Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Marvel Studios, Disney, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Hi, everyone. Shorter chapter this week since I split the canon chapter into two parts – just a head's up before you read.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Until next chapter,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~The Finding Home Saga~

~Finding Home~

~Chapter 69: The Dragon Of Eternal Bad Breath~

Dr. Chase's car was a yellow VW convertible. Not exactly inconspicuous, but at this point, I doubted that it mattered. The sun was going down. I figured we had less than an hour to save Silena.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" I grumbled because of it.

Zoë glared at me. "I cannot control traffic."

She weaved in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking on the horizon when we finally got into Marin County and exited the highway.

The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and around the edges of steep ravines. Zoë didn't slow down at all.

I noticed one thing as this was going on: "Why does everything smell like cough drops?"

"Eucalyptus," Iphigenia spoke. She pointed to the huge trees all around us.

"The stuff koala bears eat?"

"And monsters," Zoë said. "They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons."

"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?"

"Believe me, if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus leaves as well."

I didn't question her on that, but I did keep my eyes peeled more closely as we drove. Ahead of us loomed Mount Tamalpais. I guess, in terms of mountains, it was a small one, but it looked plenty huge as we were driving towards it.

Now I did have another question. "So that's the Mountain of Despair?"

"Yes," Zoë said tightly.

"Why do they call it that?"

She was silent for almost a mile before answering, because Iphigenia didn't want to seem to do it for her. This was Zoë's former home we were talking about, after all. Ish, because of the move of civilization. "After the war between the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos' right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides."

"The General," I said. Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. "What's going on up there? A storm?"

Zoë didn't answer. I got the feeling she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn't like it.

"We must concentrate," Iphigenia said. "The Mist is strong here."

"The magical kind or the natural kind?" I asked.

"Both."

The grey clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain, and we kept driving straight towards them. We were out of the forest now, into the wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog.

I happened to glance down at the ocean as we passed a scenic curve, and I saw something that made me jump out of my seat. "Look!" I exclaimed.

But we had already turned a corner and disappeared behind the hills.

"What?" Iphigenia inquired.

"A big, white ship," I said. "Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship."

Both Iphigenia and Zoë abruptly became grim. "Do you mean Luke's ship?"

All at once, I hesitated to answer them. I wanted to say that I wasn't sure. That it might be a coincidence, even though I knew better and that the ship was the Princess Andromeda. Not because I wanted to protect Luke – although a part of me did want to do it because of that reason – but because I didn't want them to think that I was a liability. I wanted them to know that they could trust me to not betray the gods just for the sake of protecting my boyfriend.

And maybe they did, because they didn't ask again for clarification. "We will have company, then," Zoë said grimly instead. "Kronos' army."

Zoë was able to park in a little parking area not quite all the way up to the top of the mountain. It wasn't near the edge, so there was no danger of it falling down – unless a landslide or something like that happened, but I wasn't going to think about that.

Mainly because, I had a decision to make. I'd stuffed Bob in the hoodie that I'd been wearing all this time underneath the coat of the Nemean lion after sacrificing it to my dad, but she'd already been through so much. I didn't think that it was fair to put her through much more, especially with how dangerous things were undoubtedly about to get, so...

I left Bob in the convertible. She mewled at me as I did, using her claws to dig into the sleeves of my hoodie, seemingly not wanting to be separated from me. It made my eyes burn. "We'll be back shortly, okay?" I told her, as if she could understand me. Zoë and Iphigenia stood behind me. They seemed to understand now the emotional bond that I had to this saber-toothed tiger kitten.

We left the windows of the convertible cracked, so that Bob would have air. With it being December, it wasn't warm enough for her to overheat. Zoë and Iphigenia took out of their packs some blankets, one of which was magical and heated, as well as two bowls, one for bottled water and the other for some tinned tuna that they had on them. We all figured it would last Bob long enough until I came back for her.

(If I came back for her. I hadn't forgotten that line of the prophecy...)

With that, we were on our way.

"We must be quiet," Zoë advised Iphigenia and I as we walked up the road. "We cannot wake Ladon."

Sheets of fog were drifting right in front of us after about five or so minutes of walking. Zoë stepped into one of them, and when the fog passed, she was no longer there. Iphigenia and I looked at each other.

"Concentrate on Zoë," she said. "We are following her. Go straight into the fog and keep that in mind."

She stepped into the fog, into the Mist, and I followed.

