𐌙/𐌍 Ᏽ𐌵𐌀𐌋𐌄 & 𐌕𐋅𐌄 Ᏽ𐌐𐌄𐌀𐌕 𐌌𐌙𐌕𐋅𐌔 ¹

Chapter 16

Sixteen
𖧷

We Meet The Dragon

  "We will never make it," Zoe said. "We are moving too slow. But we cannot leave the Ophiotaurus."

  "Please don't," Bessie said. She swam next to me as we jogged along the waterfront. We'd left the shopping center pier far behind. We were heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was a lot farther than I'd realized. The sun was already dipping in the west.

  "I don't get it," I said. "Why do we have to get there at sunset?"

  "The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoe said. "We can only enter their garden as day changes to night."

  "What happens if we miss it?"

  "Tomorrow is winter solstice. If we miss sunset tonight, we would have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight."

  Or Annabeth will be dead, I thought, but I didn't say that.

  "We need a car," Thalia said.

  "But what about Bessie?" I asked.

  Grover stopped in his tracks. "I've got an idea! The Ophiotaurus can appear in different bodies of water, right?"

  "Well, yeah," I said. "I mean, she was in Long Island Sound. Then she just popped into the water at Hoover Dam. And now she's here."

  "So maybe we could coax her back to Long Island Sound," Grover said. "Then Chiron could help us get her to Olympus."

  "But she was following me" I said. "If I'm not there, would she know where she's going?"

  He bent down and said something in Bessie's ear. Bessie shivered, then made a contented, lowing sound.

  "The blessing of the Wild," Grover said. "That should help with safe passage. Percy, pray to your dad, too. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."

  I didn't understand how they could possibly swim back to Long Island from California. Then again, monsters didn't travel the same way as humans. I'd seen plenty evidence of that.

  Percy stepped into the water. He breathed in deeply, concentrating on the sea.

  "Dad," he said. "Help us. Get the Ophiotaurus and Grover safely to camp. Protect them at sea."

  "A prayer like that needs a sacrifice," Thalia said. "Something big."

  I thought for a second. Then I took off my coat.

  "(y/n)," Grover said. "Are you sure? That lion skin… that's really helpful. Hercules used it!"

  As soon as he said that, I realized something.

  I glanced at Zoe, who was watching me carefully. I realized I did know who Zoe's hero had been—the one who'd ruined her life, gotten her kicked out of her family, and never even mentioned how she'd helped him: Hercules, a hero I'd admired all my life.

  "If I'm going to survive," I said, "it won't be because I've got a lion-skin cloak. I'm not Hercules."

  I threw the coat into the bay. It turned back into a golden lion skin, flashing in the light. Then, as it began to sink beneath the waves, it seemed to dissolve into sunlight on the water.

  The sea breeze picked up.

  Grover took a deep breath. "Well, no time to lose."

  He jumped in the water and immediately began to sink. Bessie glided next to him and let Grover take hold of her neck.