CITY OF ANGELS - 24kGoldn
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AT THE EDGE OF THE DUMP, they found a tow truck so old it might've been thrown away itself. But the engine started, and it had a full tank of gas, so they all decided to borrow it.
Thalia drove. She didn't seem as stunned as the rest of them. "The skeletons are still out there," she reminded. "We need to keep moving."
She navigated through the desert, under clear blue skies, the sand so bright it hurt to look at. Zoe sat up front with Thalia. Grover, Y/N and Percy sat in the pickup bed, leaning against the tow wench. The air was cool and dry, but the nice weather just seemed like an insult after losing Bianca.
Y/N's hand closed around the little figurine that had cost her life. He still couldn't even tell what god it was supposed to be. Nico would know.
Oh, gods... Nico... What was he supposed to say? He had even promised to keep Bianca as safe as possible.
Y/N wanted to believe that Bianca was still alive somewhere. But he had a bad feeling that she was gone for good.
"It should've been me," Y/N muttered. "I should've gone into the giant."
"Don't say that!" Percy swatted his shoulder in annoyance. "It's bad enough Annabeth is gone, and now Bianca. Don't you think I would care if I lost another friend?"
Grover just sniffled and wiped his face with an oily rag.
The tow truck ran out of gas at the edge of a river canyon. That was just as well, because the road dead-ended. Thalia got out and slammed the door. Immediately, one of the tires blew. "Great. What now?"
They scanned the horizon. There wasn't much to see. Desert in all directions, occasional clumps of barren mountains plopped here and there. The canyon was the only thing interesting. The river itself wasn't very big, maybe fifty yards across, green water with a few rapids, but it carved a huge scar out of the desert. The rock cliffs dropped away below them.
"There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river."
Y/N tried to see what he was talking about, and finally noticed a tiny ledge winding down the cliff face. "That's a goat path," he said.
"So?" he asked.
"The rest of us aren't goats."
"We can make it," Grover said. "I think."
Y/N glanced over at Thalia and saw how pale she'd gotten. Her problem with heights... she'd never be able to do it.
"No," Y/N said. "I, uh, think we should go farther upstream."
Grover said, "But—"
"Come on," he said. "A walk won't hurt us."
Y/N glanced at Thalia. Her eyes said a quick thank you.
They followed the river about half a mile before coming to an easier slope that led down to the water. On the shore was a canoe rental operation that was closed for the season, but they left a stack of golden drachmas on the counter and a note saying IOU two canoes.
"We need to go upstream," Zoe said. She didn't sound good, like somebody with the flu. "The rapids are too swift."
"Leave that to me," Percy said. They put the canoes in the water.
Thalia pulled Y/N aside. "Thanks for back there."
"Don't mention it."
"Would you take Zoe?" she asked. "I think, ah, maybe you can talk to her."
"She's not going to like that."
"Please? I don't know if I can stand being in the same boat with her. She's... she's starting to worry me." Y/N sighed, but he nodded.
Thalia's shoulders relaxed. "I owe you one."
"Two."
"One and a half," Thalia smirked. Y/N rolled his eyes.
"Alright." She turned and helped Grover, and Percy get their 3 man canoe into the water.
As it turned out, Percy didn't even need to control the currents. He glanced over the side, talking to a couple of underwater teenage girls. Before he could even finish, the naiads each chose a canoe and began pushing them up the river. They started so fast Grover fell into his canoe with his hooves sticking up in the air.
"I hate naiads," Zoe grumbled.
A stream of water squirted up from the back of the boat and hit Zoe in the face.
"She-devils!" Zoe went for her bow.
"Whoa," Percy said from behind them. "They're just playing."
"Cursed water spirits. They've never forgiven me."
"Forgiven you for what?" Y/N asked
She slung her bow back over her shoulder. "It was a long time ago. Never mind."
They sped up the river, the cliffs looming up on either side of us.
"What happened to Bianca wasn't your fault," Y/N told her. "It was my fault. I let her go." He thought she might start yelling at him.
Instead, her shoulders slumped. "No, Y/N. I pushed her into going on the quest. I was too anxious. She was a powerful half-blood. She had a kind heart, as well. I... I thought she would be the next lieutenant."
"But you're the lieutenant."
She gripped the strap of her quiver. She looked more tired than ever.
