𝓟𝓻𝓪𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓪 - (𝓟.𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷)

12.

vol ii
➵ chapter twelve ➵

"Bessie?" Helia is perplexed.
Percy nods, his head bobbing. "Yes, an acquaintance of mine."
"Acquaintance?" The girl steadily repeats.
"From Long Island."

At a loss, Helia huffs, looking towards the son of Poseidon, bemused.
"The night I caught you at the dining pavilion, Blackjack had been sent for me again by the Hippocampi. And well, this was the entangled creature that awaited its rescue."
"But Bessie?"
"Oh. That was me. Thought it was a good name for a cow."
"Of course you did."

Helia looks around, noting the groups of kids running along the dam, as well as senior citizens and some families. But luckily, none of them seemed to be paying Bessie any attention.
"What are you doing here?" Percy asks.
"Moo!"
Her voice is urgent, like she's trying to warn him of something.
"How did you get here?" He questions.
They're thousands of miles from Long Island, hundreds of miles inland. There's no way she could've swum all the way here. And yet, here she is.

Bessie swims in a circle and butts her head against the side of the dam. "Moo!"
"What is it doing?" Helia questions.
"She wants me to come with her. She's telling me to hurry." Percy turns back towards the cow and says, "I can't. My friends are inside."
With sad brown eyes and one more urgent "Mooo!" she does a flip and disappears into the water.
Percy hesitates, turning towards Helia, who notices his panicked expression. Something's wrong.

The two look down the dam road to the east and see two men walking slowly towards them. They wear grey camouflage outfits that flicker over skeletal bodies.
They pass through a group of kids and push them aside.
A kid yells, "Hey!" One of the warriors turns, his face changing momentarily into a skull.
"Ah!" the kid yelps, and his whole group backs away.

The pair rushes for the visitor center. They're almost to the stairs when tires squeal. On the west side of the dam, a black van swerves to a stop in the middle of the road, nearly plowing into some old people.
The doors opened and more skeleton warriors piled out. They're surrounded.

Percy and Helia glance at each other before bolting down the stairs and through the museum entrance. The security guard at the metal detector shouts, "Hey, kids!" But they don't stop.
They run through the exhibits and duck behind a tour group. The duo can't spot the remaining three. Where's the dam snack bar?
"Stop!" The metal-detector guy yells.

There's nowhere to go but into an elevator with the tour group. Percy grabs Helia's hand, pulling her inside just as the door closes.
"We'll be going down seven hundred feet," the  tour guide says cheerfully. She's a park ranger, with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and tinted glasses. "Don't worry, ladies and gentlemen, the elevator hardly ever breaks."

"Does this go to the snack bar?" Percy asks her.
A few people behind chuckle.
"To the turbines, young man," the lady says. "Weren't you listening to my fascinating presentation upstairs?"
"Oh, of course, it was very interesting. But is there another way out of the dam?" Helia hurriedly asks.
"It's a dead end," a tourist behind them says. "For heaven's sake. The only way out is the other elevator."

The doors open.
"Go right ahead, folks," the tour guide tells them. "Another ranger is waiting for you at the end of the corridor."
They don't have much choice but to go out with the group.

"And young ones," the tour guide calls. The pair look back; she's taken off her glasses.
Her eyes are startlingly gray, like storm clouds. "There is always a way out for those clever enough to find it."
Helia's breath hitches. It can't be...