( chapter twenty-nine )

in which nia falls in love with a cow serpent 
( bessie is adorable, okay? sue me! )

THE CAFE WAS PACKED WITH KIDS ENJOYING THE BEST PART OF THE TOUR -- the dam lunch. Thalia, Zoë, and Grover were just sitting down with their food. 

"We need to leave," Percy gasped once he and Nia reached them. "Now!" 

"But we just got our burritos!" Thalia said. 

Nia tried to catch her breath. "Forget about your burritos, Thalia! We need to get the hell out while we still can!"

Zoë stood up, muttering an Ancient Greek curse. "They're right! Look." 

The cafe windows wrapped all the way around the observation floor, which gave them all a beautiful panoramic view of the skeletal army that had come to kill them. 

Nia 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 the immediate problem was a lot closer: the three skeletal warriors who'd been chasing Nia and Percy in the turbine room now appeared on the stairs. They saw Nia and her friends from across the cafeteria and clattered their teeth.

Elevator!" Grover cried out, pointing. They all 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 that Bianca had blasted to flames back in New Mexico. The five of them were surrounded.

If only Bianca were here, Nia thought.

Then Grover had a brilliant, totally Grover-like idea. "Burrito fight!" he yelled, and flung his Guacamole Grande at the nearest skeleton. 

Now, if you have never been hit by a flying burrito, consider yourself lucky. In terms of deadly projectiles, it's right up there with grenades and cannonballs. 

Grover's lunch hit the skeleton and knocked his skull clean off his shoulders. Nia wasn't totally 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. 

Thalia and Percy tackled the other two skeletons on the stairs and sent them flying into the condiment table in the chaos. Then they all raced downstairs, Guacamole Grandes whizzing past their heads. 

"What now?" Grover asked as they burst outside. 

Nia shrugged. "The hell if I know!"

The warriors on the road were closing in from either direction. Nia and friends ran across the street to the pavilion with the winged bronze statues, but that just put their backs to the mountain. The skeletons moved forward, forming a crescent.

The skeletons' 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. 

Nia glanced around apprehensively. They were outnumbered, badly. "If anyone has any crazy life-saving ideas, speak now or we die."

But no one said anything, not even Percy with his crazy plans. Despair crept into Nia's stomach.

"Five against eleven," Zoë muttered. "And they cannot die." 

"Well, it's been nice adventuring with you guys," Grover said, his voice trembling. 

"Whoa," Percy suddenly said. "Their toes really are bright."

Nia furrowed her brows at the son of Poseidon. Is... Is he talking about the statues? 

They were surrounded by skeletons with guns that were closing and literally wanted to kill them, and Perseus Jackson was fascinated by the brightness of the statues' toes.

Nia almost wanted to call out the skeletons to shoot her first to put her out of her misery.

"Percy!" Thalia glared at him, looking like she wanted to hit Percy upside the head. "This so isn't the time!" 

"Thalia," said Percy. "Pray to your dad." 

She glared at him. "He never answers." 

"Just this once," Percy 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!" Percy yelled. 

"No!" Thalia said. "He won't answer me!" 

"This time is different!" 

"Who says?" 

Percy hesitated before speaking. "Athena, I think." 

So Percy had noticed that the tour guide was Athena back at the elevator. Thalia scowled like she was sure Percy had gone crazy. 

"Try it," Grover pleaded with her.

Nia locked eyes with Thalia and gave her a look that clearly said, Please. 

Shaking her head, Thalia closed her eyes. Her lips moved in a silent prayer. Nia put in her own prayer to Athena, hoping that she had been right -- that Athena was trying to help them save her daughter.

But nothing happened. 

The skeletons closed in. Nia drew her dagger. Percy raised Riptide. Thalia held up her shield. Zoë pushed Grover behind her and aimed an arrow at a skeleton's head.

A shadow fell over Nia. She realized it was the shadow of an enormous wing. 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. Nia braced herself to try to dodge the bullets, refusing to go down without a fight. But the bullets never came. 

The bronze angels stepped in front of them 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?" 

As stunned as she was by the angels, Nia was more concerned with the skeletons. A few of them were getting up again, reassembling, bony hands groping for their weapons. 

"Trouble!" Percy said. 

"Get us out of here!" Thalia yelled. 

Both angels looked down at her. 

"Zeus's kid?" 

"Yes!"

"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. 

