ｔｈｅ　ｔｉｔａｎｓ　ｃｕｒｓｅ

"WE WILL NEVER MAKE IT," Zoe said. "We are moving too slow. But we cannot leave the Ophiotaurus."

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

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

"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoe 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."

"We need a car," Thalia said.

"But what about Bessie?" Percy asked.

Grover stopped in his tracks. "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,"  Lucia suggested

Grover nodded. "Exactly, then Chiron could help us get him to Olympus."

"But he was following me," Percy said. "If I'm not there, would he know where he's going?"

"Moo," Bessie said forlornly.

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

Lucia stared at him. Grover was no fan of the water, 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, pray to your dad, too. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."

Lucia 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.

Lucia watched as Percy tried to concentrate

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

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

Percy thought for a second. Then he took off his coat.

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

As soon as he said that, Lucia realized something.

Lucia assumed Percy did as well when he glanced at Zoe, who was watching him carefully.

Lucia did know who Zoe's hero had been—the one who'd ruined her life, gotten her kicked out of her family, and never even mentioned how she'd helped him: Hercules.

"If I'm going to survive," Percy said, "it won't be because I've got a lion-skin cloak. I'm not Hercules."

He threw the coat into the bay. It turned back into a golden lion skin, flashing in the light. Then, as it began to sink beneath the waves, it seemed to dissolve into sunlight on the water. Lucia looked at the green-eyed boy in pure admiration. damn, right you're not.

The sea breeze picked up.

Grover took a deep breath. "Well, no time to lose."

He jumped in the water and immediately began to sink. Bessie glided next to him and let Grover take hold of his neck.

"Be careful," Lucia told them.

"We will," Grover said. "Okay, um... Bessie? We're going to Long Island. It's east. Over that way."

"Moooo?" Bessie said.

"Yes," Grover answered. "Long Island. It's this island. And... it's long. Oh, let's just start."

"Mooo!"

Bessie lurched forward. He started to submerge and Grover said, "I can't breathe underwater! Just thought I'd mention—" Glub!

Under they went, and Lucia hoped Percy's father's protection would extend to little things, like breathing.

"Good Luck!" Lucia yelled

"Well, that is one problem addressed," Zoe said. "But how can we get to my sisters' garden?"

"Thalia's right," Percy said. "We need a car. But there's nobody to help us here. Unless we, uh, borrowed one."

Lucia didn't like that option. sure this was a life-or-death situation, but still, it was stealing, and it was bound to get them all noticed.

"Wait," Thalia said. She started rifling through her backpack."There is somebody in San Francisco who can help us. I've got the address here somewhere."

"Who?" Percy asked.

Thalia pulled out a crumpled piece of notebook paper and held it up. "Professor Chase. Annabeth's dad."

☼

ANNABETH'S DAD WORE AN OLD FASHIONED AVIATORS CAP and goggles. He looked so weird, with his eyes bugging out through the glasses, that they all took a step back on the front porch.

"Hello," he said in a friendly voice, "Are you delivering my airplanes?"

Thalia, Zoe, Percy, and Lucia looked at each other warily. They all turned to Lucia to lead the conversation, she rolled her eyes.

"Um, no, sir," Lucia smiled brightly

"Drat," he said but he didn't look upset at all. "I need three more Sopwith Camels."

"Right, sorry about that sir. Hope you get them soon," Lucia spoke kindly, though she had no clue what camels had to do with planes. "We're friends of Annabeth."

"Annabeth?" He straightened as if she'd just given him an electric shock. "Is she all right? Has something happened?"

None of them answered, but their faces must've told him that something was very wrong. He took off his cap and goggles. He had sandy-colored hair like Annabeth and intense brown eyes. He was handsome, for an older guy, but it looked like he hadn't shaved in a couple of days, and his shirt was buttoned wrong, so one side of his collar stuck up higher than the other side.

"You'd better come in," he said.

It didn't look like a house they'd just moved into. There were LEGO robots on the stairs and two cats sleeping on the sofa in the living room. The coffee table was stacked with magazines, and a little kid's winter coat was spread on the floor. The whole house smelled like fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies. There was jazz music coming from the kitchen. It seemed like a messy, happy kind of home—the kind of place that had been lived in forever.

