After a brief discussion, they all knew what the monster was. Zoe held her head as this could be bad for Olympus if the creature was killed. More so for the western civilizations as the titans would rise to power in the world. knowing those prideful beings they could start a war with other pantheons.

“We know what it is and why Artemis went hunting it, but where is Artemis herself? How do we find her if thee’s dog lost her smell here? We are clueless.”

“Nereus,” Grover said. When Zoe heard that name she frowned as that old man was annoying.

Kurayami looked at him. “What? Who is it?” Zoe looked at him and explained who he was before frowning.

Zoe made a face. “Old Nereus, eh? I rather not, but what choice do we have..”

“You know him?” Thalia asked.

Zoe nodded and sighed. “My mother was a sea goddess. Yes, I know him. Unfortunately, he is never very hard to find. Just follow the smell.” Zoe looked at Kurayami and Kurayami knew he was in trouble when they stopped at the Goodwill dropbox. Five minutes later, Zoe had him outfitted in a ragged flannel shirt and jeans, bright red sneakers, and a floppy rainbow hat.

“Oh, yeah,” Grover said, trying not to bust out laughing, “You look completely inconspicuous now.” This was the only chance they had to joke with him. Shin sniffed him and sneezed.

Zoe nodded with satisfaction. “A typical male vagrant.”

Bianca giggled and looked at him. “It does not match. You look too sharp to be dressed like that.”

“Thanks a lot,” Kurayami grumbled. “If anyone finds about this I will be shamed for all time. Why am I doing this again?” Zoe for the first time smiled and even laughed.

“I told thee. To blend in.” She led the way back down to the waterfront. After a long time spent searching the docks, Zoe finally stopped in her tracks. She pointed down a pier where a bunch of homeless guys were huddled together in blankets, waiting for the soup kitchen to open for lunch.

“He will be down there somewhere,” Zoe said. “He never travels very far from the water. He likes to sun himself during the day.”

“How do I know which one is him?” Kurayami really wanted to get this over with. He hoped no one would learn about this as it could get him stuck with a really lame name. Something stupid like yelling boobs to power up. How dumb would that be?

“Sneak up,” she said. “Act homeless. You will know him. He will smell… different.”

“Great.” He didn’t want to ask for particulars. “And once I find him?”

“Grab him,” she said. “And hold on. He will try anything to get rid of thee. Whatever he does, do not let go. Force him to tell thee about Artemis.”

“We’ve got your back,” Thalia said. She picked something off the back of his shirt—a big clump of fuzz that came from who-knows-where. “Eww. On second thought… I don’t want your back. But we’ll be rooting for you.”

Kurayami looked right at her and smiled. She had a bad feeling and she suddenly felt claws grabbing her shoulders. She looked up and saw Tyrant landed on her shoulders in his small form. She panicked when she saw Kurayami smirk.

Thalia shivered. “Please, no. I am sorry. I have your back. We are friends right.?” Kurayami smiled and nodded. She sighed in relief, but that hope was broken with his next words.

“We and friends help each other. I am just helping you get over your fear of heights.” Tyrant took off flying with her while she screamed in terror. The rest of the group watched as she was taken for a joy ride in the air while screaming bloody murder. Zoe smiled.

“Got what thee deserved.” Bianca looked at poor Thalia who Tyrant let go of and was green in the face. was about to cry and Annabeth patted her back. Kurayami left to find the guy and it was not hard as he had Shin lead him.

At the end of the pier, a guy who looked about a million years old passed out in a patch of sunlight. He wore pajamas and a fuzzy bathrobe that probably used to be white. He was fat, with a white beard that had turned yellow, kind of like Santa Claus, if Santa had been rolled out of bed and dragged through a landfill.

Kurayami didn’t even bother pretending and used his touki to speed up his movement and he tackled the guy and grabbed him. “Ahhhhh!” The guy screamed. The guy’s strength was not weak, but he could not compare to Kurayami. He screamed bloody murder. “Help me!”

“That’s a crime!” one of the other homeless guys yelled. “Man, rolling an old man like that!” Kurayami unleashed his killing intent and all the homeless ran away in fright. Kurayami gripped him in a chokehold while the old man struggled.

“I don’t have any money!” He tried to struggle, but he was being choked.

“I don’t want money, I am a fallen angel and I want information.” That just made him struggle harder. “No, not the crows. Last time I helped one of you he took me prisoner, making me answer every question he had.” That sounded a lot like Azazel to Kurayami and it was interesting.

