by Rick Riordan
He jumped in the water and immediately began to sink. Bessie glided next to him and let Grover take hold of his neck.
‘Be careful,’ I told them.
‘We will,’ Grover said. ‘Okay, um… Bessie? We’re going to Long Island. It’s east. Over that way.’
‘Moooo?’ Bessie said.
‘Yes,’ Grover answered. ‘Long Island. It’s this island. And… it’s long. Oh, let’s just start.’
‘Mooo!’
Bessie lurched forward. He started to submerge and Grover said, ‘I can’t breathe underwater! Just thought I’d mention –’ Glub!
Under they went, and I hoped my father’s protection would extend to little things, like breathing.
‘Well, that is one problem addressed,’ Zoë said. ‘But how can we get to my sisters’ garden?’
‘Thalia’s right,’ I said. ‘We need a car. But there’s nobody to help us here. Unless we, uh, borrowed one.’
I didn’t like that option. I mean, sure this was a life-or-death situation, but still it was stealing, and it was bound to get us noticed.
‘Wait,’ Thalia said. She started rifling through her backpack. ‘There is somebody in San Francisco who can help us. I’ve got the address here somewhere.’
‘Who?’ I asked.
Thalia pulled out a crumpled piece of notebook paper and held it up. ‘Professor Chase. Annabeth’s dad.’
After hearing Annabeth gripe about her dad for two years, I was expecting him to have devil horns and fangs. I was not expecting him to be wearing an old-fashioned aviator’s cap and goggles. He looked so weird, with his eyes bugging out through the glasses, that we all took a step back on the front porch.
‘Hello,’ he said in a friendly voice. ‘Are you delivering my aeroplanes?’
Thalia, Zoë and I looked at each other warily.
‘Um, no, sir,’ I said.
‘Drat,’ he said. ‘I need three more Sopwith Camels.’
‘Right,’ I said, though I had no clue what he was talking about. ‘We’re friends of Annabeth.’
‘Annabeth?’ He straightened as if I’d just given him an electric shock. ‘Is she all right? Has something happened?’
None of us answered, but our faces must’ve told him that something was very wrong. He took off his cap and goggles. He had sandy-coloured hair like Annabeth and intense brown eyes. He was handsome, I guess, for an older guy, but it looked like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, and his shirt was buttoned wrong, so one side of his collar stuck up higher than the other side.
‘You’d better come in,’ he said.
It didn’t look like a house they’d just moved into. There were LEGO robots on the stairs and two cats sleeping on the sofa in the living room. The coffee table was stacked with magazines, and a little kid’s winter coat was spread on the floor. The whole house smelled like fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies. There was jazz music coming from the kitchen. It seemed like a messy, happy kind of home – the kind of place that had been lived in forever.
‘Dad!’ a little boy screamed. ‘He’s taking apart my robots!’
‘Bobby,’ Dr Chase called absently, ‘don’t take apart your brother’s robots.’
‘I’m Bobby,’ the little boy protested. ‘He’s Matthew!’
‘Matthew,’ Dr Chase called, ‘don’t take apart your brother’s robots!’
‘Okay, Dad!’
Dr Chase turned to us. ‘We’ll go upstairs to my study. This way.’
‘Honey?’ a woman called. Annabeth’s stepmom appeared in the living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She was a pretty Asian woman with red highlighted hair tied in a bun.
‘Who are our guests?’ she asked.
‘Oh,’ Dr Chase said. ‘This is…’
He stared at us blankly.
‘Frederick,’ she chided. ‘You forgot to ask them their names?’
We introduced ourselves a little uneasily, but Mrs Chase seemed really nice. She asked if we were hungry. We admitted we were, and she told us she’d bring us some cookies and sandwiches and sodas.
‘Dear,’ Dr Chase said. ‘They came about Annabeth.’
I half expected Mrs Chase to turn into a raving lunatic at the mention of her stepdaughter, but she just pursed her lips and looked concerned. ‘All right. Go on up to the study and I’ll bring you some food.’ She smiled at me. ‘Nice meeting you, Percy. I’ve heard a lot about you.’
