The next morning at first light, just as promised, we all got ready to pile into the van.
I'd been given one last chance to say my goodbyes, but I didn't think Connor would want to see me. So when I went to the Hermes cabin and Nico answered, I pulled him into a hug.
"Don't die while I'm gone, alright?" I kissed the top of his head. "You're gonna have to teach me how to really play Mythomagic when I get back."
"Keep an eye on my sister, too?" He looked up at me with blurry eyes. "I already asked Percy but he said he'd try. I need you to promise."
"Nico," I started. He had to know I couldn't protect her from everything, especially because two of us were going to die. "I... Yes, I will protect her."
Connor came up behind Nico, in his messy haired, sleepy eyed glory.
"So you're really leaving." He said grimly.
"You know I have to. I promise I won't die."
"Good, because I'm not gonna let either of us die before I get a kiss." He smirked and leaned against the doorway. His morning voice was enough to make me melt.
"He's ten." I pointed to Nico, who was gagging.
"What? I'm kidding!" Connor winked.
"Keep begging, and maybe eventually. I'll be back before Christmas; Keep some mistletoe handy."
•
I clambered into the van, driven by Zoë. She drove like a crazy person, so it was a long drive of Thalia being a backseat driver and yelling at Zoë, who yelled back, and me and Bianca trying to calm them down. Turns out Bianca isn't much like Nico at all. Still nice, though. So I had no friends on this quest.
A few times too often, Zoë swerved from lane to lane, going well above the speed limit. She also decided to do this on the Jersey Turnpike. If you aren't familiar with it, just think very deadly and very fast. Deadly because of drivers like Zoë here.
Once I was sure Zoë wasn't going to kill us, I thought back to my friends at school. What was the reason my dad had told the school for me suddenly leaving? Did my friends believe it? I began to have many second thoughts about this quest. I was basically alone, and I'd left Nico all alone with only the twins to take care of him. That wasn't fair, I shouldn't be the one worrying about Nico. I'm not his sister, after all.
"Do you miss him?" Bianca asked me. We were sitting next to each other in the way back of the van. "Your boyfriend?"
I almost choked. "Oh, no, actually. My boyfriend kind of tried to kidnap me a few months ago. We never got a proper break-up."
Oh, she mouthed. "I was talking about the Hermes boy."
"He'snotmyboyfriend." I said, looking out the window.
An hour or so later, we'd arrived in Maryland at a rest stop. Zoë pulled over messily and we all spilled out of the car. Bianca headed to the bathroom, while Thalia and Zoë kept arguing the whole way through. Zoë finally left it alone and turned to me. "You're the tracker. Where are we going?"
I scoffed. I wasn't that good at tracking. Still, I went outside and put my hand to the earth. What I wouldn't give to have Grover here, coaching me through it. I reached out as far as I could, which was surprisingly far, what with all of my extra training these past few months. It had to be a one-hundred mile radius.
"D.C." I said as I went back inside. "That's where I felt the most recent Artemis activity."
"No," Zoë said blatantly.
"What do you mean, no?" I glared.
"We must go west, or have you forgotten?"
"Um, guys?" Bianca interrupted. "She's right. D.C. is about sixty miles from here, and it's our best bet."
Zoë grumbled, but she trusted Bianca. Thalia made the argument that she should be driving, but Zoë refused. We drove those sixty miles, and got right where I thought we would.
"There," I pointed to one of the buildings lining the Mall. "That's our next stop. Mark your passports."
So we went off into the cold. We stopped and stared at the National Air and Space Museum. I'd been here once with my middle school, and I'd hated it. But here we were.
"Come on," I gestured to the rest of them. The building wasn't crowded, just a few tourists. We entered, but I had no idea what we were really looking for. So we wandered up the ramp and followed Zoë's lead. Suddenly, Thalia jumped forward into a rocket.
"What is wrong with- Percy?" I exclaimed at the sight of the dark haired boy. Zoë and Bianca already had their bows out.
"How dare you show thy face here?" Zoë seethed.
"Luke," Percy gasped for air. "He's here."
Thalia immediately dropped her barriers. "Where?" She asked softly.
Percy told us all about what he had seen: Luke, The General, a manticore named Dr. Thorn.
"This is impossible. You lie!" Zoë pointed an arrow directly towards his face.
"What? Why would I lie?" Percy looked bewildered. "There's no time. There are twelve skeleton warriors on their way here right now, along with a monster."
"I was following Artemis' energy," Percy looked at me blankly. "Tracking is hard to explain, okay? Anyway, we came to D.C. because I felt something ancient here. Artemis must have stopped here to look for the monster."
"Zoë," Bianca shuffled her feet, nervous. "If it is the General—"
"It cannot be!" She hissed. "Percy must have seen an illusion."
"Illusions don't crack marble floors," Percy said.
Zoë took a very deep breath. "If Percy is telling the truth about the skeleton warriors... We have no time to argue. We must leave. Now."
