ｔｈｅ　ｔｉｔａｎｓ　ｃｕｒｓｅ

THEY WERE CROSSING THE POTOMAC when they spotted the helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model just like the ones they'd seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward them.

"They know the van," Percy said. "We have to ditch it."

Zoe swerved into the fast lane. The helicopter was gaining.

"Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover said hopefully.

"The military probably thinks it's one of theirs," Percy said. "How can the General use mortals, anyway?"

"Mercenaries," Zoe said bitterly. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid."

"But don't these mortals see who they're working for?" Percy asked. "Don't they notice all the monsters around them?"

Zoe shook her head. "I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."

Lucia thought back to her stepmother and knew just how right Zoe was.

The helicopter kept coming, making a lot better time than they were through D.C. traffic.

Thalia closed her eyes and prayed hard. "Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?"

But the sky stayed gray and snowy. No sign of a helpful thunderstorm

Thalia turned toward Lucia

"What do you want me to do? ask him to melt them out of the sky?!" Lucia exclaimed sarcastically

"There!" Bianca pointed. "That parking lot!"

"We'll be trapped," Zoe said.

"Trust me," Bianca pushed.

Zoe shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. They all left the van and followed Bianca down some steps.

"Subway entrance," Bianca said. "Let's go south. Alexandria."

"Anything," Thalia agreed.

They bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind them for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later they were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from D.C. As their train came above ground, they could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after them.

Grover let out a sigh. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."

Bianca looked pleased. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."

Grover frowned. "New? But that station looked really old."

"I guess," Bianca said. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway."

Lucia sat forward. "Wait a minute. No subway at all?"

Bianca nodded.

Now, Lucia knew nothing about D.C., but she didn't see how their entire subway system could have been less than twelve years old. She guessed everyone else was thinking the same thing because they looked pretty confused.

"Bianca," Zoe said. "How long ago..." Her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louder again.

"We need to change trains," Percy said. "Next station."

Over the next half hour, all they thought about was getting away safely. They changed trains twice. They had no idea where they were going, but after a while, they lost the helicopter.

Unfortunately, when they finally got off the train they found themselves at the end of the line, in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow. Lots of snow. It seemed much colder here.

Lucia wrapped her arms around herself, she didn't like the cold although, for the most part, she was able to endure it due to her body temperature naturally being on the warmer side.

But at this point, it was starting to get real freezing.

They wandered through the railway yard, thinking there might be another passenger train somewhere, but there were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow like they hadn't moved in years.

A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. They must've looked pretty pathetic, because he gave them a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!'

They huddled around his fire, Thalia's teeth were chattering. She said, "Well this is g-g-g-great."

"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.

"Feet," Percy corrected, for the sake of the homeless guy.

"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoe said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

Lucia gazed miserably around the rail yard. Somewhere, far to the west, Annabeth was in danger. Artemis was in chains. A doomsday monster was on the loose. And they were stuck on the outskirts of D.C., sharing a homeless person's fire.

"You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," Lucia said. "You know of any?"

He pointed one greasy hand.

Suddenly Lucia noticed a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.

"That's... convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh..."

She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of them was cold and empty, as if he'd taken the flames with him.
☼

AN HOUR LATER THEY WERE RUMBLING WEST. There was no problem about who would drive now, because they all got their own luxury car. Zoe and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover was playing race car driver behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.C.

And Lucia had chosen the orange Maserati that resembled her dad's sun chariot behind it, she had her headphones on as she played through one of her many playlists. For the occasion, she was making a new one called 'fighting for my life :D'.

"Join you?" Percy asked her.

She shrugged, so he climbed into the shotgun seat.

Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac played in her ear.

"Nice coat," she muttered

Percy pulled the brown duster around himself. "Yeah, but the Nemean Lion wasn't the monster we're looking for."

"No idea what the monster might be?"

He shook his head morosely. "But Thalia mentioned where we're going, San Francisco. That's where Artemis was heading."

Lucia looked up at him, he didn't look quite happy with that

"What do you have against San Francisco?" She asked

"I don't, I mean I don't know I've never been." Percy began, "It's just the Mist is really thick there because the Mountain of Despair is so near. Titan magic—what's left of it—still lingers. Monsters are attracted to that area like you wouldn't believe."

"What's the Mountain of Despair?"

"I didn't get that far" Percy admitted with a nervous laugh "But Annabeth told me at the dance that her dad moved to San Francisco and that there was no way she could live there."

"That must suck," Lucia said sympathetically

She noticed the way his green eyes got unfocused

"Are you worried about her?" She asked

"Yes." He admitted "incredibly"

Lucia looked forward avoiding his eyes before slipping her hand into his. Their fingers connected and they pressed their shoulders against each other.

"At least we're a step closer to finding her now" Lucia voiced "Little by little we are making more progress, it's going to be okay. Annabeth will be saved."

"Thank you Sunlight" He whispered, almost as if he spoke any louder something could shatter

"Anytime Kelp Head."

