Son Of Hades

chapter 7

(Y/N) POV

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."
 
I was pretty much in shock myself. More to the fact that they called me master rather than the explosion of bus windows that still rang in my ears. 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 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" I responded, only to quickly realize that my dagger was nowhere to be found, as I frantically felt around my waist, remembering I had left it behind on the bus.

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.

As Annabeth strolled alongside me, her curiosity got the better of her, and she inquired, "(Y/N), why did those kindly ones address you as their master?"

"I'm not entirely sure, Annabeth," I responded, contemplating the mystery. "However, I have a feeling that we will uncover the truth soon enough."

"But them calling you master implies that you could be connected to..." Annabeth began to speculate before I interrupted her train of thought. "Hades," I guessed, "But the truth remains uncertain." After a few minutes, We continued walking before Annabeth fell behind to walk next to percy.

PERCY POV

After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to me.

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

"We're a team, right?"
 
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. I couldn't see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair.

"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were eight?" I asked her.
 
"No...only short field trips. My dad—"
 
"The history professor."
 
"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my 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." If I didn't know better, I could've sworn I heard doubt in her voice.
 
"You're pretty good with that knife," I said.

"You think so?"
 
"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me." I couldn't really see, but I thought she might've smiled.
 
"You know," she said, "maybe I should tell you... something funny back on the bus..." Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.
 
"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried.

"Ah, great.....just what we needed," said (Y/N) with a hint of sarcasm and a touch of annoyance.

"If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"