I wasn't eager to stick around, so I nodded.
"Good idea," Percy said.
"I was not including thee, boy." Zoë gave him a once-over look. "You are not part of this quest."
I didn't think that was very fair. He had just given us more information than we had gotten in the whole day we'd been traveling.
"Hey, I'm trying to save your lives!" He protested.
"You shouldn't have come, Percy," Thalia said grimly. "But you're here now. Let's get back to the van."
"That is not thy decision." Zoë growled.
"You're not the boss here," Thalia scowled. "I don't care how old you are, you're still a conceited little brat!"
"Will you guys shut up for more than one second?" I burst out. "Gods, this is exhausting. You're so alike, and that's what causing you to fight so much."
"I don't remember giving you permission to psycho-analyze me, Callaghan." Thalia spat.
Before Zoë or I could do anything, the loudest growl I'd ever heard in my life rang through the museum. We slowly turned to see a truck-sized monster with glittering gold fur and silver claws.
"Nemean lion?" I whispered.
"Yup. Don't move." Thalia whispered back.
"Separate on my mark," Zoë said. "Try to keep it distracted."
"Until when?" Bianca asked. She seemed more confident than I was, which didn't make me feel any better.
"Until I think of a way to kill it. Go!"
Percy rolled to the left, and Thalia straight forward. Zoë and Bianca started shooting immediately. I'd brought a sword, but that's not much help when it comes to a long distance impenetrable lion.
Thalia had it covered with her Aegis shield, so I searched frantically for any kind of earth. A flower pot, anything. There was nothing. The floor was hard cement and I had no control over that. So I did what any smart, resourceful demigod would do. I ran straight for the lion. Percy had the same idea, but he went for the side of it.
I slid under the lions feet, thinking maybe a stab to the stomach would do something. Either that or I'd be crushed. Good odds.
I thrust my sword up just as I reached the lions stomach. Sparks flew. So not just the fur, but it's whole hide was as hard as metal. Luckily I still had enough momentum to get out from under the beast.
The lion lunged just after I passed its tail. I came to such a hard stop against the wall that the dirt came out of the bottom of my sneakers. Dirt. I stood immediately, swiped the dirt up into my hand, and closed my eyes. Sure enough, I felt stronger even from just that small bit of earth nearby. I had vines come down from the ceiling and wrap around the lion. It worked for about seven seconds. The lion's razor sharp claws cut through it easily.
The beast went straight for Percy. He flipped over the railing and onto a plane. The Hunters were still shooting, though it was no use. The monster had no weak spots.
Then Percy said something that should've been obvious to all of us, except it hadn't been. "Zoë! Target the mouth!" The Hunters tried, but the monster moved too fast.
"Maddy! Clear the area!"
Now, that I can do. The plane the lion was hanging from was looking dangerously close to collapse.
There were children running like crazy just below it, followed by the occasional teacher trying to corral them. I rushed over and grabbed them, one by one, by the collar and started throwing them to the side. Gently, of course. "Move! Get out of here!"
Almost too soon, the plane fell right to where I had been standing a second before. I looked up, and the monster was surrounded by Thalia, Percy, and the Hunters. I crept up behind it, sword in hand. Maybe I could just back them up.
"Thalia. Keep it occupied," Percy called.
She nodded, and I came around to where Percy was standing to assume his position. He bolted to the gift shop. Zoë yelled after him, but he was already knocking displays over and pushing things to the side. Thalia held up her shield to keep the lion at bay, but it wasn't going to work forever.
Percy emerged from the gift shop with dozens of silver packets spilling out of his arms. I recognized them immediately. Astronaut's Ice Cream. And other various foods. A disgrace to the term "food."
He started chucking them into the lions mouth, giving Zoë and Bianca extra chances to shoot it. Soon enough, there were arrows filling up the beasts mouth.
It stopped still and fell over, dead. Alarms were wailing, people were screaming, and security guards were panicking, not sure what was happening.
"That was an.... interesting strategy." Zoë raised an eyebrow at Percy after joining us on the ground floor.
"Hey, it worked."
The lion shimmered and dissolved, leaving nothing but a small fur behind.
"Take it," Zoë told Percy. They argued back and forth for a bit until Percy went over and picked it up. It turned to a golden brown duster as soon as he held it up, and he put it on, looking down at himself.
"Let's go," I was looking around the security guards. "They're not gonna stay confused for long, and we're armed teenagers in a national museum."
"The security guards aren't our biggest worry," Zoë pointed out to the glass windows. "Look."
When Percy said skeleton warriors, he really meant skeleton warriors. Gray men in camouflage suits were walking across the lawn right towards us.
"Go. They'll be hunting me." Percy got into fighting position.
"No," Zoë said. "We go together."
"But you said—"
"You are the fifth quest member now. I do not like it, but we leave no one behind."
•
hi guys i am so tired bc i was crying about king turbo from wreck it ralph all night the other day so i've hardly slept
this is also unedited