Chapter 10 Chapter Ten I Wrecked a Bus

I didn't spend a lot of time packing.I decided to keep the minotaur corner in the hut, so I just stuffed a change of clothes and a toothbrush into the backpack that Grover had found for me. The camp store lent me a mortal hundred dollars and twenty guineas.The gold coins, the size of a Girl Scout cookie, feature images of Greek gods on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. Chiron said that the ancient Greek coins of mortals were made of silver, but Olympus was not born to use coins of less value than pure gold.He also said that the coins would then be available to mortal traders.What does this mean?Leave it alone.He gave Annabeth and me each a pitcher of the sage drink and a ziplock bag full of square saccharine, but these should only be used in emergencies, such as serious injuries. Chiron reminds us that this is the food of the gods. It can heal almost all injuries, but it can be fatal to mortals. If a hybrid eats too much, his whole body will become hot and even burn. It is not an exaggeration at all.

Annabeth was wearing her magic Yankee hat, which she said was a present from her mother when she was twelve.She brought a book of well-known buildings in ancient Greece, which she could read when she was bored; and a long bronze dagger hidden in her sleeve, which I'm pretty sure would get us through the metal detector , was immediately arrested. Grover disguised himself as a normal person wearing prosthetic feet and trousers.He wears a Jamaican-style green hat to keep his curly hair from sticking to his head when it rains, so that the horns of the goat are exposed.His bright orange backpack is full of metal shards of apples, which are his snacks.He still has a reed flute in his pocket, which his father the goat made himself, but he can only play two tunes: Mozart's "Piano Concerto No. 12" and Hilary Duff's "Love in the past tense" , these two pieces of music are very difficult to play on the reed flute.

We waved goodbye to the other trainees, took one last look at the Strawberry Fields, the sea, and the main house, then climbed the Hill of Half-Bloods to the big pine tree that used to be Zeus' daughter Talia. Chiron was waiting for us in a wheelchair, and standing next to him was a guy in a surfer costume, whom I had seen on the ward.According to Grover, this man was the captain of the battalion's guard, and he was said to have eyes all over his body, so he was never frightened.He was wearing a driver's uniform today though, so all I could see were his eyes on his hands, face and neck.

"This is Argus," Chiron told me. "He'll drive you downtown and, um, keep an eye on your surroundings." I hear footsteps behind us. Luke runs up the hill, grabbing a pair of basketball shoes. "Hey!" He panted, "Fortunately, I caught up." Annabeth blushed, as she always did whenever Luke was around. "Just came to say good luck," Luke said to me, "and I thought... well, maybe you'll use it." He handed me the sneakers, looking ordinary, even asking. Luke said, "Maya!" The heel of the shoe grew a white bird's wing, and I was startled, and the shoe fell from my hand.The shoes flapped their wings and landed slowly on the third floor, and the wings disappeared after being folded away.

"Great!" Grover said. Luke smiled and said, "It helped me a lot in my quest, a gift from my dad. Of course, how do I use it these days..." His expression turned sad. I don't know what to say, the way Luke said goodbye was so cool.I was terrified that he would blame me for stealing too much of the limelight these past few days, but now he's giving me this magical gift... I'm all flushed, almost like Annabeth. "Hey man." I said, "Thanks!" "Percy, listen up..." Luke looked uncomfortable. "We put a lot of hope in you, so... help me kill some monsters, okay?"

We shake hands. Luke also patted Grover's head between the horns before hugging Annabeth goodbye. Annabeth looked like she was passing out. After Luke left, I told her, "You're short of breath." "No!" "You asked him to capture the flag instead of you?" "Oh...Percy, if I knew it, I wouldn't have followed you around." She paced vigorously and walked down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV was parked on the shoulder of the road.Argus stepped forward, the car keys jingling. I picked up the flying shoes and suddenly had a bad feeling.I looked at the Chiron and asked, "I can't use this, can I?"

He shook his head and said, "Percy, Luke meant well, but flying in the air... might not be very smart for you." I nodded, a little disappointed, but then I noticed something. "Hey! Grover! Do you want a magic item?" His eyes light up. "me?" We quickly strapped sneakers onto his prosthetic foot, and the world's first flying satyr was ready to take off. "Maya!" he yelled. There was no problem with getting off the ground, but then it tilted to one side, and the entire backpack was still dragging on the grass.The winged shoes gallop up and down like a miniature mustang.

