My love for you has Stood the test of Time

The Junkyard of the Gods

Percy's POV:

          We rode the boar till sunset, which I'm pretty sure was all any of our back ends could take. Imagine riding a giant steel brush over a bed of gravel all day. That's how comfortable riding the Erymanthian boar-riding is. 

          We must have covered quite the distance. Over the course of our ride we left the mountains behind. The faded into the distance and the terrain was replaced with miles and miles of flat, dry land. The Grass and scrub brush got sparser until we were galloping (do boars gallop?) across the desert. 

          As night fell, the boar came to a stop at a pitiful looking creek bed and snorted. He started drinking the muddy water, the he ripped out a saguaro cactus from the ground and chewed it, needles and all. 

          "This is as far as he'll go," Grover translated for the group. "We should get off while he's eating." 

          None of us needed to be convinced. We all slipped off the boar's back while he was busy eating cacti. Then we waddled away as best as we could with our not so saddle sores. 

          After its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled around and galloped back toward the east. 

          "Must like the mountains better," I surmised petting the little ghost kitty.

          "I can't blame it," Thalia said. "Look."

          Ahead of us was a two -lane road half covered in sand. On the other side of the road was a cluster of buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shack that looked like it was last open before Zoe was born, and a white stucco post office with a sign that said Gila Claw, Arizona hanging crooked above the door. Beyond that was a range of hills ... but then I noticed they weren't regular hills. The countryside was far too flat for that. The hills were absolutely enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. It was a junkyard that seemed to stretch on forever.

          "Whoa," I said putting the kitten back in my hood. 

          "Something tells me we aren't renting a car here," Thalia said. She looked at Grover "I don't suppose you have another wild boar up your sleeve?"

          Grover was sniffing the wind, looking nervous. He fished out his acorns, throwing them in the sand, then he played his pipes. They arranged them selves in a pattern that made some sense to me but not a lot. 

          "What does it mean?" I asked Grover who looked concerned. 

          "Those are us," He said. "These five here." 

          "Right, and this cluster here?" I asked pointing to it. 

           "That's trouble," he said. 

           "A monster?" Thalia asked. 

           Grover looked uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge is in there," he pointed straight at the junkyard. With the sunlight fading, the hills of metal looked like something from an alien planet. 

          We decided to make camp for the night and try the junk yard in the morning. None of us wanted to go dumpster diving in the dark. 

           Zoe and Bianca produced five sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their back packs. It was quite magical since their backpacks were tiny. Must have been magical, enchanted to hold more kind of like their bows and quivers which just appear, and replenish arrows.