𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 • 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

I Wrestle Santa's Evil Twin

"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. "I and Hank can blend in with the pigeons." 

We all looked at him. 

"Kidding," he said. "Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humour?" 

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 goodbyes to the angels, who flew off to party with their statue friends. That's when I realized I had no idea what we were going to do next. 

We'd made it to the West Coast. Artemis was here somewhere. Y/n and 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," Grayson said. 

I looked at him. "What?" 

"Isn't that what Apollo told you to do? Find Nereus?"

I cocked my eyebrow. "What's a Neerreaous?"

"Nereus," Grayson corrected.

"What?"

"He means Nereus," Grover said in a much more understandable accent.

"Oh."

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," Grayson said, trying not to bust out laughing, "you look completely inconspicuous now." 

Zoe nodded with satisfaction. "A typical male vagrant."