"Practice," Chiron called after him, "you just need to practice more!" "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Grover flew sideways down the hill, hurtling towards the SUV like a crazy lawnmower. Before I could catch up, Chiron grabbed my arm and said, "Percy, I should have trained you harder to write," and he said, "If only I had more time, think Hercules and Jason, they Both have more training." "It's okay, I just hope..." I stopped because it would sound like a wayward child to speak any further.I actually just wish Dad would give me a cool magic item that would help me on a quest, like Luke's flying shoes or Annabeth's invisibility cap.

"Ah, idiot," Chiron yelled, "how could I forget to ask you to bring this." He took a pen out of his jacket and handed it to me.It was an ordinary black ballpoint pen, the kind with a non-refillable refill, and a cap. It cost about 30 cents each. "Wow." I said, "Thank you." "Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for many years. All these years I didn't know that you were the one I was waiting for, but the prophecy I heard back then has now come true, and you are the one." I think of the time when I evaporated Mr. Dawes when I was teaching outside the Met, the pen that Chiron threw at me that turned into a sword.Could it be...?

I take off the cap and the pen grows longer and heavier in my hand.Half a second later, I was holding a double-bladed bronze sword with a leather hilt and gold studs on the smooth hilt.This is the first weapon I feel comfortable with. "This sword has a long and tragic history, but I will not say more," Chiron told me. "Its name is Anaklusmos." "Waves." I translated it, but I didn't expect it to be so simple in ancient Greek. "Use it only in emergencies," said Chiron, "and only against monsters. Unless absolutely necessary, it cannot harm mortals, although the sword can't harm them either."

