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chapter eight.
( titan's curse )
❝ a blessing from the wild! ❞

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So, I guess Hades gift isn't useless. Pulling it out of my back pocket was gross, however. Being attacked by the Nemean Lion and falling from heights ended up cracking and crushing some parts of the bottle, and the liquid was leaking out onto my hands.

"Oh, gross."

We were crossing the Potomac, and I was trying to wipe off the access on Percy and my dagger.

Percy frowned and swatted my hand away from me ruining his new coat. "Is that hand sanitiser?"

Quickly, I lied—I didn't know how'd he react if I said I had Hades chitchatting with me on a daily basis. "I forgot to take it out."

"Why are you wiping it on your dagger?"

"Why not?"

He just rolled his eyes and looked out of the window. For a second, he looked bored, until he spotted something. "It's a helicopter."

"What?"

I leaned over to see, and there was in fact a helicopter. It was sleek black, and it seemed to be coming straight at us. And by the look on Percy's face, he knew it and it was definitely a danger.

"They know the van," he told Zoë. "We have to ditch it."

Quickly, she swerved into the fast lane. The helicopter was gaining.

"Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover said hopefully.

"The military probably thinks its one of theirs," said Percy. "How can the General use mortals, anyway?"

"Mercenaries," Zoë said bitterly. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they're paid."

"But don't these mortals see who they're working for?" he asked. "Don't they notice all the monsters around them?"

Zoë shook her head. "I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."

The helicopter kept coming, making a lot better time than we were amongst D.C traffic.

Thalia closed her eyes and prayed, "Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?"

But the sky stayed grey and snowy. So sign of a helpful thunderstorm.

"There!" Bianca said. "That parking lot!"

"We'll be trapped," Zoë said.

"Trust me."

Zoë shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. We left the van and followed Bianca down some steps.

"Subway entrance," said Bianca. "Let's go south. Alexandria."

"Anything," Thalia agreed.

We bought tickets and got through the turnstiles. A few minutes later, we were safely aboard a train heading south, and away from D.C. As the train came above ground, I could look out the window and see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after us.

Grover let out a relieved sigh. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."

Bianca looked pleased. "Yeah, well. I remembered that stationeries from when Nico and I came through last summer. I was really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."

I frowned. Grover looked confused as well. "New? But that station looked really old."

"I guess," Bianca said. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway."

"No subway?" I leaned forward, continuing to frown at Bianca. She seemed persistent in her answer, for she nodded.

I shared a glance with Percy and Thalia. Okay, I don't know much about D.C, but their subway can't be less than twelve years old. It seemed that everyone else was thinking the same thing, because they looked pretty confused.

"Bianca," said Zoë. "How long ago ..." her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter returned.

"We need to change trains," said Percy. "Next station."

We changed trains twice. I have no idea where we were ending up, but in the end, we lost the helicopter. Unfortunately, when we finally got off the train, we hit the end of the line. It was freezing. We stood in a industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks—and snow. Lots of snow.

We wandered through the railway yard. There had to be another passenger train somewhere, but there were only rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow and looked like they hadn't moved in years.

A homeless guy stood at a trashcan fire. He saw us, and he gave us a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!"

There was something about him that seemed familiar. I narrowed my eyes at the man as we came closer—those eyes. Where have I seen those eyes?

It was useless, the fire didn't warm me up. But I huddled around it with everyone else as well. While everyone was enjoying the fire, I was still shivering. Percy noticed and he frowned. "You okay?" he muttered while Thalia thanked the homeless man.

I nodded, "Just ... just still really cold."

"You're by a fire."

I swallowed hard and looked to my nails that poked out of my fingerless gloves. They were turning blue and purple. "Ever since—well, you know—I'm ... uh ... I'm always cold."

"Oh..." Percy frowned. "Um ..." He seemed unsure on what to do. He wanted to help, but he couldn't. No one could. Percy did seem to come up with an idea. "Uh ... do you, uh, wanna borrow the coat? It might help."

It wouldn't, but his offer was sweet and kind. And I was enjoying seeing his nose and cheeks redden not just from the cold.

Not that it really matters.

I smiled, "Yeah ... uh ... thanks, that would be nice."

Percy awkwardly handed it over. It was slightly funny, and I took it with a small thanks. The coat was light, despite being the coat of the Nemean Lion. I slipped it on, and I was surprised to feel warmth. I looked at the sleeves and picked at it. Warmth seemed so foreign. It was like seeing a friend I haven't seen in ten years. With a bright grin I huddled in the coat, wrapping it around as much as I could. Percy frowned.

