THE FEELING OF REGRET didn't take long to come over her as they drove south.
Zoë was driving like a mad woman with Bianca in the passenger seat. The rest of them had their own row, Stella in the last one. Nobody was talking except for the occasional road rage from Zoë, with Bianca trying to calm her down, and a snarky comment from Thalia now and then.
Stella was staring out the window, aimlessly watching the cars pass by on the other side of the highway. Several different thoughts were racing through her mind, but there was only one constant: Perseus fucking Jackson.
She wished she wasn't so stubborn. She wished she had talked to him after dinner or at least before she left. He was the only one she really confided in to talk about her dream. She could tell Thalia or Grover, but it wasn't the same. She didn't know why. She just felt some other type of trust between herself and the son of Poseidon.
Fuck keeping her distance, all of a sudden, Stella wanted nothing but understanding. It was safe to say she missed his friendship, maybe.
Ew. There was nothing she hated more than dependency.
Here she was, on a quest to save Artemis with only a few days left before the offer to become a Hunter would expire. And where was he? Probably back with his saint of a mother in Manhattan, bored out of his mind.
The last two nights, she had nightmares about Annabeth, and then they would fade into some other kind of dream. They were like glimpses? Or visions? Stella didn't know what to call them, but the only thing she knew was that he was in both of them. She didn't know what they meant, what he was doing in them, anything really.
The car came to a halt at some bleak rest stop, and Zoë said, "Everyone out!"
"Where are we?" Stella asked Thalia as they exited the van.
"Maryland."
"Oh."
Those five hours had passed rather quickly when she was so absorbed in thought. Also, maybe the fact that she had slept from Camp Half-Blood to somewhere in New Jersey.
They all followed Zoë into the convenience store. There were rows of the most unhealthy snacks across America. Stella split away and found the granola bar section, her favorite. She grabbed a few bars and paid at the register.
She rejoined the group, who was waiting at the front of the store. They were all engaged in conversation, and Stella was not quite sure what she had missed.
"Grover, are you sure?" Thalia said as they walked out of the store.
"Well...pretty sure. Ninety-nine percent. Okay, eighty-five percent."
"And you did this with acorns?" Bianca asked like she couldn't believe it.
Grover looked offended. "It's a time-honored tracking spell. I mean, I'm pretty sure I did it right."
"D.C. is about sixty miles from here," Bianca said. "Nico and I..." She frowned. "We used to live there. That's...that's strange. I'd forgotten."
Stella looked over at Bianca, who looked lost in thought. That's not at all weird...
"I dislike this," Zoë said. "We should go straight west. The prophecy said west."
"Oh, like your tracking skills are better?" Thalia growled.
Zoë stepped toward her. "You challenge my skills, you scullion? You know nothing of being a Hunter!"
"Oh, scullion? You're calling me a scullion? What the heck is a scullion?"
"Whoa, you two," Grover said nervously. "Come on. Not again!"
"The prophecy said west, but there has to be something in D.C. for us," Stella said.
"They're right," Bianca added, "D.C. is our best bet."
Zoë didn't look convinced, but she nodded reluctantly. "Very well. Let us keep moving."
"You're going to get us arrested, driving," Thalia grumbled. "I'm literally sixteen."
"Perhaps," Zoë snapped. "But I have been driving since automobiles were invented. Let us go."
How old is this girl, Stella thought. They walked over to the van, and an unsettling feeling fell over her. It felt as if they were being watched.
"Do you smell any monsters?" She asked Grover.
He shook his head, "No, why?"
She looked around the rest stop before sighing and getting into the van, "No reason."
The van continued south for almost an hour before they arrived in D.C., crossing the Potomac River into central Washington. Zoë parked at the curb, a block away from the National Mall.
Everybody got out of the van, and Grover pointed toward one of the big buildings lining the Mall, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. "There!"
"Are you sure?" Stella asked him, looking at the building he was pointing at.
He turned toward Thalia, and she nodded, "We'll follow you, Grover."
