CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

₊˚࿐࿔ 𖥧‧₊⚘ ❀༉. 𓏲｡

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 decided to borrow it.

Thalia drove. She didn't seem as stunned as Sylvie or Percy or Grover or Zoë. This was shown in the way they let her drive.

"The skeletons are still out there," Thalia reminded them. "We need to keep moving."

She navigated them through the desert, under clear blue skies, the sand so bright it hurt to look at. Zoë sat up front with Thalia. Sylvie, Percy, and Grover sat in the pickup bed, with the two boys leaning against the tow winch and Sylvie leaning against where the bed connected to the truck itself. The air was cool and dry, but the nice weather just seemed like an insult after losing Bianca.

Sylvie's hand closed around the little figurine that had cost Bianca's life. Sylvie still couldn't even tell what god it was supposed to be. Nico would know.

Oh, gods... what was she going to tell Nico?

Sylvie wanted to believe that Bianca was still alive somewhere. But she had a bad feeling that Bianca was gone for good.

"This is all my fault," Sylvie whispered in a hoarse voice. "If I hadn't made Talos raise his foot..."

"No," Percy argued, like he was telling her You and me all over again. "I made you. I let Bianca go into the giant. It... It should've been me who died."

"Don't say that!" Grover panicked. "It's bad enough Annabeth is gone, and now Bianca. Do you think I could stand it if..." He sniffled. "Do you think anybody else would be my best friend?"

"Ah, Grover..."

"He's right," Sylvie said, finally looking away from the figurine. "It shouldn't have been you. It shouldn't have been any of us."

"Well, I'm right, too," added Percy. "It's not your fault."

Sylvie had to force her gaze away from Percy, electing to look at Grover instead. He was wiping under his eyes with an oily cloth that left his face grimy, like he had on war paint. Feeling Sylvie's gaze, he mumbled, "I'm... I'm okay."

But he wasn't okay. Ever since the encounter in New Mexico—whatever had happened when that wild wind blew through—he seemed really fragile, even more emotional than usual. Sylvie was afraid to talk to him about it, because he might start bawling.

So Sylvie, Percy, and Grover didn't talk again for the rest of the ride.

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?"

Sylvie 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 us.

"There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river."

Sylvie tried to see what he was talking about, and finally noticed a tiny ledge winding down the cliff face. "That's a goat path," she said.

"So?" he asked.

"The rest of us aren't goats..."

"We can make it," Grover said. "I think."

Sylvie thought about that. She'd done cliffs before, but she didn't like them. Neither did Percy, Sylvie knew from the way he fell off of one. She really doubted they'd be able to do it.

Luckily, Percy said, "No. I, uh, think we should go farther upstream."

Grover said, "But—"

"Come on," Percy said. "A walk won't hurt us."

Grover looked like he was getting emotional again, his eyes sad and his trotting a little shaky. Sylvie held back to pat his back as they followed the others.

"Don't worry, Grover. Fishstick's just scared he'll fall off a cliff again."

"One time!" Percy shouted from in front.

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 Sylvie left a stack of golden drachmas on the counter and a note saying IOU two canoes.

"We need to go upstream," Zoë said. It was the first time Sylvie had heard her speak since the junkyard. She was worried about how bad Zoë sounded, like somebody with the flu. "The rapids are too swift."

"Leave that to me," Percy said.

They put the canoes in the water. Sylvie walked over to grab an oar of her own, and a private conversation between Percy and Thalia died down when she came up to them.

"I owe you one," Thalia was telling Percy, her shoulders relaxing.

"Two."

"One and a half."

Thalia smiled, then turned to help Grover get their canoe into the water.

"She okay?" Sylvie asked when Thalia was out of earshot.

Percy turned. Then he shrugged. "Better than us."

Which, fair.

"Come on," he continued. "We're riding with Zoë."

Percy didn't even need to control the currents, because he was fucking Percy Jackson, and of course he didn't. As soon as they got in the river, there were a couple of naiads staring at him. Sylve didn't exactly speak naiad, but their conversation ended with the naiads easily offering to take Percy upstream. Therefore, the naiads took all of them upstream. They started so fast Grover fell into his canoe with his hooves sticking up in the air.

