OH, CHÉRIE!¹ percy jackson

009

❛009❜

THEY RODE THE boar until sunset, which was about as much as her ass could take. imagine riding a giant steel brush over a bed of gravel all day. that's about how comfortable boar-riding was. she swore her ass was going to end up flatter than a board, which was concerning to her given that she quite like how it looked.

ivy had no idea how many miles they covered, but the mountains faded into the distance and were replaced by miles of flat dry land. the grass and scrub brush got sparser until they were galloping (is that the right word?) across the desert.

as night fell, the boar came to a stop at a creek bed and snorted. he started drinking the muddy water, then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chewed it, needles and all.

"this is as far as he'll go," grover said. "we need to get off while he's eating."

nobody needed convincing. they slipped off the boar's back while he was busy ripping up cacti. then they waddled away as best they could with their saddle sores.

after its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled round and galloped back towards the east.

"it likes the mountains better," percy said.

"i can't blame it," thalia said. "look."

ahead of them were a two-lane road half blown over 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 zoë nightshade was born, and 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 ivy noticed they weren't regular hills. the countryside was way too flat for that. the hills were enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. it was a junkyard that seemed to go on forever.

"whoa," ivy breathed out.

"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 and 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," the satyr said. "those five nuts right there."

"which one is me?" percy asked.

"the little deformed one," ivy and zoë suggested simultaneously. the two girls looked at each other and shared a high five.

percy glared at the gesture, rolling his eyes. "oh, shut up."

"that cluster right there," grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."

"a monster?" ivy 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 towards the junkyard. with the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked like something on an alien planet.

they decided to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. none of them wanted to go dump-diving in the dark.

zoë and bianca produced six sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. ivy knew it was some sort of magic that made it hold more stuff, because the packs were too tiny to carry the whole house they had packed. the hunters's bows and quivers were also magic, when they needed them, they just appeared slung over their backs.