❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒳𝐼𝐼𝐼. 𝐵𝒾𝒶𝓃𝒸𝒶 𝒟𝒾 𝒜𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓁𝑜

"𝓢𝓸," Percy started, jogging to catch up with the older hunter as everyone started walking. "How do we get out of here?"

"This way," both Zoes said.

Nightshade nodded her head in the direction she was heading. "This is west."

"How can you tell?"

"I don't know, maybe a Hephaestus thing or something," Zoe shrugged.

When Nightshade responded, Zoe didn't even need to see her to know the hunter was rolling her eyes at Percy. "Ursa Major is in the north," the hunter said, "which means that must be west."

She pointed west, then at the northern constellation, which was hard to make out because there were so many other stars.

"Oh, yeah," Percy said as Zoe caught up with the two. "The bear thing."

Zoe snorted in amusement as Nightshade looked offended.

"Show some respect," the hunter scoffed. "It was a fine bear. A worthy opponent."

"You act like it was real," Percy furrowed his eyebrows, gripping the straps of his backpack.

"Percy," Zoe groaned, face palming.

"What?" he asked, bewildered.

"Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!"

They'd reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors.

"Whoa," Bianca said. "That stuff... some of it looks like real gold."

"It is," Thalia said grimly. "Like Percy said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."

"Junk?" Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver, and jewels. It was broken on one side, as if it had been split by an axe. "You call this junk?"

He bit off a point and began to chew. "It's delicious!"

Thalia swatted the crown out of his hands. "I'm serious!"

"Look!" Bianca said. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates, her backpack bouncing on her back. She slipped off the bag and picked up a bow that glowed silver in moonlight. "A Hunter's bow!"

She yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's just like Percy's sword and Zoe's weapons!"

Nightshade's face was grim. "Leave it, Bianca."

"But—"

"It is here for a reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay in this yard. It is defective. Or cursed."

Zoe's hands instinctively went to her hair as Bianca reluctantly set the clip in her hand down and grabbed her bag again.

"I don't like this place," Thalia said. She gripped the shaft of her spear in one hand, tightly grasping a strap of her bag in the other.

"You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?" Percy asked.

Zoe smacked him upside the head. "No, dumbass. If things are cursed, we don't want that bad shit to ruin the quest. I've also got a bad feeling. This place... it may be my great grandfather's junk yard, but it makes me nervous."

Thalia also gave Percy a hard look. "Both Zoes are right, Percy. Things get thrown away here for a reason. Now come on, let's get across the yard."

"That's the second time you've agreed with Nightshade," Percy muttered, but Thalia ignored him.