"I hate naiads," Zoë grumbled.

A stream of water squirted up from the back of the boat and hit Sylvie and Zoë in the face.

"I didn't even do anything!" Sylvie sputtered.

"She-devils!" Zoë went for her bow.

"Woah," Percy said. "They're just playing."

"Cursed water spirits. They've never forgiven me."

"Forgiven you for what?" asked Sylvie, wiping the water from her face.

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 them.

"What happened to Bianca wasn't your fault," Percy told her. "It was—" he faltered at the look on Sylvie's face, "no one's fault. We can't change the Fates."

Zoë's shoulders slumped. "No, Percy. 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 Sylvie had ever seen her. "Nothing can last forever. 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," Sylvie said softly.

"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."

Zoë 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.

Percy suddenly took Riptide out of his pocket. Sylvie gave him a judging look, but Zoë just looked at the pen. Her expression was pained.

"You made this," Percy said.

"Who told thee?"

"I had a dream about it."

Sylvie hadn't know that. Why did no one tell her these things? They kind of felt important. She was always too many steps behind, too busy having unhelpful dreams rather that informational ones.

Zoë sighed. "It was a gift. And a mistake."

"Who was the hero?" Percy asked.

Zoë 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, hero. Don't all you boys want to be just like him?"

Her voice was so bitter, Sylvie and Percy decided not to ask what she meant.

"Your mother was a water goddess?" Percy questioned.

"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," Sylvie remembered. "With the golden apple tree and a dragon guarding it."

"Yes," Zoë said wistfully. "Ladon."

"But weren't there only four sisters?" asked Sylvie.

"There are now. I was exiled. Forgotten. Blotted out as if I never existed."

Sylvie asked, "Why?"

Zoë 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—"

Percy's voice fell short. The canoe was slowing down.

Sylvie looked ahead, and she saw why.

This was as far as the naiads could take them. The river was blocked. A dam the size of a football stadium stood in their path.

╰━━━ ◦ ❀ ◦ ❀◦ ━━━╯

"Hoover Dam," Thalia said. "It's fucking 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 damn. They were so tiny they looked like fleas.

The naiads had left with a lot of grumbling—not in words Sylvie could understand, but it was obvious they hated this dam blocking up their nice river. The canoes floated back downstream, swirling in the wake from the dam's discharge vents.

"Seven hundred feet tall," Percy said.

Sylvie added, "Built in the 1930s."

"Five million cubic acres of water," Thalia informed.

Grover sighed. "Largest construction project in the United States."

Zoë stared at them. "How do you know all that?"

"Annabeth," Percy said. "She liked architecture."

"She was nuts about monuments," Thalia said.

"Spouted facts all the time," Grover sniffled. "So annoying."

"I wish she were here," Sylvie deflated.

The others nodded. Zoë was still looking at them strangely, but Sylvie didn't care. It seemed like cruel fate that they'd come to Hoover Dam, one of Annabeth's personal favorites, and she wasn't there to see it.

"We should go up there," Percy said, like he could read Sylvie's thoughts. "For her sake. Just to say we've been."

"You are mad," Zoë 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."

╰━━━ ◦ ❀ ◦ ❀◦ ━━━╯

The walk to Hoover Dam was supposed to be over an hour long.

It was supposed to be.

But, somehow, they were all going quicker than expected. Percy found this curious, and looked around suspiciously. He spotted Sylvie with that certain look of concentration on her face, and he could've sworn her eyes shone a leafy green for a moment.

"You're speeding up our walking," he accused. "How are you doing that?"

Sylvie startled at being caught in the act. They all started walking in real time again, but only Percy seemed to notice this. Sylvie flushed in a little bit of embarrassment, but she didn't know why she felt that way.

"The ground. The traction in your feet, against the earth" Sylvie tried explaining. "I guess I'm—altering it so that when you take a step there's more friction and its quicker than it would normally be... Like a—those gym walking pad things. Whatever they're called."

Leave it to Sylvie Duvall to know how to alter the traction of the earth, but not the names of gym equipment.

