SANITY; heroes of olympus

02.7

[act two; chapter seven     -     the vials of fate. . .bum bum bum!]

"We'll need some of your food." Percy shouldered his way around the old man and snatched stuff off the picnic table—a covered bowl of Thai noodles in mac-and-cheese sauce, and a tubular pastry that looked like a combination burrito and cinnamon roll. Zara followed right behind him to make sure he didn't get himself killed. Before he could lose control and smash the burrito in Phineas's face, the boy said, "Come on, guys."

He led his friends out of the parking lot.

They stopped across the street. Percy took a deep breath, trying to calm down. The rain had slowed to a halfhearted drizzle. The cold mist felt good on his face.

"That man..." Hazel smacked the side of a bus-stop bench. "He needs to die. Again."

Zara nodded in agreement. She hummed, "He makes me want to punch him, and I don't do that often."

It was hard to tell in the rain, but Hazel seemed to be blinking back tears. Her long curly hair was plastered down the sides of her face. In the grey light, her gold eyes looked more like tin.

Percy remembered how confident she'd acted when they first met—taking control of the situation with the gorgons and ushering him to safety. She'd comforted him at the shrine of Neptune and made him feel welcome at camp.

Now he wanted to return the favour, but he wasn't sure how. She looked lost, bedraggled, and thoroughly depressed.

And Zara just looked stuck, like she couldn't decide what specific emotion to feel, so she felt all of them. Her expression kept shifting from being sad to being angry and then back to sad. Her forest green eyes were glossy as well, but she didn't let any tears fall.