CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
—stupid talos

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  —JUDITH had no idea what had happened inside that limo, nor did she really care. Percy was keeping his distance from her and frankly, it was such a blessing. Though, the eye contact they would accidentally initiate felt different, like charged or tense. Again, Judith had no issue with this, she just made a point of not looking his way at all.

  But when she saw him become some blushing and blubbery mess as she handed him a water bottle from the vending machine in front of the 'camp director' building, she couldn't take it anymore. Deftly pulling him to the side with a harsh grip on his forearm, she created space between them and the rest of the group.

  "What's your problem?" She hissed.

  "Problem?" He practically squeaked, his arm yanking out of her grip like she'd burned him and she lightly raised an accusatory eyebrow. Oh, how the tables turn. "I don't have any problems. Certainly not with you or anything like that."

  The girl crossed her arms and leaned her back on the small building, knowing he was lying straight through his teeth. "Who was in that limo?"

  Back at the taqueria, Percy had withheld the identity of the person in the car, saying it was completely irrelevant to the quest. Zoë was extremely suspicious, but hadn't probed him for answers considering he seemed to be going through some inner turmoil over the meeting. But now, Judith was starting to think the meeting in the limo was more than he made it out to be.

  "If there's something you're not telling us, Jackson ..." she trailed threateningly.

  "I swear," he held his hands up to placate her, "nothing that was said in that limo should be repeated ... ever. It doesn't even pertain to the quest." He wasn't lying this time and Judith wasn't sure what to make of that.

  But just in case, "If you're lying—"

  "I'm not." He held up his right hand, three fingers up in a pledge. "Scout's honor."

  For some reason, the thought of Percy in a boy scout's uniform — sash, badges, and neckerchief — made her crack the smallest of grins as she turned to walk away. She didn't think the boy could get any more dorky, but she was wrong. She heard him take a heaving breath of air behind her, like he'd been holding it in for the duration of their talk. He was certainly hiding something, that much was obvious, but she didn't have enough concern to beat it out of him. She just hoped he would stop acting weird.

  The group collectively decided not to dawdle the rest of the night and packed up their things. They'd have to find another café at their earliest convenience if they were to go another day without sleeping.

  "So," Percy said after they'd all strapped their bags onto their backs, "how do we get out of here?"

  "That way," Zoë stated, her eyes directed to the junkyard. "That is west."

  "How can you tell?"

  "Ursa Major is in the north," she explained, her hands pointing out the stars in the sky with ease, "which means that must be west."

  "Oh, yeah," Percy said. "The bear thing."

  Judith rolled her eyes, wondering how he knew a small fact about a nymph being turned into a bear by a jealous Hera, but not Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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

  "You act like it was real."

  Judith leaned around Thalia to give him a withering look. "Do you not get it yet, doofus? All myths are real. Sometimes they get a little jumbled over the eons but in some way, they all happened. You're really going to question the reality of things when you're literally a descendant of a god?"

  "Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!"

  They'd reached the top of the junk mountain, the moon reflecting off the different metals beneath their eyes. There were scrapped weapons, broken chariots, parts of statues, and other everyday objects. The Hephaestus cabin had a pile just like it in their basement, but it was constantly getting recycled and used up. They were firm believer in 'One man's trash is another man's treasure.'

  "Whoa," Bianca said. "That stuff ... some of it looks like real gold."

  "It is," Thalia said grimly. "Don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."

  "Junk?" Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver, and jewels. It was broken on one side, as if it had been split by an axe. "You call this junk?"

  "What did Thalia just say?" Judith asked him, whacking the crown out of his hands before he could bite into it or try it on. He didn't protest, instead looking dejectedly at the fallen accessory.

  "Look!" Bianca said. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver in the moonlight. "A Hunter's bow!" She yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's just like Percy's sword!"

  Zoë's face was grim. "Leave it, Bianca."

  "But —"

  "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.

  Judith admired all the different weapons from afar, knowing she could wield them all. A particular mace caught her attention for a moment before she moved on to a flail. Beckendorf would love this place.

  "I don't like this place," Thalia said. She gripped the shaft of her spear.

  "You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?" Percy asked, his attention focused on the solid celestial bronze fridge.

  She gave him a hard look. "Zoë is right, Percy. Things get thrown away here for a reason. Now come on, let's get across the yard."

  "That's the second time you've agreed with Zoë," Percy muttered, but Thalia ignored him.

