"No one touches anything at all. Don't pick stuff up. Don't pocket anything. Let's try not to even look too much at this crap." I told them, Percy echoing my sentiments. This was the junkyard of the Gods, after all.
"Anything here is either defective or cursed." Zoë agreed, leading us through the junk using Ursa Major to guide us through valleys and hills of godly junk, over to where a giant foot was, the foot was around the same length as football field.
"Wait! Whoever took something, drop it now. If you don't, the price is your life battling a giant robot prototype." I spoke, watching no one move.
"I trust you all. But a mythomagic figure isn't worth your life."
Still, no one moved, and I wondered if the warnings I'd given were enough.
"Fine. Let's go around the giant foot then." I told them, giving up and following Zoë to the well lit black tarmac that was a few minutes away.
"We made it out, thank the gods." She spoke, and a sound like every garbage disposal in New York was turned on and full of rocks came from the trash behind us.
"Dammit, I warned you. Throw it back now, and pray it isn't too late!" I yelled, staring up at the skyscraper sized bronze giant.
"Run!" Yelled Grover, and we began to scatter, quickly losing track of everyone before it dawned on me what was about to happen.
As I scanned for the others, I could make out Percy and Bianca, Percy slashing at the giant and engaging it while Bianca managed to get inside. I knew what was happening. Once she managed to take it apart, she'd save her friends at too high a cost.
Without thinking, I took the scythe and walked calmly towards the bronze beast, holding it up towards the living metal before power began to pulsate from the weapon.
As the Talos began to break apart, i knew Bianca would be buried in the rubble, and a scream left my throat. No one would die, not if I could do something.
The power grew, until finally a beam of light, maybe the size of a quarter hit the bronze bastard before it flaked, rusting so quickly that it was swept away by the cold winds that came from nowhere, leaving only the same foot we'd passed earlier in the rubble.
There was a moment of pure excitement before the world became blurry, and I passed out in the metal.
I woke up in the back of a rusted van that had no driver. But I'd seen and heard about weirder things.
"You're awake." Annabeths voice came from above me, her fingers running through my hair. Her voice was emotional, like she'd been crying.
"What happened?" I asked, searching the brain and finding the last thing I could remember to be watching Percy and Bianca taking on the giant before I remembered, sitting up slowly, and I could see us being towed, Percy and Grover sitting on the back, leaning against the tow winch.
"Bianca, is she..." I left it open, feeling weak as I fell back against the seat.
"She was fine. A little banged up, but she's okay." She told me, taking my hand in her own, our fingers laced together.
"You know I'm going to break curse eventually, and I'll have to leave. You're smart enough to know this can't last forever." I told her, although I didn't try to let go of her hand.
"I know. Maybe that's why this is special, because it'll end." She replied, looking at me with those Grey eyes of hers.
"Maybe you're right." I agreed, the two of us making jokes and laughing before we arrived wherever we'd been headed, hoping out at the edge of a river canyon, a dead end in front of us.
"So good news, we don't have to climb the mountain. Bad news, more walking." I joked, looking at them for a moment before they rushed over.
"What the Hades was that?" Thalia asked, shaking me a little before Grover stopped her.
"I don't really know. I just didn't want anyone to get hurt, and it just kinda happened." I told them, getting a little red.
"Further upstream, we'll find... something. I wish I'd read those books better. Maybe I'd remember." I told them, getting looks from the group.
"What books? Do you have magic quest books?" Grover asked, getting a little excited.
"No. Well, yes, but I didn't bring them with me when I got rainbow beamed into the past. Besides, it's not like they're written yet anyway. There's waaaaaaaaaay more deadly adventures before that." I told him, following the river up to a canoe rental.
We grabbed three canoes, leaving a stack of golden drachma on the counter and a note with a drawing of mortal money.
"Don't we need four?" Bianca asked, watching me jump in the water.
"Nah, we don't got enough money for four, and knowing us, they'll get destroyed anyway." I countered, willing myself to stay dry as I got behind Annabeth and Grovers canoe, pushing it up the stream.
"Close your eyes, Annie." I told her after maybe fifteen minutes or so, Annabeth looking at me like I was crazy.
"Just trust me on this one." I assured her, watching her eyes roll before they closed.
I sped up, trying to get there before the others, stopping just a bit ahead of the naiads.
"Okay, open them." I told her, moving over to see her face as she took it in.
"Hoover Dam!" She shouted, startling Grover, who jumped a bit.
"Seven hundred feet tall," I said.
"Built in the 1930s." Annabeth finished, staring up at it.
"Five million cubic acres of water and the largest construction project in the United States." She rattled off, never tearing her eyes away from it.
"Plus, they've got a dam snack bar." Thalia told us a reminder that we'd never gotten our tacos last night.
Thanks to Annabeths knowledge of the dam, we managed to get up there in about fifteen minutes, plenty of time to get clean shirts and some food before Grover smelled the air worriedly.
When the mooing started, I led them away from Percy, letting him do what he had to while I did my best to distract from the fact he was gone.
It didn't take too long before he came over, gasping for breath. The skeletons had been taken care of earlier, so what could be chasing us?
One loud roar later, and I understood what it was, and I rushed in without a plan, sliding under and kicking the monster in the family jewels, the truck sized lion roaring in pain.
"Here kitty, come eat the tasty half-blood!" I yelled, which I wasn't sure if it made a difference, the enraged beast turning and snarling at me while the others came up with a plan.
"I am Alexander Dion Grace, and you suck!" I yelled at it, digging in my pockets desperately and finding the game piece Nico had given me.
"Crap." I mumbled, figuring I had one shot as I tossed it to Percy and held up my shield, walking slowly, circling the beast around before it swatted me, knocking me on me on my back, my shield just out of reach
"Percy, the piece!" I yelled, watching Percy get the beast attention and wait for it to roar again, tossing the metal down its throat and choke it, an arrow flying down its throat, killing it from the inside out.
Oh man, that wasn't good. We were supposed to fight the lion in DC. I guess skipping that part of the trip changed things.
"We have to go. Percy, you met the redhead?" I asked, looking out for anything else that could try to kill us.
"The mortal? Yeah, and I've got questions." He told me, offering the lion pelt to Zoë, who shook her head.
"It was his plan."
"Really, I got the idea from Percy. Well, future Percy." I joked, picking up the figure, taking in the details. Zeus.
I put the figure in my pocket and turned to the others.
"Okay, so most of you can fly. This is unfortunate, though. Remember when i said i was on a different quest? Heh, i wasn't lying. I think i know how to break my curse. But you guys need to be in San Francisco in a few hours." I mumbled, rubbing the toe of the statue and praying as hard as I could.
Their wings opened, and once they had stretched and looked at their toes, I cleared my throat.
"Hey, uh, I'm Alex, grandson of Zeus. Could you help us?" I asked, one statue looking at me.
"I'm Hank, that's Chuck. Now I don't mind, but where are you going?" Hank asked, Thalia speaking up.
"San Francisco." She told them, both of them coming to a realization.
"Zeus's kid?" Chuck asked, Thalia nodding.
"Well, if it's for Zeus, sure, why not? But we can't carry all of you. One of you has to stay behind."
I raised my hand. "Thanks me, Chuck." I told the statue, climbing up on the railing and taking a deep breath and looking at my friends. My family. I'm so glad I could meet those who never made it to the future.
But as my eyes met Annabeths, I could see the hurt in her stormy grey ones.
"I'm sorry, Annie. But this is for the best." I told her, falling backward and feeling the wind on my body before catching myself in the current and flying off.
"Off to Camp Jupiter." I mumbled, ignoring the guilt in my stomach as I found my course.