Hera's Daughter | Luke Castellan¹

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕖

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

𝒲𝑒 𝒱𝒾𝓈𝒾𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒢𝒶𝓇𝒹𝑒𝓃 𝒢𝓃𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝐸𝓂𝓅𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓊𝓂

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

As Annabeth, Grover, and Percy walked through the woods, they processed what had happened. Selene, their belongings and the Furies.

Grover was shivering and braying. His big goat eyes turned slit-pupillid and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once." He muttered.

Percy was in shock. The explosion of the bus windows still rang in his ears. Annabeth kept pulling them along, saying: "Come on! The further away we get, the better."

"All our money was back there," Percy told her. "Our food, our clothes and Selene. Everything."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight -" Annabeth started to say.

"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?" Percy cut her off.

"Selene could be dead! If you had done what we had asked of you, that wouldn't have happened! You didn't need to protect us,  Percy. We would have been fine." Annabeth argued.

They all went silent as they walked, not sure how to say anything.

After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to Percy. "Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate you coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

"We're a team, right?" Percy tried to offer a small smile.

She was silent for a few more steps. "It's just that if you died... Aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest is over. This may be my only chance to see the other world, and this quest is important. That is why Selene did what she did."

The two fell into peaceful small talk about each others lives as they walked. They eventually came across a neon sign and the smell of food. As they kept walking was a garden store.

ᴀᴛɴʏᴜ ᴍᴇꜱ ɢᴅᴇʀꜱɴ ɢᴏᴍᴇɴ ᴍᴇᴘʀᴏɪᴜᴍ

"What the heck does that say?" Percy asked as he squinted at the sign.

"I don't know." Annabeth shrugged.

Grover came to the rescue and read it out for them. "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."

Percy started to walk over to the building as he followed the smell of food.

"Hey.." Grover warned, following slowly.

"The lights are on inside." Annabeth noted. "Maybe it's open."

"Snack bar." Percy said hopefully.

"Snack bar." Annabeth agreed.

"Are you two crazy?" Grover spoke up. "This place is weird." His concerns were ignored by the two demi-gods.

They looked around the outside of the building when a woman walked out of the front doors. 

"Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?" The mystery woman asked.

"They're um..." Annabeth stuttered.

"We're orphans!" Percy supplied.

"Orphans?" The woman echoed. "But, my dears! Surely not!"

"We got separated from our caravan," Percy spoke whatever came to his mind. "Our circus caravan. Our older sister, she's the ringmaster, she told us to meet at the gas station if we got lost. I think she may have forgotten, or maybe she meant another gas station. Always, we're lost. Is that food I smell?" He smiled innocently.