𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗗 ⋆━━⋆ percy jackson

𝐱𝐢𝐢𝐢. the gods should find another junkyard

THEY HAD 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.

Cassie looked around. "Let's not touch anything, yeah?"

Everyone agreed.

"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!"

Cassie grabbed the crown. "Better leave that, it gives me a bad mojo."

Grover dropped it. "Bad mojo?"

Cassie nodded very serious.

"Look!" Bianca said. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She 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 Cassie's clip!"

Zoe'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."

Bianca reluctantly set the hair clip down.

"I don't like this place," Thalia said. She gripped the shaft of her spear.

"Me either." Cassie felt a sense of danger that was ticking her off.

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

"You never know Percy."

They started picking their way through the hills and valleys of junk.

The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major guiding them, they would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same.

Cassie would like to say they left the stuff alone, but there was too much cool junk not to check out some of it.

She a found a blank canvas that turned into any picture you imagined it, or a heart shaped purse that shot spikes.

Finally, they saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of them, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert. But between them and the road...

"What is that?" Bianca gasped.

Ahead of them was a hill much bigger and longer than the others.

It was like a metal mesa, the length of a football field and as tall as goalposts. At one end of the mesa was a row of ten thick metal columns, wedged tightly together.

Bianca frowned. "They look like-"

"Toes," Cassie finished.

Bianca nodded. "Really, really large toes." Zoe and Thalia exchanged nervous looks.

"Let's go around," Thalia said. "Far around."

"But the road is right over there," Percy protested.

"Quicker to climb over." Cassie said.