RED ¹ / Percy Jackson !

70

THALIA HAD TALOS' ATTENTION FOR THE MOMENT. She'd learned that the giant was big but slow. If you could stay close to it and not get smashed, you could run around it and stay alive. At least, it was working so far.

Bianca got right next to the giant's foot, trying to balance herself on the metal scraps that swayed and shifted with his weight.

 Zoe yelled, "What are you doing?" 

 "Get it to raise its foot!" she said.

Zoe shot an arrow toward the monster's face and it flew straight into one nostril. The giant straightened and shook its head.  Viviene cussed and touched a spike on her crown, putting away her sword and deciding to use her trident.

 "Hey, Junk Boy!" Viviene yelled. "Down here." 

Viviene ran up to its big toe and stabbed it with Atos . The magic electric blade cut a gash in the bronze.

Unfortunately, Viviene's  plan worked. Talos looked down at her and raised his foot to squash her like a bug. Viviene didn't see what Bianca was doing. She had to turn and run. The foot came down about two inches behind her and she was knocked into the air. Viviene hit something hard and sat up, dazed. She'd been thrown into an Olympus-Air refrigerator. Percy ran up to Viviene, kneeling down next to her with Riptide in his hand.

The monster was about to finish her off, but Grover somehow dug himself out of the junk pile. He played his pipes frantically, and his music sent another power line pole whacking against Talos's thigh. The monster turned. Grover should've run, but he must've been too exhausted from the effort of so much magic. He took two steps, fell, and didn't get back up.

"Grover!" Thalia, Viviene and Percy  ran toward him, but Viviene knew they'd be too late. 

 The monster raised his sword to smash Grover. Then he froze.

Talos cocked his head to one side, like he was hearing strange new music. He started moving his arms and legs in weird ways, doing the Funky Chicken. Then he made a fist and punched himself in the face. 

 "Go, Bianca!" Viviene yelled, a smirk on her face.

Zoe looked horrified. "She is inside?"

The monster staggered around, and Viviene realized they were still in danger. Thalia , Percy and her grabbed Grover and ran with him toward the highway. 

Zoe was already ahead of them. She yelled, "How will Bianca get out?"

The giant hit itself in the head again and dropped his sword. A shudder ran through his whole body and he staggered toward the power lines. 

 "Look out!" Percy yelled, but it was too late.

The giant's ankle snared the lines, and blue flickers of electricity shot up his body. Viviene hoped the inside was insulated. She had no idea what was going on in there. The giant careened back into the junkyard, and his right hand fell off, landing in the scrap metal with a horrible CLANG!

 His left arm came loose, too. He was falling apart at the joints. 

 Talos began to run.

"Wait!" Zoe yelled. They ran after him, but there was no way they could keep up. Pieces of the robot kept falling off, getting in their way. The giant crumbled from the top down: his head, his chest, and finally, his legs collapsed.

 When they reached the wreckage we searched frantically, yelling Bianca's name. We crawled around in the vast hollow pieces and the legs and the head. They searched until the sun started to rise, but no luck. 

 Zoe sat down and wept. 

Thalia yelled in rage and impaled her sword in the giant's smashed face.

 "We can keep searching," Percy said. "It's light now. We'll find her."

 "No we won't," Grover said miserably. "It happened just as it was supposed to."

 "What are you talking about?" Percy  demanded. He looked up at Percy with big watery eyes. 

"The prophecy. " Viviene spoke up, causing Percy to look at her somber face."One shall he lost in the land without rain." 

 Why hadn't she seen it? Why had she let her go? 

 Here they were in the desert. 

And Bianca di Angelo was gone. 

**

At the edge of the dump, they found a tow truck so old it might've been thrown away itself. But the engine started, and it had a full tank of gas, so they decided to borrow it. 

 Thalia drove. She didn't seem as stunned as Zoe or Grover or Percy. Viviene on the other hand, stared out the window with an expressionless glare.

"The skeletons are still out there," she reminded us. "We need to keep moving." 

 She navigated them through the desert, under clear blue skies, the sand so bright it hurt to look at. Zoe sat up front with Thalia. Grover, Viviene and Percy  sat in the pickup bed, leaning against the tow wench. The air was cool and dry, but the nice weather just seemed like an insult after losing Bianca. 

Percy's hand closed around the little figurine that had cost her life. He still couldn't even tell what god it was supposed to be. Nico would know. 

 Oh, gods... what was he going to tell Nico? Percy wanted to believe that Bianca was still alive somewhere. But he had a bad feeling that she was gone for good.

 "It should've been me," Percy said. "I should've gone into the giant."

"Don't say that!" Grover panicked. "It's bad enough Annabeth is gone, and now Bianca. Do you think I could stand it if..." He sniffled. "Do you think anybody else would be my best friend?" 

 "Ah, Grover..."

He wiped under his eyes with an oily cloth that left his face grimy, like he had on war paint. 

"I'm... I'm okay." 

But he wasn't okay. Ever since the encounter in New Mexico—whatever had happened when that wild wind blew through—he seemed really fragile, even more emotional than usual. Percy was afraid to talk to him about it, because he might start bawling.

"It shouldn't have been you, Perce." Viviene spoke up in a strangely calm and soft voice. Percy glanced at her, only to see her still looking out the window, refusing to meet his eyes." It shouldn't have been any of us. It needed to be Bianca, and we all know it.I know it's easier to blame yourself than admit it, but her fate was doomed as soon as Zoe called her name for this quest."

"I promised Nico." Percy's voice was quiet as he told her. Viviene finally turned her head towards him and grabbed his hand.

"It'll be okay, bubbles." Viviene smiled, her own eyes tearing up at the mention of Nico, Bianca's younger brother that was now an only child. "We'll take care of Nico together. I'm sure he'll understand."

Percy wasn't convinced, but he nodded nonetheless.