‘Yes, sir,’ I said. ‘You know of any?’
He pointed one greasy hand.
Suddenly I noticed a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.
‘That’s… convenient,’ Thalia said. ‘Thanks, uh…’
She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trashcan in front of us was cold and empty, as if he’d taken the flames with him.
An hour later we were rumbling west. There was no problem about who would drive now, because we all got our own luxury car. Zoë and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover was playing race-car driver behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. And Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt rock stations from D.C.
‘Join you?’ I asked her.
She shrugged, so I climbed into the shotgun seat.
The radio was playing the White Stripes. I knew the song because it was one of the only CDs I owned that my mom liked. She said it reminded her of Led Zeppelin. Thinking about my mom made me sad, because it didn’t seem likely I’d be home for Christmas. I might not live that long.
‘Nice coat,’ Thalia told me.
I pulled it round me, thankful for the warmth. ‘Yeah, but the Nemean Lion wasn’t the monster we’re looking for.’
‘Not even close. We’ve got a long way to go.’
‘Whatever this mystery monster is, the General said it would come for you. They wanted to isolate you from the group, so the monster will appear and battle you one on one.’
‘He said that?’
‘Well, something like that. Yeah.’
‘That’s great. I love being used as bait.’
‘No idea what the monster might be?’
She shook her head morosely. ‘But you know where we’re going, don’t you? San Francisco. That’s where Artemis was heading.’
I remembered something Annabeth had said at the dance: how her dad was moving to San Francisco, and there was no way she could go. Half-bloods couldn’t live there.
‘Why?’ I asked. ‘What’s so bad about San Francisco?’
‘The Mist is really thick there because the Mountain of Despair is so near. Titan magic – what’s left of it – still lingers. Monsters are attracted to that area like you wouldn’t believe.’
‘What’s the Mountain of Despair?’
Thalia raised an eyebrow. ‘You really don’t know? Ask stupid Zoë. She’s the expert.’
She glared out the windshield. I wanted to ask her what she was talking about, but I also didn’t want to sound like an idiot. I hated feeling like Thalia knew more than I did, so I kept my mouth shut.
The afternoon sun shone through the steel-mesh side of the freight car, casting a shadow across Thalia’s face. I thought about how different she was from Zoë – Zoë all formal and aloof like a princess, Thalia with her ratty clothes and her rebel attitude. But there was something similar about them, too. The same kind of toughness. Right now, sitting in the shadows with a gloomy expression, Thalia looked a lot like one of the Hunters.
Then suddenly it hit me: ‘That’s why you don’t get along with Zoë.’
Thalia frowned. ‘What?’
‘The Hunters tried to recruit you,’ I guessed.
Her eyes got dangerously bright. I thought she was going to zap me out of the Mercedes, but she just sighed.
‘I almost joined them,’ she admitted. ‘Luke, Annabeth and I ran into them once, and Zoë tried to convince me. She almost did, but…’
‘But?’
Thalia’s fingers gripped the wheel. ‘I would’ve had to leave Luke.’
‘Oh.’
‘Zoë and I got into a fight. She told me I was being stupid. She said I’d regret my choice. She said Luke would let me down some day.’
I watched the sun through the metal curtain. We seemed to be travelling faster each second – shadows flickering like an old movie projector.
‘That’s harsh,’ I said. ‘Hard to admit Zoë was right.’
‘She wasn’t right! Luke never let me down. Never.’
‘We’ll have to fight him,’ I said. ‘There’s no way around it.’
Thalia didn’t answer.
‘You haven’t seen him lately,’ I warned. ‘I know it’s hard to believe, but –’
‘I’ll do what I have to.’
‘Even if that means killing him?’
‘Do me a favour,’ she said. ‘Get out of my car.’
I felt so bad for her I didn’t argue.
As I was about to leave, she said, ‘Percy.’
When I looked back, her eyes were red, but I couldn’t tell if it was from anger or sadness. ‘Annabeth wanted to join the Hunters, too. Maybe you should think about why.’
Before I could respond, she raised the power windows and shut me out.
I sat in the driver’s seat of Grover’s Lamborghini. Grover was asleep in the back. He’d finally given up trying to impress Zoë and Bianca with his pipe music after he played ‘Poison Ivy’ and caused that very stuff to sprout from their Lexus’ air conditioner.
As I watched the sun go down, I thought of Annabeth. I was afraid to go to sleep. I was worried what I might dream.
‘Oh, don’t be afraid of dreams,’ a voice said right next me.
I looked over. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised to find the homeless guy from the railway yard sitting in the shotgun seat. His jeans were so worn out they were almost white. His coat was ripped, with stuffing coming out. He looked kind of like a teddy bear that had been run over by a truck.
‘If it weren’t for dreams,’ he said, ‘I wouldn’t know half the things I know about the future. They’re better than Olympus tabloids.’ He cleared his throat, then held up his hands dramatically:
‘Dreams like a podcast,
Downloading truth in my ears.
They tell me cool stuff.’
‘Apollo?’ I guessed, because I figured nobody else could make a haiku that bad.
