193 A blessing of the Wild

It was a strange story. Then again, Bianca and Nico were Half-Bloods. Nothing would be normal for them.

"So, you've been raising Nico pretty much all your life?" Drako asked. "Just the two of you?"

She nodded. "That's why I wanted to join the Hunters so bad. I mean, I know it's selfish, but I wanted my own life and friends. I love Nico—don't get me wrong—I just needed to find out what it would be like not to be a big sister twenty-four hours a day."

At that moment, Zoë and Grover arrived with the drinks and pastries. Hot chocolate for Bianca and Percy. Coffee for Drako, Grover and Zoë.

"We should do the tracking spell," Zoë said. "Grover, do you have any acorns left?"

"Umm," Grover mumbled. He was chewing on a bran muffin, wrapper and all. "I think so. I just need to—"

He froze.

Zoe gasped. "Grover, thy cup."

Grover dropped his coffee cup, which was decorated with pictures of birds. Suddenly, the birds peeled off the cup and flew away—a flock of tiny doves. My rubber rat squeaked. It scampered off the railing and into the trees—real fur, real whiskers.

Grover collapsed next to his coffee, which steamed against the snow. They gathered around him and tried to wake him up. He groaned, his eyes fluttering.

"Hey!" Thalia said, running up from the street. "I just… What's wrong with Grover?"

"I don't know," Percy said. "He collapsed."

"Uuuuhhhh," Grover groaned.

"Well, get him up!" Thalia said. She had her spear in her hand. She looked behind her as if she were being followed. "We have to get out of here."

They made it to the edge of the town before the first two skeleton warriors appeared. They stepped from the trees on either side of the road. Instead of gray camouflage, they were now wearing blue New Mexico State Police uniforms, but they had the same transparent gray skin and yellow eyes.

Most of them need a moment to realise how fucked they were when they saw them using handguns. The only one who was immune to them here was Drako, so they needed to be careful.

Thalia tapped her bracelet. Aegis spiralled to life on her arm, but the warriors didn't flinch.

Their glowing yellow eyes bored right into Percy.

He drew Riptide, though Drako wasn't sure what good it would do against guns.

Zoë and Bianca drew their bows, but Bianca was having trouble because Grover kept swooning and leaning against her.

"Back up," Thalia said.

They started to—but then two more skeletons appeared on the road behind them. They were surrounded.

"They are only a group of shity skeletons," Drako said. "What are you afraid of?"

Drako didn't understand why were they so cautious. Each one of the skeletons was at the level of a mid-class Devil, maybe a little bit better than the average.

"You will understand when you see it," Zoë said.

Then, one of the warriors raised a cell phone to his mouth and spoke into it.

Except he wasn't speaking. He made a clattering, clicking sound, like dry teeth on bone.

Drako understood what was going on. The skeletons had split up to look for them. These skeletons were now calling their brethren. Soon, they'd have a full party on their hands.

"It's near," Grover moaned.

"It's here," Percy said.

"No," he insisted. "The gift. The gift from the Wild."

"We'll have to go one-on-one," Thalia said. "Four of them. Four of us. Percy, you have to protect Grover."

"Agreed," said Zoë.

"The Wild!" Grover moaned.

A warm wind blew through the canyon, rustling the trees. Drako got shocked by the pressure that he was sensing at that moment.

Something was coming, something really powerful.

A skeleton fired at Drako, but the bullets didn't do anything. Drako lost like 10 hp for each bullet, and he got back that hp in the next second.

Drako summoned Laevatein, and charged toward the skeleton. He swung the sword and cut him in half.

It was so easy to kill the skeleton.

But, Drako didn't receive any experience.

The bones of the skeleton unknit and clattered to the asphalt in a heap. Almost immediately, they began to move, reassembling themselves. The second skeleton clattered his teeth at Drako and tried to fire, but he knocked his gun into the snow.

In that moment, the other two skeletons shot at him.

But, they didn't have enough strength to do any serious damage to Drako.

Thalia charged to the second skeleton. Zoë and Bianca started firing arrows at the third and fourth. Grover stood there and held his hands out to the trees, looking like he wanted to huge them. Percy was looking over the fight, prepare to help at any moment.

There was a crashing sound in the forest to their left, like a bulldozer. Maybe the skeletons' reinforcements were arriving.

Drako understood why the skeletons were so scary for Zoë and the rest. They were unkillable; they didn't die even with Laevatein.

There was no way to stop them. Zoë and Bianca fired at their heads point-blank, but the arrows just whistled straight through their empty skulls. One lunged at Bianca, and Drako was about to go to her, but she whipped out her hunting knife and stabbed the warrior in the chest.

The whole skeleton erupted into flames, leaving a little pile of ashes and a police badge.

"How did you do that?" Zoe asked.

"I don't know," Bianca said nervously. "Lucky stab?"

"Well, do it again!"

Bianca tried, but the remaining three skeletons were wary of her now.

No matter how many times did Drako cut them, they still reappeared. It didn't stop.

"Plan?" Drako asked as they retreated.

Nobody answered. The trees behind the skeletons were shivering. Branches were cracking.

"A gift," Grover muttered.

And then, with a mighty roar, the largest pig Drako had ever seen came into the road. It was a wild boar, thirty feet high, with a snotty pink snout and tusks the size of canoes. Its back bristled with brown hair, and its eyes were wild and angry.

"REEEEEEET!" it squealed, and raked the three skeletons aside with its tusks. The force was so great, they went flying over the trees and into the side of the mountain, where they smashed to pieces, thigh bones and arm bone twirling everywhere.

