size.
Percy stepped back slowly, but his hands were still tense.
The war god glanced at the rest. "At ease, people."
He snapped his fingers, and everyone's weapons fell to the ground.
"This is a friendly meeting." He dug the point of his blade a little farther under Hector's chin.
"Then why are you treating me so hostilely?"
"Don't worry, of course I'd like to take your head for a trophy, but someone wants to see your friend here. 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, little sister." Ares sneered the last part as he lowered his sword and pushed Hector away.
"Thalia Grace," Ares mused. "You're not hanging out with very good company."
"What's your business, Ares?" she said. "Who's in the car?"
Ares smiled. "Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you. Particularly not them." He jutted his chin toward Zoe and Phoebe, who were standing next to Bianca.
"Why don't you all go get some tacos while you wait? I will only take Percy for a few minutes."
"We will not leave him alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoe said.
"Besides," Phoebe said, "the taco place is closed."
Ares snapped his fingers again and 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, little huntress?"
"Go on," Percy told his friends. "I'll handle this, also, save some tacos for me."
"You heard the boy," Ares said. "He's big and strong. He's got things under control."
Percy got inside the limousine, as the door snapped shut behind him.
Sitting inside, was a woman who was wearing a red satin dress. Her hair was curled in a cascade of ringlets.
Her face was covered in makeup, she had eyes of a seductress, and dazzling white teeth.
She may have been beautiful to many men, but she wasn't really Percy's type.
When Percy actually looked at her again, he saw an obsidian black and brown-eyed demigod, about his age, with completely black hair wearing a completely red sleeveless bodycon. (A/N:- Guess who?)
"Ah, there you are, Percy," the goddess said. "I am Aphrodite."
"What do you want?"
"Want," Aphrodite said checking her makeup. "Such a trivial thing, yet a need of many."
"What the fuck do you mean?"
"I mean that everybody wants something," She said and then poked Percy's chest with a well and freshly manicured finger. "Even you."
"And you know what I want?" Percy asked incredulously. "If you do, please tell me as well."
Aphrodite laughed heartily as Percy just stared at her. "You're funny. Well… right now… the only thing you want is to get off this car. Which… won't be that pleasant, right?"
Percy didn't say anything and just blocked his nose to avoid the scent of perfume entering his nose.
"But the thing you suffer from," The goddess said sadly. "Is a broken heart. And nothing is capable of mending one. Especially when you know that the one whom you loved is gone, forever."
"Shut up, Aphrodite," Percy said and then gasped. "I mean, Lady Aphrodite."
"No worries, my dear Percy," The goddess said sweetly. "You don't need to use such formalities. Let me just tell you one thing. The one you're looking for… might be quite similar to the one you lost."
"What?" Percy asked incredulously. "What do you mean?"
"You'll find out soon enough!" Aphrodite said, laughing loudly weirding the son of Hades out.
"Oh, ok," Percy said. "Can I go now?"
"Sure, sure! Best of luck!" Aphrodite said. "Just remember, you have the blessing of love over you! Oh, and be careful in my husband's junkyard!"
When the audience with the goddess was over, Percy came out of the Limo.
He waved at Ares and said, "Bye, War God, until next time. I wanted to fight you, but too bad."
"I would love to fight you once too kid, just to wipe the smugness off of you. You got spunk and I like that. But until that, Farewell."
Ares snapped his fingers and the world did a three-sixty, spinning in a cloud of red dust. Percy fell to the ground. When he stood up again, the limousine was gone.
The road, the taco restaurant, the whole town of Gila Claw was gone. Percy's friends 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 Percy told them about Aphrodite.
"Oh, uh, not sure," He lied. "She said to be careful in her husband's junkyard and to not to pick anything up."
Zoe narrowed her eyes. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip to tell thee that. Be careful, Perseus. Aphrodite has led many heroes astray."
"For once I agree with Zoe," Thalia said.
"Yes, you can't trust Aphrodite," Phoebe said, yawning, with a taco in her hands.
"So," Percy said, anxious to change the subject, "how do we get out of here? Oh and also… did you save me some tacos?"
"That way," Zoe said, handing him a paper-wrapped snack. "That is west."
"How can you tell?" Hector asked. In the light of the full moon, everyone was clearly able to see her roll her eyes.
"Ursa Major is in the north," she said, "which means that must be west." She pointed west, then at the northern constellation. "Oh, yeah," Hector said. "The bear thing."
Zoe looked offended. "Show some respect. It was a fine bear. A worthy opponent."
"You act like it was real."
"Guys," Percy broke in between them. "Look!"
They'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."
"That's probably because it is." Hector said.
"Like Percy said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods." Thalia said.
"Junk?" Hector 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? It's beautiful!" He said, putting it on his head to test it out.
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 Hector's and Percy's sword!"
Zoe's face was grim, like she knew who owned the bow. "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?" Hector asked.
She gave him a hard look.
"Zoe is right, Hector. Things get thrown away here for a reason. Now come on, let's get across the yard." Percy said.
They started picking their way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, they would've gotten lost. Because all the hills pretty much looked the same.
Percy found an electric guitar shaped like Apollo's lyre, and Hector 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 Hector picked the tree up, trying to flap their wings.
Finally, they saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of them, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert.
But between the demigods and the road was…
"What is that?" Bianca gasped.
Ahead of her 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.
Phoebe frowned. "They look like—"
"Toes," Hector completed her sentence.
Bianca nodded. "Really, really large toes."
Zoe and Thalia exchanged nervous looks.
"Let's go around," Thalia said. "Far around."
"But the road is right over there," Hector protested. "Quicker to climb over."
"Come on." Phoebe looked at everyone. "Around."
