Kia was astounded by the perfect coincidence that allowed Zoë or, at least, somehow someone to know something that would help them out and solve all of their problems at all times. It was crazy how Zoë just happened to know how to find or 'seek out' this Nereus guy. Although, Kia could admit she'd also probably be obsessive about remembering everything if she were immortal.

Her mind started wandering to odd places; specifically, the little incident back near the Embracardo Building when they were dropped off by the metal angels. Kia had been looking around with no particular intent when her eyes caught on a rather unusual set of sights.

A boy, maybe a little younger than her, and a girl around the same age, both wielding weird gold weapons unlike anything Kia had ever seen before, fighting a serpent-creature-thing. The girl had hair glossy and dark in a braid while he boy contrasted, with bleach blonde hair cropped neatly. The boy had coincidentally looked back at Kia right at that moment, and she stumbled from the sheer weight in those blue eyes. They were a fantastic sky blue, so blue that Kia couldn't even imagine the sky itself being such a vibrant shade. The scariest thing was, they reminded her of someone else.

He opened his mouth to say something, but just then, Kia was jerked back by a grip on her arm.

"Hey, what's up?" Percy asked, looking her over. Her skin had become even more pale than usual, and her face was stricken by something like grief.

Kia looked over distractedly, a far-off look in her eye. "Did you see them? Didn't you see them?"

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. "See who?" His face took to a look of concern. "Are you feeling sick?"

Kia absently swatted away his hands trying to see if her forehead was burning. She was sweating, and even panting a little. Kia was sure that she had seen something—something she wasn't supposed to—but when she looked back, there was no one there. No sign of a blonde boy or a raven-haired girl or a slithering serpent creature.

Kia couldn't even focus on Percy's very worried expression while she racked her brain trying to think of what's she'd seen. She was started to get frustrated because she found herself completely forgetting everything she saw. Whatever she saw started to get hazy again; she didn't remember who was there, what happened, or what she saw; just the imprint of electrifyingly blue eyes and a heavy stain of confusion.

All these thoughts coiled and churned in her head and she must've been scowling, because Grover looked startled when he caught her eye. "Are you okay?"

They were waiting outside of a Goodwill drop box for Percy to perfect his homeless kid look, Thalia and Zoë joining him to make sure he remained on task (he seemed to have a knack for somehow meeting people who wanted to kill him without supervision). Looking rugged and vagrant-ish seemed to be more difficult than anticipated, because he was sure taking his sweet time.

Kia tried to tone down her glare. "Yep. Just thoughts."

It was silent for a few seconds before Kia groaned. "What's taking so long? I might as well have taken over Olympus by now."

Grover shifted nervously. Kia chuckled awkwardly. "Too dark?"

"It's been, like, five minutes," Grover said, stepping wisely around the 'taking over Olympus' comment.

Right on time, too, because it was precisely when Zoë, Thalia and Percy waltzed back outside. Percy didn't look as pleased as the other two. He was dressed in a ragged flannel shirt and jeans three sizes too big, bright red sneakers, and a floppy rainbow hat.

"Oh, yeah," Grover said, trying not to bust out laughing, "you look completely inconspicuous now."

Kia bit her lip to not smile. "Really hits the mark, your outfit."

Zoe nodded with satisfaction. "A typical male vagrant."

"Thanks a lot," Percy grumbled. "Why am I doing this again?"

"I told thee. To blend in."

Zoë led the way back down to the waterfront and after a long time spent wandering aimlessly around the docks, Zoe finally paused. She pointed down a pier where a bunch of homeless guys were clustered together, wrapped in torn and worn 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."

Sun himself?

"How do I know which one is him?"

"Sneak up," she said. "Act homeless. You will know him. He will smell... different."

"Great." He didn't seem keen to hear about the details of this smell. Kia hoped that he didn't have a weak stomach. "And once I find him?"

"Grab him," Zoë said, like this was a perfectly normal activity for a bunch of teenagers. "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 the monster."

