ZOËS FAMILY
"We will never make it," Zoe said, "we are moving too slow. But we cannot leave the Ophiotaurus."
"Moo." Bessie said.
He swam next to them as they jogged along the waterfront. They had left the shopping center pier far behind.
They were heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was a lot farther than Ariana realised. The sun was already dipping in the west.
"I don't get it." Percy said. "Why do we have to get there at sunset?"
"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset." Zoe said. "We can only enter their garden as day changes to night."
"What happens if we miss it?"
"Tomorrow is winter solstice. If we miss sunset tonight, we would have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight."
Or Annabeth will be dead, Ariana thought, but she didn't say that.
"We need a car." Thalia said.
"But what about Bessie?" Ariana asked.
Grover stopped in his tracks. "I've got an idea. The Ophiotaurus can appear in different bodies of water, right?"
"Well, yeah." Percy said. "I mean, he was in Long Island Sound. Then he just popped into the water at Hoover Dam. And now he's here."
"So maybe we could coax him back to Long Island Sound." Grover said. "Then Chiron could help us get him to Olympus."
"But he was following us." Percy said. "If we are not there, would he know where he's going?"
"Moo." Bessie said forlornly.
"I... I can show him." Grover said. "I'll go with him."
Ariana stared at him. Grover was no fan of the water.
He'd almost drowned last summer in the Sea of Monsters, and he couldn't swim very well with his goat hooves.
"I'm the only one who can talk to him." Grover said. "It makes sense."
He bent down and said something in Bessie's ear. Bessie shivered, then made a contented, lowing sound.
"The blessing of the Wild." Grover said. "That should help with safe passage. Percy, pray to your dad, too. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."
Ariana didn't understand how they could possibly swim back to Long Island from California.
Then again, monsters didn't travel the same way as humans. She had seen plenty evidence of that.
"Dad." Percy said. "Help us. Get the Ophiotaurus and Grover safely to camp. Protect them at
sea."
"A prayer like that needs a sacrifice." Thalia said. "Something big."
Percy thought for a second. Then he took off
his coat.
"Percy." Grover said. "Are you sure? That lion skin... that's really helpful. Hercules used it!"
As soon as he said that, Ariana realised something.
She glanced at Zoe, who was watching Percy carefully. She realised she did know who Zoe's hero had been- the one who'd ruined her life, gotten her kicked out of her family, and never even mentioned how she'd helped him: Hercules.
"If I'm going to survive," Percy said, "it won't be because I've got a lion-skin cloak. I'm not
Hercules."
He threw the coat into the bay. It turned back into a golden lion skin, flashing in the light.
Then, as it began to sink beneath the waves, it seemed to dissolve into sunlight on the water.
The sea breeze picked up.
Grover took a deep breath. "Well, no time to lose."
He jumped in the water and immediately began to sink. Bessie glided next to him and let Grover take hold of his neck.
"Be careful." Ariana told them.
"We will." Grover said. "Okay, um... Bessie? We're going to Long Island. It's east. Over that way."
"Moooo?" Bessie said.
"Yes." Grover answered. "Long Island. It's this island. And... it's long. Oh, let's just start."
"Mooo!"
Bessie lurched forward. He started to submerge and Grover said, "I can't breathe underwater! Just thought I'd mention-"
Glub!
Under they went, and Ariana hoped Percy's father's protection would extend to little things, like breathing.
"Well, that is one problem addressed." Zoe said. "But how can we get to my sisters' garden?"
"Thalia's right." Percy said. "We need a car. But there's nobody to help us here. Unless we, uh, borrowed one"
"Wait." Thalia said. She started rifling through her backpack. "There is somebody in San Francisco who can help us. I've got the address here somewhere."
"Who?" Ariana asked.
Thalia pulled out a crumpled piece of notebook paper and held it up. "Professor Chase. Annabeth's dad."
After hearing Annabeth gripe about her dad for years, she was expecting him to have devil horns and fangs.
She was not expecting him to be wearing an old-fashioned aviator's cap and goggles. He looked so weird, with his eyes bugging out through the glasses, that they all took a step back on the front porch.
"Hello," he said in a friendly voice, "are you delivering my airplanes?"
They looked at each other warily.
"Um, no, sir." Percy said.
"Drat," he said, "I need three more Sopwith Camels."
"Right." Ariana said, though she had no clue what he was talking about. "We're friends of Annabeth."