"Dad!" a little boy screamed. "He's taking apart my robots!"

"Bobby," Dr. Chase called absently, "don't take apart your brother's robots."

"I'm Bobby," the little boy protested. "He's Matthew!"

"Matthew," Dr. Chase called, "don't take apart your brother's robots!"

"Okay, Dad!"

Dr. Chase turned to us. "We'll go upstairs to my study. This way."

"Honey?" a woman called. She appeared in the living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She was a pretty Asian woman with red highlighted hair tied in a bun. Lucia guessed Annabeth had a step-mom.

"Who are our guests?" she asked.

"Oh," Dr. Chase said. "This is..."

He stared at us blankly.

"Frederick," she chided. "You forgot to ask them their names?"

They introduced themselves a little uneasily, but Mrs. Chase seemed really nice. She asked if they were hungry. Lucia perked up immediately admitting they were, and she told them she'd bring them some cookies and sandwiches and sodas.

"Dear," Dr. Chase said. "They came about Annabeth."

she pursed her lips and looked concerned. "All right. Go on up to the study and I'll bring you some food." She smiled at the son of Poseidon. "Nice meeting you, Percy. I've heard a lot about you."

Lucia felt her stomach sink at what that could mean

Upstairs, they walked into Dr. Chase's study and Percy said, "Whoa!"

The room was wall-to-wall books, but what really caught everyone's attention were the war toys. There was a huge table with miniature tanks and soldiers fighting along a blue-painted river, with hills and fake trees and stuff. Old-fashioned biplanes hung on strings from the ceiling, tilted at crazy angles like they were in the middle of a dogfight.

Dr. Chase smiled. "Yes. The Third Battle of Ypres. I'm writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a much greater role than they've been given credit for."

He plucked a biplane from its string and swept it across the battlefield, making airplane engine noises as he knocked down little German soldiers.

"Oh, right," Percy said.

Zoe came over and studied the battlefield. "The German lines were farther from the river."

Dr. Chase stared at her. "How do you know that?"

"I was there," she said matter-of-factly. "Artemis wanted to show us how horrible war was, the way mortal men fight each other. And how foolish, too. The battle was a complete waste."

Dr. Chase opened his mouth in shock. "You—"

"She's a Hunter, sir," Thalia said. "But that's not why we're here. We need—"

"You saw the Sopwith Camels?" Dr. Chase said. "How many were there? What formations did they fly?"

"Sir," Lucia broke in. "Annabeth is in danger."

That got his attention. He set the biplane down.

"Of course," he said. "Tell me everything."

It wasn't easy, but they tried. Meanwhile, the afternoon light was fading outside. They were running out of time.

When they had finished, Dr. Chase collapsed in his leather recliner. He laced his hands. "My poor brave Annabeth. We must hurry."

"Sir, we need transportation to Mount Tamalpais," Zoe said. "And we need it immediately."

"I'll drive you. Hmm. it would be faster to fly in my Camel, but it only seats two."

"You have an actual biplane?" Lucia asked.

"Down at Crissy Field," Dr. Chase said proudly. "That's the reason I had to move here. My sponsor is a private collector with some of the finest World War I relics in the world. He let me restore the Sopwith Camel—"

"Sir," Thalia said. "Just a car would be great. And it might be better if we went without you. It's too dangerous.".

Dr. Chase frowned uncomfortably. "Now wait a minute, young lady. Annabeth is my daughter. Dangerous or not, I... I can't just—"

"Snacks," Mrs. Chase announced. She pushed through the door with a tray full of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and Cokes and cookies fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips still gooey.
Thalia and Lucia inhaled a few cookies while Zoe said, "I can drive, sir. I'm not as young as I look. I promise not to destroy your car."

Mrs. Chase knit her eyebrows. "What's this about?"

"Annabeth is in danger," Dr. Chase said. "On Mount Tam. I would drive them, but... apparently, it's no place for mortals."

It sounded like it was really hard for him to get that last part out.
Lucia waited for Mrs. Chase to say no.  what mortal parent would allow four underage teenagers to borrow their car? To my surprise, Mrs. Chase nodded. "Then they'd better get going."

"Right!" Dr. Chase jumped up and started patting his pockets. "My keys..."

