"TELL ME WHEN IT'S OVER," Thalia said. Her eyes were shut tight. The statue was holding onto them so they couldn't fall, but Thalia still clutched his arm like it was the most important thing in the world.
"Everything's fine," Percy promised.
"Are... are we very high?"
Naomi looked down. Below them, a range of snowy mountains zipped by.
Percy stretched out his foot and kicked snow off one of the peaks.
"Nah," he said. "Not that high."
"We are in the Sierras!" Zoë yelled. She and Grover were hanging from the arms of the other statue. "I have hunted here before. At this speed, we should be in San Francisco in a few hours."
"Hey, hey, Frisco!" the angel holding Naomi, Percy, and Thalia said. "Yo, Chuck! We could visit those guys at the Mechanics Monument again! They know how to party!"
"Oh, man," the other angel said. "I am so there!"
"You guys have visited San Francisco?" Percy asked.
"We automatons gotta have some fun once in a while, right?" their statue said. "Those mechanics took us over to the de Young Museum and introduced us to these marble lady statues, see. And—"
"Hank!" the other statue—Chuck—cut in. "They're kids, man."
"Oh, right." If bronze statues could blush, Naomi swore Hank did. "Back to flying."
The angels must have been excited, speeding up as they left the mountains behind. Soon they were zipping along over farmland and towns and highways.
Grover played his pipes to pass the time. Zoë got bored and started and started shooting arrows at random billboards as they flew by. Every time she saw a Target department store—there were dozens of them—she would peg the store's sign with a few bullseyes at a hundred miles an hour.
Naomi chewed on a piece of ambrosia, watching the bright red burn on her wrist fade slowly back into her normal skin tone.
"When did you learn how to fight like that?" Percy asked her.
"Clarisse taught me," Naomi answered, rubbing her shirt sleeve over the leftover blood from her bullet graze. That wound was completely healed thanks to the ambrosia and general lack of seriousness.
"Since when have you trained with Clarisse?" Percy sounded shocked.
Naomi shrugged. "We're both year-rounders, both had nothing better to do. She offered to teach me a few things—including dual-wielding. I wasn't sure it'd come in handy, but I'm glad it did."
"It was badass," Percy complimented.
Naomi cracked a smile. "It was, wasn't it?"
Thalia's eyes had been closed the entire way, and she was muttering to herself a lot, like she was praying.
"You did good back there," Percy called out to her. "Zeus listened."
It was hard to tell what she was thinking with her eyes closed.
"Maybe," she said. "How did you get away from the skeletons in the generator room, anyway? You said they cornered you?"
Percy told her and Naomi about the mortal girl he'd encountered, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who seemed to be able to see right through the Mist.
Thalia didn't look surprised. "Some mortals are like that," she said. "Nobody knows why."
"Well, the girl was annoying," Percy said. "But I'm glad I didn't vaporize her. That would've been bad."
Thalia nodded. "Must be nice to be a regular mortal."
She said it like she'd given it a lot of thought.
❊
"Where do you guys want to land?" Hank asked, waking Naomi and her companions from a night of fitful sleep.
Naomi looked down.
"Whoa," Percy breathed.
She'd seen San Francisco in pictures before, but never in real life. It was gorgeous, surrounded by green hills and dense fog. There was a huge bay and ships, islands and sailboats, and the Golden Gate bridge sticking up out of the clouds of fog.
"There," Zoë suggested. "By Embarcadero Building."
"Good thinking," Chuck said. "Me and Hank can blend in with the pigeons."
Everyone just looked at him.
"Kidding," he said. "Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humor?"
As it turned out, there wasn't much need to blend in. It was early morning and not many people were around. They freaked out a homeless guy on the ferry dock when they landed. He screamed when he saw Hank and Chuck and ran off, yelling something about metal angels from Mars.
Naomi and her friends said goodbye to the angels, who flew off to party with their statue friends.
They'd made it to the West Coast. Artemis was here somewhere. Annabeth, too, Naomi hoped. But they had no idea how to find them, and tomorrow was the winter solstice. Now they were stuck on the ferry dock with very little money, no friends, and no luck.