"Annabeth?" He straightened as if she har just given him an electric shock. "Is she all right?
Has something happened?"
None of them answered, but their faces must've told him that something was very wrong.
He took off his cap and goggles. He had sandy-colored hair like Annabeth and intense brown eyes.
He was handsome, Ariana guessed, for an older guy, but it looked like he hadn't shaved in a couple of days, and his shirt was buttoned wrong, so one side of his collar stuck up higher than the other side.
"You'd better come in." he said.
It didn't look like a house they'd just moved into. There were LEGO robots on the stairs and two cats sleeping on the sofa in the living room.
The coffee table was stacked with magazines, and a little kid's winter coat was spread on the floor. The whole house smelled like fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies.
There was jazz music coming from the kitchen. It seemed like a messy, happy kind of home- the kind of place that had been lived in forever.
"Dad!" a little boy screamed. "He's taking apart my robots!"
"Bobby," Dr. Chase called absently, "don't take apart your brother's robots."
"I'm Bobby." the little boy protested. "He's Matthew!"
"Matthew," Dr. Chase called, "don't take apart your brother's robots!"
"Okay, Dad!"
Dr. Chase turned to them. "We'll go upstairs to my study. This way."
"Honey?" a woman called.
Annabeth's stepmom appeared in the living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She was a pretty Asian woman with red highlighted hair tied in a bun
"Who are our guests?" she asked.
"Oh." Dr. Chase said. "This is.."
He stared at them blankly.
"Frederick." she chided. "You forgot to ask them their names?"
They introduced themselves a little uneasily, but Mrs. Chase seemed really nice. She asked if they were hungry.
They admitted they were, and she told them she'd bring them some cookies and sandwiches and sodas.
"Dear." Dr. Chase said. "They came about Annabeth."
Ariana half expected Mrs. Chase to turn into a raving lunatic at the mention of her stepdaughter, but she just pursed her lips and looked concerned. "All right. Go on up to the study and I'll bring you some food."
She smiled at Percy. "Nice meeting you, Percy. I've heard a lot about you."
Then she turned to Ariana. She grinned. "You must be Ariana, Annabeths best friend?"
Ariana nodded. "Nice to meet you."
Upstairs, theh walked into Dr. Chase's study and Percy said, "Whoa!"
The room was wall-to-wall books, but what really caught her attention were the war toys. There was a huge table with miniature tanks and soldiers fighting along a blue painted river, with hills and fake trees and stuff.
Old-fashioned biplanes hung on strings from the ceiling, tilted at crazy angles like they were in the middle of a dogfight.
Dr. Chase smiled. "Yes. The Third Battle of Ypres. I'm writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a much greater role than they've been given credit for."
He plucked a biplane from its string and swept it across the battlefield, making airplane engine noises as he knocked down little German soldiers.
"Oh, right." Percy said.
Ariana knew Annabeth's dad was a professor of military history. She'd never mentioned he played with toy soldiers.
Zoe came over and studied the battlefield. "The German lines were farther from the river."
Dr. Chase stared at her. "How do you know that?"
"I was there." she said matter-of-factly. "Artemis wanted to show us how horrible war was, the way mortal men fight each other. And how foolish, too. The battle was a complete waste."
Dr. Chase opened his mouth in shock. "You-"
"She's a Hunter, sir." Thalia said. "But that's not why we're here. We need-"
"You saw the Sopwith Camels?" Dr. Chase said. "How many were there? What formations did they fly?"
"Sir." Thalia broke in again. "Annabeth is in danger."
That got his attention. He set the biplane down. "Of course." he said. "Tell me everything."
It wasn't easy, but they tried. Meanwhile, the afternoon light was fading outside. They were running out of time.
When they had finished, Dr. Chase collapsed in his leather recliner. He laced his hands.
"My poor brave Annabeth. We must hurry."
"Sir, we need transportation to Mount Tamalpais," Zoe said, "and we need it immediately."
"I'll drive you. Hmm. it would be faster to fly in my Camel, but it only seats two."
"Whoa, you have an actual biplane?" Ariana said.
"Down at Crissy Field." Dr. Chase said proudly. "That's the reason I had to move here. My sponsor is a private collector with some of the finest World War I relics in the world. He let me restore the Sopwith Camel-"
"Sir," Thalia said, "just a car would be great. And it might be better if we went without you. It's too dangerous."