No one argued as the toes were starting to freak them out.
After several minutes of walking, they 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, Percy heard a sound like a thousand trash compactors crushing metal. He whirled around, "What was that?"
Behind them, the scrap mountain was boiling and rising up. The ten toes tilted over, and a bronze giant in full Greek battle armor, He was impossibly tall—a skyscraper with legs and arms an he gleamed wickedly in the moonlight.
He looked down, and everyone got a good look at his face, which 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.
"Who—who's Talos?" Hector stuttered.
"One of Hephaestus's creations," Percy said.
"But that can't be the original. It's too small. A prototype, maybe. A defective model." Phoebe said, as Bianca and Hector just looked confused not even knowing how the actual Talos looked like.
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 which looked rusty and dull, but that didn't matter.
"Someone took something," Zoe said. "Who took something?" She stared accusingly at Hector, who shook his head. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief."
Percy didn't say anything as he looked around, his eyes narrowed.
The giant defective Talos took one step toward them, closing half the distance and making the ground shake.
"Run!" Zoe yelped.
They split up, Thalia drew her shield and held it up as she ran down the highway, though, the giant didn't seem to be fazed by it. He swung his giant 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.
Hector unsheathed Riptide and then ran along with Phoebe up a mountain of metal to hide from the attacks.
Bianca and Percy ended up next to each other, hiding behind a broken chariot.
"You took something," Bianca said. "What did you take?" "Nothing!" Percy said, but his voice was quivering.
"Give it back!" She said. "Throw it down!"
"I… I didn't take anything! Besides, it's too late."
Bianca didn't have anytime to answer as the giant's foot smashed a crater in the ground where they'd been hiding.
"Hey, Defective Talos!" Hector yelled and threw Riptide with enough force to dent the giant. Thalia then sent a jolt of electricity up the giant's backside. Talos whirled around, creaking and sparking.
The giant ran after Thalia and Hector, when Zoe and Phoebe shot a volley of arrows at the metal giant.
He raised his foot to stomp them, but that's when Percy saw that his sole had a large hole in his heel, like a large manhole.
"I got an Idea, it's crazy, but it's worth it." Percy said.
Bianca looked at him nervously. "What is it?"
He told her about the hole.
"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"
"You will have to distract it," He said. "I'll just have to time it right."
"No! You'll die!" Bianca said.
"Don't worry about me. Besides, I am the reason he came after us, so I guess, I should end this." Percy said, bringing something out of his pocket, it was a tiny Hades statue from Nico's Mythomagic card game. "Give this to Nico, it's the only figurine he doesn't have."
"Percy no, you can't do this." Bianca's eyes were tearing up.
"Don't worry little sis, you guys are the only other family I have, I am going to do anything to protect you, even if it means dying, now go help the others." Percy said dashing off for Talos's left foot.
He got right next to the giant's foot, as Thalia yelled, "What are you doing?"
"Get it to raise its foot!" Percy said.
Zoe shot an arrow toward the monster's face and it flew straight into one nostril. The giant straightened and shook its head. Bianca shot an arrow in the other nostril, and Phoebe shot it's chest plate, with each arrow creating a heavy dent in the bronze.
"Hey, Junk Boy!" Hector yelled. "Down here." He ran up to its big toe and stabbed it with Riptide. The magic blade cut a gash in the metal. Talos looked down at him and raised his foot to squash him and Hector turned and ran.
The foot came down and missed him, but the force was enough to send him flying into the air.
The monster was about to finish him off, but Phoebe pulled him out of the way of the giant sword as Zoe shot an arrow, which exploded on contact with the chest plate, dazing the monster for a few seconds.
The giant raised his sword again, but then he froze.
Talos cocked his head to one side, like he was hearing strange new music and started moving his arms and legs in weird ways, doing the Floss.
Then he made a fist and punched himself in the face.
"Go, Percy!" Bianca yelled, with the figurine in her hand.
Hector looked horrified. "He is inside?"
Bianca nodded.
Thalia and Hector ran towards the highway.
Zoe was already ahead of them.
She yelled, "How will Percy get out?"
"I don't know!" Bianca said.
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.
The giant's ankle snared the lines, and blue flickers of electricity shot up his body, and then there was a bright yellow flash of light.
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.
Pieces of the robot kept falling off, as the giant crumbled from the top down: his head, his chest, and finally, his legs collapsed and exploded in a bright flash sending bits of shrapnel and dust flying in all of the directions.
When they finally reached the wreckage Thalia, Bianca and Hector started to search frantically, yelling Percy's name.
They kept searching until the sun started to rise, but no such luck.
Bianca sat down and wept. Zoe went to her and comforted her. Thalia yelled and impaled her spear in the giant's smashed face. "FUCK THIS! Who told him to be the all 'self-sacrificing' type!?"
"We can keep searching," Hector said, their were tears streaming across his cheeks, "He must be around here somewhere, it's light now. We'll be able to find him better now."
"No we won't," Phoebe said miserably, even if she did hate men, Percy was the only boy whom she and Zoe could openly respect. "It happened just as it was supposed to."
"What are you talking about?" Thalia demanded.
"The line of the Prophecy, 'One shall he lost in the land without rain.'", Zoe said, "It has been fulfilled."
Everyone looked glum as the sense of understanding dawned over them, they were in a sandy desert, and Perseus Jackson was gone.
Thalia, Hector, Zoe, Phoebe and Bianca, all of them were devastated.
At the edge of a dump, they all found a tow truck very old, but the engine started, and it had a full tank of gas, so they borrowed it. Phoebe drove as she wasn't as stunned or depressed as Zoe, Hector, Thalia and Bianca.
"The skeletons are still out there," she reminded. "We need to keep moving."
