Family of Fire

Othrys

Third Person POV

After Ares and Aphrodite showed up, they group had gone into the junkyard. They had lost Phoebe to the Talos prototype and now were on there way to Othrys to free Artemis.

The group had to leave the junkyard, and drove to Hoover Dam in a truck Zoë found. Luna found Nereus in San Fransisco.

Luna walked up to Nereus and asked "What was the monster Lady Artemis was hunting before she got taken?"

Nereus pointed behind her before disappearing.

"Moo!"

Turning around, the group saw a half cow half snake.

The Ophiotaurus.

"I can make a portkey to one of my properties." Jada offered "It has a lake and the wards there are really strong. We can use the portkey to send the Ophiotaurus there."

The group agreed. Grover told the Ophiotaurus what the plan was while the legacy of love made a portkey; glad she had read about portkey's and practiced how to make them.

Soon, the Ophiotaurus was safely in the lake at Slytherin's Keep.

Scene Change

The group had Jada pay for a cab in order to get to Mt.Tam, or Mt.Othrys.

"We must arrive at sunset," Zoë said anxiously. Luna had threw up a Notice-Me-Not ward around them so the driver would ignore them.

"I don't get it," Grover 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 the 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," Zoë said firmly.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Jada asked.

"I cannot control traffic," the driver said irritably.

Unfortunately, a four-car pileup greatly impacted their travel time. The sun was sinking on the horizon when they finally got into Marin County and exited the highway.

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

"Eucalyptus," Zoë said, pointing to the huge trees all around them.

"The stuff koala bears eat?" Jada asked.

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

"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?"

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

Mount Tam loomed before them all too soon.

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

Yes," Zoë 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' right-hand man, the general of his armies, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides."

The group soon got out o the cab and entered the Garden of the Hesperides.

"Wow." Jada said.

The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such beautiful colors that they almost glowed in the dark. Stepping stones of polished black marble led around either side of the five-story-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples.