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
Bianca: Whoa... that stuff... some of it looks like real gold.
Thalia: It is. Just don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods.
Bianca: Look!
She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates, and picked up a bow that glowed silver in moonlight.
Bianca: A Hunter's bow!
She yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon.
Zoe: It's just like Percy and Andromeda's weapons. Leave it, Bianca.
Bianca: But-
Zoe: 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.
Thalia: I don't like this place.
Andromeda suddenly spun around, startled.
Percy: What?
Andromeda: Nothing, I just... thought I saw something move.
Percy: You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?
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, they would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same. Percy found an electric guitar shaped like Apollo's lyre that was so sweet he had to pick it up. Grover found a broken tree made out of metal. It had been chopped to pieces, but some of the branches still had golden birds in them, and they whirred around when Grover picked them up, trying to flap their wings. Finally, they saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of them, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert. They were almost there when...
Boy: Excuse me.
They all froze, turning to the voice. Sitting on a pile of junk about twenty feet behind them was a boy with long black hair and pale blue eyes, wearing a white long sleeve shirt with a black tshirt over it, a reddish orange bandana around his neck, and jeans.
Boy: One of you took something.
Percy: What?
Bianca looked away. Andromeda quickly reached for her jacket pocket, and pulled out a small golden statue.
Boy: If that had left the junkyard... something would've emerged to retrieve it. You would have all been killed.
Bianca: It was for Nico... it's the only one he didn't have.
Zoe: Who are you?
She had drawn her bow and knocked an arrow, aiming directly at him. The boy chuckled.
YN: Name's YN Vomi. I'm a son of Hephaestus. Any chance you'd be willing to take me on your quest? My sister and I arrived at Camp Half-Blood yesterday, but Chiron thought I'd be helpful to you guys.
Zoe looked outraged, but Andromeda stepped forward.
Andromeda: Of course. My name is Andromeda. That's my brother Percy. Those two are Bianca and Zoe, Hunters of Artemis. That's Thalia, and that's Grover.
She pointed to each person respectively. The boy walked over to them.
YN: It's a pleasure to meet you all. So... where are we headed?
YOU ARE READING
The Automatons (Percy Jackson)
AdventureYN and Lazuli Vomi. The twin children of Hephaestus, who were born ill. They'd have died if their father didn't take them in and make some... improvements.