"What?"

I grinned happily, "It's warm."

He arched a brow. "Well, I sure hope so. It's a coat."

I think he knew that this was the first time I felt warmth in ages, deep down, but he was making a joke about it, which I was glad by.

"Well," Thalia's teeth chattered. "This is g-g-g-great."

"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.

"Feet," Percy corrected him.

"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoë said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

I found myself leaning against Percy. He didn't push me away, so I guess it was okay. I watched the fire, flickering and sparking. There were gold sparks, and I remembered those gold eyes. I glanced up, looking out at the railway yard around us. Somewhere, far to the west, Annabeth was in danger, and so was Artemis. And we were stuck here, with noway to get out of here. Stuck sharing a fire with a random homeless dude.

"You know," said the homeless man, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his eyes glinted with kindness. Those eyes! Where have I seen them before?! "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," said Percy. "You know of any?"

He pointed one greasy hand. I stood up, stepping away from Percy to see a freight train; gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The sight of the freight train said Sun West Line.

"That's ... convenient," said Thalia frowning. "Thanks, uh ..."

She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trashcan in front of us was cold and empty, as if he had taken the flames with him.

° ° °

The freight train took us to the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. I have no idea how we got here this quickly—overnight! But then Percy told me that the homeless guy had been my father, Apollo, and he aided us in getting here this quickly, and it suddenly made sense. The sign by the town said: Welcome to Cloudcroft, New Mexico. The air was cold and thin, and I was glad I had Percy's coat on. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting looming black shadows, despite the morning being sunny.

Percy shivered, and I decided to give him back the coat. Despite how annoyed he was and stubborn, he took it in the end. I still had two jumpers on. Percy's only jumper was a windbreaker—which was really stupid of him. And no matter how much cold I felt, the idea that Percy was shivering and I wasn't made me immediately want to kill the goddess of snow ... so, yeah? The six of us huddled together to keep warm, walking through the town. As we did, Percy told Grover and I more about the conversation he had with my father the night before. How he told him to seek out Nereus in San Francisco.

Grover looked uneasy. "That's good, I guess. But we've got to get there first."

We stopped in the middle of the town. There wasn't much there: a school, a bunch tourist stores and cafés, some ski cabins and a grocery store.

"Great," Thalia said, scanning the area. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."

"There's a coffee shop!" Grover said.

"Yes," Zoë agreed. "Coffee is good."

"And pastries," Grover added. "And wax paper."

Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about you two and Claire go get us some food. Percy, Bianca and I will go check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."

We agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Grover, Zoë and I got hot chocolate for everyone, as well as some pastries. Zoë got herself and Grover a coffee, and Grover grabbed some utensils while he was at it, shoving them into his pocket for later.

When we arrived back, Thalia wasn't there, which made me frown, but Percy and Bianca were. We gave them their pasty and hot chocolates before the five of us sat on the stood outside the grocery store, just eating and drinking.

Finally, Zoë spoke up. "We should do the tracking spell. Grover, do you have any acorns left?"

"Umm..." Grover mumbled. "I think so, I just need to—"

He froze.

We all freaked for a second, wondering what was up when a warm breeze—that even I could feel—brushed past, like a gust of spring had got lost in winter. Fresh air seasoned with wildflowers made my nose itch—and then I heard something, a voice trying to say something ... almost like a warning.

Zoë gasped. "Grover, thy cup."

The satyr dropped his coffee cup, which was decorated with pictures of birds. Suddenly, the birds peeled off the cup and flew away—like actually alive. The rubber rat Percy had bought and set on top of the rail squeaked. It scampered off the railing and into the trees—real whiskers, fur and all.

Grover then collapsed next to his coffee, which steamed against the snow.

"Oh, my gods!" I gasped and kneeled down next to him. The others circled around him with me, trying to wake him. He groaned, his eyes fluttering.

"Hey!" Thalia said, running up from the street. "I just ... what's wrong with Grover?"

"I don't know," Percy said. "He collapsed."

"Well, get him up!" Thalia said. It was then that I just realised she had her spear in her hand, and she looked behind her as if she was being followed. "We have to get out of here."

Percy and I took ahold of Grover from under the arms and hurled him upright. Grover's eyes fluttered and he groaned something, but I didn't hear it as I asked Thalia, "Why? What's up?"

She pursed her lips, "They're here. Come on!"

