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Astoria was beyond confused. She was already confused before Percy showed up and they somehow ended up at a junkyard. After their meeting with Ares she was mainly concerned about two stuff; Percy's safety and Ares' attitude towards her. While she knew that Ares was mean to everyone, he usually was indifferent towards her and her siblings as he didn't want to have bad blood with their mother. She couldn't help but wonder if she had annoyed or worse, disappointed Aphrodite. Although she would never admit it, Astoria truly cared about the goddess's approval.
Now, not only was she worrying about her relationship with the parent she respected but she was worrying about how they got to this place and how they were going to get out. Percy put a stop at her spiral by explaining with little details, what had occurred inside the car. He told them Astoria's mother was inside the car and she had warned him about this place.
"What did she want with you?" Bianca asked, once he finished his story.
"Oh, uh, not sure," Percy replied, lying Astoria assumed. She normally wouldn't have questioned his words but Astoria could tell when he was holding back information, especially now that he kept staring at her. "She said to be careful in her husband's junkyard. She said not to pick anything up."
Zoe narrowed her eyes. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip to tell thee that. Be careful, Percy. Aphrodite has led many heroes astray."
"For once I agree with Zoe," Thalia said. "You can't trust Aphrodite."
Grover was looking at Percy funny. Being empathic and all, Astoria assumed he was reading his emotions, however Percy didn't notice anything since he hadn't taken his eyes off of her. "Percy control your feelings please, this is a sacred space."
"So," Percy said, anxious to change the subject, "how do we get out of here?"
"That way," Zoe said. "That is west."
"How can you tell?"
"Ursa Major is in the north," she said rolling her eyes at him, "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. "The bear thing."
Zoe looked offended. "Show some respect. It was a fine bear. A worthy opponent."
"You act like it was real."
"Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!"
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. "Like Percy said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."
