The Titan's Curse [Book Three]

Broken Promise (Again).

     Reagan really didn't want to talk about her latent gay feelings for Annabeth to the others. So as she explained everything to them, Reagan excluded the parts about her and Annabeth. Which made the explanation pretty short.

"What did she want with you?" Bianca asked.

In the dark, Reagan's face turned red, and she hoped that they couldn't see it. "Oh. She just wanted to warn us about her husband's junkyard. She told me that we can't pick anything up."

Zoe's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "The Goddess of Love would not come all the way out here to tell thee that," she said. "Be careful, Reagan Romero. Aphrodite has led many heroes astray."

"Zoe's right," Thalia agreed. "Be careful, Reagan."

"Uh, so how do we get out of here?" Reagan asked quickly to change the subject. Thalia was staring at her closely then, and Reagan feared that the blush was all too evident on her face.

"That way," the Hunter lieutenant nodded. "That is west."

"How can you tell?" Percy asked.

Zoe rolled her eyes irritably. "Ursa Major is always north," she answered, pointing to a constellation of stars. "So that must be west."

"Oh. That bear thing."

She looked offended. "Show some respect. It was a fine bear. A worthy opponent."

"You act like it was real."

Before Zoe could jump Percy, Grover intervened. "Guys, look!"

     They had started to climb a hill, and once they reached the crest, Reagan felt her jaw drop. Garbage was everywhere around them. Not just lame garbage you'd find in any junkyard. The junk ranged from fridges to plates, but they were jewel encrusted and fused with gold. There were also weapons and shields of all shapes and sizes.

"Woah," Reagan whispered in awe.

     She stumbled down the mound of junk, careful not to trip over tiny scraps as she went down. Her eyes had landed on a massive sword, twice as long as her body. The hilt was as long as her leg, like it was forged for a giant with huge hands. Rubies and emeralds were engraved into the hilt, and she ran her fingertips along the gems slowly. However, when the fifteen year old tried to pick up the sword entirely to swing it around, it was way too heavy for her to handle it.

"Everything looks like it's made of gold," Bianca whispered almost reverently.

"It is," Thalia observed grimly. "Like Reagan had said, be careful. This is the junkyard for the gods."

"How is this junk?" Grover asked, picking up a golden crown. It was broken, like it had been cleaved in two by an axe. He bit off the end and chewed. "It tastes delicious!"

Thalia immediately smacked the crown out of his hands. "I'm serious!"

     Feeling guilty, Reagan set down the glorious looking weapon and they continued walking again. The sooner they got out of this junkyard, the better. But it was hard not to pick up things that looked cool. There were guitars, one shaped like Apollo's lyre, and jewelry that looked ancient, yet priceless.

"Look!" Bianca ran forward, almost tripping over iron coils as she came upon a bow that seemed to glow in the moonlight. "It's a Hunters now!" She yelped as the bow shrunk down into the size of a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's just like Percy's sword!"

"Put it down," Zoe ordered. "It was dropped here for a reason. It is defective. Or cursed."

Bianca reluctantly dropped the crescent shaped hair clip.