After a brief discussion, they agreed they needed to find out just what the mystery 'bane of Olympus' monster was that the prophecy had talked about.
"But how?" Percy asked.
"Nereus," Grover said.
Percy looked at him. "What?"
"Isn't that what Apollo told you to do? Find Nereus?"
Percy nodded. "The old man of the sea," he remembered. "I'm supposed to find him and force him to tell us what he knows. But how do I find him?"
Zoë 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?" Percy asked.
"Come," she said without enthusiasm. "I will show thee."
❊
Naomi wasn't sure Zoë's plan for helping Percy meet Nereus wasn't just a petty moment of revenge. She'd outfitted him in a ragged flannel shirt and jeans three sizes too big, bright red trainers, and a floppy rainbow hat.
"Oh, yeah," Grover said, trying not to burst out laughing, "you look completely inconspicuous now."
Naomi tried to cover her laugh with her hand, but judging by the glare Percy shot at her, she didn't do a very good job.
Zoë nodded with satisfaction. "A typical male vagrant."
"Thanks a lot," Percy grumbled. "Why am I doing this again?"
"I told thee. To blend in."
She led the way down to the waterfront. After a long time spent searching the docks, Zoë finally stopped in her tracks. She pointed down a pier where a bunch of homeless guys were huddled together in blankets, waiting for the soup kitchen to open for lunch.
"He will be down there somewhere," Zoë said. "He never travels very far from the water. He likes to sun himself during the day."
"How do I know which one is him?" Percy asked.
"Sneak up," she said. "Act homeless. You will know him. He will smell... different."
"Great." Percy didn't ask for particulars. "And once I find him?"
"Grab him," she said. "And hold on. He will try anything to get rid of thee. Whatever he does, do not let go. Force him to tell thee about the monster."
"We've got your back," Thalia said. She picked something off the back of his shirt—a big clump of fuzz that came from who-knows-where. "Eww. On second thought... I don't want your back. But we'll be rooting for you."
Naomi and Grover gave him twin thumbs-ups.
Percy grumbled about how nice it was to have super-powerful friends. Then he headed toward the dock.
As he became more of a speck than a person, Naomi looked at her friends. "You don't think he's going to get, like... arrested, do you? For tackling a homeless guy?"
Thalia tilted her head thoughtfully. "Uh... let's go with hopefully not?"
Naomi sighed. "Wouldn't be his first run-in with the cops."
Grover snickered, nudging Naomi's shoulder with his own. "Think there'd be another manhunt?"
Thalia raised an eyebrow. "How come I haven't heard this story yet?"
Grover grinned. "Okay, so here's what happened..."
❊
By the time Naomi and Grover finished the story, Percy had managed to subdue the sea god Nereus.
"You got him!" Zoë said.
"You don't have to sound so amazed," Percy said.
The old man god moaned. "Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"
"I've got more than one question," Percy said.
"Only one question per capture! That's the rule."
Percy looked at his friends.
This wasn't good. They needed to find Artemis, and figure out what the bane of Olympus was, and find out if Annabeth was still alive, and how to rescue her. There was no single question that encompassed all of those inquiries.
Percy sighed, seeming to realize this. "All right, Nereus. Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting."
The Old Man of the Sea smiled, showing off mossy green teeth.
"Oh, that's too easy," he said evilly. "He's right there."
Nereus pointed to the water at Percy's feet.
"Where?" Percy said.
"The deal is complete!" Nereus gloated. With a pop, he turned into a goldfish and did a backflip into the sea.
"You tricked me!" Percy yelled.
"Wait." Thalia's eyes widened. "What is that?"
"MOOOOOOOO!"
Naomi looked down at the water, her eyes widening as well at the sight of a cow... serpent... creature swimming next to the dock. She nudged Percy's shoe and looked up at him with sad brown eyes, like a bonafide sea-puppy.
"Ah, Bessie," Percy said. "Not now."
"Mooo!"
Grover gasped. "He says his name isn't Bessie."
