𐌙/𐌍 Ᏽ𐌵𐌀𐌋𐌄 & 𐌕𐋅𐌄 Ᏽ𐌐𐌄𐌀𐌕 𐌌𐌙𐌕𐋅𐌔 ¹

Chapter 9

Nine
𖧷

How To Grow Zombies 101

  The thing about flying on a pegasus during the daytime is that if you're not careful, you can cause a serious traffic accident on the Long Island Expressway. Percy and I had to keep Blackjack up in the clouds, which were, fortunately, pretty low in the winter. We darted around, trying to keep the white Camp Half-Blood van in sight.

  We lost the van twice, but I had a pretty good sense that they would go into Manhattan first, so it wasn't too difficult to pick up their trail again.

  Traffic was bad with the holidays and all. It was mid morning before they got into the city. I landed Blackjack near the top of the Chrysler Building and watched the white camp van, thinking it would pull into the bus station, but it just kept driving.

  "Where's Argus taking them?" I muttered.

  "Oh, Argus ain't driving, boss," Blackjack told me. "That girl is."

  "Which girl?"

  "The Hunter girl. With the silver crown thing in her hair."

  "Zoe?"

  "That's the one. Hey, look! There's a donut shop. Can we get something to go?"

   I tried explaining to Blackjack that taking a flying horse to a donut shop would give every cop in there a heart attack, but he didn't seem to get it. Meanwhile, the van kept snaking its way toward the Lincoln Tunnel. It had never even occurred to me that Zoe could drive. I mean, she didn't look sixteen. Then again, she was immortal. I wondered if she had a New York license, and if so, what her birth date said.

  "Well," I said. "Lets get after them."

  We were about to leap off the Chrysler Building when Blackjack whinnied in alarm and almost threw me. Something was curling around my leg like a snake. I reached for my sword, but when I looked down, there was no snake. Vines—grape vines—had sprouted from the cracks between the stones of the building. They were wrapping around Blackjack's legs, lashing down mine and Percy's ankles so we couldn't move.

  "Going somewhere?" Mr. D asked.

  He was leaning against the building with his feet levitating in the air, his leopard-skin warm-up suit and black hair whipping around in the wind.

  "God alert!" Blackjack yelled. "It's the wine dude!"

  Mr. D sighed in exasperation. "The next person, or horse, who calls me the “wine dude” will end up in a bottle of Merlot!"

  "Mr. D." I tried to keep my voice calm as the grape vines continued to wrap around my legs. "What do you want?"

  "Oh, what do I want? You thought, perhaps, that the immortal, all-powerful director of camp would not notice you leaving without permission?"

  "Yeah?"

  "I should throw you off this building, minus the flying horse, and see how heroic you sound on the way down."

  I balled my fists. I knew I should keep my mouth shut, but Mr. D was about to kill me or haul me back to camp in shame, and I couldn't stand either idea. "Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?"

  Purple flames flickered in his eyes. "You're a hero, boy. I need no other reason."

  "I have to go on this quest! I've got to help my friends. That's something you wouldn't understand!"

  "Um, boss," Blackjack said nervously. "Seeing as how we're wrapped in vines nine hundred feet in the air, you might want to talk nice."

  The grape vines coiled tighter around me. Below us, the white van was getting farther and farther away. Soon it would be out of sight.