by Rick Riordan
Some of that, Percy had already figured out. Hazel and Frank had obviously shared some crazy experiences when they had blacked out together, and they’d made some sort of deal. It also explained why even now, out of habit, Frank kept checking his coat pocket, and why he was so nervous around fire. Still, Percy couldn’t imagine what kind of courage it had taken for Frank to embark on a quest, knowing that one small flame could snuff out his life.
‘Frank,’ he said, ‘I’m proud to be related to you.’
Frank’s ears turned red. With his head lowered, his military haircut made a sharp black arrow pointing down. ‘Juno has some sort of plan for us, about the Prophecy of Seven.’
‘Yeah,’ Percy grumbled. ‘I didn’t like her as Hera. I don’t like her any better as Juno.’
Hazel tucked her feet underneath her. She studied Percy with her luminescent golden eyes, and he wondered how she could be so calm. She was the youngest one on the quest, but she was always holding them together and comforting them. Now they were flying to Alaska, where she had died once before. They would try to free Thanatos, who might take her back to the Underworld. Yet she didn’t show any fear. It made Percy feel silly for being scared of aeroplane turbulence.
‘You’re a son of Poseidon, aren’t you?’ she asked. ‘You are a Greek demigod.’
Percy gripped his leather necklace. ‘I started to remember in Portland, after the gorgon’s blood. It’s been coming back to me slowly since then. There’s another camp – Camp Half-Blood.’
Just saying the name made Percy feel warm inside. Good memories washed over him: the smell of strawberry fields in the warm summer sun, fireworks lighting up the beach on the Fourth of July, satyrs playing panpipes at the nightly campfire and a kiss at the bottom of the canoe lake.
Hazel and Frank stared at him as though he’d slipped into another language.
‘Another camp,’ Hazel repeated. ‘A Greek camp? Gods, if Octavian found out –’
‘He’d declare war,’ Frank said. ‘He’s always been sure the Greeks were out there, plotting against us. He thought Percy was a spy.’
‘That’s why Juno sent me,’ Percy said. ‘Uh, I mean, not to spy. I think it was some kind of exchange. Your friend Jason – I think he was sent to my camp. In my dreams, I saw a demigod that might have been him. He was working with some other demigods on this flying warship. I think they’re coming to Camp Jupiter to help.’
Frank tapped nervously on the back of his seat. ‘Mars said Juno wants to unite the Greeks and Romans to fight Gaia. But, jeez – Greeks and Romans have a long history of bad blood.’
Hazel took a deep breath. ‘That’s probably why the gods have kept us apart this long. If a Greek warship appeared in the sky above Camp Jupiter, and Reyna didn’t know it was friendly –’
‘Yeah,’ Percy agreed. ‘We’ve got to be careful how we explain this when we get back.’
‘If we get back,’ Frank said.
Percy nodded reluctantly. ‘I mean, I trust you guys. I hope you trust me. I feel … well, I feel as close to you two as to any of my old friends at Camp Half-Blood. But with the other demigods, at both camps – there’s going to be a lot of suspicion.’
Hazel did something he wasn’t expecting. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. It was totally a sisterly kiss. But she smiled with such affection that it warmed Percy right down to his feet.
‘Of course we trust you,’ she said. ‘We’re a family now. Aren’t we, Frank?’
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Do I get a kiss?’
Hazel laughed, but there was nervous tension in it. ‘Anyway, what do we do now?’
Percy took a deep breath. Time was slipping away. They were almost halfway through June twenty-third, and tomorrow was the Feast of Fortuna. ‘I’ve got to contact a friend – to keep my promise to Ella.’
‘How?’ Frank said. ‘One of those Iris-messages?’
‘Still not working,’ Percy said sadly. ‘I tried it last night at your grandmother’s house. No luck. Maybe it’s because my memories are still jumbled. Or the gods aren’t allowing a connection. I’m hoping I can contact my friend in my dreams.’
Another bump of turbulence made him grab his seat. Below them, snowcapped mountains broke through a blanket of clouds.
‘I’m not sure I can sleep,’ Percy said. ‘But I need to try. We can’t leave Ella by herself with those ogres around.’
‘Yeah,’ Frank said. ‘We’ve still got hours to fly. Take the couch, man.’
