ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ chapter fourteen

━━━━━ VIOLET CAN'T SAY she enjoyed flying on the shoulder of a bronze statue. And it certainly wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep, either. Yet, Violet managed to fall asleep.

And what she saw was certainly weird.

She saw a blonde woman battling with a sword as dark as midnight. And not only was she battling with a sword as dark as midnight, she was in clothing not from Violet's time; she was wearing a green top with frills galore, paired with a dark skirt that went down to her ankles. Not the most practical clothes to fight in, of course, but Violet respected the girl's ability to dress nicely, even when fighting for her life.

The blonde shivered, looking at the snowy ground around her. A black jacket lay torn twenty feet away, blood staining the pearly snow. She was coated in blood, ruining her clothing. She was cut in several places, blood trickling down her face, her arms, her hands. Her teeth chattered as she glared at the monster before her.

"I will never," she snarled. Her voice was hard to place, but Violet knew for sure she did not have any modern accent from the Americas.

The monster shifted, struggling to pick a form. It was shrouded with darkness, maybe because of Violet's dream or to conceal themself. "You have no choice." Its voice was crackling, as if a broken walkie-talkie.

"Yes, I do."

Before Violet could do anything, the blonde stabbed the sword into the ground, and a fissure opened. Her vision shook, the monster wailed, and the blonde screamed in pain.

Violet woke up with a start, her eyes stinging. A voice was yelling at her, breaking through the whistling wind, "We are in the Sierras!" It was Zoë. She and Grover were hanging from the arms of the second statue. "I have hunted here before. At this speed, we should be in San Francisco in a few hours."

The daughter of Eros shivered, and look at the ground below her. A range of snowy mountains was zipping by. The dream flashed in her mind, her mind latching onto the monster's voice. It was so bitter, which shouldn't have been shocking. They were monsters, after all. They were bitter creatures, cursed to live immortally as something to be feared.

But don't go thinking Violet felt pity for them, they still try to kill her a lot.

Still, the monster's voice rang in her mind. It was weird. She had heard it before.

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

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

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

"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!" Chuck cut in. "They're kids, man."

"Oh, right." If bronze statues could blush, Violet swore Hank did. "Back to flying."

Violet smiled lightly to herself, looking over to Percy and Thalia. The daughter of Zeus had her eyes sealed closed, clinging to Hank's arm like it was the most important thing in the world. Violet swore the girl's lips were moving in a silent prayer to whoever would listen. Percy locked eyes with her and mouthed, Heights.

Right, Thalia's fear of heights. Violet figured this ride was torturous for the daughter of Zeus.

Eventually, the mountains fell away into hills, and then they were zipping along over farmland and towns and highways.

Grover played his reed pipes to pass the time, and Violet was grateful to the winds carrying the sound away. Not that he wasn't good player, but ... he wasn't a good player. Zoë got bored and started shooting arrows at random billboards as they flew by. Every time she saw a Target department store—and they passed dozens of them—she would peg the store's sign with a few bullseyes at a hundred miles an hour.

Violet perked up as she spotted a fifth Target department store in the distance. She yelled over to Zoë, pointing to the red logo. "Do you think I could hit it?" she shouted through the wind.

The Hunter shrugged. "Possibly."

The daughter of Eros sat up straighter, pushing the braids of hair out of her face. She shrugged the bow on her back off and notched an arrow. She pulled the bow taut as they flew upon another Target department store. She let the arrow fly and the Celestial bronze tip imbedded itself in the outer rim of the smallest circle.

"Hell yeah!" Violet said excitedly over the wind. "Er— ... yay," she said awkwardly as Zoë gave her a stern look.

She shifted and turned to face away from the Hunter. She grinned sheepishly at Percy, who snorted to himself.

Thalia still had her eyes closed. Her lips moved in a silent prayer. Still, after all this time.

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

Thalia didn't open her eyes. And it was hard to tell what she was thinking with her eyes closed.

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

Percy chewed on his bottom lip before telling them about an odd girl he nearly sliced in half with Riptide. Rachel Elizabeth Dare, he said her name was. And she seemed to be able to see through the Mist.

"Yeah," Violet spoke up, "there are just some mortals like that. Nobody really knows why. I wonder how many can see through the Mist, though."

"Can your mom see through the Mist?" Percy asked.

Violet bristled. She frowned and coldly said, "Yeah, she can."

Percy winced and seemed apologetic for bringing up the topic. "Well, the girl was annoying," he decided, changing the topic. "But I'm glad I didn't vaporize her. That would've been bad."

