chapter fifty-six
─── we star in a sci-fi/wild west film
𝖂e arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town, nestled in the mountains. The sign said WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO. It was situated in a valley surrounded by large evergreen forests and snow.
Even with my lion-skin coat, I was freezing by the time we got to Main Street, which was about half a mile from the train tracks. As we walked, I told Grover and Brooke about my conversation with Apollo the night before—how he'd told me to seek out Nereus in San Francisco.
Grover looked uneasy. "That's good, I guess. But we've got to get there first."
I tried not to get too depressed about our chances. I didn't want to send Grover into a panic, but I knew we had another huge deadline looming, aside from saving Artemis in time for her council of the gods. The General had said Andi and Annabeth would only be kept alive until the winter solstice. That was Friday, only four days away. And he'd said something about a sacrifice. I didn't like the sound of that at all.
Sacrifices meant trouble.
We stopped in the middle of town. You could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.
"Great," Brooke looked around hopelessly. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."
"There's a coffee shop!" said Grover.
"Yes," Zoe said. "Coffee is good."
"And pastries," Grover said dreamily. "And wax paper."
Brooke sighed. "Fine. How about you two go get us some food. Luke, Bianca, and I will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."
We agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable coming with us, but she did.
Inside the store, we found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car.
"You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo," the clerk said doubtfully. "That's down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars."
The clerk looked so lonely, I bought a rubber rat. Then we headed back outside and stood on the porch.
"Wonderful," Brooke grumped. "I'm going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion."
"That's a good plan," I told her. "I'm going to go and get us some money."
"How are you going to do that?" Bianca asked me, trailing behind me as I headed towards the nearest ATM. I made a show of taking out my wallet and pretending to put a card in, before placing my hand on the machine and waiting. It took a moment, but the machine whirred to life and let out a couple of bills into my hand. "How...?"
"Son of Hermes. Stealing comes with the territory," I murmured, pocketing the cash as Bianca and I turned away, to stand awkwardly by a house. We fell into silence.
"Nice rat," she said at last.
I set it on the porch railing. Maybe it would attract more business for the store.
"So...how do you like being a Hunter so far?" I asked.
She pursed her lips. "You're not still mad at me for joining, are you?"
"It was your choice in the end. I just felt it was rushed,"
"Rushed?"
"You'd only just found out you were a demigod and then you became a Hunter almost immediately afterwards," I shrugged. "It just seems a bit rushed, that's all."
"When did you find out you were a demigod then?"
"I've known since I was born. My dad was always around my mum because she went crazy and was unsuitable to raise a child," I sighed. I needed to visit my mum soon, I knew I did, but I couldn't handle it at the moment. Not with Andi and Annabeth missing. Maybe when we got them back, after Christmas. "So, I ran away and went to Camp Half-Blood."
"I'm sorry,"
"No need. It was a long time ago now," I shrugged and we fell into silence again. Bianca broke it a moment later.
"Nico didn't understand my decision," Bianca murmured.
"Nico will be fine at Camp Half-Blood. They take in lots of you kids. Just like me and Annabeth."
Bianca nodded. "I hope we find them. Andromeda and Annabeth, I mean. They're lucky to have you."
"Lot of good it did them." I muttered, slightly louder than I wanted to say it.
"Don't blame yourself, Luke. You risked your life to save my brother and me. I mean, that was seriously brave. If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't have felt okay about leaving Nico at the camp. I figured if there were people like you there, Nico would be fine. You're a good guy."
"Even though I knocked you down in capture the flag?"
She laughed. "Okay. Except for that, you're a good guy."
A couple hundred yards away, Grover and Zoe came out of the coffee shop loaded down with pastry bags and drinks.
"So what's the story with you and Nico?" I asked her. "Where did you go to school before Westover?"
She frowned. "I think it was a boarding school in D.C. It seems like so long ago."
"You never lived with your parents? I mean, your mortal parent?"