"A treadmill?"

"Yeah," she shrugged. Stuffing her hands in her pockets. "That."

Percy's eyebrows raised incredulously. For a moment, he was absolutely blown away by how powerful Sylvie was getting. And he was in utter disbelief at the fact she never realized this.

"You know, Applejack," Percy huffed, "one of these days I'm going to stop underestimating you."

There was a brief pause where Sylvie had to remember to breathe. Only then could she say, "Then you're going to be a lot harder to surprise."

It was only a little bit after that when they found a path that led up to the road. It came up on the east side of the river. Then they 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.

Grover kept sniffing the wind and looking nervous. He didn't say anything, but Sylvie knew he smelled monsters.

"How close are they?" Sylvie asked him.

He 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."

Sylvie didn't either. It was already Wednesday, only two days until winter solstice, and they still had a long way to go. They didn't need any more monsters.

"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 kind of 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?" Sylvie asked. She had a newfound hatred for metallic toes.

"Rubbing the toes," Thalia said. "They think it's good luck."

"Why?"

Thalia 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."

"When you were here last," Percy said, "did they talk to you or anything?"

Thalia's expression darkened. Sylvie could tell that she'd come here before hoping for exactly that—some kind of sign from her dad. Some connection. "No. They don't do anything. They're just big metal statues."

"Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoë said. "We should eat while we can."

Sylvie cracked a smile. "The dam snack bar?"

Zoë blinked. "Yes. What is funny?"

"Nothing," Sylvie said, trying to keep a straight face. "I could use some dam french fries."

Even Thalia smiled at that. "And I need to use the dam restroom."

Maybe it was the fact that they were so tired and strung out emotionally, but Percy started cracking up, and Sylvie, Grover, and Thalia joined in, while Zoë just looked at them. "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."

They busted up laughing. Sylvie was so delirious that she was sure she could laugh all day—it wasn't funny, but it was so stupid that Sylvie found it hilarious anyways.

"Did I just hear a cow?" Grover stopped laughing. Percy did too.

"A dam cow?" Thalia laughed.

"No," Grover said. "I'm serious."

Sylvie and Thalia composed themselves and listened along with Zoë. None of the trio could hear a thing; however, Sylvie did catch sight of Percy. He suddenly looked really upset, almost sick.

"Percy, are you okay?" she asked.

"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 all hesitated, but Sylvie guessed that they weren't going to protest because of how bothered he seemed. Sylvie's friends just broke off into the visitor center, leaving Percy behind.

Sylvie, however, stayed exactly where she was. She was there to watch Percy jog to the north edge of the dam and look over.

"Perce?" Sylvie said, concerned. "What's wrong?"

Percy jumped around with a wild curse.

"Seriously, Duvall," he glared half-heartedly after calming down. "Bell."

Sylvie ignored him, shaking her head. She walked over to where he was at the north edge. He wasn't going to drive her away with a lame excuse—Sylvie knew him too well for him to be able to accomplish that.

"Fine. There's a cow," Percy finally told her.

Her eyebrows furrowed. She was sure her facial expression displayed all the judgement needed for him to catch her disbelief.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm serious, Sylvie. Look."

Percy pointed down, and Sylvie looked over the edge of the dam.

The cow was about thirty feet below in the lake, but Sylvie could see her clearly. Percy hadn't been lying.

"There's a cow." 

"I told you!" said Percy. Then, "Before I left for this quest—"

"You mean, before you snuck out of camp to force yourself on this quest..."

"Shut up," and Sylvie could've sworn Percy's face tinted, but he turned back to look at the cow before she got a good look. "Before I left for this quest," he started, "I saw her trapped in a net and freed her. She's like a... cow serpent thing. I named her Bessie."

"Bessie?" Sylvie judged.

"Is that really all you gathered?" Percy judged right back.

Sylvie sighed, because unfortunately, Percy was right. She looked around—There were groups of kids running along the dam. A lot of senior citizens. Some families. But nobody seemed to be paying Bessie any attention yet.

"Fine," she caved. "What is Bessie doing here?"

