PLEASE READ THE REWRITE INSTEAD OF THIS. THIS IS ONLY UP UNTIL THE REWRITE IS COMPLETED. PLEASE READ THE REWRITE TO PREVENT LOSING THE BOOK BEFORE YOU'RE DONE.
Veronica Westcourt didn't like Camp Half-Blood. She didn't like the fact that she hadn't...
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𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 10: 𝓥𝓮𝓻𝓸𝓷𝓲𝓬𝓪'𝓼 𝓓𝓪𝓶 𝓣𝓻𝓪𝓾𝓶𝓪
At the edge of the dump, the group found a tow truck so old it might've been thrown away itself. But the engine started, and it had a full tank of gas, so they decided to "borrow" it for a little bit.
Thalia drove. She didn't seem as stunned as anyone else. The only one besides her that didn't seem hurt was Veronica, who'd almost scarily moved on from Bianca's death so quickly.
"The skeletons are still out there," Thalia reminded everyone. "We need to keep moving."
She navigated the group, now a quintet, through the desert. They made their way under clear blue skies with sand so bright it hurt to look at. Zoë sat up front with Thalia. The boys and Veronica sat in the pickup bed, leaning against the tow wench. The air was cool and dry, but the nice weather just seemed like an insult after losing Bianca.
Veronica thought about Nico, and she stared at the little figurine that had cost Bianca her life. She couldn't tell what god it was supposed to be. Nico had told her which god he didn't have. But she'd forgotten.
She felt numb, and that itself made her feel cruel. Was it bad that she normally felt like that anyways?
"It should've been me," Percy said. "I should've gone into the giant."
"Don't say that!" Grover panicked. "It's bad enough Annabeth is gone, and now Bianca. Do you think I could stand it if..." He sniffled. "Do you think anybody else would be my best friend?"
"Ah, Grover..." Percy said.
He wiped under his eyes with an oily cloth that left his face grimy, like he had on war paint. "I'm... I'm okay."
But he wasn't okay. Ever since the encounter in New Mexico—whatever had happened when that wild wind blew through—he seemed really fragile, even more emotional than usual.
Veronica quietly wondered what Thalia and Zoë were talking about in the front of the truck.
The tow truck ran out of gas at the edge of a river canyon. That was fine and dandy, though, because the road dead-ended.
Thalia got out and slammed the door. Immediately, one of the tires blew. "Great. What now?"
"That's karma," Veronica shrugged. She scanned the horizon. There wasn't much to see. Desert in all directions, occasional clumps of barren mountains plopped here and there. The canyon was the only thing interesting. The river itself wasn't very big, maybe fifty yards across, green water with a few rapids, but it carved a huge scar out of the desert. The rock cliffs dropped away below them.
"There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river."
"That's a goat path," Percy said with an incredulous stare.
