DIVINE! | percy jackson

chapter thirteen - the love goddess looks familiar

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
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          THEY RODE the boar until sunset. While the ride was fairly uncomfortable and Estella couldn't wait to get off the boar, she did enjoy holding onto Percy the way there.

Estella's head rested gently on his back as they passed the fading mountains that were replaced by flat, dry land. It became so sparse that they eventually went into the desert.

When night fell the boar came to a stop at a creek bed and snorted. He drank the muddy water and then ripped a cactus out of the ground and chewed it.

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

Everyone was ecstatic to hop off and they waddled away while the boar ate the cacti. Eventually, it finished and then whirled around and galloped back to the east.

"It likes the mountains better," Percy guessed.

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

Ahead of them was a two-lane road covered with sand. There were clusters of buildings that looked abandoned. Beyond the buildings were enormous mounds of junk that seemed to go on for a long while.

"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 wild, looking nervous. He fished out acorns and threw them into the sand and played his pipes. They rearranged into a pattern.

"That's us," Grover 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."

Estella recognized what Grover had done. It was a simple location spell, that conjured small amounts of magic from the environment. She's performed it a few times with marbles when she's lost an item or two.

"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 to the junkyard. The sunlight was almost gone, and the lack of luminance made it look especially daunting.

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         THEY AGREED to get some rest for the night and travel across the junkyard in the morning.

Zoë and Bianca produced five sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. It must've been enchanted of some sorts because it was impressive how much stuff came out of it.

The night got cold fast, so Grover and Percy collected old boards from the decrepit houses for Estella to light a fire. She narrowed her concentration on the boards and conjured a small flame, which eventually turned into a large fire that supplied them warmth.

Percy gave her a high five, not even trying to hide how he was impressed.

"The stars are out," Zoë said.

Estella looked up, quite amazed at the grandeur of it all. Back at home, the sky would like it's from another world because of all the city lights. Here, it was breathtaking.