An Unexpected Witness
"Well, this is where I get off, kids," said the good Samaritan who had given them a ride.
The vehicle they had traveled in was a motorhome belonging to a man obsessed with searching for extraordinary things all across America.
And by extraordinary, that basically meant leprechauns, UFOs, and Bigfoot.
Yeah, most people would probably think someone like this was completely nuts.
But within miles around, he had been kind enough to pick up a group of teenagers stranded in the middle of the desert.
Though at first, he'd probably done it because he thought they'd been abducted by aliens and dumped out there.
And that became obvious from the utterly disappointed look on his face when they simply told him that wasn't the case.
It wasn't until they got out of the vehicle that they realized where they were, since the windows, completely covered with newspapers, hadn't let them see much.
Come to think of it... if this guy had actually been a criminal or a kidnapper...
"Hoover Dam?" Bianca said, interrupting Percy's thoughts, as he suddenly realized something.
"Yep. Pretty, isn't it?" said the man who had brought them here.
He was a somewhat chubby guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a hat made out of aluminum foil that attracted quite a bit of attention.
The funniest part was that he looked surprisingly similar to Mr. D, to the point that every time the group looked at him, they had to hold back their laughter.
"But don't let it fool you. There are plenty of exciting legends about its construction. Like the ghost of J. G. Tierney, who's said to wander around here. Or the bodies supposedly buried underneath it—dozens of workers used as sacrifices..."
The man began telling one urban legend after another, growing more and more excited with every story.
By the way, his name was Julius.
Though he liked his friends to call him Jul.
Assuming he had any friends.
But the teenagers weren't paying him much attention anymore, because they were now staring at the massive concrete wall that suddenly rose between the canyon walls.
And there was no denying it.
It really was a spectacular sight.
One of the greatest engineering projects in the United States.
One that, for a moment, only made Grover, Thalia, and Percy think of one person.
Annabeth.
Who went absolutely crazy over things related to architecture.
...
After parting ways with Jul, who planned to stay for a few days to see if he could find any clues about ghosts or maybe creatures from Lake Mead, Percy and the others needed to find some kind of transportation to continue their journey.
"There was a restaurant in the visitor center. Maybe we can grab something to eat and ask if there's any transportation that can take us farther," Thalia said.
"You've been here before?" Bianca asked with interest.
"Yeah. To see the guardians," she said, pointing toward one side of the dam where there was a plaza with two enormous winged bronze statues. "When they built the reservoir, they made them for Zeus. A gift from Athena," she explained easily.
It was still obvious that every time she mentioned her father's name, her tone dropped several degrees, carrying a hint of bitterness.
"Let's just go to that damned tavern already and stop wasting time," Zoë said, as ill-tempered as ever since joining this group.
Or rather, since she'd been forced to join it.
But by this point, the others had already gotten used to the way she spoke.
"Wait... where's Percy?" Grover asked, looking around after realizing his friend had disappeared at some point.
Besides, he still couldn't speak properly.
It could be a problem if he wandered off from the group.
Though maybe Grover was the only one who felt that way.
Because no one else seemed particularly worried about Miraak's disciple.
They simply headed toward the restaurant to get something to eat.
"Guys... Percy," Grover said again.
But no one else seemed concerned.
…
A skeleton creaked as it struggled, trying to free itself from the hand gripping it by the neck and holding it off the ground.
Percy simply looked at the skeleton struggling to escape his grip, Riptide in his other hand.
And around him lay another group of skeletons dressed as police officers and security guards, scattered across the ground, trying to recover their heads or the parts of their bodies that Percy's sword had sliced off.
It was strange how they could still keep moving.
Though calling them alive would be an exaggeration.
Even after being cut by Celestial Bronze.
Percy tightened his grip around the skeleton's neck, and the spine connecting to its skull shattered easily under the strength of his hand.
Causing the skull to separate from the body and fall to the ground.
But just like the others, this skeleton wasn't completely destroyed.
Instead, it began crawling across the ground as well, trying to recover its head.
Under the watchful gaze of Percy, who still couldn't say a single word as he stared at it.
Some of the skeletons that had recovered their missing limbs began advancing toward Percy.
Though this time they were much more cautious, having realized just how dangerous this demigod was.
Unlike Zoë, whom they had managed to wound, they hadn't been able to injure this guy at all.
And before they could even draw their pistols, they had all been completely defeated, leaving them with nothing but their batons to fight with.
Others, missing their legs, crawled toward him, seemingly wanting to tear him apart with their teeth.
But Percy had already lost interest in those things that couldn't give him any information about who had sent them or where their leader was.
So he simply raised his free hand calmly.
A golden orb of magic gently appeared above his palm.
And when Percy clenched it...
It suddenly began merging with his body.
His body immediately began releasing a golden aura from every pore, surrounding him as if he himself had become the sun.
Or at least, that was how the skeletons saw him.
Because the moment the light radiating from Percy illuminated them, their bodies began burning away at incredible speed.
The skeletons let out growls of pain as their bodies turned into dust and ashes so quickly that none of them seemed able to escape.
With that taken care of, Percy turned his gaze toward the black car the skeletons had stepped out of, its doors still hanging open in front of him.
At least now they had a way to keep moving.
That made Percy let out a faint smile.
Then he turned to go find the others.
But the moment he did, he noticed the only person nearby staring straight at him.
Her mouth hung wide open, and the look of shock on her face made it more than obvious that she had seen everything.
Her eyes moved from Riptide, then toward the dust that still carried a golden glow around Percy, and finally to Percy himself.
"What the hell was that?" the red-haired young woman asked as she stared at him.
That made one thing perfectly clear.
She really had seen everything that had happened through the Mist without any problem.
Percy remained mute because his throat still hadn't healed.
He had no way to answer.