When the fog cleared, I was still on the side of the mountain, but the road was dirt. The grass was thicker. The sunset made a blood red slash across the sea. The summit of the mountain seemed closer now than it ever had before, swirling with storm clouds and raw power. There was only one path to the top, directly in front of us. And it led through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers: the garden of twilight, just like I'd seen in my dream.

This was where, relatively speaking, Zoë had instructed Hercules how to fight Ladon, at the cost of her life with her family.

This was also where Luke had gotten his scar and watched as Silena's half-brother, Alan Bolloré, died in his arms, helpless to stop it.

If it hadn't been for the enormous dragon, the garden would've been the most beautiful place I'd ever seen. The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such brilliant colors that they almost glowed in the dark. Stepping stones of polished black marble led around either side of a five-story-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples – and I don't mean yellow golden apples like at the grocery store. I mean real golden apples. I can't describe why they were so appealing, but as soon as I smelled their fragrance, I knew that one bite would be the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted.

"The apples of immortality," Iphigenia mused out loud. "Hera's wedding gift from Zeus."

I wanted to step right up and pluck one, except for the dragon coiled around the tree.

Now, I don't know what you think of when I say "dragon." Whatever it is, it's not scary enough. The serpent's body was as thick as a booster rocket, glinting with coppery scales. He had more heads than I could count, as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together. He appeared to be asleep. The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all the eyes closed.

I wondered what Luke and Alan had thought when they'd been here, that night their quest had gone so horribly wrong. I wondered if they had had any idea about what had been about to happen. I could almost picture the scene inside my head: a younger version of Luke and Alan with his wavy black hair and his kaleidoscopic eyes that made him look so much like Silena (and their mom), holding hands together, just before –

The shadows in front of us began to move. There was a beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from the bottom of a well. I reached for Riptide, but Zoë stopped my hand.

Four figures shimmered into existence, for young women who looked very much like Zoë. They all wore white ancient Greek chitons. Their skin was like caramel. Silky black hair tumbled loose around their shoulders. It was strange, but I'd never realized how beautiful Zoë was until I saw her sisters, the Hesperides. They looked just like Zoë – gorgeous, and probably very dangerous.

"Sisters," Zoë said.

"We do not see any sister," one of the girls said coldly. "We see one half-blood and two Hunters. All of whom shall soon die."

"Hey," I protested, stepping forwards. "You've got it all wrong. Nobody is going to die."

The girls studied me. Like Zoë, they had volcanic black eyes, glossy and completely black.

"Perseus Jackson," one of them said.

"Yes," mused another. "He thinks that he will not end up like the one before him."

I didn't need to be a genius to know who she meant by that.

Rage seized me. Hot, incandescent, rage. My vision practically turned red. "Why, you – "

It was only because of Iphigenia grabbing my wrist that I didn't rush forwards.

The first Hesperid glanced behind her, towards the top of the mountain. "They fear thee. They see thee as a threat. If you do not do what they wish, then you will end up like him...unless you go back."

I snarled, "Not without Silena!"

"And Artemis," Zoë said. "We must approach the mountain."

The four Hesperides all looked at their sister. "You know he will kill thee," the same one uttered. "You are no match for him."

"Artemis must be freed," Zoë insisted. "Let us pass."

The girl shook her head. "You have no rights here anymore. We have only to raise our voices and Ladon will wake."

"He will not hurt me," Zoë said.

"No? And what about thy so-called 'friends?'"

Then Zoë did the last thing that I expected. She shouted, "Ladon! Wake!"

The dragon stirred, glittering like a mountain of pennies. The Hesperides yelped and scattered. The lead girl said to Zoë, "Are you mad?"

"You never had any courage, sister," Zoë said. "That is thy problem."

The dragon Ladon was writhing now, a hundred heads whipping around, tongues flickering and tasting the air. Zoë took a step forward, her arms raised.

"Zoë, don't!" I half-shouted. "You're not a Hesperid anymore! He'll kill you!"

"Ladon is trained to protect the tree," Zoë said. "Skirt around the edges of the garden. Go up to the mountain. As long as I am a bigger threat, he should ignore thee."

"'Should,'" Iphigenia quoted dubiously. It almost baffled me that she was on my side. "That is not reassuring."

"It is the only way!" Zoë said back. "Even the three of us together cannot fight him."

And honestly, she was probably right about that.