She navigated them through the desert, under clear blue skies. Zoe sat up front with Phoebe while Hector and Thalia and Bianca sat in the pickup bed, leaning against the tow wench.
When Hector looked back, he saw Bianca clutching something, a black figurine or statue of some sorts.
"It should've been me, I should have went into Talos." Bianca said.
"Don't say that, Do you know how Nico would feel if you died?" Hector said.
Bianca just sighed and didn't say anything as she reclined back in a resting position. She was depressed, but no more tears came out.
The ride was silent until Thalia played some Green Day music on the radio, and everyone yelled at her to stop it.
-LINE-BREAK-
Percy woke up to a shiny room, everything yellow and gold, blinding him in an instant. It was as bright as the sun itself. There were flowerpots on the windowsills, and there were several purple and red flowers planted in them.
Then, when he looked down, he realized that he was shirtless, resting in a hot tub, with cold water.
There was a frame hung on one of the walls that said 'LET YOUR INNER LIGHT SHINE!'
There were a row of musical instruments like Guitars, Cellos, Violins, Drums, Trumpets, and much more.
He was surprised, wasn't he dead? He died when he destroyed Talos, right? He saved his friends, didn't he? Is this Elysium? Can I see my dad again? And why am I in a hot tub?
"No, Yes, Yes, No, Maybe, I will tell you." A cheerful voice came from behind Percy, who jumped up at least 5 feet.
"Apollo!?" Percy asked, shocked to see the sun god. "How are you here? Are other gods allowed to visit Elysium?"
"Technically, you are not in Elysium, you are in my room at Olympus." Apollo said, sipping on lemonade as he was wearing a gold blazer with gold pants, and matching shoes.
"Wait, I'm not dead? How?"
"Do you want to die?"
"Well, no, I want to fight along my siblings and my friends, but I will die if it means saving them."
"Good, so you don't fear death, that's good, but what about what happens after you die? You have to fear that, and not invite unnecessary trouble to yourself. Also, you didn't follow anything I said."
"I'm sorry Apollo, but if it was up to you, would you take your sister's place right now, this instant, so that she would be safe?" Percy asked.
"Well, yes. But listen, if you are strong, you should help others, but stop whenever necessary. For example, I am strong, and I could destroy Talos with one single shot and prevent anyone from dying, but what I did was, let you fight him, and then flashed you away, so that the prophecy was complete, you got lost, but always remember, prophecies have double meanings, so lost doesn't mean dead." Apollo said sitting down, as Percy got out of the hot tub.
The son of Hades had impressive features, for a 14-year-old. He had well-defined four-pack abs, and his muscles were well toned with a well-defined jawline.
After Percy had wiped himself and worn a yellow t-shirt, The sun god started talking.
"Alright so, your friends, they were badly affected, especially your sister and your brother."
"Wait, how does Nico know about this."
"Not talking about Nico! Talking about the other kid, Hector."
"How—," Percy asked bewildered. "How do you know?"
"Think, think, and connect the dots," Apollo said with a twinkle in his eyes.
Percy thought for a moment and then answered, "You knew? You knew all along? What about the others?"
Apollo nodded with a slight smirk, "Not all of us. Just Aunt Hestia, Uncle Hades, Uncle Poseidon, and Aunt Demeter."
"You guys knew?" Percy asked, still bewildered.
"This is why we are all so invested in your growth! See how powerful that makes you? You can control water and the dead, Water indicating life, and Dead indicating, well death. So you are more powerful than anybody else, not more powerful than us of course, but stronger than any demigod, even Heracles!"
Percy sighed, knowing what was going to happen. "What now?"
"Now, you are going back to help your friends, but before that, I have some things for you."
-LINE-BREAK-
Hector, Bianca, Zoe, Phoebe, and Thalia had reached the Hoover Dam after Zoe was completely drenched in water.
"They haven't forgiven me yet." She complained.
"Who hasn't forgiven you?" Hector asked.
"The Naiads." Phoebe answered.
Hector was about to ask why, when he noticed Thalia shake her head, and then shut up as they got out of the vehicle.
"Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoe said. "We should eat while we can."
Hector cracked a smile. "The dam snack bar?"
Zoe blinked. "Yes. There should be one here. What's funny?"
"Nothing," He said, trying to keep a straight face. "I could use some dam french fries."
Thalia smiled at that. "And I need to use the dam restroom."
Even Bianca started cracking up, and Thalia and Hector joined in, while Zoe and Phoebe just looked at them, confused.
"I do not understand," Phoebe said.
"I want to use the dam water fountain," Hector said.
"And…" Bianca tried to catch her breath. "I want to buy a dam T-shirt." It was nice to see Bianca laughing for a change, especially after what had happened.
Just then, they heard a noise, actually two noises… One was a 'MOOO' and the other was a clang of swords.
The smile melted off Hector's face, He wondered if he was going crazy, but then Bianca had stopped laughing too.
She was looking around, confused. "Did I just hear a cow?"
Zoe listened. "I hear nothing."
Thalia looked at them both. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Hector said. "You guys go ahead. I'll be right back."
"What happened?" Bianca asked.
"Nothing," He said. "I… I just need a minute. To think."
The rest hesitated, but they finally went into the visitor center.
As soon as they were gone, Hector jogged to the north edge of the dam and looked over.
"Moo." It came from about thirty feet below in the lake, but he could see her clearly. It was Bessie, the cow serpent.
Hector looked around. There were groups of kids running along the dam. A lot of senior citizens. Some families. But nobody seemed to be paying Bessie any attention yet.
"What are you doing here?" He asked her.
"Moo!" Her voice was urgent, like she was trying to warn him about something.
