THEY RODE THE BOAR until sunset, which was about as much as Percy's back end could take. Imagine riding a giant steel brush over a bed of gravel all day. That's about how comfortable boar-riding was.
Percy had been the last one to jump onto the boar, which was both unlucky and lucky at the same time. There was nobody behind him, so he was the one most likely to fall off...but that just meant he had an excuse to hold onto Stella's waist, who was seated in front of him.
With a delicate touch, he placed his hands on either side of her waist, maintaining a cautious hold to avoid making her feel uncomfortable.
Stella glanced over her shoulder, her eyes dancing with mischief, and a playful smirk gracing her lips. "You're going to have to hold on tighter, Jackson. Unless you want to fall off because that's fine too."
He felt his face redden at her comment but obliged and tightened his grip around the daughter of Apollo. He heard her hum in approval, seemingly content with his actions.
Usually, Percy was quick with the comebacks, but there were a few times now that Stella had caught him defenseless. It was almost like she knew exactly how to catch him off-guard— and was successful at it too.
Percy had no idea how many miles they had covered by now, but the mountains faded into the distance and were replaced by miles of flat, dry land. The grass and scrub brush got sparser until they were galloping across the desert. The sun hung mercilessly in the sky, casting waves of heat upon the rugged terrain, while the distant horizon appeared as a shimmering mirage, a tantalizing promise of what lay ahead in their quest.
As night fell, the boar came to a stop at a creek bed and snorted. He started drinking the muddy water, then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chewed it, needles and all.
"This is as far as he'll go," Grover said. "We need to get off while he's eating."
Nobody needed convincing. They slipped off the boar's back while he was busy ripping up cacti. Then they waddled away as best they could with their saddle sores.
After its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled around and galloped back toward the east.
"It likes the mountains better," Percy guessed.
"I can't blame it," Thalia said. "Look."
Ahead of them was a two-lane road half covered with sand. On the other side of the road was a cluster of buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop that looked like it hadn't been open since before Zoë Nightshade was born, and a white stucco post office with a sign that said GILA CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crooked above the door.
Beyond that was a range of hills...but then Percy noticed they weren't regular hills. The countryside was way too flat for that. The hills were enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. It was a junkyard that seemed to go on forever.
"Whoa," He said at the sight.
"Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia said. She looked at Grover. "I don't suppose you got another wild boar up your sleeve?"
Grover was sniffing the wind, looking nervous. He fished out his acorns and threw them into the sand, then played his pipes. They rearranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense to Percy, but Grover looked concerned.
"That's us," he said. "Those six nuts right there."
"Which one is me?" Percy asked.
"The little deformed one," Zoë suggested as Stella cackled.
"Oh, shut up."
"That cluster right there," Grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."
"A monster?" Stella asked.
Grover looked uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge..."
He pointed straight toward the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked like something on an alien planet.
They decided to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. None of them wanted to go dumpster-diving in the dark.
Zoë and Bianca produced six sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. Percy didn't know how they did it, because the packs were tiny, but must've been enchanted to hold so much stuff. He noticed their bows and quivers were also magic. He never really thought about it, but when the Hunters needed them, they just appeared slung over their backs. And when they didn't, they were gone. He noticed it was a different magic than Stella's bow, concealed as a golden ring on her right hand.
The night got chilly fast, so Grover and Percy collected old boards from the ruined house, and Thalia zapped them with an electric shock to start a campfire. Pretty soon, they were about as cozy as you can get in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.
"The stars are out," Zoë said.
She was right. There were millions of them, with no city lights to turn the sky orange.
"Amazing," Bianca said. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way."
"As much as I love the sun, there is just something about stars," Stella mumbled in awe.
"This is nothing," Zoë said. "In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution."
"You talk like you're not human," Percy said.
Zoë raised an eyebrow. "I am a Hunter. I care what happens to the wild places of the world. Can the same be said for thee?"
"For you," Thalia corrected. "Not thee."
"But you use you for the beginning of a sentence."
"And for the end," Thalia said. "No thou. No thee. Just you."