"Nothing can last forever, Y/N. Over two thousand years I have led the Hunt, and my wisdom has not improved. Now Artemis herself is in danger."
"You can't blame yourself for that."
"If I had insisted on going with her—"
"You think you could've fought something powerful enough to kidnap Artemis? There's nothing you could have done."
Zoe didn't answer.
The cliffs along the river were getting taller. Long shadows fell across the water, making it a lot colder, even though the day was bright.
She glanced to the left of the canoe, where Percy and Grover were joking around in theirs. Percy was absentmindedly twirling Riptide in his hand. Zoe noticed it, and visibly winced.
Y/N thought back to his dream. "You made that," he said.
Zoe raised an eyebrow. "Made what?"
"Percy's pen. You made Riptide."
She glared at him "Who told thee?"
"I had a dream about it."
She studied him. Instead of denying it, she just sighed. "It was a gift. And a mistake."
"Who was the hero?" Y/N asked.
Zoe shook her head. "Do not make me say his name. I swore never to speak it again."
"You act like I should know him."
"I am sure you do, demigod. Don't all you boys want to be just like him?"
Her voice was so bitter, Y/N decided to drop the subject. "Your mother was a water goddess?" Y/N asked.
"Yes, Pleione. She had five daughters. My sisters and I. The Hesperides."
"Those were the girls who lived in a garden at the edge of the West. With the golden apple tree and a dragon guarding it."
"Yes," Zoe said wistfully. "Ladon."
"But weren't there only four sisters'?"
"There are now. I was exiled. Forgotten. Blotted out as if I never existed."
"Why?"
Zoe pointed to Percy's pen. "Because I betrayed my family and helped a hero. You won't find that in the legend either. He never spoke of me. After his direct assault on Ladon failed, I gave him the idea of how to steal the apples, how to trick my father, but he took all the credit."
"But—"
"We're stopping." Percy called out. Y/N looked down. The canoe was slowing down. Ahead, the river was blocked. A dam the size of a football stadium stood in the way.
"Hoover Dam," Thalia said. "It's huge."
They stood at the river's edge, looking up at a curve of concrete that loomed between the cliffs. People were walking along the top of the dam. They were so tiny they looked like fleas.
"Seven hundred feet tall," Y/N said. "Built in the 1930s."
"Cost 49 million to build." Percy added.
"Five million cubic acres of water," Thalia said.
Graver sighed. "Largest construction project in the United States."
Zoe stared at them. "How do you know all that?"
"Annabeth," Y/N mumbled. "She liked architecture."
"She was nuts about monuments," Thalia said.
"Spouted facts all the time." Grover sniffled. "So annoying."
"I wish she were here," Percy said. The others nodded.
"We should go up there," Y/N said. "For her sake. Just to say we've been."
"You are mad," Zoe decided. "But that's where the road is." She pointed to a huge parking garage next to the top of the dam. "And so, sightseeing it is."
They had to walk for almost an hour before they found a path that led up to the road. It came up on the east side of the river. Then the group straggled back toward the dam. It was cold and windy on top. On one side, a big lake spread out, ringed by barren desert mountains. On the other side, the dam dropped away like the world's most dangerous skateboard ramp, down to the river seven hundred feet below, and water that churned from the dam's vents.
Thalia walked in the middle of the road, far away from the edges. Grover kept sniffing the wind and looking nervous. He didn't say anything, but Y/N had a feeling he smelled monsters.
"How close are they?" Y/N said.
Grover shook his head. "Maybe not close. The wind on the dam, the desert all around us... the scent can probably carry for miles. But it's coming from several directions. I don't like that."
"There's a snack bar in the visitor center," Thalia said.
"You've been here before?" Percy asked.
"Once. To see the guardians." She pointed to the far end of the dam. Carved into the side of the cliff was a little plaza with two big bronze statues. They looked like Oscar statues with wings.
"They were dedicated to Zeus when the dam was built," Thalia said. "A gift from Athena."
Tourists were clustered all around them. They seemed to be looking at the statues' feet. "What are they doing?" Percy asked.
"Rubbing the toes," Thalia said. "They think it's good luck."
"Why?"
She shook her head. "Mortals get crazy ideas. They don't know the statues are sacred to Zeus, but they know there's something special about them."
"Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoe said. "We should eat while we can."
Grover cracked a smile. "The dam snack bar?"
