prologue!
000. he will find her
percy.
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HE DREAMED OF HER.
Sometimes it would be fragments: just glimpses of blonde hair, or a flicker of a smile. Other times, it would be her laugh▬so bright and happy it made him yearn to hear it again, and again, and again. He saw the glimmer in her eyes whenever she grinned at him, or rolled her gaze at something stupid he said. He felt her arms around him, holding tight and nuzzling her face into his chest, but when he went to hug her back, she wasn't there. She'd disappear like smoke, running away from him like water, getting further and further away until he barely remembered what she felt like, how she sounded, or the beauty of her smile.
But he remembered her name. He remembered her name like a sonnet▬like it was rooted into his very being in a way that nothing could separate him from it.
Claire.
Claire, Claire, Claire.
He said it to himself; a mantra to keep himself going, to stop himself from dropping in exhaustion. To keep pushing on, to keep running, to keep fighting, to finally get rid of these gorgons once and for all.
They should've died three days ago when he dropped a crate of bowling balls on them at the Napa Bargain Mart. They should have died two days ago when he ran them over with a police car that he borrowed (stole) in Martinez. And they definitely should have died this morning when he cut off their heads in Tilden Park.
No matter how many times Percy killed them. No matter how many times they crumbled to dust at his feet, they just kept re-forming and re-forming. Their limbs configured together, their fingers twisted back to claws, and their heads merged up from their severed necks like evil dust bunnies. And while Percy got tired, they didn't waste a beat.
He reached the top of the hill and caught his breath. Percy swallowed harshly, feeling his tongue parched with a stitch at his side▬even as fit as he was (or he believed he was), running non stop like he had just been, it was enough to make any great athlete ache. How long since he last killed them? He tried to think back ... two hours? Maybe? They never seemed to stay dead longer than that.
"Fuck me," Percy breathed, chest heaving and the sun glaring down on his skin making it burn. His forehead was drenched with sweat. "Why can't they just die already?" he asked no one in particular.
The past few days, he's hardly slept. He's eaten whatever he could find▬vending machine gummy bears, stale bagels, even a Jack in the Crack burrito (which was a personal low). His clothes were torn, burned, and splattered with monster slime and dust that must make him stink worse than sewage.
He had only survived this long because the two gorgons couldn't seem to kill him either. Their claws didn't cut his skin. Their teeth broke whenever they tried to bite him. His skin seemed to be made of iron, but this strange gift he had also seemed to take a horrible tole on his stamina. He knew he couldn't keep going much longer. Soon he'd collapse from exhaustion, and then▬as hard as he seemed to be to kill, he was pretty sure that would be it.
Claire.
Percy forced himself to stand up straight again, wincing at the ache in his knees and right hand from griping his sword so tightly for so long.
Where could he run? Where could he go next?
He scanned his surroundings. To his left, golden hills rolled inland as if they had been kissed with sunshine, dotted with lakes, woodland and herds of cattle. To his right, the flatlands of Berkeley and Oakland marched west with determination▬a vast checkerboard of neighbourhoods, with several million people who probably didn't want their morning interrupted by two monsters and a filthy demigod.
Farther west, San Francisco Bay glittered under a silvery haze. Past that, rose a wall of fog that was most of San Francisco, completely swallowed in a grey mass, leaving just the tops of skyscrapers and the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.
A vague sadness weighed on Percy's chest, making his stance heavy for a moment. It told him he'd been to San Francisco before ... he didn't know when, he didn't know why, he didn't know how ... he just knew there was a connection to her. It had a connection to Claire. He came here with her. And she smiled at him and she must've laughed and she must've told him he was stupid, because that was how he felt every other time the back of his mind told him she had been there. He felt bare without her, he knew that. He knew it with a terrible ache in his heart.
He seemed to know her so much, and yet knew so frustratingly little▬it made him want to slam his sword down onto the earth of the hill.
But the wolf had promised him he'd see her again and regain his memory▬if he succeeded in his journey.
He had to succeed.
He had a few options. He could cross the bay where he could feel the power of the ocean just over the horizon. Water always revived him▬salt water was the best. He had discovered that two days ago when he strangled a sea monster in the Carquinez Strait. (That was good fun). If he could reach the bay, he might be able to make a last stand. Maybe he could drown the gorgons. But the shore was at least two miles away; he'd have to cross an entire city.
But that wasn't the only reason he hesitated. Lupe taught him to sharpen his senses▬to trust the instincts that had been guiding him south. And he could feel it pulling him. The end of his journey was close▬almost right under his feet. But how could that be? There was nothing on the hilltop.
Perhaps Percy's senses were already thinking he belonged six feet under.
The wind changed. Percy stiffened▬he caught a sour scent, like sherbet had exploded right up his nose. A hundred yards down the slope behind him, something rustled through the woods▬snapping branches, crunching leaves ... all with a furious hiss like a dozen snakes.
The gorgons were back.