"How did you get here?". They were thousands of miles from Long Island, where he had first met Bessie, yet still, she had travelled so much distance to the hoover dam. There was no way she could've swum all the way here. And yet, there she was. Bessie swam in a circle and butted her head against the side of the dam.
"Moo!" She wanted Hector to come with her, like she was telling him to hurry.
"I can't," He told her. "My friends are inside."
She looked up with her sad brown eyes. Then she gave one more urgent "Mooo!," did a flip, and disappeared into the water.
'Something is wrong. She was trying to tell me that.' Hector thought, he considered jumping over the side and following her, but then tensed.
His spidey sense tingled and he looked down the dam road to the east and saw two men walking slowly toward him. They were the remaining spartus, wearing gray camouflage outfits that flickered over skeletal bodies.
A kid yelled, "Hey!" One of the warriors turned, his face changing momentarily into a skull. "Ah!" the kid yelled, and his whole group backed away.
Hector cursed and ran for the visitor center.
The security guard at the metal detector yelled, "Hey, kid!" But he didn't stop, running through the exhibits and ducking behind a tour group, looking for his friends whom he couldn't see anywhere.
There was no place to go but into an elevator with the tour group. Hector ducked inside just as the door closed.
"We'll be going down seven hundred feet," The tour guide said cheerfully. She was a park ranger, with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and tinted glasses.
"Don't worry, ladies and gentlemen, the elevator hardly ever breaks."
"Where does it go?" Hector asked as some people snickered.
"To the turbines, young man," the lady said. "Weren't you listening to my fascinating presentation upstairs?"
"Oh, uh, sure. Is there another way out of the dam?"
"It's a dead end," a tourist behind me said.
"For heaven's sake. The only way out is the other elevator."
The doors opened. "Go right ahead, folks," the tour guide told the tourists.
"Another ranger is waiting for you at the end of the corridor." "And young man," the tour guide called as Hector looked back. She'd taken off her glasses. Her eyes were startlingly gray, like storm clouds, reminding him of Annabeth's eyes.
"There is always a way out for those clever enough to find it."
The doors closed with the tour guide still inside, leaving him alone.
Before he could think too much about the woman in the elevator, a ding came from around the corner. The second elevator was opening, and out came a sound of the clattering of skeleton teeth.
He ran after the tour group, through a tunnel carved out of solid rock that seemed to go one forever. The walls were moist, and the air hummed with electricity and the roar of water.
Hector came out on a U-shaped balcony that overlooked a huge warehouse area.
Fifty feet below, enormous turbines were running. It was a big room, but there weren't any exits.
Another tour guide was talking over the microphone, telling the tourists about water supplies in Nevada.
Hector worked his way around the crowd, trying to find someplace where he could hide.
He had uncapped Riptide, ready to strike whenever needed.
Then right behind him, Hector heard a sharp Chhh! like the voice of a skeleton.
Without thinking, He spun and slashed with his sword.
The person he just tried to slice in half yelped and dropped her Kleenex.
"Oh my god.'" she shouted. "Do you always kill people when they blow their nose?"
Hector was surprised that the girl didn't die. "You're mortal!"
She looked at him in disbelief. "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I'm mortal! How did you get that sword past security?"
"I didn't—Wait, you can see it's a sword?"
The girl rolled her eyes, which were green. She had frizzy reddish-brown hair. Her nose was also red, like she had a cold. She wore a big maroon Harvard sweatshirt and jeans that were covered with marker stains and little holes.
"Well, it's either a sword or the biggest toothpick in the world," she said. "And why didn't it hurt me? I mean, not that I'm complaining. Who are you?"
Hector thought deeply, and tried to manipulate the mist by snapping his fingers.
"You don't see a sword," He told the girl. "It's just a ballpoint pen."
She blinked. "Um… no. It's a sword, weirdo."
"Who are you?"
"Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Now, are you going to answer my questions or should I scream for security?"
"No! I'm kind of in a hurry and I'm in trouble."
"In a hurry or in trouble?"
"Um, sort of both."
She looked over my shoulder and her eyes widened. "Bathroom!"
"What?"
"Bathroom! Behind me! Now!"
Hector listened to her and it saved his life.
He heard the clattering, hissing sounds of skeletons as they came closer.
"Oh my god! Did you see that kid? It's about time you got here. He tried to kill me! He had a sword, for god's sake. You security guys let a sword-swinging lunatic inside a national landmark? I mean, jeez! He ran that way toward those turbine thingies. I think he went over the side or something. Maybe he fell."
The skeletons clattered excitedly and moved off.
After a pause, Rachel opened the door. "All clear. But you'd better hurry." She looked shaken. Her face was gray and sweaty.
Hector peeked around the corner. Three skeleton warriors were running toward the other end of the balcony. The way to the elevator was clear for a few seconds.
"I owe you one, Rachel Elizabeth Dare."
"What are those things?" she asked. "They looked like—"
"Skeletons?" Hector filled in. Rachel nodded.
"Do yourself a favor, and forget it. Forget you ever saw me."
"Forget you tried to kill me?"
"Yeah. That, too."
"But who are you?"
"Hector—" He started to say. Then the skeletons turned around. "Gotta go!"
"What kind of name is Hector Gotta-go?" Rachel said as he bolted for the exit.
The cafe was packed with kids enjoying the best part of the tour—the dam lunch. Thalia, Zoe, and Grover were just sitting down with their food.
"We need to fucking leave!" Hector gasped. "Now!"
"But we just got our burritos!" Thalia said.
Zoe stood up, muttering an Ancient Greek curse.
"He's right! Look." The cafe windows wrapped all the way around the observation floor, which gave a beautiful panoramic view of the skeletal army that had come to kill them.