Thalia nodded. "Must be nice to be a regular mortal."

She said that as if she'd given it a lot of thought. And Violet couldn't blame her.

🌷

It was a long while before she found sleep, but it was futile. She dreamt of that blonde woman, the monster shrouded in darkness, and whatever was going down between them. And then she dreamt of Bianca, of the girl inside the Celestial bronze body of Talos, her being struck by lightning, of the darkness consuming her.

It was ... fitful sleep, to say the least. Violet felt more tired when she woke up than when she had fallen asleep.

"Where you guys want to land?" Hank yelled over the wind, waking up the rest of the quester.

Violet looked around, finding a city sprawling below her feet. San Francisco. They had made it. Thank the gods.

She had seen San Francisco in pictures before, but never in real life. It was gorgeous, 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.

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

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

They just stared at him blankly.

"Kidding," he huffed. "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 freaked out a homeless guy on the ferry dock when they landed. He screamed when he saw Hank and Chuck and ran off yelling something about metal angels from Mars.

The five said their goodbyes to the angels, who flew off to party with their statue friends.

They had made it to the West Coast. Artemis was here somewhere. Annabeth, too, ( Violet hoped ). But she had no idea how to find them, and tomorrow was the winter solstice. Nor did she have any clue what monster Artemis had been hunting. It was supposed to find us on the quest. It was supposed to '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 agreed that they needed to figure out just what this mystery monster was.

"But how?" Percy asked.

Violet's eyes widened. "Nereus, Percy," she said. "That's what Apollo told us.

"The Old Man of the Sea," Percy remembered. "I'm supposed to find him and force him to tell us what he knows. But how do I find him?"

Zoë made a face. "Old Nereus, eh?"

"You know him?" Thalia asked.

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

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"Come," the Hunter said without enthusiasm. "I will show thee."

🌷

Violet hadn't been sure about what Zoë was doing. She figured the Hunter was enacting some petty revenge against Percy for being born a boy, but as they stopped outside a Goodwill drop box that started to seem more and more like the case.

There definitely was some enjoyment the Hunter got from decking Percy out in a ragged flannel shirt, jeans three sizes too big, bright red trainers, and a floppy rainbow hat, but she also insisted that this was all apart of her plan.

Violet covered her smile. "Oh—" She covered a snicker. "You totally fit the part now."

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

"Thanks a lot," the son of Poseidon 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, Zoë 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," Zoë 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." Percy didn't ask for any more details. "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," Thalia said. She picked something off the back of Percy's shirt—a big clump of fuzz that came from who knows where. "Ew. On second thought ... I don't want your back. But we'll be rooting for you."

Violet watched the clump of fuzz with disgust. "Yeah ... I got your back from right here." She pointed at the ground beneath her. "You're lucky I'm a good shot!"

Grover gave the boy a big thumbs-up.

The son of Poseidon grumbled about how nice it was to have super-powerful friends. Then he headed towards the dock.

Violet can say that Percy took his role seriously. Maybe he should even consider going into acting. He stumbled around, bumping into some homeless men as he passed by. He slowed down as he passed some, making Violet wonder if he had already found Nereus, but he would hurry away when the men jeered at him.

Percy made it to the end of the dock, stopping directly in his path. He swayed slightly, inching closer to the homeless man at the end of the pier. Violet glanced at Zoë, who was watching with anticipation.

Then, the son of Poseidon lunged for the lone homeless man.

The two rolled across the dirty boards, causing the other quest members to run for him. Percy had gathered a group of homeless people, who were all watching him fight the Santa Claus look-a-like homeless man.

Violet ran down the steps to the pier, elbowing people out of her way. She threw apologies over her shoulder, but she wasn't sure if they even heard her. As she and the others got closer, Percy and Nereus rolled right off the pier and into the murky water. Violet cringed with disgust, hoping the son of Poseidon was truly as water-repellent as Annabeth had claimed.

A killer whale emerged from the water, Percy hanging on the dorsal fin, like he was taking a ride. A man pushed Violet trying to get a closer look at what was going on. She scowled and shoved him back.

"Watch it, little girl," he hissed at her, giving her a front-row view of his grimy teeth.

"Call me little girl and you'll have an arrow between your eyes," she sneered.

She shoved him one final time, making him stumble, and she ran across the pier. Percy and Nereus had collapsed at the edge of the boat dock. Above them was one of those tourist piers lined with shops. Nereus was heaving and gasping for air.

