Chapter 2

The canyon was maybe 80 feet deep and the river was about 50 yards across. And it was standing between us and our destination.

Grover inspected the side of the cliff. "There's a trail. We can get down."

It was the first time I'd heard him speak since this morning, and he didn't sound too good.

"I see no trail." Zoe responded.

"Right there!" He gestured to a tiny ledge winding down the cliff face.

"Um, I don't think we can make that." I said.

"Yeah we can! I think."

"Uh, how about we keep walking?" Thalia asked, her voice high and squeaky.

I didn't like being up so high either. And the water churning menacingly below us…

"Yes. Let's." I said.

We walked in silence for a while, passing around bags of gas station potato chips. We spotted a canoe rental place further along, right at a spot that would be easy to get to the water from, but decided against checking it out since we had to go upstream. There was no way that was happening with these rapids.

We walked in the biting cold until our legs ached and our hands were numb, then a mile more. After that Zoe called for a break. We stopped in a clearing with a few logs on the ground for seating. It looked like we weren't the first people to use that spot because there was an old fire pit in the center and snack wrappers lying around.

"Bianca, please gather some firewood." Zoe requested, looking pointedly at Grover, who was shaking like a leaf.

I nodded. "Okay." And trekked out into the woods.

As I shifted through the underbrush, gathering any wood that wasn't too soggy, I wondered how Nico was doing back at camp. I stuck my hand into my pocket, where the Hades figurine was. How was I going to tell him about Percy?

I decided I had enough wood to start a fire and keep it going a little while, so I gathered what I had and headed back to the group.

As I neared the campsite, I heard someone crying. I cleared the final line of trees and saw Grover sobbing, huddled at the base of a tree, and Thalia sitting in front of him, trying to comfort him.

"First Annabeth and now Percy…" He whimpered.

Guilt washed over me like a tidal wave. I dropped my firewood by the pit.

"I'm uh… I'm going to get some more." I stammered. I ran back into the woods, crashing through the underbrush until I was a fair distance away.

I stopped, breathing heavily. I was so stupid! And now everybody has to suffer for it.

I kicked a tree, which earned me several pinecones on the head.

"Ouch!" I yelped.

The trunk of the tree morphed into a dryads face and she sneered at me before her features melted back into the bark.

"Okay, I deserved that." I muttered. I still wasn't used to this Greek mythology stuff being real. And it kind of creeped me out that trees and lakes and things could be sentient.

I decided I might as well find some more wood since that's what I'd promised, but I hadn't gotten more than a few sticks before I heard a painfully familiar clatter behind me.

I turned and saw two skeletons coming for me, and a third following close behind. Their graying flesh flickering like a mirage over their bones and their muskets loaded and ready to fire.

I felt for my bow- only to realize I'd left it with the others. I cursed. All I had was my knife, and that wasn't going to do much against these enemies.

The undead assassins raised their weapons and I dove behind a log to avoid getting shot as they fired the first round.

From behind the log I grabbed a thick branch, good for clubbing skeletons over the head, and cautiously looked over the side of it. The zombies were busy reloading. That's the good thing about those old-fashioned guns, they weren't very efficient.

I vaulted over the log and swung my makeshift club into the first skeleton's ribcage, shattering bones and sending him to the ground in a crumpled heap, where he instantly started reforming. I grabbed his gun, but it dissolved into dust upon contact with my skin.

The second zombie came for me and I jabbed my club upward into its jaw, knocking its skull off. I wasn't so lucky with the third one.

Skeleton number three swung its musket into my shoulder, sending me sprawling. Skeleton number one- now fully re-formed- pinned me down while number three aimed its gun at me. I panicked.

"Get away!" I screamed.

I don't know how I did what I did next.

I felt a pull in my gut and a wave of dark energy rolled off of me. The zombies disintegrated, along with all plant life within a few feet of me. I groaned and stood up shakily. How did I do that?

Just then, Thalia, Zoe, and Grover came running in.

"Bianca! We heard gunfire! Are you okay?... Woah."

Thalia stopped in her tracks. "What happened here?"

"I don't know. The skeletons came and I just…" I gestured helplessly.

Zoe took a handful of ashes and let them drift through her fingers.

"You know what this looks like right?" Thalia asked Zoe.

Zoe shook her head. "It is too soon to be sure."

"Sure about what?" I asked, fear rising in my chest.

"I don't know, Thalia," Grover said, "I mean- I can tell she's powerful, but she could be a daughter of Nyx, or Hecate, we don't know if her godly parent is male or female, so there's still a chance…"

"A chance of what?! What are you talking about?"

Thalia looked at me. "We don't know for sure, but it looks like you might be a daughter of Hades."

"And that's bad?"

"Well, the big three gods, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, aren't supposed to have any kids. They tend to slip up though, I'm a daughter of Zeus, and Percy was a son of Poseidon. If you really are a child of Hades, things might get ugly."

"But what about Nico? Is he-"

Thalia held up her hand. "Like I said, we don't know yet. The important thing is that you got rid of the skeletons. How many did you say there were again?"

"I didn't. And there were three."

"Okay, that means there's still two more and they're probably close by. I say we head out."

"Yes." Zoe stood up. "I climbed a tree and saw a dam further ahead. We should use it to cross the river."