Zoë threw up her hands in exasperation. "I hate this language. It changes too often!"
Grover sighed. He was still looking up at the stars like he was thinking about the light pollution problem. "If only Pan were here, he would set things right."
Zoë nodded sadly.
"Maybe it was the coffee," Grover said. "I was drinking coffee, and the wind came. Maybe if I drank more coffee..."
Percy was pretty sure coffee had nothing to do with what had happened in Cloudcroft, but he didn't have the heart to tell Grover. He thought about the rubber rat and the tiny birds that had suddenly come alive when the wind blew. "Grover, do you really think that was Pan? I mean, I know you want it to be."
"He sent us help," Grover insisted. "I don't know how or why. But it was his presence. After this quest is done, I'm going back to New Mexico and drinking a lot of coffee. It's the best lead we've gotten in two thousand years. I was so close."
Percy didn't answer; he didn't want to squash Grover's hopes.
"What I want to know," Thalia said, looking at Bianca, "is how you destroyed one of the zombies. There are a lot more out there somewhere. We need to figure out how to fight them."
Bianca shook her head. "I don't know. I just stabbed it and it went up in flames."
"Maybe there's something special about your knife," Percy suggested.
"It is the same as mine," Zoë said. "Celestial bronze, yes. But mine did not affect the warriors that way."
"Maybe you have to hit the skeleton in a certain spot," He refuted.
Bianca looked uncomfortable with everybody paying attention to her.
Percy glanced at Stella's shoulder at the mention of the skeleton warriors, wanting to make sure it had healed. The wound had looked horrible only hours ago and had seemed to be healing slower than the usual rate for her injuries. He felt comforted seeing that the wound was closed and healed, redness over where the skeleton's bullet had once grazed her.
"Never mind," Zoë told Bianca. "We will find the answer. In the meantime, we should plan our next move. When we get through this junkyard, we must continue west. If we can find a road, we can hitchhike to the nearest city. I think that would be Las Vegas."
Percy was about to protest that he and Grover had had bad experiences in that town, but Bianca beat them to it.
"No!" Bianca said. "Not there!"
She looked really freaked out like she'd just been dropped off the steep end of a roller coaster.
Zoë frowned. "Why?"
Bianca took a shaky breath. "I... I think we stayed there for a while. Nico and I. When we were traveling, and then, I can't remember..."
Suddenly, Percy had a really bad thought. He remembered what Bianca had told him about Nico and her staying in a hotel for a while. Percy met Grover's eyes, and he got the feeling he was thinking the same thing.
"Bianca," Percy said. "That hotel you stayed at. Was it possibly called the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"
He could see Stella's jaw drop from the corner of his eye. He was sure the mention of the Las Vegas deathtrap didn't go unnoticed by her. Annabeth had told her of all their adventures, and Percy didn't shy away from filling her in on any details that went unmentioned.
Bianca's eyes widened. "How could you know that?"
"Oh, great."
"Wait," Thalia said. "What is the Lotus Casino?"
"A couple of years ago," Percy said, "Grover, Annabeth, and I got trapped there. It's designed so you never want to leave. We stayed for about an hour. When we came out, five days had passed. It makes time speed up."
"No," Bianca said. "No, that's not possible."
"You said somebody came and got you out," Percy remembered.
"Yes."
"What did he look like? What did he say?"
"I...I don't remember. Please, I really don't want to talk about this."
Zoë sat forward, her eyebrows knit with concern. "You said that Washington, D.C., had changed when you went back last summer. You didn't remember the subway being there."
"Yes, but—"
"Bianca," Zoë said, "can you tell me the name of the president of the United States right now?"
"Don't be silly," Bianca said. She told them the correct name of the president.
"And who was the president before that?" Zoë asked.
Bianca thought for a while. "Roosevelt."
Zoë swallowed. "Theodore or Franklin?"
"Franklin," Bianca said. "F.D.R."
He heard Stella take a sharp intake of breath.
"Like FDR Drive?" Percy asked. Because seriously, that's about all he knew about F.D.R.