The afternoon sun shone through the steel-mesh side of the freight car, casting a shadow across Lucia's face. She glowed under the light, unaware of the way Percy gulped at the sight. Lucia grabbed her left headphone and passed it to him, he accepted.

"Britney Spears' stronger?" Percy raised an eyebrow

"Shut up, I'm trying to motivate myself" Lucia rolled her eyes

Percy let out a throaty laugh, his head was thrown back in amusement. He squeezed her hand tighter and rested their intertwined hands on his lap

"If it helps in any way" Percy started, "I thought you were pretty awesome today."

Lucia's neck could have snapped from how quickly she turned towards him "yeah?"

"Yeah." Percy nodded "You're awesome though so it's no surprise."

Lucia rolled her eyes, she let go of his hand and shoved him playfully "Now you're just flattering me"

"It's true." He teased raising his hands in fake surrender "come on, you can tell when I'm lying can't you."

Lucia stopped to think about it, "Yeah...I can.."

"All the time?"

"Yeah but it's not in the way you think" Lucia explained "I don't just automatically know if something is true or not. There are a lot of variations between truth and lie. You can say one thing, someone can say something else and both could be true at the same time or the opposite. When something feels like it could be a lie though I get this terrible itch in my brain that doesn't go away... it's so annoying."

"You are not nothing to me." Percy said suddenly "Did you feel the itch?"

She didn't.

"Per—"

"Wedon'thavetotalkaboutthisnow." Percy rushed out his words in one swift breath "I don't want you to start ignoring me or start pushing me away again. I only want you to know Luz, that I'm so sorry. I never wanted you to think you didn't mean something to me. You do mean something to me. Gods you really do."

"Do me a favor," she said. "Get out of my car."

"Luz could you stop doing that." Percy's hand fell back on top of hers, He was clearly tired of her stubbornness "You know I'm not lying to you."

Lucia huffed, she nodded in defeat before leaning back against the headrest "I don't know if I'm ready to forgive you"

Percy deduced her response to be progress, he leaned back against his headrest getting comfortable next to her "Could you at least start by not treating me like you hate me"

"I could never hate you" she whispered, his gaze flicked down towards hers. He looked into her eyes unable to decipher what they were trying to tell him.

"Look" Lucia began again "I have to admit I took your disappearance a lot more personally than I probably should have. it's just you have no idea how hard it was for me. things at home were terrible already, but you were supposed to come back from Yancy, and then I got myself into a mess by blowing up Agatha's car—"

"You blew up Agatha's car?"

"Not on purpose!" she squeaked in embarrassment "I don't know how I did it but apparently it was me. I just remember being angry and fighting back and the next thing I know I'm laying on the ground a few feet away from a fiery Volkswagen."

"Fighting back?" Percy looked concerned

Lucia took a deep breath in to steady her breathing "look the point is I don't know if I'm able to act a hundred percent like before. I don't know if I'm ready to forgive you and welcome you with open arms because it's...it's complicated. but I do recognize that you meant your apology and I'll try to stop acting so snippy"

"Snippy" Percy smiled at her choice of word, he looked down at her with a tight-lipped smile.

"Shut up kelp head" she playfully bumped his shoulder

☼

AS THE SUN WENT DOWN, Lucia could feel the darkness draining her energy. She yawned involuntarily. Only allowing herself to sit up straighter to prevent herself from sleeping.

"go to sleep" Percy tried to convince her, his hand still laying on top of her own

"Don't wanna." Lucia hummed, she started to think about Annabeth and Artemis. She didn't know what was waiting for her once she closed her eyes and right now she was trying to drag it out as much as she could.

Percy seemed to understand her and didn't push anymore on the subject

"Oh, don't be afraid of dreams," a voice said from behind them.

They both looked over. Somehow, They weren't surprised to find the homeless guy from the rail yard sitting in the backseat. His jeans were so worn out they were almost white. His coat was ripped, with stuffing coming out. He looked kind of like a teddy bear that had been run over by a truck.

"If it weren't for dreams," he said, "I wouldn't know half the things I know about the future. They're better than Olympus tabloids." He cleared his throat, then held up his hands dramatically:

"Dreams like a podcast,

Downloading truth in my ears.

They tell me cool stuff"

"Dad?" Lucia guessed, she quickly took the hand that rested under Percy's and set it on her lap. She felt a wave of embarrassment wondering if the homeless man--her father had noticed.

"Apollo?" Percy furrowed his eyebrows

He put his finger to his lips. "I'm incognito. Call me Fred."

"A god named Fred?"

"Eh, well... Zeus insists on certain rules. Hands off, when there's a human quest. Even if little star is on it. But nobody messes with my baby sister. Nobody."

"Can you help us, then?" Lucia urged

"Shhh. I already have. Haven't you been looking outside?"

"The train. How fast are we moving?"