And the next thing Nia knew, one of them grabbed her, Thalia, and Percy, the other grabbed Zoe and Grover, and they all flew straight up, over the dam and the river, the skeleton warriors shrinking to tiny specks below them and the sound of gunfire echoing off the sides of the mountains.

"TELL ME WHEN IT'S OVER," Thalia choked out, her eyes shut tight. The statue was holding onto the three of them tightly so they couldn't fall, but Thalia still clutched his arm like it was the most important thing in the world. 

"Everything's fine," Nia promised her. "I swear we're OK."

"Are... Are we very high?" 

Nia looked down. Below them, a range of snowy mountains zipped by. Hesitantly, Percy stretched out his foot and kicked snow off one of the peaks.

Glancing at each other, Percy and Nia were both thinking the same thing: Lie.

"Nah," Percy said convincingly. "Not that high."

Nia was glad that Percy had lied to Thalia about how high up they were instead of her. She was a shit liar; Thalia would be able to sniff out her lie immediately.

"We are in the Sierras!" Zoë yelled. She and Grover were hanging from the arms of the other statue. "I have hunted here before. At this speed, we should be in San Francisco in a few hours." 

"Hey, hey, Frisco!" the angel that was carrying Nia, Percy, and Thalia said. "Yo, Chuck! We could visit those guys at the Mechanics Monument again! They know how to party!" 

"Oh, man," the other angel said. "I am so there!" 

"You guys have visited San Francisco?" Percy asked the statues.

"We automatons gotta have some fun once in a while, right?" their statue said. "Those mechanics took us over to the de Young Museum and introduced us to these marble lady statues, see. And--" 

"Hank!" the other statue, Chuck, cut in. "They're kids, man."

"Oh, right." If bronze statues could blush, Hank would've. "Back to flying." 

They sped up, so Nia could tell the angels were excited. The mountains fell away into hills, and then they were zipping along over farmland and towns and highways. 

Grover played his pipes to pass the time. Zoë and Nia both got bored quickly and started shooting arrows at random billboards as they flew by. The two of them unintentionally made up a little game (well, more like competition): every time they saw a Target department store -- and they passed dozens of them -- both would peg the store's sign with a few bullseyes at a hundred miles an hour. The more arrows that landed on the bullseye, the more points they got.

After Nia landed a solid bullseye on another target with three arrows and smirked. "Fifty-two to forty-seven!" she called out to Zoë. "I'd say I have a solid lead."

Zoë scowled at her, but Nia knew that it was all in good fun. Meanwhile, Thalia kept her eyes closed the whole ride. She muttered to herself a lot, like she was praying. 

"You did good back there," Percy told her. "Zeus listened." 

"Maybe," Thalia said. "How did you two get away from the skeletons in the generator room, anyway? You said they cornered you both."

Percy told Thalia about the weird clear-sighted mortal girl, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, since Nia was only half-listening, concentrated on her competition with Zoë.

"Some mortals are like that," Thalia said, nodding. "Nobody knows why." 

Percy shrugged. "Well, the girl was annoying--"

"You're telling me," Nia snorted, landing another bullseye with two arrows.

"--but I'm glad we didn't vaporize her. That would've been bad." 

Thalia nodded and sighed. "Must be nice to be a regular mortal." She said that as if she'd given it a lot of thought, and honestly, so had Nia.

But she'd given up on that fantasy a long time ago.

"WHERE YOU GUYS WANT TO LAND?" Hank asked, waking Nia up from a nap. After her competition with Zoë ended -- the Hunter had managed to catch up to her score and the game ended in a tie -- she hadn't had the energy to do anything else, choosing to instead close her eyes and become dead to the world.

Nia looked down at the ground and her jaw dropped. 

Nia had seen San Francisco in pictures before, but never in real life. It was the most beautiful city she'd ever seen: kind of like a smaller, cleaner Manhattan, if Manhattan had been surrounded by green hills and fog. 

There was a huge bay and ships, islands and sailboats, and the Golden Gate Bridge sticking up out of the fog. Nia felt like she should take a picture or something: Greetings from Frisco. Haven't Died Yet. Wish You Were Here. Maybe she could find a camera inside of Moonglade...

Nia quickly dug around her hunting bag and pulled out an old school camera that she had managed to snag back at the camp store. She took a quick photo of the scenery. 

"You're taking a picture?" Percy asked her.

Nia shrugged and snapped a few more. "Why not? After all, where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Nia caught Percy still staring at her. She blushed slightly. Was taking a picture that weird of a decision?

"There," Zoë suggested to the statue. "By the Embarcadero Building." 

