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chapter fifty-one ☄︎. *. ⋆
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IF IT HADN'T BEEN for the huge scaly 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 colors they seemed to glow in the dark.
Stepping stones of polished black marble led around either side of a five-story-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 around 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. He had more heads than I could count, as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together. He 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 my bow, 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 three half-bloods and a Hunter. All of whom shall soon die."
"You've got it wrong." Percy stepped forward. "Nobody is going to die."
The girls studied him. They had eyes like volcanic rock, glassy and completely black. One of their gazes trickled back to me and Thalia. I gripped my bow, but for some reason, I didn't feel like I had to use it quite yet. There was an air of peace in the garden.
I blinked. No, I wasn't safe. They were luring me into a false sense of security, but I wasn't going to fall for it.
"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, toward the top of the mountain. "They fear thee. They are unhappy that this one has not yet killed thee." She pointed at Thalia.
