QUEST WITHOUT HARRY

Chapter 10 : I Ruin a Perfectly Good Bus

It didn't take me long to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur horn in my cabin, which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack Grover had found for me.

The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold.

Chiron said the coins might come in handy for nonmortal transactions – whatever that meant. He gave Andy and me each a flask of nectar and an airtight bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals.

Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally. Andy was bringing his magic Yankees cap, which he told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from his mom. He carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when he got bored (he really reminds me of Hermione), and a long bronze knife, hidden in his shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector.

Grover wore his fake feet and his trousers to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's 'so Yesterday', both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.

We waved goodbye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus. I need to come back.

Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer dude I'd seen when I was recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised.

Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.

"This is Argus," Chiron told me. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."

I heard footsteps behind us. Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes. "Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you." Andy beamed, the way he always did when Luke was around. "Just wanted to say good luck, Vivi" Luke told me. "And I thought... um, maybe you could use these." He handed me the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal. Luke said, "Maia!"

White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling me so much, I dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.

"Awesome!" Grover said.

Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days..." His expression turned sad. I didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that Luke had come to say goodbye. I'd been afraid he might resent me for getting so much attention the last few days. But here he was giving me a magic gift... It made me blush. "Hey, man," I said. "Thanks."

"Listen, Percy..." Luke looked uncomfortable. "I really wanted you here safe at camp, or ask you run away, but I know, I can't, why can't you just been the same little Vivi, who I met, Best of Luck, Vivi, A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just... kill some monsters for me, okay?"