"𝚟𝚒𝚡𝚎𝚗" | 𝚙. 𝚓𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚜𝚘𝚗

𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗, 𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎

Why Are They Taking Advice From a Poodle?

OR

The Dog is Literate(?)

third person omniscient

-

IT WAS PRETTY miserable that night.

They camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers. 

They'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but didn't dare light a fire to dry their damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. They didn't want to attract anything else. 

They all decided to sleep in shifts. Percy volunteered to take first watch, but Stelle stayed awake as well.

"Hey, if one of us die on this quest-"

"Shut up."

"Let me finish! Let me- okay, so, like, if I die on this quest, wouldn't you host me a kickass funeral?" Percy enthused.

"No, cause there wouldn't be a funeral at all. I'd drag you from the Underworld, stuff your soul back into your body, and kill you again for tripping on a rock." Stelle snorted, looking up at the stars.

"I didn't say how I'd die."

"That's how I imagine you die."

"You think about me?" Percy teased.

"...That's what you got from that?" Stelle sighed, flicking a pebble at his head.

It bounced off his forehead, making him frown. In response, he threw a rock at her, which missed her. "Uh, yes. Obviously."

Stelle said, "Why are you like this?"

"I thought you liked my wonderful personality. You're a fraud." Percy snickered as Stelle grimaced at him.

"I'm just gonna save my breath."

"Good idea. You won't win this one."

Stelle tossed him a bundle of blankets, which he took gratefully. On the way, she hit him lightly on the top of his head and sat next to him (the spot where Annabeth decided was the 'watch spot' due to the most amount of visibility).

She settled, letting her hands drop. A minute of loud silence didn't quite make the atmosphere reach 'awkward' zone, but it was nearing. At last, Stelle broke the ice.

"So..." she said, "...how are you holding up?"

"I'm not dead yet." The boy sighed, watching the murky sky above. For once, it was devoid of clouds, but there were no stars. It was too polluted here.

"Is that the bar now? You're not dead, so you're fine?"

"Listen, I don't know. It's just... I have to deal with it, I guess." Percy readjusted himself to be just a little closer to her. "I'm glad you guys are here. I wouldn't be able to do this if it weren't for you three."

He would be dead if they weren't here, that much were obvious, but that wasn't what Percy meant. Had not for his present company, he wasn't sure he would even take the quest. Something about being alone here in the dark made his heart hurt.

Most of all, he was afraid of his hands being tattooed red with blood he couldn't wash off, of becoming something he wasn't. What if he really did become Olympus's pawn, like Medusa said?