snowfall // percy jackson x OC

chapter 13

Eira awoke with a start. The boar's snort had filled the silent hum of the night and interrupted her uncomfortable, yet peaceful quiet. She notices with sharp embarrassment how close she was sitting to Percy, recoiling at the touch of his arms at her side on top of the bristled back of the boar. She took part in sliding herself forward to stiffen the twinge of warmth on her windchilled cheeks.

She takes a moment to scan the landscape around them. The boar silently chews on a cactus, and Eira's wariness of the completely desolate horizon intensifies as she realizes their current location- several states over from where they were earlier in the day.

"Was I asleep for 3 days or does this thing really move that fast?" She says in shock, completely fazed at how they were able to make it this far into the desert in such little time.

"This thing," Grover pointedly says at her, earning a small smirk from the tired girl, "is a part of the wild. It will go as fast as we need it to." He runs a hand along the side of the beast, taking in a large breath as he examines its concentrated stare at the cactus.

"But, this is as far as he'll go. We need to get off while he's eating." Grover alerts the tired group.

Eira and Bianca take up the rear of the group as the others gain some distance. The first time the two had really interacted since Westover, Eira rubs her arm lightly in anticipation about what to say to the girl next to her.

"What're you thinking about?" Eira asks her quietly, eyes fixed on the sliver of orange left on the horizon dwindling with the minutes and pulling them into a cool night.

The girl beside her sighs quietly, glancing at Eira with a sort of appreciation in her eyes she hadn't seen since Artemis' tent.

"I don't know, really." She starts slowly, "How did you feel? The first time you did something like this, I mean." She gestures out to the desert in front of them, eyes lingering on Zoë for a moment.

Nobody had ever asked her a question about her first quest before.

"Lonely.. and scared." They met eyes in a moment of consolation, of familiarity and reassurance.

"Me too." Bianca nods. "I worry... About me, but mostly for him."

Eira nods at her response. "You're scared he won't forgive you?"

"Terrified." Her immortal huntress voice turned soft and childish, just as before. Eira looked at her and swore she could see the face of a timid Nico Di'Angelo staring back.

"How did you know when you were going to accept the offer?" Eira surprised herself by asking the question clawing its way out of her anxious mind.

"As soon as I saw them," Bianca shakes her head in memory. "The connection they have- both in fighting and without. I just, knew. I knew that was what I was meant to do." Her confidence in her answer astounded Eira. "You wanted this too didn't you?" She fired right back at Eira.

She slowly looks at the girl beside her and wordlessly nods, the emotion of the past few days threatening to come up and choke her. "I think a part of me did. And I felt so guilty about it, too."

"Why?"

Her gaze finds Percy in the small group ahead without her even thinking. "Annabeth, and them." She nods her head towards Percy and Grover as she says it. "I don't have any family back at home. They mean too much to me to leave."

"Do they know that?"

"Gods, no." The two break out into a fit of laughter at Eira's lighthearted response.

"You're a good friend, Eira." Bianca smiles after the laughter dies down. "To all of us. You don't give yourself enough credit for it."

Despite the laughter just moments ago, Bianca's words hit deep. Tears form in her eyes as she motions her appreciation to the girl next to her. "And you're a great sister, Bianca. Making decisions for your life does not change that."