The Titan's Curse - Chapter 14

Chapter 14


 I HAVE A DAM PROBLEM
 
 At the edge of the dump, we found a tow truck so old it might've been thrown away itself. But the engine
started, and it had a full tank of gas, so we decided to borrow it.
 Thalia drove. She didn't seem as stunned as Zoe or Grover or me.
 "The skeletons are still out there," she reminded us. "We need to keep moving."
 She navigated us through the desert, under clear blue skies, the sand so bright it hurt to look at. Zoe sat
up front with Thalia. Grover and I sat in the pickup bed, leaning against the tow wench. The air was cool
and dry, but the nice weather just seemed like an insult after losing Bianca.
 My hand closed around the little figurine that had cost her life. I still couldn't even tell what god it was
supposed to be. Nico would know.
 Oh, gods… what was I going to tell Nico?
 I wanted to believe that Bianca was still alive somewhere. But I had a bad feeling that she was gone for
good.
 "It should've been me," I said. "I should've gone into the giant."
 "Don't say that!" Grover panicked. "It's bad enough
 Annabeth is gone, and now Bianca. Do you think I could stand it if…"He sniffled. "Do you think
anybodyelse  would be my best friend?"
 "Ah, Grover…"
 He wiped under his eyes with an oily cloth that left his face grimy, like he had on war paint. "I'm… I'm
okay."
 But he wasn't okay. Ever since the encounter in New Mexico—whatever had happened when that wild
wind blew through—he seemed really fragile, even more emotional than usual. I was afraid to talk to him
about it, because he might start bawling.
 At least there's one good thing about having a friend who gets freaked out more than you do. I realized I
couldn't stay depressed. I had to set aside thinking about Bianca and keep us going forward, the way
Thalia was doing. I wondered what she and Zoe were talking about in the front of the truck.
 
 The tow truck ran out of gas at the edge of a river canyon. That was just as well, because the road
dead-ended.
 Thalia got out and slammed the door. Immediately, one of the tires blew. "Great. What now?"
 I scanned the horizon. There wasn't much to see. Desert in all directions, occasional clumps of barren
mountains plopped here and there. The canyon was the only thing interesting. The river itself wasn't very
big, maybe fifty yards across, green water with a few rapids, but it carved a huge scar out of the desert.
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The rock cliffs dropped away below us.
 "There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river."
 I tried to see what he was talking about, and finally noticed a tiny ledge winding down the cliff face.
"That's a goat path," I said.
 "So?" he asked.
 "The rest of us aren't goats."
 "We can make it," Grover said. "I think."
 I thought about that. I'd done cliffs before, but I didn't like them. Then I looked over at Thalia and saw
how pale she'd gotten. Her problem with heights… she'd never be able to do it.
 "No," I said. "I, uh, think we should go farther upstream."
 Grover said, "But—"
 "Come on," I said. "A walk won't hurt us."
 I glanced at Thalia. Her eyes said a quick Thank you .
 We followed the river about half a mile before coming to an easier slope that led down to the water. On
the shore was a canoe rental operation that was closed for the season, but I left a stack of golden
drachmas on the counter and a note sayingIOU two canoes  .
 "We need to go upstream," Zoe said. It was the first time I'd heard her speak since the junkyard, and I
was worried about how bad she sounded, like somebody with the flu. "The rapids are too swift."
 "Leave that to me," I said. We put the canoes in the water.
 Thalia pulled me aside as we were getting the oars. "Thanks for back there."
 "Don't mention it."
 "Can you really…" She nodded to the rapids. "You know."
 "I think so. Usually I'm good with water."
 "Would you take Zoe?" she asked. "I think, ah, maybe you can talk to her."
 "She's not going to like that."
 "Please? I don't know if I can stand being in the same boat with her. She's… she's starting to worry me."
 It was about the last thing I wanted to do, but I nodded.
 Thalia's shoulders relaxed. "I owe you one."
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 "Two."
 "One and a half," Thalia said.
 She smiled, and for a second, I remembered that I actually liked her when she wasn't yelling at me. She
turned and helped Grover get their canoe into the water.
 As it turned out, I didn't even need to control the currents. As soon as we got in the river, I looked over
the edge of the boat and found a couple of naiads staring at me.
 They looked like regular teenage girls, the kind you'd see in any mall, except for the fact that they were
underwater.
 Hey , I said.
 They made a bubbling sound that may have been giggling. I wasn't sure. I had a hard time understanding
naiads.
 We're heading upstream , I told them. Do you think you could—
 Before I could even finish, the naiads each chose a canoe and began pushing us up the river. We started
so fast
 Grover fell into his canoe with his hooves sticking up in the air.
 "I hate naiads," Zoe grumbled.
 A stream of water squirted up from the back of the boat and hit Zoe in the face.
 "She-devils!"Zoe went for her bow.
 "Whoa," I said. "They're just playing."
 "Cursed water spirits. They've never forgiven me."
 "Forgiven you for what?"
 She slung her bow back over her shoulder. "It was a long time ago. Never mind."
 We sped up the river, the cliffs looming up on either side of us.
 "What happened to Bianca wasn't your fault," I told her. "It was my fault. I let her go."
 I figured this would give Zoe an excuse to start yelling at me. At least that might shake her out of feeling
depressed.
 Instead, her shoulders slumped. "No, Percy. I pushed her into going on the quest. I was too anxious.
She was a powerful half-blood. She had a kind heart, as well. I… I thought she would be the next
lieutenant."
 "But you're the lieutenant."
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 She gripped the strap of her quiver. She looked more tired than I'd ever seen her. "Nothing can last
forever, Percy. Over two thousand years I have led the Hunt, and my wisdom has not improved.Now
Artemis herself is in danger."
 "Look, you can't blame yourself for that."
 "If I had insisted on going with her—"
 "You think you could've fought something powerful enough to kidnap Artemis? There's nothing you
could have done."
 Zoe didn't answer.
 The cliffs along the river were getting taller. Long shadows fell across the water, making it a lot colder,
even though the day was bright.
 Without thinking about it, I took Riptide out of my pocket. Zoe looked at the pen, and her expression
was pained.
 "You made this," I said.
 "Who told thee?"
 "I had a dream about it."
 She studied me. I was sure she was going to call me crazy, but she just sighed. "It was a gift. And a
mistake."
 "Who was the hero?" I asked.
 Zoe shook her head. "Do not make me say his name. I swore never to speak it again."
 "You act like I should know him."
 "I am sure you do, hero. Don't all you boys want to be just like him?"
 Her voice was so bitter, I decided not to ask what she meant. I looked down at Riptide, and for the first
time, I wondered if it was cursed.
 "Your mother was a water goddess?" I asked.
 "Yes, Pleione. She had five daughters. My sisters and I.The Hesperides."
 "Those were the girls who lived in a garden at the edge of the West. With the golden apple tree and a
dragon guarding it."
 "Yes," Zoe said wistfully. "Ladon."
 "But weren't there only four sisters'?"
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 "There are now. I was exiled. Forgotten. Blotted out as if I never existed."
 "Why?"
 Zoe pointed to my pen. "Because I betrayed my family and helped a hero. You won't find that in the
legend either. He never spoke of me. After his direct assault on Ladon failed, I gave him the idea of how
to steal the apples, how to trick my father, buthe  took all the credit."
 "But—"
 Gurgle, gurgle, the naiad spoke in my mind. The canoe was slowing down.
 I looked ahead, and I saw why.
 This was as far as they could take us. The river was blocked. A dam the size of a football stadium stood
in our path.
 
 "Hoover Dam," Thalia said. "It's huge."
 We stood at the river's edge, looking up at a curve of concrete that loomed between the cliffs. People
were walking along the top of the dam. They were so tiny they looked like fleas.
 The naiads had left with a lot of grumbling—not in words I could understand, but it was obvious they
hated this dam blocking up their nice river. Our canoes floated back downstream, swirling in the wake
from the dam's discharge vents.
 "Seven hundred feet tall," I said. "Built in the 1930s."
 "Five million cubic acres of water," Thalia said.
 Graver sighed. "Largest construction project in the United States."
 Zoe stared at us. "How do you know all that?"
 "Annabeth," I said. "She liked architecture."
 "She was nuts about monuments," Thalia said.
 "Spouted facts all the time." Grover sniffled. "So annoying."
 "I wish she were here," I said.
 The others nodded. Zoe was still looking at us strangely, but I didn't care. It seemed like cruel fate that
we'd come to Hoover Dam, one of Annabeth's personal favorites, and she wasn't here to see it.
 "We should go up there," I said. "For her sake. Just to say we've been."
 "You are mad," Zoe decided. "But that's where the road is." She pointed to a huge parking garage next
to the top of the dam. "And so, sightseeing it is."
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 We had to walk for almost an hour before we found a path that led up to the road. It came up on the
east side of the river. Then we straggled back toward the dam. It was cold and windy on top. On one
side, a big lake spread out, ringed by barren desert mountains. On the other side, the dam dropped away
like the world's most dangerous skateboard ramp, down to the river seven hundred feet below, and
water that churned from the dam's vents.
 Thalia walked in the middle of the road, far away from the edges. Grover kept sniffing the wind and
looking nervous. He didn't say anything, but I knew he smelled monsters.
 "How close are they?" I asked him.
 He shook his head. "Maybe not close. The wind on the dam, the desert all around us… the scent can
probably carry for miles. But it's coming from several directions. I don't like that."
 I didn't either. It was already Wednesday, only two days until winter solstice, and we still had a long way
to go. We didn't need any more monsters,
 "There's a snack bar in the visitor center," Thalia said.
 "You've been here before?" I asked.
 "Once. To see the guardians."She pointed to the far end of the dam. Carved into the side of the cliff was
a little plaza with two big bronze statues. They looked kind of like Oscar statues with wings.
 "They were dedicated to Zeus when the dam was built," Thalia said. "A gift from Athena."
 Tourists were clustered all around them. They seemed to be looking at the statues' feet.
 "What are they doing?" I asked.
 "Rubbing the toes," Thalia said. "They think it's good luck."
 "Why?"
 She shook her head. "Mortals get crazy ideas. They don't know the statues are sacred to Zeus, but they
know there's something special about them."
 "When you were here last, did they talk to you or anything?"
 Thalia's expression darkened. I could tell that she'd come here before hoping for exactly that—some
kind of sign from her dad. Some connection.  "No. They don't do anything. They're just big metal statues."
 I thought about the last big metal statue we'd run into. That hadn't gone so well. But I decided not to
bring it up.
 "Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoe said. "We should eat while we can."
 Grover cracked a smile. "The dam snack bar?"
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 Zoe blinked. "Yes. What is funny?"
 "Nothing," Grover said, trying to keep a straight face. "I could use some dam french fries."
 Even Thalia smiled at that. "And I need to use the dam restroom."
 Maybe it was the fact that we were so tired and strung out emotionally, but I started cracking up, and
Thalia and Grover joined in, while Zoe just looked at us. "I do not understand."
 "I want to use the dam water fountain," Grover said.
 "And…" Thalia tried to catch her breath. "I want to buy a dam T-shirt."
 I busted up, and I probably would've kept laughing all day, but then I heard a noise:
 "Moooo."
 The smile melted off my face. I wondered if the noise was just in my head, but Grover had stopped
laughing too. He was looking around, confused. "Did I just hear a cow?"
 "A dam cow?" Thalia laughed.
 "No," Grover said. "I'm serious."
 Zoe listened. "I hear nothing."
 Thalia was looking at me. "Percy, are you okay?"
 "Yeah," I said. "You guys go ahead. I'll be right in."
 "What's wrong?" Grover asked.
 "Nothing," I said. "I… I just need a minute. To think."
 They hesitated, but I guess I must've looked upset, because they finally went into the visitor center
without me. As soon as they were gone, I jogged to the north edge of the dam and looked over.
 "Moo."
 She was about thirty feet below in the lake, but I could see her clearly: my friend from Long Island
Sound, Bessie the cow serpent.
 I 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?" I asked her.
 "Moo!"
 Her voice was urgent, like she was trying to warn me of something.
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 "How did you get here?" I asked. We were thousands of miles from Long Island, hundreds of miles
inland. There was no way she could've swum all the way here. And yet, here she was.
 Bessie swam in a circle and butted her head against the side of the dam. "Moo!"
 She wanted me to come with her. She was telling me to hurry.
 "I can't," I told her. "My friends are inside."
 She looked at me with her sad brown eyes. Then she gave one more urgent "Mooo !, " did a flip, and
disappeared into the water.
 I hesitated. Something was wrong. She was trying to tell me that. I considered jumping over the side and
following her, but then I tensed. The hairs on my arms bristled. I looked down the dam road to the east
and I saw two men walking slowly toward me. They wore gray camouflage outfits that flickered over
skeletal bodies.
 They passed through a group of kids and pushed them aside. 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.
 I ran for the visitor center.
 I was almost to the stairs when I heard tires squeal. On the west side of the dam, a black van swerved
to a stop in the middle of the road, nearly plowing into some old people.
 The van doors opened and more skeleton warriors piled out. I was surrounded.
 I bolted down the stairs and through the museum entrance. The security guard at the metal detector
yelled, "Hey, kid!" But I didn't stop.
 I ran through the exhibits and ducked behind a tour group. I looked for my friends, but I couldn't see
them anywhere. Where was the dam snack bar?
 "Stop!"The metal-detector guy yelled.
 There was no place to go but into an elevator with the tour group. I ducked inside just as the door
closed.
 "We'll be going down seven hundred feet," our tour guide said cheerfully. She was a park ranger, with
long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and tinted glasses. I guess she hadn't noticed that I was being
chased. "Don't worry, ladies and gentlemen, the elevator hardly ever breaks."
 "Does this go to the snack bar?" I asked her.
 A few people behind me chuckled. The tour guide looked at me. Something about her gaze made my
skin tingle.
 "To the turbines, young man," the lady said. "Weren't you listening to my fascinating presentation
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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 us. "Another ranger is waiting for you at the end of the
corridor."
 I didn't have much choice but to go out with the group.
 "And young man," the tour guide called. I looked back. She'd taken off her glasses. Her eyes were
startlingly gray, like storm clouds. "There is always a way out for those clever enough to find it."
 The doors closed with the tour guide still inside, leaving me alone.
 Before I could think too much about the woman in the elevator, a ding  came from around the corner.
The second elevator was opening, and I heard an unmistakable sound—the clattering of skeleton teeth.
 I ran after the tour group, through a tunnel carved out of solid rock. It seemed to run forever. The walls
were moist, and the air hummed with electricity and the roar of water. I came out on a U-shaped balcony
that overlooked this huge warehouse area. Fifty feet below, enormous turbines were running. It was a big
room, but I didn't see any other exit, unless I wanted to jump into the turbines and get churned up to
make electricity. I didn't.
 Another tour guide was talking over the microphone, telling the tourists about water supplies in Nevada.
I prayed that Thalia, Zoe, and Grover were okay. They might already be captured, or eating at the snack
bar, completely unaware that we were being surrounded. And stupid me: I had trapped myself in a hole
hundreds of feet below the surface.
 I worked my way around the crowd, trying not to be too obvious about it. There was a hallway at the
other side of the balcony—maybe some place I could hide. I kept my hand on Riptide, ready to strike.
 By the time I got to the opposite side of the balcony, my nerves were shot. I backed into the little
hallway and watched the tunnel I'd come from.
 Then right behind me I heard a sharpChhh ! like the voice of a skeleton.
 Without thinking, I uncapped Riptide and spun, slashing with my sword.
 The girl I'd 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?"
 The first thing that went through my head was that the sword hadn't hurt her. It had passed clean through
her body, harmlessly. "You're mortal!"
 She looked at me in disbelief. "What's that  supposed to mean? Of course I'm mortal! How did you get
that sword past security?"
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 "I didn't—Wait, you can see it's a sword?"
 The girl rolled her eyes, which were green like mine. 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, like she spent her free time poking them with a fork.
 "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? And whoa, what is that you're wearing? Is that made of
lion fur?"
 She asked so many questions so fast,  it was like she was throwing rocks at me. I couldn't think of what
to say. I looked at my sleeves to see if the Nemean Lion pelt had somehow changed back to fur, but it
still looked like a brown winter coat to me.
 I knew the skeleton warriors were still chasing me. I had no time to waste. But I just stared at the
redheaded girl. Then I remembered what Thalia had done at Westover Hall to fool the teachers. Maybe I
could manipulate the Mist.
 I concentrated hard and snapped my fingers. "You don't see a sword," I told the girl. "It's just a ballpoint
pen."
 She blinked. "Um… no. It's a sword, weirdo."
 "Who are you?" I demanded.
 She huffed indignantly. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Now, are you going to answer my questions or should I
scream for security?"
 "No!" I said. "I mean, I'm kind of in a hurry. 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!"
 I don't know why, but I listened to her. I slipped inside the boys' bathroom and left Rachel Elizabeth
Dare standing outside. Later, that seemed cowardly to me. I'm also pretty sure it saved my life.
 I heard the clattering, hissing sounds of skeletons as they came closer.
 My grip tightened on Riptide. What was I thinking? I'd left a mortal girl out there to die. I was preparing
to burst out and fight when Rachel Elizabeth Dare started talking in that rapid-fire machine gun way of
hers.
 "Oh my god!Did yousee that kid? It's about time you got here. He tried to kill me! He had a sword, for
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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. I heard them moving off.
 Rachel opened the door. "All clear.  But you'd better hurry."
 She looked shaken. Her face was gray and sweaty.
 I 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?"
 She nodded uneasily.
 "Do yourself  a favor," I said. "Forget it. Forget you ever saw me."
 "Forget you tried to kill me?"
 "Yeah. That, too."
 "But who are you?"
 "Percy—" I started to say. Then the skeletons turned around."Gotta go!"
 "What kind of name is Percy Gotta-go?"
 I 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 leave," I 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 us a beautiful
panoramic view of the skeletal army that had come to kill us.
 I counted 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.
 But our immediate problem was a lot closer. The three skeletal warriors who'd been chasing me in the
turbine room now appeared on the stairs. They saw me from across the cafeteria and clattered their
teeth.
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 "Elevator!" Grover said. We bolted that direction, but the doors opened with a pleasantding  , and three
more warriors stepped out. Every warrior was accounted for, minus the one Bianca had blasted to
flames in New Mexico. We were completely surrounded.
 Then Grover had a brilliant, totally Grover-like idea.
 "Burrito fight!" he yelled, and flung his Guacamole Grande at the nearest skeleton.
 Now, if you have never been hit by a flying burrito, count yourself lucky. In terms of deadly projectiles,
it's right up there with grenades and cannonballs. Grover's lunch hit the skeleton and knocked his skull
clean off his shoulders. I'm not sure what the other kids in the cafe saw, but they went crazy and started
throwing their burritos and baskets of chips and sodas at each other, shrieking and screaming.
 The skeletons tried to aim their guns, but it was hopeless. Bodies and food and drinks were flying
everywhere.
 In the chaos, Thalia and I tackled the other two skeletons on the stairs and sent them flying into the
condiment table. Then we all raced downstairs, Guacamole Grandes whizzing past our heads.
 "What now?" Grover asked as we burst outside.
 I didn't have an answer. The warriors on the road were closing in from either direction. We ran across
the street to the pavilion with the winged bronze statues, but that just put our backs to the mountain.
 The skeletons moved forward, forming a crescent around us. Their brethren from the cafe were running
up to join them. One was still putting its skull back on its shoulders. Another was covered in ketchup and
mustard. Two more had burritos lodged in their rib cages. They didn't look happy about it. They drew
batons and advanced.
 "Four against eleven," Zoe muttered. "Andthey  cannot die."
 "It's been nice adventuring with you guys," Grover said, his voice trembling.
 Something shiny caught the corner of my eye. I glanced behind me at the statue's feet. "Whoa," I said.
"Their toes really are bright."
 "Percy!" Thalia said. "This isn't the time."
 But I couldn't help staring at the two giant bronze guys with tall bladed wings like letter openers. They
were weathered brown except for their toes, which shone like new pennies from all the times people had
rubbed them for good luck.
 Good luck. The blessing of Zeus.
 I thought about the tour guide in the elevator.Her gray eyes and her smile. What had she said? There is
always a way for those clever enough to find it  .
 "Thalia," I said. "Pray to your dad."
 She glared at me. "He never answers."
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 "Just this once," I pleaded. "Ask for help. I think… I think the statues can give us some luck."
 Six skeletons raised their guns. The other five came forward with batons. Fifty feet away. Forty feet.
 "Do it!" I yelled.
 "No!" Thalia said. "He won't answer me."
 "This time is different!"
 "Who says?"
 I hesitated. "Athena, I think."
 Thalia scowled like she was sure I'd gone crazy.
 "Try it," Grover pleaded.
 Thalia closed her eyes. Her lips moved in a silent prayer. I put in my own prayer to Annabeth's mom,
hoping I was right that it had been her in that elevator—that she was trying to help us save her daughter.
 And nothing happened.
 The skeletons closed in. I raised Riptide to defend myself. Thalia held up her shield. Zoe pushed Grover
behind her and aimed an arrow at a skeleton's head.
 A shadow fell over me. I thought maybe it was the shadow of death. Then I realized it was the shadow
of an enormous wing. The skeletons looked up too late. A flash of bronze, and all five of the
baton-wielders were swept aside.
 The other skeletons opened fire. I raised my lion coat for protection, but I didn't need it. The bronze
angels stepped in front of us and folded their wings like shields. Bullets pinged off of them like rain off a
corrugated roof. Both angels slashed outward, and the skeletons went flying across the road.
 "Man, it feels good to stand up!" the first angel said. His voice sounded tinny and rusty, like he hadn't
had a drink since he'd been built.
 "Will ya look at my toes?" the other said. "Holy Zeus, what were those tourists thinking?"
 As stunned as I was by the angels, I was more concerned with the skeletons. A few of them were
getting up again, reassembling, bony hands groping for their weapons.
 "Trouble!"I said.
 "Get us out of here!" Thalia yelled.
 Both angels looked down at her. "Zeus's kid?"  Yes!
 "Could I get a please  , Miss Zeus's Kid?" an angel asked.
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 "Please!"
 The angels looked at each other and shrugged.
 "Could use a stretch," one decided.
 And the next thing I knew, one of them grabbed Thalia and me, the other grabbed Zoe and Grover, and
we flew straight up, over the dam and the river, the skeleton warriors shrinking to tiny specks below us
and the sound of gunfire echoing off the sides of the mountains.

