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ALINA GASPED AND PANTED for breath, sure she was a fighter, but cardio? Not her strongsuit.
"We will never make it," Zoe said. "We are moving too slow. But we cannot leave the Ophiotaurus."
Alina actually thought they were running quick.
"Mooo," Bessie said.
The sun was already dipping in the west.
"I don't get it," Percy said. "Why do we have to get there at sunset?"
"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoe said. "We can only enter their garden as day changes to night."
"What happens if we miss it?"
"Tomorrow is winter solstice. If we miss sunset tonight, we would have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight."
"We need a car," Thalia said.
"But what about Bessie?" Percy asked.
Grover stopped in his tracks. "I've got an idea! The Ophiotaurus can appear in different bodies of water, right?"
"Well, yeah," Percy said. "I mean, he was in Long Island Sound. Then he just popped into the water at Hoover Dam. And now he's here."
"So maybe we could coax him back to Long Island Sound," Grover said. "Then Chiron could help us get him to Olympus."
"But he was following me. If I'm not there, would he know where he's going?"
"Moo," Bessie said forlornly.
"I... I can show him," Grover said. "I'll go with him. I'm the only one who can talk to him," Grover said. "It makes sense."
He bent down and said something in Bessie's ear. Bessie shivered, then made a contented, lowing sound.
"The blessing of the Wild," Grover said. "That should help with safe passage. Percy, pray to your dad, too. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."
"Dad," Percy said. "Help us. Get the Ophiotaurus and Grover safely to camp. Protect them at sea."
"A prayer like that needs a sacrifice," Alina said. "Something big."
Then Percy took off his coat.
"Percy," Grover said. "Are you sure? That lion skin... that's really helpful. Hercules used it!"
"If I'm going to survive," Percy said, "it won't be because I've got a lion-skin cloak. I'm not Hercules."
He threw the coat into the bay. It turned back into a golden lion skin, flashing in the light. Then, as it began to sink beneath the waves, it seemed to dissolve into sunlight on the water.
