𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑, ᵖᵉʳᶜʸ ʲᵃᶜᵏˢᵒⁿ

𝟎𝟏𝟏, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬

" three kindly ones, all three at once! " grover said in terror, " come on, the farther away we get, the better " annabeth told them, " all our money was back there, our food our clothes, everything " percy reminded

" well maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight— " annabeth started, " what did you want me to do? let you guys get killed? " percy asked, " you didn't need to, we would've been fine " annabeth said

" sliced up like sandwich bread but fine " grover told them, " shut up, goat boy " annabeth said, " tin cans. . .a perfectly good bag of tin cans " grover sighed and lila tapped his shoulder

they walked up a little, lila walked next to annabeth, " go apologize " lila told her, " what, he's in the wrong! " annabeth argued, " he sacrificed his life for ours, which was pretty brave. go apologize " lila said, annabeth sighed before going next to him, " hey my red pipes still work! " grover cried, " if I could just remember a ' find path ' song we could get out of the woods! "

he played as lila was about to rip her ears off as she was right next to him, percy walked up to the two, " look, lights and smell, food! " percy said, they kept walking until they saw a deserted two-lane road through the threes, on the other side was a closed down-gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movies, and one open business, which was the source of the lights and good smell

they walked towards it, " what the heck does that say? " percy asked, " I don't know " annabeth said, " something, something. garden, something, emporium " lila translated the two words, " close enough " percy told her

" aunty em garden gnome emporium " grover told them, on the entrance there were two cement garden gnomes, ugly beaded little runts, smiling and waving as if they were getting their pictures taken, " the lights are on inside, maybe it's open " annabeth said

" snack bar " percy said wistfully
" snack bar " annabeth agreed

" are you two crazy? " grover sassed, " this place is weird " lila agreed, but the two ignored the other two, " looks like my uncle ferdinand " grover pointed at one of the statues, they stopped at the door, " don't knock, I smell monsters " grover warned, " your nose is clogged up from the furries " annabeth told him

" all i smell is burgers, aren't you two hungry? " percy asked, " this place is weird. ." lila told him, " meat, im a vegetarian " grover argued, " you eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans "

" those are vegetables! " grover exclaimed, " can we leave? those statues are. . .looking at me " lila spoke, they almost agreed till the door opened showing a tall woman, she wore long black gown that covered everything but her hands, her head was especially veiled, her hands looked old but still elegant, lila imagined her as beautiful when she was younger

" children, is it too late to be out all alone. where are your parents? " she asked, " they're. . .um. ." annabeth started, " we're orphans " percy said, " orphans? but, my dears! surely not! " she spoke, " we got separated from our caravan, our circus caravan. the ringmaster told us to meet him as the gas station but we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station, anyway, we're lost, is that food I smell? " percy talked

" oh, my dears. you must come in poor children. I am aunty em, go straight through to the back of the ware house, please. there is a dining area " the lady told them and they thanked her, " circus, really perce. real slick " lila told him with a smile, " i got us in! " he defended

" your head is full of kelp " annabeth rolled her eyes at him, the warehouse had even more statues—people in all type of poses, wearing different outfits and with different expressions on their face, " please sit down " aunty em spoke, " awesome " percy said, " we don't have money, ma'am " lila informed, as percy gave her a ' why would you tell her that!? ' expression