I looked at the extremely sharp blade. "You said it wouldn't hurt mortals, how could it be possible?" "The blade of this sword is made of celestial bronze. It was forged by Cyclops on Mount Etna, and then cooled in the River Let. It allows you to take a step ahead before monsters and creatures of the underworld. Take their lives. However. When the sword passes through the body of a mortal, it will be like a phantom. To this sword, the mortal does not matter. Both worldly and mortal weapons can kill you at the same time, so you are twice as likely to be injured." "Thanks for reminding me." "Now, put the pen back on." I put the pen cap on the tip of the sword, and the Wave Sword quickly shrinks back to the shape of a ballpoint pen.I stuffed it into my pocket, a little nervous because I was famous for losing pens when I was in school. "Don't worry," Chiron said. "worry about what?" "Gonna lose this pen," he said. "It's bewitched to keep returning to your pocket. Try it." I was a little frightened, but with all my might I threw the pen down the hill and watched it disappear into the grass. "It might take a little while," Chiron said to me. "Okay, check your pockets." The pen was literally lying in it. "Great, this is cool," I admit. "But what if a mortal sees me pulling out this sword?" Chiron smiled and said, "Percy, fog is a powerful thing." "fog?" "Yes, go read the Iliad, there's a lot to refer to. Whenever the worlds of gods, monsters, and mortals mingle, the fog blurs what humans see. As a hybrid, you see What they saw was what they were, but humans interpreted it very differently, interpreting what they saw during this time as a version of what they believed to be true." I put the Wave Sword back in my pocket. For the first time, I felt that the quest was real.I really want to leave the half-breed and just head west, no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone (Chiron said monsters can track cell phones, using a cell phone is worse than using a flash signal).Apart from a sword, I have no powerful weapon to repel the monsters and reach Reaper's territory. "Chiron..." I said, "You said the Celestials don't die...so there were other ages before the Celestials?" "Properly speaking, there were four more ages before them. The Titans were the fourth age, sometimes called the Golden Age, but this is a complete misnomer. And the present era of Western civilization is the fifth age ruled by Zeus .” "So, before the gods... what was it like?" Chiron pursed his lips. "Son, even though I'm not old enough to know the answer, I do know that it was a barbaric Dark Age for mortals. Kronos, king of the Titans, said he ruled a Golden Age, when he said man was pure and free. But that's just his propaganda. The Titan King doesn't value humans unless he wants to whet his appetite or find some cheap entertainment. In the early days of Doth's reign, a benevolent Titan named Prome After Zeus brought fire to mankind, mankind began to progress. Because of this, Prometheus was even vilified as an extremist at that time. You should remember that Zeus punished him severely. Of course, in the end, the gods still let mankind get Warmth, and thus Western Civilization was born." "But the Celestials don't die these days, do they? I mean, as long as Western civilization exists, they'll live. So... even if I fail, it won't make everything mess up, right?" Chiron gave me a wry smile. "Percy, no one knows how long the age of Western civilization will last. The gods are not, but don't forget, the Titans are the same, they still exist, they are kept in separate prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment .Although their strength is weak, their vitality is still there. Maybe the goddess of fate prevented the gods from suffering such bad luck, or let us not have to go back to the dark and chaotic past. Children, all we can do is obey the arrangements of fate." "Follow our fate...if we know our own destiny..." "Relax," Qirong told me, "keep your head clear. Remember, you could have prevented the greatest war in history." "Relax?" I said, "I'm so relaxed." When I got to the foot of the mountain, I looked back, and under the pine tree that used to be the daughter of Zeus, Talia, Chiron stood in the complete image of a centaur, raising his bow to greet us.It's a classic centaur, a classic summer camp send-off. Argus drove us through the countryside and into western Long Island.It was a strange feeling to be back on the road, with Annabeth and Grover sitting next to me, as if we were just regular passengers, and after two weeks in camp, the real world seemed like a mirage.I found myself staring at every McDonald's, every kid in the backseat of my parents' car, every billboard, and every shopping mall. "So far everything is going well." I said to Annabeth, "After more than ten kilometers, there is not a single monster." She gave me an angry look, "You seaweed head, you will bring bad luck to say that." "It reminds me, why do you hate me so much?" "I don't hate you." "You can keep lying." She put away the invisibility cap. "Listen to me... we can't live in peace, okay? Our parents are enemies." "why?" She sighed and said, "What the hell do you have to say before you stop asking why? My mom once caught Poseidon having a tryst with his girlfriend at the Temple of Athena. That was disrespectful to my mom. Another time, Athena Competing with Poseidon to be the patron saint of the city of Athens, your dad created a stupid sea fountain as a gift, and my mom created an olive tree. Athenians think my mom's gift is better, so use her name Name that city." "They must really like olives." "Oh, stop talking." "If she invents pizza, I can totally understand it." "I said, stop talking!" Argus in the front seat was smiling, he didn't say a word, but he winked at me with one blue eye from the nape of his neck. Traffic in Queens slowed us down, and by the time we reached Manhattan it was dusk and it was starting to rain. Agus dropped us off at the Greyhound bus stop on the Upper East Side, not far from Mom and Gabor's house.There was a wet flyer on the mailbox with my picture and a line of words: Have you seen this boy? I tore up the flyer before Annabeth and Grover saw it. Agus unloaded our luggage and drove away after making sure we all got our tickets.The eyes on the back of his hands opened to look at us as he pulled out of the parking lot. I didn't expect our hometown to be so close.Usually at this time, Mom has come home from the candy store, and Stinky Gabor must be