His wife sighed. "Frederick, honestly. You'd lose your head if it weren't wrapped inside your aviator hat. The keys are hanging on the peg by the front door."

"Right!" Dr. Chase said.

Lucia grabbed two sandwiches. "Thank you both. We should go. Now"

They hustled out the door and down the stairs, the Chases right behind them.

"Percy," Mrs. Chase called as they were leaving, "tell Annabeth... Tell her she still has a home here, will you? Remind her of that."

"I'll tell her," He promised.

They ran out to the yellow VW convertible parked in the driveway. The sun was going down. Lucia knew they had less than an hour to save Annabeth.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Thalia demanded.

Zoe glared at her. "I cannot control traffic."

"You both sound like my mother," Percy said.

"Shut up!" they said in unison.

Zoe 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. Zoe didn't slow down at all.

"Why does everything smell like cough drops?" Percy asked.

"Eucalyptus." Zoe pointed to the huge trees all around us.

"The stuff koala bears eat?"

"And monsters," she said. "They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons."

"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?" Lucia questioned "That doesn't feel very dragon-like"

"Believe me," Zoe said, "if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus too."

Lucia didn't question her, but she did keep her eyes peeled more closely as they drove. Ahead of them loomed Mount Tamalpais. In terms of mountains, it was a small one, but it looked plenty huge as they were driving toward it.

"So that's the Mountain of Despair?" She asked.

"Yes," Zoe said tightly.

"Why do they call it that?"

She was silent for almost a mile before answering. "After the war between the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides."

"The General," Lucia said. Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. "What's going on up there? A storm?"

Zoe didn't answer. She got the feeling she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn't like it.

"We have to concentrate," Thalia said. "The Mist is really strong here."

"The magical kind or the natural kind?" Percy asked.

"Both."

The gray clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain, and they kept driving straight toward them. They were out of the forest now, into wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog.

Percy jump out of his seat as they turned a corner "Look!"

"What?" Lucia asked.

"A big white ship," He said. "Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship."

Thalia's eyes widened. "Luke's ship?"

The Princess Andromeda, Luke's demon cruise ship, was docked at the beach.

"We will have company, then," Zoe said grimly. "Kronos's army."

Lucia was about to ask more questions about the demon cruise ship when suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Lucia shouted, "Stop the car. NOW!"

Zoe must've sensed something was wrong because she slammed on the brakes without question. The yellow VW spun twice before coming to a stop at the edge of the cliff.

"Out!" Lucia opened the door and pushed Percy hard. They both rolled onto the pavement. The next second: BOOOM!

Lightning flashed, and Dr. Chase's Volkswagen erupted like a canary-yellow grenade. They probably would've been killed by shrapnel except Lucia yelled again, forcing the shrapnel in the opposite direction. They heard a sound like a metal ram, and when they opened their eyes, they were surrounded by wreckage. Part of the VW's fender had impaled itself in the street. The smoking hood was spinning in circles. Pieces of yellow metal were strewn across the road.

Lucia swallowed the taste of smoke out of her mouth when Percy looked at Her.

"You saved our lives."

Lucia blushed but was interrupted by Thalia who threw herself out of the passenger seat at Lucia's command.

"One shall perish by a parent's hand" she muttered. "Curse him. He would destroy me? Me?"

It took Lucia a second to realize she was talking about her dad.

Percy immediately tried to reassure her "Oh, hey, that couldn't have been Zeus's lightning bolt. No way."

"Whose, then?" Thalia demanded.

"I don't know. Zoe said Kronos's name. Maybe he—"

Thalia shook her head, looking angry and stunned. "No. That wasn't it."

"Wait," Lucia said. "Where's Zoe? Zoe!"

The three of them got up and ran around the blasted VW. Nothing inside. Nothing in either direction down the road. They looked down the cliff. No sign of her.

"Zoe!" Percy shouted.

Then she was standing right next to him, pulling him by his arm. "Silence, fool! Do you want to wake Ladon?"

"You mean we're here?" Lucia asked

"Very close," she said. "Follow me."

Sheets of fog were drifting right across the road. Zoe stepped into one of them, and when the fog passed, she was no longer there. Thalia, Percy, and Lucia looked at each other.

"Concentrate on Zoe," Thalia advised. "We are following her. Go straight into the fog and keep that in mind."

