𝒊𝒊𝒊. 𝐋𝐎𝐘𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒

𝒙𝒊.

They rode the boar until sunset, which was about as much as their back ends could take. Imagine riding a giant steel brush over a bed of gravel all day. That's about how comfortable boar-riding was. 

Noelle had no idea how many miles they'd covered, but the mountains faded into the distance and were replaced by miles of flat, dry land. The grass and scrub brush got sparser until they were galloping across the desert. 

As night fell, the boar came to a stop at a creek bed and snorted. He started drinking the muddy water, then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chewed it, needles and all. 

"This is as far as he'll go," Grover said. "We need to get off while he's eating." 

Nobody needed convincing. They slipped off the boar's back while he was busy ripping up cacti. Then they waddled away as best they could with their saddle sores. 

After its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled around and galloped back toward the east. 

"It likes the mountains better," Noelle guessed. 

"I can't blame it," Thalia said. "Look." 

Ahead of them was a two-lane road half covered with sand. On the other side of the road was a cluster of buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop that looked like it hadn't been open since before Zoë Nightshade was born, and a white stucco post office with a sign that said GILA CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crooked above the door. Beyond that was a range of hills... but then they noticed they weren't regular hills. The countryside was way too flat for that. The hills were enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. It was a junkyard that seemed to go on forever. 

"Whoa," Percy said. 

"Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia said. She looked at Grover. "I don't suppose you got another wild boar up your sleeve?" 

Grover was sniffing the wind, looking nervous. He fished out his acorns and threw them into the sand, then played his pipes. They rearranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense to Noelle, but Grover looked concerned. 

"That's us," he said. "Those six nuts right there." 

"Which one is me?" Percy asked. 

"The little deformed one," Zoë suggested. 

"Oh, shut up." 

"That cluster right there," Grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble." 

"A monster?" Thalia asked. 

Grover looked uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge..." 

He pointed straight toward the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked like something on an alien planet.

~

They decided to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. None of them wanted to go dumpster-diving in the dark. 

Zoë and Bianca produced five sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. Percy didn't know how they did it, because the packs were tiny, but must've been enchanted to hold so much stuff. He'd also noticed their bows and quivers were also magic. He never really thought about it, but when the Hunters needed them, they just appeared slung over their backs. And when they didn't, they were gone. 

The night got chilly fast, so Grover and Percy collected old boards from the ruined house, and Thalia zapped them with an electric shock to start a campfire. Pretty soon they were about as comfy as you can get in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.