"Bianca," Zoë said. "F.D.R. was not the last president. That was about seventy years ago."
"That's impossible," Bianca said. "I...I'm not that old."
She stared at her hands as if to make sure they weren't wrinkled.
Thalia's eyes turned sad. Percy guessed she knew what it was like to get pulled out of time for a while. "It's okay, Bianca. The important thing is you and Nico are safe. You made it out."
"But how?" Percy said. "We were only in there for an hour and we barely escaped. How could you have escaped after being there for so long?"
Stella nudged him, and he took it as a sign to shut up, but his curiosity wouldn't let it rest.
"I told you." Bianca looked about ready to cry. "A man came and said it was time to leave. And—"
"But who? Why did he do it?"
Before she could answer, they were hit with a blazing light from down the road. The headlights of a car appeared out of nowhere. He was half hoping it was Apollo, come to give them a ride again, but the engine was way too silent for the sun chariot, and besides, it was nighttime. They grabbed their sleeping bags and got out of the way as a deathly white limousine slid to a stop in front of them.
The back door of the limo opened right next to Percy. Before he could step away, the point of a sword touched his throat.
He heard the sound of Zoë and Bianca drawing their bows. As the owner of the sword got out of the car, he moved back very slowly. He had to because the owner was pushing the point under his chin.
The owner of the sword smiled cruelly. "Not so fast now, are you, punk?"
He was a big man with a crew cut, a black leather biker's jacket, black jeans, a white muscle shirt, and combat boots. Wraparound shades hid his eyes, but Percy knew what was behind those glasses—hollow sockets filled with flames.
"Ares," Percy growled.
The war god glanced at his friends. "At ease, people."
He snapped his fingers, and their weapons fell to the ground.
"This is a friendly meeting." Ares dug the point of his blade a little farther under his chin. "Of course, I'd like to take your head for a trophy, but someone wants to see you. And I never behead my enemies in front of a lady."
"What lady?" Thalia asked.
Ares looked over at her. "Well, well. I heard you were back."
He lowered his sword and pushed Percy away.
"Thalia, daughter of Zeus," Ares mused. "You're not hanging out with very good company."
"What's your business, Ares?" she said. "Who's in the car?"
Ares grinned, enjoying the attention. "Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you. Particularly not them." He jutted his chin toward Zoë and Bianca. "Why don't you all go get some tacos while you wait? Only take Percy a few minutes."
Stella stepped forward and placed herself in front of Percy, "You're funny if you think he's going anywhere without us."
A smile flickered on Ares' face, "Oh, she's going to love this. But, daughter of Apollo, I'd advise you to step aside and go get some damn tacos."
"We will not leave him alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoë said.
"Besides," Grover managed, "the taco place is closed."
Ares snapped his fingers again. The lights inside the taqueria suddenly blazed to life. The boards flew off the door, and the CLOSED sign flipped to OPEN. "You were saying, goat boy?"
"Go on," Percy told them, "I'll handle this."
He tried to sound more confident than he felt, but he didn't think Ares was fooled.
"Percy—" Stella protested, looking up at him.
"You heard the boy," Ares interjected. "He's big and strong. He's got things under control."
Stella stepped aside reluctantly at the small nod Percy gave her. His friends warily headed over to the taco restaurant. Ares regarded him with loathing, then opened the limousine door like a chauffeur.
"Get inside, punk," he said. "And mind your manners. She's not as forgiving of rudeness as I am."
When Percy saw her, his jaw dropped.
He forgot his name. He forgot where he was. He forgot how to speak in complete sentences.
She was wearing a red satin dress, and her hair was curled in a cascade of ringlets. Her face was the most beautiful he'd ever seen: perfect makeup, dazzling eyes, and a smile that would've lit up the dark side of the moon.
However, her face would shift almost every second. Every feature was altered— hair, nose, eyes, mouth, everything. Percy wasn't sure how long he had been staring at her until the shifting stopped, and a new face stuck.