"You can understand her... er, him?"
Grover nodded. "It's a very old form of animal speech. But he says his name is the Ophiotaurus."
"The Ophi-what?"
"It means serpent bull in Greek," Thalia said. "But what's it doing here?"
"Mooooo!"
"He says Percy is his protector," Grover announced. "And he's running from the bad people. He says they are close."
"Wait," Zoë said, looking at Percy. "You know this cow?"
Percy told them the story of how he'd freed the cow serpent from some fishing net back in the Long Island Sound.
Thalia shook her head in disbelief. "And you just forgot to mention this before?"
"Well... yeah," Percy said.
"I am a fool," Zoë said suddenly. "I know this story!"
"What story?" Naomi asked.
"From the War of the Titans," Zoë said. "My... my father told me this tale, thousands of years ago. This is the beast we are looking for."
"Bessie?" Percy looked down at the creature. "But... he's too cute. He couldn't destroy the world."
"That is how we were wrong," Zoë said. "We've been anticipating a huge dangerous monster, but the Ophiotaurus does not bring down the gods that way. He must be sacrificed."
"MMMM," the Ophiotaurus lowed.
"I don't think he likes the S-word," Grover said.
Percy patted the creature on the head, but the Ophiotaurus was trembling.
Naomi sat down on the dock, reaching out to pass a hand over the poor creature's head. He hesitated for a moment, then nuzzled her hand like a cat.
"How could anyone hurt him?" she asked softly. "He's innocent."
Zoë nodded. "But there is power in killing innocence. Terrible power. The Fates ordained a prophecy eons ago, when this creature was born. They said that whoever killed the Ophiotaurus and sacrificed its entrails to fire would have the power to destroy the gods."
"MMMMMM!"
"Um," Grover said. "Maybe we could avoid talking about entrails, too."
Thalia sat down next to Naomi, stretching out her hand. The Ophiotaurus went right to her. Thalia placed her hand on his head. The creature shivered.
Thalia's expression bothered Naomi. She looked almost... hungry.
"We have to protect him," Percy said. "If Luke gets hold of him—"
"Luke wouldn't hesitate," Thalia muttered. "The power to overthrow Olympus. That's... that's huge."
"Yes, it is, my dear," said a man's voice in a heavy French accent. "And it is a power you shall unleash."
The Ophiotaurus made a whimpering sound and submerged.
Naomi looked up. They'd been so busy talking, they'd allowed themselves to be ambushed.
Standing behind them, his two-colored eyes gleaming wickedly, was Dr. Thorn, the manticore himself.
"This is just pairrr-fect," he gloated.
He was wearing a ratty black trench coat over his Westover Hall uniform, which was torn and stained. His military haircut had grown out spiky and greasy. He hadn't shaved recently, so his face was covered in silver stubble.
"Long ago, the gods banished me to Persia," the manticore said. "I was forced to scrounge for food on the edges of the world, hiding in forests, devouring insignificant human farmers for my meals. I never got to fight any great heroes. I was not feared and admired in the old stories! But now that will change. The Titans shall honor me, and I shall feast on the flesh of half-bloods!"
On either side of him stood two armed security guys—mortal mercenaries, like Percy and Zoë had mentioned. Two more stood on the next boat dock over, just in case the questers tried to escape that way. There were tourists all around—walking down the waterfront, shopping at the pier above them—but Naomi knew that wouldn't stop the manticore from acting.
"Where... where are the skeletons?" Naomi asked the manticore.
He sneered. "I do not need those foolish undead! The General thinks I am worthless? He will change his mind when I defeat you lot myself!"
"We beat you once before," Percy said.
"Ha! You could barely fight me with a goddess on your side. And, alas... that goddess is preoccupied at the moment. There will be no help for you now."
Zoë notched an arrow and aimed it straight at the manticore's head. The guards on either side of them raised their guns.
"Wait!" Naomi said. "Zoë, don't!"
The manticore smiled. "The girl is right, Zoë Nightshade. Put away your bow. It would be a shame to kill you before you witnessed Thalia's great victory."