Percy nodded. He felt lucky to have Hazel and Frank watching out for him. What he’d said to them was true – he trusted them. In the weird, terrifying, horrible experience of losing his memory and getting ripped out of his old life – Hazel and Frank were the bright spots.
He stretched out, closed his eyes and dreamed he was falling from a mountain of ice towards a cold sea.
The dream shifted. He was back in Vancouver, standing in front of the ruins of the Zhang mansion. The Laistrygonians were gone. The mansion was reduced to a burnt-out shell. A crew of firefighters was packing up their equipment, getting ready to move out. The lawn looked like a war zone, with smoking craters and trenches from the blown-out irrigation pipes.
At the edge of the forest, a giant shaggy black dog was bounding around, sniffing the trees. The firefighters completely ignored him.
Beside one of the craters knelt a Cyclops in oversized jeans, boots and a massive flannel shirt. His messy brown hair was spattered with rain and mud. When he raised his head, his big brown eye was red from crying.
‘Close!’ he moaned. ‘So close, but gone!’
It broke Percy’s heart to hear the pain and worry in the big guy’s voice, but he knew they only had a few seconds to talk. The edges of the vision were already dissolving. If Alaska was the land beyond the gods, Percy figured the further north he went, the harder it would be to communicate with his friends, even in his dreams.
‘Tyson!’ he called.
The Cyclops looked around frantically. ‘Percy? Brother?’
‘Tyson, I’m okay. I’m here – well, not really.’
Tyson grabbed the air like he was trying to catch butterflies. ‘Can’t see you! Where is my brother?’
‘Tyson, I’m flying to Alaska. I’m okay. I’ll be back. Just find Ella. She’s a harpy with red feathers. She’s hiding in the woods around the house.’
‘Find a harpy? A red harpy?’
‘Yes! Protect her, okay? She’s my friend. Get her back to California. There’s a demigod camp in the Oakland Hills – Camp Jupiter. Meet me above the Caldecott Tunnel.’
‘Oakland Hills … California … Caldecott Tunnel.’ He shouted to the dog: ‘Mrs O’Leary! We must find a harpy!’
‘WOOF!’ said the dog.
Tyson’s face started to dissolve. ‘My brother is okay? My brother is coming back? I miss you!’
‘I miss you, too.’ Percy tried to keep his voice from cracking. ‘I’ll see you soon. Just be careful! There’s a giant’s army marching south. Tell Annabeth –’
The dream shifted.
Percy found himself standing in the hills north of Camp Jupiter, looking down at the Field of Mars and New Rome. At the legion’s fort, horns were blowing. Campers scrambled to muster.
The giant’s army was arrayed to Percy’s left and right – centaurs with bull’s horns, the six-armed Earthborn and evil Cyclopes in scrap-metal armour. The Cyclopes’ siege tower cast a shadow across the feet of the giant Polybotes, who grinned down at the Roman camp. He paced eagerly across the hill, snakes dropping from his green dreadlocks, his dragon legs stomping down small trees. On his green-blue armour, the decorative faces of hungry monsters seemed to blink in the shadows.
‘Yes,’ he chuckled, planting his trident in the ground. ‘Blow your little horns, Romans. I’ve come to destroy you! Stheno!’
The gorgon scrambled out of the bushes. Her lime green viper hair and Bargain Mart
vest clashed horribly with the giant’s colour scheme.
‘Yes, master!’ she said. ‘Would you like a Puppy-in-a-Blanket?’
She held up a tray of free samples.
‘Hmm,’ Polybotes said. ‘What sort of puppy?’
‘Ah, they’re not actually puppies. They’re tiny hot dogs in crescent rolls, but they’re on sale this week –’
‘Bah! Never mind, then! Are our forces ready to attack?’
‘Oh –’ Stheno stepped back quickly to avoid getting flattened by the giant’s foot. ‘Almost, great one. Ma Gasket and half her Cyclopes stopped in Napa. Something about a winery tour? They promised to be here by tomorrow evening.’
‘What?’ The giant looked around, as if just noticing that a big portion of his army was missing. ‘Gah! That Cyclops woman will give me an ulcer. Winery tour?’