playing poker there, but it will definitely not make Mom feel better. Grover put his backpack on his back, and followed my line of sight to the other side of the street. "Percy, you want to know why she married your stepfather?" I look at him with wide eyes. "Can you read minds?" "Can only read your emotions." He shrugged. "I guess I forgot to tell you that satyrs have this ability. You're thinking about your mother and your stepfather, aren't you?" I nodded, wondering if Grover forgot to tell me something. "Your mother married Gabor because of you," Grover said to me. "Didn't you call him 'stinky' Gabor? But you didn't realize that this man's smell...was disgusting. I can smell him, and I can smell him from you even though you haven't been near him for two weeks." "Thanks." I said, "Where's the nearest bathroom?" "Percy, you should be grateful that your stepfather's smell is so horrible, he can cover the existence of any halfling. I just need to take a breath in his car. All these years, it was Gabe who covered up your smell. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you would have been found by monsters. Your mother was with him to protect you. She's a smart lady and she must love you very, very much to put up with that guy. I don't know if this will make you feel better." No, but I forced myself not to show it.I'll see my mother again, I thought, and she didn't go away. I don't know if Grover would be able to read it if I mixed up all the emotions.I'm glad he and Annabeth are there for me, but I'm deeply guilty that I haven't been honest enough with them.I didn't tell them the real reason I agreed to this crazy mission. The truth is, I'm not in the business of retrieving Zeus's Lightning bolt, saving the world, or helping my dad out of trouble.The more I think about it, the more I resent Poseidon for never visiting me, never helping Mom, or even sending me a big check for my child support.He just asked me because he needed to get that done. The only thing I care about is my mother. Hades took her by improper means, then Hades should let her come. "You will be betrayed by someone who calls you a friend." The oracle whispered in my head. "In the end, you will fail and fail to save the most important thing." shut up, i said. The rain continued. We got tired of waiting for the bus and decided to play with Grover's apples. Annabeth is incredible, whether it's knees, elbows, shoulders...anywhere can make an apple bounce, and I'm not bad. It was game over when I threw the apple at Grover and it landed near his mouth.With one bite from the goat's super-big mouth, our toy disappeared, not to mention the core, stem, and whole apple. Grover blushed. He wanted to apologize, but Annabeth and I were already laughing. The bus finally arrived, and as we waited in line to board, Grover began to look around, sniffing the air, longing to smell his favorite student restaurant delicacy—grilled enchiladas. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I don't know." He said nervously, "Maybe it's okay." I could tell that something was definitely going on, and I also started to look around. Finally boarding the bus, we were relieved when we found a full row of seats at the back of the bus.We put our backpacks in the trunk. Annabeth, still nervous, kept patting her thigh with the Yankees cap. As the last passengers boarded, Annabeth pinched my knee and said, "Percy." An old lady has just gotten into the car. She is wearing a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and an asymmetrically shaped orange knitted hat. The shadow of the brim of the hat covers her face. Carrying a large paramecium pattern handbag.When she raised her head and tilted her head to one side, her dark eyes gleamed.Then my heart beat suddenly. It was Mrs. Dawes, but older and thinner, but that evil face was exactly the same, and it was her. I ducked down into my seat. Behind her two more old ladies got into the car.One wore a cuckold, the other a purple hat, but otherwise they looked exactly like Mr. Dawes, with the same knobby hands, paramecium handbags, and crumpled velvet dresses.They are triplet devil granny. They sat in the first row, just behind the driver.The two sitting on the edge of the aisle straddle the aisle, forming an X shape, which is too coincidental.Their presence sends a clear message: no one is allowed to leave. The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed toward the tidy streets of Manhattan. "She hasn't been dead for long," I said, trying not to shake my voice. "I thought you said that in my lifetime, they will be in a state of disappearance." "I mean, if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "Obviously you didn't." "All three." Grover whimpered, "God!" "It's okay," said Annabeth, clearly trying to figure it out. "Mount Nemesis, the worst monster in the Underworld. No problem, we'll just slip out the window." "The windows can't be opened," Grover moaned. "From the back door?" she suggested. Without a back door, it would be useless even if there were one.At this time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel. "They won't have any more enemy eyewitnesses attacking us." I said, "Will they?" "Mortal people have bad eyesight.": Annabeth reminds me: "Their brains can only process what they see through the fog." "They'll see three old ladies kill us, won't they?" She thought for a while, "It's hard to say, but we can't rely on mortals to help, maybe the emergency exit is on the roof...?" We entered the Lincoln Tunnel. Except for the aisle lights under our feet, the bus was in darkness, the sound of the rain disappeared, and there was only an eerie silence in the car. Mr. Dawes got up, and with a monotonous voice that seemed to be rehearsed, he announced to the whole bus: "I need to go to the bathroom." "Me too," said the second sister. "Me too," said the third sister. They both got up and walked out to the aisle at the same time. "There," said Annabeth, "Percy, take my hat." "what?" "You are the one they are looking for. After you are invisible, go to the aisle and let them pass by you, and then you can go to the front and get out of the car." "But you..." "They don't pay much attention to us," said Annabeth. "You are the son of one of the 'Three Gods,' and you smell very strong." "I can't leave you guys behind." "Don't worry about us," Grover said, "Go!" My hands are shaking.I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankee hat and put it on. Then I looked down and saw that the body was gone. I tiptoed