Percy swore to himself again. He wished their noses weren't so good▬they always said they could smell him because he was a demigod; the half-blood son of some old Roman god. Percy had tried rolling in mud, splashing through creeks, even keeping air-freshener sticks in his pockets so he'd have that new car smell; but apparently, the smell of a demigod followed him around like his own shadow.
He scrambled to the west side of the summit. It was too steep to descend▬the slope plummeted what he guessed eighty feet, straight to the roof of an apartment complex built into the hillside. Fifty feet below that, a highway emerged from the hill's base and wound its way towards Berkeley.
He knew he was trapped.
Percy stared at the steam of cars flowing west towards San Francisco. He wished he was in one of them. Then he realised the highway must cut through the hill ... there must be a tunnel, right under his feet.
He knew he had to go there. He was in the right place, just too high up. He needed to check out that tunnel. He needed a way down to the highway▬fast.
He wondered whether that would be it. Whether he'd make it to the tunnel and she'd be there, waiting for him. Would she smile? Would she laugh and punch him lightly to tell him he was an idiot like she does in his dreams?
The thought made him sling off his backpack. He had managed to bra a lot of supplies at the Napa Bargain Mart: a portable GPS, duct tape, a lighter, superglue, a water bottle, a sampling roll, a Comfy Panda Pillow Pet (as seen on TV) he had named Blackjack (the name was strangely familiar to him; it made him feel at ease), and a Swiss army knife▬pretty much every tool a modern demigod could want. But he had nothing that would serve as a parachute or a sled.
That left him two options: jump eighty feet to his death, or stand and fight. Both options sounded equally as bad as the other.
Claire.
Percy reached for his pen.
It might look like nothing▬just a simple ball point pen with blue ink, but as soon as he uncapped it, there was a shring into the air. In seconds, the tip of the pen extended out into a glowing bronze, leaf-shaped double-edged sword. The blade balanced perfectly. The leather grip fit his hand like it had been customised for no one except him. Etched along its guard was an Ancient Greek word▬that somehow, he understood▬Anaklusmos: Riptide.
(He woke up with this sword his first night at the Wolf House▬two months ago? More? He'd lost track. Either way, he found himself in the courtyard of a haunting burnt-out mansion in the woods of a silent, breathless wood wearing shorts, an orange tee-shirt and a leather necklace with a bunch of strange clay beads. Riptide had been in his hand, but Percy had no idea how he'd got there, and only the vaguest idea of who he was. He had been barefoot, freezing and confused. And then the wolves came...)
"There you are!"
Percy stumbled, almost falling off the edge of the hill. There, right beside him, was one of the gorgons. The smiling one▬Beano.
(That wasn't really her name. Percy had a feeling he was dyslexic, because words got twisted around when he tried to read. The first time he met her, posing as a Bargain Mart greeter with a big green button that read: Welcome! My name is STHENO, he thought it said BEANO).
She still wore her green Bargain Mart employee vest over a flower-print dress. She looked like someone's old grandmother, until you looked down and saw she had rooster feet, or up and saw bronze boar tusks sticking out of the corners of her mouth. Her eyes glowed red, and her hair was a writhing nest of bright green snakes. And the worst thing about her? It wasn't the red eyes, or the murderous intent (though that was a close second), she was still holding her big silver platter of free samples: Crispy Cheese 'n' Wieners. Her platter was dented from all the times Percy had killed her with it, but those little samples looked perfectly fine in the most frustrating, annoying, infuriating▬
It was weird he fixated on that specific detail, but considering how many times he's killed her, they should be crushed to mush on the ground! And yet, they seemed to reform just as quickly as her!
"Try one?" Stheno offered.
Percy fended her off with his sword. "Where's your sister?"
"Oh, put the sword away!" she chided. "You know by now that even Celestial bronze can't kill us for long. Have a Cheese 'n' Wiener! They're on sale this week, and I'd hate to kill you on an empty stomach!"
"Touching," muttered Percy. "But I think I'll pass."
(He wondered whether he could throw that tray of Cheese 'n' Wieners off the edge before she'd notice).
"Stheno!" the second gorgon appeared on Percy's right so fast, he didn't have time to react. Fortunately, she was too busy glaring at her sister to pay him much attention. "I told you to sneak up on him and kill him!"
Stheno's smile wavered. "But, Euryale ..." she said the same so it rhymed with Muriel. "Can't I give him a sample first?"
"No, you imbecile!" Euryale turned towards Percy and bared her fangs.
Aside for her hair, which was a nest of coral snakes instead of green vipers, she looked exactly like her sister. Her Bargain Mart vest, her flowery dress, even her tusks were decorated with fifty-per-cent-off stickers. Her name tag read: Hello! My name is DIE, DEMIGOD SCUM!
"You've led us on quite a chase, Percy Jackson," said Euryale. "But now you're trapped, and we'll have our revenge!"
"The Cheese 'n' Wieners are only two dollars ninety-nine!" added Stheno helpfully. "Grocery department, aisle three!"