We made it to the edge of the town before the first three skeleton warriors appeared. They stepped from the street on either side of the road. Instead of grey camouflage, they were wearing blue New Mexico State Police uniforms. Their yellow eyes gleamed in the winter snow, piercing right into Percy's own.

Thalia tapped her bracelet. But Aegis didn't make them flinch. They had guns, locked and loaded and focused right on Percy's chest.

Percy uncapped Riptide, but looked very unsure on how his sword would fight against guns. I pulled out my dagger. Hades said the sanitiser would help me against these skeleton warriors, I had smeared what I could on the blade, but the rest had soaked the van seats.

Zoë and Bianca drew their bows, but Bianca was having trouble because Grover kept swooning and leaning against her.

"Back up," Thalia said.

We started to—but at the sound of a rustling of branches, we stopped. Two more skeletons appeared on the road behind us. We were surrounded.

I wondered where the rest of them were--there had been at least a dozen at the Smithsonian. However, my question was answered when a skeleton raised a cell phone to his mouth and spoke into it. It wasn't speaking. He was clattering, clicking ... like dry teeth on bone. The skeletons had split up to look for us, and now they were calling back the reinforcements. It wouldn't be long until we had the full force on us.

"It's near," Grover muttered.

"It's here," Percy said.

"No," he insisted. "The gift. The gift from the Wild."

I gave a nervous glance towards him. I don't know what he was talking about, but he was in no condition to fight.

"We'll have to go one on one," said Thalia. "Five of them. Five of us. Maybe they'll ignore Grover that way."

"Agreed," said Zoë.

"The Wild!" Grover moaned.

A warm wind blew once again through the canyon, rustling the trees. I glanced at Percy to decide which one he was going to go for until I saw a furious look on his face. I know that face...

Without thinking, Percy charged.

The firsts skeleton fired. Without effort, Percy blocked it with his sword, and the bullet bounced off the bronze and into the air. The skeleton drew a ton and he sliced off his arms and the elbows, then swung Riptide through his waist and cut him in half.

His bones clattered to the tarmac in a heap. However, almost immediately, they began to move, reassembling themselves. The second skeleton clattered his teeth and tried to fire, but Percy knocked his gun to the snow. Percy was in his own moment, until I saw the other two skeletons raise their guns. I was too late, they shot him in the back, and I could only just scream his name as he fell to the ground.

But Percy was fine. He was wearing the Nemean Lion coat, and when he got up, he only looked madder. Gosh, I'd hate to be these skeletons. Percy's glare was a hurricane in itself.

I decided to charge as well, heading for the second skeleton with my dagger ready. As it was bending down to pick up its gun I set a punch right across its face. Gods, that hurt. Punching bone ... I don't recommend.

I raised my dagger and went to bring it down on it's back, but the skeleton reached up and grabbed my wrist and twisted. It had a terribly strong grip, and I gasped in pain as my knuckles cracked and my dagger fell out of my hand. Behind me, Thalia was charging the third skeleton, while Bianca and Zoë took the two behind us. Grover just stood there and he'd his hands out to the trees, looking like h wanted to hug them. Trying to get out of this Skeleton's dead-tight grip (yeah, pun intended), I ended up kicking him in the groin. His bones fell apart and I managed to uncurl his fingers from my wrist and throw it to the ground. I stamped on it to crush the bones even more and give me more time as I reached down and grabbed the gun from the snow. I checked it, and it was still loaded.

As the skeleton reformed, I took the chance to grab my dagger and stab it in the skull. I was satisfied when it burst into flames and melted down into the wet ground below him.

"Bless you, Hades," I grinned.

Behind me, Bianca also managed to make her skeleton burst into flame. And everyone stared at us in awe.

"How did you do that?" Zoë asked us.

Bianca looked nervous, she didn't know. I knew why, she was a daughter of Hades. But no one else knew that, not even her, so I stepped up. "Special hand sanitiser. All the way from the Underworld."

Zoë seemed impressed, while Percy gaped. "That was what you rubbed all over my coat sleeve?!" He wiped his sleeve, as if desperately trying to get anything 'Underwordedly' related off him.

"Well," Zoë said, "do it again!"

It wasn't that easy, the skeletons were now weary of Bianca and I. The skeleton Percy cut in half had reformed, and I sent a gunshot towards its head, thinking that maybe a shot from its own bullets would kill it, but turned out the gun was just a normal mortal one, and absolutely useless.