‘I think there was cheese and crackers, too,’ Stheno said helpfully. ‘Though Bargain Mart has a much better deal.’
Polybotes ripped an oak tree out of the ground and threw it into the valley. ‘Cyclopes! I tell you, Stheno, when I destroy Neptune and take over the oceans, we will renegotiate the Cyclopes’ labour contract. Ma Gasket will learn her place! Now, what news from the north?’
‘The demigods have left for Alaska,’ Stheno said. ‘They fly straight to their death. Ah, small “d” death, I mean. Not our prisoner Death. Although, I suppose they’re flying to him, too.’
Polybotes growled. ‘Alcyoneus had better spare the son of Neptune as he promised. I want that one chained at my feet, so I can kill him when the time is ripe. His blood shall water the stones of Mount Olympus and wake the Earth Mother! What word from the Amazons?’
‘Only silence,’ Stheno said. ‘We do not yet know the winner of last night’s duel, but it is only a matter of time before Otrera prevails and comes to our aid.’
‘Hmm.’ Polybotes absently scratched some vipers out of his hair. ‘Perhaps it’s just as well we wait, then. Tomorrow at sundown is Fortuna’s Feast. By then, we must invade – Amazons or no. In the meantime, dig in! We set up camp here, on high ground.’
‘Yes, great one!’ Stheno announced to the troops: ‘Puppies-in-Blankets for everyone!’
The monsters cheered.
Polybotes spread his hands in front of him, taking in the valley like a panoramic picture. ‘Yes, blow your little horns, demigods. Soon, the legacy of Rome will be destroyed for the last time!’
The dream faded.
Percy woke with a jolt as the plane started its descent.
Hazel laid her hand on his shoulder. ‘Sleep okay?’
Percy sat up groggily. ‘How long was I out?’
Frank stood in the aisle, wrapping his spear and new bow in his ski bag. ‘A few hours,’ he said. ‘We’re almost there.’
Percy looked out of the window. A glittering inlet of the sea snaked between snowy mountains. In the distance, a city was carved out of the wilderness, surrounded by lush green forests on one side and icy black beaches on the other.
‘Welcome to Alaska,’ Hazel said. ‘We’re beyond the help of the gods.’
XXXVIII
Percy
The pilot said the plane couldn’t wait for them, but that was okay with Percy. If they survived till the next day, he hoped they could find a different way back – anything but a plane.
He should’ve been depressed. He was stuck in Alaska, the giant’s home territory, out of contact with his old friends just as his memories were coming back. He had seen an image of Polybotes’s army about to invade Camp Jupiter. He’d learned that the giants planned to use him as some kind of blood sacrifice to awaken Gaia. Plus, tomorrow evening was the Feast of Fortuna. He, Frank and Hazel had an impossible task to complete before then. At best, they would unleash Death, who might take Percy’s two friends to the Underworld. Not much to look forward to.
Still, Percy felt strangely invigorated. His dream of Tyson had lifted his spirits. He remembered Tyson, his brother. They’d fought together, celebrated victories, shared good times at Camp Half-Blood. He remembered his home, and that gave him a new determination to succeed. He was fighting for two camps now – two families.
Juno had stolen his memory and sent him to Camp Jupiter for a reason. He understood that now. He still wanted to punch her in her godly face, but at least he got her reasoning. If the two camps could work together, they stood a chance of stopping their mutual enemies. Separately, both camps were doomed.
There were other reasons Percy wanted to save Camp Jupiter. Reasons he didn’t dare put into words – not yet, anyway. Suddenly he saw a future for himself and for Annabeth that he’d never imagined before.
As they took a taxi into downtown Anchorage, Percy told Frank and Hazel about his dreams. They looked anxious but not surprised when he told them about the giant’s army closing in on camp.
Frank choked when he heard about Tyson. ‘You have a half-brother who’s a Cyclops?’
‘Sure,’ Percy said. ‘Which makes him your great-great-great –’
‘Please.’ Frank covered his ears. ‘Enough.’
‘As long as he can get Ella to camp,’ Hazel said. ‘I’m worried about her.’
Percy nodded. He was still thinking about the lines of prophecy the harpy had recited – about the son of Neptune drowning, and the mark of Athena burning through Rome. He wasn’t sure what the first part meant, but he was starting to have an idea about the second. He tried to set the question aside. He had to survive this quest first.
