In which, Adira Lancaster falls in love with her rival, Percy Jackson
OR
he falls in love with her first, unknowingly.
She only seemed to think about a rivalry. Nothing else. Zilch. Nada. Zip.
-disclaimer- I do not own the Percy Jackson Books, or an...
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We had to walk for almost an hour before we found a path that led up to the road. It came up on the east side of the river. Then we 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.
Thalia walked in the middle of the road, far away from the edges. Grover kept sniffing the wind and looking nervous. He didn't say anything, but I knew he smelled monsters.
"How close are they?" Percy 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."
I didn't either. It was already Wednesday, only two days until winter solstice, and we still had a long way to go. We 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 looked kind of like Oscar statues with wings.
"They were dedicated to Zeus when the dam was built," I said. "A gift from Athena."
Tourists were clustered all around them. They seemed to be looking at the statues' feet.
"What are they doing?" Percy asked.
"Rubbing the toes," Thalia said. "They think it's good luck."
"Why?"
She 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, did they talk to you or anything?"
"No. They don't do anything. They're just big metal statues."
I thought about the last big metal statue we'd run into. That hadn't gone so well. But I decided not to bring it up.
"Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoe said. "We should eat while we can."
Grover cracked a smile. "The dam snack bar?"
Zoe blinked. "Yes. What is funny?"
"Nothing," Grover said, trying to keep a straight face. "I could use some dam french fries."
"I want to watch the dam river," I added.
Even Thalia smiled at that. "And I need to use the dam restroom."
"I need to use the dam restroom, too," Percy added.
Maybe it was the fact that we were so tired and strung out emotionally, but I started cracking up, and Percy, Thalia and Grover joined in, while Zoe just looked at us. "I do not understand."
