Atalanta and Phoebe worked together to push one of the canoes into the water. Both were extremely strong, so the boat slid into the river without difficulty. Atalanta tested its stability, placing one foot inside and then the other, while Phoebe held the side for balance. Once settled, they picked up their paddles, ready to begin their journey.
Thalia and Grover took the second canoe. Grover, excited by the prospect of navigating, climbed in first and settled into the back seat. Thalia, on the other hand, hesitated for a brief moment before stepping onto the edge of the boat. Her problem with heights wasn't just about cliffs; anything that seemed unstable made her uncomfortable. But, noticing Ikki's gaze on her, she took a deep breath and stepped in firmly.
Finally, Ikki and Zöe took the last canoe. He held the boat steady while Zöe climbed in with a fluid, unhesitating movement. Then, without much effort, he stepped in himself and sat in the back. With a controlled push, he set the canoe into the current, letting the dolphins he had summoned with his [Monarch's Dominion] take care of the rest.
The three canoes were now on the water, gliding smoothly down the river.
As the three canoes glided through the water, the river began to shimmer with a different energy. Gentle ripples formed around the boats, as if something were moving just beneath the surface. Then, giggling like mischievous children, several figures emerged from the water. They were naiads—beautiful young women with shimmering skin and blue-green hair, as if made of the very essence of the river. Their eyes sparkled like dewdrops in the sunlight.
They swam around the canoes with supernatural grace, casting curious glances at the group. Some leaned against the edges of the boats, while others dove and reappeared in other spots, laughing as if they had just found new toys.
Zöe grumbled, crossing her arms with an annoyed look.
"I hate naiads."
Immediately, as if the river itself had heard her complaint, a jet of water shot from the back of the boat and hit Zöe squarely in the face.
She gasped and blinked a few times, her hair now plastered to her forehead and her shoulders soaked.
The naiads burst into crystalline laughter.
"Little devils!" Zöe huffed, reaching for her bow with a fierce look.
"Hey, hey. Calm down..." Ikki intervened before the situation escalated. "They're just playing."
"Cursed water spirits." Zöe muttered, wiping her face with her sleeve. "They never forgave me..."
One of the nearest naiads, with long, greenish hair that floated on the water's surface, smiled mischievously before disappearing back into the river.
Ikki raised an eyebrow.
"Forgave you for what?"
He couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.
Zöe pressed her lips together, seeming to weigh whether it was worth explaining. Finally, she threw her bow back over her shoulder and looked away toward the horizon.
"It was a long time ago. It doesn't matter."
The naiads continued to swim around for a while, some of them nudging the canoes lightly, as if wanting to play a little longer. But soon they lost interest and dove back into the depths.
The cliffs began to rise higher on both sides of the river, and the current intensified slightly as the canoes accelerated, moving upstream.
As the canoes glided along the river, Ikki glanced sideways at Zöe, who still seemed grumpy because of the naiads. He took the opportunity to bring up something he had ignored in the chaos of the junkyard.
"So..." Ikki began, keeping his voice low so only Zöe could hear him. "Who took something from the Junkyard?"
Zöe looked away from the water and frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Talos wouldn't have woken up for no reason. Hephaestus isn't the type to program his automatons to kill anyone who shows up. Someone took something they shouldn't have."
Zöe remained silent for a moment, her golden eyes focusing on the horizon. After a few seconds, she sighed.
"I don't know. When Talos activated, we all ran. Nobody said anything about taking anything."
Ikki nodded, but he didn't seem convinced.
"It's strange. We should have talked about this before. But with everything that happened..."
Zöe didn't answer immediately, just kept her gaze fixed on the surrounding landscape, the shadows of the cliffs lengthening as they advanced up the river. Her gaze briefly passed over Atalanta as if she knew something.
Ikki noticed her look and raised an eyebrow.
"You know who it was, don't you?"
Zöe looked away from Atalanta and crossed her arms, keeping her expression serious, but her voice was a little softer than usual.
"I just… didn't expect her to confess."
Ikki tilted his head.
"What do you mean?"
"During the trip, when we were on the road..." Zöe looked ahead, as if reliving the moment. "She came to me and told me. She said she had taken something from the Junkyard."
