A Son Love & Doves

Chapter 5 The Ugly Gnome Emporium

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So there we were, Annabeth and Grover and Percy and I, walking through the woods on 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."

I was pretty much in shock. The explosion of bus windows still rang in my ears. But Annabeth kept pulling us along, saying: "Come on! The further away we get, the better."

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

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

"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?"

"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine."

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

"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth. "And Y/N still has his bag, so assuming there aren't just beauty products in it..."

I glared at her for a moment and threw a drachma at her, which hit her in the forehead, bouncing off, but she caught it and seemed to debate on throwing it back.

Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."

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

"We're a team, right?" Percy said with a smile.

She 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."

The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. Our vision dwindled in the darkness barely being able to see each other. Not enough light to let me see myself in my mirror but enough for me to judge the other.

"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" Percy asked her.

"No... only short field trips. My dad -" Annabeth said and I started to zone them out.

Fathers, who needs them? I let out a 'tsk' and stomp forward. I would rather be in my bed listening to my siblings go on about camp gossip but no, I am out here trudging through the mud because some hellhound attacked me. If I didn't care so much about my hair I'd be pulling it out.

Being brought out of my thoughts by Grover who put a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you good?" Grover asks me and I see a concerned look on his face through the darkness.