Sunburn- phoebus apollo

--xiv. they meet the dragon of eternal bad breath

"WE WILL NEVER MAKE IT," Zoe said. "We are moving too slow. But we cannot leave the Ophiotaurus."

"Mooo," Bessie said. He swam next to Percy as they jogged along the waterfront. They'd left the shopping center pier far behind. They were heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was a lot farther than Rhea had realized. The sun was already dipping in the west.

"I don't get it," Rhea said. "Why do we have to get there at sunset?"

"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoe said. "We can only enter their garden as day changes to night."

"What happens if we miss it?" Percy asked nervously, sharing a glance with Rhea.

"Tomorrow is winter solstice. If we miss sunset tonight, we would have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight." Zoe explained.

And Annabeth too, Rhea thought.

"We need a car," Thalia said.

"But what about Bessie?" Percy asked.

Grover stopped in his tracks. "I've got an idea! The Ophiotaurus can appear in different bodies of water, right?"

"Well, yeah," Percy said. "I mean, he was in Long Island Sound. Then he just popped into the water at Hoover Dam. And now he's here."

"So maybe we could coax him back to Long Island Sound," Grover said. "Then Chiron could help us get him to Olympus."

"But he was following me and Rhea." Percy protested. "If I'm not there, would he know where he's going?"

"Eh," Rhea interrupted. "First of all, it's 'Rhea and I'. And second of all, he was following you. He didn't know who I was yet."

Percy thumped Rhea on the back, making her grimace. "Hey!"

"Moo," Bessie said forlornly.

"I... I can show him," Grover said. "I'll go with him."

Rhea stared at him. Grover was no fan of the water. He'd almost drowned last summer in the Sea of Monsters, and he couldn't swim very well with his goat hooves.

"I'm the only one who can talk to him," Grover said. "It makes sense."

He bent down and said something in Bessie's ear. Bessie shivered, then made a contented, lowing sound.

"The blessing of the Wild," Grover said. "That should help with safe passage. Rhea, Percy, pray to your dad, too. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."

Rhea didn't understand how they could possibly swim back to Long Island from California. Then again, monsters didn't travel the same way as humans. She'd seen plenty evidence of that.

Rhea tried to concentrate on the waves, the smell of the ocean, the sound of the tide.

"Dad," Rhea said. "Help us. Get the Ophiotaurus and Grover safely to camp. Protect them at sea."

"A prayer like that needs a sacrifice," Thalia said. "Something big."

Rhea thought for a second. Then she took off her coat.

"Rhea," Grover said. "Are you sure? That lion skin... that's really helpful. Hercules used it!"

As soon as he said that, Rhea realized something.

Rhea glanced at Zoe, who was watching her carefully. Rhea realized she did know who Zoe's hero had been—the one who'd ruined her life, gotten her kicked out of her family, and never even mentioned how she'd helped him: Hercules, and from the look on Percy's face, he'd realized that too.