Rick Riordan The Titan’ s Curse- 03
dropped away like the world ' s most dangerous skateboard ramp, down to the river seven hundred feet below, and water that churned from the dam ' s vents.
Thalia walked in the middle of the road, far away from the edges. Grover kept sniffing the wind and looking nervous. He didn ' t say anything, but I knew he smelled monsters. " How close are they?" I asked him. He shook his head. " Maybe not close. The wind on the dam, the desert all around us … the scent can probably carry for miles. But it ' s coming from several directions. I don ' t like that." I didn ' t either. It was already Wednesday, only two days until winter solstice, and we still had a long way to go. We didn ' t need any more monsters, " There ' s a snack bar in the visitor center," Thalia said. " You ' ve been here before?" I asked. " Once. To see the guardians." She pointed to the far end of the dam. Carved into the side of the cliff was a little plaza with two big bronze statues. They looked kind of like Oscar statues with wings. " They were dedicated to Zeus when the dam was built," Thalia said. " A gift from Athena." Tourists were clustered all around them. They seemed to be looking at the statues ' feet. " What are they doing?" I asked. " Rubbing the toes," Thalia said. " They think it ' s good luck." " Why?" She shook her head. " Mortals get crazy ideas. They don ' t know the statues are sacred to
Zeus, but they know there ' s something special about them." " When you were here last, did they talk to you or anything?" Thalia ' s expression darkened. I could tell that she ' d come here before hoping for exactly that— some kind of sign from her dad. Some connection. " No. They don ' t do anything. They ' re just big metal statues."
I thought about the last big metal statue we ' d run into. That hadn ' t gone so well. But I decided not to bring it up. " Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoe said. " We should eat while we can." Grover cracked a smile. " The dam snack bar?" Zoe blinked. " Yes. What is funny?" " Nothing," Grover said, trying to keep a straight face. " I could use some dam french fries." Even Thalia smiled at that. " And I need to use the dam restroom." Maybe it was the fact that we were so tired and strung out emotionally, but I started cracking up, and Thalia and Grover joined in, while Zoe just looked at us. " I do not understand." " I want to use the dam water fountain," Grover said. " And …" Thalia tried to catch her breath. " I want to buy a dam T-shirt." I busted up, and I probably would ' ve kept laughing all day, but then I heard a noise: " Moooo." The smile melted off my face. I wondered if the noise was just in my head, but Grover had stopped laughing too. He was looking around, confused. " Did I just hear a cow?" " A dam cow?" Thalia laughed. " No," Grover said. " I ' m serious." Zoe listened. " I hear nothing." Thalia was looking at me. " Percy, are you okay?" " Yeah," I said. " You guys go ahead. I ' ll be right in." " What ' s wrong?" Grover asked. " Nothing," I said. " I … I just need a minute. To think." They hesitated, but I guess I must ' ve looked upset, because they finally went into the visitor center without me. As soon as they were gone, I jogged to the north edge of the dam and looked over. " Moo." She was about thirty feet below in the lake, but I could see her clearly: my friend from Long
Island Sound, Bessie the cow serpent. I looked around. There were groups of kids running along the dam. A lot of senior citizens.
Some families. But nobody seemed to be paying Bessie any attention yet.
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