❝ If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself. ❞
𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡- she stands on the precipice, bold and upright. in her eyes, a sparkle of wanderlust, A hunger for the unfamiliar, a thirst. She dreams of landscapes wild and free...
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chapter five:
THEY JOURNEYED ATOP THE BOAR, UNTIL THE SUN DIPPED BELOW THE HORIZON. The vast expanse of the mountains faded into the distance, making way for miles of flat, arid land. The grass and scrub brush grew increasingly sparse until they found themselves racing across a desert landscape.
As the night draped its veil, the boar halted by a creek bed, emitting snorts. It indulged in muddy water and tore a saguaro cactus from the ground, chewing it voraciously, needles included.
"This is as far as he'll go," Grover declared. "We need to dismount while he feasts."
No one required persuasion. They gracefully slid off the boar's back as it engrossed itself in devouring cacti.
After a third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar emitted a squeal, belched, then whirled around, galloping back toward the east.
"It prefers the mountains," Percy surmised.
"Mauna Kahālāwai," Kai corrected.
Percy and Grover were the only ones who comprehended the correction. The name given to the West Maui Mountains by ancient Hawaiians is "Mauna Kahālāwai," which holds different interpretations, including "the House of Water," "the Meeting Place of Waters," and "the place where heaven and earth meet"
Mountains are spiritually significant and are believed to mark the vertical boundaries of the ahupuaʻa, the ancient Hawaiian system of land management. They are part of the natural demarcations based on Hawaiian cultural traditions. Furthermore, mountains like Mauna Kea are considered highly sacred in Native Hawaiian religion.
"I can't blame it," Thalia said, gesturing ahead.
Before them sprawled a two-lane road, half-buried in sand. Across the road stood a cluster of diminutive structures – a boarded-up house, a taco shop seemingly untouched since before Zoe's birth, and a white stucco post office. A crooked sign reading "Gila Claw, Arizona" hung above the door. Beyond, a range of hills revealed themselves, not the ordinary kind. The landscape was too flat for regular hills. Instead, enormous mounds of discarded cars, appliances, and scrap metal formed a seemingly endless junkyard.
"Whoa," Percy marveled.
"Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia remarked, eyeing Grover. "I don't suppose you've got another wild boar up your sleeve?"
Grover, sniffing the wind with a hint of unease, retrieved his acorns, tossing them into the sand. Playing his pipes, the acorns rearranged themselves into a pattern inscrutable to the others, but Grover wore a concerned expression.
