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chapter nine.
( titan's curse )
❝ promises break! ❞

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We road the boar until sunset. After having to deal with riding on blackjack, and now a boar, that was all my poor backside could take. I don't think I could walk after this, but I managed to. We left the boar quietly as it ate, careful not to disturb it and sneak away. When it finished, it squealed at what was before us, before running off back to the mountains.

"It likes the mountains better," said Percy.

"And I can't blame it," said Thalia. "Look."

Ahead was the town that won the award for being the saddest ever. The two-lane road was half blown over with sand. On the other side the road was a cluster of buildings too small to even be a town: a boarded up house, a taco shop—for some reason—that looked like it hasn't been open in years and a while stucco post office with a sign that said Gila Claw, Arizona hanging crooked above the door. Beyond that was a range of hills that weren't even hills. The countryside was littered with mounds of old cars, appliances and other scraps of metal and trash. The junkyard seemed to go one forever.

"Whoa..." Percy muttered.

"Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia said. She looked at Grover. "I don't suppose you got another wild boar up your sleeve?"

Grover was sniffing the wind, looking rather nervous. He fished out his acorns and played them out onto the sand, then played his pipes. They rearranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense to me, but whatever it was, Grover looked deeply concerned.

"That's us," he said. "Those six nuts right there."

"Which one is me?" Percy asked.

Zoë and I seemed to have the same idea, for we both said at the same time, "The little deformed one."

"Oh, shut up."

"That cluster right there," Grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."

"A monster?" Thalia asked.

Grover was uneasy, "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge..."

He pointed straight across the junkyard. I shared a nervous glance with Bianca.

° ° °

We decided to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. It was a reasonable choice, for night came quickly, and none of us wanted to go dump-diving in the dark.

Zoë and Bianca produced six sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. I want one of those, right now.

The night got chilly fast. While Grover and Percy left to get wooden boards from the ruined house, I took Percy's Nemean Lion coat again to huddle inside it and stay warm. Bianca took the chance to come over and sit next to me. I sent her a tiny smile.

"Are you still thinking about joining?" she then asked. "The Hunters, I mean?"

I blinked. To be honest, I had thought of it for a little while. The fact that Zoë had offered me had just brushed past me recently. Maybe it was because we've been fighting Nemean Lions and Skeleton Warriors, that I haven't been able to focus on what my decision was yet. "Um ... I don't know, still, I'm sorry."

Bianca shrugged, "That's okay. Zoë's a lot more full on about this stuff than I am."

I nodded a yeah!

She giggled. I let out a chuckle and together we watched Zoë send us a suspicious, narrow glance as if she knew we were talking about her. But she seemed to know that it was all good natured.

Soon, Bianca's gaze drifted off towards the boarded house, where Percy and Grover were fetching wood. "Um ... I don't want to pry, but ... is the reason why you're so hesitant about joining the Hunters because of Percy? Like, are you guys together, or something?"

"Oh, gods no," I shook my head. "Never in a million years." Bianca laughed at my reaction. "The world would end if that happened. Or I would throw myself off a bridge."

"I don't believe you," she giggled, and I rolled my eyes. "You must like him, at least. The way you guys act—"

"I don't like him! That's gross!"

"Then why are you blushing?"

"I'm not."

"You are," Bianca couldn't stop giggling. I could feel how hot my cheeks were—which was weird. Maybe it was the coat, but either way, I brought the collar up past my cheeks so she couldn't see them if they were blushing. "I understand why you won't join now."

"No, it has nothing to do with Percy!" I whisper-shouted at her, but there was no changing Bianca's mind. She only just arched a brow. "I'm serious! A boy won't make me decide things, let alone Percy."

Bianca frowned, "Why won't you admit you like him?"

"I don't."

"But you do."

I fell silent, pursing my lips. Maybe I did like Percy, but I didn't want that to change anything in our friendship. Our friendship as it was barely holds on by threads. We always fought, always ended up ignoring and hating each other—all the time. How was that healthy if ... like ... I don't know! It feels weird thinking that. I'm only thirteen, the idea of relationships and stuff ... it sounded scary and something I wasn't planning on thinking about till I was older. Like, way older.

