the thunderbolt theft

We were crossing the Potomac when we spotted the helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model justlike the one we'd seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward us. "They know the van, " I 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, " I 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 asthey are paid."

"But don't these mortals see who they're working for?"

I asked. "Don't they notice all the monstersaround them?"

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

The helicopter kept coming, making a lot better time than we 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. "There!" Bianca said."

That parking lot!" "We'll be trapped, " Zoe said. "Trust me, " Bianca said. Zoe shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. We left thevan and followed Bianca down some steps. "Subway entrance, " Bianca said. "Let's go south. Alexandria."

"Anything, " Thalia agreed. We bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind us for any signs of pursuit. A fewminutes later we were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from D.

C. As our train came aboveground, we could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after us. 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. Iremember 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."

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

Bianca nodded. Now, I knew nothing about D.

C.

, but I didn't see how their whole subway system could be less thantwelve years old. I guess everyone else was thinking the same thing, because they looked prettyconfused. "Bianca, " Zoe said. "How long ago…" Her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louderagain. "We need to change trains, " I said. "Next station."

Over the next half hour, all we thought about was getting away safely. We changed trains twice. I had noidea where we were going, but after a while we lost the helicopter. Unfortunately, when we finally got off the train we found ourselves at the end of the line, in an industrialarea with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow.

Lots of snow. It seemed much colderhere. I was glad for my new lion's fur coat. We wandered through the railway yard, thinking there might be another passenger train somewhere, butthere were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow, like they hadn'tmoved in years. A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. We must've looked pretty pathetic, because he gave usa toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!' We 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 , " I 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."

I gazed miserably around the rail yard. Somewhere, far to the west, Annabeth was in danger. Artemiswas in chains. A doomsday monster was on the loose. And we were stuck on the outskirts of D.

C.

, sharing a homelesspersons fire. "You know, " the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends."

His face was grimy andhis beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

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

He pointed one greasy hand. Suddenly I noticed a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carriertrains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUNWEST LINE. "That's… convenient, " Thalia said. "Thanks, uh…" She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of us was cold and empty, as ifhe'd taken the flames with him. An hour later we were rumbling west. There was no problem about who would drive now, because weall got our own luxury car. Zoe and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover wasplaying race car driver behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. And Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a blackMercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.

C. "Join you?"

I asked her. She shrugged, so I climbed into the shotgun seat. The radio was playing the White Stripes. I knew the song because it was one of the only CDs I ownedthat my mom liked. She said it reminded her of Led Zeppelin. Thinking about my mom made me sad, because it didn't seem likely I'd be home for Christmas. I might not live that long. "Nice coat, " Thalia told me. I pulled the brown duster around me, thankful for the warmth. "Yeah, but the Nemean Lion wasn't themonster we're looking for."

"Not even close. We've got a long way to go."

"Whatever this mystery monster is, the General said it would come for you. They wanted to isolate youfrom the group, so the monster will appear and battle you one-on-one."

"He said that?"

"Well, something like that. Yeah."

"That's great. I love being used as bait."

"No idea what the monster might be?"

She shook her head morosely. "But you know where we're going, don't you? San Francisco. That'swhere Artemis was heading."

I remembered something Annabeth had said at the dance:

how her dad was moving to San Francisco, and there was no way she could go. Half-bloods couldn't live there. "Why?"

I asked. "What's so bad about San Francisco?"

"The Mist is really thick there because the Mountain of Despair is so near. Titan magic—what's left ofit—still lingers. Monsters are attracted to that area like you wouldn't believe."

"What's the Mountain of Despair?"

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "You really don't know? Ask stupid Zoe. She's the expert."

She glared out the windshield. I wanted to ask her what she was talking about, but I also didn't want tosound like an idiot. I hated feeling like Thalia knew more than I did, so I kept my mouth shut. The afternoon sun shone through the steel-mesh side of the freight car, casting a shadow across Thalia'sface. I thought about how different she was from Zoe—Zoe all formal and aloof like a princess, Thaliawith her ratty clothes and her rebel attitude. But there was something similar about them, too. The samekind of toughness. Right now, sitting in the shadows with a gloomy expression, Thalia looked a lot likeone of the Hunters. Then suddenly, it hit me:

"That's why you don't get along with Zoe."

Thalia frowned. "What?"

"The Hunters tried to recruit you, " I guessed. Her eyes got dangerously bright. I thought she was going to zap me out of the Mercedes, but she justsighed. I almost joined them, " she admitted. "Luke, Annabeth, and I ran into them once, and Zoe tried toconvince me. She almost did, but…" "But?"

Thalia's fingers gripped the wheel. "I would've had to leave Luke."

"Oh."

"Zoe and I got into a fight. She told me I was being stupid. She said I'd regret my choice. She said Lukewould let me down someday."