There was a crashing sound in the forest to our left, like a bulldozer. The reinforcements were arriving, and we were no closer in destroying these first lot. The remaining three pressed us back, keeping us at baton's length.

"Plan?" Percy said as we retreated.

I couldn't come up with anything, and no one else could either. The trees behind the skeletons were shivering. Branches were cracking.

"A gift," Grover muttered.

And then, with a mighty roar, the largest pig I've ever seen came crashing onto the road. It was a wild boar, ten metres high and with tusks the size of canoes. It squealed, and raked the three skeletons aside with its tusk with a forced so great they went flying over the trees and not the side of the mountain.

The pig then turned on us.

Thalia raised her spear, but Grover yelled, "Don't kill it!"

The boar grunted and pawed the ground, ready to charge.

"That's the Erymanthian Boar," Zoë said, trying to stay calm. "I don't think we can kill it."

"It's a gift," Grover said. "A blessing from the Wild!"

The boar squealed once again and swung its tusk. Zoë and Bianca ducks out of the way. I had to push Grover so he wouldn't get launched into the mountain as well. "Yeah!" I said. "I feel so blessed right now. Everyone, scatter!"

We all ran in different directions, and for a moment the boar was confused.

"It wants to kill us!" Thalia shouted.

"Of course," Grover told her. "It's wild!"

"So how is it a blessing?" Bianca asked.

As if the pig heard her and got offended—sook—it charged at her. She was faster than I thought. Bianca rolled out of the way of its hooves and came up behind the beast. It lashed out with its tusks and destroyed the Welcome To Cloudcroft! sign.

"Keep moving!" Zoë yelled. She, Bianca and I ran in opposite directions. Grover danced around the boar, paying his pipes while the boar snorted and tried to gouge him. However Thalia and Percy got the worst luck. When the boar turned on them, Thalia made the mistake of raising Aegis in defence. The sight of Medusa's head made the boar squeal in outrage, and it charged at them.

They ran.

Grover, Zoë, Bianca and I all shared a look, before we ran after them.

The only way they managed to keep ahead of the boar was because they ran uphill, darting in amongst tall trees while the boar had to barge through them.

Percy and Thalia ran onto the railway tracks, which was an ingenious thought. The boar's hooves were not meant for this landscape, and it stumbled and slid along as it tried to reach them.

Grover, Zoë, Bianca and I were catching up, trying to find a way to stop the boar when Percy and Thalia ran into a railway tunnel, and the boar followed them.

"Shit!" I swore and we pushed our legs to go faster. When we reached the other side, they were nowhere to be seen, and neither was the boar.

"Helloooooo?" Grover called out over the edge and past the old railway bridge across the cavern.

"Down here!" Percy's voice replied, and I let out a sigh of relief to see that both of them were okay—a bit scratched up—but okay. And beside them, stuck in the snow and unable to move, was the boar.

It took us a few minutes to get down there with them, but once we did, we all stood watching the wild boar struggle in the snow.

"A blessing of the Wild," Grover said, though he now looked agitated.

"I agree," said Zoë. "We must use it."

"Hold up," Thalia stopped pulling out pine needles from her hair to stare at Zoë incredulously. "Explain to me why you're so sure this pig is a blessing?"

Grover looked over, distracted. "It's our ride west. Do you have any idea how fast this boar can travel?"

"Fun," Percy said. "Like ... pig cowboys."

I rolled my eyes at him. Grover nodded. "We need to get aboard. I wish ... I wish I had more time to look around. But its gone now."

"What's gone?" I asked, frowning.

Grover didn't seem to hear me. He walked over to the boar and jumped onto its back. Already the boar was starting to make some headway through the drift. Once it broke free, there would be no stopping it. Grover took out his pipes, and started paying a snappy tune and tossed an apple in front of the boar. The apple floated and spun right above the boar's nose, and boar went nuts, straining to get out.

"Automatic steering," Thalia murmured. "Great."

She trudged over and jumped on behind Grover, which still left plenty of room for the rest of us.

Zoë and Bianca started to walk towards the boar.

"Hang on," I stopped them. "Do you two know what Grover is talking about—this wild blessing?"

"Of course," Zoë said. "Did you not feel it in the wind? It was so strong ... I never thought I would sense that presence again."

"What presence?" asked Percy.

She stared at us like we were idiots. "The Lord of the Wild, of course. Just for a moment, in the arrival of the boar, I felt the presence of Pan."

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      Hi, i is back.