He put his finger to his lips. ‘I’m incognito. Call me Fred.’
‘A god named Fred?’
‘Eh, well… Zeus insists on certain rules. Hands off, when there’s a human quest. Even when something really major is wrong. But nobody messes with my baby sister. Nobody.’
‘Can you help us, then?’
‘Shhh. I already have. Haven’t you been looking outside?’
‘The train. How fast are we moving?’
Apollo chuckled. ‘Fast enough. Unfortunately, we’re running out of time. It’s almost sunset. But I imagine we’ll get you across a good chunk of America, at least.’
‘But where is Artemis?’
His face darkened. ‘I know a lot, and I see a lot. But even I don’t know that. She’s… clouded from me. I don’t like it.’
‘And Annabeth?’
He frowned. ‘Oh, you mean that girl you lost? Hmm. I don’t know.’
I tried not to feel mad. I knew the gods had a hard time taking mortals seriously, even half-bloods. We lived such short lives, compared to the gods.
‘What about the monster Artemis was seeking?’ I asked. ‘Do you know what it is?’
‘No,’ Apollo said. ‘But there is one who might. If you haven’t yet found the monster when you reach San Francisco, seek out Nereus, the old man of the sea. He has a long memory and a sharp eye. He has the gift of knowledge sometimes kept obscure from my Oracle.’
‘But it’s your Oracle,’ I protested. ‘Can’t you tell us what the prophecy means?’
Apollo sighed. ‘You might as well ask an artist to explain his art, or ask a poet to explain his poem. It defeats the purpose. The meaning is only clear through the search.’
‘In other words, you don’t know.’
Apollo checked his watch. ‘Ah, look at the time! I have to run. I doubt I can risk helping you again, Percy, but remember what I said! Get some sle
ep! And when you return, I expect a good haiku about your journey!’
I wanted to protest that I wasn’t tired and I’d never made up a haiku in my life, but Apollo snapped his fingers, and the next thing I knew I was closing my eyes.
In my dream, I was somebody else. I was wearing an old-fashioned Greek tunic, which was a little too breezy downstairs, and laced leather sandals. The Nemean Lion’s skin was wrapped round my back like a cape, and I was running somewhere, being pulled along by a girl who was gripping my hand tightly.
‘Hurry!’ she said. It was too dark to see her face clearly, but I could hear the fear in her voice. ‘He will find us!’
It was night-time. A million stars blazed above. We were running through tall grass, and the scent of a thousand different flowers made the air intoxicating. It was a beautiful garden, and yet the girl was leading me through it as if we were about to die.
‘I’m not afraid,’ I tried to tell her.
‘You should be!’ she said, pulling me along. She had long dark hair braided down her back. Her silk robes glowed faintly in the starlight.
We raced up the side of the hill. She pulled me behind a thorn bush and we collapsed, both breathing heavily. I didn’t know why the girl was scared. The garden seemed so peaceful. And I felt strong. Stronger than I’d ever felt before.
‘There is no need to run,’ I told her. My voice sounded deeper, much more confident. ‘I have bested a thousand monsters with my bare hands.’
‘Not this one,’ the girl said. ‘Ladon is too strong. You must go round, up the mountain to my father. It is the only way.’
The hurt in her voice surprised me. She was really concerned, almost like she cared about me.
‘I don’t trust your father,’ I said.
‘You should not,’ the girl agreed. ‘You will have to trick him. But you cannot take the prize directly. You will die!’
I chuckled. ‘Then why don’t you help me, pretty one?’
‘I… I am afraid. Ladon will stop me. My sisters, if they found out… they would disown me.’
‘Then there’s nothing for it.’ I stood up, rubbing my hands together.
‘Wait!’ the girl said.
She seemed to be agonizing over a decision. Then, her fingers trembling, she reached up and plucked a long white brooch from her hair. ‘If you must fight, take this. My mother, Pleoine, gave it to me. She was a daughter of the ocean, and the ocean’s power is within it. My immortal power.’
The girl breathed on the pin and it glowed faintly. It gleamed in the starlight like polished abalone.
‘Take it,’ she told me. ‘And make of it a weapon.’
I laughed. ‘A hairpin? How will this slay Ladon, pretty one?’
‘It may not,’ she admitted. ‘But it is all I can offer, if you insist on being stubborn.’
The girl’s voice softened my heart. I reached down and took the hairpin, and, as I did, it grew longer and heavier in my hand, until I held a familiar bronze sword.
‘Well balanced,’ I said. ‘Though, I usually prefer to use my bare hands. What shall I name this blade?’
‘Anaklusmos,’ the girl said sadly. ‘The current that takes one by surprise. And before you know it you have been swept out to sea.’
Before I could thank her, there was a trampling sound in the grass, a hiss like air escaping a tyre, and the girl said, ‘Too late! He is here!’
I sat bolt upright in the Lamborghini’s driver seat. Grover was shaking my arm.
‘Percy,’ he said. ‘It’s morning. The train’s stopped. Come on!’