Zoe blinked. "Yes. What is funny?"
"Nothing," Grover said, trying to keep a straight face. "I could use some dam french fries."
Percy smiled at that. "And I need to use the dam restroom."
Maybe it was the fact that he was so tired and strung out emotionally, but Y/N started cracking up, and Thalia and Grover joined in, while Zoe just looked confused. "I do not understand."
"I want to use the dam water fountain," Grover said.
"And..." Thalia tried to catch her breath. "I want to buy a dam T-shirt."
Y/N eyes watered. "I could really go for some dam chips right now."
Percy laughed, before going silent, the smile melting off his face. Grover had stopped laughing too. He was looking around, confused. "Did I just hear a cow?"
"A dam cow?" Thalia laughed.
"No," Grover said. "I'm serious."
Zoe listened. "I hear nothing."
Y/N glanced at Percy. "Percy, are you okay?"
"Yeah," he said. "You guys go ahead. I'll be right in."
"What's wrong?" Grover asked.
"Nothing," Percy said. "I... I just need a minute. To think."
They hesitated, but Y/N could tell that he was pretty shook up. They all shrugged, before they finally went into the visitor centre without him. Y/N looked over to a public water fountain, which looked pretty inviting. "I need some water. I'll join you guys soon."
Y/N took in big gulps of the lukewarm metallic water, which had been sitting still for at least a couple of days. Delicious. He glanced over to Percy, who seemed to be talking to the lake. Even better.
Y/N glanced around, and then back at Percy. Something was wrong. Percy seemed to be raising his voice at the water, before he turned around, looking at the dam road to the east.
The hairs on Y/N's arms bristled. He saw two men walking slowly toward him. They wore grey camouflage outfits that flickered over skeletal bodies.
They passed through a group of kids and pushed them aside. A kid yelled, "Hey!" One of the warriors turned, his face changing momentarily into a skull.
"Ah!" the kid yelled, and his whole group backed away.
Y/N ran for the visitor centre. Percy decided to keep conversing with the lake. He was almost to the stairs when there was a squealing of tires. On the west side of the dam, a black van swerved to a stop in the middle of the road, nearly plowing into some old people. The van doors opened and more skeleton warriors piled out.
"This is going swimmingly." Y/N muttered.
He bolted down the stairs and through the museum entrance. The security guard at the metal detector yelled, "Hey, kid!" But he didn't stop.
Y/N ran through the exhibits and ducked behind a tour group. He whipped his head around, looking for the others. "Where's the dam snack bar?" Y/N groaned.
"Stop!" The metal-detector guy yelled.
There was no place to go but into an elevator with the tour group. Y/N ducked inside just as the door closed.
"We'll be going down seven hundred feet," the tour guide said cheerfully. She was a park ranger, with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and tinted glasses. "Don't worry, ladies and gentlemen, the elevator hardly ever breaks."
"Does this go to the snack bar?" Y/N asked.
A few people behind chuckled. The tour guide looked at Y/N. Something about her gaze made his skin tingle.
"To the turbines, young man," the lady said. "Weren't you listening to my fascinating presentation upstairs?"
"Oh, uh, sure. Is there another way out of the dam?"
"It's a dead end," a tourist behind him said. "For heaven's sake. The only way out is the other elevator."
The doors opened.
"Go right ahead, folks," the tour guide told us. "Another ranger is waiting for you at the end of the corridor."
There wasn't much choice but to go out with the group.
"And young man," the tour guide called. Y/N looked back. She'd taken off her glasses. Her eyes were startlingly gray, like storm clouds. "There is always a way out for those clever enough to find it."
The doors closed with the tour guide still inside, leaving Y/N alone.
Before he could think too much about the woman in the elevator, a ding came from around the corner. The second elevator was opening, and he heard an unmistakable sound—the clattering of skeleton teeth.
Y/N ran after the tour group, through a tunnel carved out of solid rock. It seemed to run forever. The walls were moist, and the air hummed with electricity and the roar of water. He came out on a U-shaped balcony that overlooked a huge warehouse area. Fifty feet below, enormous turbines were running. It was a big room, but he didn't see any other exit.
Another tour guide was talking over the microphone, telling the tourists about water supplies in Nevada. Y/N prayed that Thalia, Percy, Zoe, and Grover were okay. They might already be captured, or eating at the snack bar, completely unaware that they were being surrounded.