The taxi turned on Highway One, which looked more like a small street to Percy, and took them north towards downtown. It was late afternoon, but the sun was still high in the sky.
‘I can’t believe how much this place has grown,’ Hazel muttered.
The taxi driver grinned in the rearview mirror. ‘Been a long time since you visited, miss?’
‘About seventy years,’ Hazel said.
The driver slid the glass partition closed and drove on in silence.
According to Hazel, almost none of the buildings were the same, but she pointed out features of the landscape: the vast forests ringing the city, the cold, grey waters of Cook Inlet tracing the north edge of town, and the Chugach Mountains rising greyish-blue in the distance, capped with snow even in June.
Percy had never smelled air this clean before. The town itself had a weather-beaten look to it, with closed stores, rusted-out cars and worn apartment complexes lining the road, but it was still beautiful. Lakes and huge stretches of woods cut through the middle. The Arctic sky was an amazing combination of turquoise and gold.
Then there were the giants. Dozens of bright-blue men, each thirty feet tall with grey frosty hair, were wading through the forests, fishing in the bay and striding across the mountains. The mortals didn’t seem to notice them. The taxi passed within a few yards of one who was sitting at the edge of a lake washing his feet, but the driver didn’t panic.
‘Um …’ Frank pointed at the blue guy.
‘Hyperboreans,’ Percy said. He was amazed he remembered that name. ‘Northern giants. I fought some when Kronos invaded Manhattan.’
‘Wait,’ Frank said. ‘When who did what?’
‘Long story. But these guys look … I don’t know, peaceful.’
‘They usually are,’ Hazel agreed. ‘I remember them. They’re everywhere in Alaska, like bears.’
‘Bears?’ Frank said nervously.
‘The giants are invisible to mortals,’ Hazel said. ‘They never bothered me, though one almost stepped on me by accident once.’
That sounded fairly bothersome to Percy, but the taxi kept driving. None of the giants paid them any attention. One stood right at the intersection of Northern Lights Road, straddling the highway, and they drove between his legs. The Hyperborean was cradling a Native American totem pole wrapped in furs, humming to it like a baby. If the guy hadn’t been the size of a building, he would’
ve been almost cute.
The taxi drove through downtown, past a bunch of tourists’ shops advertising furs, Native American art and gold. Percy hoped Hazel wouldn’t get agitated and make the jewellery shops explode.
As the driver turned and headed towards the seashore, Hazel knocked on the glass partition. ‘Here is good. Can you let us out?’
They paid the driver and stepped onto Fourth Street. Compared to Vancouver, downtown Anchorage was tiny – more like a college campus than a city, but Hazel looked amazed.
‘It’s huge,’ she said. ‘That – that’s where the Gitchell Hotel used to be. My mom and I stayed there our first week in Alaska. And they’ve moved City Hall. It used to be there.’
She led them in a daze for a few blocks. They didn’t really have a plan beyond finding the fastest way to the Hubbard Glacier, but Percy smelled something cooking nearby – sausage, maybe? He realized he hadn’t eaten since that morning at Grandma Zhang’s.
‘Food,’ he said. ‘Come on.’
They found a café right by the beach. It was bustling with people, but they scored a table at the window and perused the menus.
Frank whooped with delight. ‘Twenty-four-hour breakfast!’
‘It’s, like, dinnertime,’ Percy said, though he couldn’t tell from looking outside. The sun was so high it could’ve been noon.
‘I love breakfast,’ Frank said. ‘I’d eat breakfast, breakfast and breakfast if I could. Though, um, I’m sure the food here isn’t as good as Hazel’s.’
Hazel elbowed him, but her smile was playful.
Seeing them like that made Percy happy. Those two definitely needed to get together. But it also made him sad. He thought about Annabeth, and wondered if he’d live long enough to see her again.
Think positive, he told himself.
‘You know,’ he said, ‘breakfast sounds great.’
They all ordered massive plates of eggs, pancakes and reindeer sausage, though Frank looked a little worried about the reindeer. ‘You think it’s okay that we’re eating Rudolph?’
‘Dude,’ Percy said, ‘I could eat Prancer and Blitzen, too. I’m hungry.’