With that, the rest of our group headed back to our camp to grab our stuff. I still had so many questions that needed to be answered, but I followed them.

We set out along the side of the canyon in the direction Zoe had pointed us. The others seemed to be ignoring me. I wondered if I'd done something wrong, besides, you know, siccing a murderous automaton on us the day before.

I caught up to Thalia. "You said you couldn't be sure about my godly parent yet, how can I know for sure?" I asked.

"Oh, you need to get claimed by them."

"And how and when will that happen?"

"Well, first a big glowy sign will appear over your head with a symbol of your parent, like a hammer or a mouse or something…"

"A mouse? What god would have a mouse as their symbol?"

Thalia smiled. "Apollo, actually. I don't really get it either. Anyway, as for when, we don't know. Some kids never get claimed."

"Why not?"

"Because the gods are shit parents." Thalia muttered.

I didn't know what to say to that. I let myself fall to the back of the group again.

It was nightfall by the time we reached the dam- Hoover dam- there was a sign- and it was huge, at least 700 feet tall. It was also closed.

"How will we get in?" Zoe whispered.

"Hold on." Grover replied. He played a quick tune on his pipes, turned to the woods, and waited. Soon trees and vines stretched towards us, twining together and forming a bridge over the gate.

"Everybody on!"

We all piled onto the tree bridge, Thalia last and me right before her, and slowly inched along it. The branches curved around us like a tunnel.

We were backing down the final stretch of branch when Thalia froze.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Fine." She squeaked. I was on the ground now.

"Do you need any help?"

"No, I just-" She jumped down the final few feet.

"You never speak of this." She hissed.

"Uhh, okay?" I didn't get what the big secret was, that she was scared of heights? Why would I say anything about that?

"Hey guys," Grover called, "the door's unlocked."

"This doesn't bode well." Zoe said.

"So we go in?"

"Yes, but stay alert."

We crept through the halls of the dam, being as quiet as possible. We made it about halfway through before something went wrong.

That must be a new record.

We heard snuffling in the dark and ducked into an adjacent hallway as the monster, whatever it was, prowled past us.

I t was the most bizarre creature I had ever seen. It had two heads- a goat and a lion on the front. The lion head was glowing from the mouth like it had hot coals in there. It wore a name plate that read: Fluffy, registered guard dog, in bold print. For a tail, the creature had the front half of a snake, spitting venom.

"It's the dam Chimera!" Zoe whispered.

Thalia snorted. "The what?"

The goat head looked right at us and bleated loudly.

"Hey! That was rude!" Grover retorted.

Then the lion head blew fire at us and we dove to get away. I pushed myself to my knees and grabbed my bow. Zoe and I sent some arrows into the monster's hide, but they didn't seem to be doing much except annoy it, and the lion's fire breath and snake's poison kept anyone from getting near it. Thalia had taken out her shield, the one with the head of Medusa imprinted in it, which made the monster shy away from her as she stepped in closer and jabbed her spear at it.

She almost got a good shot, but the snake tail swung around and knocked her backwards. The lion head blew fire across the room until it got painfully hot. I tried to think through the smoke. How could we beat this thing?

I remembered a Chimera card from Myth-o-Magic, (I do know my Myth-o-Magic, Nico gets me to play it with him almost every day.) It was one of the nastier cards, but it did have one weakness: Lead-based weapon cards.

Lead. Fire.

I scrambled over to Thalia. "I have an idea! Can you hold it off for a minute?"

She nodded, and I raced for the gift shop.

I ran past aisles of plushies and children's books until I found what I wanted: Fishing supplies. And with them, lead sinkers. I loaded my pockets with the balls of lead and ran back to the action.

The Chimera was wiping the floor with my friends. Zoe was crumpled against a wall, with Thalia crouching between her and the monster, using her shield to protect them both. Grover was doing the stop, drop, and roll, trying to put his flaming pants out.

I needed to get the monster's attention.

"Hey! Fur Face!" I yelled.

The Chimera looked at me and I chucked one of the sinkers at the fiery lion's mouth. It missed. The lion's mouth glowed hotter and I knew it was getting ready to roast me. I threw another sinker and it hit home, sizzling and melting upon contact with it's mouth.

The Chimera gagged. It clawed at its throat. I backed up as it thrashed around before collapsing and disintegrating into yellow monster dust.

"Good work Bianca." Zoe said. Thalia helped her up. She was limping, but otherwise seemed okay. Grover ran to the gift shop to grab a new pair of pants, and we continued through the dam.

I breathed a sigh of relief when we made it outside. As soon as we got to the first patch of trees Zoe ordered that we make camp. I realized that I couldn't remember the last time I'd slept.

Zoe and I each set up a tent, one for us, and one for Thalia and Grover.

Then I crawled into my silver Artemis-approved sleeping bag, and was asleep seconds later.

A/N: And that was chapter two! I hope you enjoyed it, but even if you didn't I'd still love to hear your feedback! I hope you don't mind me reusing old monsters from earlier books, but hey, they never actually beat the Chimera before, and I thought that would be an awesome battle. (The lead thing is legit how the Chimera was beaten in the myth btw) So yeah, read, review, and have a great weekend!

-FreakofNature