"We've got your back," Thalia said. She picked something off the back of his shirt—a big clump of fuzz that came from looked like something that you would find in a trash can next to a heap of mulch. "Eww. On second thought... I don't want your back. But we'll be rooting for you."

Grover gave him a big enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Percy looked miserably to Kia for her input. She voiced her earlier thoughts in a complete monotone, "I hope you don't have a weak stomach."

He grumbled something—about how nice it was to have super-powerful friends. Then he trudged toward the dock.

Kia's eyes scanned across the place. It was interesting as well as a nuisance for her ADHD brain. A million thoughts went zipping through her head, but stopped as her eyes landed on a particular spot on the docks. It was deserted, unlike the rest of the place where people scattered like ants near honey. It was almost as if mortals knew to stay away from that one area.

She immediately made a sour face. Mortals? These demigod shenanigans were messing with her head.

Without thinking, she found herself walking toward the deserted spot. The people around her seemed to weave around her, like they were being told subconsciously to not break her trance.

Thalia took notice of her wandering friend, instinctively putting out an arm to pull her back. Zoë clasped a hand on her shoulder and shook her head at the worried look on Thalia's face.

"Guys, shouldn't we stop her?" Grover was shifting his weight from leg to leg.

Zoë shook her head again. She looked out at where Kia was dangerously close to falling into the water near the edge, an unreadable look in her eye. "This is something she must do alone. Look away, the goddess will not permit us to look at her when she does not want to be seen."

Kia stared into the water, the rational part of her brain berating her for thinking she'd find something in it. Just as she was about to listen to it, she heard swoosh of wind behind her.

Turning around more calmly than she'd expected herself to, she came face to face with a woman, although Kia suspected she was much, much more.

The woman had ringlets of ebony hair as dark as Death, swirling smoothly like hair would underwater, obsidian eyes with the faintest glow—which Kia quickly realised was gold. Her face was as cold as marble, her jaw set like it would be in stone. Her face was detached, utterly expressionless, even more so than the contestants on MasterChef when the judges would insult their dishes in front of their faces. She kind of reminded Kia of Zoë.

"Kia Mitsuho, daughter of Morpheus," Thetis greeted politely enough, but not enough to hide the faint trace of disgust sneaking its way into her voice.

"It's nice to know all you associate me with is my godly heritage," Kia remarked sarcastically.

It was a terrible thing to see the actual light of murder flash in Thetis' eyes for a split second. Kia was scared that Thetis would strike her down just in that moment, but all she did was gain back her resolve and morph her face back into her original stony look.

Kia cleared her throat. "Thetis, nymph—goddess, is there a reason you have called me?"

Thetis looked her over with an expression of distaste, barely attempting to hide it this time.

"Walk with me," she said instead.

As the strolled, Kia took notice of how there suddenly seemed to be no one else on the docks—like, literally no one. Her friends, the strangers, the homeless people—they were all gone. A flicker of panic rose in her chest before she forced it away, tediously trying to keep her mind off the fact that, if Thetis wanted to kill her, no one would even see.

"Have you heard of the story of the Greek hero, Achilles?"

Kia automatically nodded. "He's my favourite, if I'm being honest. Achilles was Aristos Achaion before his son, Pyrrhus, came after his death to win the battle against the Trojans. He killed Hector and dragged his body around Troy in his chariot for twelve days because Hector had killed Patroclus. He was the son of Theti—"

The words died in her throat. Of course, she had known way before that Achilles was the son of Thetis, but it had never occurred to her that the woman in front of her was the mother of Achilles—not just Thetis.

Kia coughed into her fist. "I–uh, I'm sorry. That, um, must've been a terrible loss."

Thetis sent a sharp look her way, which immediately made her recoil. The goddess made it seem like she detested Kia's very existence, but Kia had a feeling it was a hatred that ran much, much deeper.

For the first time, Thetis showed emotion; a face so laden with loathing that Kia felt as if she'd committed some personal crime towards her.

Thetis exhaled sharply. "You will be the reason for his death."

