Indigo Eyes

Chapter 60

The Hesperides were nymphs of the sunset and the only way to enter their garden, to find Artemis and Annabeth, was to enter the garden when day changes into night and they had to do it that day because the day after was the winter solstice. But first, they had to get Bessie to a safe place and the only way to do that was to have the only person that could communicate with the Ophiotaurus go with him. Grover had placed a blessing of the Wild on Bessie to help with safe passage and then Percy had done something that made Cressida admire her friend even more.

Grover had asked Percy to pray to his father for safe passage as well, but a prayer like that required a pretty big sacrifice, and Percy knew exactly what to sacrifice.

Grover had protested against the sacrifice of the Nemean Lion's coat, saying that Hercules used it and it could be very helpful when Percy realised something. Hercules had been the hero that wronged Zoë thousands of years ago. And Percy was not Hercules. He may have been a hero, but he would not leave anyone behind.

He'd glanced at Cressida when he'd realised that. Because he was reminded of what her father had said. And he was going to prove Dionysus wrong as he threw the coat into the water.

But there was still no way they could possibly make it to the other side of San Francisco before sunset on foot. Which left them with one option that Cressida came up with.

Contacting Annabeth's father.

Frederick Chase was nothing like Annabeth had initially told her friends, nor was his wife and their kids. In fact, the woman who they thought was going to turn into a raving lunatic at the mention of Annabeth's name, said it was nice to meet Cressida and Percy because she'd heard a lot about them. She'd even brought them food.

As for Annabeth's father, the minute they'd finished their story Dr Chase had been ready to get them to Mount Tamalpais, first suggesting his 2-seater biplane before Thalia asked for a car and suggested that he stay behind.

Both Cressida and Percy were surprised at what Mrs Chase had asked of them before they left. She'd ask them to remind Annabeth that she always had a home with them. And that's when Cressida knew that Annabeth could never join the Hunters, not if there was a chance to get some of her family back, especially after the way Luke betrayed her. Not if there was hope.

However, driving in San Francisco made Cressida very glad she had headphones until Percy yanked one out of her ear to take for himself.

Thalia rode shotgun and Zoë drove.

Thalia complained about Zoë's driving and Zoë retorted with being unable to control traffic.

Thalia heard Percy speak, Zoë heard Percy speak, and both told him to shut up.

Cressida grinned at that as Percy resorted to staring out the window as a guy sang about wanting to be lazy and do nothing today in his ear.

Zoë weaved in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking on the horizon when they finally got into Marin County and exited the highway. The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and around the edges of steep ravines. Zoë didn't slow down at all as Mount Tam loomed ahead of them, growing bigger and darker as they got closer.

As they drove, Zoë explained why it was called the Mountain of Despair. After the first Titan War when many of the Titans were imprisoned and Kronos was thrown into Tartarus, his right-hand man and the general of his forces was imprisoned up at the summit - the General they'd heard about almost a week ago.

And the summit where the General was said to be imprisoned, clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain were drawing them in, spinning them like a top.