Dr. Chase frowned uncomfortably. "Now wait a minute, young lady. Annabeth is my daughter. Dangerous or not, I... I can't just-"
"Snacks." Mrs. Chase announced.
She pushed through the door with a tray full of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and Cokes and cookies fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips still gooey.
Thalia and Percy inhaled a few cookies while Zoe said, "I can drive, sir. I'm not as young as I look. I promise not to destroy your car."
Mrs. Chase knit her eyebrows. "What's this about?"
"Annabeth is in danger." Dr. Chase said. "On Mount Tam. I would drive them, but... apparently it's no place for mortals."
It sounded like it was really hard for him to get that last part out.
Ariana waited for Mrs. Chase to say no. I mean, what mortal parent would allow four underage teenagers to borrow their car?
To her surprise, Mrs. Chase nodded. "Then they'd better get going."
"Right!" Dr. Chase jumped up and started patting his pockets. "My keys..."
His wife sighed. "Frederick, honestly. You'd lose your head if it weren't wrapped inside your aviator hat. The keys are hanging on the peg by the front door."
"Right!" Dr. Chase said.
Zoe grabbed a sandwich. "Thank you both. We should go. Now"
Ariana ate her cookie.
They hustled out the door and down the stairs, the Chases right behind them.
"Ariana," Mrs. Chase called as she was leaving, "tell Annabeth... Tell her she still has a home here, will you? Remind her of that."
Ariana took one last look at the messy living room, Annabeth's half brothers spilling LEGOs and arguing, the smell of cookies filling the air. Not a bad place, she thought.
Her heart ached. Ariana had always wanted a family like this.
"I'lI tell her," She promised, "I'll speak to her for you."
They ran out to the yellow VW convertible parked in the driveway. The sun was going down. She figured they had less than an hour to save Annabeth.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" Thalia demanded.
Zoe glared at her. "I cannot control traffic."
"You both sound like my mother." Percy said.
"Shut up!" they said in unison.
Zoe weaved in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking on the horizon when we finally got into Marin County and exited the highway.
The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and around the edges of steep ravines. Zoe didn't slow down at all.
"Why does everything smell like cough drops?" Percy asked.
"Eucalyptus." Zoe pointed to the huge trees all around us.
"The stuff koala bears eat?"
"And monsters." she said. "They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons."
"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?"
"Believe me," Zoe said, "if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus too."
Ariana didn't question her, but she did keep her eyes peeled more closely as they drove. Ahead of them loomed Mount Tamalpais.
"So that's the Mountain of Despair?" Percy asked.
"Yes." Zoe said tightly.
"Why do they call it that?"
She was silent for almost a mile before answering. "After the war between the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides."
"The General," Ariana said. Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. "What's going on up there? A storm?"
Zoe didn't answer. She got the feeing she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn't like it.
"We have to concentrate." Thalia said. "The Mist is really strong here."
"The magical kind or the natural kind?" Percy asked.
"Both."
The gray clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain, and they kept driving straight toward them.
They were out of the forest now, into wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog.
Ariana happened to glance down at the ocean as we passed a scenic curve, and she saw something that made her jump out of her seat.
"Look!"
But they turned a corner and the ocean disappeared behind the hills.
"What?" Thalia asked.
"A big white ship." she said. "Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship."
Her eyes widened. "Luke's ship?"
Ariana wanted to say she wasn't sure. It might be a coincidence. But she knew better. The Princess Andromeda, Luke's demon cruise ship, was docked at that beach.
That's why he'd sent his ship all the way down to the Panama Canal. It was the only way to sail it from the East Coast to California.
"We will have company, then," Zoe said grimly, "Kronos's army."
Thalia shouted. "Stop the car. NOW!"
Zoe must've sensed something was wrong, because she slammed on the brakes without question. The yellow VW spun twice before coming to a stop at the edge of the cliff.
"Out!" Thalia opened the door and pushed her and Percy hard. They rolled onto the pavement.
The next second: BOOOM!
Lightning flashed, and Dr. Chase's Volkswagen erupted like a canary-yellow grenade. Ariana probably would've been killed by shrapnel except for Thalia's shield, which appeared over them.
She heard a sound like metal ram, and when she opened my eyes, they were surrounded by wreckage. Part of the VW's fender had impaled itself in the street.
The smoking hood was spinning in circles. Pieces of yellow metal were strewn across the road. Ariana swallowed the taste of smoke out of her mouth.