Kia stiffened, the words cutting through the air like a shrapnel blast.

"Who?" she demanded.

Thetis stared at her, not answering the question, but seemingly willing the answer to surface in her mind. Oh, did it.

One, revoltingly familiar name entered Kia's mind, and she thought she was going to throw up.

"I'm not going to let Percy die!"

Kia hadn't realised, but her hand was on her bow that she had willed to appear on her back, breathing raggedly as if she'd just come back from running a marathon.

"Don't threaten me, child," Thetis warned, a dangerous glint in her eye.

There was a likely chance she was waiting for Kia to strike, so that she could at least have an excuse to murder her. Kia weighed her options. She could provoke Thetis once more, have her kill her and maybe get a slap on the wrist from the gods, or, she could leave it be and stay alive, maybe even get a bit more information.

Kia exhaled steadily, trying to calm herself down. She didn't remember the last time she'd felt so angry. All she knew was that there wasn't a chance in hell that she'd let Percy die because of her.

"What do you mean," Kia said, her voice trembling with the effort to remain steady, "'I'll be the reason for his death?'"

Thetis let out a silent sigh, as if she hoped Kia would try to hit her with an arrow. "You know of my son."

Her voice seemed to soften, just the slightest bit, when she talked about her son. She must have really loved Achilles.

"Look further into his story. Perhaps you can prevent it from happening," she continued. "But beware and heed my warning, those who escape fate cannot avoid it for others."

With that cryptic message and one more baleful look, Thetis wished away into the wind, leaving nothing but smell of salty sea water behind.

By the time Kia regained her bearings, Zoë was tugging on her jacket—Thalia's jacket—and pulling her down the steps of the pier.

Kia looked down and saw Percy, in the water yet completely dry, grappling a dude that looked like Santa's arch nemesis. Wait, no, that Krampus, or was it the Grinch—

"You got him!" Zoë exclaimed, looking insultingly surprised and successfully interrupting Kia's endless spiral of weird thoughts.

"You don't have to sound so amazed." As sassy as ever, Kia assumed.

Anti-Santa moaned. "Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"

Oh. This was Nereus. How great.

"I've got more than one question," Percy said, furrowing his brows.

"Only one question per capture! That's the rule."

Percy look to his friends for help.

Kia mentally listed (very messily with many detours) the questions they needed answers to: They needed to know where Artemis was, what the doomsday creature was and how they could rescue Percy's-not-girlfriend. There was no way they could ask them all in one question, unless combined questions were valid. Kia suspected they weren't.

Deciding it wouldn't hurt to ask, Kia realised that it absolutely would hurt to ask. It classified as a question and Kia figured the 'slippery old man of the sea' title wasn't for nothing. This was beginning to feel an awful lot like a genie in a bottle type of scam.

She was starting to get desperate; Kia wondered if he'd take gold drachmas in exchange for a few more questions answered (Connor had passed her a few of them the morning of the quest, telling her it was to compensate for not being present for her homely welcome. Kia has asked where he'd gotten them but he just gave her a coy smile and said 'a thief never reveals his victims!').

Percy sighed and took the initiative to decide on their behalf. "All right, Nereus. Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting."

The Old Man of the Sea smiled, showing off his gross mossy green teeth which were in dire need of a bucket of Listerine, five gallons of toothpaste and a few short of a million floss containers.

"Oh, that's too easy," he said, much more nefariously than Kia had anticipated a homeless man to be. "He's right there."

Nereus pointed to the water at Percy's feet.

"Where?"

"The deal is complete!" Nereus gloated. With a pop, he turned into a goldfish and did a backflip into the sea.

"You tricked me!" Percy yelled in frustration.

"Wait." Thalia's eyes widened. "What is that?"

"MOOOOOOOO!"

Kia could recognise that sound anywhere. She looked down and saw Bessie, the adorable cow-serpent-thing who loved soft head scratches, swimming beside the dock. She nudged Percy's foot and gave him the saddest brown eyes.

