Wildflowers, Percy Jackson ₁

021, i spy a fish stick

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

₊˚࿐࿔ 𖥧‧₊⚘ ❀༉. 𓏲｡

The quest was going horribly, by the way.

Sylvie knew it would be bad from the moment she exited her cabin and met up with her quest-mates. Zoë took one look at Sylvie and asked, "Why are there so many pockets on thy pants?"

So, yeah. Zoë didn't understand the concept of cargo pants. In fact, she judged Sylvie heavily for her fashion choices—it made Sylvie feel like she was back on her first quest wearing Uggs. However, instead of ranting about how Percy woke her with not enough time to properly choose her shoes, this time Sylvie went on a full tangent about how useful cargo pants were.

What? She was right. Sylvie could not only store things in her bag, but now her pants as well. This way, they would still have supplies if their belongings got destroyed (that tended to happen on quests), and if they were in a situation where there was no time to dig through bags, Sylvie would have everything they needed on hand. They stored useful items in each compartment. They also were pants, which provided warmth in the dreary cold of the season—So, yes. She was wearing cargo pants, and she was proud of it.

Their next complication—Phoebe was bedridden with hives from the prank that the Stoll brothers had pulled on her. Zoë told Sylvie, Grover, and Thalia this with an uncomfortable Bianca tailing behind her. The campers protested that they needed to pick a sixth quest-mate, but Zoë insisted against that. Apparently, there was no time, and she even started reaching with the argument that the prophecy said Phoebe could be the one they lost in the land without rain.

No one bought it, but she was right about one thing: they didn't have time to waste.

The final source of Sylvie's misery—Zoë was the one driving their white Camp Half-Blood van. She must've been holding such a big grudge against Argus after their argument that Zoë just booted him from the role of chauffeur and took it upon herself instead.

Zoë was a horrible driver.

You would think, for someone at her big age, that Zoë would have time to learn the acts of safely driving. You, however, would be wrong. Zoë was almost as horrible as Thalia when it came to manning vehicles (although Thalia was still so much worse). She predictably had the world's worst road rage, she didn't understand common courtesy for other cars, and there was no way she'd be able to pass a driver's ed class if ever forced to.

She also immediately shut down Sylvie when Sylvie suggested playing road-trip games. Sylvie was definitely not counting that as a bonus.

"I can't believe you're contemplating spending time around her," Grover muttered wearily, clutching his seatbelt like he was a koala on a tree.