The statues flew them down to the Embarcadero Building, scaring a homeless man as they did, he ran off screaming something about metal angels from mars.
They said their goodbyes and the angels flew off to party with some other statues. Now they were stood again Lilia realised she had no idea what they were going to do next.
They'd made it to the west coast, Artemis was here somewhere, and Annabeth to hopefully. But they had no idea where to find them and the summer solstice was the next day.
After a brief discussion they decided they needed to figure out what the mystery monster was. The monster was supposed to find them on this quest but still, there was no sign of it.
"But how?" Percy asked.
"Nereus." Grover said.
"What?" He looked confused.
"Isn't that what Apollo told you to do? Find Nereus?" Lilia raised an eyebrow.
Now he remembered, he nodded. "The old man of the sea, I'm supposed to find him and force him to tell us what he knows. But how do I find him?"
Zoe made a face. "Old Nereus, eh?"
"You know him?" Thalia asked.
My mother was a water goddess. Yes, I know him. Unfortunately, he is never very hard to find, just follow the smell." She said.
"What do you mean?" Percy asked.
"Come," she said without enthusiasm. "I will show thee."
➳
Zoë dragged them to goodwill, and with in five minutes had dressed Percy in a ragged flannel shirt and jeans three sizes too big, bright red sneakers, and a floppy rainbow hat.
"Oh, yeah," Grover said, trying not to bust out laughing, "you look completely inconspicuous now."
Zoe nodded with satisfaction. "A typical male vagrant."
"Thanks a lot," he grumbled. "Why am I doing this again?"
"I told thee. To blend in."
She led the way back down to the waterfront. After a long time spent searching the docks, Zoe finally stopped in her tracks. She pointed down a pier where a bunch of homeless guys were huddled together in blankets, waiting for the soup kitchen to open for lunch.
"He will be down there somewhere," Zoe said. "He never travels very far from the water. He likes to sun himself during the day."
"How do I know which one is him?" Percy asked
"Sneak up," she said. "Act homeless. You will know him. He will smell... different."
"Great." He grumbled looking displeased. "And once I find him?"
"Grab him," she said. "And hold on. He will try anything to get rid of thee. Whatever he does, do not let go. Force him to tell thee about the monster."
"We've got your back," Lilia said. She picked something off the back of my shirt a big clump of fuzz that came from who-knows-where. "Eww. On second thought... I don't want your back. But we'll be rooting for you."
Grover gave him a big thumbs-up.
Percy walked away mumbling about how they were such good friends.
Lilia rolled her eyes and sat down, the others followed.
"How long will this take?" She sighed. She didn't like waiting around, she fidgeted with her rings and tapped her feet.
"Not long. If we're lucky he'll think he has an advantage in the water, and then Percy will have no trouble." Zoë said.
Lilia huffed, it felt like a long time. They heard a bunch of splashes and ran down the pier steps.
Percy had Nereus in a head-lock.
"You got him!" Grover said.
"No need to sound so amazed." Percy replied.
Nereus moaned. "Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"
"I've got more than one question," he said.
"Only one question per capture! That's the rule."
Percy looked at his friends.
This wasn't good. They needed to find Artemis, and they needed to figure out what the doomsday creature was.
He sighed. "All right, Nereus. Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting."
The Old Man of the Sea smiled, showing off his mossy green teeth.
"Oh, that's too easy," he said evilly. "He's right there."
Nereus pointed to the water at my feet.
"Where?" Percy said.
"The deal is complete!" Nereus gloated. With a pop, he turned into a goldfish and did a backflip into the sea.
"You tricked me!" He yelled.
"Wait." Thalia's eyes widened. "What is that?"
"Moooooo!"
Lilia looked down, to see a cow serpent, swimming next to the dock.
She nudged Percy's shoe and gave him sad brown eyes.
"Ah, Bessie," he said. "Not now."
"You know this cow?" Lilia gave him a weird look.
"Mooo!"
Grover gasped. "He says his name isn't Bessie."
"You can understand her... er, him?"
Grover nodded. "It's a very old form of animal speech. But he says his name is the Ophiotaurus."
"The Ophi-what?"
"It means serpent bull in Greek," Lilia said.