Ikki blinked, surprised.
"And you didn't tell me anything?"
"I wanted to see if she would have the courage to admit it to everyone." Zöe let out a small sigh. "But she didn't in the end, fortunately, no one died, thanks to you..."
"What you did with Talos... was impressive."
Ikki blinked, surprised. He looked at Zöe, who kept her eyes fixed on everything but him, as if she didn't want him to see her expression.
"Did you just compliment me?" he asked, with a small smile playing at the corner of his lips.
"Don't get carried away." Zöe retorted, but he noticed that her usual disdain was missing from her voice. "I'm just acknowledging a fact. You destroyed a creation of Hephaestus with a single blow. It's not something just anyone could do..."
Ikki looked at his own hands, remembering the impact of the punch, the shockwave that ran through the entire area, the sky splitting in two as if the world had felt the weight of his fury.
"I don't know if it was that impressive..." he murmured, not really finding himself impressive for that, but there was satisfaction in his act, he had managed to change fate at that moment. No one was lost in the barren land.
Zöe frowned upon hearing his modest murmur.
"You really don't understand your own strength, do you?"
Ikki shrugged.
"I know I'm strong. But… sometimes, I think I overdo it. Like with Talos. I didn't even think, I just acted."
Zöe was silent for a moment, then said more seriously:
"Then it's good that you're at least aware of that. Power without control is dangerous."
Ikki shook his head and sighed as he said, "Relax, Zöe. I have everything under control..."
Zöe narrowed her eyes at him, clearly unconvinced.
"'Everything under control'? You destroyed a giant automaton, wiped an entire junkyard off the map, and made everyone want to bury themselves in fear. Does that seem like control to you?"
Ikki raised his hands in a carefree gesture.
"Well, Talos was erased, nobody got hurt, and now we have a working trailer." He said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "In the end, everything worked out. And I even prevented any of us from getting lost in the barren land..."
Zöe snorted, crossing her arms.
"You act like it's normal to destroy relics of the gods with a single punch."
"Isn't it?" Ikki raised an eyebrow and asked, "Want me to do it again to prove it?"
Zöe rolled her eyes.
"Idiot..."
After this free insult, Zöe narrowed her eyes at him, suspicious, remembering the words he spoke about preventing one of them from getting lost in the barren land.
"Are you insinuating that you knew from the beginning that someone had taken something from the junkyard?"
Ikki looked at her calmly as he said, "I have very good eyes and ears, Zöe...."
Zöe huffed, crossing her arms.
"You're insufferable when you act like you know everything."
"But I do..." Ikki winked at her, clearly amused by the situation.
Zöe rolled her eyes but couldn't help but let a small smile escape.
They continued paddling in silence.
The group continued up the river, the sound of the paddles echoing between the cliffs that rose ever higher around them. The elongated shadows cast an unexpected chill over the water, creating a strange contrast with the clear, sunny sky above. The surface temperature seemed to have dropped several degrees, sending a slight shiver down Ikki's skin.
He looked around, watching the river narrow as the rocky walls closed in. The air there seemed denser, heavy with humidity and an unsettling silence, broken only by the occasional sound of the current against the rocks.
The canoe gradually slowed, and Ikki realized why. The river was blocked. An immense structure rose before them, a concrete wall that seemed to divide the world in two.
"Hoover Dam." Thalia murmured, looking up with a mixture of awe and unease. "It's huge."
The group disembarked on the riverbank, staring at the colossal construction that stretched between the cliffs. Above them, tourists strolled along the top of the dam, looking like mere dots from that distance. The dolphins that had helped them cross were dismissed by Ikki with a simple command, disappearing into the deep waters.
The canoes, now without their invisible propulsion, drifted downstream, slowly swirling in the wake of one of the dam's discharge outlets.
"More than two hundred meters high." Ikki commented, his eyes still fixed on the structure. "Built in the 1930s..."
"Five million cubic acres of water." Thalia added, crossing her arms.
Grover sighed, shaking his head.
"Biggest construction project in the United States..."
As Atalanta and Phoebe exchanged glances, Zöe frowned, looking at them skeptically.
"How do you know all this?"
Ikki shrugged.