This time, it was a face with gorgeous wavy, dark brown hair that cascaded down her back, perfectly complementing her rich, sun-kissed tan. Her freckles were like constellations adorning her cheeks, connecting delicately over the bridge of her nose, meanwhile, her cheekbones were sculpted to perfection. The most captivating feature of all was her almond-shaped eyes—initially appearing as light brown but, upon closer inspection, revealed the purest shade of amber. Her lips, full and elegantly bow-shaped, wore a shade of pink that seemed custom-made for her.
As she graced him with a smile, Percy felt a flicker of recognition. This face was familiar. He'd seen it before, and it wasn't only in this moment. The face belonged to a friend he seemed to be growing closer and closer to every second they were together. Estella Cruz.
"Ah, there you are, Percy," the goddess said. "I am Aphrodite."
Percy slipped into the seat across from her and said something like, "Um– uh– gah."
Aphrodite simply smiled. "Aren't you sweet. Hold this, please."
She handed Percy a polished mirror the size of a dinner plate and had him hold it up for her. She leaned forward and dabbed at her lipstick, though he couldn't see anything wrong with it.
"Do you know why you're here?" Aphrodite asked.
He wanted to respond, but he didn't seem to be capable of processing anything that was occurring. Why couldn't he form a complete sentence? She was only a lady. A seriously beautiful lady– who looked exactly like an older copy of Stella. With eyes like the sun. Whoa.
Percy pinched his own arm, hard.
"I...I don't know," He managed.
"Oh, dear," Aphrodite said, looking outside the limousine window in the direction of the taco shop, "Still in denial?"
Percy followed her line of sight to Stella, who was laughing at something Grover had said.
Outside the car, he could hear Ares chuckling. Percy had a feeling he could hear every word they said. The idea of him being out there made him angry, but his thoughts were too focused on Stella to care.
Denial? He never denied that Stella was attractive, it was obvious to anybody who took a mere glance at her that she was undoubtedly beautiful. Radiant was the best way to describe her. He still felt like that word failed to encapture her beauty and the great person she was.
But that didn't mean anything.
Sure, he couldn't deny that he felt naturally drawn to her. The past summer had proven to him how perfectly compatible their personalities were. He couldn't help himself from sneaking glances at her whenever they were with their friends, and he always found excuses to distract her from her duties at camp.
Anything that rolled off her tongue sounded heavenly to him. And when it had the slightest touch of flirtation, Percy never knew what to do with himself.
And ever since he found himself at the door of her Manhattan apartment, everything she did was impossible to ignore. She was so frustratingly closed off from everyone, but she had begun opening up to him like he so desperately wanted. From Westover Hall on, he felt himself grow more protective over her—but he did that with all his close friends, right? Caring about her didn't mean he was in denial of anything else.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Percy said, finally pulling himself away from his thoughts.
"Well then, why are you on this quest?" Aphrodite mused.
"Artemis has been captured!"
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, Artemis. Please. Talk about a hopeless case. I mean, if they were going to kidnap a goddess, she should be breathtakingly beautiful, don't you think? I pity the poor dears who have to imprison Artemis. Bo-ring!"
"But she was chasing a monster," He protested. "A really, really bad monster. We have to find it!"
Aphrodite made him hold the mirror a little higher. She seemed to have found a microscopic problem at the corner of her eye and dabbed at her mascara. "Always some monster. But my dear Percy, that is why the others are on this quest. I'm more interested in you."
He felt his heart pound. He didn't want to answer, but her captivating gaze seemed to compel the truth from his very lips. "Stella is in trouble."
Aphrodite's face lit up with amusement, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "Exactly!"
"I have to help her," Percy said. "She made it sound like this quest was going to be her last, and I had this dream that she—"
"Ah, you even dream about her! That's so cute! Tell me, did you guys kiss or...?" Aphrodite wiggled her brows suggestively.
"No! I mean... that's not what I meant," He stammered.
She made a tsk-tsk sound. "Percy, I'm on your side. I'm the reason you're here, after all."
His eyes widened in surprise. "What?"
