[Percy's POV]
After he nearly knocked my cabin door down, Blackjack gave me a ride down the beach, and I have to admit it was cool. Being on a flying horse, skimming over the waves at a hundred miles an hour with the wind in my hair and the sea spray in my face-hey, it beats waterskiing any day.
'Here.' Blackjack slowed and turned in a circle. 'Straight down.'
I nodded and tumbled off his back, plunging into the icy sea. I'd gotten more comfortable doing stunts like that the past couple of years. I could pretty much move however I wanted to underwater, just by willing the ocean currents to change around me and propel me along, I could breathe underwater, no problem, and my clothes never got wet unless I wanted them to. I shot down into the darkness.
Twenty, thirty, forty feet. The pressure wasn't uncomfortable. I'd never tried to push it-to see if there was a limit to how deep I could dive. I knew most regular humans couldn't go past two hundred feet without crumpling like an aluminum can.
I should've been blind, too, this deep in the water at night, but I could see the heat from living forms, and the cold of the currents. It's hard to describe. It wasn't like regular seeing, but I could tell where everything was.
As I got closer to the bottom, I saw three hippocampi-fish-tailed horses-swimming in a circle around an overturned boat. The hippocampi were beautiful to watch. Their fish tails shimmered in rainbow colors, glowing phosphorescent. Their manes were white, and they were galloping through the water the way nervous horses do in a thunderstorm. Something was upsetting them.
I got closer and saw the problem. A dark shape-some kind of animal-was wedged halfway under the boat and tangled in a fishing net, one of those big nets they use on trawlers to catch everything at once. I hated those things. It was bad enough they drowned porpoises and dolphins, but they also occasionally caught mythological animals.
When the nets got tangled, some lazy fishermen would just cut them loose and let the trapped animals die. Apparently this poor creature had been mucking around on the bottom of Long Island Sound and had somehow gotten itself tangled in the net of this sunken fishing boat. It had tried to get out and managed to get even more hopelessly stuck, shifting the boat in the process.
Now the wreckage of the hull, which was resting against a big rock, was teetering and threatening to collapse on top of the tangled animal. The hippocampi were swimming around frantically, wanting to help but not sure how.
One was trying to chew the net, but hippocampi teeth just aren't meant for cutting rope. Hippocampi are really strong, but they don't have hands, and they're not (shhh) all that smart. 'Free it, lord!' A hippocampus said when it saw me. The others joined in, asking the same thing.
I swam in for a closer look at the tangled creature. At first I thought it was a young hippocampus. I'd rescued several of them before. But then I heard a strange sound, something that did not belong underwater: "Mooooooo!"
I got next to the thing and saw that it was a cow. I mean... I'd heard of sea cows, like manatees and stuff, but this really was a cow with the back end of a serpent. The front half was a calf-a baby, with black fur and big, sad brown eyes and a white muzzle-and its back half was a black-and-brown snaky tail with fins running down the top and bottom, like an enormous eel.
"Whoa, little one," I said. "Where did you come from?"
The creature looked at me sadly. "Moooo!"
But I couldn't understand its thoughts. I only speak horse. 'We don't know what it is, lord,' one of the hippocampi said. 'Many strange things are stirring.'
"Yeah," I murmured. "So I've heard." I uncapped Riptide, and the sword grew to full length in my hands, its bronze blade gleaming in the dark. The cow serpent freaked out and started struggling against the net, its eyes full of terror.
"Whoa!" I said. "I'm not going to hurt you! Just let me cut the net."
But the cow serpent thrashed around and got even more tangled. The boat started to tilt, stirring up the muck on the sea bottom and threatening to topple onto the cow serpent. The hippocampi whinnied in a panic and thrashed in the water, which didn't help.
"Okay, okay!" I said. I put away the sword and started speaking as calmly as I could so the hippocampi and the cow serpent would stop panicking. I didn't know if it was possible to get stampeded underwater, but I didn't really want to find out. "It's cool. No sword. See? No sword. Calm thoughts. Sea grass. Mama cows. Vegetarianism."
I doubted the cow serpent understood what I was saying, but it responded to the tone of my voice. The hippocampi were still skittish, but they stopped swirling around me quite so fast.
