Chapter 201 - The Old Man of the Sea

They sped up, so Drako could tell the angels were excited. The mountains fell into hills, and they were zipping over along over farmland and towns and highways.

Grover played his pipes to pass the time. Zoe got bored and started shooting arrows at random billboards as they flew by. Every time she saw a Target department store—and the passed dozens of them—she would peg the store's sign with a few bulls-eyes at a hundred miles an hour.

Thalia kept her eyes closed the whole way. She muttered herself a lot, like she was praying. Bianca holds herself close to Drako, afraid of falling off his arms.

......…

"Where you guys want to land?" Hank asked after a while.

Right now, they have already reached San Francisco. Without a doubt, it was the most beautiful city Drako had ever seen: kind of like a smaller, cleaner Manhattan, if Manhattan had been surrounded by green hills and fog. There were a huge bay and sh.i.p.s, islands and sailboats, and the Golden Gate Bridge sticking up out of the fog. He felt like he should take a picture or something.

"There," Zoe suggested. "By the Embarcadero Building."

"Good thinking," Chuck said. "Hank and I can blend in with the pigeons."

They all looked at him.

"Kidding," he said. "Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humour?"

As it turned out, there wasn't much need to blend in. It was early morning, and not many people were around. They freaked out a homeless guy on the ferry dock when they landed. He screamed when he saw Hank and Chuck and ran off, yelling something about metal angels from Mars.

They said their good-byes to the angels, who flew off to party with their statue friends.

Then, they realized that they have no idea what they were going to do next.

They'd made it to the West Coast. Artemis was here somewhere, and Annabeth too.

But neither of them had no idea how to find them, and tomorrow was the winter solstice. Nor did they have any clue what monster Artemis had been hunting. It was supposed to find them on the quest, but Drako hasn't seen it. It was supposed to "show the trail", but it never had. Now they were stuck on the ferry dock with not much money, no friends, and no luck.

After a brief discussion, they agreed that they needed to figure out just what this mystery monster was.

"But how?" Percy asked.

"Nereus," Drako said.

Percy looked at him. "What?"

"I had a brief conversation with Apollo, he told me to find Nereus. The Old Man of the Sea might know what this monster is. But, how do I find him?"

Zoe made a face. "Old Nereus, eh?"

"You know him?" Thalia asked.

"My mother was a sea goddess. Yes, I know him. Unfortunately, he is never tough to find. Just follow the smell."

"What do you mean?" Drako asked.

"Come," she said without enthusiasm. "I will show thee."

Five minutes later, Zoe had Drako outfitted 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."

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

"Thanks?" Drako grumble. "Why am I doing this?"

"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?"

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

"Great.��� Drako didn't doubt that he could find this guy. "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 the monster."

"We've got your back," Thalia said. She picked something off the back of Drako's 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."

Grover gave me a big thumbs-up. Percy nodded towards the dragon.

Drako shrugged, he doesn't need their help. He just needed to grab an old man, nothing complicated.

Drako headed toward the dock, stealth activated. He pulled his hat down and stumbled like he was about to pass out. He passed their homeless friend from the Embarcadero, who was still trying to warn the other guys about the metal angels from Mars.

He didn't smell good, but he didn't smell… different. Drako kept walking.

Drako had a different way to search for Nereus. He can use Inspect Status on every homeless guy.

A couple of grimy dudes with plastic grocery bags for hats pass by Drako's side, they didn't notice him because he was using stealth. They weren't they old man Drako was searching, so he just ignored them.

At the end of the pier, a guy who looked about a million years old was passed out in a patch of sunlight. He wore pyjamas 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.

And his smell?

Drako froze. He was a Drako, so his senses were enhanced compared to a human. Even from a distance, he could smell that ocean bad smell. Like hot seaweed and dead fish and brine. If the ocean had an ugly side… this guy was it.

Drako near him. Santa opened one eye suspiciously, confirming Drako's thoughts. He was still using stealth, but this guy had detected him. Drako could feel the old man staring at him, but he didn't look.

Santa Claus went back to sleep.

Without a doubt, Drako jumped towards Santa.

"Ahhhh!" he screamed. Drako had grabbed him. "Help me!" he screamed as he tried to escape from Drako's grip.

"That's a crime!" one of the other homeless guys yelled. "Kid rolling an old man like that!"

"F.u.c.k off," Drako said. He leaked his aura, scaring to death the homeless guys who were trying to defend Santa.

"I don't have any money!" He tried to get up and run, but Drako locked him to the floor. His rotten fish smell was awful, but he held on.

"I don't want money," Drako said with calm. "I just want the answer to a question."

That just made him struggle harder. "Heroes! Why do you always pick on me?"

"Because you know everything!"

The rest ran towards Drako.

"You got him!" Zoe said.

"You don't have to sound so amazed," Drako said.

"He really smells awful," Bianca said, her face reflects disgust she was feeling right now.

Nereus m.o.a.ned. "Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"

"I've got more than one question," Drako said.

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

Drako looked at the rest.

This wasn't good. They needed to find Artemis, and they needed to figure out what the doomsday creature was. There was also Annabeth. Even if Drako didn't give her much importance, it wasn't the same for the three campers. How could he ask all that in one question?

Making up his mind, Drako sighed. "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 mossy green teeth.

"Oh, that's too easy," he said evilly. "He's right there."

Nereus pointed to the water.

"Where?" Drako asked.

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

"You tricked me!" Drako yelled. He was angry right now.

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

"MOOOOOOO!"

Drako looked down, and there was the cow serpent, swimming next to the dock.

Wait, why didn't he feel that cow's presence?

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

"Mooo!"

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

"You can understand her… er, him?"

Grover nodded. "It's an ancient form of animal speech. But he says his name is the Ophiotaurus."

"The Ophi-what?"

Drako had a chill for a moment when Grover mentioned Ophi-, since its really similar to Ophis. If the Infinite Dragon was the enemy of the Olympus, Drako didn't want to fight.

"It means Serpent bull in Greek," Thalia said. "But what's it doing here?"