"We were told our parents were dead. There was a bank trust for us. A lot of money, I think. A lawyer would come by once in a while to check on us. Then Nico and I had to leave that school."
"Why?"
She knit her eyebrows. "We had to go somewhere. I remember it was important. We travelled a long way. And we stayed in this hotel for a few weeks. And then...I don't know. One day a different lawyer came to get us out. He said it was time for us to leave. He drove us back east, through D.C. Then up into Maine. And we started going to Westover."
It was a strange story. Then again, Bianca and Nico were half-bloods. Nothing would be normal for them.
"So you've been raising Nico pretty much all your life?" I asked. "Just the two of you?"
She nodded. "That's why I wanted to join the Hunters so bad. I mean, I know it's selfish, but I wanted my own life and friends. I love Nico—don't get me wrong—I just needed to find out what it would be like not to be a big sister twenty-four hours a day."
I could respect that. Sometimes, you just wanted to be free of the responsibility that had been placed upon you and act like a child again, no matter how hard it was.
"Zoe seems to trust you," I said. "What were you guys talking about, anyway—something dangerous about the quest?"
"When?"
"Yesterday morning on the pavilion," I said, shoving my hands deep into my pocket. "Something about the General."
Her face darkened. "How did you...The invisibility hat. Were you eavesdropping?"
"I told you. Child of Hermes," I sent her a grin that I knew annoyed Annabeth to no end, before accepting the coffee that Zoe handed me.
"We should do the tracking spell," Zoe said. "Grover, do you have any acorns left?"
"Umm," Grover mumbled. He was chewing on a bran muffin, wrapper and all. "I think so. I just need to—"
He froze.
I was about to ask what was wrong, when a warm breeze rustled past, like a gust of springtime had gotten lost in the middle of winter. Fresh air seasoned with wildflowers and sunshine. And something else—almost like a voice, trying to say something. A warning.
Zoe gasped. "Grover, your cup."
Grover dropped his coffee cup, which was decorated with pictures of birds. Suddenly the birds peeled off the cup and flew away—a flock of tiny doves. My rubber rat squeaked. It scampered off the railing and into the trees—real fur, real whiskers.
Grover collapsed next to his coffee, which steamed against the snow. We gathered around him and tried to wake him up. He groaned, his eyes fluttering.
"Hey!" Brooke called, running up from the street. "I just... What's wrong with Grover?"
"He collapsed."
"Well, get him up!" Brooke called. She had a wicked looking dagger in her hand. She looked behind her as if she were being followed. "We have to get out of here."
We made it to the edge of the town before the first two skeleton warriors appeared. They stepped from the trees on either side of the road. Instead of grey camouflage, they were now wearing blue New Mexico State Police uniforms, but they had the same transparent grey skin and yellow eyes.
They drew their handguns. I'll admit I used to think it would be kind of cool to learn how to shoot a gun, but I changed my mind as soon as the skeleton warriors pointed theirs at me.
I cursed in Ancient Greek, before drawing Backbiter.
Zoe and Bianca grabbed their bows, but Bianca was having trouble because Grover kept swooning and leaning against her.
"Back up," Brooke said.
We started to—but then I heard a rustling of branches. Two more skeletons appeared on the road behind us. We were surrounded.
I wondered where the other skeletons were. I'd seen a dozen at the Smithsonian. Then one of the warriors raised a cell phone to his mouth and spoke into it.
Except he wasn't speaking. He made a clattering, clicking sound, like dry teeth on bone. Suddenly I understood what was going on. The skeletons had split up to look for us. These skeletons were now calling their brethren. Soon we'd have a full party on our hands.
"It's near," Grover moaned.
"It's here," I said.
"No," he insisted. "The gift. The gift from the Wild."
I didn't know what he was talking about, but I was worried about his condition. He was in no shape to walk, much less fight.
"We'll have to go one-on-one," I strategized. "Four of them. Four of us. Maybe they'll ignore Grover that way."