'Free it, lord!' they pleaded.
"Yeah," I said. "I got that part. I'm thinking."
But how could I free the cow serpent when she (I decided it was probably a "she") panicked at the sight of a blade? It was like she'd seen swords before and knew how dangerous they were.
"All right," I told the hippocampi. "I need all of you to push exactly the way I tell you." First we started with the boat. It wasn't easy, but with the strength of three horsepower, we managed to shift the wreckage so it was no longer threatening to collapse on the baby cow serpent.
Then I went to work on the net, untangling it section by section, getting lead weights and fishing hooks straightened out, yanking out knots around the cow serpent's hooves. It took forever. I mean, it was worse than the time I'd had to untangle all my video game controller wires. The whole time, I kept talking to the cowfish, telling her everything was okay while she mooed and moaned.
"It's okay, Bessie," I said. Don't ask me why I started calling her that. It just seemed like a good cow name. "Good cow. Nice cow."
Finally, the net came off and the cow serpent zipped through the water and did a happy somersault. The hippocampi whinnied with joy. 'Thank you, lord!'
"Moooo!" The cow serpent nuzzled me and gave me the big brown eyes.
"Yeah," I said. "That's okay. Nice cow. Well... stay out of trouble."
Which reminded me, I'd been underwater for how long? An hour, at least. I had to get back to my cabin before Argus or the harpies discovered I was breaking curfew. I shot to the surface and broke through. Immediately, Blackjack zoomed down and let me catch hold of his neck. 'Success, boss?' Blackjack asked.
"Yeah. We rescued a baby... something or other. Took forever. Almost got stampeded."
As Blackjack flew back toward my cabin, I happened to glance at the dining pavilion. I saw a figure. A boy hunkered down behind a Greek column, like he was hiding from someone.
It was Nico, but it wasn't even dawn yet. Nowhere near time for breakfast. What was he doing up there? I hesitated. The last thing I wanted was more time for Nico to tell me about his Mythomagic game. But something was wrong. I could tell by the way he was crouching.
"Blackjack," I said, "Let me down over there, would you?"
[Y/N's POV]
I crept up to the dining pavilion, watching Percy hide from the others, and watch Nico. They paid me no mind. Nico was standing behind one of the marble columns, peering around the end. I almost wanted to grab him on the shoulder, then remembered just how jump kids can be.
Then I noticed two girls talking at one of the dining tables. I thought I was the only one crazy enough to ever be up this early in the morning.
I pulled Annabeth's magic baseball cap from my back pocket. It felt too small. Hopefully it would still fit Annabeth when I was done with it. I looked down at my hands, and saw nothing. The hat worked perfectly fine.
I snuck around Percy and then Nico, still staying as quiet as possible, because I had never bothered to ask Annabeth just how this hat works, so there was no telling how much of me it actually hid. Once I crept up far enough to hear clearly, Zoe and Bianca's voices were arguing.
"It cannot be cured," Zoe was saying. "Not quickly, at any rate."
"But how did it happen?" Bianca asked. "A foolish prank," Zoe growled. "Those Stoll boys from the Hermes cabin. Centaur blood is like acid. Everyone knows that. They sprayed the inside of those Artemis Hunting Tour T-shirt with it."
I called it. Travis and Connor are never that good willed. They're always up to something.
"That's terrible!" Bianca said. "Phoebe will live," Zoe said. "But she'll be bedridden for weeks with horrible hives. There is no way she can go. It's up to me... and thee."
"But the prophecy," Bianca said. "If Phoebe can't go, we only have four. We'll have to pick another."
"There is no time," Zoe said. "We must leave at first light. That's immediately. Besides, the prophecy said we would lose two."
"In the land without rain," Bianca said.
"I'm not sure," Zoe said, though she didn't sound convinced. "The camp has magic borders. Nothing, not even weather, is allowed in without permission. It could be a land without rain. But it matters not."
"But-"
"Bianca, hear me." Zoe's voice was strained. "I... I can't explain, but I have a sense that we should not pick someone else. It would be too dangerous. They would meet an end worse than Phoebe's. I don't want Chiron choosing a camper as our fifth companion. And... I don't want to risk another Hunter."