"You got him!" Zoë said.

"You don't have to sound so amazed," Percy grumbled, getting to his feet.

Nereus moaned. "Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"

Now that the Old Man of the Sea wasn't rolling across a grimy pier, Violet finally got a good look at him. From far away, he looked like an off-brand version of Santa Claus, but up close, he looked like Santa Claus's evil brother. He looked a lot older, fatter, and with a long white beard that hung down to his beer belly. The god was wearing dirty pajamas and a fuzzy bathrobe.

"I've got more than one question," Percy protested.

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

This wasn't good. They needed to find Artemis, and they needed to figure out what the doomsday creature was. But Violet also wanted to know about Annabeth; if she was still alive and if there was any way to rescue the daughter of Athena. There was no single question that could include all of that.

Percy sighed, his shoulder sagging. "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." His voice held a sinister tone to it. "He's right there."

Nereus pointed to the water at their 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!" Percy yelled after the god.

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

Violet looked down, and there was a cow ... serpent ... creature, swimming next to the dock. It nudged Percy's shoe and gave him what Violet could only assume were it's version of sad brown eyes.

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

The ... cow serpent ( is that what it was called? ) let out a low moo.

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," Thalia said. "But what is it doing here?"

Bessie mooed loudly.

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

"You got that from a single moo?" Violet asked.

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

Percy gritted his teeth but told them the story about how he come across the Ophiotaurus. The pegasus, Blackjack, had woken him up the morning the original quest members were to leave camp, talking about an animal that needed help. But that hadn't been the only time Percy had seen the serpent bull; Percy had also seen the Ophiotaurus at the Hoover Dam.

Violet stared at him with disbelief. "And you never thought of telling us that?"

"Well ... yeah," Percy admitted sheepishly.

The daughter of Eros shook her head, muttering under her breath.

"I am a fool," Zoë said suddenly. "I know this story!"

"And what is it?"

"From the War of the Titans," the Hunter 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."

Bessie mooed lowly.

"I don't think he likes the S-word," Grover said.

Percy patted Bessie on the head, trying to calm him down. He let the boy scratch his ear, but Violet could see he was trembling.

"How could anyone hurt him?" Percy said. "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."

Bessie mooed loudly again.

"Um," Grover said. "Maybe we could avoid talking about E-N-T-R-A-I-L-S, too."

Violet stared at him blankly. "Grover, three out of five here are dyslexic, what the hell are you spelling?"

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."

Violet crossed her arms. "Lucky us," she grumbled.

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.

The daughter of Eros watched Thalia warily, reading the girl's expression. It was the look of a ravenous wolf, a wolf ready to claw something to bits. It was a look of hunger; it was a look of greed.

"We have to protect him," Percy decided. "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. Violet wished she could go with him.

They had been so busy talking, they had allowed themselves to be ambushed.

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

"This is just pair-fect," the manticore gloated.

He was wearing a ratty black trench coat over his Westover Hall uniform, which was torn and stained. His military haircut had grown out spiky and greasy. He hadn't shaved recently, so his face was covered in silver stubble.

"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 Violet had seen in 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 Violet knew that wouldn't stop the manticore from acting.

"Where ... where are the skeletons?" Percy asked.

Dr. Thorn 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," the son of Poseidon said.

The manticore laughed. "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."

Zoë 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. "Zoë, don't!"

The manticore smiled. "The boy is right, Zoë 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.

Violet waited for Thalia to tell the manticore off, but the daughter of Zeus 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," Violet said desperately, "don't listen to him. He's lying!"

The girl looked at Violet the same way she had the morning she woke up on Half-Blood Hill, dazed and uncertain. It was almost like she didn't know who was staring back at her.

"I ... I don't—"

"Zeus has helped," Violet insisted. "He sent the metal angels. He listened to your prayers. He turned you into a tree to preserve you."

Thalia's hand tightened on the shaft of her spear. Violet's chin quivered, tears of frustration brimming in her eyes. Grover raised his reed pipes to his mouth and played a quick riff, looking between the two girls.

The manticore yelled, "Stop him!"

The guards had been targeting Zoë, and before they could figure out that the kid with the reed pipes was the bigger problem, the wooden planks at their feet sprouted new branches and tangled their legs. Zoë let loose two quick arrows that exploded at their feet in clouds of sulfurous yellow smoke.

The guards started coughing. The manticore shot spines in their direction but they ricocheted off the lion's coat hanging on Violet's shoulders.

