Chapter 63: Zoë doesn't understand the dam joke

' Percy '

The morning sun shone over the road, the dessert seemed to stretch to the entire horizon, the sky was blue and no clouds were visible in the air which made me wonder if there was a particular reason for that, like Zeus being happy or that it was just the normal weather.

Zoë was driving with a faint smile on her face, probably because she figured out what land without rain meant.

No one spoke about the prophecy, especially not about the line One will get lost in the land without rain

We knew someone was supposed to die here, but we somehow avoided it.

We kept driving in silence until the tow truck we "borrowed," ran out of gas.

Zoë stopped it at the edge of a river canyon where the road conveniently also ended.

Thalia convinced us to walk upstream because of her problem with heights, I summoned Cola and sandwiches for everyone which we ate while we walked.

After a half mile of walking up we came across a canoe rental operation, we "borrowed" 2 canoes and put them into the water.

"We need to go upstream." Zoë said.

"I can convince the water spirits to help us." I offered.

"You can do that?" Thalia asked.

"Yeah, if you ask the friendly, they are willing to help."Zoë gave me a skeptical look before nodding.

"Great, so how are we going to decide who goes with who?" I asked.

We decided by pulling straws, Zoë and I shared a canoe while Nyx, Thalia and Bianca had the other.

Rebel did the weird thing with my backpack and disappeared, I guess he was tired from the battle with Talos.

Before we entered the canoes I gently asked the Naiads to help us, they made a few rude gestures towards Zoë but helped us anyway.

"They never forgave me." Zoë muttered as we were steered upstream by the Naiads.

"You mean about Hercules?" I asked.

Zoë's eyes lit up with anger, "How'd you know?"

"I had a dream." I lied, "I think you have a good reason of hating him."

She sighed, "Is just that-"

"You can't get him out of your life, he's famous and immortal." I finished her sentence.

Her eyes widened, "Wow, exactly."

"I ran into him at the summer solstice a few years ago, he tried to convince me he was a real hero." I chuckled.

"And?" Zoë asked.

"I beat him up."

"Well done." Zoë said with a mischievous grin.

I took out Riptide of my pocket. Zoë eyed it suspiciously.

"Anaklusmos." she whispered as I uncapped it.

The blade

I nodded and handed it to her, she took it with care and studied it, "It's a long time since I've seen it." she muttered with awe.

"You can have it if you want." I offered.

Her eyes widened,"You offer me…"

"Your sword back, I know Hercules took it from you. I don't want to be like Hercules. I want you to have it." I said determined.

Zoë looked at me with awe, "But what about you?"

I snapped my finger and an ice sword appeared in my right hand.

"I have a copy of Riptide I named Frostsilver. I can use this." I said.

"You created a copy of Riptide?" Zoë asked.

I nodded.

"But you are a dual wielder." she said, "You need two swords."

I was surprised by Zoe's kindness. I expected her to sneer but she was actually taking it really well, unlike last time.

"I think I can summon a second version of Frostsilver." I said and wiggled my fingers. I expected a second version of Frostsilver to appear in my left hand but to my surprise nothing happened.

I frowned, "Nothing happens." Zoë noticed.

"Yeah, I don't know why." I mumbled confused.

'Chaos why can't I make another copy of Riptide, like Frostsilver?' I asked.

'That's because Frostsilver is not just a sword but a part of you, you created it and gave it a name. It's no longer just a copy.' she said, 'You can not copy it.'

'Bummer.' Hemera said, 'Beside, it's not wise to give a sword away.'

'Why not? Zoë deserves it.' I argued.

Hemera shrugged, 'It's just my opinion.'

"Doesn't matter," I told Zoë when she noticed I could not summon a second sword, "You can have Anaklusmos again."

She looked at me gratefully, "Thanks Percy."

I smiled, "Don't...it's yours."

She shook her head, "No, not thanks for the sword but also thanks for being different."

I frowned, "Different then what?"

Before she could answer we stopped, the Naiads under our both groaned and muttered about the stupid dam.

The Naiads brought us to the river's shore, and I thanked him and threw in a few drachmas in the river as a gift.

One naiad asked me if I could destroy the dam, I apologized and told them that would ruin the mortals.

They left with a lot of grumbling.

"The Hoover Dam." Thalia said with awe.

We looked up at the curved concrete that loomed between the cliffs, people were walking on top of it and I wondered if we could visit it.

"Shall we go up there?" I wondered, "I mean we are already here."

"Yeah, take a selfie." Nyx suggested, "Get to the dam snack bar."

"Fine…" Zoë muttered, "It's like I'm traveling with kids."

"We are kids." I pointed out.

After an hour of walking we found a path that led up to the road and we came up on the east side of the river.

We strolled towards the Dam and Bianca gasped in surprise, "Wow, the view."

We walked towards the middle of the dam and leaned over the edge watching over the world's most dangerous skateboard ramp.

