stollen things || c. stoll

3.8~ I Ride A Cow To Olympus

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

We were jogging along the waterfront, the Ophiotaurus swimming alongside us. We were headed towards the Golden Gate Bridge, but the sun was already setting.

"Why do we have to get there at sunset?" Percy said.

"The Hesperides are nymphs of the sunset. We need to get to their garden, but we can only enter it as day changes to night." Zoë explained.

"What happens if we miss it?" I asked.

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

That sent shivers down my spine. We needed a separate way of transportation.

"We need a car," Thalia said.

"But what about Bessie?" Percy asked. A separate way of transportation. Not for us, but for the Ophiotaurus.

"I have an idea," I said. "The Ophiotaurus can appear in different bodies of water, right? Like he went from Long Island to here?"

Percy nodded, and everyone stared at me. "So what about him going from here to Long Island. If we coax him back there, we can get him to Olympus, where no one can sacrifice him!"

"But he followed me here. If I'm not there, how will he know where he's going?"

"I'll go with him," I said. "You all have a reason to be here. Artemis, Annabeth, Luke. I came as your tracker. I've tracked, and we made it. My job with you is done, and I can find a way to get the Ophiotaurus back to Long Island Sound. I don't speak cow, but I'm a farmer and it's better than nothing."

Percy considered this, then turned to the water. "Dad, please help us. Get the Ophiotaurus and Maddy safely to camp. Protect them at sea."

I took a few deep breaths. So, I was really doing it.

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

Percy shrugged off his coat, and threw it into the bay. "If I'm going to survive, it's not going to be because I have a bulletproof coat. I'm not Hercules."

The breeze picked up. I could tell it had worked. "Well, no time to lose." I hopped off the edge of the pier into the cold water. I inhaled sharply. I hated swimming, but riding a cow would be something new. The cow swam over to me and let me grab its neck.

"Be careful," Percy said.

"We will," I promised. "Alright, Bessie. Long Island it is. It's east. New York. Hera, please tell me he underst-" My words were muffled by Bessie submerging immediately. I really hoped Poseidon had taken into account the fact that my domain was the ground and I could not, in fact, breathe underwater.

I held my breathe for as long as possible, before letting it out and taking a tentative breath in. We were very, very, very deep underwater, and I couldn't see a thing. But Poseidon had had the good idea to give me an air bubble around my head so that I could at least open my eyes and breathe. Bessie wasn't letting up, swimming incredibly fast. It was all I could do to hold onto his neck and pray that my hands didn't slip. Within the next quarter-hour, he slowed down for a bit. I managed to make some makeshift reins out of seaweed to secure my grip.

I knew that he was a magic cow and could appear in different bodies of water, but I did not think I would be able to tell when he stopped swimming in San Francisco Bay and when he started swimming in Long Island Sound. Spoiler alert: if you ever get the chance to ride a cow-mermaid, don't do it. I expected an hour of San Fran Bay and an hour of the Atlantic. Turns out, the Ophiotaurus can't go that far in one run.

He swam for a bit in San Francisco Bay, but then the worst head rush — worse than Dionysus's maddening spree — I'd ever felt came onto me, as a tornado of bubbles surrounded us. The bubbles disappeared to put us in a lake.

"Bessie? This isn't Long Island Sound. This is a la-" I didn't get to finish that sentence either, as the bubbles reappeared and spit us out into white rapids. Bessie moo'ed, and managed to get us out of it without any terrible scrapes, and spit us into a fishing lake. How did I know it was for fishing? A fishhook grabbed onto my braid and yanked my head back. Bessie sped us out of there before anything too terrible could happen.

We spun out of the lake and into what could only be the Hudson River. It was disgusting.

"I suppose this is better than camp. Here we go, Bessie." He resurfaced, and I got up with the worst headache I'd ever endured. "Do you think you can follow me up to Olympus? I am going to go up there and explain our situation. There has to be a pool or something up there you can appear in." I didn't know if he understood, but I gave him a quick thumbs-up before rushing from the waterfront as fast as I could to the road. Let's just say that the San Francisco December weather was not the Manhattan winter weather. My soaking wet tee shirt, windbreaker, and jeans were not ideal for the freezing cold. Shivering, I stopped as soon as I reached the road.

"Hey, Gray Sisters!" I called. The familiar screeching came down the road and stopped in front of me.

"Didn't we tell you last time that we only answer to Greek? And you owe us a lot of money, young hero!" Anger hissed.

"Sorry, girls, emergency! I need to get to Olympus immediately. And I swear I'll pay you this time." I dumped all of the drachma I had onto Wasp's lap. "In advance."

Tempest snatched up the coins. "Alright, demigod. Get in."

---

ALSO I FORGOT TO PUBLISH THE NEXT CHAPTER ITS BEEN AWHILE SORRY

short chapter hehe