Bianca was silent. "You should tell Thalia the rest of your dream. You should tell Y/N about it. He's Artemis' son, after all. He might be able to-" Zoe scowled. "No. It would not help. That boy would not understand."
"But if your suspicions are correct, about the General and his lieutenant-"
"I have thy word not to talk about that," Zoe said. She sounded really anguished. "We will find out soon enough. Now come. Dawn is breaking."
Nico scooted away. Percy ducked. Their reactions were smarter than mine. The hunters sprinted down the steps towards me, so I did what felt smartest.
I jumped into a bush.
Like I've said. Annabeth is the smartest one of our group. Not me.
Zoe froze when the shrub rustled, her eyes narrowing. Her hand crept toward her bow, but then Bianca said, "The lights of the Big House are on. Hurry!" And Zoe followed her out of the pavilion.
Nico took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the column after them. Percy stepped out, whispering Nico's name. The boy jumped out of his socks. I scrambled out of the bush, slipping off the invisibility cap. I whisper shouted towards him. "Guys, wait." They almost fell down when they jumped around to face me. "Where did you come from?" Percy nearly shrieked.
I held up Annabeth's hat. "I've been here the whole time. I was just invisible." Nico mouthed the word invisible. "Wow. Cool."
"Why were you watching Zoe and your sister over there?" I asked him. He blushed. "I heard them walk by the Hermes cabin. I don't... I don't sleep too well at camp. So I heard footsteps, and them whispering. And so I kind of followed."
"You want to follow them on the quest don't you?" I asked. Nico's mouth dropped. "How did you know that?"
"Because there's a girl I really care about in trouble right now-"
"Annabeth?" Nico asked. I nodded. "A girl I really care about is in danger and I'm thinking about doing the same thing."
"We both are. I know you care about your sister, Nico. I get it. But can't follow them, kid." Percy reasoned. Nico looked defiant. "Because I'm too young?"
"Partly, yeah. But mostly because they'll catch you and send you back here." I explained. "And it's gonna be really dangerous. Remember the Manticore? Monsters like that are going to show up. Worse ones. Some of us are going to die on this quest."
His shoulders sagged. He shifted from foot to foot. "Maybe you're right. But, but you two can go for me." He turned to me. "You can turn invisible. You can go!"
"The Hunters don't like boys." Percy said. "Especially not me, Nico." I reminded him. "If they find out-"
"Don't let them find out. Follow them invisibly. Keep an eye on my sister! You have to. Please?"
"Kid-"
"You said you were thinking about going anyway, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but..." I couldn't lie to this kid. I looked at Percy, hoping he'd have something. He did not. "I've got to find Annabeth. It's my fault she's in danger, and I couldn't live with myself if she gets hurt anymore. So I'm going to help them, one way or another, even though they don't want me to."
"I won't tell on you two," he said. "But you have to promise to keep my sister safe."
Percy put his hands on Nico's shoulder. "That's a lot for us to promise, kid. On something this dangerous. She's got plenty of people to protect her. Grover, Thalia-"
"Promise," he insisted. I sighed, putting my head in my hands. "I promise you we'll try, Nico."
"Get going, then!" he said. "Good luck!"
I nodded, and turned toward half-blood hill. I didn't have anything on me but Annabeth's hat, my sword, my backup magic sword, and the clothes on my back. And whatever Percy carried with him.
I slipped Annabeth's magic hat into my back pocket as Percy and I sped off toward Thalia's old tree home. We reached the crest of the hill just in time for the van to speed off down the road. Argus probably was taking the four others into the city to work from there.
"How in the world are we going to follow them?" I asked. I scratched the top of my head. "I can't run that fast." Percy had his eyes wide, and said, "And you think I can?"
I heard two pairs of wings beating. Two pegasi landed next to me. Blackjack. Percy smirked. "I think we've got our rides." I chuckled, following him as he mounted blackjack.
I climbed up onto the spare Pegasus. It was covered in magnificent metallic blue feathers. It looked like it came straight from the snow. Percy informed me that his name was 'Capander.' I decided to call him Cap. "Let's go." I told my pegasus. Percy nodded and relayed that to our winged animal friends. Then we were out of there.
