Haunted || Leo Valdez

24 - We Tour a Junkyard

Six people, all pale, ghostly images, stood in the middle of the junkyard. Zoe Nightshade and Bianca, both dressed in silvery parkas, stood to one side. Thalia stood by a clearly younger Percy. A younger Grover stood next to Percy like the best friend he was. A twelve-year-old Rebecca held a Celestial Bronze sword, which had been borrowed from the camp shed. They progressed through the junkyard.

"So," Percy said, "how do we get out of here?"

"That way," Zoe said, pointing. "That is west."

"How can you tell?"

Zoe rolled her eyes. "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," Percy 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!"

They'd reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors.

"Whoa," Rebecca 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!"

Rebecca giggled, but 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 Percy's 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.

"I don't like this place," Thalia said. She gripped the shaft of her spear.

"Why not?" Rebecca asked her, frowning.

"You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?" Percy asked.

She gave Percy 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," Percy muttered, but Thalia ignored him.

They started picking their way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, they would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same.

Despite the warnings, they didn't leave the stuff alone. There was too much cool junk not to check out some of it. Percy found an electric guitar shaped like Apollo's lyre. 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.