Categories: The Titan's Curse

The Titan's Curse - Chapter 15

Chapter 15


 I WRESTLE SANTA'S EVIL TWIN
 
 "Tell me when it's over," Thalia said. Her eyes were shut tight. The statue was holding on to us so we
couldn't fall, but still Thalia clutched his arm like it was the most important thing in the world.
 "Everything's fine," I promised.
 "Are… are we very high?"
 I looked down. Below us, a range of snowy mountains zipped by. I stretched out my foot and kicked
snow off one of the peaks.
 "Nah," I said. "Not that high."
 "We are in the Sierras.'" Zoe yelled. She and Grover were hanging from the arms of the other statue. "I
have hunted here before. At this speed, we should be in San Francisco in a few hours."
 "Hey, hey, Frisco!" our angel said. "Yo, Chuck! We could visit those guys at the Mechanics Monument
again! They know how to party!"
 "Oh, man," the other angel said. "I am so  there!"
 "You guys have visited San Francisco?" I asked.
 "We automatons gotta have some fun once in a while, right?" our statue said. "Those mechanics took us
over to the de Young Museum and introduced us to these marble lady statues, see. And—"
 "Hank!" the other statue Chuck cut in. "They're kids, man."
 "Oh, right." If bronze statues could blush, I swear Hank did. "Back to flying."
 We sped up, so I could tell the angels were excited. The mountains fell away into hills, and then we were
zipping along over farmland and towns and highways.
 Grover played his pipes to pass the time. Zoe got bored and started shooting arrows at random
billboards as we flew by. Every time she saw a Target department store—and we passed dozens of
them—she would peg the store's sign with a few bulls-eyes at a hundred miles an hour.
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 Thalia kept her eyes closed the whole way. She muttered to herself a lot, like she was praying.
 "You did good back there," I told her. "Zeus listened."
 It was hard to tell what she was thinking with her eyes closed.
 "Maybe," she said. "How did you get away from the skeletons in the generator room, anyway? You said
they cornered you."
 I told her about the weird mortal girl, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who seemed to be able to see right through
the Mist. I thought Thalia was going to call me crazy, but she just nodded.
 "Some mortals are like that," she said. "Nobody knows why."
 Suddenly I flashed on something I'd never considered.
 My mom  was like that. She had seen the Minotaur on Half-Blood Hill and known exactly what it was.
She hadn't been surprised at all last year when I'd told her my friend Tyson was really a Cyclops. Maybe
she'd known all along. No wonder she'd beenso  scared for me as I was growing up. She saw through the
Mist even better than I did.
 "Well, the girl was annoying," I said. "But I'm glad I didn't vaporize her. That would've been bad."
 Thalia nodded. "Must be nice to be a regular mortal." She said that as if she'd given it a lot of thought.
 
