𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒, apollo

𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐢. deceitful, heartless, and greedy

CONFUSED, I WATCHED GROVER. He was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal to be more specific. No. It wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle.

We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a camp clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers. We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.

Now it was morning and after Grover's walk, he came back with that thing. After a couple of minutes, Cy began to stir too. "Well," Annabeth said, "The zombies live." I glanced to my left seeing Percy rub his eyes, mumbling, "How long was I asleep?"

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed him a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."

I turned my gaze back to the dog. The poodle yapped at Cy suspiciously. Grover shook his head, "No, he's not." I blinked, still confused by the situation.

"Are you... talking to that thing?" Asked Cy. The poodle growled. "This thing," Grover warned, "Is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?" I asked, but Grover ignored my question. "Percy, Gett, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy and Bridget." I stared at the dog, tilting my head to look more closely at it, sorry him.

To my horror, the dog mirrored my actions, tilting his head to the side too. What the fuck? "I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," I argued.

Percy agrees with me, "Yeah, I'm not either."

"Guys," Annabeth warned. "I said, say hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle." The dog growled. I swallowed and widened my eyes, while Percy almost immediately said hello. Both Annabeth and Grover stared at me, before I sighed, saying hi to the poodle.

Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Cy asked. "He read the signs," Grover shrugged and I let out a chuckle at the ridiculousness of this. If you'd told me this was gonna happen during the quest, I wouldn't have believed the person and even called them crazy. Now all I can do is just stare at the pink dog while Percy mumbles sarcastic remarks under his breath.

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "We get the money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

OUR REWARD MONEY FOR returning Gladiola the pink poodle, had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. We couldn't get seats in the sleeper car, so we dozed in our seats.

Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking me up. Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. I watched Annabeth and Percy stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed. "So," Annabeth asked started, once they had gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?"

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, alarmed. I was planning on questioning him too about it, just not in front of Annabeth. Because I didn't like her and I didn't know if I could trust her. Grover did. But as it turned out, his reason for that is because he once was her protector too. So was it trust, or was it guilt? Because I knew how their venture ended.