“Was it Azazel? Also, call me a crow one more time and your soul will be fed to him.” Shin growled and the old man stopped struggling. Kurayami waited and the rest of the group rushed toward him.

“You got him!” Zoe said.

“You don’t have to sound so amazed. I am me.” Kurayami said.

Nereus moaned. “Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You’ll let me go if I answer your question?” Kurayami lost patience and decided to get this over with.

“Where is the Goddess Artemis being kept?”

Nerus sighed. “She is being held at the Garden of the Hesperides.” Zoe shook as she would have to return home. Suddenly they all heard Mooing. When they saw the creature its eyes were full of innocence. Kurayami pushed the guy into the sea and they focused on the cow.

“Wait.” Thalia’s eyes widened. “That is what they want to kill? He is harmless.”

“MOOOOOOOO!”

They looked down, and there was Percy’s friend, the cow serpent, swimming next to the dock. He nudged Percy’s shoe and gave them sad brown eyes. Percy looked around as he didn’t want his friend to die.

“Ah, Ophiotaurus, it’s not safe for you here. What if they find you?”

“Mooo!”

Grover took over from Kurayami to translate. “Says he is safer with you than alone.” Percy sighed as he was not like Kurayami or Grover who could talk to most animals.

“I forget that you and Kurayami can talk to animals. Must be nice, I only talk to horses.”

Grover nodded. “It’s a very old form of animal speech. But he is happy you know his name and not call him a girl.”

“Its name means serpent bull in Greek,” Thalia said. “But it is dangerous for him here. Why did he come here from all the way.”

“Moooooooo!”

“He says Percy is his protector, he feels safer around Kurayami and Percy.” Grover announced.

“And he’s running from the bad people. He says they are close and came here for help.” Kurayami filled in this time. Grover was happy someone else could talk to animals. Everyone was wondering how he got all that out of a single moooooo.

“Wait,” Zoe said, looking at Percy and Kurayami “You know this cow?” Percy told them where he met him and how Kurayami and Azreal had told them what he was. Why were they hunting him?

Thalia shook her head in disbelief. “We need to keep it somewhere safe. He can’t just be left out here alone.

Zoe patted the cow on the head. “I know this story, it was one my father told me as a child.”

Bianca looked at her interest. “What story?”

“From the War of the Titans,” she said. “My… my father told me this tale, thousands of years ago.”

Percy looked at his friend and knowing they wanted to kill him for power made him mad. That was his friend and they were going to kill him.

Zoe continued the story. “Ophiotaurus does not bring down the gods that way. He must be sacrificed.”

“MMMM,” He bellowed in fear.

“I don’t think he likes the S-word,” Grover said.

Percy patted the cow on the head, trying to calm him down. He let him scratch his ear, but he was trembling. Bianca looked at the small calf and shook her head.

“We can’t let him die. Not only is he innocent, it will bring Olympus down. Where do we keep him? I doubt the gods will let Kurayami take it.”

“How could anyone hurt him?” Percy said. “He’s harmless. They are despicable.”

Zoe nodded. “But there is power in killing innocence. Terrible power. The Fates ordained a prophecy eons ago when this creature was born. They said that whoever killed the Ophiotaurus and sacrificed its entrails to fire would have the power to destroy the gods.”

“MMMMMM!”

“Um,” Grover said. “Maybe we could avoid talking about entrails, too.”

Thalia stared at the cow serpent with wonder. “The power to destroy the gods… how? I mean, what would happen?”

“No one knows,” Zoe said. “The first time, during the Titan war, the Ophiotaurus was in fact slain by a giant ally of the Titans, but thy father, Zeus, sent an eagle to snatch the entrails away before they could be tossed into the fire. It was a close call. Now, after three thousand years, the Ophiotaurus is reborn.”

Kurayami and Percy knew the true story. Kurayami filled them in. “That did happen, but my grandfather Azrael was the one who gave Zeus enough time to send that eagle. He told me to cash in that favor with Zeus as he owes Azrael for his help.”

The sky rippled with lightning as Zeus remembered a black spear of light killed that giant and it gave him time to take the entrails. He wanted to believe Azrael forgot about it but seems that the old man’s memory is as good as his strength. Kurayami smiled as Zeus getting mad was always funny. Maybe he could scam something else.

Thalia sat down on the dock. She stretched out her hand. Bessie went right to her. Thalia placed her hand on his head. Bessie shivered. “I can’t believe Azrael can do all that so easily. What it would be like to have power like that.”