Y/N worked his way around the crowd, trying not to be too obvious about it. There was a hallway at the other side of the balcony. Y/N quickly thought of a weapon, preparing to manifest it from Aithon.
By the time he got to the opposite side of the balcony, his nerves were shot. Y/N backed into the little hallway and watched the tunnel he'd come from.
Then right behind, he heard a sharp Chhh! like the voice of a skeleton.
Without thinking, Aithon quickly morphed into a short bronze dagger, just like Annabeth's. He stabbed directly into the person behind him.
The girl yelped, dropping a Kleenex. She looked up at him, her eyes widening. "Dad?!"
"Huh?" Y/N said.
She blinked a few times, shaking her head. "I thought..." She glanced down at Y/N's bronze dagger. "Oh my god.'" she shouted. "Were you trying to kill me?"
The first thing that went through Y/N's head was that the dagger hadn't hurt her. It had passed clean through her body, harmlessly. "You're mortal!"
She looked at him in disbelief. "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I'm mortal! How did you get that knife past security?"
"I didn't—Wait, you can see it's a dagger?"
The girl rolled her eyes, which were green like Percy's. She had frizzy reddish-brown hair. Her nose was also red, like she had a cold. She wore a big maroon Harvard sweatshirt and jeans that were covered with marker stains and little holes, like she spent her free time poking them with a fork.
"Well, it's either a dagger or the biggest toothpick in the world," she said. "And why didn't it hurt me? I mean, not that I'm complaining. Who are you? And whoa, why are your eyes so orange?"
She asked so many questions so fast, Y/N felt like she was throwing rocks at him. He knew the skeleton warriors were still chasing, so he had no time to waste.
Y/N concentrated, snapping his fingers. "You don't see a dagger," Y/N told the girl. "It's just a..." He thought briefly. "...a chopstick?
She blinked. "Um... no. It's a dagger, weirdo."
"Who are you?" Y/N demanded.
She huffed indignantly. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Now, are you going to answer my questions or should I scream for security?"
"No!" Y/N said. "I mean, I'm kind of in a hurry. I'm in trouble."
"In a hurry or in trouble?"
"Um... both?"
She looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened. "Bathroom!"
"What?"
"Bathroom! Behind me! Now!"
Y/N didn't know why, but he listened to her. He slipped inside the boys' bathroom and left Rachel Elizabeth Dare standing outside.
The noise of clattering, hissing skeletons came closer. Y/N slowly morphed his dagger into a bronze spear, preparing to fight.
And then Rachel Elizabeth Dare started talking like a rapid-fire machine gun.
"Oh my god! Did you see that kid? It's about time you got here. He tried to kill me! He had a dagger, for god's sake. You security guys let a knife-welding lunatic inside a national landmark? I mean, jeez! He ran that way toward those turbine thingies. I think he went over the side or something. Maybe he fell."
The skeletons clattered excitedly, and the walked off.
Rachel opened the door. "All clear. But you'd better hurry." She looked shaken. Her face was grey and sweaty.
Y/N peeked around the corner. Three skeleton warriors were running toward the other end of the balcony. The way to the elevator was clear for a few seconds.
"I owe you one, Rachel Elizabeth Dare."
"What are those things?" she asked. "They looked like—"
"Skeletons?"
She nodded uneasily.
"Do yourself a favour," Y/N said. "Forget this. Forget you ever saw me."
"Forget you tried to kill me?"
"Yeah. That, too."
"But who are you?" Rachel looked puzzled.
"Y/N—" He started to say. Then the skeletons turned around. "Gotta go!"
"What kind of name is Y/N Gotta-go?"
He bolted for the exit.
The cafe was packed with kids enjoying the best part of the tour—the dam lunch. Thalia, Percy, Zoe, and Grover were just sitting down with their food.
We need to leave," Y/N gasped. "Now!"
"But we just got our burritos!" Percy said.
Zoe stood up, muttering an Ancient Greek curse. "He's right! Look."
The cafe windows wrapped all the way around the observation floor, which gave a beautiful panoramic view of the skeletal army that had come to kill.
Y/N counted two on the east side of the dam road, blocking the way to Arizona. Three more on the west side, guarding Nevada. All of them were armed with batons and pistols.
