cupiditas |PERCY JACKSON| [book 3]

XXIX

THEY RAN OUT TO THE YELLOW VW convertible parked in the driveway. The sun was going down. Selena figured they had less than an hour to save Annabeth.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Thalia demanded. 

Zoe glared at her. "I cannot control traffic."

"You both sound like my mother," Percy mumbled,

 "Shut up!"Tthey said in unison.

Zoe weaved in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking on the horizon when we finally got into Marin County and exited the highway.

The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and around the edges of steep ravines. Zoe didn't slow down at all.

"Why does everything smell like cough drops?" Percy asked.

"Eucalyptus." Zoe pointed to the huge trees all around them.

"The stuff koala bears eat?"

"And monsters," she said. "They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons."

"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?"

"Believe me," Zoe replied, "if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus too."

Selena didn't question her, but she did keep her eyes peeled more closely as they drove. Ahead of them loomed Mount Tamalpais. She guessed, in terms of mountains, it was a small one, but it looked plenty huge as they were driving toward it.

"So that's the Mountain of Despair?" Selena asked.

"Yes," Zoe said tightly.

"Why do they call it that?" Percy questioned,

She was silent for almost a mile before answering. "After the war between the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides."

"The General," Percy said. Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. "What's going on up there? A storm?"

Zoe didn't answer. Selena got the feeing she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn't like it.

"We have to concentrate," Thalia said. "The Mist is really strong here."

"The magical kind or the natural kind?" Percy asked.

Selena stared out of the window. She could feel the power of the Mist, "Both."

The gray clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain, and they kept driving straight toward them. The four of them were out of the forest now, into wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog.

"Look!" Selena turned to see what Percy was looking at but it was all hills,

"What?" Thalia asked.

"A big white ship," He answered, "Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship."

Her eyes widened. "Luke's ship?"

"Can't be a regular cruise ship." Selena stated, "That would be too much of a coincidence."

"We will have company, then," Zoe said grimly. "Kronos's army."

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of Selena's neck stood up. Thalia shouted, "Stop the car. NOW!"

Zoe must've sensed something was wrong, because she slammed on the brakes without question. The yellow VW spun twice before coming to a stop at the edge of the cliff.

"Out!" Thalia opened the door and jumped. Just as Selena opened her door, Percy pushed her hard. They both rolled onto the pavement. The next second: BOOOM!

Lightning flashed, and Dr. Chase's Volkswagen erupted like a canary-yellow grenade. They probably would've been killed by shrapnel except for Thalia's shield, which appeared over them. She heard a sound like metal ram, and when Selena opened her eyes, they were surrounded by wreckage. Part of the VW's fender had impaled itself in the street. The smoking hood was spinning in circles. Pieces of yellow metal were strewn across the road.

"What the actual crap." Selena huffed,

Percy looked up at Thalia,  "You saved our lives."

"One shall perish by a parent's hand" she muttered. "Curse him. He would destroy me? Me?"

Percy shook his head,  "Oh, hey, that couldn't have been Zeus's lightning bolt. No way."

"Whose, then?" Thalia demanded.

"I don't know. Zoe said Kronos's name. Maybe he—"

Thalia shook her head, looking angry and stunned. "No. That wasn't it."

"Wait," Selena paused and sat up, "Where's Zoe? Zoe!"

The three of them got up and ran around the blasted VW. Nothing inside. Nothing either direction down the road. Selena looked down the cliff. No sign of her.

"Zoe!" Percy shouted.

Then she was standing right next to him, pulling him by his arm. "Silence, fool! Do you want to wake Ladon?"

"You mean we're here?"

"Very close," she answered, "Follow me."

Sheets of fog were drifting right across the road. Zoe stepped into one of them, and when the fog passed, she was no longer there. Thalia, Selena, and Percy looked at each other.

"Concentrate on Zoe," Selena stated, "We are following her. Go straight into the fog and keep that in mind."

"Wait, Thalia." Percy turned towards the daughter of Zeus, "About what happened back on the pier... I mean, with the manticore and the sacrifice—"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You wouldn't actually have... you know?"

Selena turned towards them, "Can we discuss this later?"

She hesitated. "I was just shocked. That's all."

"Zeus didn't send that lighting bolt at the car. It was Kronos. He's trying to manipulate you, make you angry at your dad."

She took a deep breath. "Percy, I know you're trying to make me feel better. Thanks. But come on. We need to go."

Selena went into the Mist first and the others followed.