 "Where you guys want to land?" Hank asked, waking me up from a nap.
 I looked down and said, "Whoa."
 I'd seen San Francisco in pictures before, but never in real life. It was probably the most beautiful city I'd
ever seen: kind of like a smaller, cleaner Manhattan, if Manhattan had been surrounded by 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. I felt like I should take a picture or something.Greetings from Frisco.Haven't Died Yet. Wish
You Were Here .
 "There," Zoe suggested. "By the Embarcadero Building."
 "Good thinking," Chuck said. " Meand Hank can blend in with the pigeons."
 We all looked at him.
 "Kidding," he said. "Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humor?"
 As it turned out, there wasn't much need to blend in. It was early morning and not many people were
around. We freaked out a homeless guy on the ferry dock when we landed. He screamed when he saw
Hank and Chuck and ran off yelling something about metal angels from Mars.
 We said our good-byes to the angels, who flew off to party with their statue friends. That's when I
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realized I had no idea what we were going to do next.
 We'd made it to the West Coast. Artemis was here somewhere. Annabeth too, I hoped. But I had no
idea how to find them, and tomorrow was the winter solstice. Nor did I have any clue what monster
Artemis had been hunting. It was supposed to find us  on the quest. It was supposed to "show the trail,"
but it never had. Now we were stuck on the ferry dock with not much money, no friends, and no luck.
 After a brief discussion, we agreed that we needed to figure out just what this mystery monster was.
 "But how?" I asked.
 "Nereus," Grover said.
 I looked at him. "What?"
 "Isn't that what Apollo told you to do? Find Nereus?"
 I nodded. I'd completely forgotten my last conversation with the sun god.
 The old man of the sea," I remembered. "I'm supposed to find him and force him to tell us what he
knows. But how do I find him?"
 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?" I asked.
 "Come," she said without enthusiasm. "I will show thee."
 
 I knew I was in trouble when we stopped at the Goodwill drop box. Five minutes later, Zoe had me
outfitted in a ragged flannel shirt and jeans three sizes too big, bright red sneakers, and a floppy rainbow
hat.
 "Oh, yeah," Grover said, trying not to bust out laughing, "you look completely inconspicuous now."
 Zoe nodded with satisfaction. "A typical male vagrant."
 "Thanks a lot," I grumbled. "Why am I doing this again?"
 "I told thee. To blend in."
 She led the way back 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.
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 "He will be down there somewhere," Zoe said. "He never travels very far from the water. He likes to sun
himself 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." I didn't want to ask for particulars. "And once I find him?"
 "Grab him," she said. "And hold on. He will try anything to get rid of thee. 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 my shirt—a big clump of fuzz
that came from who-knows-where. "Eww. On second thought… I don't want your back. But we'll be
rooting for you."
 Grover gave me a big thumbs-up.
 I grumbled how nice it was to have super-powerful friends. Then I headed toward the dock.
 I pulled my hat down and stumbled like I was about to pass out, which wasn't hard considering how
tired I was. I passed our homeless friend from the Embarcadero, who was still trying to warn the other
guys about the metal angels from Mars.
 He didn't smell good, but he didn't smell… different. I kept walking.
 A couple of grimy dudes with plastic grocery bags for hats checked me out as I came close.
 "Beat it, kid!" one of them muttered.
 I 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 me like
I 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 Santa Claus, if Santa had been rolled out of bed and dragged through
a landfill.
 And his smell?
 As I got closer, I froze. He smelled bad, all right—but ocean bad. Like hot seaweed and dead fish and
brine. If the ocean had an ugly side… this guy was it.
 I tried not to gag as I sat down near him like I was tired. Santa opened one eye suspiciously. I could feel
him staring at me, but I didn't look. I muttered something about stupid school and stupid parents, figuring
that might sound reasonable.
 Santa Claus went back to sleep.
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 I tensed. I knew this was going to look strange. I didn't know how the other homeless people would
react. But I jumped Santa Claus.
 "Ahhhhhl" he screamed. I meant to grab him, but he seemed to grab me instead. It was as if he'd never
been asleep at all. He certainly didn't act like a weak old man. He had a grip like steel. "Help me!" he
screamed as he squeezed me to death.
 "That's a crime!" one of the other homeless guys yelled. "Kid rolling an old man like  that!"
 I rolled, all right—straight down the pier until my head slammed into a post. I was dazed for a second,
and Nereus's grip slackened. He was making a break for it. Before he could, I regained my senses and
tackled him from behind.
 "I don't have any money!" He tried to get up and run, but I locked my arms around his chest. His rotten
fish smell was awful, but I held on.
 "I don't want money," I 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 me off his back. It was like holding on to a roller coaster. He thrashed
around, making it impossible for me to keep on my feet, but I gritted my teeth and squeezed tighter. We
staggered toward the edge of the pier and I got an idea.
 "Oh, no!" I said. "Not the water!"
 The plan worked. Immediately, Nereus yelled in triumph and jumped off the edge. Together, we plunged
into San Francisco Bay.
 He must've been surprised when I tightened my grip, the ocean filling me with extra strength. But Nereus
had a few tricks left, too. He changed shape until I was holding a sleek black seal.
 I've heard people make jokes about trying to hold a greased pig, but I'm telling you, holding on to a seal
in the water is harder. Nereus plunged straight down, wriggling and thrashing and spiraling through the
dark water. If I hadn't been Poseidon's son, there's no way I could've stayed with him.
 Nereus spun and expanded, turning into a killer whale, but I grabbed his dorsal fin as he burst out of the
water.
 A whole bunch of tourists went, "Whoa!"
 I managed to wave at the crowd. Yeah, we do this every day here in San Francisco  .
 Nereus plunged into the water and turned into a slimy eel. I started to tie him into a knot until he realized
what was going on and changed back to human form. "Why won't you drown?" he wailed, pummelmg
me with his fists.
 "I'm Poseidon's son," I said.
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 "Curse that upstart! I was here first!"
 Finally he collapsed on the edge of the boat dock. Above us was one of those tourist piers lined with
shops, like a mall on water. Nereus was heaving and gasping. I was feeling great. I could've gone on all
day, but I didn't tell him that. I wanted him to feel like he'd put up a good fight.
 My friends ran down the steps from the pier.
 "You got him!" Zoe said.
 "You don't have to sound so amazed," I 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?"
 "I've got more than one question," I said.
 "Only one question per capture! That's the rule."
 I looked at my friends.
 This wasn't good. I needed to find Artemis, and I needed to figure out what the doomsday creature was.
I also needed to know if Annabeth was still alive, and how to rescue her. How could I ask that all in one
question?
 A voice inside me was screaming Ask about Annabeth ! That's what I cared about most.
 But then I imagined what Annabeth might say. She would never forgive me if I saved her and didn't save
Olympus. Zoe would want me to ask about Artemis, but Chiron had told us the monster was even more
important.
 I sighed. "All right, Nereus. Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the
gods. The one 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 at my feet.
 "Where?" I said.
 "The deal is complete!" Nereus gloated. With a pop, he turned into a goldfish and did a backflip into the
sea.
 "You tricked me!" I yelled.
 "Wait." Thalia's eyes widened. "What isthat  ?"
 "MOOOOOOOO!"
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 I looked down, and there was my friend the cow serpent, swimming next to the dock. She nudged my
shoe and gave me the sad brown eyes.
 "Ah, Bessie," I said. "Not now."
 "Mooo!"
 Grover gasped. "He says his name isn't Bessie."
 "You can understand her… er, him?"
 Grover nodded. "It's a very old form of animal speech. But he says his name is the Ophiotaurus."
 "The Ophi-what?"
 "It means serpent bull in Greek," Thalia said. "But what's it doing here?"
 "Moooooooo!"
 "He says Percy is his protector," Grover announced.
 "And he's running from the bad people. He says they are close."
 I was wondering how you got all that out of a single moooooo  .
 "Wait," Zoe said, looking at me. "You know this cow?"
 I was feeling impatient, but I told them the story.
 Thalia shook her head in disbelief. "And you just forgot to mention this before?"
 "Well… yeah." It seemed silly, now that she said it, but things had been happening so fast. Bessie, the
Ophiotaurus, seemed like a minor detail.
 "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?" I looked down at the bull serpent. "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 lowed.
 "I don't think he likes the S-word," Grover said.
 I patted Bessie on the head, trying to calm him down. He let me scratch his ear, but he was trembling.
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 "How could anyone hurt him?" I said. "He's harmless."
 Zoe nodded. "But there is 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!"
 "Um," Grover said. "Maybe we could avoid talking about entrails , too."
 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.
 Thalia's expression bothered me. She almost looked… hungry.
 "We have to protect him," I told her. "If Luke 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.
 I looked up. We'd been so busy talking,  we'd allowed ourselves to be ambushed.
 Standing behind us, 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. He hadn't shaved recently, so his face was covered
in silver stubble. Basically he didn't look much better than the guys down at the soup kitchen.
 "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 I'd seen in D.C.
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Two more stood on the next boat dock over, just in case we tried to escape that way. There were
tourists all around—walking down the waterfront, shopping at the pier above us—but I knew that
wouldn't stop the manticore from acting.
 "Where… where are the skeletons?" I asked the manticore.
 He sneered. "I do not need those foolish undead! The General thinks I am worthless? He will change his
mind when I defeat you myself!"
 I needed time to think. I had to save Bessie. I could dive into the sea, but how could I make a quick
getaway with a five-hundred-pound cow serpent? And what about my friends?
 "We beat you once before," I 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!" I 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. It made terrible sense. 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. I wasn't sure if I felt relieved, horrified, or disappointed. I wasn't the
prophecy kid after all. Doomsday was happening right now.
 I waited for Thalia to tell the manticore off, but she 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," I said, "snap out of it!"
 She looked at me the same way she had the morning she woke up on Half-Blood Hill, dazed and
uncertain. It was almost like she didn't know me. "I… I don't—"
 "Your father helped you," I said. "He sent the metal angels. He turned you into a tree to preserve you."
 Her hand tightened on the shaft of her spear.
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 I looked at Grover desperately. Thank the gods, he understood what I needed. He raised his pipes to
his mouth and played a quick riff.
 The manticore yelled, "Stop him!"
 The guards had been targeting Zoe, and before they could figure out that the kid with the pipes was the
bigger problem, the wooden planks at their feet sprouted new branches and tangled their legs. Zoe let
loose two quick arrows that exploded at their feet in clouds of sulfurous yellow smoke. Fart arrows!
 The guards started coughing. The manticore shot spines in our direction, but they ricocheted off my lion's
coat.
 "Grover," I said, "tell Bessie to dive deep and stay down!"
 "Moooooo!"Grover translated. I could only hope that Bessie got the message.
 "The cow…" Thalia muttered, still in a daze.
 "Come on!" I pulled her along as we ran up the stairs to the shopping center on the pier. We dashed
around the corner of the nearest store. I heard the manticore shouting at his minions, "Get them!" Tourists
screamed as the guards shot blindly into the air.
 We scrambled to the end of the pier. We hid behind a little kiosk filled with souvenir crystals—wind
chimes and dream catchers and stuff like that, glittering in the sunlight. There was a water fountain next to
us. Down below, a bunch of sea lions were sunning themselves on the rocks. The whole of San
Francisco Bay spread out before us: the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, and the green hills and fog
beyond that to the north. A picture-perfect moment, except for the fact that we were about to die and the
world was going to end.
 "Go over the side!" Zoe told me. "You can escape in the sea, Percy. Call on thy father for help. Maybe
you can save the Ophiotaurus."
 She was right, but I couldn't do it.
 "I won't leave you guys," I said. "We fight together."
 "You have to get word to camp!" Grover said. "At least let them know what's going on!"
 Then I noticed the crystals making rainbows in the sunlight. There was a drinking fountain next to me…
 "Get word to camp," I muttered. "Good idea."
 I uncapped Riptide and slashed off the top of the water fountain. Water burst out of the busted pipe and
sprayed all over us.
 Thalia gasped as the water hit her. The fog seemed to clear from her eyes. "Are you crazy?" she asked.
 But Grover understood. He was already fishing around in his pockets for a coin. He threw a golden
drachma into the rainbows created by the mist and yelled, "O goddess, accept my offering!"
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 The mist rippled.
 "Camp Half-Blood!"I said.
 And there, shimmering in the Mist right next to us, was the last person I wanted to see: Mr. D, wearing
his leopard-skin jogging suit and rummaging through the refrigerator.
 He looked up lazily. "Do you mind?"
 "Where's Chiron!" I shouted.
 "How rude." Mr. D took a swig from a jug of grape juice. "Is that how you say hello?"
 "Hello," I amended. "We're about to die! Where's Chiron?"
 Mr. D considered that. I wanted to scream at him to hurry up, but I knew that wouldn't work. Behind
us, footsteps and shouting—the manticore's troops were closing in.
 "About to die," Mr. D mused. "How exciting.  I'm afraid Chiron isn't here. Would you like me to take a
message?"
 I looked at my friends. "We're dead."
 Thalia gripped her spear. She looked like her old angry self again. "Then we'll die fighting."
 "How noble," Mr. D said, stifling ayawn. "So what is the problem, exactly?"
 I didn't see that it would make any difference, but I told him about the Ophiotaurus.
 "Mmm." He studied the contents of the fridge. "So that's it. I see."
 "You don't even care!" I screamed. "You'd just as soon watch us die!"
 "Let's see. I think I'm in the mood for pizza tonight."
 I wanted to slash through the rainbow and disconnect, but I didn't have time. The manticore screamed,
"There!" And we were surrounded. Two of the guards stood behind him. The other two appeared on the
roofs of the pier shops above us. The manticore threw off his coat and transformed into his true self, his
lion claws extended and his spiky tail bristling with poison barbs.
 "Excellent," he said. He glanced at the apparition in the mist and snorted. "Alone, without anyreal  help.
Wonderful."
 "You could ask for help," Mr. D murmured to me, as if this were an amusing thought. "You could say
please."
 When wild boars fly, I thought. There was no way I was going to die begging a slob like Mr. D, just so
he could laugh as we all got gunned down.
 Zoe readied her arrows. Grover lifted his pipes. Thalia raised her shield, and I noticed a tear running
down her cheek. Suddenly it occurred to me: this had happened to her before. She had been cornered
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on Half-Blood Hill. She'd willingly given her life for her friends. But this time, she couldn't save us.
 How could I let that happen to her?
 "Please, Mr. D," I muttered. "Help."
 Of course, nothing happened.
 The manticore grinned. "Spare the daughter of Zeus. She will join us soon enough. Kill the others."
 The men raised their guns, and something strange happened. You know how you feel when all the blood
rushes to your head, like if you hang upside down and turn right-side up too quickly? There was a rush
like that all around me, and a sound like a huge sigh. The sunlight tinged with purple. I smelled grapes and
something more sour—wine.
 SNAP!
 It was the sound of many minds breaking at the same time.The sound of madness.  One guard put his
pistol between his teeth like it was a bone and ran around on all fours. Two others dropped their guns
and started waltzing with each other. The fourth began doing what looked like an Irish clogging dance. It
would have been funny if it hadn't been so terrifying.
 "No!" screamed the manticore. "I will deal with you myself!"
 His tail bristled, but the planks under his paws erupted into grape vines, which immediately began
wrapping around the monster's body, sprouting new leaves and clusters of green baby grapes that
ripened in seconds as the manticore shrieked, until he was engulfed in a huge mass of vines, leaves, and
full clusters of purple grapes. Finally the grapes stopped shivering, and I had a feeling that somewhere
inside there, the manticore was no more.
 "Well," said Dionysus, closing his refrigerator. "That was fun."
 I stared at him, horrified. "How could you… How did you—"
 "Such gratitude," he muttered. "The mortals will come out of it. Too much explaining to do if I made their
condition permanent.  I hate writing reports to Father."
 He stared resentfully at Thalia. "I hope you learned your lesson, girl. It isn't easy to resist power, is it?"
 Thalia blushed as if she were ashamed.
 "Mr. D," Grover said in amazement. "You… you saved us.
 "Mmm. Don't make me regret it, satyr. Now get going, Percy Jackson. I've bought you a few hours at
most."
 "The Ophiotaurus," I said. "Can you get it to camp?"
 Mr. D sniffed. "I do not transport livestock. That's your problem."
 "But where do we go?"
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 Dionysus looked at Zoe. "Oh, I think the huntress knows. You must enter at sunset today, you know, or
all is lost. Now good-bye. My pizza is waiting."
 "Mr. D," I said.
 He raised his eyebrow.
 "You called me by my right name," I said. "You called me Percy Jackson."
 "I most certainly did not, Peter Johnson. Now off with you!"
 He waved his hand, and his image disappeared in the mist.
 All around us, the manticore's minions were still acting completely nuts. One of them had found our
friend the homeless guy, and they were having a serious conversation about metal angels from Mars.
Several other guards were harassing the tourists, making animal noises and trying to steal their shoes.
 I looked at Zoe. "What did he mean …'You know where to go'?"
 Her face was the color of the fog. She pointed across the bay, past the Golden Gate. In the distance, a
single mountain rose up above the cloud layer.
 "The garden of my sisters," she said. "I must go home."