"Doesn't matter," I told her. "What matters is that you killed that skeleton. Do you know how you did that?"

Bianca shook her head, "No ... I don't. I just stabbed it and it burst into flames. A-and I didn't get any of your hand sanitiser thing either."

"Yeah, I know," I said. "Literally all of its back in Washington, soaked in the car seat. All I have is what's on my dagger."

Percy and Grover came back with a pile of wood. Thalia zapped them with an electric shock to start a campfire. Pretty soon we were as comfy as you could get in a ... well ... a ghost town.

"The stars are out," Zoë said.

I glanced up, and she was right. Stars was a new sight to see from living in New York for practically my whole life. At night, the sky was mostly cloudy and orange from the city lights.

"Amazing," Bianca said. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way."

"That is nothing," Zoë said ."In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution."

"You talk like you're not human," said Percy from the other side of me.

Zoë raised a brow, "I am a Hunter. I care what happens to the wild places of the world. Can the same the said for thee?"

"For you," Thalia corrected. "Not thee."

"But you use you for the beginning of a sentence."

"And for the end," Thalia said. "No thou. No thee. Just you."

Zoë threw her hands up in exasperation. "I hate this language! It changes too often!"

Grover sighed. He looked up at the stars like he was thinking about the light pollution problem. "If only Pan were here, he would set things right."

Zoë nodded sadly.

"Maybe it was the coffee," he said. "I was drinking coffee, and the wind came. Maybe if I drank more coffee..."

Percy pursed his lips, and I have a feeling we were thinking the same thing. "Grover, do you really think that was Pan? I mean, I know you want it to be."

"He sent us help," Grover insisted. "I don't know how or why. But it was his presence. After this quest is done, I'm going back to New Mexico and drinking a lot of coffee. It's the best lead we've got in two thousand years. I was so close."

I know Grover wanted to prove the councillors wrong, and live up to his dream, and his fathers before him and come out of this alive, and successful. But after two thousand years, was there really any hope?

"Never mind," Zoë sighed. "You will find the answer, Grover. But, in the meantime, we should plan our next move. When we get through this junkyard, we must continue west. I few can find a road, we can hitchhike to the nearest city. I think that would be Las Vegas."

Percy looked as if he was going to protest, but Bianca got there before him. "No!" she said. "Not there!"

She looked really freaked out, and I was worried what had happened.

Zoë frowned, "Why?"

She took a shaky breath. "I ... I think we stayed there for a while. Nico and I. When we were travelling. And then, I can't remember..."

It hit me. I shared a nervous glance with Percy. He was thinking the same thing. I didn't want it to be the truth ... but, Bianca had said that the last time she had been in D.C, there hadn't been a underground subway. That subway opened in the 70s.

"Bianca," Percy began gently. "That hotel you stayed at. Was it possibly called the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"

Her eyes widened, "How could you know that?"

I closed my eyes, "Great..."

"Wait," Thalia said. "What is the Lotus Casino?"

"A couple of years ago," Percy said, "Grover, Claire, Annabeth and I got trapped there. It's designed so you never want to leave. We stayed for about an hour. When we came out, give days had passed. It makes time speed up."

"No," Bianca shook her head. "No, that's not possible."

"You said somebody came and got you out," Percy said.

"Yes."

"What did he look like? What did he say?"

"I ... I don't remember. Please, I really don't want to talk about this."

Zoë leaned forward, her brows knitting together. "You said that Washington, D.C had changed when you went back last summer. You didn't remember the subway being there."

"Yes, but--"

"Bianca, can you tell me the name of the president of the United States right now?"

"Don't be silly," Bianca said. "George W. Bush."

"And who was the president before that?"

She thought for a while. "Roosevelt."

I pursed my lips. Zoë swallowed hard, "Theodore or Franklin?"