There were two on the east side of the dam road, blocking the way to Arizona, three more on the west side, guarding Nevada. All of them were armed with batons and pistols. The three skeletal warriors who'd been chasing Hector in the turbine room now appeared on the stairs.
They clattered their teeth.
"Elevator!" Bianca said.
The demigods bolted in that direction, but the doors opened with a pleasant ding, and one more warrior stepped out.
Every warrior was accounted for, minus the three Percy and Bianca had blasted to flames in New Mexico.
They were completely surrounded.
Thalia quickly threw her burrito at the one closest to them, and knocked his skull of his shoulders.
The skeletons tried to aim their guns, but their targets had already ran away, using the momentarily distraction to their advantage.
As they all raced downstairs, Bianca asked, "What now?"
The warriors on the road were closing in from either direction as they ran across the street to the pavilion in front of the gates.
Hector, Bianca, Zoe, Phoebe and Thalia were surrounded, as their backs were facing a mountain.
The skeletons moved forward, forming a crescent around them.
Their brethren from the cafe were running up to join them. One was still putting its skull back on its shoulders.
They drew batons and advanced.
"Four against nine," Zoe muttered.
"And we can't even kill them," Phoebe said, taking out her bow.
But still, everyone readied their weapons, Hector holding Riptide, Thalia holding her shield and spear, Bianca held up her twin knives that Percy gifted her, And Zoe and Phoebe of course, readied their bows.
Hector prayed to his father, hoping for some help as the skeletons targeted and opened fire, just then, there was a swoop and swish of wings, and a large shadow loomed over them, which picked up three of the spartus and threw them off the cliff.
When they looked up, they saw a giant raven, wearing full bronze plated armor, and atop it was seated the one and only…
"PERCY!" Bianca cried out in joy.
Percy waved back, "Hey guys! Ready to kill some skeletons?" He said as he dropped down from the big bird, which disappeared in a flash of light.
"Let's go!" Hector yelled, and they charged at the spartus.
Percy took out his stygian iron sword which he liked to call Chaos and then sliced one skeleton in half, which then burst into flames, after which he took out another blade, which no one had seen before. It was a sword made out of a different material, it wasn't celestial bronze, nor was it stygian iron. It was goldish in color. Then he slashed at another one and that one also got burned.
Hector stabbed one skeleton, and Bianca shot an arrow at that one, destroying it.
Zoe and Phoebe and Thalia fought against two skeletal warriors. Thalia had electrocuted one, and he was still spasming in shock on the floor.
Percy threw a throwing knife at one of the spartus Zoe and Phoebe were fighting, and it pierced the skull cleanly and came out at the other side, making the spartus burst in flames.
Then he said, "We have to go, can't waste any more time over here. The winter solstice is in two days, we have to hurry."
Everyone nodded.
"But, we have to destroy them, other wise they will keep coming." Zoe said.
"I have a solution for that." Percy said. "Keep shooting your arrows at them."
Zoe nodded and the huntresses shot at the spartus, as soon as the arrows made contact with the 4 skeletons left, they broke apart.
As they were trying to knit themselves together, Percy smiled and pulled with his hands. Two big water hands raised from both sides, and then grabbed the skeletal warriors and threw them to the sides.
Everyone was shocked to see the son of Hades control water like it was a piece of cake for him.
But Percy just smirked and whistled and the big black raven came back, and they all hopped on it.
"How?" Hector asked as He and Bianca hugged him tightly.
There were tears streaming down Bianca's face, "I thought I had lost you."
"Hey, hey, I am not that easy to kill," Percy said as he hugged both of them back.
"But how are you alive?"
"All thanks to Fred!" Percy said with a slight smirk.
Zoe's eyes widened, "Apollo saved thou?!"
Percy nodded, "And gave me some cool gifts!"
He took out throwing knives from two sheaths on the sides of his belt. The Blade was gold in color, while the handle was of leather, with a sun etched in it. Percy also had a locket around his neck, with a guitar at the end of the string.
"So cool!" Thalia said, fingering it.
"Thanks."
"I got another question." Phoebe said, "Yesterday, how did you control the water?"
"Yeah, about that… remember when I told you I was adopted by Hades?" Percy said, as everyone nodded, "Well, my birth father is Poseidon."
"Wait, what? You are my brother?" Hector asked.
Percy nodded.
"That's great! I knew I had some special connection to you, man!"
Percy smiled and said, "Anyways, now where are we going?"
"San Francisco." Phoebe said.
Percy nodded and they sped up.
The mountains fell away into hills, and then they were zipping along over farmland and towns and highways.
Hector told them about what happened in the turbines room and how he was cornered. Phoebe fell asleep while counting the number of mountains they had passed. Bianca was still hugging Percy.
Zoe got bored and started shooting arrows at random billboards as they were flying by.
"You did good back there," Percy told Hector.
"But how did you get away from the skeletons in the generator room, anyway? You said they cornered you." Thalia asked him, as he told her about the weird mortal girl, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who seemed to be able to see right through the Mist.
Thalia nodded, "Some mortals are like that," she said. "Nobody knows why."
"Apollo thinks it's because their parents were demigods, and they turned out to be mortal, but the children inherited some of the characteristics like ADHD or seeing through the Mist." Percy said.
"Well, the girl was annoying," Hector said. "But I'm glad I didn't vaporize her. That would've been bad."
Everyone nodded.
"Must be nice to be a regular mortal." Bianca finally said.
"Alright, where do you guys want to land?" Percy asked, as they were descending.
Everyone looked down.
Hector said, "Whoa."
San Francisco was probably the most beautiful city, it looked like Manhattan with green hills and fog. There was a huge bay and ships, islands and sailboats, and the Golden Gate Bridge sticking up out of the fog.