This caused for more arguments between the two sisters. Percy stepped back. Six more inches, and he'd be tumbling through thin air. "Look, ladies, we've been over this. I don't even remember killing Medusa. I don't remember anything! Can't we just call a truce and talk about your weekly specials?"
Stheno looked delighted, but her sister cried out a seething: "No! I don't care what you remember, son of the sea god. I can smell Medusa's blood on you. It's faint, yes, several years old, but you were the last one to defeat her. She still has not returned from Tartarus. It's your fault!"
"How about we call it a draw?" Percy offered, holding up his hands and sword. He tried not to sound sarcastic, but in his short experience, he couldn't seem to help it. He also tried to keep his head from anything 'dying then returning from Tartarus' concepts because it piqued a terrible headache between his brows. "I can't kill you. You can't kill me. If you're Medusa's sisters▬like the Medusa who turned people to stone▬shouldn't I be petrified by now?"
"Heroes!" said Euryale with a scoff of disgust. "They always bring that up, just like our mother! 'Why can't you turn people to stone? Your sister can turn people to stone', Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, boy! That was Medusa's curse alone. She was the most hideous one in the family. She got all the luck!"
Stheno blinked. She looked hurt. "Mother said I was the most hideous."
"Beano, you're so hideous it makes me want to throw up," Percy told her.
Her gaze welled up for a moment, "You're so sweet! Euryale, do we really have to kill him?"
"Quiet!" her sister snapped. "As for you, Percy Jackson, it's true you bear the Mark of Achilles. That makes you a little tougher to kill. But don't worry. We'll find a way."
"The mark of what?"
"Achilles!" said Stheno cheerfully. "Oh, he was gorgeous! Dropped in the River Styx as a child, you know, so he was invulnerable except for a tiny spot on his ankle. That's what happened to you, dear. Someone must've dumped you in the Styx and made your skin like iron. But not to worry. Heroes like you always have a weak spot. We just have to find it, and then we can kill you. Won't that be lovely? Have a Cheese 'n' Wiener!"
Percy didn't remember dipping in the River Styx. Then again, he didn't really remember anything. His skin didn't feel like iron, but it would explain how he hasn't died yet. Maybe if he just fell down the mountain ... would he survive? He didn't want to risk it▬not without something to slow the fall, or a sled, or▬
His gaze snapped to Stheno's large silver platter of free samples.
(Now, that could work...)
"Reconsidering?" Stheno asked. "Very wise, dear. I added some gorgon's blood to these, so your death will be quick and painless."
Percy felt something twist inside of him. He stared at her, disgusted. "Y▬you added your blood to the Cheese 'n' Wieners?"
"Just a little," she smiled. "A tiny nick on my arm, but you're sweet to be concerned. Blood from our right can cure anything, you know, but blood from our left side is deadly▬"
"You dimwit!" screeched Euryale. "You're not supposed to tell him that! He won't eat the wieners if you tell him they're poisoned!"
Stheno looked stunned. "He won't? But I said it would be quick and painless."
Euryale looked ready to kill her sister instead. "Never mind!" her fingernails grew into claws. "We'll kill him the hard way▬just keep slashing until we find the weak spot. Once we defeat Percy Jackson, we'll be more famous than Medusa! Our patron will reward us greatly!"
Percy gripped his sword. He'd have to time his move perfectly▬a few seconds of confusion, grab the platter with his left hand and ... Keep them talking, he thought. "Before you slash me to bits," he said, "who's this patron you mentioned?"
Euryale sneered. "The goddess Gaea, of course! The one who brought us back from oblivion! You won't live long enough to meet her, but your friends below will soon face her wrath. Even now, her enemies are marching south. At the Feast of Fortune, she'll awaken, and the demigods will be cut down like▬like▬"
"Like our low prices at Bargain Mart!" Stheno suggested.
A horrible thought etched into Percy's chest, like a blade. Your friends below will soon face her wrath. If Claire was down below▬
Percy acted faster than he expected he could after so long running. He grabbed Stheno's platter, scattering her poisoned Cheese 'n' Wieners and slashed Riptide across her sister's waist, his sword splitting her clean into two.
He raised the platter, and Stheno found herself facing her own reflection. "Medusa!" she screamed.
Her sister Euryale had crumbled to dust, but she was already starting to reform, coming together up, twisting into a horrific image of mismatched red eyes and lips: "Stheno, you fool! That's just your own reflection! Get him!"
But Percy wasn't going to let this chance fade away. He slammed the metal tray on top of Stheno's head so hard, she crumpled to the ground, passed out cold. He then put the platter behind his backside, and with a silent prayer to whatever Roman god oversaw stupid sledding tricks, jumped off the side of the hill.
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THERE IS A secret to plummeting downhill at fifty miles an hour on a snack platter: if you realise it is a bad idea about halfway down? It's far too late.
Percy narrowly missed a tree, glanced off a boulder, and spun a three-sixty as he hurtled towards the highway like a bullet shot right out from a barrel. The stupid snack tray did not have power steering. He heard the gorgon sisters screaming and caught a glimpse of Euryale's coral-snake hair at the top of the hill, but he didn't have time to worry about. The roof of the apartment building loomed below him like the prow of a battle ship. Head-on collision in ten, night, eight...
