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SEVEN, garden gnomes galore
❀ ✿ ❀ ✿
IF THERE WAS ONE thing that Aster regretted from the past hour, it was putting her backpack on the overhead shelf. Now they had nothing with them; just their weapons—though Grover lost his tin can projectiles—and Annabeth's hat which Percy had managed to keep ahold of.
Aster could still hear the explosion ringing in her ears. She might've been in shock.
Annabeth kept dragging them along, giving them words of encouragement: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."
Aster felt the comforting touch of a branch on her back, guiding her gently to walk next to Percy.
"All our money was back there," Percy reminded her. "Our food and clothes. Everything."
Aster shot him a glare. "Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"
"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?" Percy's sea green eyes met hers expectantly.
"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine."
"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover added, "but fine."
"Shut up, goat boy," Aster said. Annabeth didn't say anything, just kept trudging along the path. Neither of them were damsels in distress, needing a hero to come save them. They were the heroes.
Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."
"Is that all you think about at all times?" Annabeth asked. Grover just bleated something incoherent, and they kept moving across the mushy ground.
Aster sensed every root in the ground and avoided them while Annabeth, Percy, and Grover followed her. She made sure to listen to the trees near her, looking out for a warning in case Mrs. Dodds was still after them.
After a few minutes, Aster fell into line next to Percy. "Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I do appreciate your coming back for us, okay? You didn't have to do that. It was really... brave."
Percy gave her a half-smile. "We're a team, right?"
Aster hesitated, looking through the trees beyond them. "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. I may have had mixed feelings about it in the beginning, but I want to see this through. Besides, this may be my only chance to see the real world."
The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind them, leaving the four of them in almost total darkness.
"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" Percy asked her.
Aster shook her head. "Nope. Only short field trips, but those were hardly anything, maybe a few hours supervised in a coffee shop or a Home Depot. My dad—"