"What are you talking about?" Thalia growled. She had her shield and spear ready.
"Surely it is clear," the manticore said. "This is your moment. This is why Lord Kronos brought you back to life. You will sacrifice the Ophiotaurus. You will bring its entrails to the sacred fire on the mountain. You will gain unlimited power. And for your seventeenth birthday, you will overthrow Olympus."
No one spoke. It made terrible sense. Thalia was only two days away from turning seventeen. She was a child of the Big Three. And here was a choice, a terrible choice that could mean the end of the gods. It was just like the prophecy said.
Naomi waited for Thalia to tell the manticore off, but she hesitated. She looked completely stunned.
"You know it is the right choice," the manticore told her. "Your friend Luke recognized it. You shall be reunited with him. You shall rule this world together under the auspices of the Titans. Your father abandoned you, Thalia. He cares nothing for you. And now you shall gain power over him. Crush the Olympians underfoot, as they deserve. Call the beast! It will come to you. Use your spear."
"Thalia," Percy said, "snap out of it!"
She looked at him the same way she had the morning she woke up on Half-Blood Hill, dazed and uncertain. It was almost like she didn't know how. "I... I don't—"
"Your father helped you," Percy said. "He sent the metal angels. He turned you into a tree to preserve you."
Her hand tightened on the shaft of her spear.
Grover raised his pipes to his mouth and played a quick riff.
The manticore yelled, "Stop him!"
The guards had been targeting Zoë, and before they could figure out that the kid with the pipes was the bigger problem, the wooden planks at their feet sprouted new branches and tangled their legs. Zoë let loose two quick arrows that exploded at their feet in clouds of sulfurous yellow smoke.
The guards started coughing. The manticore shot spines in their direction but they ricocheted off Percy's lion's coat.
"Grover," Percy said, "tell Bessie to dive deep and stay down!"
"Moooooo!" Grover translated.
"The cow..." Thalia muttered, still in a daze.
"Come on!" Percy pulled her along as they ran up the stairs to the shopping center on the pier. They dashed around the corner of the nearest store. Naomi heard the manticore shouting at his minions, "Get them!" Tourists screamed as the guards shot blindly into the air.
Naomi and the others scrambled to the end of the pier. They hid behind a little kiosk filled with souvenir crystals—wind chimes and dreamcatchers and the like, glittering in the sunlight. There was a water fountain next to them. Down below, a bunch of sea lions were sunning themselves on the rocks. The whole of San Francisco Bay spread out before them: the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, and the green hills and fog beyond that to the north. A picture-perfect moment, save for the fact that they were about to die and the world was going to end.
"Go over the side!" Zoë told Percy. "You can escape in the sea, Percy. Call on thy father for help. Maybe you can save the Ophiotaurus."
She was right, but Percy would never do that.
"I won't leave you guys," he said. "We fight together."
"You have to get word to camp!" Grover said. "At least let them know what's going on!"
"Get word to camp..." Percy muttered, looking at the crystals, then at the water fountain beside them. "Good idea."
He uncapped his sword and slashed off the top of the water fountain. Water burst out of the busted pipe and sprayed all over them.
Thalia gasped as the water hit her. The fog seemed to clear from her eyes. "Are you crazy?" she asked.
But Grover understood. He was already fishing around in his pockets for a coin. He threw a golden drachma into the rainbows created by the mist and yelled, "O goddess, accept my offering!"
The mist rippled.
"Camp Half-Blood!" Percy said.
And there, shimmering in the Mist next to them, was Mr. D, wearing his leopard-skin jogging suit and rummaging through the refrigerator.
He looked up lazily. "Do you mind?"
"Where's Chiron!" Percy shouted.
"How rude." Mr. D took a swig from a jug of grape juice. "Is that how you say hello?"
"Hello," Percy amended. "We're about to die! Where's Chiron?"
Mr. D considered that for far too long. Behind them, footsteps and shouting—the manticore's troops were closing in.