"The poisoned T-shirt the Stoll brothers gave Phoebe," she said. "Did you think that was an accident? Sending Blackjack to find you? Helping you sneak out of the camp?"
"You did that?"
"Of course! Because really, how boring these Hunters are! A quest for some monster, blah blah blah. Saving Artemis. Let her stay lost, I say. But a quest for true love—"
"Wait a second, I never said—"
"Oh, my dear. You don't need to say it. You do know Stella is close to joining the Hunters, don't you?"
Percy's blush deepened, and he shifted uncomfortably. The goddess was seriously starting to get on his nerves. "I wasn't sure—"
"She was about to throw her life away! She still can! And you, my dear, you can save her from that. It's so romantic!"
"Uh..."
"Oh, put the mirror down," Aphrodite ordered. "I look fine."
Percy hadn't realized he was still holding it, but as soon as he put it down, he noticed his arms were sore.
"Now listen, Percy," Aphrodite said. "The Hunters are your enemies. Forget them and Artemis and the monster. That's not important. You just concentrate on protecting Stella and making sure she doesn't suffer a tragic death— yet."
"Yet?" Percy shook his head, "Listen, do you know where Annabeth is?"
Aphrodite waved her hand irritably. "No, no. Don't worry about Athena's daughter, I made sure she would get her own love story. But it's been ages since we've had a good tragic love story, you and Stella will make me proud."
"Whoa, first of all, I never said anything about love. And second, what's up with tragic?"
"Love conquers all," Aphrodite promised. "Look at Helen and Paris. Did they let anything come between them?"
"Didn't they start the Trojan War and get thousands of people killed?"
"Pfft. That's not the point. Follow your heart."
"But...I don't know where it's going. My heart, I mean."
She smiled sympathetically. She really was beautiful. And not just because she had a pretty face or anything. She believed in love so much that it was impossible not to feel giddy when she talked about it.
"Not knowing is half the fun," Aphrodite said. "Exquisitely painful, isn't it? Not being sure who you love and who loves you? Oh, you kids! It's so cute I'm going to cry."
"No, no, don't do that," Percy said, not wanting to see fake Stella cry.
"And don't worry," she said. "I'm not going to let this be easy and boring for you. No, I have some wonderful surprises in store. Anguish. Indecision. Jealousy. Oh, you just wait."
"That's really okay," He told her. "Don't go to any trouble."
"You're so cute. I wish all my daughters could break the heart of a boy as nice as you." Aphrodite's eyes were tearing up. "Now, you'd better go. And do be careful in my husband's territory, Percy. Don't take anything. He is awfully fussy about his trinkets and trash."
"What?" He asked. "You mean Hephaestus?"
But the car door opened, and Ares grabbed Percy's shoulder, pulling him out of the car and back into the desert night.
Percy's audience with the goddess of love was over.
"You're lucky, punk." Ares pushed him away from the limo. "Be grateful."
"For what?"
"That we're being so nice. If it was up to me—"
"So why haven't you killed me?" Percy shot back. It was a stupid thing to say to the god of war, but being around Ares always made him feel angry and reckless.
Ares nodded as if Percy had finally said something intelligent.
"I'd love to kill you, seriously," he said. "But see, I got a situation. Word on Olympus is that you might start the biggest war in history. I can't risk messing that up. Besides, Aphrodite thinks you're some kinda soap opera star or something. You and that sun girl. I kill you, that makes me look bad with her. But don't worry. I haven't forgotten my promise. Some day soon, kid—real soon—you're going to raise your sword to fight, and you're going to remember the wrath of Ares."
Percy balled his fists. "Why wait? I beat you once. How's that ankle healing up?"
Ares grinned crookedly. "Not bad, punk. But you got nothing on the master of taunts. I'll start the fight when I'm good and ready. Until then... get lost."
He snapped his fingers, and the world did a three-sixty, spinning in a cloud of red dust. Percy fell to the ground.
When he stood up again, the limousine was gone. The road, the taco restaurant, the whole town of Gila Claw was gone. Percy and his friends were standing in the middle of the junkyard, mountains of scrap metal stretched out in every direction.