"But what's it doing here?" Thalia asked.
"He says Percy is his protector," Grover announced.
"And he's running from the bad people. He says they are close." Lilia wondered how he got all that out of a single moooooo.
"Repeating myself a bit here. You know this cow?" She said a bit annoyed she got ignored.
He told them the story.
Thalia shook her head in disbelief. "And you just forgot to mention this before?"
"Well... yeah."
"I am a fool," Zoe said suddenly. "I know this story!"
"What story?"
"From the War of the Titans," she said. "My... my father told me this tale, thousands of years ago. This is the beast we are looking for."
"Bessie?" Percy looked down at the bull serpent. "But.. he's too cute. He couldn't destroy the world."
"That is how we were wrong," Zoe said. "We've been anticipating a huge dangerous monster, but the Ophiotaurus does not bring down the gods that way. He must be sacrificed."
"MMMM," Bessie lowed.
"I don't think he likes the S-word," Grover said.
Percy patted Bessie on the head, trying to calm him down. He let him scratch his ear, but he was trembling. Lilia suddenly felt quite bad for the cow.
"How could anyone hurt him?" Percy said. "He's harmless."
Zoe nodded. "But there is power in killing innocence.
Terrible power. The Fates ordained a prophecy cons ago, when this creature was born.
They said that whoever killed the Ophiotaurus and sacrificed its entrails to fire would have the power to destroy the gods."
"MMMMMM!"
"Um," Grover said. "Maybe we could avoid talking about entrails, too."
Thalia stared at the cow serpent with wonder. "The power to destroy the gods. how? I mean, what would happen?"
"No one knows," Zoe said. "The first time, during the Titan war, the Ophiotaurus was in fact slain by a giant ally of the Titans, but thy father, Zeus, sent an eagle to snatch the entrails away before they could be tossed into the fire. It was a close call. Now, after three thousand years, the Ophiotaurus is reborn."
Thalia sat down on the dock. She stretched out her hand. Bessie went right to her.
Thalia placed her hand on his head. Bessie shivered.
"We have to protect him," Percy told them. "If Luke gets hold of him."
"Luke wouldn't hesitate," Thalia muttered. "The power to overthrow Olympus. That's...
that's huge."
"Yes, it is, my dear," said a man's voice in a heavy French accent. "And it is a power you shall unleash."
The Ophiotaurus made a whimpering sound and submerged.
Lilia looked up. They'd been so busy talking, they'd allowed themselves to be ambushed.
Standing behind them, his two-color eyes gleaming wickedly, was Dr. Thorn, the manticore himself.
"This is just pairrr-fect," the manticore gloated.
"Long ago, the gods banished me to Persia," the manticore said. "I was forced to scrounge for food on the edges of the world, hiding in forests, devouring insignificant human farmers for my meals. I never got to fight any great heroes. I was not feared and admired in the old stories! But now that will change. The Titans shall honor me, and I shall feast on the flesh of half-bloods!"
On either side of him stood two armed security guys, some of the mortal mercenaries Lilia recognised them from D.C. Two more stood on the next boat dock over, just in case they tried to escape that way. There were tourists all around walking down the waterfront, shopping at the pier above them-but that wouldn't stop the manticore from acting.
"Where... where are the skeletons?" Percy asked the manticore.
He sneered. "I do not need those foolish undead! The General thinks I am worthless? He will change his mind when I defeat you myself!"
"We beat you once before," Percy said.
"Ha! You could barely fight me with a goddess on your side. And, alas... that goddess is preoccupied at the moment. There will be no help for you now."
Zoe notched an arrow and aimed it straight at the manticore's head. The guards on either side of us raised their guns.
"Wait!" Percy said. "Zoe, don't!"
The manticore smiled. "The boy is right, Zoe Nightshade. Put away your bow. It would be a shame to kill you before you witnessed Thalia's great victory."
"What are you talking about?" Thalia growled. She had her shield and spear ready.
"Surely it is clear," the manticore said. "This is your moment. This is why Lord Kronos brought you back to life. You will sacrifice the Ophiotaurus. You will bring its entrails to the sacred fire on the mountain. You will gain unlimited power. And for your sixteenth birthday, you will overthrow Olympus."