He gritted his teeth as he swivelled sideways. Pain shot up through his body▬jarring his bones and making them rattle. But he managed not to break his legs on impact. The snack platter skittered across the roof and sailed through the air▬it went one way, Percy went the other. He tumbled towards the highway with a cry, and for a terrifying moment, he thought he'd land on someone's windshield. Some annoyed commuter would then try to push him off with the wipers: Stupid sixteen-year-old kid falling from the sky! I'm late!
But miraculously, before he could become more splat! than a bug, a gust of wind blew him to one side▬and he missed the highway, crashing (still very painfully) into a clump of bushes. They didn't scratch his skin, but they tore at his already torn shirt, and it sort of hurt in his chest▬he was attached to this shirt for some reason. Very attached.
Percy groaned, letting out a long sigh as he stared up at the sky. He watched the clouds pass for a second, wishing he could just lie there and pass out, but he had to keep moving. He struggled to his feet. His hands weren't scratched, but they looked red and raw. No bones seemed to be broken▬which was a positive. He still had his backpack. Somewhere on the sled ride he had lost his sword, but in his experience, he knew it would eventually reappear in his pocket in pen form. That was part of its magic. It was the only thing in the world that seemed to be ADHD proof and not ADHD proof at the same time. (Like, who gives an ADHD kid a sword? Gods, apparently...).
Up on the hill, the gorgons were picking their way down the slope, going slower than Percy but with a lot more control. He figured he had maybe five minutes before they reached him.
He had multiple options:
Next to him, a tall chain-link fence separated the highway from a neighbourhood of winding streets, cosy houses and eucalyptus trees. The fence was probably there to keep people from getting onto the highway and doing stupid things (now, who on earth would do that...?), but the chain-link was full of holes. Percy could easily slip though and into the neighbourhood, steal a car, and drive west to the ocean.
And then, there was up above▬just as he figured▬a hundred yards uphill, the highway cut through the base of the cliff. Two tunnel entrances, one for each direction of traffic, stared down at him like the eye sockets of a gigantic skull. In the middle, where the nose would have been, a cement wall jutted from the hillside with a metal door like the entrance to a bunker.
It might've been a maintenance tunnel. That was what mortals probably thought. But he wasn't a mortal, he was a demigod, and they are never just maintenance tunnels. Two kids in armour flanked the entrance. They wore a bizarre mix of plumed Roman helmets, breastplates, scabbards, blue jeans, purple tee-shirts and white trainers. The guard on the right looked like a girl, though it was hard to tell for sure with all the armour. The one on the left was a stocky guy with a bow and quiver on his back▬a strange build for an archer. Both kids held long wooden staffs with iron spear tips.
His breath hitched. His gut told him that was it▬after so many horrible days, he has finally reached his goal. His instincts told him that if he could make it inside that door, he might find safety for the first time ever since the wolves sent him south.
He might even find her.
He might finally see her again.
(So why did he feel such dread?).
He glanced back. The gorgons were getting closer. He had three minutes▬maybe less.
But when he saw those kids outside that maintenance door, he felt the need to either attack or run away. This isn't my territory. This is dangerous.
Something wasn't quite right, and it unnerved him.
"You're right, of course," said a voice next to him.
Percy jumped. "What the▬?!"
At first, he thought Beano had managed to sneak up on him again with her Cheese n' Wieners, but the old lady sitting in the bushes looked far more repulsive than a gorgon. She wore a dress made of tie-dyed cloth, ripped up quilts and plastic grocery bags. Her frizzy mop of hair was grey-brown, like root-bear foam (though, Percy can't possibly exactly remember how he knows that similarity), tied back with a peace-sign headband. Warts and moles covered her face. When she smiled, she only had three teeth.
Percy wondered whether he had fallen too hard and somehow met the Wicked Witch of the West.
"It isn't a maintenance tunnel," she continued. "it's the entrance to camp."
A jolt went up Percy's spine. Camp. That word made him feel warm inside: came with a smell like smoking marshmallows over a warm fire, the distant sound of singing and a laugh▬a beautiful laugh. Yes, that's where he was from. Camp. Home. Maybe this was his home. Maybe Claire was up there waiting for him; close by.
But something felt wrong. Something wasn't right. Something turned the jolt into a bone-chilling crawl.
He heard Stheno shriek in delight and he looked over his shoulder; they had found him, and they were on their way to kill him.
The strange, old lady raised her eyebrows, "Not much time, child. You need to make your choice."
"Who are you?" asked Percy.
"Oh, you can call me June," the old lady's eyes sparkled as if she had made an excellent joke. "It is June, isn't it? They named the month after me!"
"Okay..." Percy was seriously weirded out. "Look, I should go. Two gorgons are coming. I don't want them to hurt you."
June clasped her hands over her heart. "How sweet! But that's part of your choice!"