Upstairs, we walked into Dr Chase’s study and I said, ‘Whoa!’
The room was wall-to-wall books, but what really caught my attention were the war toys. There was a huge table with miniature tanks and soldiers fighting along a blue painted river, with hills and fake trees and stuff. Old-fashioned biplanes hung on strings from the ceiling, tilted at crazy angles like they were in the middle of a dogfight.
Dr Chase smiled. ‘Yes. The Third Battle of Ypres. I’m writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a much greater role than they’ve been given credit for.’
He plucked a biplane from its string and swept it across the battlefield, making aeroplane engine noises as he knocked down little German soldiers.
‘Oh, right,’ I said. I knew Annabeth’s dad was a professor of military history. She’d never mentioned he played with toy soldiers.
Zoë came over and studied the battlefield. ‘The German lines were further from the river.’
Dr Chase stared at her. ‘How do you know that?’
‘I was there,’ she said matter-of-factly. ‘Artemis wanted to show us how horrible war was, the way mortal men fight each other. And how foolish, too. The battle was a complete waste.’
Dr Chase opened his mouth in shock. ‘You –’
‘She’s a Hunter, sir,’ Thalia said. ‘But that’s not why we’re here. We need –’
‘You saw the Sopwith Camels?’ Dr Chase said. ‘How many were there? What formations did they fly?’
‘Sir,’ Thalia broke in again. ‘Annabeth is in danger.’
That got his attention. He set the biplane down.
‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Tell me everything.’
It wasn’t easy, but we tried. Meanwhile, the afternoon light was fading outside. We were running out of time.
When we’d finished, Dr Chase collapsed in his leather recliner. He laced his hands. ‘My poor brave Annabeth. We must hurry.’
‘Sir, we need transportation to Mount Tamalpais,’ Zoë said. ‘And we need it immediately.’
‘I’ll drive you. Hmm, it would be faster to fly in my Camel, but it only seats two.’
‘Whoa, you have an actual biplane?’ I said.
‘Down at Crissy Field,’ Dr Chase said proudly. ‘That’s the reason I had to move here. My sponsor is a private collector with some of the finest World War I relics in the world. He let me restore the Sopwith Camel –’
‘Sir,’ Thalia said. ‘Just a car would be great. And it might be better if we went without you. It’s too dangerous.’
Dr Chase frowned uncomfortably. ‘Now wait a minute, young lady. Annabeth is my daughter. Dangerous or not, I… I can’t just –’
‘Snacks,’ Mrs Chase announced. She pushed through the door with a tray full of peanut-butter-and-jam sandwiches and Cokes and cookies fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips still gooey. Thalia and I inhaled a few cookies while Zoë said, ‘I can drive, sir. I’m not as young as I look. I promise not to destroy your car.’
Mrs Chase knitted her eyebrows. ‘What’s this about?’
‘Annabeth is in danger,’ Dr Chase said. ‘On Mount Tam. I would drive them, but… apparently it’s no place for mortals.’
It sounded like it was really hard for him to get that last part out.
I waited for Mrs Chase to say no. I mean, what mortal parent would allow three underage teenagers to borrow their car? To my surprise, Mrs Chase nodded. ‘Then they’d better get going.’
‘Right!’ Dr Chase jumped up and started patting his pockets. ‘My keys…’
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His wife sighed. ‘Frederick, honestly. You’d lose your head if it weren’t wrapped inside your aviator hat. The keys are hanging on the peg by the front door.’
‘Right!’ Dr Chase said.
Zoë grabbed a sandwich. ‘Thank you both. We should go. Now.’
We hustled out the door and down the stairs, the Chases right behind us.
‘Percy,’ Mrs Chase called as I was leaving, ‘tell Annabeth… Tell her she still has a home here, will you? Remind her of that.’
I took one last look at the messy living room, Annabeth’s half-brothers spilling LEGOs and arguing, the smell of cookies filling the air. Not a bad place, I thought.
‘I’ll tell her,’ I promised.
We ran out to the yellow VW convertible parked in the driveway. The sun was going down. I figured we had less than an hour to save Annabeth.
‘Can’t this thing go any faster?’ Thalia demanded.
Zoë glared at her. ‘I cannot control traffic.’
‘You both sound like my mother,’ I said.
‘Shut up!’ they said in unison.
Zoë weaved in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking on the horizon when we finally got into Marin County and exited the highway.
The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and round the edges of steep ravines. Zoë didn’t slow down at all.
‘Why does everything smell like cough drops?’ I asked.
‘Eucalyptus.’ Zoë pointed to the huge trees all around us.
‘The stuff koala bears eat?’
‘And monsters,’ she said. ‘They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons.’
‘Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?’
‘Believe me,’ Zoë said, ‘if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus, too.’
I didn’t question her, but I did keep my eyes peeled as we drove. Ahead of us loomed Mount Tamalpais. I guess, in terms of mountains, it was a small one, but it looked plenty huge as we were driving towards it.
‘So that’s the Mountain of Despair?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ Zoë said tightly.
‘Why do they call it that?’
She was silent for almost a mile before answering. ‘After the war between the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos’s right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides.’
‘The General,’ I said. Clouds seemed to be swirling round its peak, as though the mountain were drawing them in, spinning them like a top. ‘What’s going on up there? A storm?’
Zoë didn’t answer. I got the feeling she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn’t like it.
‘We have to concentrate,’ Thalia said. ‘The Mist is really strong here.’
‘The magical kind or the natural kind?’ I asked.
‘Both.’
The grey clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain, and we kept driving straight towards them. We were out of the forest now, into wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog.
I happened to glance down at the ocean as we passed a scenic curve, and I saw something that made me jump out of my seat.
‘Look!’ But we turned a corner and the ocean disappeared behind the hills.
‘What?’ Thalia asked.
‘A big white ship,’ I said. ‘Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship.’
Her eyes widened. ‘Luke’s ship?’
I wanted to say I wasn’t sure. It might be a coincidence. But I knew better. The Princess Andromeda, Luke’s demon cruise ship, was docked at that beach. That’s why he’d sent his ship all the way down to the Panama Canal. It was the only way to sail it from the East Coast to California.
‘We will have company, then,’ Zoë said grimly. ‘Kronos’s army.’
I was about to answer, when suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Thalia shouted, ‘Stop the car. NOW!’
Zoë must’ve sensed something was wrong, because she slammed on the brakes without question. The yellow VW spun twice before coming to a stop at the edge of the cliff.
‘Out!’ Thalia opened the door and pushed me hard. We both rolled onto the pavement. The next second: BOOOM!
Lightning flashed, and Dr Chase’s Volkswagen erupted like a canary-yellow grenade. I probably would’ve been killed by shrapnel except for Thalia’s shield, which appeared over me. I heard a sound like metal rain, and when I opened my eyes, we were surrounded by wreckage. One of the VW’s doors had impaled itself in the street. The smoking bonnet was spinning in circles. Pieces of yellow metal were strewn across the road.
I swallowed the taste of smoke out of my mouth, and looked at Thalia. ‘You saved my life.’
‘One shall perish by a parent’s hand,’ she muttered. ‘Curse him. He would destroy me? Me?’
It took me a second to realize she was talking about her dad. ‘Oh, hey, that couldn’t have been Zeus’s lightning bolt. No way.’
‘Whose, then?’ Thalia demanded.
‘I don’t know. Zoë said Kronos’s name. Maybe he –’
Thalia shook her head, looking angry and stunned. ‘No. That wasn’t it.’
‘Wait,’ I said. ‘Where’s Zoë? Zoë!’
We both got up and ran round the blasted VW. Nothing inside. Nothing either direction down the road. I looked down the cliff. No sign of her.
‘Zoë!’ I shouted.
Then she was standing right next to me, pulling me by my arm. ‘Silence, fool! Do you want to wake Ladon?’
‘You mean we’re here?’