"There," Zoe suggested. "By the Embarcadero Building."
"Good thinking," Percy said.
It was early morning and not many people were around. There was a homeless guy on the ferry dock when they landed.
He screamed when he saw the big black raven and ran off yelling something about Birds from Mars.
"What are we going to do next." Bianca asked.
"We made it to the West Coast. Artemis is here somewhere. Annabeth too, hopefully." Hector said.
"But where and how do we find them?" Phoebe asked.
"Tomorrow is the winter solstice, and we don't even know what monster Artemis was hunting," Hector said.
"We don't have much money now as well." Phoebe said.
"Oh, leave that to me." Percy said, fishing out a couple hundred dollar bills.
"Apollo?" Zoe asked.
Percy nodded, "Apollo and my father."
"Now, let's go to Nereus, the old man of the sea." Percy said.
Zoe made a face. "Old Nereus, eh?"
"You know him?" Thalia asked.
"My mother was a sea goddess. Yes, I know him. Unfortunately, he is never very hard to find. Just follow the smell."
"What do you mean?" Percy asked.
"Come," she said without enthusiasm. "I will show thee."
Percy walked with Zoe and stopped at the Goodwill drop box.
Five minutes later, Zoe outfitted him in a ragged flannel shirt and jeans three sizes too big, bright red sneakers, and a floppy rainbow hat, and brought him back to the group.
"Oh, yeah," Hector said, trying not to burst out laughing, "You look completely inconspicuous now."
Phoebe nodded. "A typical male vagrant."
"Thanks a lot, Zoe," Percy grumbled, as Thalia and Bianca were laughing. "Why am I doing this again?"
"I told thee. To blend in with the other homeless people." Zoe said leading the way down to the waterfront. After a long time spent searching the docks, Zoe finally stopped in her tracks.
She pointed down a pier where a bunch of homeless guys were huddled together in blankets, waiting for the soup kitchen to open for lunch.
"He will be down there somewhere," Zoe said. "He never travels very far from the water. He likes to sit in the sun during the day."
"How do I know which one is him?"
"Sneak up," she said. "Act homeless. You will know him. He will smell… different."
"Great." Percy said. "And what to do once I find him?"
"Grab him," she said. "And hold on. He will try anything to get rid of thou. Whatever he does, do not let go. Force him to tell thee about the monster."
"We've got your back," Thalia said. She picked something off the back of his shirt—a big clump of fuzz that came from god-knows-where. "Eww. On second thought… I don't want your back. But we'll be rooting for you."
Hector gave him a big thumbs-up.
Percy grumbled and then headed toward the dock to make friends with homeless people.
He pulled his hat down and stumbled like he was drunk. Percy saw the homeless person they had scared away with the Raven.
A couple of grimy dudes with plastic grocery bags for hats checked him out as he came close.
"Beat it, kid!" one of them muttered. Percy moved away.
They smelled pretty bad, but just regular old bad. Nothing unusual.
There was a lady with a bunch of plastic flamingos sticking out of a shopping cart. She glared at Percy like he was going to steal her birds.
At the end of the pier, a guy who looked about a million years old was passed out in a patch of sunlight. He wore pajamas and a fuzzy bathrobe that probably used to be white. He was fat, with a white beard that had turned yellow, kind of like a grimy, old Santa Claus.
As he got closer, Percy froze.
He smelled bad, but it was different from the others, he smelled like hot seaweed and dead fish and brine.
Percy tried not to gag as he sat down near him like he was tired.
Santa opened one eye suspiciously, staring at Percy.
Percy muttered something about stupid school and stupid parents, figuring that might sound reasonable.
Santa Claus went back to sleep.
Percy tried to grab the old Santa.
"Ahhhhhl" he screamed, and grabbed Percy's neck.
He certainly didn't act like a weak old man. He had a grip like steel.
"Help me!" he screamed as he squeezed him to death.
"That's a crime!" one of the other homeless guys yelled. "Kid rolling an old man like that!"
Percy rolled straight down the pier until his head slammed into a post and he was dazed for a second.
Nereus's grip slackened, he was making a break for it.
Before he could, Percy regained his senses and tackled him from behind, it was difficult to do so while wearing baggy pants.
"I don't have any money!" Nereus tried to get up and run, but Percy locked his arms around his chest.
"I do, so I don't want any!" Percy said as he fought. "I'm a half-blood! I want information."
That just made him struggle harder. "Heroes! Why do you always pick on me?"
"Because you know everything!" He growled and tried to shake Percy off his back, making him feel like he was holding on to a roller coaster.
Santa thrashed around and staggered toward the edge of the pier as Percy got an idea.
"Oh, no!" He said. "Not the water!"
The plan worked. Immediately, Nereus yelled in triumph and jumped off the edge. Together, they plunged into San Francisco Bay.
Nereus got surprised when Percy tightened his grip, but Nereus just changed shape until he was a sleek black seal.
The seal plunged straight down, wriggling and thrashing and spiraling through the dark water.
If Percy hadn't been a son of Poseidon, there's no way he would have survived.
Nereus spun and expanded, turning into a killer whale, but Percy grabbed his dorsal fin as he burst out of the water.
A whole bunch of tourists went, "Whoa!"
Nereus plunged back into the water and turned into a slimy eel.
Percy tied him into a knot until he realized what was going on and changed back to human form.
"Why won't you drown?" he wailed, pummeling Percy with his fists.
"I'm Poseidon's son," Percy said, blocking the punches.
"Curse that upstart! I was here first!"
Finally, Nereus collapsed on the edge of the boat dock, heaving and gasping.
Thalia, Bianca, Phoebe, Hector and Zoe ran down the steps from the pier.
