stollen things || c. stoll

3.6 ~ Percy Wrestles Ancient Santa Claus

The two bronze angels were carrying us high over the Sierras. Percy with Thalia and me with Zoë.
"At this speed, we should be in San Francisco in a couple hours." Zoë said.

I almost groaned. Not that I didn't enjoy flying through mountains carried only by statues. I just didn't want to do so for the next three hours. But I didn't really have a choice, now, did I?

The angels, who were introduced as Hank and Chuck, made conversation with each other, mostly ignoring us. Thalia and Percy talked quietly between each other, and I even convinced Zoë to help me with archery. Sure, I was good at shooting, but I wasn't Hunter-level good. So she let me use her bow and we took turns shooting at the signs of every Target we passed. She hit bullseyes every time. I got maybe two. In my defense, we were going very fast and I was out of practice.

"Where you guys wanna land?" Hank asked. I looked down at the San Francisco landscape. Everything was picture-perfect from up here, just like you'd expect.

"There," Zoë pointed. "By the Embarcadero Building."

"Good thinking," Chuck said. "Me and Hank can blend in with the pigeons."

We stared at him blankly.

"Kidding. Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humor?"

When they dropped us off, it was very early morning, and everything was blanketed with fog. So, we'd made it to the West Coast, Artemis was close, and we had only one day left. We were standing on a ferry dock with no money or food. After a brief discussion, we decided that our next move was finding out what the monster that had never shown itself actually was.

"Okay, but how do we do that?" Percy asked.

"Find Nereus," Thalia responded. "The old man of the sea. Isn't that what Apollo told you to do?"

Zoe made a face. "Well, he is not very hard to find. Just follow the smell."

I didn't want to ask any more specifics, so we followed her to a Goodwill drop box and played Dress Up Percy for a bit until he was outfitted like a true homeless kid. We'd dressed him in a flannel shirt, very large jeans, and bright red sneakers. I grabbed a rainbow hat and put that on him, too.

"There. You look great." I gave him a joking thumbs up, which earned an eye-roll. We sent him on his way down the pier to find the old man of the sea and tackle him for information.

After staggering down the pier for a few minutes, we could tell that he had found the man. He tackled him and they started yelling at each other before Nereus dove into the water. They went under and came up, each time with Nereus as a different sea creature.

Percy finally managed to get the old man onto shore and pin him down, and we ran down the pier to meet him.

"You got him!" Zoë said.

"You don't have to sound so surprised," Percy grumbled.

"Oh, wonderful," The old man moaned. "An audience for my humiliation. The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"

"I've got more than one question." Percy said.

"Only one question per capture! That's the rule!" Nerus glared.

Percy looked back at us. I could tell how conflicted he was. He needed to ask about Artemis, but he wanted to ask about Annabeth. Obviously he had to ask about Artemis. I knew that if I were in his position and it was Katie, I would have trouble too. He sighed.

"All right, Nereus. Tell us where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting."

Nereus grinned a yellow grin, and pointed down to the water. "That's too easy. He's right there!"

"Where?" Percy said.

"The deal is complete!" Nereus laughed, and jumped back into the water as a goldfish.

"You tricked me!" Percy yelled after him. Something caught my eye. A cow. No, a... mermaid? I know Greek history, but I'd never heard of this thing before.

"Uhh," I frowned down into the water. "What is that?" The cow thing moo'ed.

"The Ophiotaurus," Thalia said. "Serpent bull in Greek."

"Bessie?" Percy was staring down into the water at the creature.

"Bessie?" I repeated. "You... named it?"

"You know this cow?" Zoë asked, looking at Percy with concern. He shuffled his feet impatiently, but he told us all about his relationship with the Ophiotaurus.

"I am a fool," Zoë cursed. "I know this story!"

"What story?" Percy asked.

"From the War of the Titans! My father told me this tale thousands of years ago. This is the beast we are looking for."

"Bessie?" Percy looked back down at the serpent. "But he's so cute! He couldn't destroy the world."

"That is how we were wrong," Zoë said. "We've been anticipating a dangerous monster, but the Ophiotaurus does not bring down the gods that way. He must be sacrificed."

The cow did not like that phrase. "Maybe we should use different words when talking about him?" I suggested. I didn't speak cow, but it didn't take a genius to figure out cow emotions.

"How could anyone hurt him?" Percy said, scratching the creatures ear. "He's harmless."

Zoë nodded. "There is power in killing innocence. Terrible power." She went on the explain the prophecy behind the Ophiotaurus. It was honestly pretty terrifying. The power to destroy the gods with just one cow sacrifice sounded easy. Too easy.

"How do we get this thing to safety? Somewhere no one can just take it." I said. Thalia's expression was unsettling, so I sat down and went to pet the animal. "If Luke and the others get ahold of him—"

"He wouldn't hesitate. The power to overthrow Olympus," Thalia muttered. "That's huge."

"Yes, my dear," A man's voice said. "And it is a power that you shall unleash."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I said, turning to face the manticore.

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guys guys i realized how quickly ttc is going by so im gonna shorten the chapters just a bit so its not over in like 5 things

so thats a fancy way of saying sorry for the short chapter!!