"Grover," Percy yelled through the chaos, "tell Bessie to dive deep and stay down!"

Grover translated quickly. Violet could only hope that the Ophiotaurus got the message.

"The cow..." Thalia muttered, still in a daze.

"Come on!" Violet pulled her along as they ran up the stairs to the shopping center on the pier. They dashed round the corner of the nearest store. Violet heard the manticore shouting at his minions. Tourists screamed as the guards shot blindly into the air.

The five scrambled to the end of the pier. They hid behind a little kiosk filled with souvenir crystals—wind chimes and dream catchers and stuff like that, all 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 they were about to die and the world was going to end.

"Go over the side!" Zoë told Percy. "You can escape in the sea, Percy. Call on thy father for help. Maybe you can save the Ophiotaurus."

Violet did not want to be manticore bait, but what Zoë was saying made sense. Percy had a connection to the sea and had powers that would help him escape. He could be the one to inform the gods what was going to happen, he had heard their plans.

"I won't leave you guys," he said with a shake of his head. "We fight together."

"You have to get word to Camp!" Grover said. "At least let them know what's going on!"

Percy's eyes slowly drifted to the crystals surrounding them. They were making a small rainbow.

"Get word to Camp," he muttered. "Good idea."

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 demanded.

But Grover seemed to understand. He was digging through his pant pockets, fishing out a golden drachma. He flipped the golden drachma into the rainbows created by the mist and yelled, "'O goddess, accept my offering!"

The mist rippled.

"Camp Half-Blood!" Percy said.

And there, shimmering in the Mist right next to us, was the last person Violet wanted to see: Mr. D, wearing his leopard-skin jogging suit and rummaging through the refrigerator.

The god looked up lazily. "Do you mind?"

"Where's Chiron?" Percy shouted.

"How rude." Mr. D took a swig from a jug of grape juice. "Is that how you say hello?"

"Hello," the boy amended. "We're about to die! Where's Chiron?"

Dionysus considered that. Violet wanted to scream at him to hurry up, but she knew that would never work. Behind them, footsteps and shouting—the manticore's troops were closing in.

"About to die," the God of Wine mused. "How exciting. I'm afraid Chiron isn't here. Would you like me to take a message?"

Percy looked at the people around him. "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?"

Violet wasn't sure if telling him would make any difference, but Percy still told Dionysus about the Ophiotaurus.

"Hm." The god studied the contents of the fridge. "So that's it. I see."

"Do you even care?" Violet demanded. "This is the fate of your life too, you know!"

"Let's see. I think I'm in the mood for pizza tonight."

Violet didn't even have time to think of anything else to say. 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 Percy, as if this were an amusing thought. "You could say please."

Violet pulled an arrow taut. Zoë readied her arrows. Grover lifted his pipes. Thalia raised her shield, and Violet noticed a tear running down her cheek.

"Please, Mr. D," Percy muttered. "Help."

And 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.

There was a rush like that all around the five, and a sound like a huge sigh. The sunlight was tinged with purple. Violet 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 was terrifying.

"No!" screamed the manticore. "I will deal with you myself!"

His tail bristled, but the planks under his paws erupted into grapevines that immediately began wrapping round 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 Violet knew 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," the god 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."

The god let out a 'Humph'. "Don't make me regret it, satyr. Now get going, Percy Jackson. I've bought you a few hours at most."

"The Ophiotaurus," the son of Poseidon said. "Can you get it to camp?"

Mr. D sniffed. "I do not transport livestock. That's your problem."

"But where do we go?" asked Violet.

The God of Madness looked at Zoë. "Oh, I think the huntress knows. You must enter at sunset today, you know, or all is lost. Now goodbye. My pizza is waiting."

"Mr. D," Percy said.

The god raised his eyebrow.

"You called me by my right name," said Percy. "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 our 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.

Violet looked at Zoë. "What did Mr. D mean? He said that 'the huntress knows'?"

Zoë's face was the color of the fog. She pointed across the bay, past the Golden Gate Bridge. In the distance, a single mountain rose up above the cloud layer.

"The garden of my sisters," she said. "I must go home."

🌷 APR. 25TH, 2023 / mr. d is so slay!! i love him so much

(that's partly why elisa's a daughter of dionysus lol)

best god from pjo (him and artemis tie for first place tbh)

(and zeus, hera, and poseidon are dead last - they deserve everything bad)

anyways,, thoughts?? opinions??