"Annabeth, one of our friends from Camp Half-Blood who offered to come along on the mission."
Thalia snorted, a small nostalgic smile appearing on her face.
"She's obsessed with architecture."
"Spouted facts all the time." Grover grumbled. "So annoying..."
For a moment, everyone was silent.
Atalanta raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding the nostalgia in their tone.
"So this Annabeth was a scholar of human constructions?"
Ikki smiled slightly.
"You have no idea. If she were here, she'd probably give us a fifteen-minute lecture on every detail of the dam."
Thalia crossed her arms, looking at the top of the imposing structure.
"And then tell us to stop acting like children and focus on the mission."
Phoebe huffed impatiently.
"Well, she's not here. And we still have a problem. How are we going to cross this monstrosity?"
Ikki looked around, assessing the situation. People walked casually on top of the dam, tourists taking pictures, admiring the view.
"Looks like we're going to need a plan." He said, starting to walk towards the base of the structure. "And preferably one that doesn't involve fighting another giant automaton..."
Zöe followed him, grumbling.
"I'm still not over that cursed Talos..."
Ikki smiled sideways.
"Well, next time, I'll let you blow one up."
"Promise?"
"We'll see."
They walked for almost an hour before finally finding a passage that led them to the road. The trail was on the east side of the river, and the vegetation was sparse, as if the desert had decided to take over that piece of land. After another long stretch, the group headed back towards the dam, with the sharp wind blowing against their faces.
As the group walked along the trail that climbed towards the top of the dam, the rest of their members exchanged suspicious glances. Since when were Ikki and Zöe getting along so well?
Those two, so different, seemed to have created a kind of mutual understanding that no one could fully grasp.
Grover glanced sideways at Thalia, who seemed equally perplexed. They had always seen Zöe as a more reserved person, difficult to please, especially when it came to Ikki. The tension between them initially was worse than Poseidon and Athena, but now, they listened to each other, teased each other in an almost friendly way.
"Have you noticed?" Grover murmured to Thalia. "Since when are Zöe and Ikki getting along so well?"
Thalia looked at the two ahead, Zöe with her bow at her side and Ikki walking with his hands in his pockets, talking to her in an almost relaxed way. That was... strange.
"I don't know..." she replied, her eyes still fixed on the two. "I didn't expect them to start exchanging jokes about Talos and promises of explosions. They seemed to be... okay?"
Grover chuckled softly, shaking his head.
"I'm still trying to figure out how Ikki managed to make her smile. That's a miracle."
Thalia looked at him, with a small smile.
"Oh, it's just his irresistible charm."
While the two of them talked quietly, behind them, Atalanta and Phoebe were having their own reactions.
Atalanta watched Zöe and Ikki walking side by side, conversing with an ease that seemed new to her. It was a scene that did not go unnoticed by the huntress, and she could not hide her growing discomfort.
Zöe, her lieutenant, someone who always demonstrated a deep hatred for men, seemed to be getting along with the very man she believed had hurt her lady, the one who had been her friend and mentor. Seeing her lieutenant approach Ikki like this, with an almost casual intimacy, felt like a blow against her own principles.
Phoebe, beside her, was equally uncomfortable, although she didn't have the same intensity of feelings. She was more reserved, but even she noticed the change. The atmosphere around them seemed different, charged with a tension that hadn't been there before. She wondered what was going through Zöe's mind. As much as the lieutenant was someone who rarely showed her emotions, Phoebe could sense something strange in the way she looked at Ikki.
"Don't you think this is strange?" Atalanta murmured to Phoebe, without taking her eyes off Zöe and Ikki.
Phoebe frowned, reflecting on the question.
"I don't understand either." She replied softly. "But we can't forget that Zöe isn't one to open up easily. Maybe she has a reason for this, something we haven't seen yet."
The top of the dam was imposing and menacing, an altar of cold, distant concrete. The view was breathtaking, but intimidating at the same time. On one side, a vast lake stretched out, its outline lost in the arid mountains surrounding the region, shadows of a distant world. The colors were desolate: the brown of the desert merging with the dull blue of the water. The other side was even more menacing. The dam descended like a gigantic skateboard ramp, but much more dangerous, with its more than two hundred meters of height. The water plunged through the discharge openings with force, foaming and roaring like an enraged beast.