"Thou got him!" Zoe said.
"You don't have to sound so amazed," Percy said.
Nereus moaned. "Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"
Hector nodded.
"All right, Nereus. Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Milady Artemis was hunting."
The Old Man of the Sea smiled, showing off his mossy green teeth. "Oh, that's too easy," he said evilly. "He's right there." Nereus pointed to the water.
"Where?" Hector asked.
"The deal is complete!" Nereus gloated.
With a pop, he turned into a goldfish and did a backflip into the sea.
"You tricked me!" Percy yelled.
"Wait." Phoebe's eyes widened. "What is that?"
"MOOOOOOOO!" Everyone looked down, there was a cow serpent, swimming next to the dock.
She nudged Hector's shoe and looked at them with sad brown eyes.
"Ah, Bessie," Hector said. "Not now."
"Mooo!"
"His name isn't Bessie." Percy said.
"You can understand her… er, him?"
"Yep, sea animal, I can understand it, I don't know why you aren't able to. Anyway, he says his name is the Ophiotaurus."
"The Ophi-what?"
"It means serpent bull in Greek," Thalia said.
"But what's it doing here?" Bianca asked.
"Moooooooo!"
"He says Hector is his protector, and he's running from the bad people. He says they are close."
"Wait," Percy said, "You know this cow?"
Hector nodded told them how he had rescued Bessie.
Thalia shook her head in disbelief. "And you just forgot to mention this before?"
"Well… yeah."
"I am a fool," Zoe said suddenly. "I know this story!"
"What story?"
"From the War of the Titans," she said. "My… my father told me this tale, thousands of years ago. This is the beast we are looking for."
"Bessie? But… he's too cute. He couldn't destroy the world."
"That is how we were wrong," Zoe said. "We've been anticipating a huge dangerous monster, but the Ophiotaurus does not bring down the gods that way. He must be sacrificed."
"MMMM," Bessie bellowed.
"I don't think he likes the S-word," Percy said, patting Bessie on the head, trying to calm him down.
"How could anyone hurt him?" Hector said. "He's harmless."
Zoe nodded. "There is great power in killing innocence. Terrible power. The Fates ordained a prophecy eons ago, when this creature was born. They said that whoever killed the Ophiotaurus and sacrificed its entrails to fire would have the power to destroy the gods."
"MMMMMM!"
"Maybe, don't talk about entrails, in front of him."
Thalia stared at the cow serpent with wonder. "The power to destroy the gods… how? I mean, what would happen?"
"No one knows," Zoe said. "The first time, during the Titan war, the Ophiotaurus was in fact slain by a giant ally of the Titans, but thy father, Zeus, sent an eagle to snatch the entrails away before they could be tossed into the fire. It was a close call. Now, after three thousand years, the Ophiotaurus is reborn."
Thalia sat down on the dock. She stretched out her hand. Bessie went right to her. Thalia placed her hand on his head. Bessie shivered. The daughter of Zeus looked hungry, like she wanted the power.
"We have to protect him," Phoebe told her. "If the enemy gets hold of him—"
"Luke wouldn't hesitate," Thalia muttered. "The power to overthrow Olympus. That's… that's huge."
"Yes, it is, my dear," said a man's voice in a heavy French accent. "And it is a power you shall unleash." The Ophiotaurus made a whimpering sound and submerged.
Everyone looked up.
They'd been so busy talking, that they'd allowed ourselves to be ambushed.
Standing behind them, his two-color eyes gleaming wickedly, was Dr. Thorn, the manticore himself.
"This is just pairrr-fect," the manticore gloated. He was wearing a ratty black trench coat over his Westover Hall uniform, which was torn and stained. His military haircut had grown out spiky and greasy.
"Long ago, the gods banished me to Persia," the manticore said. "I was forced to scrounge for food on the edges of the world, hiding in forests, devouring insignificant human farmers for my meals. I never got to fight any great heroes. I was not feared and admired in the old stories! But now that will change. The Titans shall honor me, and I shall feast on the flesh of half-bloods!"
On either side of him stood two armed security guys, some of the mortal mercenaries, and two more stood on the next boat dock.
"We beat you once before," Percy said.
"Ha! You could barely fight me with a goddess on your side. And, alas… that goddess is preoccupied at the moment. There will be no help for you now."
Zoe notched an arrow and aimed it straight at the manticore's head. The guards on either side of us raised their guns.
"Wait!" Hector said. "Zoe, don't!"
The manticore smiled. "The boy is right, Zoe Nightshade. Put away your bow. It would be a shame to kill you before you witnessed Thalia's great victory."
"What are you talking about?" Thalia growled. She had her shield and spear ready.
"Surely it is clear," the manticore said. "This is your moment. This is why Lord Kronos brought you back to life. You will sacrifice the Ophiotaurus. You will bring its entrails to the sacred fire on the mountain. You will gain unlimited power. And for your sixteenth birthday, you will overthrow Olympus."
No one spoke, Thalia was only two days away from turning sixteen, She was a child of the Big Three, And here was a choice, a terrible choice that could mean the end of the gods. It was just like the prophecy said.
Doomsday was happening right now.
Thalia hesitated, she looked completely stunned.
"You know it is the right choice," the manticore told her.
"Your friend Luke recognized it. You shall be reunited with him. You shall rule this world together under the auspices of the Titans. Your father abandoned you, Thalia. He cares nothing for you. And now you shall gain power over him. Crush the Olympians underfoot, as they deserve. Call the beast! It will come to you. Use your spear."
"Thalia," Hector said, "Snap out of it!"
She looked at him, dazed and uncertain.
"I… I don't—"
"Your father helped you," Hector said, "He turned you into a tree to preserve you."