Percy looked at Thalia. "You saved our-"
"One shall perish by a parent's hand." she muttered. "Curse him. He would destroy me?
Me?"
It took Ariana a second to realize she was talking about her dad. "Oh, hey, that couldn't have been Zeus's lightning bolt. No way."
"Whose, then?" Thalia demanded.
"I don't know. Zoe said Kronos's name. Maybe he-"
Thalia shook her head, looking angry and stunned. "No. That wasn't it."
"Wait." Percy said. "Where's Zoe? Zoe!"
They got up and ran around the blasted VW. Nothing inside. Nothing either direction down the road. Ariana looked down the cliff. No sign of her.
"Zoe!" Percy shouted.
Then she was standing right next to them, pulling Percy by his arm. "Silence, fool! Do you want to wake Ladon?"
"You mean we're here?" He asked.
"Very close." she said. "Follow me."
Sheets of fog were drifting right across the road. Zoe stepped into one of them, and when the fog passed, she was no longer there. Thalia and Percy looked at each other.
"Concentrate on Zoe." Thalia advised. "We are following her. Go straight into the fog and keep that in mind."
"Wait, Thalia. About what happened back on the pier... I mean, with the manticore and the sacrifice." Percy said.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"You wouldn't actually have... you know?"
She hesitated. "I was just shocked. That's all."
"Zeus didn't send that lighting bolt at the car. It was Kronos. He's trying to manipulate you, make you angry at your dad."
She took a deep breath. "Percy, I know you're trying to make me feel better. Thanks. But come on. We need to go."
She stepped into the fog, into the Mist, and Percy and Ariana followed.
When the fog cleared, she was still on the side of the mountain, but the road was dirt. The grass was thicker. The sunset made a blooded slash across the sea.
The summit of the mountain seemed closer now, swirling with storm clouds and raw power. There was only one path to the top, directly in front of them.
And it led through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers: the garden of twilight, just like she has seen in her dream.
If it hadn't been for the enormous dragon, the garden would've been the most beautiful place she'd ever seen.
The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such brilliant colors they almost glowed in the dark.
Stepping stones of polished black marble led around either side of a five-story-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples, and not yellow golden apples like in the grocery store. real golden apples.
"The apples of immortality." Ariana said. "Hera's wedding gift from Zeus."
The dragon coiled around the tree.
The serpent's body was as thick as a booster rocket, glinting with coppery scales. He had more heads than Ariana could count, as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together.
He appeared to be asleep. The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all the eyes closed.
Then the shadows in front of them began to move. There was a beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from the bottom of a well. Percy reached for Riptide, but Zoe stopped his hand.
Four figures shimmered into existence, four young women who looked very much like Zoe. They all wore white Greek chitons. Their skin was like caramel.
Silky black hair tumbled loose around their shoulders. It was strange, but she had never realized how beautiful Zoe was until she saw her siblings, the Hesperides. They looked just like Zoe gorgeous, and probably very dangerous.
"Sisters." Zoe said.
"We do not see any sister," one of the girls said coldly, "see three half-bloods and a Hunter. All of whom shall soon die."
"You've got it wrong." Ariana stepped forward. "Nobody is going to die."
The girls studied her. They had eyes like volcanic rock, glassy and completely black.
"Ariana Parker." one of them said.
"Yes," mused another, "I do not see why she is a threat."
"Who said I was a threat?"
The first Hesperid glanced behind her, toward the top of the mountain. "They fear thee. They are unhappy that this one has not yet killed thee."
She pointed at Thalia.
"Tempting sometimes." Thalia admitted. "But no, thanks. She's my friend."
"There are no friends here, daughter of Zeus," the girl said, "only enemies. Go back."
"Not without Annabeth," Thalia said.
"And Artemis." Zoe said. "We must approach the mountain."
"You know he will kill thee," the girl said, "you are no match for him."
"Artemis must be freed," Zoe insisted, "let us pass."
The girl shook her head. "You have no rights here anymore. We have only to raise our voices and Ladon will wake."
"He will not hurt me." Zoe said.
"No? And what about thy so-called friends?"
Then Zoe did the last thing Ariana expected. She shouted, "Ladon! Wake!"
The dragon stirred, glittering like a mountain of pennies.
The Hesperides yelped and scattered. The lead girl said to Zoe, "Are you mad?"
"You never had any courage, sister." Zoe said. "That is thy problem."