Categories: The Titan's Curse

The Titan's Curse - Chapter 13

Chapter 13


 WE VISIT THE JUNKYARD OF THE GODS
 
 We rode the boar until sunset, which was about as much as my back end could take. Imagine riding a
giant steel brush over a bed of gravel all day. That's about how comfortable boar-riding was.
 I have no idea how many miles we covered, but the mountains faded into the distance and were
replaced by miles of flat, dry land. The grass and scrub brush got sparser until we were galloping (do
boars gallop?) across the desert.
 As night fell, the boar came to a stop at a creek bed and snorted. He started drinking the muddy water,
then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chewed it, needles and all.
 "This is as far as he'll go," Grover said. "We need to get off while he's eating."
 Nobody needed convincing. We slipped off the boar's back while he was busy ripping up cacti. Then
we waddled away as best we could with our saddle sores.
 After its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled
around and galloped back toward the east.
 "It likes the mountains better," I guessed.
 "I can't blame it," Thalia said. "Look."
 Ahead of us was a two-lane road half covered with sand. On the other side of the road was a cluster of
buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop that looked like it hadn't been open
since before Zoe Nightshade was born, and a white stucco post office with a sign that said GILA
CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crooked above the door. Beyond that was a range of hills… but then I
noticed they weren't regular hills. The countryside was way too flat for that. The hills were enormous
mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. It was a junkyard that seemed to go on forever.
 "Whoa," I said.
 "Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia said. She looked at Graver. "I don't
suppose you got another wild boar up your sleeve?"
 Grover was sniffing the wind, looking nervous. He fished out his acorns and threw them into the sand,
then played his pipes. They rearranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense to me, but Grover
looked concerned.
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 "That's us," he said. "Those five nuts right there."
 "Which one is  me?" I asked.
 "The little deformed one," Zoe suggested.
 "Oh, shut up."
 "That cluster right there," Grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."
 "A monster?" Thalia asked.
 Grover looked uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our
next challenge…"
 He pointed straight toward the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked
like something on an alien planet.
 
