I Ruin A Perfecly Good Bus
It didn't takeme long to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur horn in my cabin, which left me only extra change of clothes and toothbrush to stuff in a backpack Grover had found for me.
The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money and twently gold drachmas. These coin as were a big as Girl Schout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions- whatever that mean.
"At least you got some useful things," says Amphitrite with relief.
"Not that our stuff stayed with us for long," says Ariel, to which Grover and Annabeth grimace.
"What do you mean by that?" Poseidon asks worriedly.
"It will become clear in this part," says Ariel.
He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of nectar and Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally.
"Has anyone tried it before?" Hermes asks curiously, receiving many skeptical looks in response.
Annabeth was bringing her magic yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfty-birthday present from her mom.
Athena casts a doubtful glance at the cap, unsure whether it was a good idea to give it to her daughter or not.
She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector.
"Why did you bring a book on a quest?" Thalia asks, puzzled.
"I wanted to read it along the way," Annabeth says shyly.
Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Fuff's "so Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.
Apollo grimaces at the mention of bad music.
We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, than hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus.
Thalia grimaces. "Just Thalia, no need to add anything else," she says.
Zeus looks offendedly at his daughter, wondering why she isn't pleased to be mentioned as his daughter.
Chiron was waiting for us his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer dude I'd seen when I was recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be suprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face, and neck.
Aphrodite grimaces at the sight of Argus.
- This is Argus. - Chiron told me. - He will drive you into the city, and, er, well keep an eye on things.
