(Ella's POV)
We rode the boar until sunset, which was about as much as my back end could take.
Imagine riding a giant steel brush over a bed of gravel all day. That's about how comfortable boar-riding was.
I have no idea how many miles we covered, but the mountains faded into the distance & were replaced by miles of flat, dry land. The grass & bushes got sparser until we were galloping (do boars gallop?) across the desert.
As night fell, the boar came to a stop at a creek bed & snorted. He started drinking the muddy water, then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground & chewed it, needles & all.
"This is as far as he'll go," Grover said. "We need to get off while he's eating."
Nobody needed convincing. We slipped off the boar's back while he was busy ripping cacti. Then we waddled away as best we could with our saddle sores.
After its third saguaro & another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed & belched, then whirled around & galloped back toward the east.
"It likes the mountains better.." I said.
"I can't blame it," Thalia said. "Look."
Ahead of us was a two-lane road half covered with sand.
On the other side of the road was a cluster of buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop that looked like it hadn't been open since before Zoe Nightshade was born, & a white stucco post office with a sign that said GILA CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crooked above the door. Beyond that was a range of hills...but then I noticed they weren't regular hills.
The countryside was way too flat for that. The hills were enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, & other scrap metal. It was a junkyard that seemed to go on forever.
"Whoa," Percy said.
"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 nervous. He fished out his acorns & threw them into the sand, then played his pipes. They rearranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense to me, but Grover looked concerned.
"That's us," he said. "Those six nuts right there."
"Which one is me?" Percy asked.
"The little deformed one." Zoe suggested.
"Oh, shut up." He said & I had to bite back a laugh.
"That cluster right there," Grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."
"A monster?" Thalia asked.
Grover looked uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge..."
He pointed straight toward the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked like something on an alien planet.
We decided to camp for the night & try the junkyard in the morning. None of us wanted to go Dumpster-diving in the dark.
Zoe & Bianca produced six sleeping bags & foam mattresses out of their backpacks. I don't know how they did it, because the packs were tiny, but must've been enchanted to hold so much stuff. I'd noticed their bows & quivers were also magic. When the Hunters needed them, they just appeared slung over their backs. And when they didn't, they were gone.
The night got chilly fast, so Grover & Percy collected old boards from the ruined house, while Thalia & I zapped them with electric shock to start a campfire. Pretty soon we were about as comfy as you can get in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.
"The stars are out." Zoe said.
She was right. There were millions of them, with no city lights to turn the sky orange.
"Amazing," Bianca said. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way."
"This is nothing," Zoe said. "In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution."
"You're talking like you're not human." Percy said.
Zoe raised an eyebrow. "I am a Hunter. I care what happens to the wild places of the world. Can the same be 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."
Zoe threw up her hands in exasperation. "I hate this language. It changes too often!"
Grover sighed. He was still looking up at the stars like he was thinking about the light pollution problem. "If only Pan were here, he would set things right."
Zoe nodded sadly.
"Maybe it was the coffee," Grover said. "I was drinking coffee, & the wind came. Maybe if I drank more coffee..."
I was pretty sure coffee had nothing to do with what had happened in Cloudcroft, but I didn't have the heart to tell Grover that.
"Grover, do you really think that was Pan? I mean, I know you want it to be." I said.
"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 & drinking a lot of coffee. It's the best lead we've gotten in two thousand years. I was so close."
I didn't answer. I didn't want to squash Grover's hopes.
"What I want to know," Thalia said, looking at Bianca, "is how you destroyed one of the zombies. There are a lot more out there somewhere. We need to figure out how to fight them."
Bianca shook her head. "I don't know. I just stabbed it & it went up in flames."
"Maybe there's something special about your knife," Percy said.
"It is the same as mine," Zoe said. "Celestial bronze, yes. But mine did not affect the warriors that way."
"Maybe you have to hit the skeleton in a certain spot," Percy said.
Bianca looked uncomfortable with everybody paying attention to her.
