The Adventure That Lies Ahead | PJO x HP

CHAPTER 50

"We will never make it," Zoë said. "We are moving too slowly. But we cannot leave the Ophiotaurus."

"Mooo," Bessie said. He swam next to Isa as they jogged along the waterfront. They'd left the shopping-center pier far behind. They were heading towards the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was a lot further than she'd realized. The sun was already dipping in the west.

"I don't get it," Percy said. "Why do we have to get there at sunset?"

"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoë said. "We can only enter their garden as day changes to night."

"What happens if we miss it?"

"Tomorrow is winter solstice. If we miss sunset tonight, we would have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight."

'Or Annabeth will be dead,' Isa thought, but she didn't say that.

"We need a car," Thalia said.

"But what about Bessie?" Isa asked.

Grover stopped in his tracks. "I've got an idea! The Ophiotaurus can appear in different bodies of water, right?"

"Well, yeah," Percy said. "I mean, he was in Long Island Sound. Then he just popped into the water at Hoover Dam. And now he's here."

"So maybe we could coax him back to Long Island Sound," Grover said. "Then Chiron could help us get him to Olympus."

"But he was following me and Isa," Percy said. "If one of us isn't there, would he know where he's going?"

"Moo," Bessie said forlornly.

"I... I can show him," Grover said. "I'll go with him."

Isa stared at Grover.

Grover was no fan of the water. He'd almost drowned last summer in the Sea of Monsters, and he couldn't swim very well with his goat hooves.

"I'm the only one who can talk to him," Grover said. "It makes sense."

He bent down and said something in Bessie's ear. Bessie shivered, then made a contented, lowing sound.

"The blessing of the Wild," Grover said. "That should help with safe passage. Percy, Isa, pray to your dad, too. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."

Isa didn't understand how they could possibly swim back to Long Island from California. Then again, monsters didn't travel the same way as humans. She'd seen plenty of evidence of that.

Isa tried to concentrate on the waves, the smell of the ocean, the sound of the tide.

"Dad," Isa said. "Help us. Get the Ophiotaurus and Grover safely to camp. Protect them at sea."

"Please bring them back safe," Percy added.

"A prayer like that needs a sacrifice," Thalia said. "Something big."

Isa thought for a second. Then she took off her coat. She looked at Percy who gave a nod of approval.

"Percy, Isa," Grover said. "Are you two sure? That lion skin... that's really helpful. Hercules used it!"

As soon as he said that, Percy realized something. He glanced at Zoë, who was watching Percy carefully. He realized he did know who Zoë's hero had been; the one who'd ruined her life, got her kicked out of her family, and never even mentioned how she'd helped him. Hercules, a hero he'd admired all my life. Isa didn't. She thought he was arrogant and a dick.