"My choice..." Percy glanced, nervous, up at the hill. The gorgons had taken off their green vests. Wings sprouted from their backs▬small bat wings that glinted like brass.
(Since when did they have wings?!). Percy hoped they were ornamental, but he knew he was hoping for far too much. He managed a sarcastic thought to himself of great, just great when they leapt off the apartment building and soared towards him.
"Yes, a choice," said June, not in any hurry. "You could leave me here at the mercy of the gorgons and go to the ocean. You'd make it there safely, I guarantee. The gorgons will be quite happy to attack me and let you go. In the sea, no monster will bother you. You could begin a new life, live to a ripe old age, and escape a great deal of pain and misery that is in your future."
Percy was pretty sure he wouldn't like the second option. "Or?"
"Or you could do a good deed for an old lady," she said simply. "Carry me to the camp with you."
(She was kidding, right?).
"Carry you?"
June hiked up her skirts and showed him her swollen, purple feet. "I can't get there myself," she said. "Carry me to camp▬across the highway, through the tunnel, across the river."
What river? Either way, it didn't sound easy. June looked pretty heavy. The gorgons were only fifty yards away now▬leisurely gliding towards him as if they knew the hunt was almost over; he was finally easy meat. Percy looked at the old lady. "And I'd carry you to this camp because▬?"
"Because it's a kindness!" she said. "And if you don't the gods will die, the world we know will perish and everyone from your old life will be destroyed. Of course, you wouldn't remember them, so I suppose it won't matter. You'd be safe at the bottom of the sea..."
Percy swallowed hard. The gorgons continued to shriek with laughter as they soared in for the kill. His heart began to hammer as he thought it over. The sea was the easy option. He could go for the easy option, and for some reason, he had a feeling he never really had the chance for an easy life ... but ...
"If I go to the camp," he said, meeting the woman's gaze. It looked ancient, and yet so youthful with mirth, "will ... will I get my memory back? Will I see Claire again?"
There was a ghost of a smile on her face. She knew something he didn't, and it almost infuriated him. "Eventually," said June. "But be warned, you will sacrifice much! You'll lose the mark of Achilles. You'll feel pain, misery, and loss beyond anything you've ever known. But you might have a chance to save your old friends and family, to reclaim your old life. To save Claire Moore from her past yet again, I suppose."
Claire Moore.
Claire, Claire, Claire ... of course she'd have a pretty last name like Moore.
What did June mean? To save her from her past yet again? Had he saved her before? Percy felt like she spent most of her time saving him.
But if she had to be saved, he had to get to her in time.
The gorgons circled overhead. "What about the guards at the door?" then asked Percy.
June smiled, "Oh, they'll let you in, dear. You can trust those two. So, what do you say? Will you help a defenceless old woman?"
Percy doubted June was defenceless. At worst, this was a trap. At best, this was some kind of test.
(And Percy hated tests. Since he lost his memory, his whole life was one big fill-in-the-blank. He was▬blank▬from▬blank▬He felt like▬#$!*%!▬and if the monsters caught him, he'd be▬F#!$%8!! blank).
Then he thought about Claire, the only part of his old life he was sure about.
He had to find her.
"I'll carry you," he scooped up the old woman into his arms.
She was light▬far lighter than he expected, which he decided was a blessing. He ignored the sour choke of her breath and her calloused hands clinging to his neck. He made it across the first lane of traffic. Some driver honked, he didn't pay attention▬someone was yelling whatever that was lost in the wind. Most just swerved and looked irritated, as if they had to deal with a lot of ratty teenagers carrying old women across the freeway here on a daily basis.
A shadow fell over him. Stheno called down gleefully: "Clever boy! Found a goddess to carry, did you?"
A goddess? Who was she the goddess of▬potato sack dresses?
June cackled with delight, muttering, "Whoops▬!" as a car almost killed them.
Somewhere off to his left, Euryale screamed: "Get them! Two prizes are better than one!"
Percy bolted across the remaining lanes. Somehow, he made it to the median alive. He saw the gorgons swooping down▬cars swerved dramatically as the monsters passed overhead, and he wondered what the mortals saw through the Mist ... giant pelicans? Off-course hang gliders? The wolf Lupa told him that mortal minds could believe just about anything▬except the truth.
He ran for the door in the hillside. June got heavier with each step. His heart pounded. His ribs ached.
One of the guards yelled. The guy with the bow nocked an arrow. Percy shouted, "Wait▬!"
But he wasn't aiming at him. The arrow flew right over Percy's head. Behind him, a gorgon wailed in pain. The second guard readied her spear, gesturing frantically for Percy to hurry.
Fifty feet from the door. Thirty feet ...
"Gotcha!" shrieked Euryale. Percy turned as an arrow struck her square in the forehead. She tumbled into the fast lane▬a truck slammed into her and carried her backwards a hundred yards, but she just climbed over the cab, pulled the arrow out of her head, and launched back into the air.
