Chapter 15: The Quest

The group soon picked up their stuff and began walking. As they walked, they stumbled upon something.

"Hey, let's go check if that pick-up truck works," said Thalia when they saw an abandoned truck outside of the junkyard.

They all followed her to the vehicle. It was large enough to hold them all with relative ease. The daughter of Zeus was about to open the trick when someone touched her shoulder.

"Wait, Thalia."

The girl turned,

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"I think, it's better if I check it since I have more knowledge than you. We wouldn't want our truck to explode after seeing it works, right?"

The girl backed away from the truck and asked,

"Huh, sure. But what are you going to do?"

"I'm just going to analyze it and make quick repairs to it."

"But you don't have tools. How are you going to do it?" interjected Grover and Percy nodded.

Isaiah deadpanned at him,

"What do you think?"

The satyr sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Right. Stupid question."

Isaiah cast (Structural Grasp) on it. Coupled with (Intuitive Aptitude), he decided to name it like that, he instantly learned every nook and cranny of the truck. He saw the truck was on the verge of collapse, but it was still usable. He altered some parts of the truck so that it doesn't break down and reinforced the whole thing.

"Damn. No matter how many times I see it, it still amazes me. Who knew magic could be so convenient," said Percy seeing Isaiah work.

Once (Reinforcement) was cast, he turned to everyone,

"Alright, hop in everyone," he said and everyone followed.

However, they've encountered a problem. There were only four seats in the truck.

"So who's going to sit in the cargo bed?" asked Percy.

"I'll do it." Bianca suddenly said.

"Are you sure, Bianca? I can sit in the back." Thalia said.

"No, I want to sit in the back," the younger girl replied, and before anyone could object, she went to sit down.

They all looked at her hesitatingly before another voice spoke up.

"Then, I'll sit too," Isaiah said and joined the girl.

He wanted to talk to her about the night's event.

Th others shrugged and climbed in. Isaiah soon hotwired the truck and they started to make their way. Percy and Grover sat on the back seat while Zoe sat shotgun and Thalia took the wheels.

"So where are we going?" Isaiah asked the group through the back window.

"We are supposed to go to San Francisco to find Artemis and save her before the winter solstice," replied Percy.

"Why the winter solstice?"

"Because that's when the council of gods get together and Artemis is a major goddess so if she's not there, it's going to be a huge problem," replied Thalia while driving.

"I heard San Francisco is a huge place, how are you going to find Artemis over there?"

"We'll see."

Isaiah then closed the window and turned around to Bianca sitting in front of him looking at the sunrise. He then simply observed her.

After five minutes through the ride, Bianca felt eyes on her, she turned and saw Isaiah simply staring at her.

"What?"

"Why are you making that face?" the boy asked after making sure the rest of the group didn't hear them.

Bianca frowned,

"What?"

"I asked why are you making that face." the boy repeated his question.

Bianca turned her head back to the sunrise.

"I'm not making any face."

"Yes, you are."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I'm not."

"You are.

"I'm NOT."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You are," Isaiah said.

"Ugh, fine! I am!" Bianca said irritated as she snapped her head at the boy.

"Why?"

"Because I'm almost killed, everyone!"

Isaiah nodded,

"That's true."

The girl looked at him horrified,

"I thought you were supposed to make me feel better."

The boy shrugged,

"I don't know how to do that. I'm just stating facts."

The girl looked at the boy as her eyes moisten,

"That's right. For something insignificant, I couldn've literally ended the world! All because I wanted to get a toy for my brother!"

Isaiah held his hand out and Bianca saw the same statue she had thrown away.

"This one?"

Bianca's breath hitched when she saw the statue,

"W-Why do you have it!?" she shouted with horror in her eyes.

"Did you not want to bring it for your brother?"

"What about the junkyard?"

"I think something would have happened by now if they didn't want us to take something. Besides, you threw it away outside of the area."

Isaiah then put the statue in between them,

"You can take it if you want."

The distraught girl simply stared at the statue.

"You say you make that face because you almost killed everyone, but didn't they say it was a thing of the past now."

"But that doesn't mean that I can just forget about it!"

Isaiah frowned in concentration,

"I don't understand. Your friends said that it doesn't matter anymore and you promised to not endanger your comrade's lives again. So why do you still have that sort of expression?"

"You don't understand! I just keep on having the picture of Talos about to stomp us. It keeps on replaying in my mind like a broken record. I can't get it out of my head."

"Then do you want me to erase it?"

Bianca looked at him in surprise,

"What?"

"If the problem is that memory, I can erase it for you to get rid of it," Isaiah said as he tilted his head.

"What? No! First of all, you can't just erase something when it causes you problems. That's not how this works. Second, I can't just forget about the incident. I have to remember it so that I don't make any more messes!"

Isaiah now looked confused,

"Now, you're just contradicting yourself, Bianca. You say you make that expression because of that memory, but you don't want to forget it. Which one do you want?"

The girl felt like she wanted to bang her head on a wall.

