Lord of the Eclipse

16 | The Dam of Doom

"The skeletons are still out there," she reminded them. "We need to keep moving."

She navigated through the desert, under clear blue skies, the sand so bright it hurt to look at. Zoë sat up front with Phoebe. Grover and Perseus sat in the pickup bed, leaning against the tow wench.

The tow truck ran out of gas at the edge of a river canyon. That was just as well, because the road dead-ended.

Annabeth got out and slammed the door. Immediately, one of the tires blew. "Great. What now?"

They scanned the horizon. There wasn't much to see. Desert in all directions, occasional clumps of barren mountains plopped here and there. The canyon was the only thing interesting. The river itself wasn't very big, maybe fifty yards across, green water with a few rapids, but it carved a huge scar out of the desert. The rock cliffs dropped away below us.

"There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river."

The lieutenant tried to see what he was talking about, and finally noticed a tiny ledge winding down the cliff face. "That's a goat path," she said.

"So?" he asked.

"The rest of us aren't goats."

"We can make it," Grover said. "I think."

"No," Perseus laughed. "I, uh, think we should go farther upstream."

Grover said, "But-"

"Come on," Perseus said. "A walk won't hurt us-well, not me, of course, but for the sake of you lot being mortal."

The group followed the river about half a mile before coming to an easier slope that led down to the water. On the shore was a canoe rental operation that was closed for the season, but they left a stack of golden drachmas on the counter and a note saying IOU two canoes.

"We need to go upstream," Zoë said. "The rapids are too swift."

"Leave that to me,"

"Show-off."

"You're welcome, Phoebe."

They put the canoes in the water.

Annabeth eyed the immortal warily as she turned and helped Grover get their canoe into the water.

As it turned out, Perseus didn't even need to control the currents. As soon as we got in the river, he looked over the edge of the boat and found a couple of naiads staring at me.

They looked like regular teenage girls, the kind you'd see in any mall, except for the fact that they were underwater.

They made a bubbling sound that may have been giggling.

We're heading upstream, he told them. Do you think you could-?

Before Perseus could even finish, the naiads each chose a canoe and began pushing us up the river. They started so fast Grover fell into his canoe with his hooves sticking up in the air.

"I hate naiads," Zoe grumbled.

A stream of water squirted up from the back of the boat and hit Zoë in the face.

"She-devils!" Zoë went for her bow.

"Whoa," chuckled the god. "They're just playing."

"Cursed water spirits. They've never forgiven me."

"Forgiven you for what?" She slung her bow back over her shoulder. "It was a long time ago. Never mind."

The group continued to speed up the river, the cliffs looming up on either side.