down the aisle, made my way to the first ten rows, and then found an open seat and ducked my head as the Nemesis passed by. Mr. Dawes stopped and sniffed, looked me straight in the eye, and made my heart pound wildly. Apparently she didn't see anything, and she and her sisters walked on. I was free and continued walking to the front, now almost through the Lincoln Tunnel.I reached out to press the emergency stop button when I heard a horrific wail from the back. An old lady is no longer an old lady.Their faces were the same, which couldn't have been uglier, but their bodies had shrunk into brown furry witches with bat wings, hands and feet that looked like spit monsters' claws on old buildings, and their handbags had changed. into a flaming whip. The Nemesis surrounded Grover and Annabeth, whipping her whip and shouting, "Where is that? Where is it?" Others in the car screamed loudly and shivered in their seats, and they saw it too. "He's not here!" cried Annabeth. "He's gone!" Nemesis raised her whip. Annabeth drew the bronze dagger, and Grover grabbed the aluminum can from the snack bag, ready to throw it at them. Next, my actions were impulsive and dangerous.I should be named the classic dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity child of the year. The bus driver was distracted, trying to look in the rearview mirror, wondering what was going on. I remained invisible, grabbed the steering wheel from his hand, and turned hard to the left.There was a scream as the people in the car were thrown to the right, and at the same time I heard the sound I wanted to hear the most-the Nemesis was smashed against the window. "Hey!" the driver yelled, "Hey! Whoa!" We grabbed each other's steering wheels, and the bus skidded out against the tunnel wall, rattling against the metal, sending sparks more than a kilometer long behind us. We slanted out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm.Humans and monsters are tossed up and down the bus, while cars next to it are knocked around like bowling pins. Somehow, the driver found a fork in the road, and we veered off the highway, through six traffic lights, and slowed down on a New Jersey country road.You would never believe that when you came out of New York City and only crossed a river, the scene before you was so desolate, there was not a single house.The forest was on our left, the Hudson River was on our right, and the driver seemed to be trying to steer the bus towards the river. Another great idea pops up and I apply the emergency brake. The bus screeched, spun 360 degrees on the slippery asphalt, and crashed into the woods.The emergency lights came on and the doors opened.The driver was the first to rush out, and the passengers followed him, yelling.I went to the driver's seat to let the passenger through. The Furies regained their footing, and they threw their whips at Annabeth. Annabeth brandished a dagger and shouted ancient Greek.Tell them to back away.Grover threw the aluminum can. I look at the open front door.Actually, I can go where you want, but I can't leave my friend, I took off the invisibility cap and shouted: "Hey!" Nemesis turned and bared her yellow fangs at me, when the escape through the exit suddenly became a great idea again.Mrs. Dawes strutted down the aisle like she was in class, coming over to give me an F for my math grade.Every time she flicked the whip, red sparks danced around the barbed whip. Her two ugly sisters, one on each side, moved over the seats on either side of her, slowly crawling towards me, like two disgusting lizards. "Perseus Jackson," said Mrs. Dawes, and I was sure her accent was from somewhere south of Georgia. "You offended the gods, you must die." "I liked it better when you were a math teacher," I told her. she growled. Annabeth and Grover moved carefully behind the Nemesis looking for an exit. I took the ballpoint pen out of my pocket, took the cap off, and stretched it into a shiny double-edged sword. Nemesis hesitated. Teacher Dawes had tasted the power of the Wave Sword, obviously she didn't want to see it again. "Submit," she hissed, "so you won't suffer eternal pain." "Well said." I said to her. "Percy, be careful!" Annabeth yelled. Mrs. Dawes swung her whip around my sword hand, and the Nemesis on both sides of her rushed straight at the same time. My hand seems to be held in place by molten lead, but I try to hold it steady so that the wave sword does not fall.I stabbed the Fury on the left with the hilt and she fell back into the seat; then I turned and split the Fury on the right, and when the blade touched her neck, she screamed and exploded into ashes . Annabeth grabbed Mrs. Dawes from behind like a wrestler and pulled her back violently as Grover ripped the whip from her hand. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "Wow! It's hot! It's hot!" The Fury I had struck with the hilt of my sword a moment ago got up again and came towards me.She stretched out her claws, I swung the Wavesword, and she shattered like a clay pot being hit. Mrs Dawes tried to shake Annabeth off her back.She kicked and scratched and howled and bit, but Annabeth held on tight as Grover bound Mrs Dawes' feet with her own whip.Finally, the two of them pulled her hard from behind and pulled her down on the aisle.Mrs. Dawes tried to get up, but she didn't have enough room to spread her bat wings, so she continued to fall in third. "Zeus will destroy you!" she cursed. "Hades will take your soul!" "Braccas meas vescimini!" I yelled. I don't know where this Latin phrase came from.What I mean by this sentence is: "Eat my pants!" Lightning shook the bus, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, "Get out!" Annabeth yelled at me. "Right now!" I knew it without her saying it. We rushed out of the bus and found that some passengers were walking around in a daze, some were arguing with the driver, some were running in circles and shouting: "We are dying!" There was also a passenger in a Hawaiian shirt, Before I could put the pen cap back on the sword, he took a picture of me. "Our bags!" Grover suddenly recovered, "We stay in..." boom!The windows of the bus blew out and passengers fled for cover.Lightning blasted a huge hole in the roof.At this time, there was an angry wailing sound in the car, which meant that Mr. Dawes was not dead yet. "Run!" said Annabeth. "She's calling for help! We must get out of here!" We jumped into the forest with the rain pouring down and the bus burning behind us.Going forward, there is only darkness.