Thalia walked in the middle of the road, her boots tapping rhythmically on the asphalt. She avoided the edges, where the wind seemed stronger and the air currents threatened to knock down anyone who got too close. Her eyes were fixed ahead, but her posture betrayed tension, as if she were holding herself back from succumbing to her fear of heights.
Grover, on the other hand, seemed to be on constant alert. He didn't say anything, but his head was turned to the wind, his nostrils flared as he sniffed the air, as if he were hunting for some scent.
It was already Wednesday. The winter solstice was only two days away, and the feeling that there was still a long way to go hung in the air. The last thing they needed right now was more monsters in their path.
"There's a snack bar in the visitor center." Thalia said, breaking the silence that dominated the group. The idea of a hot meal seemed like a good break after intense days of travel.
"Have you been here before?" Atalanta asked curiously.
"Once. To see the guardians," she replied, with a nod towards the end of the dam. "Those statues up there, you know?" She referred to bronze figures that stood like sentinels along the dam. They looked like Oscar statuettes, but with wings that curved majestically. A crowd of tourists was clustered around them, fascinated by the idea that rubbing the bronze feet of the statues would bring good luck.
"These statues were dedicated to Zeus when the dam was built," Thalia continued. "A gift from Athena."
She looked at the horizon, her eyes fixed on the figures that seemed more symbolic than real to her. "I don't think they know, but they're consecrated to our father."
Atalanta watched the tourists around them, trying to understand what seemed so interesting about the statues. They were all bent over, rubbing their fingers on the bronze bases, as if hoping something magical would happen. She couldn't help but ask, "What are they doing?"
"Rubbing their fingers," Thalia replied with a sigh. "They think it brings good luck."
"Why?" Phoebe, who had been silent beside Atalanta, asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
Thalia shook her head, clearly exasperated. "Mortals and their crazy ideas. They know nothing about what the statues really represent."
"When you were here last time, did they talk to you or anything?" Phoebe knew that Thalia had expected something more from her visit, perhaps a sign, a message. Something that would connect her to her absent father, Zeus.
"No. They don't do anything. They're just big metal statues." Thalia said, her expression darkening for a moment.
Ikki was the only one who noticed her disappointment, but he didn't say anything.
The pause in the conversation was interrupted by Zoe, who, in her ever-firm tone, said: "Let's find the dam's snack bar. We should eat while we can."
Grover gave a playful smile, always lighthearted to lighten the mood. "The dam snack bar?" he asked with an amused look.
Zoe looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Yes. What's so funny?"
Grover tried to hide his smile, but it was impossible. "Nothing," he said, trying to maintain his composure, but failing. "I just… could eat some dam fries." He seemed to be enjoying his own joke as much as any of us.
Even Thalia laughed at that, which was a surprise. But the laughter didn't last long, as Grover continued, now with a more serious air: "And I need to use the dam restroom."
The joke went off again, and the laughter settled in again.
"I don't understand..." Zöe said, her eyes narrowed, trying to understand what was happening.
"I want to use the dam water fountain..." Grover said humorously, and that made everyone laugh even more.
Thalia, between laughs, tried to compose herself, still not understanding the reason for the joke. "And..." She paused to breathe. "I want to buy a dam t-shirt."
"Dam t-shirt?" Zöe repeated, looking genuinely bewildered.
Ikki continued the joke, with a mischievous smile that never failed to charm others: "Yeah, you know? That t-shirt you'd buy to remember an exotic place... Or, you know, to cover some part of you that needs... 'damming'!"
Zoe looked intrigued for a few seconds before looking at the group with a softer expression, as if she had finally given in to the absurdity of the situation.
"This is all completely ridiculous." Zöe said, her voice devoid of anger, a rare occurrence. Even her sisters and subordinates were laughing, so it must be funny, right?
After a few moments.
"So, where is this snack bar?" Grover asked, changing the focus of the conversation. He was starting to feel comfortable in the group's routine again.
"Over there," said Thalia, pointing to a simple but well-signed building just beyond the square. "Let's go before someone wants to try hugging the statues."
They soon headed towards the snack bar.