Percy finally reached the door. "Thanks," he told the guards. "Good shot."
"That should've killed her!" protested the archer.
Percy rolled his eyes to himself, "Yeah," he muttered, "welcome to my world."
"Frank," said the girl, "get them inside, quick! Those are gorgons."
"Gorgons?" the archer's voice turned into something like a squeak in the back of his throat. He seemed stout like a wrestler▬he could have been fourteen or fifteen. "Will the door hold them?"
In Percy's arms, June cackled. "No, no it won't. Onward, Percy Jackson! Through the tunnel, over the river!"
"Percy Jackson?" the female guard had thick, dark ringlets sticking out the sides of her helmet. She looked younger than Frank▬maybe thirteen▬with a dark, rich complexion hidden beneath the eye crevices of her helmet. Her sword scabbard came down to almost her ankle. Though despite her age, she sounded like she was the one in charge. "Okay, you're obviously a demigod. But who's the▬?" She glanced at June, only to soon decide better against it. "You know what? Never mind. Just get inside. I'll hold them off."
"Hazel," the boy tried to stop her. "Don't be crazy."
But she just shook her head, "Go!" she demanded.
Frank cursed in another language▬was that Latin?▬and opened the door. "Come on!" he ordered Percy.
Percy followed. He staggered under the weight of the old lady, who was definitely getting heavier. He didn't know how that girl Hazel could hold off the gorgons by herself, but he was too tired to argue.
The tunnel cut through solid rock about the width and height of a school hallway. (Did he go to school? Surely, he went to high school right ... did he go to many? How many...?) At first, it would seem as if it was a typical maintenance tunnel: electrical cables, warning signs, fuse boxes on the walls and lightbulbs in wire cages along the ceiling. But as they ran deeper and deeper into the hillside, the floor started to change from cement into red, tiled mosaic. The lights changed to reed torches, which burned but didn't smoke. A few hundred yards ahead, Percy saw a square of daylight.
Percy's arms were shaking now▬each step he took, each breath he struggled, it seemed as if the old lady only got heavier and heavier. June mumbled a song in Latin, like a lullaby, which didn't help Percy concentrate.
Behind them, the gorgons' voices echoed in the tunnel. Hazel shouted. Percy was tempted to dump June and run back to help, but then the entire tunnel trembled. Stone rumbled and fell▬crashing and falling in the distance. There were squawks, the same sound the gorgons made when Percy dropped a crate of bowling balls on them in Napa. He glanced back. The west end of the tunnel was now filled with dust.
"Shouldn't we check on Hazel?" he asked, a little startled.
"She'll be okay▬I hope," said Frank. He sounded a little breathless. "She's good underground. Just keep moving! We're almost there."
"Almost where?"
June chuckled. "All roads lead there, child. You should know that."
"Uh ... Detention?"
"No▬Rome, child," chided the old woman. "Rome."
Percy wasn't sure whether he heard her right. True▬his memory was gone. His brain hadn't felt right since he woke up at the Wolf House. But he was pretty sure Rome wan't in California.
They kept running. The glow at the end of the tunnel grew brighter, and finally, they burst into the sunlight.
Percy skidded to a stop. He froze. Spread out at his feet was an entire valley▬several miles wide. It expanded around in a sloped crater; the basin floor was rumpled with smaller hills, golden plains and stretches of forest. A small, clear river cut a winding course from a lake in the centre and around the perimeter▬straight to the edge before snaking around. They could have been anywhere in northern California. There were live oaks and eucalyptus trees, gold hills and bright blue skies. All of it settled under the distant of Mount Diablo, rising right up from the centre of the skyline.
It was beautiful▬stunning even ... Percy felt as if he had stepped into a secret world. In the centre of the valley, nestled by the lake, was a small city of white marble buildings with red-tiled roofs. Some had domes and columned porticoes, like national monuments. Others looked like palaces, with golden doors and large gardens. He could see an open plaza with freestanding columns, fountains and statues. A five-story-tall Roman coliseum gleamed in the sun, next to a long oval arena like a racetrack.
Across the lake to the south, another hill was dotted with even more impressive buildings▬temples, Percy guessed. Several stone bridges crossed the river as it wound through the valley, and up north, a long line of brickwork arches stretched from the hills into the town. Percy thought it looked like an elevated train track, until he realised that it must be an aqueduct.
But the strangest part of the valley was right below him. About two hundred yards away, just across the river, was what looked to be a military encampment. It was about a quarter mile square, with earthen ramparts on all four sides, the tops lined with sharpened spikes. Outside the walls ran a dry moat, also studded with spikes. Wooden watchtowers rose at each corner, manned by sentries with oversized, mounted crossbows. Purple banners hung from the towers. A wide gateway opened on the far side of camp, leading towards the city. A narrower gate stood closed on the riverbank side. Inside, the fortress bustled with activity: dozens of kids going to and from barracks. They carried weapons, armour, banners▬Percy heard the clank of hammers at a forge and smelled meat cooking over a fire.
