•as the world caves in•

•we find a boar•

We arrived in a small town, Cloudcraft, New Mexico. When you hear New Mexico, you think of how Mexico is described in the movies, or literally any form of media that is probably pushed out by an American or European who has no clue what they're talking about. You think of a desert and poor living conditions, you might think it's very hot and think you'd see a ton of people.

Now, I think we all know that most of that media isn't true, and while there is some truth to it, New Mexico isn't like that.

Cloudcraft was colder than DC, even if it was farther down south. The place was riddled with mountains and absolutely no way out. It was horrible. We split up to find supplies, and we found a few things out. Even though you could see the ski cabins in the distance, there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the only store sold rubber rats (very tempting), and there was no easy way in or out of here without a car.

Percy bought a rat after a clerk told us the nearest taxi would be an hour away and cost hundreds of dollars, so that wasn't too huge of an option.

I sat with Percy and Bianca as Thalia wandered to find somewhere else for help, Grover and Zoë in a coffee shop getting drinks and food.

I had spaced out for most of the conversation, until Bianca started to saying something strange. "Nico and I, we were told our parents were dead. There was a trust for us, a lost of money. A lawyer would check on us about once a month, then that lawyer told us we had to leave. I dunno why, but I know it was important. We stayed in a hotel for a few weeks and then one day a lawyer came and took us to Westover."

I looked up as Zoë and Grover handed us hot chocolate and muffins. Suddenly, a warm breeze passed, like one of those spring days where it felt like summer but the next day would feel like winter. Grover dropped his coffee, the cup covered in birds, of which peeled off and flew away. The rubber rat in my life scampered off.

And then, for the grand finale, Grover collapsed and groaned, eyes fluttering.

Thalia sprinted over. "Get him up! We have to get out now!"

Bianca and Zoë grabbed Grover and we started our lead out of town. We made it to the edge before the first skeleton warriors appeared, hand guns and dressed like police.

I drew lepída, although I wasn't too sure what it'd do against guns. Behind us, two more warriors appeared. I charged at one, which fired. It seemed as though time slowed, and I was able to deflect the bullet.

I looked over to Percy and I felt like I was being stabbed. Two warriors were aiming right at him. "Percy!"

He collapsed in the snow, but was able to get right back up. His Nemean Lion coat! It had to be bulletproof. I was thankful and went back to fighting, but it was impossible to kill them. When you slashed them, they just went right back.

I looked back at Zoë and Bianca, firing arrows, and then to Grover, who looked as though he was hugging trees.

Bianca stabbed one of them with her hunting knife, and it engulfed in flames, but she couldn't reproduce it with the others.

I looked behind the skeletons to see a large pig sprint out and attacked the remaining warriors, but then turned on us.

"That's the Erymanthian Boar!" Zoë shouted, diving out of its way.

We ran, weaving in and out of trees as we avoided the boar, until finding train tracks and following them. The boar got stuck and Grover grinned.

"It's a blessing! We can ride the boar and get west quicker!"

We slowly boarded and Percy asked, "how is this a blessing?"

Zoë looked at him like he was stupid. "The Lord of the Wild. Just for a moment, I felt the presence of Pan."

A/N:

Short chapter, I'm sorry! We're a little over halfway done with titans curse, so I'm trying to push out as much as I can, I hope you're enjoying this!