***
[Percy's POV]
The thing about flying on a pegasus during the daytime is that if you're not careful, you can cause a serious traffic accident on the Long Island Expressway. Y/N and I had to keep our pegasi up in the clouds, which were luckily pretty low in the winter.
We darted around, trying to keep the white Camp Half-Blood van in sight. And if it was cold on the ground, it was seriously cold in the air, with icy rain stinging my skin.
I was wishing I'd brought some of that Camp Half-Blood orange thermal underwear they sold in the camp store, but after the story about Phoebe, and the centaur-blood T-shirt, I wasn't sure I trusted their products anymore.
We lost the van twice, but I had a pretty good sense that they would go into Manhattan first, so it wasn't too difficult to pick up their trail again. Traffic was bad with the holidays and all. It was mid morning before they got into the city. I landed Blackjack near the top of the Chrysler Building and watched the white camp van, thinking it would pull into the bus station, but it just kept driving.
"Where's Argus taking them?" I muttered. "I have no idea." Y/N mumbled. "He must be on something, because he's all over the place today. Must not have gotten enough sleep." I tilted my head in thought. "Does he even sleep?" Y/N shrugged.
'Oh, Argus ain't driving, boss,' Cap told me. 'That girl is.'
"Which girl?"
'The Hunter girl.' Blackjack added. 'With the silver crown thing in her hair.'
"Zoe's doing that?" I asked out loud. Y/N looked at me incredulously. "Zoe's driving??"
'That's the one.' the pegasi said in unison.
'Hey, look! There's a donut shop. Can we get something to go?' Blackjack asked. Cap muttered in agreement. I tried explaining to them that taking two flying horses to a donut shop would give every cop in there a heart attack, but he didn't seem to get it. Meanwhile, the van kept snaking its way toward the Lincoln Tunnel. It had never even occurred to me that Zoe could drive.
I mean, she didn't look sixteen. Then again, she was immortal. I wondered if she had a New York license, and if so, what her birth date said.
"Well," I said. "Let's get after them."
We were about to leap off the Chrysler Building when Blackjack whinnied in alarm and almost threw me. Y/N's Pegasus, Cap, sighed loudly. Something was curling around my leg like a snake. I reached for my sword, but when I looked down, there was no snake.
Vines. Grape vines had sprouted from the cracks between the stones of the building. They were wrapping around Blackjack's legs, lashing down my ankles so we couldn't move. Y/N was turned with firm, unblinking eyes, not even bothering with the vines slithering around them.
"Going somewhere?" Mr. D asked. He was leaning against the building with his feet levitating in the air, his leopard-skin warm-up suit and black hair whipping around in the wind.
'God alert!' Blackjack yelled. 'It's the wine dude!' Cap snorted. 'Calm down!'
Mr. D sighed in exasperation. "The next person, or horse, who calls me the 'wine dude' will end up in a bottle of Merlot!"
"Mr. D." I tried to keep my voice calm as the grape vines continued to wrap around my legs. "What do you want?"
"Oh, what do I want? You thought, perhaps, that the immortal, all-powerful director of the camp would not notice you leaving without permission?"
"Um..." Y/N said, with a thoughtful expression. "I had hoped..." he suggested.
"I should throw you boys off this building, minus the flying horse, and see how heroic you sound on the way down."
I balled my fists. I knew I should keep my mouth shut, but Mr. D was about to kill me or haul me back to camp in shame, and I couldn't stand either idea. "Why do you hate us so much? What did we ever do to you?"
Purple flames flickered in his eyes. "You're heroes, boy. I need no other reason." Y/N groaned. "Mr D. Listen. We've got to go on this quest. I know you don't get it, but we need to help our friends. I need to help Annabeth!" he shouted.
'Um, boss,' Blackjack said nervously. 'Seeing as how we're wrapped in vines nine hundred feet in the air, you might want to tell your friend to talk nice.'
The grape vines coiled tighter around me. Below us, the white van was getting farther and farther away. Soon it would be out of sight. Y/N's vines were tightening around him and Cap. He glared at Mr D. His face was strong, not a hint of fear at the god's presence. Mr D smiled sadly.
"Did I ever tell you boys about Ariadne?" Mr. D asked. "Beautiful young princess of Crete? She liked helping her friends, too. In fact, she helped a young hero named Theseus, also a son of Poseidon. She gave him a ball of magical yarn that let him find his way out of the Labyrinth. And do you know how Theseus rewarded her?"