  Judith approached him. "When even Thalia agrees with Zoë, that's how you know you should listen to them, Barnacle Breath."

  Percy looked away and grumbled. "I hate when you call me that."

  The girl's face turned into a satisfied smirk. "Good." She walked away after that to venture deeper into the scraps. She picked up a double bladed ax to weigh it in her hands before dropping it back to the ground with a clang. She made a mental note to ask Beckendorf for a replica when she got back.

  Eventually, the edge of the junkyard came into view about a half mile away, but there was still a ways to go and there was something large and obstructive between them and the highway.

  "What is that?" Bianca gasped.

  There was a collection of metal columns and chambers that all interconnected in awkward yet purposeful angles.

  Bianca frowned. "They look like —"

  "Toes," Grover finished.

  She nodded. "Really, really large toes."

  Zoë and Thalia exchanged nervous looks and Judith's hand itched to grab her sword.

  "Let's go around," Thalia said. "Far around."

  "I don't see why we didn't just go all the way around in the first place," Judith grumbled.

  "We do not have time like that," Zoë contradicted, coming to stand beside her. "The junkyard spans for many leagues."

  "You mean miles?" Judith returned, joking, but at the same time wishing that the Hunter would get with the times.

  "It does not matter what unit of measurement. It is a large distance." The bite that was normally in her voice wasn't present and Judith had to wonder if her sudden disposition was from the bow Bianca had come across.

  "But the road is right over there," Percy protested, bringing them back to the suggestion of going around the obstacle in their way. "Quicker to climb over."

  There was a hollowed out pang that echoed to their ears and Judith unsheathed her sword, Thalia hefted her spear and Zoë drew her bow. Everyone looked over at Grover who had a sheepish smile. He had tossed a piece of metal at one of the toes.

  "Why did you do that?" Zoë demanded.

  Grover cringed. "I don't know. I, uh, don't like fake feet?"

  "Come on." Thalia looked at everyone. "Around." No one argued as the toes were freaking everyone out. After several minutes of walking, they finally stepped out onto the highway, an abandoned but well-lit stretch of black asphalt.

  The land without rain had been crossed and they all escaped unscathed, except for Percy who still seemed jittery around Judith.

  "We made it out," Zoë said. "Thank the gods."

  Behind them, a booming racket told them that they weren't in the clear yet. "You just had to jinx it, huh?" Judith grumbled.

  Zoë said nothing as they all whirled around, watching as the scrap mountain rose up. What they believed had been toes, actually were, as a bronze giant in Greek armor rose to its full and frightening height. Judith could barely even see its helmet as it grew so high.

  "Talos!" Zoë gasped.

  "Who — who's Talos?" Percy stuttered.

  "One of Hephaestus's creations," Thalia said. "But that can't be the original. It's too small."

  "That's small?!" Percy asked incredulously.

  She shrugged and offered another mythology fact. "He was supposed to be able to run around Crete three times a day, killing people who tried to invade. But this one looks like a prototype. And since it's here, he's probably defective."

  The metal giant didn't like the word defective.

  He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon. The sound of it coming out of its sheath was horrible, metal screeching against metal. The blade was a hundred feet long, easy and looked rusted and dull. Judith cringed; getting hit with it would be a total pain.

  "Someone took something," Zoë spat. "Who took something?" She stared accusingly at Percy.

  Percy shook his head. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief."

  Bianca didn't say or do anything as they all shook their heads and Judith narrowed her eyes at her.

  The giant took one step further and was immediately a hundred meters from them.

  "Run!" Grover yelped.

  "No! Just split up!" Judith yelled, knowing none of them could out run the thing, not when its specialized job was to run.

  Judith took initiative and tried to remember all that she could about this giant but nothing was coming to mind. Nothing tragic or exciting happened with this guy so she probably skipped over this lesson. Judith quickly learned on the spot that he was big but slow and so she would just slash at him and run between his feet. She was doing pretty good up until she noticed Bianca standing underneath one of his feet.

  "Are you crazy?!" Judith yelled at her.

  "Just get him to lift his foot!" She shouted back and Judith just shook her head, continuing to slash at its feet. She really was insane.

  Judith's sword would sizzle against the bronze plating and melt the surface, but the metal was so thick that it created little damage.