"Wait, Thalia. About what happened back on the pier... I mean, with the manticore and the sacrifice—" Percy started

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You wouldn't actually have... you know?"

She hesitated. "I was just shocked. That's all."

"Zeus didn't send that lighting bolt at the car. It was Kronos. He's trying to manipulate you, make you angry at your dad." Lucia tried

She took a deep breath. "Percy, Lu, I know you're trying to make me feel better. Thanks. But come on. We need to go."

She stepped into the fog, into the Mist, and they followed.

When the fog cleared, They were still on the side of the mountain, but the road was dirt. The grass was thicker. The sunset made a bloodred slash across the sea. The summit of the mountain seemed closer now, swirling with storm clouds and raw power. There was only one path to the top, directly in front of them. And it led through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers: the garden of twilight, just like she'd seen in her dream.

If it hadn't been for the enormous dragon, the garden would've been the most beautiful place Lucia had ever seen. The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such brilliant colors they almost glowed in the dark. Stepping stones of polished black marble.

led around either side of a five-story-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples and not yellow golden apples like in the grocery store. Real golden apples. Lucia couldn't describe why they were so appealing, but as soon as she smelled their fragrance, She knew that one bite would be the most delicious thing she had ever tasted.

"The apples of immortality," Thalia said. "Hera's wedding gift from Zeus."

Lucia wanted to step right up and pluck one, except for the dragon coiled around the tree.

The serpent's body was as thick as a booster rocket, glinting with coppery scales. He had more heads than Lucia could count as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together. He appeared to be asleep. The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all the eyes closed.

Then the shadows in front of them began to move. There was beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from the bottom of a well.

Four figures shimmered into existence, four young women who looked very much like Zoe. They all wore white Greek chitons. Their skin was like caramel. Silky black hair tumbled loose around their shoulders. It was strange, but Lucia never realized how beautiful Zoe was until she saw her siblings, the Hesperides. They looked just like Zoe—gorgeous, and probably very dangerous.

"Sisters," Zoe said.

"We do not see any sister," one of the girls said coldly. "We see three half-bloods and a Hunter. All of whom shall soon die."

"What a warm welcome,"  Lucia grumbled

"You've got it wrong." Percy stepped forward. "Nobody is going to die."

The girls studied him. They had eyes like volcanic rock, glassy and completely black.

"Perseus Jackson," one of them said.

"Yes," mused another. "I do not see why he is a threat."

"Who said I was a threat?"

The first Hesperid glanced behind her, toward the top of the mountain. "They fear thee. They are unhappy that this one has not yet killed thee."

She pointed at Thalia.

"Tempting sometimes," Thalia admitted. "But no, thanks. He's my friend."

"There are no friends here, daughter of Zeus," the girl said. "Only enemies. Go back."

"Not without Annabeth," Thalia said.

"And Artemis," Zoe said. "We must approach the mountain."

"You know he will kill thee," the girl said. "You are no match for him."

"Artemis must be freed," Zoe insisted. "Let us pass."

The girl shook her head. "You have no rights here anymore. We have only to raise our voices and Ladon will wake."

"He will not hurt me," Zoe said.

"No? And what about thy so-called friends?"

Then Zoe did the last thing Lucia expected. She shouted, "Ladon! Wake!"

The dragon stirred, glittering like a mountain of pennies. The Hesperides yelped and scattered. The lead girl said to Zoe, "Are you mad?"

"You never had any courage, sister," Zoe said. "That is thy problem."

The dragon Ladon was writhing now, a hundred heads whipping around, tongues flickering and tasting the air. Zoe took a step forward, her arms raised.

"Zoe, don't," Lucia said. "You're not a Hesperid anymore. He'll kill you."

"Ladon is trained to protect the tree," Zoe said. "Skirt around the edges of the garden. Go up the mountain. As long as I am a bigger threat, he should ignore thee."

"Should," Percy said. "Not exactly reassuring."

"It is the only way," she said. "Even the four of us together cannot fight him."

Ladon opened his mouths. The sound of a hundred heads hissing at once sent a shiver down Lucia's back, and that was before his breath hit her.