Then the pig turned on them.

Drako raised his sword, but Grover yelled, "Don't kill it."

The boar grunted and pawed the ground, ready to charge.

"That's the Erymanthian Boar," Zoe said, trying to stay calm. "I don't think we can kill it."

"It's a gift," Grover said. "A blessing from the Wild!"

The boar said "REEEEEY!" and swung its tusk. Zoe and Bianca dived out of the way. Percy had to push Grover so he wouldn't get launched into the mountain on the Boar Tusk Express.

"Yeah, I feel blessed!" he said. "Scatter!"

They ran in different directions, and for a moment the boar was confused.

Only Drako stayed in front of the Boar.

This monster was the biggest he has ever found. He wanted to have a fight against him with his real form.

"GrrrrrRRR!" Drako started to growl as scales started to appear on his skin.

"WAIT! IT'S A BLESSING" Grover shouted when he saw what Drako was going to do.

Drako stopped the transformation for a moment. He wanted to hear what Grover had to say.

"It want to kill us!" Thalia said.

"Of course," Grover said. "It's wild!"

LMAO

"So how is that a blessing?" Bianca asked.

It seemed a fair question to Drako, but the pig was offended and charged her. She was faster than he'd realized. She rolled out of the way of its hooves and came up behind the beast. It lashed out with its tusks and pulverized the WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT sign.

"Keep moving!" Zoe yelled.

The boar turned towards Thalia, and she made the mistake of raising Aegis in defence. The sight of Medusa's head made the boar squeal in outrage.

The boar charged towards her.

Fast, Drako ran towards Thalia.

"This way." He grabed Thalia's arm and they ran along the rails while the boar roared behind them, slipping and sliding as it tried to navigate the steep hillside. Its hooves just were not made for this, thank the gods.

Ahead of them, Drako saw a covered tunnel. Past that, an old trestle bridge spanning a gorge. Drako had a crazy idea.

"Follow me!"

Thalia slowed down—Drako didn't have time to ask why—but he pulled her along and she reluctantly followed. Behind them, a ten-ton pig tank was knocking down pine trees and crushing boulders under its hooves as it chased them.

Thalia and Drako ran into the tunnel and came out on the other side.

"No!" Thalia screamed.

She'd turned as white as ice. They were at the edge of the bridge. Below, the mountain dropped away into a snow-filled gorge about seventy feet below.

The boar was right behind them.

"Come on!" He said. "Jump!"

"I can't!" Thalia yelled. Her eyes were wild with fear.

The boar smashed into the covered tunnel, tearing through at full speed.

"Now!" He yelled at Thalia.

She looked down and swallowed. Drako could swear that she was turning green.

"Tch."

Drako pushed her, throwing her down.

She started to scream. Drako jump behind her and opened his wings, he embraced her while trying to find the balance.

The boar was less fortunate; it couldn't turn that fast, so all ten tons of the monster charged out onto the tiny trestle, which buckled under its weight. The boar free-fell into the gorge with a mighty squeal and landed in a snowdrift with a huge POOOOOF!

Drako went down to the ground. Thalia was breathing really hard. Next to them, the wild boar was squealing and struggling. All Drako could see was the bristly tip of its back. It was wedged completely in the snow like Styrofoam packing. It didn't seem to be hurt, but it wasn't going anywhere, either.

Drako looked at Thalia. "You're afraid of heights."

Now that they were safely down the mountain, her eyes had their usual angry look. "Don't be stupid."

"That explains why you freaked out on Apollo's bus. Why you didn't want to talk about it."

She took a deep breath. "If you tell anyone, I swear—"

"No, no," Drako said. "That's cool. It's just… the daughter of Zeus, the Lord of the Sky, afraid of heights?"

Thalia blushed and looked at other place in shame.

That moment, above them, Grover's voice called, "Hellooooo?"

"Down here!" Drako shouted.

A few minutes later, Zoe, Bianca, Percy and Grover joined them. They stood watching the wild boar struggle in the snow.

"A blessing of the Wild," Grover said, though he now looked agitated.

"I agree," Zoe said. "We must use it."

"Hold up," Thalia said irritably. "Explain to me why you're so sure this pig is a blessing."

Grover looked over, distracted. "It's our ride west. Do you have any idea how fast this boar can travel?"

"Fun," Drako said. "Like… pig cowboys."

Grover nodded. "We need to get aboard. I wish… I wish I had more time to look around. But it's gone now."

"What's gone?" Percy asked.

Grover didn't seem to hear Percy. He walked over to the boar and jumped onto its back.

Already the boar was starting to make some headway through the drift. Once it broke free, there'd be no stopping it. Grover took out his pipes. He started playing a snappy tune and tossed an apple in front of the boar. The apple floated and spun right above the boar's nose, and the boar went nuts, straining to get it.

"Automatic steering," Thalia murmured. "Great."

She trudged over and jumped on behind Grover, which still left plenty of room for the rest of them.

Zoë and Bianca walked toward the boar.

"Wait a second," Percy said. "Do you two know what Grover is talking about—this wild blessing?"

"Of course," Zoë said. "Did you not feel it in the wind? It was so strong… I never thought I would sense that presence again."

"What presence?" Drako asked. He wanted to who was the one who could emit the strong presence that he had detected earlier.

Zoë stared at Drako like he was an idiot. "The lord of the Wild, of course. Just for a moment, in the arrival of the boar, I felt the presence of Pan."