My shadows wrapped around me, making me invisible to the eyes of all, I followed Percy as he trailed Thorn towards the museum. I sighed quietly as I entered the building and a warm rush of air enveloped me.
Gods, it was freezing outside. But maybe that was my fault for only wearing a thick sweater.
"Washington is a lot colder than 'Frisco, okay?" I hissed as Ava eyed me with round, amber orbs. "Easy for you to say. Your coat is thicker than a Canada Goose jacket!"
I whirled into the shadows behind a pillar as Thorn's clicking footsteps against the marble floor halted, and cursed myself for my thoughtless action. You're stalking them, Clari, I reminded myself. Shut. Up.
"What, did all common sense fly out of your head?" I heard Hermes scold in my head. "Are you asking for them to become aware of you?"
I wasn't in my right mind, and it was starting to show. Godsdammit, I cursed in my head. Put. Luke. Out. Of. Your. Head.
Stop getting distracted, and FOCUS.
Taking a deep breath, steadying my mind again, I peered out from behind the pillar.
"Fuck," I muttered as I beheld an empty corridor. Thorn was nowhere in sight.
Cursing myself for the millionth time in the last minute, I scurried through the hallway, trying to stop myself from taking a second look at every exhibition and the items displayed in the arching chambers of the museum. There were dinosaurs, mastodons, and all sorts of skeletons of long-extinct animals, then a hallway full of ancient artifacts, golden sarcophagi, clay urns, and beautifully decorated accessories from ornate necklaces to headdresses.
Focus, I ordered, tearing my gaze away from the display shelves. You can ogle at these later. Find Thorn.
I hurried onward, though I knew in my gut that I'd never come back again. My feet silent on the tiles, Avalanche padding behind me, I rounded a hallway and saw a set of heavy oak doors, two guards standing next to it.
Looks like I've found them, I thought grimly and ducked back into the adjacent hallway. Reining in my shadows, I stepped around the corner again.
With my stalking gait and the flat, icy look in my eyes, the two guards didn't dare question who I was and swung open the door. I walked in without giving them a second glance, Avalanche at my heels.
"Oh, just in time, Rianna," Atlas boomed from his seat in the centre. "We can talk later. Come, join us."
"Yes, my lord," I murmured and bowed in deference. I risked a glance around the room, tallying up the number of mortal guards surrounding the balcony on the second floor of the circular room, and quickly walked to Luke.
"Thorn's in the middle of his debrief," Luke muttered to me quietly as I joined him. "Did you find the monster?"
I shook my head, "Sorry."
"As I was saying," Thorn interrupted, the annoyed look on his face deepening into a scowl as he glared at me. "I can finish them off."
"No," Atlas rumbled before Luke could say anything, the flare in his eyes telling me that I had walked in on an argument. "You have already failed us."
"But-"
"No excuses!" Atlas snapped, causing Thorn to flinch back, the smug look on his face disappearing in an instant. "I sent you to capture a child of the Big Three, and you brought me back a pathetic worm of the wisdom goddess! I should throw you into Tartarus for your incompetence."
Ah, so that's what this was about. Perhaps, I mused, a monster shall be eliminated if I play this right.
"It was only thanks to Luke and Rianna that we managed to move forward with the plan after your miserable failures," Atlas continued, glaring at Thorn in disgust. "Now get out of my sight until I find some other menial task for you."
I fought down my snicker as Thorn's face turned purple, like Dionysus' grapes, and shot a smirk in his direction.
Go on, shoot me, I thought as Thorn's tail lifted by an inch. See how far you make it then.
Sadly, Thorn didn't, just bowing awkwardly before exiting, and I sighed. Maybe next time.
"The daughter of Zeus is here," Atlas said, turning to me. "I presume the search was futile-not that I was expecting you to succeed," he added as I opened my mouth for an apology. "It's fine. We must isolate her and then the monster will appear."
"The Hunters," Luke pointed out. "Zoe Night-"
"Do not speak her name!"
"Sorry," Luke swallowed. "I just-"
"Just watch, and learn," Atlas said, silencing Luke with a wave of his hand. "Do you have the teeth?"
I whirled around to see a mortal holding a ceramic pot standing next to the door, who stumbled forward hurriedly. "Yes, General!"
"Plant them."
I watched in horrified fascination as the guard pushed sharp white teeth into a large circle of dirt in the centre of the room, smoothing them over. Atlas smiled, sending shivers down my spine, and I braced myself, my hand clenching around my rings, as the guard picked up a watering can with elegant daisies painted on it.
Blood, I thought instantly as a dark liquid spilled out from the spout.
An old memory began tickling in the back of my head as I watched the soil starting to bubble. I know this tale.
"Skeleton warriors," I whispered, and Atlas grinned.
"Let me show you two the soldiers that will make your little army from your boat look insignificant."
"With all due respect sir," I said as Luke clenched his fists. "We've spent a year training our forces. They will be the best when the Princess Andromeda arrives at Mount Tam-"
"Ha!" Atlas chuckled. "They will make a fine honour guard for our Lord. And you, my dear boy," he added, turning to Luke. "Will have a role to play-"
I fought the urge to start doing whatever I wanted to do that would likely have gotten me killed and shoved down the rising pain at his words, along with the urge to look at the boy standing next to me.
"but the forces of Lord Kronos will expand by a thousandfold under my command. We will be unstoppable. Behold, my ultimate killing machines."
The soil erupted and I tensed, waiting for skeletal hands to claw their way out of the dirt, but . . .
"It's a cat," I blurted as a pair of furry orange ears popped out, followed by the rest of its striped body.
"Mew?"
"They're cute," I whispered under my breath as another appeared, and then another, and bit my lip so hard I drew blood as they started rolling around in the dirt to stop the smile threatening to form.
Atlas didn't share my amusement. "You imbeciles!" he roared. "What is this? Baby kittens? Where in the name of Chaos did you find those teeth?"
I almost felt sorry for the mortal as he cowered in fear, stammering something out about sabretooth tigers, and Atlas growled and cursed in rage. "Take those infernal beasts outside and get the hell out!"
"Avalanche, go with them," I muttered to my wolf, who bobbed her head and slunk out of the room on the tails of the guards. Luke shot me a weird look and I shrugged innocently. Before he could reply, another guard scrambled inside, holding huge pointy teeth in his hands.
"Excellent," Atlas grinned, his temper dissipating instantly. "These foolish mortals don't even know what they have in their possession. Dinosaur teeth-as if! These dragon teeth are from Sybaris herself!"
I closed my eyes briefly. Gods. I knew what was coming next, and there would be no escape.
"Bring the scent," Atlas ordered to a dracaenae, who pulled out a silvery sash. "Once they catch it, no weapons known to half-blood or Hunter shall stop them from tearing them to shreds."
The skeletons erupted from the ground, grey skin knitting itself over white bones, yellow eyes appearing in their hollow sockets, clothes appearing, and I shivered at the cold, deathly vibes they threw into the room like smoke.
The dracaena released the scarf, letting it flutter towards Atlas, but before I could pull an illusion, an invisible force plowed through the warriors, sending them scattering and snatching the scarf.
Are you kidding me? I yelled in my head as chaos erupted around me. Percy! What are you thinking?
"An intruder cloaked in darkness. Seal the doors!" Atlas growled as Luke yelled out Percy's name.
Just then, a ripping sound tore through the room and I froze as a chunk of fabric appeared in the hands of one of the skeletons, who passed it around.
The door slammed, and silence fell, thick like a blanket, in the room.
Percy was gone, but the skeletons had caught his scent. And now, nothing would stop them from relentlessly hunting him.