"I found her, like, one minute before you did," Percy said cluelessly. Then to Bessie, "What are you doing here?"

"Moo!"

Her voice was urgent, like she was trying to warn them something. Sylvie sure hoped Percy could speak serpent-cow, because Sylvie sure couldn't.

"How did you get here?" asked Percy. That was a valid question, too. They were thousands of miles from Long Island, hundreds of miles inland. There was no way Bessie could've swum all the way here. And yet, here she was.

Bessie swam in a circle and butted her head against the side of the dam. "Moo!"

Again, a form of serpent-cow that Sylvie couldn't understand. It was like Bessie wanted them to come with her—like she was telling them to hurry.

"We can't," Percy told her. "Our friends are inside."

Bessie looked at Sylvie and Percy with her sad brown eyes. Then she gave one more urgent "Mooo!," did a flip, and disappeared into the water.

"Did you understand any of that?" Sylvie asked nervously.

"I don't speak cow," he shook his head.

Sylvie hesitated. Something was wrong. The fact that Percy looked panicked as well didn't help her feel better in that.

Then Sylvie tensed. The hairs on her arms bristled. Sylvie and Percy looked down the dam road to the east and saw two men walking slowly towards them. They wore gray 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 skill.

"Ah!" the kid yelled, and his whole group backed away.

Sylvie and Percy ran for the visitor center.

"We're fucked!" Sylvie worried.

They were almost to the stairs when Sylvie heard tires squeal. 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. Sylvie and Percy were surrounded.

"We're so fucked!" she shouted.

Sylvie and Percy bolted down the stairs and through the museum entrance. The security guard at the metal detector yelled, "Hey, kids!" But they didn't stop.

They ran through the exhibits and ducked behind a tour group. Sylvie looked for their friends, but she couldn't see them anywhere. Where was the damn snack bar?

"Stop!" the metal-detector guy yelled.

There was no place to go but into an elevator with the tour group. Sylvie and Percy ducked inside just as the door closed.

"We'll be going down seven hundred feet," their tour guide said cheerfully. She was a park ranger, with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and tinted glasses. Sylvie guessed she hadn't noticed that Sylvie and Percy were being chased. "Don't worry, ladies and gentlemen, the elevator hardly ever breaks."

"Does this go to the snack bar?" Percy asked her.

A few people behind him and Sylvie chuckled. The tour guide looked at Percy. Something about her gaze, not even on Sylvie, made Sylvie's skin tingle.

"To the turbines, young man," the lady said. "Weren't you listening to my fascinating presentation upstairs?"

"Of course we were," Sylvie said hastily. "Uh, is there another way out of the dam?"

"It's a dead end," a tourist behind them said. "For heaven's sake. The only way out is the other elevator."

The doors opened.

"Go right ahead, folks," the tour guide told everyone. "Another ranger is waiting for you at the end of the corridor."

Sylvie and Percy didn't have much choice but to go out with the group.

"And children," the tour guide called. Sylvie and Percy 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 Sylvie and Percy alone.

Before Sylvie could think too much about the woman in the elevator, a ding came from around the corner. The second elevator was opening, and Sylvie heard an unmistakable sound—the clattering of skeleton teeth.

Sylvie and Percy 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. The duo came out on a U-shaped balcony that overlooked this huge warehouse area. Fifty feet below, enormous turbines were running. It was a big room, but Sylvie didn't see any other exit, unless she wanted to jump into the turbines and get churned up to make electricity.

She didn't.

Another tour guide was talking over the microphone, telling the tourists about water supplies in Nevada. Sylvie prayed that Grover, Thalia, and Zoë were okay. They might already be captured, or eating at the snack bar, completely unaware that they were being surrounded. And stupid Sylvie and Percy: They had trapped themselves in a hole hundreds of feet below the surface.

"Clever," Sylvie quoted the earlier tour guide with humorless snort. "Yeah, what a clever duo we make."

"I am not dying with you in a Hoover Dam exhibit," said Percy. "Come on."

Sylvie and Percy worked their way around the crowd, trying not to be too obvious about it. There was a hallway at the other side of the balcony—maybe some place they could hide. Sylvie was clutching Halcyon and Cereal in either hand. Percy kept his grip on Riptide. Both of them were ready to strike.

