My head was pounding, but I managed to open my eyes.
I was in the middle of the woods. And I was moving?
I lifted my head and looked down at where it was propped up on. A tuft of dark hair.
"Finally." Percy said after feeling me move.
He shrugged me off of his back, but when my feet hit the ground, my legs buckled and I fell flat on my butt.
Annabeth helped me up and glared at Percy.
"What?" Percy complained.
"I've been carrying her for hours. She's heavy."
I huffed with offense.
"Not even thirty minutes, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said.
I would've given Percy a hard time about dropping me to the ground, but then again he had been nice enough to carry me unconscious from whatever happened in the bus.
"My head is killing me." I told them.
"Do you have any of that ambrosia stuff in your backpack, Annabeth?"
Annabeth shot Percy a blameful glare.
"I did, before Percy lost the backpack on the bus."
"Sorry I was too busy saving your asses to worry about a stupid backpack." he complained.
"A stupid backpack that had all of our supplies." Grover said under his breath but loud enough for us to all hear.
"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side." Percy said to Grover.
"Why would he be on your side?" Annabeth asked.
"Uh, because he's my protector." Percy argued.
"Well, he was my protector first."
Everyone fell silent. Grover tried to speed up to walk ahead of us.
"What?" Percy said, confused.
No one provided an answer because Grover started sniffing at the air like a dog.
"Do you guys smell that?"
"Smell what? The animal shit surrounding us?" I asked.
"It smells like... hamburgers?"
Percy, Annabeth, and I all looked at each other confused and wondering if Grover was losing it.
"You're probably just hungry." Percy said.
"Yeah, why would someone be having a cookout on a satyr path?" Annabeth added.
Grover paid us no mind and continued walking. We all shrugged and figured our best bet was to keep following him.
After a few minutes, we came to a clearing where there was a run down building. A sign in front of it read: Auntie Em's Garden Gnome Emporium.
"Doesn't seem like the type of place to make good burgers to me." I said.
"Any burger is a good burger." Percy said.
"So not true, some are too greasy or-"
"Can we stop arguing about burger grease?" Annabeth snapped.
We both went quiet.
"I don't think anyone's even here." I said.
The place definitely smelled like hamburgers, but there wasn't a single sign of life anywhere, and we were in the middle of the woods.
I was proved wrong the second a woman walked out of the front door. She looked Middle Eastern, but it was pretty hard to tell.
She wore a veil over her face and a big fancy hat. All I could see of her face was her bright red lips.