"About to die," Mr. D mused. "How exciting. I'm afraid Chiron isn't here. Would you like me to take a message?"
Percy looked at his friends. "We're dead."
Thalia gripped her spear. She looked like her old angry self again. "Then we'll die fighting."
"How noble," Mr. D said, stifling a yawn. "So what is the problem, exactly?"
Percy told him about the Ophiotaurus.
"Mmm." Mr. D studied the contents of the fridge. "So that's it. I see."
"You don't even care!" Percy screamed. "You'd just as soon watch us die!"
"Let's see. I think I'm in the mood for pizza tonight."
Naomi didn't even have time to be outraged. The manticore screamed, "There!" And they were surrounded. Two of the guards stood behind him. The other two appeared on the roofs of the pier shops above them. The manticore threw off his coat and transformed into his true self, his lion claws extended and his spiky tail bristling with poison barbs.
"Excellent," he said. He glanced at the apparition in the mist and snorted. "Alone, without any real help. Wonderful."
"You could ask for help," Mr. D murmured to Percy, as if this were an amusing thought. "You Could say please."
Naomi summoned Hemlock. Zoë readied her arrows. Grover lifted his pipes. Thalia raised her shield.
"Please, Mr. D," Percy muttered. "Help."
The manticore grinned. "Spare the daughter of Zeus and the daughter of Persephone. They will join us soon enough. Kill the others."
The men raised their guns, and something strange happened.
There was a rush of disorientation all around them, and a sound like a huge sigh. The sun tinged with purple. Naomi smelled grapes and something more sour—wine.
SNAP!
It was the sound of many minds breaking at the same time. The sound of madness. One guard put his pistol between his teeth like it was a bone and ran around on all fours. Two others dropped their guns and started waltzing with each other. The fourth began doing what looked like an Irish clogging dance. It would have been funny if it hadn't been so terrifying.
"No!" screamed the manticore. "I will deal with you myself!"
His tail bristled, but the planks under his paws erupted into grape vines, which immediately began wrapping around the monster's body, sprouting new leaves and clusters of green baby grapes that ripened in seconds as the manticore shrieked, until he was engulfed in a huge mass of vines, leaves, and full clusters of purple grapes. Finally the grapes stopped shivering, and Naomi had a feeling that somewhere inside there, the manticore was no more.
"Well," said Dionysus, closing his refrigerator. "That was fun."
Percy stared at him, horrified. "How could you... How did you—"
"Such gratitude," Mr. D muttered. "The mortals will come out of it. Too much explaining to do if I made their condition permanent. I hate writing reports to Father."
He stared resentfully at Thalia. "I hope you learned your lesson, girl. It isn't easy to resist power, is it?"
Thalia blushed as if she were ashamed.
"Mr. D," Grover said in amazement. "You... you saved us."
"Mmm. Don't make me regret it, satyr. Now get going, Percy Jackson. I've bought you a few hours at most."
"The Ophiotaurus," Percy said. "Can you get it to camp?"
Mr. D sniffed. "I do not transport livestock. That's your problem."
"But where do we go?"
Dionysus looked at Zoë. "Oh, I think the huntress knows. You must enter at sunset today, you know, or all is lost. Now goodbye. My pizza is waiting."
"Mr. D," Percy said.
The god raised his eyebrow.
"You called me by the right name," Percy said. "You called me Percy Jackson."
"I most certainly did not, Peter Johnson. Now off with you!"
He waved his hand, and his image disappeared in the mist.
All around them, the manticore's minions were still acting completely nuts. One of them had found their friend the homeless guy, and they were having a serious conversation about metal angels from Mars. Several other guards were harassing the tourists, making animal noises and trying to steal their shoes.
Naomi looked at Zoë. "What did he mean... 'You know where to go'?"
Zoë's face was the color of the fog. She pointed across the bay, past the Golden Gate. In the distance, a single mountain rose up above the cloud layer.
"The garden of my sisters," she said. "I must go home."
❊
i'm gonna go back to monday/wednesday/friday updates bc things are getting kinda busy in my life so! see y'all monday! <3