But their immediate problem was a lot closer. The three skeletal warriors who'd been chasing Y/N in the turbine room now appeared on the stairs. They saw him from across the cafeteria and clattered their teeth.
"Elevator!" Grover said. They bolted that direction, but the doors opened with a pleasant ding, and three more warriors stepped out. Every warrior was accounted for, minus the one Bianca had blasted to flames in New Mexico. They were completely surrounded.
Then Grover had a brilliant, totally Grover-like idea.
"Burrito fight!" he yelled, and flung his Guacamole Grande at the nearest skeleton.
Grover's lunch hit the skeleton and knocked his skull clean off his shoulders. Y/N wasn't sure what the other kids in the cafe saw, but they went crazy and started throwing their burritos and baskets of chips and sodas at each other, shrieking and screaming.
The skeletons tried to aim their guns, but it was hopeless. Bodies and food and drinks were flying everywhere.
In the chaos, Thalia and Percy tackled the other two skeletons on the stairs and sent them flying into the condiment table. Then they all raced downstairs, Guacamole Grandes whizzing past their heads.
"What now?" Grover asked as they burst outside.
The warriors on the road were closing in from either direction. They ran across the street to the pavilion with the winged bronze statues. The skeletons moved forward, forming a crescent around them. Their brethren from the cafe were running up to join them. One was still putting its skull back on its shoulders.
Another was covered in ketchup and mustard. Two more had burritos lodged in their rib cages. They didn't look happy about it. They drew batons and advanced.
"Four against eleven," Zoe muttered. "And they cannot die."
"It's been nice adventuring with you guys," Grover said, his voice trembling.
Percy glanced at the statues, squinting. "Whoa," he said. "Their toes really are bright."
"Percy!" Thalia said. "This isn't the time."
But Y/N couldn't help staring at the two giant bronze statues as well. They were weathered brown except for their toes, which shone like new pennies from all the times people had rubbed them for good luck.
Good luck. The blessing of Zeus.
Y/N thought about the tour guide in the elevator. Her gray eyes and her smile. What had she said? There is always a way for those clever enough to find it.
"Thalia," Y/N said. "Pray to your dad."
She glanced at him. "He never answers."
"Just this once," he pleaded. "Ask for help. I think... I think the statues can give us some luck."
Six skeletons raised their guns. The other five came forward with batons. Fifty feet away. Forty feet.
"Do it!" he yelled.
"No!" Thalia said. "He won't answer me."
"This time is different!"
"Who says?"
Y/N hesitated. "Athena."
Thalia scowled like she was sure he had gone crazy.
"Try it," Grover pleaded.
Thalia closed her eyes. Her lips moved in a silent prayer.
And nothing happened.
The skeletons closed in. Percy raised Riptide to defend himself. Thalia held up her shield. Y/N morphed his spear into a large bronze shield the size of a basketball backboard.
Zoe pushed Grover behind her and aimed an arrow at a skeleton's head.
A shadow fell over them, and Y/N looked up in confusion. The skeletons looked up too late. A flash of bronze, and all five of the baton-wielders were swept aside.
The other skeletons opened fire. Y/N raised his shield for protection, but didn't need it.
The bronze angels stepped in front and folded their wings like shields. Bullets pinged off of them like rain off a corrugated roof. Both angels slashed outward, and the skeletons went flying across the road.
"Man, it feels good to stand up!" the first angel said. His voice sounded tinny and rusty, like he hadn't had a drink since he'd been built.
"Will ya look at my toes?" the other said. "Holy Zeus, what were those tourists thinking?"
A few of the skeletons were getting up again, reassembling, bony hands groping for their weapons.
"Trouble!" Y/N said.
"Get us out of here!" Thalia yelled.
Both angels looked down at her. "Zeus's kid?"
"Could I get a please, Miss Zeus's Kid?" an angel asked.
"Please!"
The angels looked at each other and shrugged.
"Could use a stretch," one decided.
All of a sudden, one of them grabbed Thalia and Y/N, the other grabbed Zoe, with Grover and Percy smushed together, and they flew straight up, over the dam and the river, the skeleton warriors shrinking to tiny specks below and the sound of gunfire echoing off the sides of the mountains.
A/N: I've been thinking about starting a thalia x male reader story, but I cant figure out how to make Thalia not join the hunters. If you have any ideas please dm me lol