By the time they got to the opposite side of the balcony, Sylvie's nerves were shot. She and Percy backed into the little hallway and watched the tunnel they'd come from.

Then right behind them Sylvie heard a sharp Chhh! like the voice of a skeleton.

Without thinking, Percy spun, slashing with his sword.

The girl he'd just tried to slice in half yelped and dropped her Kleenex.

"Holy shit!" she shouted. "Do you always kill people when they blow their nose?"

"Fuck," Sylvie cursed in a panic. "He's—No—He doesn't! He's sorry!"

"You're mortal!" Percy cried.

That's when it hit Sylvie—His sword hadn't hurt the girl. It had passed clean through her body, harmlessly.

She looked at Percy in disbelief. "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I'm mortal! How did you two get those weapons past security?"

Sylvie put her hands behind her back, hiding the daggers.

"What weapons?" Then, "Wait—you can see they're weapons?"

The girl rolled her eyes, which were green like Percy's. She had frizzy, red 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, they're either weapons or you two are roleplaying in a Renaissance Fair," she said. "And why didn't his sword hurt me? I mean, not that I'm complaining. Who even are you guys? And woah, what is that you're wearing, dude? Is that made of lion fur?"

She asked so many questions so fast, it was like she was throwing rocks at them. Sylvie couldn't think of what to say. She looked at Percy's sleeves to see if the Nemean Lion pelt had somehow changed back to fur, but it still looked like a brown winter coat to her.

Sylvie knew the skeleton warriors were still chasing Percy and her. They had no time to waste. But Percy just stared at the redheaded girl. Sylvie was one second away from either swatting him or yanking him back into a run. Unfortunately, Percy didn't give her the chance to do either thing.

He snapped his fingers. "You don't see a sword," Percy told the girl. "You don't see any daggers. It's just a ballpoint pen, a glove, and uh... A, um..."

"No," the girl cut him off, blinking. "You're both wielding weapons. Weirdo."

"Who are you?" Sylvie demanded.

She huffed indignantly. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

"You—Wha—" Sylvie couldn't even help it. She was about to die, but she was suddenly stopping to laugh before she could control it. "Your initials are R.E.D.? Like... red? Like your hair?"

Rachel Elizabeth Dare grumbled, "Yeah, I get that connection a lot. Unfortunately. Now, are either of you going to answer my questions or should I scream for security?"

"No!" Percy said. "I mean, we're kind of in a hurry. We're in trouble."

"In a hurry or in trouble?"

"Um, sort of both."

She looked over Sylvie's shoulder and her eyes widened. "Bathroom!"

"What?" asked Sylvie.

"Bathroom! Behind me! Now!"

Sylvie didn't have much of a choice but to listen to her—there weren't any other options available. She and Percy slipped inside the boys' bathroom (which would never be happening for Sylvie again; how could one place be so horrifically dirty?) and left Rachel Elizabeth Dare standing outside. That probably seemed cowardly, but Sylvie was too panicked to care. If it could save her life, she'd do anything. Even hide inside a boys' bathroom.

Sylvie heard the clattering, hissing sounds of skeletons as they came closer.

Her grip on Halcyon and Cereal tightened. What was she thinking? There was a mortal girl outside—there was no way she'd be able to divert the attention of skeleton warriors from two half-bloods. They were most likely going to be ambushed in seconds.

"Oh, my god!" Rachel Elizabeth Dare started talking in that rapid-fire machine gun way of hers. "Did you see those kids? It's about time you got here. The dude tried to kill me! He had a sword, for god's sake. And the girl had knives!" Silently, Sylvie corrected, Daggers. "You security guys let weapon-wielding maniacs inside a national landmark? I mean, jeez! They ran that way toward those turbine thingies. I think they went over the side or something. Maybe they fell."

The skeletons clattered excitedly. Sylvie heard them moving off.

Rachel opened the door. "All clear. But you two better hurry."

She looked shaken. Her face was gray and sweaty.

Sylvie and Percy 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.