"Agreed," said Zoe.
"The Wild!" Grover moaned.
A warm wind blew through the canyon, rustling the trees, but I kept my eyes on the skeletons. I remembered the General gloating over my girls' fates. I remembered the way Puck had betrayed them and me.
And I charged.
The first skeleton fired. Time slowed down. I won't say I could see the bullet, but I could feel its path. I deflected it off the edge of my blade and kept charging. The skeleton drew a baton and I sliced off his arms at the elbows. Then I swung Backbiter through his waist and cut him in half.
His bones unknit and clattered to the asphalt in a heap. Almost immediately, they began to move, reassembling themselves. The second skeleton clattered his teeth at me and tried to fire, but I knocked his gun into the snow.
I thought I was doing pretty well, until the other two skeletons shot me in the back.
"Luke!" Brooke screamed.
I landed facedown in the street. Then I realized something...I wasn't dead. The impact of the bullets had been dull, like a push from behind, but they hadn't hurt me.
My coat was bulletproof.
Brooke charged the second skeleton. Zoe and Bianca started firing arrows at the third and fourth. Grover stood there and held his hands out to the trees, looking like he wanted to hug them.
There was a crashing sound in the forest to our left, like a bulldozer. Maybe the skeletons' reinforcements were arriving. I got to my feet and ducked a police baton. The skeleton I'd cut in half was already fully re-formed, coming after me.
There was no way to stop them. Zoe and Bianca fired at their heads point-blank, but the arrows just whistled straight through their empty skulls. One lunged at Bianca, and I thought she was a goner, but she whipped out her hunting knife and stabbed the warrior in the chest. The whole skeleton erupted into flames, leaving a little pile of ashes and a police badge.
"How did you do that?" Zoe asked.
"I don't know," Bianca said nervously. "Lucky stab?"
"Great! Keep doing it," I called, struggling to my feet even though I was winded.
Bianca tried, but the remaining three skeletons were wary of her now. They pressed us back, keeping us at baton's length.
"Plan?" I said as we retreated.
Nobody answered. The trees behind the skeletons were shivering. Branches were cracking.
"A gift," Grover muttered.
And then, with a mighty roar, the largest pig I'd ever seen came crashing into the road. It was a wild boar, thirty feet high, with a snotty pink snout and tusks the size of canoes. Its back bristled with brown hair, and its eyes were wild and angry.
"REEEEEEEEET!" it squealed, and raked the three skeletons aside with its tusks. The force was so great, they went flying over the trees and into the side of the mountain, where they smashed to pieces, thigh bones and arm bones twirling everywhere.
Then the pig turned on us.
I raised Backbiter, but Grover yelled, "Don't kill it.'"
The boar grunted and pawed the ground, ready to charge.
"That's the Erymanthian Boar," Zoe said, trying to stay calm. "I don't think we can kill it."
"It's a gift," Grover said. "A blessing from the Wild!"
The boar said "REEEEEEET!" and swung its tusk. Zoe and Bianca dived out of the way. I had to push Grover so he wouldn't get launched into the mountain.
"Yeah, I feel really blessed!" I said. "Scatter!"
We ran in different directions, and for a moment the boar was confused.
"It wants to kill us!" Brooke said.
"Of course," Grover said. "It's wild!"
"So how is that a blessing?" Bianca asked.
It seemed a fair question to me, but the pig was offended and charged her. She was faster than I'd realized. She rolled out of the way of its hooves and came up behind the beast. It lashed out with its tusks and pulverized the WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT sign.
I racked my brain, trying to remember the myth of the boar. I was pretty sure Hercules had fought this thing once, but I couldn't remember how he'd beaten it. I had a vague memory of the boar ploughing down several Greek cities before Hercules managed to subdue it. I hoped Cloudcroft was insured against giant wild boar attacks.