"Never mind," Zoe told her. "We will find an answer. In the meantime, we should plan our next move. When we get through this junkyard, we must continue west. If we can find a road, we can hitchhike to the nearest city. I think that would be Las Vegas."
I was about to protest that Percy, Annie Grover & I had had bad experiences in that town, but Bianca beat us to it.
"No!" she said. "Not there!"
She looked really freaked out, like she'd just been dropped off the steep end of a roller coaster.
Zoe frowned. "Why?"
Bianca took a shaky breath. "I...I think we stayed there for a while. Nico & I. When we were traveling. Then, I can't remember..."
Suddenly I had a really bad thought. I remembered what Bianca had told me about Nico & her staying in a hotel for a while. I met Percy's eyes, & I got the feeling he was thinking the same thing.
"Bianca," Percy said. "That hotel you stayed at. Was it called the Lotus Hotel & Casino?"
Her eyes widened. "How could you know that?"
"Oh, great," I said.
"Wait," Thalia said. "What is the Lotus Casino?"
"A couple of years ago," I said, "Percy, Grover, Annie, & I got trapped there. It's designed so you never want to leave. We stayed for about an hour. When we came out, five days had passed. It makes time speed up."
"No," Bianca said. "No, that's not possible."
"You said somebody came & 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."
Zoe sat forward, her eyebrows knit with concern. "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," Zoe said, "can you tell me the name of the president of the United States right now?"
"Don't be silly," Bianca said. She told us the correct name of the president.
"And who was the president before that?" Zoe asked.
Bianca thought for a while. "Roosevelt."
Zoe swallowed. "Theodore or Franklin'?"
"Franklin," Bianca said. "F.D.R."
"Like FDR Drive?" Percy asked which made me elbow him in the ribs.
"Bianca," Zoe said. "F.D.R. was not the last president. That was about seventy years ago."
"That's impossible," Bianca said. "I...I'm not that old."
She stared at her hands as if to make sure they weren't wrinkled.
Thalia's eyes turned sad. I guess she knew what it was like to get pulled out of time for a while. "It's okay, Bianca, The important thing is you & Nico are safe. You made it out."
"But how?" I said. "We were only in there for an hour & 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 & said it was time to leave. And-"
"But who? Why did he do it?" I asked.
Before she could answer, we were hit with a blazing light from down the road. The headlights of a car appeared out of nowhere.
I was half hoping it was Apollo, come to give us a ride again, but the engine was way too silent for the sun chariot, & besides, it was nighttime.
We grabbed our sleeping bags & 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 right next to Percy. Before he could step away, the point of a sword touched his throat.
Zoe & Bianca drew their bows while I summoned Stormcatcher. As the owner of the sword got out of the car, I backed away.
He smiled cruelly. "Not so fast now, are you, punk?"
He was a big man with a crew cut, a black leather biker's jacket, black jeans, a white muscle shirt, & combat boots. Wrap around shades hid his eyes, but I knew what was behind those glasses- hollow sockets filled with flames.
"Ares," Percy growled.
"Let him go, Ares." I snapped.
The war god looked at me. "At ease, people. I don't want to be hurting you little cousin."
He snapped his fingers, & our weapons fell to the ground.
"This is a friendly meeting." He dug the point of his blade a little farther 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."
He lowered his sword & pushed Percy.
"Thalia, daughter of Zeus," Ares mused. "You're not hanging out with very good company."
"What's your business, Ares?" she said. "Who's in the car?"
Ares smiled, enjoying the attention. "Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you.
Particularly not them." He jutted his chin toward Zoe & 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," Zoe said.
"Besides," Grover managed, "the taco place is closed."
Ares snapped his fingers again. The lights inside the taqueria suddenly blazed to life. The boards flew off the door & the 'CLOSED' sign flipped to OPEN. "You were saying, goat boy?"
"Go on," Percy told us. "I'll handle this."
"You heard the boy," Ares said. "He's big and strong. He's got things under control."
I glanced over at Percy once, who gave me the most reassuring look he could muster.
And we all reluctantly had no choice but to head over to the taco restaurant.
Late update again..sorryyyy!😭😭
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Alice signing off.
XOXO.