Her hand tightened on the shaft of her spear.
Hector looked at Percy, and he nodded, surrounding Bessie with a water globe.
"STOP HIM!" Thorn yelled.
The guards had been targeting Zoe, so they didn't know what to do, and before the could react, Percy sent the Ophiotaurus into a shadow.
Zoe let loose two quick arrows that exploded at the feet of the guards, in clouds of sulfurous yellow smoke.
The guards started coughing.
The manticore shot spines in our direction, but they ricocheted off Hector's lion's coat.
"The cow…" Thalia muttered, still in a daze.
"Come on!" Phoebe pulled her along as they ran up the stairs with Bianca to the shopping center on the pier.
Hector dashed around the corner of the nearest store with them, as Zoe and Percy fought against the Manticore below.
"Get them!" Thorn yelled at his minions, signaling them to go after Thalia and her group. "I will take care of these little bastards by myself.
Tourists screamed as the guards ran after Thalia, and shot blindly into the air.
"You have to get word to camp!" Percy yelled at Hector, while deflecting the Manticore's projectiles, as Zoe shot him. "At least let them know what's going on!"
Hector quickly nodded and threw a golden drachma in a water drinking fountain and screamed, "O goddess, accept my offering!"
The mist rippled. "Camp Half-Blood!" He said.
And there, shimmering in the Mist right next to us, was Mr. D, wearing his leopard-skin jogging suit and rummaging through the refrigerator. He looked up lazily. "Do you mind?" "Where's Chiron!" Bianca shouted.
"How rude." Mr. D took a swig from a jug of grape juice. "Is that how you say hello?"
"Hello," Hector amended. "We have sent you a package, you have to take care of it."
Mr. D considered that.
Thorn's troops were closing in, and Phoebe shot arrows at them, they were just stun arrows, so they created a cloud of smoke upon impact.
"Why should I?" Mr. D asked.
"Can't explain. Just remember, it is the Ophiotaurus!" Hector said and slashed through the Iris Message.
"We're dead." Thalia gripped her spear. She looked like her old angry self again. "Then we'll die fighting."
Two of the guards came forward, and the other two appeared behind them.
"We can take them, it's four against four." Bianca said, readying her weapons.
The armed mortals advanced and shot, but Thalia rushed forward, and deflected the bullets with her shield, and Bianca on the other side, along with Phoebe, took on the other two guards. Hector decided to help Thalia, and vaulted off the wall to hit one of the guards with the hilt of Riptide.
Down below, Percy and Zoe were doing well against the Manticore. Percy rushed at Thorn, and made a punch to hit the monster in the face, but he ducked at the last moment, so Percy's fist landed on the brick wall, breaking it. Thorn kicked the demigod away, as Zoe shot two arrows at him.
The manticore roared in anger, and again shot a projectile, ripping off the arrows.
Zoe dodged the projectile, but still, it cut off a lock of her hair.
Percy yelled, jumped and did a clean 540 kick, which hit the Manticore on the head.
Thorn growled, and grabbed Percy's leg and threw him away, where he slammed into a few dividers.
He got up, dazed, but quickly regained positions with Zoe.
"You both are weak, and you are no match for me and my powers!" Thorn yelled, and shot several projectiles at both of them.
"Zoe! Look OUT!" Percy yelled and pushed her out of the way, getting hit by 3 of the projectiles.
Zoe rushed to Percy's aid, but she got hit by the projectiles as well, rendering both of them unable to move for a few seconds.
"Don't worry, my spikes won't kill you unless you are hit by all of them, thought it will hurt like hell." Thorn said, smiling.
Both of the victims groaned, as Hector yelled from above, "Percy!"
Up above, Hector had rendered one of the guards unconscious, while Thalia had knocked out the other guard.
Bianca and Phoebe had killed 6 guards with just four arrows, they didn't have anything against killing men.
Down, the Manticore laughed, as Percy and Zoe struggled to move.
"If the suffering is too great, would you like me to end you? You two are strong, so you can survive it better, so I guess I will have to kill you."
"Too bad for you though, we are going to destroy you." Zoe said and notched an arrow on the bow and shot three arrows at Thorn, who dodged them and shot forward, transforming into his true form, the lion.
Percy quickly rushed forward and deal a really powerful punch at the Manticore's face, sending him back.
"How are you able to move that well?" He asked.
"Apollo blessed me, your spikes are nothing but poison, so I am resistant to all kinds of poison now, and as for the pain they cause, I don't feel it, because I have faced so much of it, I am basically immune. When I used to train with my dad, he used to train me against worser monsters than you, and I have lost many times. So pain doesn't affect me. But you don't like pain do you?"
Percy asked, as Zoe herself jumped on Percy's back, used it as a leverage, twirled in the air and shot her arrows at The Manticore.
"AAHHH!" Thorn yelled as three arrows protruded from his chest.
"You are going to regret this, he said, as he again shot his spikes at Percy and lunged at Zoe.
Percy dodged the projectiles and the lieutenant took out her hunting knives and stabbed them into the Manticore's chest.
The son of Hades rushed from the back and then kicked the monster forward.
"Why… why didn't you use… yo… your powers or weapons to kill me?" Thorn asked.
"I didn't use my powers, because I'm not a coward like you, I don't hide behind my gifts, I use both of them, but I figured I didn't need to use any to kill you." Percy said, "As for the weapons…"
His voice trailed off as he unsheathed both Chaos and the imperial gold sword, that he liked to call Justice with which he stabbed Thorn cut his head off.
And that was the end of the Manticore.
A/N:- Longer chapters! I hope you liked this chapter! How did you like the fight against Thorn? Let me know in the reviews below! Bye, Have a Nice Day!