Something about this place ... it felt very familiar▬almost so familiar it brought an aching pain in his chest, close to his heart ... but it wasn't right▬something felt not quite right, either.
"Camp Jupiter," said Frank. "We'll be safe once▬"
Footsteps echoed behind them. Hazel burst into the light, heaving. She was covered in stone dust. She had lost her helmet, and her curly brown hair fell around her shoulders. Her armour had long claw marks in front. One of the gorgons had tagged her with a 50% OFF! sticker.
She came to a stop beside them. She took a short moment to catch her breath. "I slowed them down," she said. "But they'll be here any second."
Frank cursed. "We'll have to get across the river."
June squeezed Percy's neck tighter. "Oh, yes, please! I can't get my dress wet."
Percy bit his tongue. If this lady was a goddess, why couldn't she carry herself across the river, or magically make sure her dress wouldn't get wet ... But he'd come this far. He had better keep lugging her along.
It's a kindness, she had said. And if you don't, the gods will die, the world we know will perish, and everyone from your old life will be destroyed.
If this was a test, he couldn't afford to get an 'F'.
He stumbled a few times as they ran for the river. Frank and Hazel kept him on his feet. When they reached the riverbank, Percy had to stop to catch his breath. The current was fast, but the river didn't look deep. Only a stone's throw across stood the gates of the fort.
"Go, Hazel," Frank nocked two arrows at once. "Escort Percy so the sentries don't shoot them. It's my turn to hold off the baddies."
Hazel nodded and waded into the stream.
Percy started to follow, but something made him hesitate. Usually, he loved the water▬but this river seemed ... powerful, and not necessarily friendly. Something told him to stay far away from it.
"The Little Tiber," said June, her tongue clipped with sympathy. "It flows with the power of the original Tiber, river of the empire. This is your last chance to back out, child. The mark of Achilles is a Greek blessing. You can't retain it if you cross into Roman territory. The Tiber will wash it away."
Percy was too exhausted to understand any of that, but he got the main idea. "So ... if I cross, I won't have iron skin anymore?"
June smiled. "So what will it be? Safety, or a future of pain and possibility?"
Behind him, the gorgons screeched as they flew from the tunnel. Frank let his arrows fly. From the middle of the river, Hazel yelled: "Percy, come on!"
Up on the watchtowers, horns blew. The sentries shouted and tugged their crossbows towards the gorgons.
Percy took a deep breath. Claire, he told himself. Claire, he reminded himself▬a mantra. To keep going, to keep pushing on ...
He forged into the river. It was icy cold▬strength surged through his limbs; they tingled like he had been injected with caffeine. It flooded through his veins to his head, and he felt like he could finally breathe. When he reached the other side he put the old woman down. The camp's gates opened and dozens of kids in armour poured out.
Hazel turned with a relieved smile. Then she looked over Percy's shoulder, and her smile dropped to a breath of horror, "Frank!"
Frank was halfway across the river when the gorgons caught him. They swooped down from the sky and grabbed him by either arm. He cried out as their claws dig into his skin.
The sentries yelled, but Percy knew they couldn't get a clear shot▬they would end up killing Frank. The other kids drew their swords and got ready to charge into the water, but they'd be too late.
Percy acted without a thought. With a clench of his jaw, he thrust out his hands. Something pulled within him▬an intense tug from the pit of his stomach and just like that, the river burst forth. Whirlpools descended on either side of Frank, and from the depths, giant hands erupted from the stream. Commanding them as if they were his own, Percy reached out and grabbed the gorgons who dropped Frank in surprise. The hands lifted the monsters in a liquid vice grip.
He heard the other kids gasp and stumble back in shock, but he paid them no mind. With a shout, he brought his fists down and the giant hands plunged the gorgons into the Tiber. The monsters hit the bottom and burst into dust. They tugged, they pulled▬they struggled to reform, but the river ripped them apart like a blender. Soon, every trace of the gorgons were swept downstream. The whirlpools vanished and the current returned to normal.
Percy let out a breath. He stood on the riverbank and he took a moment to stare at his hands. His clothes and his skin steamed▬as if the Tiber's waters had given him an acid bath. He felt exposed, raw ... vulnerable.
In the middle of the river, Frank stumbled around. He looked stunned, but perfectly fine. Hazel rushed out and helped him ashore. Only then did Percy realise how quiet the other campers had become.
Everyone was staring at them. Percy quickly searched their faces, hoping that amongst them, he'd recognise Claire's ... but none of them looked anything like the girl from his dreams.
"Well!" spoke up June, startling Percy from his search. She was the only one who did not look at all fazed. "That was a lovely trip. Thank you, Percy Jackson, for bringing me to Camp Jupiter."
One of the girls made a choking sound. "Percy ... Jackson?"
She sounded as if she recognised his name. Percy snapped his gaze on her, hoping▬praying ... but it wasn't her, either.
She was obviously a leader. She wore a regal purple cloak over her armour. Her chest was adorned with metals. She looked Percy's age with dark, piercing eyes and long black hair. Percy did not recognise her, but she stared at him as if she was seeing a ghost from her nightmares.