Zoë gave a curt nod, and he took that as his cue to lead. The five of them trudged off into the cold wind. Stella looked at the snow-covered National Mall, and a strange thought popped into her head.
Her intrusive thought won, and she stepped onto the grass. The snow instantly melted below her feet and left a perfect circle where she stood. Weird.
She couldn't dwell on it for too long, or else she'd lose the group, so she stepped back onto the sidewalk and caught up with her friends. They walked up the steps and into the museum.
The main part of the museum was one huge room with rockets and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. Three levels of balconies curled around, so you could look at the exhibits from all different heights. The place wasn't crowded, just a few families and a couple of tour groups of kids, probably doing one of those holiday school trips.
"Where to?" Stella turned to Grover as they scanned their surroundings.
"Uh... let's work from the ground up."
So they did. They searched the ground floor for any signs of Artemis, but there were none. Stella started to feel more and more like this was a trap.
"Next floor?" Bianca suggested to the group.
"Yeah," Grover said a little hopelessly.
They decided to go to the top floor. They were walking up the ramp when someone ran into Thalia, knocking her into an Apollo space capsule. Grover yelped in surprise.
Before the culprit could regain their balance, Stella, Zoë, and Bianca had arrows notched, aimed at the culprit's chest.
Oh gods, you've got to be kidding. It was none other than Percy Jackson.
Stella lowered her bow at the realization. No way she manifested this shit.
When Zoë realized who he was, she didn't seem anxious to lower her bow. "You! How dare you show thy face here?"
"Easy, Zoë," Stella warned.
"Percy!" Grover said. "Thank goodness."
Zoë glared at him, and he blushed. "I mean, um, gosh. You're not supposed to be here!"
"Luke," Percy said, trying to catch his breath. "He's here."
"What!" Stella exclaimed, the words leaving her mouth before she even processed what he had said.
The anger in Thalia's eyes immediately melted. She put her hand on her silver bracelet. "Where?"
Percy told them about his run-in with Dr. Thorn, Luke, and the General at the Natural History Museum. Great, so it was a trap.
"The General is here?" Zoë looked stunned. "That is impossible! You lie."
"Why would I lie? Look, there's no time. Skeleton warriors—"
"What?" Thalia demanded. "How many?"
"Twelve," Percy said. "And that's not all. That guy, the General, he said he was sending something, a 'playmate,' to distract you over here. A monster."
Thalia and Stella exchanged looks.
"We were following Artemis's trail," Grover said. "I was pretty sure it led here. Some powerful monster scent...She must've stopped here looking for the mystery monster. But we haven't found anything yet."
"Zoë," Bianca said nervously, "if it is the General—"
"It cannot be!" Zoë snapped. "Percy must have seen an Iris message or some other illusion."
"Illusions don't crack marble floors," Percy told her.
Zoë took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. What was up with this General guy?
"If Percy is telling the truth about the skeleton warriors," She said, "we have no time to argue. They are the worst, the most horrible...We must leave now."
"Good idea," Percy said.
"I was not including thee, boy," Zoë said. "You are not part of this quest."
"Hey, I'm trying to save your lives!"
"We're missing our sixth member," Stella told Zoë.
"You shouldn't have come, Percy," Thalia said grimly. "But you're here now. Come on. Let's get back to the van."
"That is not thy decision!" Zoë snapped.
Thalia scowled at her. "You're not the boss here, Zoë. I don't care how old you are! You're still a conceited little brat!"
"You never had any wisdom when it came to boys," Zoë growled. "You never could leave them behind!"
Oh damn.
Thalia looked like she was about to hit Zoë. Then everyone froze. Stella heard a growl so loud she thought one of the rocket engines was starting up.
Below them, a few adults screamed. A little kid's voice screeched with delight: "Kitty!"
Something enormous bounded up the ramp. It was the size of a pickup truck, with silver claws and golden glittering fur.
"The Nemean Lion," Thalia said. "Don't move."
Oh no. No, no, no. This was very bad. She had seen the Nemean Lion in her weird nightmare last night. She had also seen Percy and not Phoebe.