The dragon Ladon was writhing now, a hundred heads whipping around, tongues flickering and tasting the air. Zoe took a step forward, her arms raised.
"Zoe, don't." Thalia said. "You're not a Hesperid anymore. He'll kill you."
"Ladon is trained to protect the tree." Zoë said. "Skirt around the edges of the garden Go up the mountain. As long as I am a bigger threat, he should ignore thee."
"Should." Percy said. "Not exactly reassuring."
"Are you sure?" Ariana asked.
She wouldn't admit it but she had grown to like Zoë, even if she held a grudge against her.
"It is the only way." she said. "Even the four of us together cannot fight him."
Ladon opened his mouths. The sound of a hundred heads hissing at once sent a shiver down her back, and that was before his breath hit her.
The smell was like acid. It made Ariana's eyes burn, her skin crawl, and her hair stand on end.
She wanted to draw her sword but didn't. Thalia went left. Percy and Ariana went right. Zoë walked straight toward the monster.
"It's me, my little dragon," Zoë said, "Zoë has come back."
Ladon shifted forward, then back. Some of the mouths closed. Some kept hissing. Dragon confusion. Meanwhile, the Hesperides shimmered and turned into shadows.
The voice of the eldest whispered, "Fool."
"I used to feed thee by hand." Zoë continued, speaking in a soothing voice as she stepped toward the golden tree. "Do you still like lamb's meat?"
The dragon's eyes glinted.
They were about halfway around the garden. Ahead, Ariana could see a single rocky trail leading up to the black peak of the mountain.
The storm swirled above it, spinning on the summit like it was the axis for the whole world.
They had almost made it out of the meadow when something went wrong. She felt the dragon's mood shift. Maybe Zoë got too close. Maybe the dragon realized he was hungry.
Whatever the reason, he lunged at Zoë. Two thousand years of training kept her alive.
She dodged one set of slashing fangs and tumbled under another, weaving through the dragon's heads as she ran in their direction, gagging from the monster's horrible breath
Percy and Ariana drew their swords to help.
"No!" Zoë panted. "Run!"
The dragon snapped at her side, and Zoë cried out. Thalia uncovered Aegis, and the dragon hissed. In his moment of indecision, Zoë sprinted past them up the mountain, and they followed.
The dragon didn't try to pursue. He hissed and stomped the ground, but he was well trained to guard that tree.
He wasn't going to be lured off even by the tasty prospect of eating some heroes. They ran up the mountain as the Hesperides resumed their song in the shadows behind them.
The music didn't sound so beautiful to her now- more like the sound track for a funeral. At the top of mountain were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses.
Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half melted.
"The ruins of Mount Othrys." Thalia whispered in awe.
"Yes." Zoe said. "It was not here before. This is bad."
"What's Mount Othrys?" Percy asked.
"The mountain fortress of the Titans." Ariana told him.
"In the first war, Olympus and Othrys were the two rival capitals of the world. Othrys was-" Zoe added She winced and held her side.
"You're hurt," Percy said, "let me see."
"No! It is nothing. I was saying... in the first war, Othrys was blasted to pieces."
"But... how is it here?"
Thalia looked around cautiously as they picked their way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken archways.
"It moves in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists on the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain, is not good."
"Why?" Asked Percy
"This is Atlas's mountain," Zoe said, "where he holds-" She froze. Her voice was ragged with despair. "Where he used to hold up the sky."
They had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of them, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis, her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains.
This is what she had seen in her dream. It hadn't been a cavern roof that Artemis was forced to hold. It was the roof of the world.
"My lady!" Zoë rushed forward,
but Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave NOW."
Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. Ariana had never seen a goddess in pain before, but the weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.
Zoë was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests, and tugged at the chains.
A booming voice spoke behind them: "Ah, how touching."
They turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos.
Annabeth stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth, and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat.
Ariana met her eyes, trying to ask her a thousand questions. There was just one message she was sending them, though: RUN.
"Luke." Thalia snarled. "Let her go."
Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than he had three days ago in D.C. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."
Thalia spat at him.
The General chuckled. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoë. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."
"Do not respond." Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."
"Wait a second." Percy said. "You're Atlas?"
Ariana groaned. "How stupid can you be Percy?"
Percy was offended. "Hey!"
The General glanced at them. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."
"You're not going to hurt Zoë." Percy said. "I won't let you."
The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter."
He frowned. "A family matter?"
'Yes," Zoe said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."