Before she could follow through with it, the truck suddenly stopped. They looked at the front and saw that they have arrived in front of a canyon with a river flowing through. They saw that they were supposed to go upstream to continue on their quest. They found some boats and Percy controlled the boats with the help of the naiads living in the river. They could have used the cliffs to climb, but it seemed too dangerous to go according to Percy. Soon came upon a huge dam and the naiads had to stop pushing the boats.

"So this is the Hoover Dam," said Thalia looking at the imposing structure after they had gotten off the boat. The whole group admired the marvel of architecture in front of them.

"It's a shame that Annabeth's not here. She would have gone crazy over this" Percy said.

"That's right." Grover nodded.

The rest looked at the three weirdly before Zoe shook her head.

"Why don't we go up there. Just to brag to her." Percy said with a mischievous smirk as he pointed at the top of the Dam.

Thalia mirrored his expression and said,

"Just imagine the face she would make," she giggled.

Grover shook his head,

"You guys are evil."

Zoe then spoke up,

"It doesn't really matter since we have to go there anyway because that's where the road is," she said and pointed at the garage next to the top of the dam. "We may as well go sightseeing."

After almost an hour of tracking, they finally arrived at the top of the Dam. It was a new experience for Isaiah. The cold wind slapped his face as he admired the view. He could see the desert mountains all around him and the huge lake behind the dam. He then saw Grover sniff the air and looked nervous as they all walked.

"What are you sniffing around for?" he asked.

"I smell monster here."

The rest of the group was alarmed at his statement.

"How close?" Percy asked.

"I'm not sure due to the wind and the vast desert. The scent could easily be from afar." the satyr replied.

"Is something pursuing you guys?" Isaiah asked.

Thalia nodded,

"Yeah. We have some immortal skeleton chasing after us. We can't even destroy them since they just repair themselves. The only one who did was Bianca and she doesn't know how she did it."

The boy nodded,

"I see. So you've finally awakened your powers."

The comment startled the little girl and surprised the rest.

"Huh, Isaiah. What do you mean by that? You talk as if you knew what powers she had." Percy asked.

The young sorcerer looked confused before a thought struck him,

"Wait. Are you not able to sense the energies within you?"

They all looked confused,

"What energy?" asked Grover.

"Well, let's take Percy as an example. His divine energy reminds me of the sea or Thalia's reminds me of lightning. You use that energy to fuel your powers." he said.

"Does that mean, you already knew who we are when we were at Westover Hall?" asked Percy.

Isaiah shook his head,

"Oh. No. at that time, I simply sensed your energy. I didn't know who you guys were."

"I see. Then what does Bianca's energy feel like?" asked Zoe.

"Death."

A stunned silence settled down as everyone was stunned by the revelation.

"W-What?" stuttered Bianca.

"Your energy feels like Death."

"How do you even feel Death?" Thalia asked.

"That's a story for another time."

"Wait. If you say that it feels like death then her father is-"Grover was about to say, but Percy interrupted him.

"Let's not jump to conclusions, Grover. We don't know if it's really him."

"Guys."

"Then how do you explain the way she destroyed that skeleton?"

"Guys."

"But it would make sense since she was born before the Big Three oath. And Thanatos has never had a child." Zoe added

"GUYS!" Bianca shouted.

They all turned to her as the latter took a breath,

"It doesn't matter if my father is Hades or not. Right now, we need to get going. And I'm hungry, so let's find the dam snack bar of this place." she said before walking in front of everyone.

The rest looked at each other before following her.

Grover cracked a smile. "The dam snack bar?"

Zoe blinked. "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."

Percy started to laugh.

"I need to buy the dam T-shirt."

Zoe and Isaiah were left confused about what was going on.

"Huh, Zoe? Do you know why they are laughing?" the latter asked.

"I do not know what is so humorous."

"Moooo!"

Suddenly, Percy froze when the sound of a cow was heard.

"Did you hear that?" Grover asked.

Thalia looked confused.

"I didn't hear anything."

"Neither did I," said Zoe.

"I didn't hear anything either," replied Bianca.

Isaiah didn't speak.

"Huh, you guys go ahead and buy some food," Percy said.

"Are you sure?" Grover asked.

"Yeah, I just want to stay by the water a little bit. You now, some of Poseidon here." Percy replied.

Although, Isaiah could tell it was a lie.

"Huh, sure. Then we'll go to the dam snack bar." Thalia said with a grin.

The rest of the group nodded before following her. They soon arrived in the cafeteria and got their food when Isaiah froze.

"What's wrong, Isaiah?" asked Bianca.

"Something is coming here."

"What? But we just go our food!" Grover said.

Isaiah held out his hand and all the food went into his ring.

"What happened?" Thalia asked when she saw her food disappear.

"I just stored it for later, but now let's go," Isaiah said.

At that moment, Percy came running to them.

"Guys, the skeletons are here!"

"We know! Let's get out of here before it's too late," Zoe said.

At that moment, multiple skeletons wearing security uniforms.

"Get their attention and follow me," Isaiah ordered.

