Melancholy Kaleidescope | PJO

Ch. 6: Aunty Em's

 "Three Kindly Ones." Grover shivered as they walked along a satyr path he'd found. "All three at once."

The four of them were all still in varying levels of shock. Annabeth was urging them along. "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

"All of our money was back there," Percy pointed out, as if the lack of luggage didn't already give it away. "Our clothes, our food. Everything."

Jinora huffed. "Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight–"

"What did you want me to do," Percy interrupted, his voice rising slightly in pitch. "Let you get killed?"

"We had it handled, Percy," she retorted, turning to face him and continuing to walk backwards. "I would have been fine. We would have been fine."

"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover added. "But fine."

"Not helping," Jinora said to her satyr friend.

Grover brayed mournfully at his lost tin cans as they continued to walk through the dark and damp forest. After nearly ten more minutes of them tensely following Grover down the satyr path, Jinora slowed her pace and fell in step with Percy.

She sighed. "Look, Percy. It's not that I don't appreciate you coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

He looked over at her as they continued walking. "Well, we are a team, right?"

Jinora nodded and was silent for a few more steps. "It's just that if you died...you know, aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest is over. We'd never get Zeus' bolt, war would break out amongst the gods. There's a lot riding on your survival here."

He thought about it for a moment before nodding in understanding. Then he added, "I guess it also doesn't help that this is the first time you've left camp since you arrived."

She tensed at his comment, the city glow fading behind them and leaving them in near total darkness. Before she could ask, he answered her question.

"Luke talked to me before I finished packing. He mentioned you two arrived at camp together five years ago." Jinora nodded. "You haven't left camp since you were six?"

She shook her head. "No, except for a few short field trips. I don't really have a reason to. I got no one to go into the real world for, last time I checked."

A few more silent steps followed before Percy spoke up again. "You're pretty good with that sword. It doesn't look like any of the ones at camp."

Jinora bit the inside of her cheek and unsheathed the sword. The bronze blade reflected the light from the moon as it peaked between the branches and leaves, the thunderstorm having ended and cleared away from the night sky. Its handle had two bronze snakes joined together at the base of the handle.

"A gift from my dad," she told him. "The night after I arrived at camp with the others, this was laying on my pillow after I got back to the cabin with a note from Hermes."

"Trickster," he read the Greek inscription on the handle between the two snakes. "Is that because it fits in a dagger's sheath?"

Jinora shrugged. "Maybe. I've only used it during training once and then I left it stashed away in my duffel bag. Kinda bitter about the deadbeat dad thing, ya know?"

Percy glanced at her, an understanding passing between the two as she resheathed her sword. By the look on his face, she could tell he wanted to ask her something else. Whatever it was, the silence of the forest was interrupted by a sound like that of an owl being tortured.