The Junkyard of Destiny - Pt 2
The group walked around the outskirts of the mountain of scrap until they noticed that, right beside it, there was a cluster of buildings far too small to be called a town.
A house reinforced with wooden planks. A Mexican taco bar that looked like it had been closed for a very long time. And a white stucco office with a half-faded sign above the entrance that read Gila Claw.
And at the edge of this little town, if it could even be called that, the mountain of scrap stretched all the way to the horizon as if it had no end. Anyone would've thought it had broken one or two Guinness World Records.
"Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental service here," Percy said while looking around, the place feeling completely empty of life. Or at least it seemed like they were the only ones here right now.
Nobody really paid attention to that comment.
Instead, they gathered around Grover, who pulled out several acorns, tossed them onto the sand, and began playing his flute, performing the ritual once again.
The acorns arranged themselves as if they were creating some strange figure that made no sense. But Grover stared at them with a worried expression.
"These are us," he said, pointing at the four acorns grouped together, which even seemed to move whenever one of them did. "And I think the person we're looking for is this one over here," he said, pointing to the lone acorn sitting not too far from the four that represented them. "I can smell a little blood, so she must be injured," he added with concern. "Also, I'm worried about that group over there," he said, pointing at another cluster of acorns farther away.
"Do you think they're the ones who hurt her?" Bianca quickly asked.
"I don't know. We'll have to see who it is first and ask them. But it's strange. I can't smell anything from those," Grover added seriously.
"Then we'd better find her quickly and get out of here," Percy said in a fairly serious tone, causing Thalia to look at him suspiciously for a moment after hearing that. But she didn't ask any further questions.
"So where is this runaway Hunter?" she asked Grover.
Grover looked at the lone acorn and then toward the small town, more specifically the ruined house.
"If I'm not mistaken, she should be there," he pointed.
But the moment he did, Percy suddenly narrowed his eyes and moved at incredible speed, abruptly stepping in front of Grover while pulling Riptide from his magic bag and slashing upward through the air.
Right as a silver flash appeared in front of him.
A spark flew when Percy struck whatever had been traveling at such a high speed.
The object spun through the air before landing near Grover's feet, and Grover hadn't even noticed he'd been attacked if Percy hadn't protected him.
And he immediately recognized what it was.
A silver arrow.
A Hunter's arrow.
Another arrow flew at the same time. Percy raised his sword and deflected it just as easily. And this time they could even hear someone hidden inside the ruined house drawing another arrow and placing it on a bow, preparing to fire again.
"Wait!" Bianca immediately shouted. "We only came to help."
Those words made the person who had been about to shoot again hesitate for a moment, since another arrow didn't come immediately afterward.
"Leave. I don't need your help," said the other person hidden within the darkness.
But that voice was so familiar to both Percy and Thalia that they frowned at the exact same time, immediately recognizing who it belonged to.
And there wasn't much need to think about it anyway, because she stepped out of the shadows herself, fully revealing her face while still holding her bow raised, ready to shoot, especially at Percy.
Bianca and Grover finally saw who it was.
"Zoë Nightshade," Thalia said with a trace of disdain when she saw her.
Percy, on the other hand, didn't say much. He simply looked at her coldly.
At the Hunter he had almost killed not that long ago.
Zoë wasn't exactly happy to see them either, instantly making the atmosphere feel heavier.
But the first one to break the staring contest was Zoë, who suddenly seemed overcome by weakness, nearly collapsing to the ground and letting go of her bow for a moment while clutching her stomach in pain.
It looked like blood was staining both her Hunter uniform and her hand.
"Hey, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Grover immediately asked as he and Bianca approached Zoë without much hesitation.
"I said I don't need your help," Zoë immediately coughed out in an annoyed tone, though she looked extremely weak. "Just give me some nectar and ambrosia and leave me alone," she added.
"And that's not helping?" Thalia couldn't help but say while crossing her arms as she also approached.
And behind her was Percy, who still held his sword while staring coldly at Zoë.
Zoë looked at Thalia and shot her an irritated glare, as if it hurt her to receive anything from them.
But there really wasn't much she could do while injured.
Bianca pulled out the canteen where they had stored some nectar and didn't hesitate to offer Zoë some. After all, it was a matter of danger.
Even Thalia and Percy, who seemed to hate Zoë, didn't say much when they saw her do it.
Besides, Percy still had Apollo's mission to complete.
And right now he was pretty annoyed. The lying god had not only tricked him, but had almost certainly known from the beginning that Zoë was the Hunter who had run away. That was why he hadn't told him earlier.
And that only caused the reputation the sun god already had with Percy, which had already been somewhat low because he was a liar, to drop even further.