"Good thinking," Chuck said. "Me and Hank can blend in with the pigeons." 

Everyone looked at him.

"Kidding," he said. "Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humor?" 

As it turned out, there wasn't much need to blend in. It was early morning and not many people were around. They totally freaked out a homeless guy on the ferry dock when they landed, though. He screamed when he saw Hank and Chuck and ran off yelling something about metal angels from Mars. 

A part of Nia felt bad for scaring the living daylights out of the homeless guy, but it was pretty hilarious.

Nia and her friends said their goodbyes to the angels, who flew off to party with their statue friends. That's when Nia realized that she had no idea what they were going to do next. 

They'd made it to the West Coast. Artemis and Annabeth were here somewhere, but she had absolutely no idea how to find either of them, and tomorrow was the winter solstice. 

Nor did they have any clue what monster Artemis had been hunting. It was supposed to find them on the quest and 'show the trail', but it never had. Now they were stuck on the ferry dock with not much money, no friends, and no luck.

After a brief discussion, they all agreed that they needed to figure out just what this mystery monster was.

"But how?" Percy asked.

"Nereus," Grover said.

Percy furrowed his brows. "What?"

"Isn't that what Apollo told you two to do? Find Nereus?"

Nia blinked and looked blankly at Percy. She'd totally forgotten about her uncle's unexpected visit.

"The old man of the sea," Percy remembered. "We're supposed to find him and force him to tell us what he knows."

"But how are we gonna find him?" Nia asked. "It's not like we can just go around the dock and ask people if their name is Nereus."

Zoë made a face. "Old Nereus, eh?"

Thalia looked at Zoë. "You know him?"

"My mother was a sea goddess. Yes, I know him. Unfortunately, he is never very hard to find. Just follow the smell."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "What exactly do you mean by 'follow the smell?'"

"Come," Zoë said without enthusiasm. "I will show thee."

"THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!"

Nia couldn't stop laughing at Percy; she didn't even try to keep her snickering under control. The son of Poseidon was now, after a quick stop at Goodwill, sporting a ragged flannel shirt, a pair of jeans that looked three sizes too big, bright red sneakers, and a floppy rainbow hat.

Grover, Thalia, and Nia had all glanced at each other and burst out laughing.

"Oh yeah," said Grover, "you look completely inconspicuous now." He at least was trying to keep his laughter down, but his comment just made Nia laugh even harder.

Zoë nodded in satisfaction. "A typical male vagrant."

Percy scowled at all of them. "Thanks a lot. Why exactly am I doing this again?"

"I told thee," Zoë shrugged. "To blend in."

Sighing, Percy turned to Nia with a pleading gaze. Nia's heart fluttered when he spoke, "Nia? Please? Your uncle told you about Nereus too."

"Oh, come on, Jackson," Nia said, still gasping from laughter. "Nereus is the Old Man of the Sea. You're the son of Poseidon. You have a better chance than any of us."

"And you don't want to do it."

"That too," Nia grinned. "Now smile!" She quickly got a picture from her camera of Percy's hilarious get-up. "Annabeth and Naomi are going to love this."

Percy groaned.

Zoë led them all back down to the waterfront. After a long time spent searching the docks, the lieutenant finally stopped and pointed down a pier. 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," said Zoë. "He never travels very far from the water. He likes to sun himself during the day."

Percy looked at Zoë. "How do I know which one is him?"

"Sneak up," she said. "Act homeless. You will know him. He will smell... different."

Nia snorted. "You hear that, Jackson? Keep your nose on guard."

"Great," Percy grimaced. "And once I find him?"

"Grab him," Zoë 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," said Thalia. She picked something off the back of Percy's shirt -- a big clump of fuzz that came from who knows where. "Gross! On-on second thought... I don't want your back. But we'll be rooting for you."

"We're counting on you -- don't screw up!" Nia smiled at Percy. "But you know, no pressure."

Grover gave the son of Poseidon a big thumbs-up.

With a rather annoyed look on his face, Percy grumbled a little, then stumbled down towards the docks.

"Think he's gonna be able to do it?" Thalia asked.

Nia shrugged. "Knowing Percy, he'll figure out a way."

AND SURE ENOUGH, TEN MINUTES LATER, Percy Jackson and the Old Man of the Sea collapsed on the edge of a boat dock.

Nia, Zoë, Thalia, and Grover all ran down the steps from the pier. Percy was still wearing his ridiculous homeless get-up, but the old fat man with a beard beside him wore pajamas and a fuzzy bathrobe that probably used to be white. The old man smelled like everything Nia's mother had warned her to stay away from when she was younger. Nia recoiled instantly.

"You got him!" said Zoë.

Nia smiled triumphantly. "Told you!"

"You guys don't have to sound so amazed," Percy grumbled slightly.

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," Percy told him.

"Only one question per capture! That's the rule."

Nia felt her stomach drop. Only one question? What were they going to ask about if they only got one question? Annabeth? Her mom? The quest? 

She didn't know what she would pick.

Nia saw Percy's eyes slide over to her, but she didn't say anything. Percy had caught Nereus -- it was his decision.

Percy clearly understood Nia's intentions and sighed. "All right, Nereus. Tell me where to find the 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. Nia cringed. Honestly, had he ever heard of mouthwash?

"Oh, that's too easy," Nereus said evilly. "He's right there."

Nereus pointed to the water at Percy's feet.

Percy furrowed his brows. "Where?"

"The deal is complete!" Nereus gloated. With a pop, he turned into a goldfish and did a backflip into the sea.

"You tricked me!" Percy yelled.

"Wait...," Thalia's eyes widened. "What is that?"

Nia followed Thalia's eyes and saw one of the strangest creatures she'd ever seen in her life (and she lived in a mythical camp for demigods, for Zeus's sake).

The animal was a cow in the front half -- a baby, with black fur and big brown eyes and a white muzzle -- but its back half was a black-and-brown snake tail with fins running down the top and bottom, like an enormous eel.

"MOOOOOOOOO!" the creature said. It nudged Percy's shoe and gave him the sad brown eyes.

"Ah, Bessie," said Percy. "Not now."

"Mooo!"

Grover gasped. "He says his name isn't Bessie."

"You can understand her... er, him?" Percy looked over at Grover.

Grover nodded. "It's a very old form of animal speech. But he says his name is the Ophiotaurus."

"The Ophi-- what now?" Percy looked at the creature he had christened 'Bessie'. Nia had to admit that she liked 'Bessie' better than 'Ophiotaurus'.

"It means serpent bull in Greek," Thalia quickly clarified. "But what's it doing here?" 

"Moooooooo!" 

"He says Percy is his protector," Grover announced. "And he's running from the bad people. He says they are close." 

Nia raised an eyebrow. "You got all of that out of a single moo?"

"Wait," Zoe said, looking at Percy. "You know this cow?" 

Percy impatiently told them the story of how he and Naomi had saved Bessie from a fisherman's net before they had left camp.

Thalia shook her head in disbelief. "And you just forgot to mention this before?" 

"Well... yeah."

"I am a fool," Zoë 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," Zoë 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. 

Nia's eyes softened as she looked at Bessie. "I don't blame him. If I were that cute, I wouldn't like that word either."

Percy looked like he wanted to say something, but apparently thought better of it. He didn't look at Nia as he patted Bessie on the head, obviously trying to calm the trembling Ophiotaurus down.

Nia's heart ached for Bessie. She kneeled on the dock and carefully held a hand out to the Ophiotaurus. Bessie swam towards the daughter of Artemis, nuzzling his nose into her hand. "How could anyone hurt him? He's harmless!"

Zoë nodded. "But there is power in killing innocence. Terrible power. The Fates ordained a prophecy eons 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," Zoë 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 and stretched out her hand. Bessie went right to her. Thaliaplaced her hand on his head. Bessie shivered. Thalia's expression bothered Nia a little. The daughter of Zeus almost looked... hungry. 

"We have to protect him," Percy said. "If Luke gets hold of him--" 

Nia snarled. The thought of Luke getting anywhere near Bessie made her boiling mad.

"Luke wouldn't hesitate," Thalia muttered, her voice sounding... different somehow. "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." 

Bessie made a whimpering sound and submerged. Eyebrows furrowed, Nia looked up and snarled. They'd been so busy talking, they'd stupidly allowed themselves to be ambushed.

Standing behind them, with his two-color eyes gleaming wickedly, was the manticore himself, Dr. Thorn.

well... *chuckles nervously* 

hi?

sorry for just disappearing on y'all like that. so much happened in real life and i was just trying to keep my head above water

but i'm here now! yay!

and i might have to get rid of friday weekly updates for now. i am way behind on everything. don't worry -- i'm not going on a hiatus or anything like that at all, updates for bullseye just might not happen as frequently

hope you enjoyed the chapter!

talk soon!

-icedcoffeemug