𝓟𝓻𝓪𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓪 - (𝓟.𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷)

09.

vol ii
➵ chapter nine ➵

The quest companions ride the boar until sunset, with no grasp of the many miles covered.
Mountains have long faded into the distance, replaced by miles of flat, dry land. The grass and scrub brush get sparser until the group is galloping across the desert.

As night falls, the boar comes to a stop at a creek bed and snorts. He starts drinking the muddy water, then rips a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chews it, needles and all.

"This is as far as he'll go," Grover says. "We need to get off while he's eating."
Nobody needs convincing. They slip off the boar's back while he's busy ripping up cacti.
After its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squeals and belches, then whirls around and gallops back towards the east.
"It likes the mountains better," Percy guesses.
"I can't blame it," Helia responds. "Look."

Ahead is a two-lane road, half covered with sand. On the other side, there's a cluster of buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop that looks like it hasn't been open since before Zoe Nightshade was born, and a white stucco post office with a sign that says GILA CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crooked above the door.

Beyond that is a range of hills—no not hills. Enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. It's a junkyard that seems to go on forever.
"Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia says. She looks at Grover. "I don't suppose you've got another wild boar up your sleeve?"

Grover's sniffing the wind, looking nervous. He fishes out his acorns and throws them into the sand, then plays his pipes.
They rearrange themselves in an illegible pattern, but Grover looks concerned.

"That's us," he says. "Those six nuts right there."
"Which one is me?" Percy asks.
"The little deformed one," Helia suggests.
"Oh, shut up, glow stick." The girl simply snickers.

"That cluster right there," Grover states, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."
"A monster?" Thalia asks.
Grover looks uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge..."
He points straight towards the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal look like something from an alien planet.

The group decides to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. None of them really wanted to go dumpster diving in the dark.

Zoe and Bianca thankfully produce six sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their enchanted backpacks. The night is chilly, Grover and Percy collect old boards from the ruined house, and Helia releases a beam of scorching light to start a campfire.
Pretty soon they're about as comfy as you can get in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.

"The stars are out," Zoe utters.
There are millions of them, with no city lights to turn the sky orange.
"Amazing," Bianca replies. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way."
"This is nothing," Zoe says. "In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution."

"You talk like you're not human," Percy states.
Zoe raises an eyebrow. "I am a Hunter. I care what happens to the wild places of the world. Can the same be said for thee?"
"For you," Thalia corrects. "Not thee"
"But you use you for the beginning of a sentence."
"And for the end," Thalia says. "No thou. No thee. Just you"
Zoe throws up her hands in exasperation. "I hate this language. It changes too often!"