"Franklin," Bianca said. "F.D.R."

"Like F.D.R Drive?" Percy asked. I arched a brow at him.

"Bianca," Zoë ignored him. "F.D.R was not the last president. That was about seventy years ago."

"That's impossible," Bianca whispered. "I ... I'm not that old," she stared at her hands as if to make sure they weren't wrinkled.

Thalia had a sad gleam in her eye. She knew what it was like to miss a whole chunk of time. "It's okay, Bianca. The important thing is you and Nico are safe. You made it out."

"But how?" Percy didn't know when to leave a conversation alone. "We were only in there for an hour and we barely escaped. How could you have escaped after being there for so long."

"I told you," Bianca looked ready to cry. "A man came and said it was time to leave. And—"

"But who? Why did he do it?"

Before she could answer, a blazing light blinded us. The headlights of a car appeared out of nowhere. We grabbed out sleeping bags and got out of the way as a deathly white limousine slid to a stop in front of us.

The back door of the limo opened up right next to Percy. Before he could step away, the point of a sword touched his throat.

Immediately I stepped forward, unsheathing my dagger. Behind me, Zoë and Bianca drew their arrows. As the owner of the sword got out of the car, Percy moved back very slowly, wary of the sword tip that was digging under his chin.

Ares smiled cruelly. "Not so fast now, are you, punk?"

"Ares," Percy growled.

The god of war glanced at me, and where I had my dagger pointed at him as well. "Guess who's back. New hair, punk? What happened to the sun-golden blonde? Not so warm anymore?"

A burst of anger made me step forward, but Ares just placed his other hand against my shoulder and pushed me back as if I was a fly. "At ease, punk." He snapped his fingers, and mine and everyone else's weapons fell to the ground. "This is a friendly meeting," he said, as he dug the point a little further under Percy's chin. "Of course I'd like to take your head for a trophy, but someone wants to see you. And I never behead my enemies in front of a lady."

"What lady?" Thalia asked.

Ares looked over at her. "Well, well. I heard you were back. Little reunion, is it?"

He lowered his sword and pushed Percy away. I grabbed his arm, taking a protective stance in front of him, glaring Ares down. He just rolled his eyes and focused his attention on Thalia. "Thalia, daughter of Zeus," he mused "You're not hanging out with very good company."

"What's your business, Ares?" she said. "Who's in the car?"

He smiled, enjoying the attention. "Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you. Particularly not them," he jutted his chin towards Zoë and Bianca. "Why don't you all go get some tacos while you wait? Only take Percy a few minutes."

"We will not leave him alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoë said.

"Besides," Grover managed, "the taco place is closed."

Ares snapped his fingers again. The lights inside of the shop suddenly burst into light. The boards flew off the door and the closed sign flipped to open. "You were saying, goat boy?"

I gripped Percy's arm tighter. I didn't want to leave him with Ares, not after the curse he had sent him last time they crossed paths.

"Go on," Percy told us. "I'll handle this."

I was hesitant, but I let him go. I sent Ares a glare as I followed the others over to the taco restaurant. But Percy defeated the god before, he can do it again.

° ° °

Okay. One second I was grumpily sitting in a booth with the others in the taco restaurant, and the next second the whole thing went poof! and I was standing in the middle of the junkyard, mountains of scrap metal stretched out in every direction. Percy was on the ground.

He stood up, and I crossed my arms. "What did you do this time?"

Percy explained his chat with Aphrodite. I could tell he was leaving some things out ... and every single time he did he glanced at me before turning to the others, bright red. I frowned.

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

Percy had not told us about that. Once again, his eyes flickered over to me, before going red and he gulped harshly, "Oh, uh, not sure," I knew he was lying. I know him too well. "She said to be careful in her husband's junkyard. She said not to pick anything up."

Zoë narrowed her eyes. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip to tell thee that. be careful, Percy. Aphrodite has led many heroes astray."

"For once, I agree with Zoë," Thalia said. "You can't trust Aphrodite."