The smell was like acid. It made her eyes burn, her skin crawl, and her hair stand on end. She remembered the time her stepmother left her alone in the apartment for 3 months when she was nine. Agatha didn't pay the utility bill and Lucia was left in the dark for days, the one thing she hated the most. All the food had gotten rotten quickly and it was in the middle of the summer so the odor spread throughout the entire house. The stench was like that, except a hundred times stronger, and mixed with the smell of chewed eucalyptus.

Lucia promised herself right then that she would never have another cough drop.

Thalia and Lucia went left. Percy went right. Zoe walked straight toward the monster.

"It's me, my little dragon," Zoe said. "Zoe has come back."

Ladon shifted forward, then back. Some of the mouths closed. Some kept hissing. Dragon confusion. Meanwhile, the Hesperides shimmered and turned into shadows. The voice of the eldest whispered, "Fool."

"I used to feed thee by hand," Zoe continued, speaking in a soothing voice as she stepped toward the golden tree. "Do you still like lamb's meat?"

The dragon's eyes glinted.

Thalia, Percy, and Lucia were about halfway around the garden. Ahead, They could see a single rocky trail leading up to the black peak of the mountain. The storm swirled above it, spinning on the summit like it was the axis of the whole world.

They had almost made it out of the meadow when something went wrong. Lucia felt the dragon's mood shift. He lunged at Zoe.

Two thousand years of training kept her alive. She dodged one set of slashing fangs and tumbled under another, weaving through the dragon's heads as she ran in their direction, gagging from the monster's horrible breath.

Percy drew Riptide to help.

"No!" Zoe panted. "Run!"

The dragon snapped at her side, and Zoe cried out.

"Zoe!" Lucia cried, she felt a pit in her stomach that made her want to throw up. A familiar feeling.

Thalia uncovered Aegis, and the dragon hissed. In his moment of indecision, Zoe sprinted past us up the mountain, and they followed.

The dragon didn't try to pursue. He hissed and stomped the ground, but Lucia guess he was well trained to guard that tree. He wasn't going to be lured off even by the tasty prospect of eating some heroes.

They ran up the mountain as the Hesperides resumed their song in the shadows behind them. The music didn't sound so beautiful to her now—more like the soundtrack for a funeral.

At the top of the mountain were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half-melted.

"The ruins of Mount Othrys," Thalia whispered in awe.

"Yes," Zoe said. "It was not here before. This is bad."

"What's Mount Othrys?" Percy asked

"The mountain fortress of the Titans," Zoe said. "In the first war, Olympus and Othrys were the two rival capitals of the world. Othrys was—"  She winced and held her side.

"You're hurt," Lucia instantly stepped forward. "Let me see."

"No! It is nothing-"

"Zoe." Lucia pressed, she felt a familiar annoying feeling.

"Lucia I'm alright." She said, "I was saying... in the first war, Othrys was blasted to pieces."

"But... how is it here?" Percy asked

Thalia looked around cautiously as they picked their way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken archways. "It moves in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists on the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain, is not good."

"Why?"

"This is Atlas's mountain," Zoe said. "Where he holds—" She froze. Her voice was ragged with despair. "Where he used to hold up the sky."

They had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of them, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis, her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains. This is what Lucia had seen in her dream. It hadn't been a cavern roof that Artemis was forced to hold. It was the sky itself.

"My lady!" Zoe rushed forward, but Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now."

Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. Lucia couldn't believe she was seeing a goddess in pain, but the weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.

Zoe was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests and tugged at the chains.

A booming voice spoke behind us: "Ah, how touching."

They turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Annabeth stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth, and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat.

Lucia was surprised when she saw Luke. She imagined the devil incarnate with the way he was talked about... Yet now that she was looking at him all she saw was a teenage boy? 

Lucia met Annabeth's pretty grey eyes, There was one message she was sending her: RUN.

"Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."

Luke's smile was weak and pale. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."

Thalia spat at him.

The General chuckled. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."

"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."

"Wait a second," Percy said. "You're Atlas?"

The General glanced at me. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."

"You're not going to hurt Zoe" Lucia shielded Zoe with her own body, she didn't care how reckless and stupid it was. "I won't let you."

The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero.
This is a family matter."

She frowned. "A family matter?"

"Yes," Zoe said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."

Lucia felt the pit in her stomach getting bigger