Thalia’s expression bothered everyone. She almost looked… hungry. Kurayami saw that and flicked her on the head. She held her head in pain as that was not a gentle flick. “OW. What was that for?” Kurayami shook his head.

“I saw that look. That greed for power. Let’s stamp it out now or you might fall the same way Luke did.” When they heard his words Annabeth looked down as Luke was like a big brother to her, but Kurayami was right. He fell to temptation and turned dark.

“We have to protect him,” Percy told her. “If Luke gets hold of him—”

“Luke wouldn’t hesitate,” Thalia muttered. “The power to overthrow Olympus. That’s… that’s huge.” Suddenly above Kurayami formed burning black spears of light and they descended in the distance. They looked over and they saw a guy with a spear of light in his heart.

There were tourists all around, but no one looked as Kurayami had increased his control over the mist and made it thick enough, so they had basically disappeared from mortal eyes. It was a useful skill along with bounded fields.

Annabeth looked over and saw that it looked very much like Dr. Thorn, the old manticore she killed. She looked at Kurayami and asked.

“Was that his brother or something?” Kurayami shrugged as he did not know. Binaca saw the manticore not turn to dust, but keep his form. It returned to its real form and it stayed there. That was new as they usually turned to dust.

Zoe approached it and kicked it. “How did thee do that?” Kurayami smiled.

“I just used a bit of my Longinus to cut its very being. Not like celestial bronze, this beast will not come back. Take what parts you want.” Zoe being the hunter she was, began to skin the hide, took the claws, teeth, and tail.

Watching how she took the parts from it made Percy a bit sick as he always saw monsters turn to dust. Not just die like that. Binaca started to help her and they placed what mattered in the bags and they burned the rest. Zoe looked up and it was past sunset.

She cursed in Greek as they will have to wait for tomorrow. “We won’t be able to save Artemis today, we need a place to keep the creature safe.” They looked at the cow and they would have to keep it safe, or Kurayami could not cash in his favor and that would not be tolerated.

Kurayami looked at Percy and asked him. “Ask your father if he can keep it safe. He is the god of the seas and as such he can keep it safe.” Percy nodded and touched the water.

“Father, can you help keep him safe?” Nothing happened and Zoe spoke up.

“A prayer like that needs a sacrifice,” Thalia said. “Something big.” They all didn’t have anything to give, but they all suddenly looked at Kurayami’s cross. Maybe that could work. When he noticed their look he frowned and covered his cross.

“Oh no, you don’t. This is mine. However, try this.” Kurayami reached into his coat and got four of his black keys. “Here, they have been affected by my and Shin’s aura and are semi-god killing weapons.”

They all looked at the handles as they had no blades. Bianca raised her hand.

“Those have no blades. Do you throw them?” Kurayami focused and the four blades extended and were black as the night and were razor sharp. Percy gulped as they gave him a bad feeling. He got them and threw them in the ocean.

The four blades began to shine and were flashing in the light. Then, as it began to sink beneath the waves, they seemed to dissolve into sunlight on the water.

The sea breeze picked up and it seemed Poseidon was very pleased with the offer as while they are a very unusual weapon they are an advantage against Zeus.

Grover took a deep breath. “Well, no time to lose.” He jumped in the water and immediately began to sink. Bessie gilded next to him and let Grover take hold of his neck.

“Be careful,” Percy told them. Binaca waved goodbye and hoped they got back safely.

“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 They hoped Percy’s father’s protection would extend to little things, like breathing.

“Well, that is one problem addressed,” Zoe said. “Now we just need to wait for tomorrow as we can only enter my sister’s garden during sunset.” Bianca sat down and looked at the sea.

“So where do we stay? Do we just set up camp here, or what?” Annabeth sighed and in her arms appeared her pet. She had named him Liontari which was lion in Greek.

“We can go to my dad’s house. I rather not, but no better time than today.” Kurayami once again got them a new S.U.V and Binaca looked at it.

“You really like S.U.Vs right?” He nodded as in his past life had one.

“I do, but I can turn it into anything. Any requests?” Percy imminently spoke up.

“Bugatti La Voiture Noire.” Kurayami snapped his fingers and the truck turned into the car. He got in the driver’s seat and Percy got in the passenger seat. Normally the car is a two-seater, but with spatial magic, the car had more seats than you think. He drove to Annabeth’s dad’s home in style.