"What? Why? We don't want their attention!" Bianca replied.

"Then do you want to leave them in the crowd of mortals?"

"But they've never attacked the other mortals," Percy replied.

"it doesn't matter. Besides, we need to get rid of it since it's going to chase you endlessly."

"Alright, fine." Thalia. She turned towards the crowd and shouted.

"Over here you rotten corpse!"

The people who were peacefully eating looked at her weirdly while the skeletons turned their heads at her and clattered their teeth.

"We've got their attention. Now, what?" asked Zoe.

"We run."

"What?"

But Isaiah had already bolted from his place and was running towards the road where they came from. The rest of the group ran after him. They soon arrived on the open road. Luckily, there was no one around since it was the morning so that helped in Isaiah's plan.

"What are you doing Isaiah? What's your plan?" asked Percy.

"Now, we wait."

"Huh? We can't wait for them. They outnumber us 14 to 6. Plus they can't be killed!" Grover shouted.

Isaiah looked at him, "Remember Grover, there are very few things that can't be killed and immortal skeletons are not one of them. Get ready with your weapons." Isaiah said and everyone followed.

Percy took out his sword, Grover had his instrument, Zoe took out her bow and arrow, Thalia summoned her spear and shield, and, finally, Bianca took out two daggers made of celestial bronze.

They then hear stomping footsteps and all the skeletons have arrived in front of them.

"Huh, Isaiah? Can you hurry up with whatever you are planning?" Bianca asked.

Isaiah felt that no other mortals were watching before taking out his sling ring and putting it on. He channelled Universal energy and thrust his hand's forward. The space in front of them shattered like glass, or more specifically a mirror, and Isaiah then pulled back his arms before thrusting it forward once more. The shattered space then moved towards the skeleton and engulfed it.

The Greek's jaws dropped at the sight.

"What the Hades was that!?" shouted Thalia.

"That's the mirror dimension. We sorcerers usually use it to train dangerous spells without collateral damage or trap dangerous entities inside. Now, let's go," Isaiah explained

"Where?" Grover asked.

"Where else? To San Francisco."

"Right, but we need to find a ride," Zoe said and was about to walk to the garage.

They began to walk when Bianca was then struck by memory and widened her eyes.

"Wait, Isaiah!"

The group stopped and looked at her.

"Yes?"

"Can't you bring us to San Francisco?"

"Uhm, Bianca? What are you talking about?" asked Percy.

Bianca ignored him and simply stared at the boy.

Isaiah looked at her and smirked,

"I was wondering when you would ask."

"Then why didn't you say it before!?"

The boy shrugged,

"Because you never asked."

"Time out!" Percy interrupted them. "Do what?"

"Create a portal!" answered Bianca while throwing her hands in the air.

"A portal?" I'm not familiar with the term." Zoe said.

"Wait, this whole time, you could've teleported us to San Francisco?" Thalia asked perplexed.

"Why didn't you?"

"Well, it's your quest. You guys are supposed to complete it, not me. What would your gods think if I completed the quest in your place? According to the stories, they are a prideful bunch and accepting outside help would damage their ego. It would be better for you guys to ask for help which would indicate that you reached out first instead of me giving you a hand. There is also the fact that I am not acting as their sorcerer but as your friend. I even showed it to Bianca before leaving the camp since she was chosen by the Oracle." Isaiah explained.

"So, it's simply politics." Thalia summarised.

"You could say that."

"I see. I understand what you say. It would be like infringing on someone else's territory with you being the intruder if you've offered help first. If we did first, the responsibility would lie on us." Zoe said.

"I don't really understand about the political crap, but you can make portals?" Percy asked.

"Yes, I can take you straight to San Francisco."

Percy grinned

"That's awesome. Let's go! We could even reach earlier than expected and surprise them."

The rest nodded and grinned at the good news.

"Then you have to officially ask for help. Who's the leader of the quest?"

They all pointed at Bianca who looked shocked.

"What? Even after everything I did?" she asked.

Zoe smiled,

"It was a mistake Bianca and everyone makes mistakes. What you should do is learn from them."

"That's right. Even, I made a lot of mistakes in my quests." Percy said.

"Yeah, he even challenged a god in a fight." Grover quipped.

"We may be half-gods but we are also half-human and humans are known throughout history to make mistakes and adapt. So we forgive you. We know you never meant us harm," Thalia finished.

Bianca looked at them as tears began to spill from her eyes.

"I... I'm so sorry for what I did. Th-Thank you for trusting me."

She wiped her eyes and turned to Isaiah who looked at her with a smile on his face.

"Then I, Bianca di Angelo, leader of this quest would like to ask you for help in rescuing Artemis."

"Sure,"

The boy then walked in front of them and a sparking portal in front of them.

The others let out gasps of surprise at the portal in front of them.

On the other side of the portal, they could see the edge of a large river and a huge bridge going above it.

"The Golden Gate Bridge," said Thalia in shock.

The boy turned around and smirked at them,

"Let's save a goddess, shall we?"