•as the world caves in•

•we have another problem•

The statues took us to San Francisco in just a few hours, which saved us a ton of needed time. We came to the conclusion we needed to find Nereus, which we knew wouldn't be easy.

Zoë forced Percy to dress up as though he was homeless, apparently Nereus had a thing for always staying by the water.

We watched from a distance, although we couldn't see much since they were under a pier, but we definitely heard the splashing of water.

"Percy must hold to him, otherwise we will fail." Zoë said, looking at tense as ever.

"If they're in the water Percy has the upper hand." I said. "The water is his second home."

"The water is also Nereus's home." Zoë mumbled. We heard a splash again, this time there was lots of heaving and gasping, probably for air, so we ran down. "You got him!"

"I knew you could do it!" I grinned, refraining from giving him a hug with his drenched clothes. "Now, come on, ask him our question."

Percy sighed as though he didn't know what to ask. I understood, I wanted to know about the monster and Artemis, but I also desperately wanted to know if Annabeth was okay.

Finally, Percy looked at the man. "Where is the terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting."

The man smiled. "That's too easy, he's right there."

We looked down, but all there was was water and sand. Before we could protest, Nereus was gone. Then, a cow, maybe bull, was on the ground mooing.

Grover communicated with the bull, named Ophiotaurus, or as Percy had called him, Bessie, and was running from the bad people.

Zoë shook her head. "This is from the War of the Titans. He does not bring the gods down in destruction like a beast, he does so by being sacrificed. There is power in killing innocence, terrible power. The Fates ordained a prophecy eons ago, when this creature was born. They said that whoever killed the Ophiotaurus and sacrificed its entrails to fire would have the power to destroy the gods."

"We have to protect him," Percy said. "If Luke gets him—"

"Luke won't hesitate." I said. "The power to overthrow Olympus, to take what he believes is his revenge, that's huge."

"Yes, it is, my dear," a man said with a thick French accent. He was pointing at Thalia. "And it is a power you shall unleash."

I knew that voice, but was still shocked when I turned around to see Dr. Thorn smirking down at us. I felt panic bubble in me, he was talking to Thalia, it would soon be her sixteenth birthday. Was she the child in the prophecy?

Grover started play his reeds, attacking two guards while Thorn shot his spines at us but Percy was able to reflect them with his Lion coat.

"Percy!" I shouted as we ran to the end of the pier. "Call your dad! Go in the sea, save the Ophiotaurus!"

"I won't leave you," Percy said. "We fight together."

I wanted to shove him in the sea myself because of how stubborn he was.

Grover rolled his eyes. "Get to camp! Tell them what's happening!"

I watched in horror as Percy IM'd camp, but Mr. D answered. We were dead. Thorn and his guards started closing in on us, when the sky turned almost purple. I smelled grapes and tasted something that could only be one thing - wine.

The guards went crazy, crawling around, dancing and eventually Thorn was entranced in grape vines until he was gone.

Percy thanked Mr. D and Zoë looked grim.

"Where to now?" I asked.

Zoë looked at a lonely mountain. "The garden of my sisters. I must go home."