Percy was bright red. He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. For some reason, he would not meet my eye. "So," he said, "how do we get out of here?"

"That way," Zoë said. "That is west."

"How can you tell?"

Zoë rolled her eyes. "Ursa Major is in the north," she told him, "which means that must be west."

She pointed west, and then up at the Northern constellation. Percy nodded in realisation, "Oh, yeah. The bear thing."

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

"You act like it was real."

I gave Percy a look, "Percy. You've known about all of this for two years and you still can't get it into your head that everything you've heard is most likely real?"

Percy frowned. "But that's not greek mythology!"

"Percy, a lot of stuff stemmed from Greek Stories. Westernised, remember?"

"That—it still isn't real. How could that bear thing be real—?"

Before I would smack him in the head, Grover broke in, "Guys, look!"

We'd reach the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted like stars; broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, cars, fridges, washing machines, computer monitors...

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

"It is," said Thalia grimly. "Like Percy said, 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 something. An axe. "You call this junk?" He bit off a bit and began to chew. "It's delicious!"

I smacked it out of his hand, "Grover! Don't eat the junk!"

"Look!" Bianca raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver. "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. I wonder whether she knew the hunter that that bow had belonged to. "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 clip down.

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

I didn't either. I don't know whether it came from dying and coming back not fully alive, or like being in Hades domain or whatever ... this is all very confusing ... but that same chill I felt in the underworld, I felt here. The same chill I feel whenever Hades was around ... whenever there was death.

"You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?" Percy asked Thalia.

The daughter of Zeus gave him a glare. "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," said Percy, but she ignored him.

We began to pick our way across the junkyard. It was hard not to get lost amongst the metal and gold glittering temptation of cursed objects. There was an underlining sadness about this place. Everything here was dead, abandoned, and forgotten. It reminded me of the River Styx in the Underworld; lost hopes and dreams, cursed history and memory.

Finally, we saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of us. I could see the lights of a highway. But between us and the road—

"What is that?" Bianca gasped.

Ahead was a hill much bigger than any of the others; the length of a football field, as tall as the goalposts. At one end was a row of ten thick metal columns, wedged tightly together.

Bianca frowned, "They look like—"

"Toes," Grover said.

She nodded. "Really, really large toes."

Zoë and Thalia shared a nervous look. "Let's go around," the daughter of Zeus said. "Far around."

"But the road is right over there," Percy protested. "Quicker to climb over."

Recognising the look on Thalia's face, I turned to him. "Percy—"

Ping.

Thalia hefted her spear and Zoë notched an arrow, but it was only Grover. He had thrown a piece of metal at the toes and hit one, making a deep echo, as if the column was hollow.

"Why did you do that?" Zoë demanded.

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

I sighed, shaking my head. I can't wait until we save Annabeth and I can have her around to look after these stupid boys. "Come on," I said. I gave Percy a look. "We're going around."

He didn't argue.

After several more minutes of walking, we finally stepped onto the highway.

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

She spoke to soon. At that moment, there was a crash! like a thousand trash compactors crushing metal.

We whirled around, and behind us, the scrap mountain was moving. It rose, forming into a bronze giant in full Greek armour. He was tall—as tall as a skyscraper—with humongous arms and legs, gleaming wickedly in the moonlight and when he looked down at us, I saw that his face was deformed. The left side had been completely melted off. His joins creaked with rust, and across his armoured chest, written in thick dust by some giant finger, were the words WASH ME.

"I think he wants us to wash him," I muttered to Percy.

"Talos!" Zoë gasped.

Percy frowned, "Who ... who's Talos?"

"One of Hephaestus's creations," I told him. "But that's not the original, is it? It can't be. It's too small."

"A prototype," Thalia said. "Maybe. A defective model."

I think that maybe the word defective was a bit sensitive for Talos. He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon—the sound like a thousand metal nails dragging against a metal chalkboard. The blade was thirty metres long, perhaps even more. Getting hit by that would be like being hit full speed by.a battleship.