"We owe you one, Red," Sylvie exhaled gratefully.

"What are those things?" she asked. "They looked like—"

"Skeletons?"

She nodded uneasily.

"Do yourself a favor," Percy said. "Forget it. Forget you ever saw us."

"Forget you tried to kill me?"

"Yeah," said Percy, "That, too."

"But who are you guys?"

"Percy—"

Sylvie's hand latched around his wrist before Percy could finish. "Gotta go!"

What? The skeletons had turned around.

"What kind of name is Percy Gotta-go?"

Sylvie and Percy darted for the exit.

╰━━━ ◦ ❀ ◦ ❀◦ ━━━╯

The café was packed with kids enjoying the best part of the tour—the dam lunch. Grover, Thalia, and Zoë were just sitting down with their food.

"We need to leave," Percy gasped. "Now!"

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

Zoë stood up, muttering an Ancient Greek curse. "He's right! Look."

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

Sylvie 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 Sylvie and Percy in the turbine room now appeared on the stairs. They saw the two 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. The questers were completely surrounded.

Then Sylvie had a brilliant, totally Sylvie-like idea.

"BURRITO FIGHT!" she yelled, grabbing Grover's Guacamole Grande and flinging it at the nearest skeleton.

Now, if you've never been hit by a flying burrito by Sylvie Duvall, count 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. Sylvie wasn't sure what the other kids in the café 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, Percy and Thalia 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.

No one had an answer. The warriors on the road were closing in from either direction. The questers 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 around Sylvie and her friends. Their brethren from the café 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.

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

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

Sylvie gave a weary nod. "At least death-by-skeletons will sound cool on a gravestone, right?"

Then—

"Woah," Percy said. "Their toes really are bright."

"Percy!" Thalia said. "This isn't the time."

But Percy was turned around and staring at the two giant bronze guys with tall bladed wings like letter openers. 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, Sylvie realized. The blessing of Zeus.

Sylvie and Percy looked to each other. Sylvie could tell they were both thinking 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," Sylvie said. "Pray to your dad."

She glared at Sylvie. "He never answers."

"Just this once," Sylvie pleaded. "Ask for help. We think... We 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. He sent Sylvie another look for a second. It confirmed his thoughts: "Athena."

Thalia scowled like she was sure Percy had gone crazy.

"Try it," Grover pleaded.

Thalia closed her eyes. Her lips moved in a silent prayer. Sylvie put in her own prayer to Annabeth's mom, hoping she and Percy were right that it had been her in that elevator—that she was trying to help them save her daughter.

And nothing happened.

The skeletons closed in. Sylvie readied Halcyon and Cereal to defend herself. 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 Sylvie. She thought maybe it was the shadow of death. Then 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. Percy raised his lion coat for protection, but he didn't need it. The bronze angels stepped in front of the questers 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 Sylvie was by the angels, she 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.

"Please!" Sylvie added.

Both angels looked down at Thalia. "Zeus's kid?"

"Yes!"

"Could I get a please from you, 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 Sylvie knew, one of them grabbed her, Grover, and Zoë, the other grabbed Percy and Thalia, and they flew straight up, over the dam and the river. The skeleton warriors shrank to tiny specks below them and the sound of gunfire echoed off the sides of the mountains.

╰━━━ ◦ ❀ ◦ ❀◦ ━━━╯

BAILEY YAPS...

I um I repeat I repeat daughter of Demeter Silviana Duvall calls Perseus Jackson the nickname Perce for the first time in a worried sort of soft voice.

Sorry guys I'm Thalia Grace #1 fan I'm claiming it you can't take that from me

Sylvie's never seen a treadmill in her life Send tweet

Rachel Elizabeth Dare... How interesting it is to introduce you to this plot...

You guys don't know how long it took me to realize the Rachel's initials thing. I'm not joking I am an eighteen-year-old and I just found out two months ago. Two months. Eighteen years of living. 

I've been listening to Epic: The Musical while writing for some reason recently. But I can't stop. Shit's too good. Shit's too good. Shit's too good.

Nah don't be modest I know you're a goddess so let's be honest you are ATHENAAA badass in the ARENAA