"Keep moving!" Zoe yelled. She and Bianca ran in opposite directions. Grover danced around the boar, playing his pipes while the boar snorted and tried to gouge him. But Brooke and I won the prize for bad luck. When the boar turned on us, Brooke made the mistake of casting a couple of runes to try and keep us safe.
The boar was having none of it and charged us.
We only managed to keep ahead of it because we ran uphill, and we could dodge in and out of trees while the boar had to plow through them.
On the other side of the hill, I found an old stretch of train tracks, half buried in the snow.
"This way.'" I grabbed Brooke's arm and we ran along the rails while the boar roared behind us, slipping and sliding as it tried to navigate the steep hillside. Its hooves just were not made for this, thank the gods. Ahead of us, I saw a covered tunnel. Past that, an old trestle bridge spanning a gorge. I had a crazy idea.
"Follow me!"
Brooke slowed down, but I pulled her along and she reluctantly followed. Behind us, a ten-ton pig tank was knocking down pine trees and crushing boulders under its hooves as it chased us.
Brooke and I ran into the tunnel and came out on the other side.
"Oh, no!" She called, both of us stopping as we reached the edge of the bridge. Below, the mountain dropped away into a snow-filled gorge.
The boar was right behind us.
"Come on!" I said. "It'll hold our weight, probably."
"I am not doing that!"
"I'm wearing flying shoes, Brooke, trust me!"
The boar smashed into the covered tunnel, tearing through at full speed.
"Now!" I grabbed the daughter of Hecate, jumping off the side of the cliff. "Maia!"
My shoes kicked in, the wings fluttering to life as we began to gently ascend to the bottom of the gorge. The boar was less fortunate; it couldn't turn that fast, so all ten tons of the monster charged out onto the tiny trestle, which buckled under its weight. The boar free-fell into the gorge with a mighty squeal and landed in a snowdrift with a huge POOOOOF !
Brooke and I landed at the bottom, in one piece. Both of us were windswept, but otherwise nothing else. Next to us, the wild boar was squealing and struggling. All I could see was the bristly tip of its back. It was wedged completely in the snow like Styrofoam packing. It didn't seem to be hurt, but it wasn't going anywhere, either.
Above us, Grover's voice called, "Helloooooo?"
"Down here!" I shouted.
A few minutes later, Zoe, Bianca, and Grover joined us. We stood watching the wild boar struggle in the snow.
"A blessing of the Wild," Grover said, though he now looked agitated.
"I agree," Zoe said. "We must use it."
"Hold up," Brooke said irritably. "Explain to me why you're so sure this pig is a blessing."
Grover looked over, distracted. "It's our ride west. Do you have any idea how fast this boar can travel?"
"Fun," I said.
Grover nodded. "We need to get aboard. I wish...I wish I had more time to look around. But it's gone now."
"What's gone?"
Grover didn't seem to hear me. He walked over to the boar and jumped onto its back. Already the boar was starting to make some headway through the drift. Once it broke free, there'd be no stopping it. Grover took out his pipes. He started playing a snappy tune and tossed an apple in front of the boar. The apple floated and spun right above the boar's nose, and the boar went nuts, straining to get it.
"Automatic steering," Brooke looked like she wanted to throw herself off of the cliff again, but this time without my winged shoes. "Great."
She trudged over and jumped on behind Grover, which still left plenty of room for the rest of us. Zoe and Bianca walked toward the boar.
"Wait a second," I said. "Do you two know what Grover is talking about—this wild blessing?"
"Of course," Zoe said. "Did you not feel it in the wind? It was so strong...I never thought I would sense that presence again."
"What presence?"
She stared at me like I was an idiot. "The Lord of the Wild, of course. Just for a moment, in the arrival of the boar, I felt the presence of Pan."
"Oh, silly me, I should have known," I huffed, before clambering onto the boar.
∘☽༓☾∘
Hiya,
Snarky Luke is great fun and he just misses Andi and Annabeth. Got to love him for it, cause I would also miss Andi and Annabeth.
Let me know what you think,
Love Li xx