"Someone took something," Zoë said wildly. "Who took something?"

She stared accusingly at Percy and he shook his head. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief."

Bianca didn't say anything. Her hand went inside of jacket pocket, and I narrowed my eyes at her. She looked guilty, but there was no time to ask her, for the giant defective Talos took a step towards us, closing half the distance and making the ground shake.

"Run!" Grover yelped.

I mean, it would be great advice if it wasn't the worst advice ever. This thing could outdistance us at a leisurely stroll. But we split up anyway, like we did with the Nemean Lion. Thalia drew her shield and held it up as she ran down the highway. The giant swung his sword and took out a row of power lines, which exploded in sparks and scattered across Thalia's path.

Zoë's arrows whistled towards his face, but they did nothing. Grover brayed like a baby goat and went climbing up a mountain of metal.

Percy and I ran together. I think there was something about me dying last summer that made Percy want to keep me really close—in everything. We ended up next to Bianca, hiding behind a broken chariot.

"You took something," I told her. "What did you take?"

"That bow, didn't you?" Percy said.

"No!" she said, but her voice was quivering.

"Give it back!" Percy said. "Throw it down!"

"I...I didn't take the bow! Besides, it's too late!"

"Bianca," I said, more sternly this time. "What did you take?"

She stuck her hand in her pocket again, she went to speak, but Percy shouted, "MOVE!"

He grabbed my arm and we tore down the hill, Bianca right behind us, as the giant's foot smashed a crater in the ground where we'd been hiding.

"Hey, Talos!" Grover yelled, but the monster raised his sword, looking down at Bianca, Percy and I. He played a quick melody on his pipes. Over at the highway, the downed power lines began to dance. One of the poles with powerlines still attacked flew towards Talos's back leg and wrapped around his calf. The lines sparked and sent a jolt of electricity up the giant's backside.

Talos whirled around, creaking and sparking—we had a few seconds.

"Come on!" Percy told Bianca, but she didn't move. She stayed frozen. From her pocket, she brought out a small metal figurine, a statue of a god.

She showed it to me. "It ... it was for Nico. I twas the only statue he didn't have."

"How can you think of Mythomagic at a time like this?" Percy said.

There were tears in her eyes. I suddenly felt very guilty for yelling at her before.

"Throw it down," Percy said. "Maybe the giant will leave us alone."

She dropped it reluctantly, but nothing happened.

Talos kept coming after Grover. It stabbed its sword not a junk hill, missing Grover barely. But a scrap metal made an avalanche over him, and I couldn't see him anymore.

"NO!" Thalia yelled. She pointed her spear and a blue arc of lightning shot out, hitting the monster in his knew, which buckled. The giant collapsed, but started to rise again almost immediately.

I was wondering how the hell we were meant to stop him, but then he raised his foot to stomp, and I saw something that gave me a crazy idea. There was a hole in his heel—like a large manhole—and there were red words painted around it: For maintenance only.

I turned to Percy, "Crazy idea."

He nodded, "Yeah."

I told him and Bianca about the maintenance hatch. "There might be a way to control this thing—like switches or something. I'm going to get inside—"

"No," Percy said immediately. "I'll do it."

I gave him a look. "Just because I died doesn't mean I need you to baby me—"

"—I'm not babying you—!"

"—You so are! I can still do things, you know!"

"How would you even get in?!" he protested. "You'll have to get under his foot, you'll be crushed—"

"Distract it! I'll time it right and climb in!"

"Great, thanks, so I'll do it."

"Percy—"

"Guys!" for a second, I thought Bianca was Annabeth telling us to shut-up. And I jumped, only to be slightly disappointed. "Stop it! I'll go."

At the same time, Percy and I gaped. "What? No—"

"—You can't," Percy continued. "You're new at this! You'll die."

"It's my fault the monster came after us," she said. "It's my responsibility."

"Bianca," I stepped in front of Percy to grab her by the shoulders and look into her green gaze. "You don't have to do this. It's dangerous, this is most likely a one-way trip. I won't let you do that."