The answer I wanted to give was I don't care! But I didn't figure that would make Mr. D finish his story any faster.
"They got married," I said. "Happily ever after. The end."
"That's not what happened." Y/N breathed out, looking down, as if he was disappointed in himself.
Mr. D sneered. "Quite right, L/N. That's not what happened. Theseus said he would marry her. He took her aboard his ship and sailed for Athens. Halfway back, on a little island called Naxos, he... What's the word you mortals use today?... he dumped her. I found her there, you know. Alone. Heartbroken. Crying her eyes out. She had given up everything, left everything she knew behind, to help a dashing young hero who tossed her away like a broken sandal."
"That's wrong," I said. "But that was thousands of years ago. What's that got to do with me?"
"Percy!" Y/N hissed. Mr. D regarded me coldly. "I fell in love with Ariadne, boy. I healed her broken heart. And when she died, I made her my immortal wife on Olympus. She waits for me even now. I shall go back to her when I am done with this infernal century of punishment at your ridiculous camp."
I stared at him. "You're... you're married? But I thought you got in trouble for chasing a wood nymph-"
"My point is you heroes never change. You accuse us gods of being vain. You should look at yourselves. You take what you want, use whoever you have to, and then you betray everyone around you. So you'll excuse me if I have no love for heroes. They are a selfish, ungrateful lot. Ask Ariadne. Or Medea. For that matter, ask Zoe Nightshade."
"What's Zoe got to do with this?" Y/N asked. Mr D waved his hand dismissively. "Go. Follow your silly friends." The vines uncurled around us.
I blinked in disbelief. "You're... you're letting us go? Just like that?"
"The prophecy says at least two of you will die. Perhaps I'll get lucky and you'll be the doomed pair. But mark my words, sons of sea and nature, live or die, you will prove no better than the other heroes."
With that, Dionysus snapped his fingers. His image folded up like a paper display. There was a pop and he was gone, leaving a faint scent of grapes that was quickly blown away by the wind.
'Too close,' Blackjack said. 'It would have been less close if you morons paid more attention.' Cap snorted.
I nodded, though I almost would have been less worried if Mr. D had hauled us back to camp. The fact that he'd let us go meant he really believed we stood a fair chance of crashing and burning on this quest.
"Come on, Blackjack," I said, trying to sound upbeat. "We'll buy you guys donuts in New Jersey."
As it turned out, we didn't buy Blackjack or Cap donuts in New Jersey. Zoe drove south like a crazy person, and we were into Maryland before she finally pulled over at a rest stop. Blackjack darn near tumbled out of the sky, he was so tired.
'I'll be okay, boss,' he panted. 'Just... just catching my breath.' Y/N jumped off of Cap and looked at me. "Stay here," he told us. "I'm going to scout."
''Stay here' I can handle. I can do that.' Blackjack mumbled, tiredly. I got off the pegasus and sat down. Cap trotted over to me and collapsed to the ground, fighting for breath. 'This is awful. How'd I let you talk me into this?' he asked Blackjack. The pegasi were far too exhausted to argue anymore.
[Y/N's POV]
I tossed on Annabeth's hat of invisibility and snuck around to the convenience store. I knew I didn't have to actually sneak, but this sensation was disorienting, because if I bumped into someone and they couldn't see me, that might cause a whole different heap of issues.
I was going to head into the convenience store. Maybe buy a hot chocolate or something. Grab some food for the journey. I didn't have any money, but does it really matter? I'm invisible.
That plan fell completely apart when Zoe, Thalia, Bianca, and Grover all emerged out of the store. I staggered back, considering jumping into another bush, but thought better.
"Grover, are you sure?" Thalia was saying. "Well... pretty sure. Ninety-nine percent. Okay, eighty-five percent." I didn't know what they were talking about, so I decided to follow them. Quietly of course.
"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."
"I dislike this," Zoe said. "We should go straight west. The prophecy said west."
"Oh, like your tracking skills are better?" Thalia growled.
Zoe 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? And no. I can't challenge your skills. But I know someone who can beat you. Y/N. But you didn't want him to come just because he's a boy."