Apollo chuckled. "Fast enough. Unfortunately, we're running out of time. It's almost sunset. But I imagine we'll get you across a good chunk of America, at least."

"But where is Artemis?"

His face darkened. "I know a lot, and I see a lot. But even I don't know that. She's... clouded from me. I don't like it."

"And Annabeth?" Percy asked

He frowned. "Oh, you mean that girl you lost? Hmm. I don't know."

Percy was mad at that response but was trying to stay levelheaded. Still, the hurricane in his eyes was evident to anyone who could see and Lucia figured she should continue the conversation to prevent any conflict.

"What about the monster Artemis was seeking?" Lucia asked. "Do you know what it is?"

"No," Apollo said. "But there is one who might. If you haven't yet found the monster when you reach San Francisco, seek out Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea. He has a long memory and a sharp eye. He has the gift of knowledge sometimes kept obscure from my Oracle."

"But it's your Oracle," Percy protested. "Can't you tell us what the prophecy means?"

Apollo sighed. "You might as well ask an artist to explain his art, or ask a poet to explain his poem. It defeats the purpose. The meaning is only clear through the search."

"In other words, you don't know."

Apollo checked his watch. "Ah, look at the time! I have to run. I doubt I can risk helping you again, Little Star, but remember what I said! Get some sleep! And when you return, I expect a good haiku about your journey!"

Lucia wanted to protest that Haikus weren't her strong suit, but Apollo snapped his fingers, and the next thing she knew her head lolled to the side and she was closing her eyes.

In her dream, She was somebody else. She stood a few inches taller and she didn't feel unnaturally warm like usual. She noticed she was with an older handsome man wearing an old-fashioned Greek tunic, and laced leather sandals. The Nemean Lion's skin was wrapped around his back like a cape, and he was running somewhere, being pulled along by Lucia who was tightly gripping his hand.

"Hurry!" Lucia said. It was too dark to see her face clearly, but the fear in her voice was unmistakable. "He will find us!"

It was nighttime. A million stars blazed above. They were running through tall grass, and the scent of a thousand different flowers made the air intoxicating. It was a beautiful garden, and yet Lucia was leading the man through it, as if they were about to die.

"I'm not afraid," He tried to tell her.

"You should be!" she said, pulling him along. Her long dark hair had been braided down her back. Her silk robes glowed faintly in the starlight. She felt different but not unfamiliar.

They raced up the side of the hill. She pulled him behind a thorn bush and they collapsed, both breathing heavily. She didn't know why she was so afraid. The garden seemed so peaceful.

"There is no need to run," the man told her. His voice was deep and confident. "I have bested a thousand monsters with my bare hands."

"Not this one," Lucia said. "Ladon is too strong. You must go around, up the mountain to my father. It is the only way."

The hurt in her voice surprised her. She was really concerned, she clearly cared about the man.

"I don't trust your father," He said.

"You should not," She agreed. "You will have to trick him. But you cannot take the prize directly. You will die.'"

He chuckled. "Then why don't you help me, pretty one?"

"I... I am afraid. Ladon will stop me. My sisters, if they found out... they would disown me."

"Then there's nothing for it." He stood up, rubbing his hands together.

"Wait.'" Lucia said.

Lucia felt like she was agonizing over a decision. Then, her fingers trembling, she reached up and plucked a long white brooch from her hair. "If you must fight, take this. My mother, Pleione, gave it to me. She was a daughter of the ocean, and the ocean's power is within it. My immortal power."

Lucia breathed on the pin and it glowed faintly. It gleamed in the starlight like polished abalone.

"Take it," she told him. "And make of it a weapon."

He laughed. "A hairpin? How will this slay Ladon, pretty one?"

"It may not," she admitted. "But it is all I can offer, if you insist on being stubborn."

He reached down and took the hairpin, and as he did, it grew longer and heavier in his hand, until it looked like a familiar bronze sword.

"Well balanced," He said. "Though I usually prefer to use my bare hands. What shall I name this blade?"

"Anaklusmos," Lucia said sadly. "The current that takes one by surprise. And before you know it, you have been swept out to sea."

Before he could thank her, there was a trampling sound in the grass, a hiss like air escaping a tire, and the girl said, "Too late! He is here!"

Lucia sat bolt upright in the Maseratis driver's seat. Grover was shaking her lightly.

"Lucia, Percy," he said. "It's morning. The train's stopped. Come on!"

Lucia tried to shake off her drowsiness. Thalia, Zoe, and Bianca had already rolled up the metal curtains. Outside were snowy mountains dotted with pine trees, the sun rising red between two peaks.

Lucia watched as Percy fished his pen out of his pocket next to her and stared at it. Anaklusmos, the Ancient Greek name for Riptide. A different form, but she was sure it was the same blade she'd seen in her dream.

"Percy." She called and he looked at her, they exchanged a knowing look. "It's the same sword"

"The one Zoe made" He confirmed

And Lucia was sure of something else, too. The girl was Zoe Nightshade.