The concrete walls of the dam underneath us seemed so fragile compared to the giant lake behind our back, I could feel the water pressing against the dam and wanting to break it.

"Seven hundred feet tall." Thalia muttered pale.

"Awesome." Nyx cried out and took a selfie with her iPhone from the future.

"Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoe said. "We should eat while we can."

"Dam, I get it!" Nyx cried out, "It's a pun!"

Zoë frowned, "What?"

"She likes those dam jokes." Thalia laughed.

Zoë scowled, "Okay, what am I missing here?"

"Oh, I just took a dam selfie!" Nyx laughed.

"I don't get it either." Bianca said confused, "is this a modern joke?"

"It's about dam time you understand it." Thalia busted up.

Zoë scowled at me, "Percy, explain."

I was about to protest and say, Why am I the one that needs to explain this, when a voice behind me said, "Dam, it's a pun Zoë. Dam is a variation on damn."

I turned around to face see Despina leaning casually against the balustrade however her blue eyes pierced through me, making me think she was not as ease as she pretended to be.

Unlike last time she no longer wore a dress but black jeans and a t-shirt that read, "Hoover Dam, Arizona Nervana." and had an image of the dam which made me wonder if she went shopping in the tourist shop before deciding to show up here.

She still wore her black snow boots even though there was no snow anywhere near us.

Her blue lips formed a smirk, like she found it hilarious to find us here.

"Despina." I said coldly, "What are you doing here?"

She stretched out her arms, "To stop you from freeing Artemis of course, you five left without saying goodbye."

The battle in Washington DC, it felt like it was years ago already. So much happened between and I had the idea I became stronger within the last few days.

"Where's Lycaon?" Zoë asked skeptically and looked around, like she expected a pack of wolves to be hiding in the crowd.

Despina waved it away, "Those useless dogs? They couldn't keep up with me. They got specifics orders from Kronos. I don't need them anyway."

'Thanks for the information.' Nyx said sarcastically.

"We fought Talos, we can take you." Thalia said angrily.

I wanted to draw Riptide but it was no longer in my pocket, the split second I realized Riptide was not in my pocket I realized something else.

The greatest power lies in stepping back when it's necessary Apollo had told me, right after that he told me Artemis is not the only sister who needs help first I thought he meant Bianca but now after having a few cryptic dreams about Despina I began to suspect he meant Despina instead of Bianca.

What did he want to show me with those dreams? That's Despina's not all bad and just had a bad childhood?

'Maybe I should try reasoning with her.' I thought by myself.

'Why don't you use your new power from Aphrodite, the emotion reading?' Hemera suggested.

I stared at Despina's ice blue eyes, her eyebrow was raised as to say; You are such a moron but you are funny.

A surge of emotions ran through me and almost made me flinch, sadness, admiration and envy all rushed through me and for a second I could not distinguish her feelings from mine.

When they faded I stared at Despina in utter confusion.

"Well, are you guys going to try and attack me?" Despina asked with a smirk.

Thalia summoned her spear but I raised my hands and gestured to stop her.

"Despina, we don't need to fight." I said and I tried to put as much Soul speak in my voice as I could into my voice. Aphrodite had told me Soul speak only worked if the other already wanted to do it already, maybe Despina didn't want to fight.

Despina flinched, "I can't let you continue your quest." she said.

"Percy." Zoë said questioningly, "What are you doing?

I ignored her, "Despina you're my sister. We don't need to fight." I said.

She froze in her place, her hands were shaking, "Percy…" she began.

However, something interrupted our conversation, screams and shrieks from the people around us, who had totally ignored us, distracted my friends and me.

They pointed at the river that flew underneath us, then I realized they were not pointing at the river but at the horizon.

10 dark smudges were hanging in the air and steadily coming closer.

They made a chopping sound and I recognized them as black helicopters. People on the bridge immediately fled, screaming, as the helicopters came closer.

Triumvirate holdings.

"They must have followed us." Zoë said with fear.

"Ten helicopters." Bianca muttered as she drew her bow and Zoë followed.

"We can take ten helicopters." Nyx said but she sounded uncertain.

We started as the helicopters flew in a perfect V formation towards us.

They stopped mid-air above the river, 200 yards away from the massive dam and they hovered at eye height.

"Why do you attract so many helicopters?" Despina asked as she summoned an ice sword and her readied her shield.

"What are they doing?" Thalia asked, the helicopters were now hanging in the air, it was like they were studying us.

Then the opened fire.

The machine guns attached to the sides of the helicopters began firing bullets. All ten helicopters began to shoot at the same time, bullets penetrate the concrete walls underneath us and concrete shards flew of the dam.

RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-A-TATAT

It was like flashes of light struck the dam, the machine guns rattled and I was afraid we would be Demigodswith holes within a second but to my surprise they completely missed us and hit the dam.

"They can't aim," I called out, "Somehow they are not able to hit us."

"No my stupid brother." Despina said, "They are trying to destroy the dam."