Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
89
89
"I… I can show him," Grover said. "I'll go with him."
I stared at him. Grover was no fan of the water. He'd almost drowned last summer in the Sea
of Monsters, and he couldn't swim very well with his goat hooves.
"I'm the only one who can talk to him," Grover said. "It makes sense."
He bent down and said something in Bessie's ear. Bessie shivered, then made a contented,
lowing sound.
"The blessing of the Wild," Grover said. "That should help with safe passage. Percy, pray to
your dad, too. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."
I didn't understand how they could possibly swim back to Long Island from California. Then
again, monsters didn't travel the same way as humans. I'd seen plenty evidence of that.
I tried to concentrate on the waves, the smell of the ocean, the sound of the tide.
"Dad," I said. "Help us. Get the Ophiotaurus and Grover safely to camp. Protect them at
sea."
"A prayer like that needs a sacrifice," Thalia said. "Something big."
I thought for a second. Then I took off my coat.
"Percy," Grover said. "Are you sure? That lion skin… that's really helpful. Hercules used it!"
As soon as he said that, I realized something.
I glanced at Zoe, who was watching me carefully. I realized I did know who Zoe's hero had
been—the one who'd ruined her life, gotten her kicked out of her family, and never even mentioned
how she'd helped him: Hercules, a hero I'd admired all my life.
"If I'm going to survive," I said, "it won't be because I've got a lion-skin cloak. I'm not
Hercules."
I threw the coat into the bay. It turned back into a golden lion skin, flashing in the light. Then,
as it began to sink beneath the waves, it seemed to dissolve into sunlight on the water.
The sea breeze picked up.
Grover took a deep breath. "Well, no time to lose."
He jumped in the water and immediately began to sink. Bessie glided next to him and let
Grover take hold of his neck.
"Be careful," I told them.
"We will," Grover said. "Okay, um… Bessie? We're going to Long Island. It's east. Over that
way."
"Moooo?" Bessie said.
"Yes," Grover answered. "Long Island. It's this island. And… it's long. Oh, let's just start."
"Mooo!"
Bessie lurched forward. He started to submerge and Grover said, "I can't breathe
underwater! Just thought I'd mention—" Glub!
Under they went, and I hoped my father's protection would extend to little things, like
breathing.
"Well, that is one problem addressed," Zoe said. "But how can we get to my sisters' garden?"
"Thalia's right," I said. "We need a car. But there's nobody to help us here. Unless we, uh,
borrowed one."
I didn't like that option. I mean, sure this was a life-or-death situation, but still, it was stealing,
and it was bound to get us noticed.
"Wait," Thalia said. She started rifling through her backpack. "There is somebody in San
Francisco who can help us. I've got the address here somewhere."
"Who?" I asked.
Thalia pulled out a crumpled piece of notebook paper and held it up. "Professor Chase.
Annabeth's dad."
After hearing Annabeth gripe about her dad for two years, I was expecting him to have devil
horns and fangs. I was not expecting him to be wearing an old-fashioned aviator's cap and goggles.
He looked so weird, with his eyes bugging out through the glasses, that we all took a step back on
the front porch.
"Hello," he said in a friendly voice, "Are you delivering my airplanes?"
Thalia, Zoe, and I looked at each other warily.