  "Hey, Junk Boy!" Percy yelled and Judith snickered despite the situation. "Down here." He ran up to its big toe and stabbed it with Riptide. The magic blade cut a gash in the bronze.

  The daughter of Ares watched as Percy succeeded in getting Talos to lift its foot, but it was coming straight back down to stomp on the boy. Judith growled at his dumb plan and raced over to tackle Percy out of the way of the oncoming foot.

  The boy groaned beneath her and rubbed at his head from where it hit a stray table. "You're welcome, doofus," she said as she got to her feet. Percy held out his hand for her to help him up, but she just glanced at it and looked away, already on the hunt to continue the fight. She heard Percy grumble and get up on his own.

  The two looked around to see where Bianca had gone, but they both realized her plan had worked and she was now inside the giant.

  Talos cocked his head to one side, like he was hearing something far off. He started moving his arms and legs in weird ways, doing a weird interpretive dance. Then he made a fist and punched himself in the face.

  "Go, Bianca!" Percy yelled.

  Judith couldn't find it in her to see the situation as anything but mortifying. They knew, they knew someone would be lost to the desert. They had even been crazy to think they had avoided it by reaching the highway. Bianca's sudden bravery was nothing short of a death wish.

  Zoë looked on horrified, having reached the same conclusion. "She is inside?"

  The monster staggered around, and everyone realized they weren't in the clear yet. Thalia and Percy grabbed an unconscious Grover and ran with him toward the highway while Judith took up the rear. Zoë was already ahead and leading the group. She yelled, "How will Bianca get out?"

  The giant hit itself in the head again and dropped his sword. A shudder ran through his whole body and he staggered toward the power lines.

  "Look out!" Percy yelled, but it was too late.

  The giant's ankle snared the lines, and blue flickers of electricity shot up his body and shocked the air around them. Judith's whole body fought off a cringe; celestial bronze was a great conductor of electricity and there was no telling how insulated the inside would be. The giant careened back into the junkyard, and his right hand fell off, landing in the scrap metal with a horrible bang. His left arm soon came loose and the rest of his limbs started to follow suit.

  Talos began to run, the one thing he was programmed to really do.

  "Wait!" Zoë yelled after it, more for Bianca's sake than the giant's. They all ran after the robot and jumped out of the way of falling parts.

  The giant crumbled from the top down: his head, his chest, and finally, his legs collapsed. The group reached the wreckage and immediately started their search for Bianca. Judith did her best to ignore the foreboding wrench in her gut.

  "Bianca!" Zoë yelled, and the daughter of Ares could hear all the fear and pain. It fueled her to continue her search.

  Judith hadn't been there for Bryce, hadn't done enough to get to him or to look for his body. History had been doomed to repeat itself because she hadn't taken the necessary precautions. Out of everyone there, she should have known what the prophecy meant and done something about it. It was her fault, again.

  Only when Zoë sat down to weep did she stop her search. Seeing the Hunter break down was enough to tell her that they'd all failed, all in their own ways. Zoë as Bianca's leader, Grover and Thalia as her friends, Percy and his promise to Nico, and Judith to herself.

  The sun was just hitting their faces over the horizon when Thalia yelled in rage and impaled her sword in the giant's smashed face. Judith itched to do the same, but she knew that if she started her tirade, she wouldn't be able to stop.

  Instead, she ventured off to the beginning of the junkyard and scavenged the ground for what she needed. Eventually, a small glint against the sun pierced her eyes and she walked over to pick up the hair clip Bianca had picked up in fascination. Walking back over to the group, she placed the small silver hairpiece on top of the giant's chest. It sat delicately against the celestial bronze, a reminder that a Hunter had been there and sacrificed herself for her friends — making her a hero. Judith's head ached and she could tell it wasn't just from lack of sleep.

  Zoë finally stood up and found her way to the girl's side slowly. She stared longingly at the enchanted little crescent moon, eyes blinking back iridescent tears. The Hunter closed her eyes and swallowed once.

  "Thank you, Judith Sloane."

NOTES;

I CHANGED A LOT ABOUT THIS CHAPTER. BIANCA WAS GONE TOO EARLY. BRYCE WILL BE A PARALLEL FOR JUDITH FOR A LONG TIME. SHE FEELS RESPONSIBLE FOR NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH TO FIND HIM AND NOW THE PROPHECY REPEATED ITSELF AND SHE'S GOING THROUGH THE SAME SITUATION.

edited : 07 / 18 / 2020