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"We will never make it," Zoë said. "We are moving too slow. But we cannot leave the Ophiotaurus."
"Mooo," Bessie said. He swam next to Percy as they jogged along the waterfront. The five had left the shopping center pier far behind. They were heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was a lot farther than any of them had realized. The sun was already dipping in the west.
"I don't get it," Percy said. "Why do we have to get there at sunset?"
"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoë said. "We can only enter their garden as day changes to night."
"What happens if we miss it?"
"Tomorrow is the winter solstice. If we miss sunset tonight, we would have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight."
Rory bit her tongue from bringing up that Annabeth would die, too.
"We need a car," Thalia said.
"But what about Bessie?" Percy asked.
Grover stopped in his tracks. "I've got an idea! The Ophiotaurus can appear in different bodies of water, right?"
"Well, yeah," Percy said. "I mean, he was in Long Island Sound. Then he just popped into the water at Hoover Dam. And now he's here."
"So maybe we could coax him back to Long Island Sound," Grover said. "Then Chiron could help us get him to Olympus."
"But he was following me," Percy pointed out. "If I'm not there, would he know where he's going?"
"Moo," Bessie said forlornly.
"I...I can show him," Grover said. "I'll go with him."
Rory and Percy stared at him. Grover was no fan of the water. He had almost drowned last summer in the Sea of Monsters, and he couldn't swim very well with his goat hooves.
"G, are you sure?" Rory asked.
"I'm the only one who can talk to him," Grover said. "It makes sense."
"You didn't really answer my question."
He ignored her comment, bending down and saying something in Bessie's ear. Bessie shivered, then made a contented, lowing sound.
"The blessing of the Wild," Grover said. "That should help with safe passage. Percy, pray to your dad, too. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."
Percy looked confused, but eventually he complied.
"Dad," he said. "Help us. Get the Ophiotaurus and Grover safely to camp. Protect them at sea."
