mastermind - percy jackson

ix. aphrodite

"love conquers all"

They rode the boar until sunset which was about as much as their backs and tailbones could take. Cassandra felt as though her back was out of alignment and her tailbone was bruised.

She didn't know how many miles they had covered, but the mountains had faded into the distance and were replaced by miles upon miles of flat, dry land. Grass and shrub brush grew sparser and sparser until they were galloping, if boars can gallop, across the desert.

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

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

No one needed to be convinced and Percy was pretty sure he heard Cassandra say "Halleluiah." They slipped off the boar's back while it was busy ripping up cacti.

After it's third saguaro and another long sip of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled around and galloped back toward the east.

"It likes the mountains better" Percy guessed.

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

Ahead of them was a two-laned road half covered with sand. On the other side of the road was a cluster of buildings too small to be considered a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop, and a white stucco post office with a sign that said GILA CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crooked above the door.

"The desert. Of course" Cassandra said glancing around nervously.

Beyond was a range of hill... but 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 to 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 into a pattern that made no sense to Percy but Grover looked concerned.

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

"Which one is me?" Percy asked

"That one" Cassandra answered pointing to a tiny deformed acorn.

"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 towards the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked like something on an alien planet.

They decided to camp out for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. No one wanted to go dumpster-diving in the dark.

The Hunter's produced six sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. They were magic, allowing them to fit as much stuff as they wanted in there without the weight. Cassandra had to explain it to Percy about how it worked and how their bows appeared and disappeared with their will because Artemis made them that way.

It grew chilly fast, so Grover and Percy collected old boards from the ruined house, and Thalia shocked them with an electric shock to start a campfire.