 We decided to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. None of us wanted to go
Dumpster-diving in the dark.
 Zoe and Bianca produced five sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. I don't know
how they did it, because the packs were tiny, but must've been enchanted to hold so much stuff. I'd
noticed their bows and quivers were also magic. I never really thought about it, but when the Hunters
needed them, they just appeared slung over their backs. And when they didn't, they were gone.
 The night got chilly fast, so Grover and I collected old boards from the ruined house, and Thalia zapped
them with an electric shock to start a campfire. Pretty soon we were about as comfy as you can get in a
rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.
 "The stars are out," Zoe said.
 She was right. There were millions of them, with no city lights to turn the sky orange.
 "Amazing," Bianca said. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way."
 "This is nothing," Zoe said. "In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared
because of human light pollution."
 "You talk like you're not human," I said.
 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?"
 "For you ," Thalia corrected. "Not thee"
 "But you useyou for the beginning of a sentence."
 "And for the end," Thalia said. "No thou  . No thee  . Justyou"
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 Zoe threw up her hands in exasperation. "Ihate  this language. It changes too often!"
 Grover sighed. He was still looking up at the stars like he was thinking about the light pollution problem.
"If only Pan were here, he would set things right."
 Zoe nodded sadly.
 "Maybe it was the coffee," Grover said. "I was drinking coffee, and the wind came. Maybe if I drank
more coffee…"
 I was pretty sure coffee had nothing to do with what had happened in Cloudcroft, but I didn't have the
heart to tell Grover. I thought about the rubber rat and the tiny birds that had suddenly come alive when
the wind blew. "Grover, do you really think that was Pan? I mean, I know you want  it to be."
 "He sent us help," Grover insisted. "I don't know how or why. But it was his presence. After this quest is
done, I'm going back to New Mexico and drinking a lot of coffee. It's the best lead we've gotten in two
thousand years. I wasso close ."
 I didn't answer. I didn't want to squash Grover's hopes.
 "What I want to know," Thalia said, looking at Bianca, "is how you destroyed one of the zombies. There
are a lot more out there somewhere. We need to figure out how to fight them."
 Bianca shook her head. "I don't know. I just stabbed it and it went up in flames."
 "Maybe there's something special about your knife," I said.
 "It is the same as mine," Zoe said. "Celestial bronze, yes. But mine did not affect the warriors that way."
 "Maybe you have to hit the skeleton in a certain spot," I said.
 Bianca looked uncomfortable with everybody paying attention to her.
 "Never mind," Zoe told her. "We will find the answer. In the meantime, we should plan our next move.
When we get through this junkyard, we must continue west. If we can find a road, we can hitchhike to
the nearest city. I think that would be Las Vegas."
 I was about to protest that Grover and I had had bad experiences in that town, but Bianca beat us to it.
 "No!" she said. "Not there!"
 She looked really freaked out, like she'd just been dropped off the steep end of a roller coaster.
 Zoe frowned. "Why?"
 Bianca took a shaky breath. "I… I think we stayed there for a while. Nico and I.When we were
traveling.  And then, I can't remember…"
 Suddenly I had a really bad thought. I remembered what
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 Bianca had told me about Nico and her staying in a hotel for a while. I met Graver's eyes, and I got the
feeling he was thinking the same thing.
 "Bianca," I said. "That hotel you stayed at. Was it possibly called the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"
 Her eyes widened. "How could you know that?"
 "Oh, great," I said.
 "Wait," Thalia said. "What is the Lotus Casino?"
 "A couple of years ago," I said, "Grover, Annabeth, and I got trapped there. It's designed so you never
want to leave. We stayed for about an hour. When we came out, five days had passed. It makes time
speed up."
 "No," Bianca said. "No, that's not possible."
 "You said somebody came and got you out," I remembered.
 "Yes."
 "What did he look like? What did he say?"
 "I… I don't remember. Please, I really don't want to talk about this."
 Zoe sat forward, her eyebrows knit with concern. "You said that Washington, D.C., had changed when
you went back last summer. You didn't remember the subway being there."
 "Yes, but—"
 "Bianca," Zoe said, "can you tell me the name of the president of the United States right now?"
 "Don't be silly," Bianca said. She told us the correct name of the president.
 "And who was the president before that?" Zoe asked.
 Bianca thought for a while. "Roosevelt."
 Zoe swallowed. "Theodore or Franklin'?"
 "Franklin," Bianca said."F.D.R."
 "Like FDR Drive?" I asked. Because seriously, that's about all I knew about F.D.R.
 "Bianca," Zoe said. "F.D.R. was not the last president. That was about seventy years ago."
 "That's impossible," Bianca said. "I… I'm not that old."
 She stared at her hands as if to make sure they weren't wrinkled.
 Thalia's eyes turned sad. I guess she knew what it was like to get pulled out of time for a while. "It's
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okay, Bianca, The important thing is you and Nico are safe. You made it out."
 "But how?" I said. "We were only in there for an hour and we barely escaped. How could you have
escaped after being there for so long?"
 "I told you." Bianca looked about ready to cry. "A man came and said it was time to leave. And—"
 "But who?Why did he do it?"
 Before she could answer, we were hit with a blazing light from down the road. The headlights of a car
appeared out of nowhere. I was half hoping it was Apollo, come to give us a ride again, but the engine
was way too silent for the sun chariot, and besides, it was nighttime. We grabbed our sleeping bags and
got out of the way as a deathly white limousine slid to a stop in front of us.
 
 The back door of the limo opened right next to me. Before I could step away, the point of a sword
touched my throat.
 I heard the sound of Zoe and Bianca drawing their bows. As the owner of the sword got out of the car,
I moved back very slowly. I had to, because he was pushing the point under my chin.
 He smiled cruelly. "Not so fast now, are you, punk?"
 He was a big man with a crew cut, a black leather biker's jacket, black jeans, a white muscle shirt, and
combat boots. Wraparound shades hid his eyes, but I knew what was behind those glasses—hollow
sockets filled with flames.
 "Ares," I growled.
 The war god glanced at my friends. "At ease, people."
 He snapped his fingers, and their weapons fell to the ground.
 "This is a friendly meeting." He dug the point of his blade a little farther under my chin. "Of course I'd like
to take your head for a trophy, but someone wants to see you. And I never behead my enemies in front
of a lady."
 "What lady?" Thalia asked.
 Ares looked over at her. "Well, well. I heard you were back."
 He lowered his sword and pushed me away.
 "Thalia, daughter of Zeus," Ares mused. "You're not hanging out with very good company."
 "What's your business, Ares?" she said. "Who's in the car?"
 Ares smiled, enjoying the attention. "Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you. Particularly not them
."  He jutted his chin toward Zoe and Bianca. "Why don't you all go get some tacos while you wait? Only
take Percy a few minutes."
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 "We will not leave him alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoe said.
 "Besides," Grover managed, "the taco place is closed."
 Ares snapped his fingers again. The lights inside the taqueria suddenly blazed to life. The boards flew off
the door and the CLOSED sign flipped to OPEN. "You were saying, goat boy?"
 "Go on," I told my friends. "I'll handle this."
 I tried to sound more confident than I felt. I don't think Ares was fooled.
 "You heard the boy," Ares said. "He's big and strong. He's got things under control."
 My friends reluctantly headed over to the taco restaurant. Ares regarded me with loathing,then  opened
the limousine door like a chauffeur.
 "Get inside, punk," he said. "And mind your manners. She's not as forgiving of rudeness as I am."
 