‘Very close,’ she said. ‘Follow me.’
Sheets of fog were drifting right across the road. Zoë stepped into one of them, and, when the fog passed, she was no longer there. Thalia and I looked at each other.
‘Concentrate on Zoë,’ Thalia advised. ‘We are following her. Go straight into the fog and keep that in mind.’
‘Wait, Thalia. About what happened back on the pier… I mean, with the manticore and the sacrifice –’
‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘You wouldn’t actually have… you know?’
She hesitated. ‘I was just shocked. That’s all.’
‘Zeus didn’t send that lighting bolt at the car. It was Kronos. He’s trying to manipulate you, make you angry at your dad.’
She took a deep breath. ‘Percy, I know you’re trying to make me feel better. Thanks. But come on. We need to go.’
She stepped into the fog, into the Mist, and I followed.
When the fog cleared, I was still on the side of the mountain, but the road was dirt. The grass was thicker. The sunset made a blood-red slash across the sea. The summit of the mountain seemed closer now, swirling with storm clouds and raw power. There was only one path to the top, directly in front of us. And it led through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers: the garden of twilight, just like I’d seen in my dream.
If it hadn’t been for the enormous dragon, the garden would’ve been the most beautiful place I’d ever seen. The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such brilliant colours they almost glowed in the dark. Stepping stones of polished black marble led round either side of a five-storey-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples, and I don’t mean yellow golden apples like in the grocery store. I mean real golden apples. I can’t describe why they were so appealing, but, as soon as I smelled their fragrance, I knew that one bite would be the most delicious thing I’d ever tasted.
‘The apples of immortality,’ Thalia said. ‘Hera’s wedding gift from Zeus.’
I wanted to step right up and pluck one, except for the dragon coiled round the tree.
Now, I don’t know what you think of when I say dragon. Whatever it is, it’s not scary enough. The serpent’s body was as thick as a booster rocket, glinting with coppery scales
. It had more heads than I could count, as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together. It appeared to be asleep. The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all the eyes closed.
Then the shadows in front of us began to move. There was a beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from the bottom of a well. I reached for Riptide, but Zoë stopped my hand. Four figures shimmered into existence, four young women who looked very much like Zoë. They all wore white Greek chitons. Their skin was like caramel. Silky black hair tumbled loose around their shoulders. It was strange, but I’d never realized how beautiful Zoë was until I saw her siblings, the Hesperides. They looked just like Zoë – gorgeous, and probably very dangerous.
‘Sisters,’ Zoë said.
‘We do not see any sister,’ one of the girls said coldly. ‘We see two half-bloods and a Hunter. All of whom shall soon die.’
‘You’ve got it wrong.’ I stepped forward. ‘Nobody is going to die.’
The girls studied me. They had eyes like volcanic rock, glassy and completely black.
‘Perseus Jackson,’ one of them said.
‘Yes,’ mused another. ‘I do not see why he is a threat.’
‘Who said I was a threat?’
The first Hesperid glanced behind her, towards the top of the mountain. ‘They fear thee. They are unhappy that this one has not yet killed thee.’
She pointed at Thalia.
‘Tempting sometimes,’ Thalia admitted. ‘But no thanks. He’s my friend.’
‘There are no friends here, daughter of Zeus,’ the girl said. ‘Only enemies. Go back.’
‘Not without Annabeth,’ Thalia said.
‘And Artemis,’ Zoë said. ‘We must approach the mountain.’
‘You know he will kill thee,’ the girl said. ‘You are no match for him.’
‘Artemis must be freed,’ Zoë insisted. ‘Let us pass.’
The girl shook her head. ‘You have no rights here any more. We have only to raise our voices and Ladon will wake.’
‘He will not hurt me,’ Zoë said.
‘No? And what about thy so-called friends?’
Then Zoë did the last thing I expected. She shouted, ‘Ladon! Wake!’
The dragon stirred, glittering like a mountain of pennies. The Hesperides yelped and scattered. The lead girl said to Zoë, ‘Are you mad?’