No one spoke. It made terrible sense. Thalia was only two days away from turning sixteen. She was a child of the Big Three. And here was a choice, a terrible choice that could mean the end of the gods. It was just like the prophecy said.
They waited for Thalia to tell the manticore off, but she hesitated. She looked completely stunned.
"You know it is the right choice," the manticore told her. "Your friend Luke recognized it. You shall be reunited with him. You shall rule this world together under the auspices of the Titans. Your father abandoned you, Thalia. He cares nothing for you. And now you shall gain power over him. Crush the Olympians underfoot, as they deserve. Call the beast! It will come to you. Use your spear."
"Thalia," Lilia said, "snap out of it!"
She looked at her, dazed and uncertain. It was almost like she didn't know her. "I.. I don't-"
"Your father helped you," she said. "He sent the metal angels. He turned you into a tree to preserve you."
Her hand tightened on the shaft of her spear.
Percy looked at Grover desperately. Thank the gods, he understood what he needed. He raised his pipes to his mouth and played a quick riff.
The manticore yelled, "Stop him!"
The guards had been targeting Zoe, and before they could figure out that the kid with the pipes was the bigger problem, the wooden planks at their feet sprouted new branches and tangled their legs. Zoe let loose two quick arrows that exploded at their feet in clouds of sulfurous yellow smoke. Fart arrows!
The guards started coughing. The manticore shot spines in our direction, but they ricocheted off my lion's coat.
"Grover," Percy said, "tell Bessie to dive deep and stay down!"
"Mooooo!" Grover translated. I could only hope that Bessie got the message.
"The cow..." Thalia muttered, still in a daze.
"Come on!" Lilia pulled her along as they ran up the stairs to the shopping center on the pier.
They dashed around the corner of the nearest store. Lilia heard the manticore shouting at his minions, "Get them!" Tourists screamed as the guards shot blindly into the air.
They scrambled to the end of the pier. And hid behind a little kiosk filled with souvenir crystals wind chimes and dream catchers and stuff like that, glittering in the sunlight. There was a water fountain next to them. Down below, a bunch of sea lions were sunning themselves on the rocks. The whole of San Francisco Bay spread out before them: the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, and the green hills and fog beyond that to the north. A picture-perfect moment, except for the fact that we were about to die and the world was going to end.
"Go over the side!" Lilia told Percy. "You can escape in the sea, Percy. Call on thy father for help. Maybe you can save the Ophiotaurus."
"I won't leave you guys," he said. "We fight together."
"You have to get word to camp!" Grover said. "At least let them know what's going on!"
Lilia noticed the crystals making rainbows in the sunlight. There was a drinking fountain next to them...
"Percy, get word to camp," Lilia muttered, jutting her head towards the crystals.
He looked between her, the water fountain and the crystals, then nodded.
He uncapped Riptide and slashed off the top of the water fountain. Water burst out of the busted pipe and sprayed all over them.
Thalia gasped as the water hit her. The fog seemed to clear from her eyes. "Are you crazy?" she asked.
But Grover understood. He was already fishing around in his pockets for a coin. He threw a golden drachma into the rainbows created by the mist and yelled, "Oh goddess, accept my offering!"
The mist rippled.
"Camp Half-Blood!" Percy said.
And there, shimmering in the Mist right next to them, was the last person Percy wanted to see:
Mr. D, wearing his leopard-skin jogging suit and rummaging through the refrigerator.
He looked up lazily. "Do you mind?"
"Where's Chiron!" He shouted.
"How rude." Mr. D took a swig from a jug of grape juice. "Is that how you say hello?"
"Hello," he amended. "We're about to die! Where's Chiron?"
Mr. D considered that. Behind us, footsteps and shouting the manticore's troops were closing in.
"About to die," Mr. D mused. "How exciting. I'm afraid Chiron isn't here. Would you like me to take a message?"
He looked over to the others. "We're dead."
Thalia gripped her spear. She looked like her old angry self again. "Then we'll die fighting."
"How noble," Mr. D said, stifling a yawn. "So what is the problem, exactly?" Lilia didn't see that it would make any difference, but Percy told him about the Ophiotaurus.