 When I saw her, my jaw dropped.
 I forgot my name. I forgot where I was. I forgot how to speak in complete sentences.
 She was wearing a red satin dress and her hair was curled in a cascade of ringlets. Her face was the
most beautiful I'd ever seen: perfect makeup, dazzling eyes,a smile that would've lit up the dark side of
the moon.
 Thinking back on it, I can't tell you who she looked like.
 Or even what color her hair or her eyes were. Pick the most beautiful actress you can think of. The
goddess was ten times more beautiful than that. Pick your favorite hair color, eye color, whatever. The
goddess had that.
 When she smiled at me, just for a moment she looked a little like Annabeth. Then like this television
actress I used to have a crush on in fifth grade. Then… well, you get the idea.
 "Ah, there you are, Percy," the goddess said. "I am Aphrodite."
 I slipped into the seat across from her and said something like, "Um uh gah."
 She smiled. "Aren't yousweet.  Hold this, please."
 She handed me a polished mirror the size of a dinner plate and had me hold it up for her. She leaned
forward and dabbed at her lipstick, though I couldn't see anything wrong with it.
 "Do you know why you're here?" she asked.
 I wanted to respond. Why couldn't I form a complete sentence? She was only a lady. A seriously
beautiful lady. With eyes like pools of spring water… Whoa.
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 I pinched my own arm, hard.
 "I… I don't know," I managed.
 "Oh, dear," Aphrodite said. "Still in denial?"
 Outside the car, I could hear Ares chuckling. I had a feeling he could hear every word we said. The idea
of him being out there made me angry, and that helped clear my mind.
 "I don't know what you're talking about," I said.
 "Well then, why are you on this quest?"
 "Artemis has been captured!"
 Aphrodite rolled her eyes."Oh, Artemis.Please  . Talk about a hopeless case. I mean, if they were going
to kidnap a goddess, she should be breathtakingly beautiful, don't you think? I pity the poor dears who
have to imprison Artemis. Bo-ring!"
 "But she was chasing a monster," I protested. "A really, really bad monster.  We have to find it!"
 Aphrodite made me hold the mirror a little higher. She seemed to have found a microscopic problem at
the corner of her eye and dabbed at her mascara. "Always some monster.  But my dear Percy, that is why
theothers are on this quest. I'm more interested inyou ."
 My heart pounded. I didn't want to answer, but her eyes drew an answer right out of my mouth.
"Annabeth is in trouble."
 Aphrodite beamed. "Exactly!"
 "I have to help her," I said. "I've been having these dreams."
 "Ah, you even dream about her! That's so cute  !"
 "No! I mean… that's not what I meant."
 She made a tsk-tsk  sound. "Percy, I'm on your side. I'm the reason you're here, after all."
 I stared at her. "What?"
 "The poisoned T-shirt the Stoll brothers gave Phoebe," she said. "Did you think that was an accident?
Sending Blackjack to find you? Helping you sneak out of the camp?"
 " Youdid that?"
 "Of course! Because really, how boring theseHunters .are ! A quest for some monster, blah blah blah.
Saving Artemis.  Let her stay lost, I say. But a quest for true love—"
 "Wait a second, I never said—"
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 "Oh, my dear. You don't need to say it. Youdo know Annabeth was close to joining the Hunters, don't
you?"
 I blushed. "I wasn't sure—"
 "She was about to throw her life away! And you, my dear, you can save her from that. It's so romantic!"
 "Uh…"
 "Oh, put the mirror down," Aphrodite ordered. "I look fine."
 I hadn't realized I was still holding it, but as soon as I put it down, I noticed my arms were sore.
 "Now listen, Percy," Aphrodite said. "The Hunters are your enemies. Forget them and Artemis and the
monster. That's not important. You just concentrate on finding and saving Annabeth."
 "Do you know where she is?"
 Aphrodite waved her hand irritably. "No, no. I leave the details to you. But it's been ages since we've
had a good tragic love story."
 "Whoa, first of all, I never said anything about love. And second, what's up withtragic  !"
 "Love conquers all," Aphrodite promised. "Look at Helen and Paris. Did they let anything come
between them?"
 "Didn't they start the Trojan War and get thousands of people killed?"
 "Pfft. That's not the point. Follow your heart."
 "But… I don't know where it's going. My heart, I mean."
 She smiled sympathetically. She really was beautiful. And not just because she had a pretty face or
anything. She believed in love so much, it was impossible not to feel giddy when she talked about it.
 "Not knowing is half the fun," Aphrodite said. "Exquisitely painful, isn't it? Not being sure who you love
and who loves you? Oh, you kids! It's so cute I'm going to cry."
 "No, no," I said. "Don't do that."
 "And don't worry," she said. "I'm not going to let this be easy and boring for you. No, I have some
wonderful surprises in store. Anguish.Indecision. Oh, you just wait."
 "That's really okay," I told her. "Don't go to any trouble."
 "You'reso  cute. I wish all my daughters could break the heart of a boy as nice as you." Aphrodite's eyes
were tearing up. "Now, you'd better go. And do be careful in my husband's territory, Percy. Don't take
anything. He is awfully fussy about his trinkets and trash."
 "What?" I asked. "You mean Hephaestus?"
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 But the car door opened and Ares grabbed my shoulder, pulling me out of the car and back into the
desert night.
 My audience with the goddess of love was over.
 
 "You're lucky, punk." Ares pushed me away from the limo. "Be grateful."
 "For what?"
 "That we're being so nice. If it was up to me—"
 "So why haven't you killed me?" I shot back. It was a stupid thing to say to the god of war, but being
around him always made me feel angry and reckless.
 Ares nodded, like I'd finally said something intelligent.
 "I'd love to kill you, seriously," he said. "But see, I got a situation. Word on Olympus is that you might
start the biggest war in history. I can't risk messing that up. Besides, Aphrodite thinks you're some kinda
soap-opera star or something. I kill you, that makes me look bad with her. But don't worry. I haven't
forgotten my promise. Some day soon, kid—real soon—you're going to raise your sword to fight, and
you're going to remember the wrath of Ares."
 I balled my fists. "Why wait? I beat you once. How's that ankle healing up?"
 He grinned crookedly. "Not bad, punk. But you got nothing on the master of taunts. I'll start the fight
when I'm good and ready. Until then… Get lost."
 He snapped his fingers and the world did a three-sixty, spinning in a cloud of red dust. I fell to the
ground.
 When I stood up again, the limousine was gone. The road, the taco restaurant, the whole town of Gila
Claw was gone. My friends and I were standing in the middle of the junkyard, mountains of scrap metal
stretched out in every direction.
 
