𝔅𝔲𝔯𝔡𝔢𝔫 - 𝔉𝔢𝔪𝔒ℭ𝔵𝔏𝔢𝔬 𝔙𝔞𝔩𝔡𝔢𝔷

10. 'Oh No! You Aren't Meant To Be Here!' Story of My Life

Finally, we arrived. I hopped out of the passenger side, and stretched. I did my routine of ridding my bones from those terrible air bubbles, cracking each and every one.

We walked up to a big building, and it took me a minute to figure out what it read: NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM. The Smithsonian! I'd been here a million years ago with my mom and brother, everything had looked so much bigger than.

Thalia checked the door. It was open, but there weren't many people going in. Too cold, and school was our of session. We slipped inside.

We walked around a little while after paying admissions. I had no idea why we were there, but the monster must've been there. The main part of the museum was one huge room with rockets and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. Three levels of balconies curled around, so you could look at the exhibits from all different heights. The place wasn't crowded, just a few families and a couple of tour groups of kids, probably doing those holiday school trips.

We were walking up a ramp to the top-floor balcony when someone ran into Thalia and slammed her into an Apollo space capsule.

Grover yelped in surprise.

I turned with a dagger formed, and at the attackers throat.

Zoë and Bianca had arrows notched and aimed at the attacker. I realized that the attacker wasn't really an attacker, more of just an annoying little brother.

I let my dagger turn into a charm, and I wrapped my arms around Percy. "Oh thank the gods!"

He held me back, squeezing me tightly.

"You! How dare you show thy face here?" Zoë gasped.

"I'm so happy you're here!"

Zoë glared at me, and I rolled my eyes. "Oh, gee, sorry um. You're not supposed to be here!"

Percy was out of breath. "Luke," he said, gasping for air. "He's here."

"Where?" Thalia asked.

He told us about the Natural History Museum, Dr. Thorn, Luke, and the General. Turns out there were skeletal police men after us, how cute.

"The General is here?" Zoë looked stunned. "That is impossible! You lie."

"Why would I lie? Look, there's no time. Skeleton warriors—"

"What?" Thalia demanded. "How many?"

"Twelve," Percy said, and he finally caught his breath. 'And that's not all. That guy, the General, he said he was sending something, a 'playmate,' to distract you over here. A monster."

Thalia and Grover exchanged looks.

"We were following Artemis's trail," Grover said. "I was pretty sure it led here. Some powerful monster scent. . .she must've stopped here looking for the mystery monster. But we haven't found anything yet."

"Zoë," Bianca said nervously, "if it is the General—"

"It cannot  be!" Zoë snapped. "Percy must have seen an Iris-message or some other illusion."

"Illusions don't crack marble floors," Percy told her.

Zoë took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. I didn't know what was wrong.

"If Percy is telling the truth about the skeleton warriors," she said. "We have no time to argue. They are the worst, the most horrible. . .we must leave now."

"Good idea," Percy said.

"I was not  including thee, boy," Zoë said. "You are not a part of this quest."