"Mmm." He studied the contents of the fridge. "So that's it. I see."
"You don't even care!" Lilia screamed. "You'd just as soon watch us die!"
"Let's see. I think I'm in the mood for pizza tonight."
The manticore screamed, "There!" And they were surrounded. Two of the guards stood behind him.
The other two appeared on the roofs of the pier shops above them. The manticore threw off his coat and transformed into his true self, his lion claws extended and his spiky tail bristling with poison barbs.
"Excellent," he said. He glanced at the apparition in the mist and snorted. "Alone, without any real help. Wonderful."
"You could ask for help," Mr. D murmured to me, as if this were an amusing thought. "You could say please."
Lilia and Zoe readied their arrows. Grover lifted his pipes. Thalia raised her shield, and Lilia noticed a tear running down her cheek. Suddenly it occurred to her: this had happened to her before.
She had been cornered on Half-Blood Hill. She'd willingly given her life for her friends. But this time, she couldn't save them.
How could she let that happen to her?
"Please, Mr. D," Lilia muttered. "Help." Of course, nothing happened.
The manticore grinned. "Spare the daughter of Zeus. She will join us soon enough. Kill the others."
The men raised their guns, and something strange happened. You know how you feel when all the blood rushes to your head, like if you hang upside down and turn right-side up
too quickly? There was a rush like that all around Them, and a sound like a huge sigh. The sunlight tinged with purple. Lilia smelled grapes and something more sour wine.
SNAP!
It was the sound of many minds breaking at the same time. The sound of madness. One guard put his pistol between his teeth like it was a bone and ran around on all fours. Two others dropped their guns and started waltzing with each other. The fourth began doing what looked like an Irish clogging dance. It would have been funny if it hadn't been so terrifying.
"No!" screamed the manticore. "I will deal with you myself!"
His tail bristled, but the planks under his paws erupted into grape vines, which immediately began wrapping around the monster's body, sprouting new leaves and clusters of green baby grapes that ripened in seconds as the manticore shrieked, until he was engulfed in a huge mass of vines, leaves, and full clusters of purple grapes. Finally the grapes stopped shivering, and they had a feeling that somewhere inside there, the manticore was no more.
"Well," said Dionysus, closing his refrigerator. "That was fun."
Percy stared at him, horrified. "How could you... How did you"
"Such gratitude," he muttered. "The mortals will come out of it. Too much explaining to do if I made their condition permanent. I hate writing reports to Father."
He stared resentfully at Thalia. "I hope you learned your lesson, girl. It isn't easy to resist power, is it?"
Thalia blushed as if she were ashamed.
"Mr. D," Grover said in amazement. "You... you saved us.
"Mmm. Don't make me regret it, satyr. Now get going, Percy Jackson. I've bought you a few hours at most."
"The Ophiotaurus," he said. "Can you get it to camp?"
Mr. D sniffed. "I do not transport livestock. That's your problem."
"But where do we go?" Lilia asked.
Dionysus looked at Zoe. "Oh, I think the huntress knows. You must enter at sunset today, you know, or all is lost. Now good-bye. My pizza is waiting."
"Mr. D," Percy said.
He raised his eyebrow.
"You called me by my right name," he said. "You called me Percy Jackson."
"I most certainly did not, Peter Johnson. Now off with you!" He waved his hand, and his image disappeared in the mist.
All around them, the manticore's minions were still acting completely nuts. One of them had found their friend the homeless guy, and they were having a serious conversation about metal angels from Mars. Several other guards were harassing the tourists, making animal noises and trying to steal their shoes.
Lilia looked at Zoe. "What did he mean... You know where to go'?"
Her face was the color of the fog. She pointed across the bay, past the Golden Gate. In the distance, a single mountain rose up above the cloud layer.
"The garden of my sisters," she said. "I must go home."
AN-
Can we just talk about how much I love Dionysus for a second? Like he's so funny, he ate Dr Thorn right up, while still remaining his annyoing self to the group😭.
We're getting close to finding Annabeth now and finishing the book, which also means we're getting close to flirty Lilia and Percy !!!!!
I for one can't wait.
Love you all 🤍