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chapter eleven.
( titan's curse )
❝ the bane of olympus! ❞

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Can I say I'm still angry at Percy?

Well, yeah! I get it, I died, everyone thought I was dead, and then I came back. No one wanted me to die again—I don't want to die again. However, that doesn't mean I don't want to be looked after like some fragile china vase that was half on and half off the bookcase. No. I'm still capable of fighting monsters by myself. I'm still capable of walking by myself. I'm capable of a lot more than people seem to realise, or remember.

So yeah, I am still angry at Percy. Which meant there was the causal little insult thrown between us, before complete tense silence. If he thinks I can't handle things by myself, I'll show him otherwise. Which means, I'm walking by myself, I'm talking to Thalia, and I'm completely ignoring you (unless I come up with a good comeback from something that you said, because then I'll ruthlessly call you out with no context).

The angels dropped us off at San Francisco, scaring a homeless man who screamed and ran, shouting something about metal angels from Mars.

As we began to walk—aimlessly, really. We had reached the West Coast the day before the solstice. What we do now ... none of us knew. So we walked to the docs, thinking that something might show itself. Who knows. It was Percy's stupid idea—Thalia asked Percy:

"How did you get away from the skeletons in the generator room, anyway? You said they cornered you."

Percy told us about this weird mortal that helped him; Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I don't know why, but the thought of her helping him made me boil even more in anger. How could a mortal help him? Why was she special?

"How the hell did she help you?" I crossed my arms. "She's a mortal."

Percy frowned. "You say it like its a bad thing."

"Well, considering you nearly killed her if it wasn't for your sword not being able to hurt mortals." I narrowed my eyes. "You practically just told a mortal you were a demigod!"

"She could see through the mist," he said. "I would be dead if it wasn't for her."

In the back of my mind, a small voice in my brain said: Well you would be dead if I hadn't died for you so... "Whatever."

Percy shook his head, "What do you have against Rachel? You don't even know her."

Grover shared a look with Thalia and Zoë, as if he knew something we didn't.

"I-I don't," I said, going red in the face. "I just—you shouldn't be telling every single mortal you see about demigods and that stuff. Especially now with everything going on—she could've told the police on you, could've—like—I don't know—done something."

Percy scoffed, "Whatever."

"Okay," I scowled. "Fine! Don't listen to me."

"I won't. Because you're hating on Rachel for no reason!"

"I am not!"

"You so are."

I huffed—my cheeks even redder— "Yeah, well—you don't get it!"

"I'm sure I don't."

"Great!" I shouted.

"Great!" He mocked.

"Good!"

"Good!"

"FINE!"

"FINE!"

We glared at each other, and in the end, Thalia had to step in and decide that we needed to talk about what to do next. After a brief discussion (with some snarky comments sent either from Percy or I, "Make sure there isn't a mortal around for Percy to endanger"; "Careful, baby needs her bottle"; "I'm not a baby, you're the one treating me like one—"; "—stop acting like one, and then maybe I won't—"; "—I can take care of myself—"; "—waa waaa—"; "—Oh, you're getting it now—"; "—Both of you shut up!" ... the last one was Thalia), we agreed that we needed to figure out just what this mystery monster was.

"But how?" asked Percy.

"Nereus," Grover said.

Percy frowned at him. "What?"

"Isn't that what Apollo told you to do? Find Nereus?"

"Oh..." Percy had a look of realisation on his face. "Right. The old man of the sea. I'm supposed to find him and force him to tell us what he knows. But how do I find him?"

Zoë made a face. "Old Nereus, eh?"

"You know him?" asked Thalia.

"My mother was a sea goddess. Yes, I know him. Unfortunately, he is never very hard to find. Just follow the smell."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on," she sounded very unenthusiastic. "I'll show thee."

° ° °

Okay, the goal was: make Percy homeless and he'll fit in just fine. We went to Goodwill, grabbed him some oversized clothes and—at my pleasure—made him wear a rainbow floppy hat.

Once we were done, Percy looked like a mess. It was the best sight I've seen in a while, and I couldn't stop laughing. He glared at me, which was even funnier because you could only just see his eyes underneath the floppy beach hat and he looked like a harmless grumpy toddler.

"Oh yeah," Grover stifled his laughter. "You look completely inconspicuous now."

Zoë nodded with satisfaction. "A typical male vagrant."

"Thanks a lot," Percy grumbled. "Why am I doing this again?"

"Because why not?" I snickered, and he rolled his eyes.

"I told thee," Zoë said. "To blend in."

She led the way back down to the waterfront. After a long time spent searching the docks, Zoë finally stopped in her tracks. She pointed down the pier where a bunch of homeless guys were huddled together in blankets, waiting for the soup kitchen to open for lunch.

"He will be down there somewhere," Zoë said. "He never travels very far from the water. He likes to sun himself during the day."

"How do I know which one is him?"

"Sneak up," she said. "Act homeless. You will know him. He will smell ... different."

"Great," Percy sounded rather sarcastic. But didn't he always? "And once I find him?"

"Grab him. And hold on. He will try anything to get rid of thee. Whatever he does, do not let go. Force him to tell thee about the monster."

"We've got your back," said Thalia. She picked something off the flannel that Percy wore—a big clump of fuzz that came from who knows where. "Ewww. On second thought ... I don't want your back. But we'll be rooting for you."

Grover put his thumbs up. When I didn't do anything, he nudged me, and I put my thumbs up with a roll of my eyes.