"It's fine," she told me.

"No it's not."

"We don't have the time!" she said. She reached down and grabbed the little gold statue and pressed it into Percy's hand. "if anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him ... tell him I'm sorry."

"Bianca, no!"

But she wasn't waiting for us. She charged straight at the monsters left foot.

Thalia had its attention for the moment. She found a way to stay close and not get smashed. The monster was big, but slow, she could be close and run round it and stay alive. At least, it was working so far.

Bianca got right next to the giant's foot, trying to balance herself on the metal scraps that swayed and shifted with his weight.

Zoë yelled at her, "What are you doing?!"

"Get it to raise its foot!" she said.

Zoë shot an arrow towards Talos's face and it flew straight into one nostril. The giant straightened and shook its head.

"Hey, Junk Boy!" Percy yelled. "Down here!"

He ran up to its big toe and stabbed it with Riptide. His plan worked. Talos looked down at him and raised his foot. Percy ran as fast as he could, and the foot came down right behind him and he launched into the air. I ran after him—lying down dazed in front of a Olympic refrigerator—trying to reach him before the monster could finish him for good.

I managed to get to him before Talos, and I grabbed his arm to pull him up to his feet, but I wasn't quick enough. The monster was going to finish the both us, but somehow Grover had dug himself out of the junk pile. He played his pipes frantically, and his music sent another power line pole whacking against the monsters leg. Talos turned. Grover should've run, but he was too exhausted. We screamed his name when he fell, and didn't get back up.

We ran towards him, but we were going to be too late. The monster raised his sword to smash Grover, higher and higher before it started to fall down—

He froze.

Talos tilted his head to one side. Percy, Thalia and I stopped, watching in amazement as he started moving his arms and legs in weird ways. Then, he made a fist and punched himself in the face. I let out a laugh. "GO BIANCA!" I shouted.

Zoë looked horrified. "She is inside?"

Talos staggered around, and I realised we were still in danger. Percy, Thalia and I grabbed Grover and ran with him towards the highway. Zoë was already ahead of us. She yelled, "How will Bianca get out?!"

The giant hit itself in the head against and dropped his sword. A shudder ran though his whole body, before he started to stagger towards the power lines.

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

Talos's ankle snared the lines, and blue flickers of electricity shot up his body. My stomach dropped—if the inside wasn't insulated ... Bianca ... The giant careened back into the junkyard, and his right hand fell off, landing in the scrap metal with a horrible CLANG!

His left arm came loose—he was falling apart.

Talos began to run.

"Wait!" Zoë yelled. We ran after him, but we couldn't keep up. Pieces kept falling off, getting in our way.

He crumbled from the top down, collapsing into a mountain of scrap metal. With Bianca still stuck inside. We ran to the wreckage, and when we finally got there, we searched frantically, yelling for Bianca. We crawled around for hours and hours. We searched until the sun started to rise.

Zoë sat down and wept. She had given up, but I hadn't.

I was meant to protect her. I promised Hades. I promised with my life. "No," I shook my head as Thalia yelled in rage and impaled her sword din the giant's smashed face. I turned to Percy. "No, we have to keep looking."

But even he knew it was useless. I refused to cry. She was alive. She had to be alive.

I fell back down onto all fours on the metal and continued to search, calling out her name. I pulled away scraps, digging in as deep as I could. The dust made me cough, but I continued. Percy had to grab my arms and pull them away. "Claire, it's no use."

"No!" I shouted at him. "We have to find her! She's alive! She has to be!"

He shook his head. "The prophecy, Claire: One shall be lost in the land without rain."

It hit me, and I fell back in defeat. I cried this time. Why had I been so stupid? Why did I let her go? We were in the desert, and Bianca di Angelo was gone.

*

a/n: I suck at writing death scenes that aren't my characters own 😅😅

Also y'all, imma fail school like you have no idea. Trials are coming up and I am so behind 😭