I watched the sun through the metal curtain. We seemed to be traveling faster each second—shadowsflickering like an old movie projector. "That's harsh, " I said. "Hard to admit Zoe was right."

"Shewasn't right! Luke never let me down.

Never."

"We'll have to fight him, " I said. "There's no way around it."

Thalia didn't answer. "You haven't seen him lately, " I warned. "I know it's hard to believe, but—" "I'll do what I have to."

"Even if that means killing him?"

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

I felt so bad for her I didn't argue. As I was about to leave, she said, "Percy."

When I looked back, her eyes were red, but I couldn't tell if it was from anger or sadness. "Annabethwanted to join the Hunters, too. Maybe you should think about why."

Before I could respond, she raised the power windows and shut me out. I sat in the driver's seat of Grover's Lamborghini. Grover was asleep in the back. He'd finally given uptrying to impress Zoe and Bianca with his pipe music after he played "Poison Ivy" and caused that verystuff to sprout from their Lexus's air conditioner. As I watched the sun go down, I thought of Annabeth. I was afraid to go to sleep. I was worried what Imight dream. "Oh, don't be afraid of dreams, " a voice said right next to me. I looked over. Somehow, I wasn't surprised to find the homeless guy from the rail yard sitting in theshotgun seat. His jeans were so worn out they were almost white. His coat was ripped, with stuffingcoming 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'rebetter 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" Apollo?"

I guessed, because I figured nobody else could make a haiku that bad. 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 when somethingreally major is wrong. But nobody messes with my baby sister. Nobody."

"Can you help us, then?"

"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 imaginewe'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?"

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

I tried not to feel mad. I knew the gods had a hard time taking mortals seriously, even half-bloods. Welived such short lives, compared to the gods. "What about the monster Artemis was seeking?"

I 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 reachSan Francisco, seek out Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea. He has a long memory and a sharp eye. Hehas the gift of knowledge sometimes kept obscure from my Oracle."

"But it'syour Oracle, " I 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. Itdefeats 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, Percy, but remember what I said! Get some sleep! And when you return, I expect a good haiku aboutyour journey!" I wanted to protest that I wasn't tired and I'd never made up a haiku in my life, but Apollo snapped hisfingers, and the next thing I knew I was closing my eyes. In my dream, I was somebody else. I was wearing an old-fashioned Greek tunic, which was a little toobreezy downstairs, and laced leather sandals. The Nemean Lion's skin was wrapped around my backlike a cape, and I was running somewhere, being pulled along by a girl who was tightly gripping my hand. "Hurry!" she said. It was too dark to see her face clearly, but I could hear the fear in her voice. "He willfind us!" It was nighttime. A million stars blazed above. We were running through tall grass, and the scent of athousand different flowers made the air intoxicating. It was a beautiful garden, and yet the girl was leadingme through it, as if we were about to die. "I'm not afraid, " I tried to tell her. "You should be!" she said, pulling me along. She had long dark hair braided down her back. Her silkrobes glowed faintly in the starlight. We raced up the side of the hill. She pulled me behind a thorn bush and we collapsed, both breathingheavily. I didn't know why the girl was scared. The garden seemed so peaceful. And I felt strong.

Stronger than I'd ever felt before. "There is no need to run, " I told her. My voice sounded deeper, much more confident. "I have bested athousand monsters with my bare hands."

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

The hurt in her voice surprised me. She was really concerned, almost like she cared about me. "I don't trust your father, " I said. "You should not, " the girl agreed. "You will have to trick him. But you cannot take the prize directly.

You will die.

'" I 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."

I stood up, rubbing my hands together. "Wait.

'" the girl said. She seemed to be agonizing over a decision. Then, her fingers trembling, she reached up and plucked along white brooch from her hair. "If you must fight, take this. My mother, Pleione, gave it to me. She wasa daughter of the ocean, and the ocean's power is within it.

Myimmortal power."

The girl breathed on the pin and it glowed faintly. It gleamed in the starlight like polished abalone. "Take it, " she told me. "And make of it a weapon."

I 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."

The girl's voice softened my heart. I reached down and took the hairpin, and as I did, it grew longer andheavier in my hand, until I held a familiar bronze sword. "Well balanced, " I said."

Though I usually prefer to use my bare hands. What shall I name this blade?"

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

Before I could thank her, there was a trampling sound in the grass, a hiss like air escaping a tire, and thegirl said, "Too late! He is here!" I sat bolt upright in the Lamborghini's drivers seat. Grover was shaking my arm. "Percy, " he said. "It's morning. The train's stopped. Come on!" I tried to shake off my 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. I fished my pen out of my pocket and stared at it. Anaklusmos , the Ancient Greek name for Riptide. Adifferent form, but I was sure it was the same blade I'd seen in my dream. And I was sure of something else, too. The girl I had seen was Zoe Nightshade.

to be continued....