There was no way she saw the fucking future.
Before she could even think further about it, the lion roared so loud Stella felt her hair get blown back. Its fangs gleamed like stainless steel.
"Separate on my mark," Zoë said. "Try to keep it distracted."
"Until when?" Grover asked.
"Until I think of a way to kill it. Go!"
Percy uncapped Riptide and rolled to the left. Arrows whistled past him, and Grover played a sharp tweet-tweet cadence on his reed pipes.
Zoë and Bianca climbed the Apollo capsule, firing arrows, one after another, all shattering harmlessly against the lion's metallic fur. The lion swiped the capsule and tipped it on its side, spilling the Hunters off the back.
Grover played a frantic, horrible tune, and the lion turned toward him, but Thalia stepped into its path, holding up Aegis, and the lion recoiled. "ROOOAAAR!"
"Hi-yah!" Thalia said. "Back!"
The lion growled and clawed the air, but it retreated as if the shield were a blazing fire.
For a second, Stella thought Thalia had it under control. Then she saw the lion crouching, its leg muscles tensing. She knew the lion was going to pounce.
"Hey!" Percy yelled before charging the beast. He slashed with Riptide, a good strike to the flank that should've cut the monster into Meow Mix, but the blade just clanged against its fur in a burst of sparks.
The lion raked Percy with its claws, ripping off a chunk of his coat. He backed against the railing. It sprang at him, one thousand pounds of monster, and he had no choice but to turn and jump.
He landed on the wing of an old-fashioned silver airplane, which pitched and almost spilled him to the floor, three stories below. Stella shot an arrow at the lion, but the lion evaded by jumping onto the aircraft, and the cords holding the plane began to groan.
The lion swiped at Percy, and he dropped onto the next exhibit, a weird-looking spacecraft with blades like a helicopter. He looked up and saw the lion roar—inside its maw, a pink tongue and throat.
The monster moved too quickly. Between its claws and fangs, he couldn't get close without getting sliced to pieces.
"Stella!" Percy shouted. "Target the mouth!"
There was no way she was getting an arrow inside the lion's mouth without anything prompting it to open. She could shoot as many arrows at the lion, but that wouldn't get it to open up for her.
The monster lunged. One of the Hunter's arrows zipped past it, missing completely, and Percy dropped from the spaceship onto the top of a floor exhibit, a huge model of the Earth. He slid down Russia and dropped off the equator.
The Nemean Lion growled and steadied itself on the spacecraft, but its weight was too much. One of the cords snapped. As the display swung down like a pendulum, the lion leaped off onto the model Earth's North Pole.
"Grover!" Percy yelled. "Clear the area!"
Groups of kids were running around screaming. Grover tried to corral them away from the monster just as the other cord on the spaceship snapped, and the exhibit crashed to the floor. Thalia dropped off the second-floor railing and landed across from Percy on the other side of the globe. The lion regarded them, trying to decide which to kill first.
Here she goes. Stella leaped over the railing onto a U.S. Air Force plane to get a better angle. She straddled the plane and pointed her bow at the lion.
"Open your mouth, stupid!" Stella yelled at the lion as if it would obey her command.
"No clear shot!" Zoë yelled from the railing as she and Bianca tried moving around.
"Get it to open its mouth more!" Stella yelled to Percy.
The lion snarled from the top of the globe.
"Thalia," Percy said, "keep it occupied."
She nodded grimly.
"Hi-yah!" Thalia pointed her spear, and a spidery arc of blue electricity shot out, zapping the lion in the tail.
"ROOOOOOOAR!" The lion turned and pounced. Thalia rolled out of its way, holding up Aegis to keep the monster at bay, and Percy ran for the gift shop.
What the fuck was he doing?
"This is no time for souvenirs, boy!" Zoë yelled.
Percy ran out of the shop with an armful of glittery silver packets.
The two Hunters and Stella were still showering arrows on the monster, but it was no good. The lion seemed to know better than to open its mouth too much. It snapped at Thalia, slashing with its claws. It even kept its eyes narrowed to tiny slits.
Thalia jabbed at the monster and backed up. The lion pressed her.
"Percy," she called, "whatever you're going to do—"
The lion roared and swatted her like a cat toy, sending her flying into the side of a Titan rocket. Her head hit the metal, and she slid to the floor. Ouch.
"Hey!" Percy yelled at the lion. He was too far away to strike and, instead, hurled Riptide like a throwing knife. It bounced off the lion's side but that was enough to get the monster's attention. It turned toward him and snarled.
There was only one way to get close enough. Percy charged, and as the lion leaped to intercept him, he chunked a space food pouch into its maw-a chunk of cellophane-wrapped, freeze-dried strawberry parfait. Stella couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the sight.
The lion's eyes got wide and it gagged like a cat with a hairball.
"Stella, get ready!" He yelled at her.
Percy scrambled away from the lion. It managed to choke down the space food packet and looked at him with pure hate.
Stella knew the moment was coming. She knew since she pieced together how her nightmare had ended: her arrow flying toward the lion's mouth.
"Snack time!" Percy yelled.
It roared at him, and Percy threw an ice cream sandwich down its throat. Before the lion could stop gagging, he shot in two more flavors of ice cream and a freeze-dried spaghetti dinner.
The lion's eyes bugged. It opened its mouth wide and reared up on its back paws, trying to get away from him.
It was the perfect opportunity.
"Now!" Percy yelled.
Immediately, Stella shot as many arrows as possible. All six arrows pierced the lion's maw. The lion thrashed wildly, turned, and fell backward. And then it was still.
Alarms wailed throughout the museum. People were flocking to the exits. Security guards were running around in a panic with no idea what was going on.
Stella walked carefully on the plane's wing before leaping onto the ground and running to Percy and Thalia.
Grover knelt at Thalia's side and helped her up. She seemed okay, just a little dazed. Zoë and Bianca dropped from the balcony and landed next to Percy.
Zoë eyed Percy and Stella cautiously. "That was...an interesting strategy."
"Hey, it worked," He said.
She didn't argue.
The lion seemed to be melting, the way dead monsters do sometimes, until there was nothing left but its glittering fur coat and even that seemed to be shrinking to the size of a normal lion's pelt.
"Take it," Zoë told Percy.
Percy stared at her. "What, the lion's fur? Isn't that, like, an animal rights violation or something?"
"It is a spoil of war," Zoë told him, "It is rightly thine."
"Stella's the one who killed it. If anyone should have it, it's her," Percy said, his eyes meeting with Stella's.
She had a suspicion that the coat held a power, one she did not need. She also had an inkling that Zoë also knew it served no purpose for her.
"I don't need it. Have it, Percy. You killed him as equally as I did," Stella told him.
Zoë shook her head, almost smiling. "I think thy ice cream sandwich killed it. Fair is fair, Percy Jackson. Take the fur."
Percy lifted the pelt, and they watched as it shifted and changed into a coat— a full-length golden-brown duster.
"Not exactly my style," He murmured. Stella hid a laugh behind her hand, and he smiled.
"We have to get out of here," Grover said. "The security guards won't stay confused for long."
Stella noticed for the first time how strange it was that the guards hadn't rushed forward to arrest them. The guards were scrambling in all directions except theirs like they were madly searching for something. A few were running into the walls or each other.
"You did that?" Percy asked Grover.
He nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "A minor confusion song. I played some Barry Manilow. It works every time. But it'll only last a few seconds."
"The security guards are not our biggest worry," Zoë said. "Look."
Through the glass walls of the museum, Stella could see a group of men walking across the lawn. Gray men in gray camouflage outfits. They were too far away for the group to see their eyes, but she could feel their gaze aimed straight at them.
"Go," Percy said. "They'll be hunting me. I'll distract them."
"No," Zoë said. "We go together."
Percy stared at her. "But, you said—"
"You are part of this quest now," Zoë said grudgingly. "I do not like it, but there is no changing fate. You are the sixth quest member. And we are not leaving anyone behind."