Ladon opened his mouths. The sound of a hundred heads hissing at once sent a shiver down my back, and that was before his breath hit me. The smell was like acid. It made my eyes burn, my skin crawl, and my hair stand on end. I remembered the time a rat had died inside our apartment wall in New York in the middle of the summer. This stench was like that, except a hundred times stronger, and mixed with the smell of chewed eucalyptus. I promised myself right then that I would never ask a school nurse for another cough drop.

I wanted to draw my sword, in spite of what Zoë had said. But then I remembered my dream of Zoë and Hercules, and how Hercules had failed in a head-on assault. I decided to trust Zoë's judgment.

Iphigenia went left. I went right. Zoë walked straight towards the dragon.

"It's me, little dragon," she said. "Zoë has come back."

Ladon shifted forwards, then back. Some of the mouths closed. Some kept hissing. Dragon confusion. Meanwhile, the Hesperides shimmered and turned into shadows. The voice of the eldest whispered, "Fool."

"I used to feed thee by hand," Zoë continued, speaking in a soothing voice as she stepped towards the golden tree. "Do you still like lamb's meat?"

The dragon's eyes glinted.

Iphigenia and I were about halfway around the garden. Ahead, I could see a single rocky trail leading up the black peak of the mountain. The storm swirled above it, spinning on the summit like it was the axis for the whole world.

We'd almost made it out of the meadow when something went wrong. I felt the dragon's mood shift. Maybe Zoë got too close. Maybe the dragon realized he was hungry. Whatever reason, he lunged at Zoë.

Two thousand years of training kept her alive. She dodged one set of slashing fangs and tumbled under another, weaving through the dragon's heads as she ran in our direction, gagging from the monster's horrible breath.

I drew Riptide to help.

"No!" Zoë panted. "Run!"

The dragon snapped at her side, and Zoë cried out. Iphigenia unleashed several arrows, which weren't much against the dragon's impenetrable skin, but they caused him to hiss. In his moment of indecision, Zoë sprinted past us up the mountain, and we followed.

The dragon didn't try to pursue. He hissed and stomped the ground, but I guess he was well-trained to guard that tree. He wasn't going to be lured off even by the tasty prospect of eating some heroes.

We ran up the mountain as the Hesperides resumed their song in the shadows behind us. The music didn't sound so beautiful to me now – more like the sound track for a funeral.

At the top of the mountain were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half-melted.

"The ruins of Mount Othrys," Iphigenia whispered in awe.

"Yes," Zoë said, before she winced in pain.

Both Iphigenia and I turned to look at her. Iphigenia's expression was every bit as worried and terrified as I thought mine was. "Zoë," she spoke. "Let me see."

Zoë shook her head as she held her side. "No! It is nothing. What is more important...why Mount Othrys is here. It moves in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists on the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain...the mountain where Atlas holds..." She trailed off. Her voice was ragged with despair. "Where he used to hold up the sky."

We had been walking while talking, picking our way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken archways, and so as Zoë finished speaking, we had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of us, grey clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead resting on the shoulders of a sixteen-year-old girl with inky black hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis, her legs bound to the rock with a celestial bronze chain. This is what I had seen in my dream. It hadn't been a cavern roof that Artemis was forced to hold. It was the roof of the world.

"Milady!" Zoë and Iphigenia both cried, rushing forwards.

But Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap! You must leave now!"

Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. I had never seen a goddess in pain before, but the weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.

Zoë and Iphigenia were crying. They ran forwards despite Artemis' protests, and tugged at the chains.

A voice boomed from behind us: "Ah, how touching."

We turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Silena stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth, and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat.

I met her kaleidoscope eyes, trying to ask her a thousand questions. There was just one message she was sending me, though: RUN!

"Luke," I said, my voice firm. "Let her go."

Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than he had three days ago in DC, and his eyes conveyed just how much he wished he could do as I wanted. But, "That is the General's decision, Percy. But it's good to see you again."

I had a show to maintain, at least in front of Artemis. I spat at him.

The General chuckled. "So much for old...friends. And you, Zoë. It has been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."

"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."

"Wait a second," I said, some of my show of anger slipping away. "You're Atlas?"

The General glanced at me. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently if you do not do as we ask, just as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."

My metaphorical hackles raised. "You're not going to hurt Zoë. I won't let you."

The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter."

I frowned. "A family matter?"

"Yes," Zoë said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."

Word Count: 3,029

Next Chapter Title: I Put On A Few Million Extra Pounds