I tried to shake off my drowsiness. Thalia, Zoë and Bianca had already rolled up the metal curtains. Outside were snowy mountains dotted with pine trees, the sun rising red between two peaks.
I fished my pen out of my pocket and stared at it. Anaklusmos, the Ancient Greek name for Riptide. A different form, but I was sure it was the same blade I’d seen in my dream.
And I was sure of something else, too. The girl I had seen was Zoë Nightshade.
12 I Go Snowboarding With A Pig
We’d arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. The sign said WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO. The air was cold and thin. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.
Even with my lion-skin coat, I was freezing by the time we got to Main Street, which was about half a mile from the train tracks. As we walked, I told Grover about my conversation with Apollo the night before – how he’d told me to seek out Nereus in San Francisco.
Grover looked uneasy. ‘That’s good, I guess. But we’ve got to get there first.’
I tried not to get too depressed about our chances. I didn’t want to send Grover into a panic, but I knew we had another huge deadline looming, aside from saving Artemis in time for her council of the gods. The General had said Annabeth would only be kept alive until the winter solstice. That was Friday, only four days away. And he’d said something about a sacrifice. I didn’t like the sound of that at all.
We stopped in the middle of town. You could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafés, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.
‘Great,’ Thalia said, looking around. ‘No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out.’
‘There’s a coffee shop!’ said Grover.
‘Yes,’ Zoë said. ‘Coffee is good.’
‘And pastries,’ Grover said dreamily. ‘And wax paper.’
Thalia sighed. ‘Fine. How about you two go get us some food. Percy, Bianca and I will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions.’
We agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable coming with us, but she did.
Inside the store, we found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn’t enough snow for skiing, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car.
‘You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo,’ the clerk said doubtfully. ‘That’s down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars.’
The clerk looked so lonely, I bought a rubber rat. Then we headed back outside and stood on the porch.
‘Wonderful,’ Thalia grumped. ‘I’m going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion.’
‘But the clerk said –’
‘I know,’ she told me. ‘I’m checking anyway.’
I let her go. I knew how it felt to be restless. All half-bloods had attention deficit problems because of our inborn battlefield reflexes. We couldn’t stand just waiting around. Also, I had a feeling Thalia was still upset over our conversation last night about Luke.
Bianca and I stood together awkwardly. I mean… I was never very comfortable talking one on one with girls anyway, and I’d never been alone with Bianca before. I wasn’t sure what to say, especially now that she was a Hunter and everything.
‘Nice rat,’ she said at last.
I set it on the porch railing. Maybe it would attract more business for the store.
‘So… how do you like being a Hunter so far?’ I asked.
She pursed her lips. ‘You’re not still mad at me for joining, are you?’
‘Nah. Long as, you know… you’re happy.’
‘I’m not sure “happy” is the right word, with Lady Artemis gone. But being a Hunter is definitely cool. I feel calmer somehow. Everything seems to have slowed down around me. I guess that’s the immortality.’
I stared at her, trying to see the difference. She did seem more confident than before, more at peace. She didn’t hide her face under a green cap any more. She kept her hair tied back, and she looked me right in the eyes when she spoke. With a shiver, I realized that five hund
red or a thousand years from now Bianca di Angelo would look exactly the same as she did today. She might be having a conversation like this with some other half-blood, long after I was dead, but Bianca would still look twelve years old.
‘Nico didn’t understand my decision,’ Bianca murmured. She looked at me like she wanted assurance it was okay.
‘He’ll be all right,’ I said. ‘Camp Half-Blood takes in a lot of young kids. They did that for Annabeth.’
Bianca nodded. ‘I hope we find her. Annabeth, I mean. She’s lucky to have a friend like you.’
‘Lot of good it did her.’
‘Don’t blame yourself, Percy. You risked your life to save my brother and me. I mean, that was seriously brave. If I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t have felt okay about leaving Nico at the camp. I figured if there were people like you there, Nico would be fine. You’re a good guy.’
The compliment took me by surprise. ‘Even though I knocked you down in capture the flag?’
She laughed. ‘Okay. Except for that, you’re a good guy.’
Two hundred metres away, Grover and Zoë came out of the coffee shop loaded down with pastry bags and drinks. I kind of didn’t want them to come back yet. It was weird, but I realized I liked talking to Bianca. She wasn’t so bad. A lot easier to hang out with than Zoë Nightshade, anyway.
‘So what’s the story with you and Nico?’ I asked her. ‘Where did you go to school before Westover?’
She frowned. ‘I think it was a boarding school in D.C. It seems like so long ago.’
‘You never lived with your parents? I mean, your mortal parent?’
‘We were told our parents were dead. There was a bank trust for us. A lot of money, I think. A lawyer would come by once in a while to check on us. Then Nico and I had to leave that school.’
‘Why?’
She knitted her eyebrows. ‘We had to go somewhere. I remember it was important. We travelled a long way. And we stayed in this hotel for a few weeks. And then… I don’t know. One day a different lawyer came to get us out. He said it was time for us to leave. He drove us back east, through D.C. Then up into Maine. And we started going to Westover.’