'•' The Lightning Thief '•'

10 :: My Dad has Horrible Taste in Women

Published: August 18, 2021

Edited: June 6, 2022

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In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day. 

So there we were, Annabeth, Percy, Grover and I, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind us, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in our noses. Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. 

"Three Kindly Ones. All three at once." He was whimpering. I was pretty much in shock myself, the explosion of bus windows still ringing in my ears and the flashes of facing Furies with Thalia raced through my head. But Annabeth kept pulling us along, saying: 

"Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

"All our money was back there," Percy reminded her. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

"Well, maybe if you two hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"

"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?" Percy cut her off, looking horrified that she had considered it. I smiled at his protective nature, that was something I would have said too.

"You guys didn't need to protect me, I would have been fine." Annabeth protested.

"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in helpfully, "but fine."

 "Shut up, goat boy," snapped Annabeth. Grover brayed mournfully.

"Tin cans...a perfectly good bag of tin cans." He moaned, dragging his feet in the mud. We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry. After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to Percy, who was on my left. 

"Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave. You too Neridia." 

"We're a team, right?" Percy asked gently. Annabeth was silent for a few more steps. 

"It's just that if you died...aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world." Annabeth said softly, taking a deep breath, "and Neridia, she's like a sister to me, if she died I don't know if I could go on." 

I noted her use of the third person and let myself fall back in line with Grover to give the two at least an illusion of privacy. The thunderstorm was finally letting up as the city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. I couldn't see anything of Annabeth or Percy except a glint of  blond hair and a flash of a watch. 

"You and Neri haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" Percy asked her curiously. Annabeth sighed.

"No...only short field trips. My dad—" 

"The history professor." Percy interrupted. Annabeth gave a terse nod.

"Yeah. It didn't work out for us living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is our home." She was rushing her words out now, as if she were afraid somebody might try to stop her. "At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."  I could've sworn I heard doubt in her voice.