¹Mσɳ Aɱσɳ Cαɾα | ᴘᴇʀᴄʏ ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ

12. Roasting like those mortals and their giving thanks birds

♡ Thalia had decided to drive.

They had found a rusty tow truck at the edge of the junkyard. Asteria had picked up a canter full of fuel and filled the tank up. Thalia had argued against it, but Asteria had said they could have taken anything from the junkyard and nothing would happen.

The fates have already taken what they wanted.

Zoë sat up front with Thalia. She had been avoiding Asteria, who was sitting at the back of the truck with Percy and Grover. The air was cool and dry, but the weather just seemed like an insult after losing Bianca.

"What did she take?" Asteria asked Percy.

His hand clenched the figurine that cost Bianca her life before he showed it to her. She smiled sadly as she looked at it.

"She might have wanted a life without responsibility," Asteria said. "But you will never stop being an older sibling."

Percy tears up at the longing in her voice and looks up to avoid crying.

"It should've been me," he said. "I should've gone into the giant."

Asteria doesn't say anything; instead, she reaches out, grabbing the figurine from his hands gently, and runs her fingers over it. She smiles softly before squeezing Percy's hand and letting go.

"Don't say that!" Grover panicked. "It's bad enough Annabeth is gone, and now Bianca. Do you think I could stand it if..." He sniffled. "Do you think anybody else would be my best friend?"

"Ah, Grover..."

He wiped under his eyes with an oily cloth that left his face grimy. "I'm... I'm okay."

But he wasn't okay. Ever since the encounter in New Mexico-with that wild wind-he seemed really fragile, even more emotional than usual. Percy was afraid to talk to him about it because he might start bawling.

Asteria sighed and handed him a clean handkerchief. Grover blew his nose into it and handed it back to her, muttering a small thank you. She insisted he keep it, but he shook his head and gave it back to her.

She gave him a strained smile, held the handkerchief over the edge of the truck, and let the wind carry it away. Percy would have laughed if he wasn't too busy worrying about everything.

He realised he couldn't stay depressed. He had to set aside thinking about Bianca and keep them going forward, the way Thalia and Asteria were doing. He wondered what Thalia and Zoë were talking about in the front of the truck.

The truck ran out of fuel at the edge of a river canyon.

Thalia got out and slammed the door. Immediately, one of the tyres blew.

"Great. What now?"

Percy scanned the horizon. There wasn't much to see. Desert in all directions, occasional clumps of barren mountains plopped here and there. The canyon was the only thing interesting. The river itself wasn't very big, green water with a few rapids, but it carved a huge scar out of the desert. The rock cliffs dropped away below them.

"There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river."

Asteria and Percy look down the edge of the cliff before looking at each other comically.

"That's a goat path," Percy said.

"So?" Grover asked.

"The rest of us aren't goats."

Asteria snorts.

"We can make it," Grover said. "I think."

Asteria thinks about it and shrugs. "I don't mind. I can fly down either way."