I'll be here forever

chapter 5

We fit everything back into the backpack without issue, which made me think that it was most definitely magic. The backpack was small. There's no way that that many things just fit in there with room to spare. And when Percy picked it up, he didn't have a problem with it. It should've been extremely heavy, but he handled it like it was a paperweight.

We stepped out of the tent and caught the very last bit of sunlight as it sunk below the trees, engulfing us in darkness. Percy got out the flashlight, but I'd told him only to use it in emergencies. If whatever monsters were out there saw some beam of light in the middle of the woods, they'd flock to it like moths to a flame.

Our eyes adjusted from the warm light of the tent to the dark of the forest. It was almost pitch black, and while it wasn't cold, there was an indescribable chill in the wind. Almost like you knew something bad was about to happen.

The tent, while it was silver in color, blended in perfectly with the background of the woods, which I appreciated. I zipped it up and the tent folded itself back down into a tightly folded square of silver fabric, much to my amazement.

I picked it up and placed it inside the backpack, the one that Percy insisted on carrying, zipping it back up. My distrustful and "wise" brain warned me that he just wanted to carry it so he could run off with all the supplies at the first opportunity and leave me stranded.

My gut and my heart remembered the look on his face when he thought something had taken me. He was willing to run into battle to save me. I didn't think Percy was the type of person to do something like running off with the backpack, and with it, all our supplies. Somehow I knew, deep inside, even though he barely knew me, Percy would tear the world apart just to save me.

Which was terrifying in itself, but I appreciated it.

I took a deep breath and stepped up to stand as close to him as I dared, looking up and finding the north star.

"Ready?" Percy asked me.

I nodded, but then realized he probably couldn't see me.

"Yeah. Yeah, let's go," I laughed nervously, leading the way.

The moon only slightly illuminated the dark forest as we picked our way through. It was safe to say that I was definitely more graceful than Percy was, who stumbled every two seconds, cursing every plant and tree root we came in contact with.

"You know cursing them doesn't actually help with you tripping over every single one," I snorted as Percy stumbled over the fiftieth tree root.

"Yeah, but it makes me feel better about it- motherfucker!" he hissed, stumbling again.

"Keep it down, jeez. Why are you so bad at this?" I picked my way through the woods easily.

"I think these plants are all- fuck off, stupid leaf!"

"Percy!"

"Sorry. I think these plants are all out to get me."

"I'm sure they're not-"

"Son of a bitch!"

"Would you shut up?"

"I'll shut up when the plants decided to collectively not trip me," he grumbled.

I rolled my eyes and kept pressing through the underbrush. Percy didn't stop cursing the plants or stumbling, but he did it more quietly, which I appreciated.

Percy and I travelled in (mostly) silence, his occasional grunt or curse interrupting it. In a way, I was almost grateful for it. Because the silence left me alone with my thoughts; and I'd rather worry about the boy behind me.

I knew we were getting closer when Percy stopped tripping as often. I started hearing a few less cuss words and a few more snatches of humming songs here and there. I focused on on his voice, using it to keep my eyes focused on the path in front of me.

I saw the distanced street lights flickering through the trees, realizing we'd made it to somewhere. Just a country road, probably, but it still put us one step closer into finding out who we were and why this even happened to us in the first place. That was good enough for me.

I lunged forward suddenly, running for the road. Percy stood in surprise for a moment before running after me without question.

I laughed. The street lamps lit up the road at intervals, and no cars were even in sight, but it felt like a new beacon of hope for us.

"We made it," Percy grinned, stepping up to stand next to me.

"Not yet. I mean, we've still gotta-"

"This is a victory, Daisy. We're one step closer. We're allowed to celebrate it," he said, touching my shoulder gently. Then he walked back just slightly into the woods, not out of its sightline, shrugging off the backpack.

I took one last look at the road, almost wishing we could keep walking. But I knew we couldn't. I was exhausted, Percy was exhausted. It was a miracle we hadn't gotten attacked by any monsters, but I was grateful.

With a decisive turn of my heel, I walked off the road and over to where Percy had taken out the silver tent. He took the silver square out of the backpack and placed it on the ground, watching as it popped up into a full-sized tent. It never ceased to amaze me.

Percy gestured for me to go in first, so I zipped open the flap and crawled inside the tent. It was amazing how much smaller it looked on the outside, because it really was a good size on the inside.

Percy crawled in just after me, placing the backpack in the corner of the tent. He shrugged off his flannel and draped it over the backpack, leaving him in just his grey sweatshirt that matched mine.

He looked at the singular cot of the floor, then his eyes widened and he turned red, and it seemed he only just realized that there was only one bed.

"Uh- if you want, I can... I can sleep outside," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, his face flushed.

"Um... no, no it's fine. It's big enough for the both of us, right?" I'd been thinking about what I'd say about it ever since we opened up the tent for the first time, and this seemed like the best option. Plus, I don't think I'd be able to sleep with him sleeping outside, I'd be so worried about him.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay," Percy nodded, still flushed red. I rolled my eyes, doing my best to pretend I wasn't embarrassed myself. Even though, I'm sure my own face was pretty red too.

I reached over and grabbed the actual space blanket that I remembered seeing in the backpack earlier. It was amazing how similar both the tent and the space blanket were constructed; I wouldn't be surprised if they were made of the same material.

"You can use that. I'll be fine," he smiled sheepishly, and as much as I wanted to protest, Percy reached up to the top of the tent and twisted the light, leaving no room for argument.

Now that I think about it, the tent had to be made of some sort of magic, like the backpack. How else would the light fit inside there and stay inside? It didn't make any logical sense-

The light went out, and it was dark. I could still just barely see Percy's silhouette lie down as far as he possibly could from me. It almost made me laugh.

Instead, I threw the space blanket over myself, planning out what we were going to do next.