Percy grumbled something sarcastic before pulled his cap down and stumbled along towards the pier. We watched him from afar walk past different homeless people, searching for the old sea god.

He stopped by a man sleeping on a bench. I frowned when he sat down next to him, and then the next second, he jumped him.

Percy put the man in a headlock, and caused a riot amongst the other homeless population. They shouted at Percy to let him go, but the two of them went tumbling into the water. A few seconds past. Zoë, Thalia, Grover and I all shared looks before Percy flew out of the water on a killer-whale. He sent a wave that made me roll my eyes. He disappeared back into the water.

"Did he just ...?" Thalia muttered, frowning.

"Yup," I sighed. "He did."

Finally, they reappeared again, and Percy had won over Nereus. The poor old ocean god fell—exhausted—on the pier, and the group of us ran down the steps to surround him. Nereus saw us—gods, he smelled bad. His fluffy white beard was yellow, he looked a hundred years old and dressed like an Evil Santa.

"You've got him!" Zoë said.

"You don't have to sound so amazed," Percy grumbled.

Nereus moaned. "Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"

"I've got more than one question," Percy said.

"Only one question per capture! That's the rule."

Percy glanced at us. This wasn't good. We needed to find Artemis, Annabeth and know what this deadly 'Bane of Olympus' was. I wanted him to ask about Annabeth—but at the same time ... the most important thing was the survival of Olympus and the Gods. I knew he was thinking the same thing. We locked eyes—despite our argument—and I gave him a subtle nod.

Percy sighed. "All right, Nereus. Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting."

The Old Man of the Sea smiled, showing off his mossy green teeth. "Oh, that's too easy," he said. "He's right there."

Nereus pointed to the water at Percy's feet.

"Where?" Percy frowned.

"The deal is complete!" Nereus gloated. With a pop, he turned into a goldfish and did a backflip into the sea.

"You tricked me!" Percy yelled.

"Wait?" Thalia's eyes widened. "What is that?"

"MOOOOOOOOO!"

I glanced down into the water, and there was this cow serpent. No, I'm serious, honestly a cow serpent, swimming next to the dock. It nudged Percy's shoe.

Percy pursed his lips, "Ah, Bessie," he said. "Not now."

"Moo!"

Grover gasped. "He says his name isn't Bessie."

"You can understand her ... er, him?"

Grover nodded. "It's a very old form of animal speech. But he says his name is the Ophiotaurus."

"The Ophi-what?"

"It means serpent bull in Greek," Thalia said. "But what's it doing here?"

"Moooooo!"

"He says Percy is his protector," Grover announced. "And he's running from the bad people. He says they are close."

"How do you get all of that out of a single mooooo?" I wondered.

"Wait," Zoë frowned at Percy. "You know this cow?"

Percy told us the story, and Thalia shook her head in disbelief. "And you just forgot to mention this before?"

"Well ... yeah ..."

"I'm a fool," Zoë said suddenly. "I know this story!"

"What story?"

"From the War of the Titans," she said. "My ... my father told me this tale, thousands of years ago. This is the beast we are looking for."

"Bessie?" Percy looked down at the bull serpent. "But .... he's too cute. he couldn't destroy the world."

"That is how we were wrong," Zoë said. "We've been anticipating a huge dangerous monster, but the Ophiotaurus does not bring down the gods that way. He must be sacrificed."

"MMMM," Bessie lowed.

"I don't think he likes the S-word," Grover said.

Percy patted Bessie on the head. He let him scratch his ear. "How could anyone hurt him? He's harmless."

Zoë nodded. "But there is power in killing innocence. Terrible power. The Fates ordained a prophecy aeons ago, when this creature was born. They said that whoever killed the Ophiotaurus and sacrificed its entrails to fire would have the power to destroy the gods."

"MMMMMM!"

"Um," Grover said. "Maybe we could avoid talking about entrails, too."

Thalia had a strange look on her face as she stared at the cow serpent. It made me slightly worried. "The power to destroy the gods ... how? I mean, what would happen?"

"No one knows," Zoë said. "The first time, during the Titan war, the Ophiotaurus was in fact slain by a giant ally of the Titans, but thy father Zeus sent an eagle to snatch the entrails away before they could be tossed into the fire. It was a close call. Now, after three thousand years, the Ophiotaurus is reborn."

Thalia sat down on the dock. She stretched out her hand. Bessie went right to her. Thalia placed her hand on his head. Bessie shivered.

She still had the same expression on her face and it made me tense ... she almost looked hungry.

"We have to protect him," I said, frowning at her. "If Luke gets ahold of him..."

"Luke wouldn't hesitate," Thalia muttered. "The power to overthrow Olympus. That's ... that's huge."

"Yeah, and that's a power that you will unleash, Thalia."

The voice sent me chills. I froze. I hadn't heard that voice ... since ... Immediately, I spun around with my dagger out. The Ophiotaurus whimpered and submerged. We'd been so busy talking, that we'd allowed ourselves to be ambushed.

Jay sent me a smile—but it wasn't a comforting on, like he used to give. It was one that sent chills and made me realise, he had been like this all along and I hadn't noticed. He spun his curved sword in his hand, and glanced back at a man in a ratty black trench coat over a Westover Hall uniform. The scariest thing about him was his two-colour eyes, gleaming wickedly.

"Hey, Claire," said Jay. "Long time, no see."

*

a/n: guess who's back, back again ^^