June laughed with delight. "Oh, yes. You'll have such fun together!"
And then▬just like that▬the old woman began to change. Her figure started to glow▬as if the sunlight had been taken from the sky and instead found home within her silhouette. She grew, and the light grew with her▬until it became blinding and Percy had to glance away. When he set his eyes upon her again, she was no longer an old, ragged woman, but instead a seven-foot-tall goddess in a blue dress, with a cloak of goat's skin hung over her shoulders. She had a stern, steady face▬peering at them all with a sharp glint in her eye. In her hand was a staff topped with a lotus flower.
The campers staggered▬some of their knees seemed to quiver. The girl with the purple cloak knelt. The others immediately followed her lead. One camper got down so quick he almost impaled himself on his own sword.
Soon, Percy was the only one left standing. He did not kneel▬there was no breath within him that had the respect to kneel for this woman who made him carry her across an entire highway and through a river.
Hazel was the first to speak, "Juno."
Percy narrowed his eyes at the goddess. He breathed a short scoff, "Juno, huh?" he said. "If I passed your test, can I have my memory and life back?"
The goddess smiled. "In time, Percy Jackson, if you succeed here at camp. You've done well today, which is a good start. Perhaps there is hope for you yet." She turned to the rest of the campers. "Romans, I present to you the son of Neptune. For months, he has been slumbering▬but now, he is awake! His fate is in your hands. The Feast of Fortune comes quickly, and Death must be unleashed if you are to stand any hope in the battle. Do not fail me!"
Juno shimmered and disappeared. Percy looked down at Frank and Hazel for some kind of explanation, but they looked just as confused as him. Frank held something Percy hadn't noticed before▬two small clay flasks with cork stoppers, like potions; he held one in each hand. Percy had no idea where they'd come from, but when Frank slip them into his pockets, he shot him a look that said: We'll talk about it later.
The girl in the purple robe stepped forward. She examined Percy with a wary eye, and he couldn't shake the feeling that she wanted to run him through with her dagger.
"So," she said finally in a cold and stern tone, "a son of Neptune, who comes to us with the blessing of Juno."
Percy was tired. He was aching and he was in pain. He had spent the last lot of days fighting monsters and wondering how he managed to survive. The last thing he wanted to deal with was the taunting, vague words of a girl he did not even know and yet she looked as if ready to find the best way to kill him. "Look," he told her, rather annoyed, "my memory is a little fuzzy, okay? It's▬uh▬it's gone, actually. Do I know you?"
She hesitated. "I am Reyna, praetor of the Twelfth Legion. And ... no, I don't know you."
That last part was a lie▬Percy could tell from her eyes. But he also knew that if he demanded the truth from her about it here, in front of her soldiers, she would not appreciate it.
"Hazel," then said Reyna, "bring him inside. I want to question him at the principia. Then we'll send him to Octavian. We must consult the auguries before we decide what to do with him."
"Okay▬hang on," Percy stopped her before she could continue any further. "What do you mean: decide what to do with me?"
Reyna's hand tightened on her dagger hilt. Percy could tell she was not used to having her orders questioned. "Before we accept anyone into camp, we must interrogate them and read the auguries. Juno said your fate is in our hands. We have to know whether the goddess has brought us a new recruit ..." she studied him as if she found that doubtful. He set his jaw. "Or," she said more hopefully, "if she's brought us an enemy to kill."
Percy frowned at her, not sure whether to be incredulous or scared▬he went with the former. But that was all that was said. Reyna nodded to Hazel and he was directed towards the fort gates. He glanced back to try and catch the praetor's gaze once more, but the eyes he found were not hers, instead, they were something far more haunting.
There, in the crowd of campers, was a boy. Younger▬slim and pale; golden hair hung over a face almost completely covered in sickly scars. He stared back at him with a gaze that struck so similar, and yet so different ... a dark, hazel gleam that matched the raven's side-eye that watched him from his shoulder.
Percy's brows furrowed deeper. He felt something churn in the pit of his stomach. The boy did not look away▬he did not make a sound, nor did he change his expression in any way ... he just stared back at him until Percy had to look away ...
And he knew that somehow, he was on a long, winding road again▬a journey to which he knew he must complete. Where on the other end, on the other side, she stood waiting for him. Claire Moore▬and no matter what, Percy Jackson had to find his way back to her.
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a/n:
no one:
percy this entire chapter: claire. where's claire? i want claire - tell me where claire is. i'm doing this only for claire. who are you? not claire? okay, i don't care. goodbye.
mah boi just wants to see her again hera give him a break.
(ALSO PERCY CHAPTERS)
we finally get to read his thoughts about claire and everything and you are nOT ready for the secrets. like i'm talking about callbacks to how he felt in the og series-
i love them. they are my children like-
I'm now almost 20 still writing characters I started writing when I was like 13 this is CRAZY.
(I'm almost 20 still on wattpad omg wait no-)