"That's not the only reason. My lady has forbade us from speaking to him if it can be helped. For reasons I swore never to give him."
"Did you swear it on the Styx?" Thalia asked. Zoe shook her head tiredly. "Then it doesn't count. Come on, tell us. Why's she hate him so much, anyway? Y/N's a good guy. I don't get it." she wondered. Zoe snarled. "Whoa, you two," Grover said nervously. "Come on. Not again!"
"Grover's right," Bianca said. "D.C. is our best bet." Zoe 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 look closer to sixteen than you do." Zoe snapped. "Perhaps, but I have been driving since automobiles were invented. Let us go."
I hurried back to Percy and the pegasi, and we took off quickly, pursuing the van down the road. Zoe really was old if that was the truth. I'd never bothered to ask her how old she was, because I tried to avoid saying anything to her unless necessary. She never even apologized for stabbing me. She just said, "You should not have run into my blade."
We got closer to Washington, but our Pegasi were starting to drop, breathing heavily. I looked at Percy. "Are they alright?"
"They don't sound good." he said. I felt guilty. Cap and Blackjack were just gunning it nonstop since we left camp, and I never even thanked them.
Lucky enough for us, the van started to slow. It crossed a bridge into central D.C. I've been told things about the U.S. government by Annabeth, and was not looking forward to potentially having to evade heat seeking missiles fired to shoot two unidentified flying objects down over the capital.
"Set us down here. We can walk the rest of the way." I suggested. Percy relayed my words and the pegasi wasted no time. They dropped us down right at the edge of the grass by the big white marble tower called Washington monument. The van was only a few blocks away. Zoe had parked at the curb.
Percy turned to our horses. "I want you to go back to camp. Get some rest. Graze. We'll be fine." The pegasi cocked their heads curiously. I had no clue what was being said, but I tried to tell the horses something reassuring anyway. "You two have done more than enough for us already. We'll be alright. Thanks, Cap. Thanks, Blackjack."
Percy promised them we'd be careful, and the pegasi took off, spiraling around the giant monument before disappearing up into the sky. I looked at Percy and smiled. "It's lucky horses like you so much, dude." he chuckled. "Yeah. Real lucky."
We looked over at the white van. Luckily, none of them noticed us. They all filed out of the van as Grover pointed at one of the bigger buildings around the corner. Thalia nodded, and the quartet trudged through the cold wind off to someplace I'd never been.
Percy and I were going to follow them from a distance, but the son of Poseidon froze and pointed something out to me.
About a block away, the door of a black car opened. A man with gray hair and a buzzcut stepped out. He was wearing dark shades and a big black overcoat. Based on it being Washington, I figured he was some odd special agent, but Percy said, "I saw that car on the highway. It was following the van the whole time."
My heart dropped into my stomach. The big man pulled out a phone and spoke into it. Then he looked around, and walked towards where Grover, Thalia, and the other two had wandered off.
He turned in our direction. It was Dr Thorn. The french sounding Manticore from Westover hall, who moonlighted as a vice principal.
I looked at Percy. We shared a look of worry. Why was he all the way out here? No idea. We followed from a distance.
A thought panged in my heart. Thorn survived the fall. Then so did Annabeth. My dreams were right. And that added on an entire layer of worry as well. Because that meant she was almost dead anyway, and my mother was stuck holding up a cave from collapsing on them.
Thorn kept a considerable distance back from my friends. Which meant Percy and I had to keep even further back from him.
Eventually, Grover stopped limping in front of a big Building labeled 'National Air and Space museum.' I looked at Percy and he explained that he had been here once with his mom and it was also called the Smithsonian.
Thalia pulled on the door. It opened, but there weren't a lot of people moving around in or near there. They slipped inside, making it look like there was a bit more foot traffic than normal. Thorn paused for a moment. He looked nervous. I wasn't sure why. Thorn turned on a dime and moved to another building.
"Percy. Go get the others. I don't know what he's planning, but it can't be good. Let them know." He nodded and took off toward the museum. I slipped on Annabeth's invisibility cap and got closer.
Thorn hurried his way across the street and up the stairs to some other museum that looked closed. I followed him inside, through a huge room full of fossils.