❝In a fight, they're lethal. Around each other, they melt❞
"I'm fine." I said, trying to hide the frown and tears that threatened to spill.
Percy looked at me once.
"I'm not going anywhere, unless you tell me what's wrong," he declared and I would h...
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At the edge of the dump, we found a tow truck so old it might've been thrown away itself. But the engine started, and it had a full tank of gas, so we decided to borrow it.
Thalia drove. She didn't seem as stunned as the rest of us.
"The skeletons are still out there," she reminded us. "We need to keep moving."
She navigated us through the desert, under clear blue skies, the sand so bright it hurt to look at. Zoe sat up front with Thalia. Grover, Percy and I sat in the pickup bed, leaning against the tow wench. The air was cool and dry, but the nice weather just seemed like an insult after losing Bianca.
I hadn't said a word since admitting what Ares said.
Oh gods.. What was I going to tell Nico and Caelan?
The thought of having to tell them brought tears to my eyes and I wiped angrily at them.
I wanted to believe that Bianca was still alive somewhere. But I had a bad feeling that she was gone for good. I knew she was gone.
"It should've been me," Percy said. "I should've gone into the giant."
"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, like he had on war paint. "I'm... I'm okay."
I wrapped him in a gentle hug.
But he wasn't okay. Ever since the encounter in New Mexico—whatever had happened when that wild wind blew through—he seemed really fragile, even more emotional than usual. I was afraid to talk to him about it, because he might start bawling.
The tow truck ran out of gas at the edge of a river canyon. That was just as well, because the road dead-ended.
Thalia got out and slammed the door. Immediately, one of the tires blew. "Great. What now?"
I 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, maybe fifty yards across, green water with a few rapids, but it carved a huge scar out of the desert. The rock cliffs dropped away below us.
"There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river."
I tried to see what he was talking about, and finally noticed a tiny ledge winding down the cliff face. "That's a goat path," Percy said.