 "What did she want  with you?" Bianca asked, once I'd told them about Aphrodite.
 "Oh, uh, not sure," I lied. "She said to be careful in her husband's junkyard. She said not to pick anything
up."
 Zoe narrowed her eyes. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip to tell thee that. Be careful,
Percy. Aphrodite has led many heroes astray."
 "For once I agree with Zoe," Thalia said. "You can't trust Aphrodite."
 Grover was looking at me funny. Being empathic and all, he could usually read my emotions, and I got
the feeling he knew exactly what Aphrodite had talked to me about.
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 "So," I said, anxious to change the subject, "how do we get out of here?"
 "That way," Zoe said. "That is west."
 "How can you tell?"
 In the light of the full moon, I was surprised how well I could see her roll her eyes at me. "Ursa Major is
in the north," she said, "which means that  must be west."
 She pointed west,then  at the northern constellation, which was hard to make out because there were so
many other stars.
 "Oh, yeah," I said."The bear thing."
 Zoe looked offended. "Show some respect. It was a fine bear. A worthy opponent."
 "You act like it was real."
 "Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!"
 We'd reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads
of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other
weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing
machines, and computer monitors.
 "Whoa," Bianca said. "That stuff… some of it looks like real gold."
 "It is," Thalia said grimly. "Like Percy said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."
 "Junk?"Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver, and jewels. It was broken on one side,
as if it had been split by an axe. "You call this junk?"
 He bit off a point and began to chew. "It's delicious!"
 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 Percys sword!"
 Zoe's face was grim. "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.
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 "I don't like this place," Thalia said. She gripped the shaft of her spear.
 "You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?" I asked.
 She gave me a hard look. "Zoe is right, Percy. Things get thrown away here for a reason. Now come
on, let's get across the yard."
 "That's the second time you've agreed with Zoe," I muttered, but Thalia ignored me.
 We started picking our way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and
if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, we would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same.
 I'd like to say we left the stuff alone, but there was too much cool junk not to check out some of it. I
found an electric guitar shaped like Apollo's lyre that was so sweet I had to pick it up. Grover found a
broken tree made out of metal. It had been chopped to pieces, but some of the branches still had golden
birds in them, and they whirred around when Grover picked them up, trying to flap their wings.
 Finally, we saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of us, the lights of a highway stretching
through the desert.But between us and the road…
 "What is that?" Bianca gasped.
 Ahead of us was a hill much bigger and longer than the others. It was like a metal mesa, the length of a
football field and as tall as goalposts. At one end of the mesa was a row of ten thick metal columns,
wedged tightly together.
 Bianca frowned. "They look like—"
 "Toes," Grover said.
 Bianca nodded."Really, really large toes."
 Zoe and Thalia exchanged nervous looks.
 "Let's go around," Thalia said. "Fararound."
 "But the road is right over there," I protested."Quicker to climb over."
 Ping.
 Thalia hefted her spear and Zoe drew her bow, but then I realized it was only Grover. He had thrown a
piece of scrap metal at the toes and hit one, making a deep echo, as if the column were hollow.
 "Why did you do that?" Zoe demanded.
 Grover cringed. "I don't know. I, uh, don't like fake feet?"
 "Come on." Thalia looked at me. "Around."
 I didn't argue. The toes were starting to freak me out, too. I mean, who sculpts ten-foot-tall metal toes
and sticks them in a junkyard?
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 After several minutes of walking, we finally stepped onto the highway, an abandoned but well-lit stretch
of black asphalt.
 "We made it out," Zoe said. "Thank the gods."
 But apparently the gods didn't want to be thanked. At that moment, I heard a sound like a thousand
trash compactors crushing metal.
 I whirled around. Behind us, the scrap mountain was boiling, rising up. The ten toes tilted over, and I
realized why they looked like toes. Theywere  toes. The thing that rose up from the metal was a bronze
giant in full Greek battle armor. He was impossibly tall—a skyscraper with legs and arms. He gleamed
wickedly in the moonlight. He looked down at us, and his face was deformed. The left side was partially
melted off. His joints creaked with rust, and across his armored chest, written in thick dust by some giant
finger, were the words WASH ME.
 "Talos!" Zoe gasped.
 "Who—who's Talos?" I stuttered.
 "One of Hephaestus's creations," Thalia said. "But that can't be the original. It's too small. A prototype,
maybe.A defective model.
 The metal giant didn't like the word defective  .
 He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon. The sound of it coming out of its sheath
was horrible, metal screeching against metal. The blade was a hundred feet long, easy. It looked rusty
and dull, but I didn't figure that mattered. Getting hit with that thing would be like getting hit with a
battleship.
 "Someone took something," Zoe said. "Who took something?"
 She stared accusingly at me.
 I shook my head. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief."
 Bianca didn't say anything. I could swear she looked guilty, but I didn't have much time to think about it,
because the giant defective Talos took one step toward us, closing half the distance and making the
ground shake.
 "Run!" Grover yelped.
 Great advice, except that it was hopeless. At a leisurely stroll, this thing could outdistance us easily.
 We split up, the way we'd done with the Nemean Lion. Thalia drew her shield and held it up as she ran
down the highway. The giant swung his sword and took out a row of power lines, which exploded in
sparks and scattered across Thalia's path.
 Zoe's arrows whistled toward the creature's face but shattered harmlessly against the metal. Grover
brayed like a baby goat and went climbing up a mountain of metal.
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 Bianca and I ended up next to each other, hiding behind a broken chariot.
 "You took something," I said. "That bow."
 "No!" she said, but her voice was quivering.
 "Give it back!" I said. "Throw it down!"
 "I… I didn't take the bow! Besides, it's too late."
 "What did.you take?"
 Before she could answer, I heard a massive creaking noise, and a shadow blotted out the sky.
 "Move!" I tore down the hill, Bianca right behind me, as the giant's foot smashed a crater in the ground
where we'd been hiding.
 "Hey, Talos!" Grover yelled, but the monster raised his sword, looking down at Bianca and me.
 Grover played a quick melody on his pipes. Over at the highway, the downed power lines began to
dance. I understood what Grover was going to do a split second before it happened. One of the poles
with power lines still attached flew toward Talos's back leg and wrapped around his calfThe lines
sparked and sent a jolt of electricity up the giant's backside.
 Talos whirled around, creaking and sparking. Grover had bought us a few seconds.
 "Come on!" I told Bianca. But she stayed frozen. From her pocket, she brought out a small metal
figurine, a statue of a god. "It… it was for Nico. It was the only statue he didn't have."
 "How can you think of Mythomagic at a time like this?" I said.
 There were tears in her eyes.
 "Throw it down," I said. "Maybe the giant will leave us alone."
 She dropped it reluctantly, but nothing happened.
 The giant kept coming after Grover. It stabbed its sword into a junk hill, missing Grover by a few feet,
but scrap metal made an avalanche over him, and then I couldn't see him anymore.
 "No!" Thalia yelled. She pointed her spear, and a blue arc of lightning shot out, hitting the monster in his
rusty knee, which buckled. The giant collapsed, but immediately started to rise again. It was hard to tell if
it could feel anything. There weren't any emotions in its half-melted face, but I got the sense that it was
about as ticked off as a twenty-story-tall metal warrior could be.
 He raised his foot to stomp and I saw that his sole was treaded like the bottom of a sneaker. There was
a hole in his heel, like a large manhole, and there were red words painted around it, which I deciphered
only after the foot came down: FOR MAINTENANCE ONLY.
 "Crazy-idea time," I said.
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 Bianca looked at me nervously."Anything."
 I told her about the maintenance hatch. "There may be a way to control the thing. Switches or something.
I'm going to get inside."
 "How? You'll have to stand under its foot! You'll be crushed"
 "Distract it," I said. "I'll just have to time it right."
 Bianca's jaw tightened. "No. I'll go."
 "You can't. You're new at this! You'll die."
 "It's my fault the monster came after us," she said. "It's my responsibility. Here." She picked up the little
god statue and pressed it into my hand. "If anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him… tell him I'm
sorry."
 "Bianca, no!"
 But she wasn't waiting for me. She charged at the monster's left foot.
 Thalia had its attention for the moment. She'd learned that the giant was big but slow. If you could stay
close to it and not get smashed, you could run around it and stay alive. At least, it was working so far.
 Bianca got right next to the giant's foot, trying to balance herself on the metal scraps that swayed and
shifted with his weight.
 Zoe yelled, "What are you doing?"
 "Get it to raise its foot!" she said.
 Zoe shot an arrow toward the monster's face and it flew straight into one nostril. The giant straightened
and shook its head.
 "Hey, Junk Boy!" I yelled. "Down here."
 I ran up to its big toe and stabbed it with Riptide. The magic blade cut a gash in the bronze.
 Unfortunately, my plan worked. Talos looked down at me and raised his foot to squash me like a bug. I
didn't see what Bianca was doing. I had to turn and run. The foot came down about two inches behind
me and I was knocked into the air. I hit something hard and sat up, dazed. I'd been thrown into an
Olympus-Air refrigerator.
 The monster was about to finish me off, but Grover somehow dug himself out of the junk pile. He played
his pipes frantically, and his music sent another power line pole whacking against Talos's thigh. The
monster turned. Grover should've run, but he must've been too exhausted from the effort of so much
magic. He took two steps, fell, and didn't get back up.
 "Grover!" Thalia and I both ran toward him, but I knew we'd be too late.
 The monster raised his sword to smash Grover. Then he froze.
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 Talos cocked his head to one side, like he was hearing strange new music. He started moving his arms
and legs in weird ways, doing the Funky Chicken. Then he made a fist and punched himself in the face.
 "Go, Bianca!" I yelled.
 Zoe looked horrified. "She isinside  ?"
 The monster staggered around, and I realized we were still in danger. Thalia and I grabbed Grover and
ran with him toward the highway. Zoe was already ahead of us. She yelled, "How will Bianca get out?"
 The giant hit itself in the head again and dropped his sword. A shudder ran through his whole body and
he staggered toward the power lines.
 "Look out!" I yelled, but it was too late.
 The giant's ankle snared the lines, and blue flickers of electricity shot up his body. I hoped the inside was
insulated. I had no idea what was going on in there. The giant careened back into the junkyard, and his
right hand fell off, landing in the scrap metal with a horrible CLANG !
 His left arm came loose, too. He was falling apart at the joints.
 Talos began to run.
 "Wait!" Zoe yelled. We ran after him, but there was no way we could keep up. Pieces of the robot kept
falling off, getting in our way.
 The giant crumbled from the top down: his head, his chest, and finally, his legs collapsed. When we
reached the wreckage we searched frantically, yelling Bianca's name. We crawled around in the vast
hollow pieces and the legs and the head. We searched until the sun started to rise, but no luck.
 Zoe sat down and wept. I was stunned to see her cry.
 Thalia yelled in rage and impaled her sword in the giant's smashed face.
 "We can keep searching," I said. "It's light now. We'll find her."
 "No we won't," Grover said miserably. "It happened just as it was supposed to."
 "What are you talking about?" I demanded.
 He looked up at me with big watery eyes. "The prophecy. One shall he lost in the land without rain ."
 Why hadn't I seen it? Why had I let her go instead of me?
 Here we were in the desert. And Bianca di Angelo was gone.

Categories: The Titan's Curse