"Ah, Bessie," Percy said. "Not now."

Kia was scandalised by his heartlessness. How could he reject such big brown eyes? She pushed forward and scolded Percy while gently running her hand across Bessie's head. "Percy! How can you resist these eyes?"

She completely ignored his blasphemous expression, staring down endearingly at Bessie who purred (did cow-serpent-things pur?) and nuzzled into her touch.

She seemed to have more of a sense of urgency than last time, however. "Mooo!"

Grover gasped. "He says his name isn't Bessie."

"You can understand her... er, him?"

Kia glared at Percy as if to say, You told me he was a girl!

Percy shrugged back hurriedly as if to say, How was I supposed to know?

Grover nodded, answering Percy's previous question. "It's a very old form of animal speech. But he says his name is the Ophiotaurus."

"The Ophi-what?"

"Taurus means bull, and Ophio sounds like it means serpent," Kia inputted. "It's Greek, I believe."

"But what's it doing here?" Thalia added.

"Moooooooo!"

"He says Percy is his protector," Grover announced.

Okay, a little offended but Kia would live. No more head scratches for Bessie, though.

"And he's running from the bad people. He says they are close."

How do you translate that out of a single moo?

"Wait," Zoë said haltingly, looking at Percy. "You know this cow?"

Percy told them the story, rushing it out. Kia added a few things he forgot during the visit to the Hoover Dam.

Thalia shook her head in disbelief at Percy's cluelessness. "And you just forgot to mention this before?"

"Well... yeah," Percy said sheepishly.

"I am a fool," Zoë said suddenly. "I know this story!"

"What story?"

"From the War of the Titans," she said. "My... my father told me this tale, thousands of years ago. This is the beast we are looking for."

"Bessie? But... he's too cute. He couldn't destroy the world."

Frankly, Kia agreed. Just look at it! He was the most adorable thing she'd ever seen (even if he was a Percy-no-head-scratch favouring traitor).

"That is how we were wrong," Zoë said. "We've been anticipating a huge dangerous monster, but the Ophiotaurus does not bring down the gods that way. He must be sacrificed."

"MMMM," Bessie lowed, looking frightened.

"I don't think he likes the S-word," Grover said.

Percy patted Bessie on the head. Kia put Bessie's traitorous past behind and knelt down to scratch him behind his ear. The poor thing was trembling.

"How could anyone hurt him?" Percy said. "He's harmless."

Zoë 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 nervously. "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," Zoë 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."

Thalia sat down on the dock. She reached out her hand, Bessie going right to her. Thalia placed her hand on his head. Bessie shivered.

Kia didn't like the look on Thalia's face while she was close to Bessie. She almost looked... hungry.

Kia and Percy shared a look.

"We have to protect him," Percy decided loudly, making sure Thalia heard. "If Luke gets hold of him—"

"Luke wouldn't hesitate," Thalia murmured quietly but strongly. "The power to overthrow Olympus. That's... that's huge."

"Yes, it is, my dear," said a man's voice in a heavy French accent. "And it is a power you shall unleash."

The Ophiotaurus made a whimpering sound and delve back into the water.

Kia looked up. They had been so engrossed in talking that they had stupidly allowed themselves to be the subject of an ambush even less friendly than ones that happened in high school.

She recognised the creature immediately. It had a scorpion tail which made it easy enough to identify it—a manticore. Was there a lion under that thing? Whatever, he had a tail, a face and a French accent. That was bad enough for Kia. He wore a terrible ratty black trench coat over some dirty uniform looking thing. His hair was unkempt and greasy and his face was sprinkled with silver stubble in desperate need of a sharp new razor. He kind of reminded Kia of the homeless dudes down at the soup kitchen.

From the looks on the others' faces, they were familiar with his irritating—I mean, splendid company. For once, Kia was glad she was out of the loop. This manticore didn't seem like he had the best personality.

"This is just pairrr-fect," the manticore gloated cockily.

He paused for villainous dramatic effect.