WHITE NOISE , percy jackson [1]

SEVEN

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

     Half a day into the quest, and Milan was convinced that there was a whole list of Greek gods and monsters alike that were out to get Percy. But hey, he couldn't blame Percy at all; Milan had agreed to go along. He didn't vocalize his misery as he walked alongside his friends, but his facial expression said it all. Their situation also warranted being miserable; when your bus explodes with all your stuff on it after being chased by not one, not two, but three Furies, and it's raining, your day tends to get marginally worse.

The night couldn't even be pretty, either. The lights from New York City made the sky glow with an ugly, unnaturally bright yellow, the ground was full of muck that Milan's shoes kept sinking in, and the Hudson River really reeked.

But they had to press on, so he tried to maintain a more optimistic attitude. Grover, meanwhile, was shivering and braying, and his pupils had turned into slits. "Three Kindly Ones," he gasped, still obviously horrified. "All three at once."

It was Annabeth that kept pulling them along. She kept repeating, "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

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

Finally, Milan sighed through his nose. He didn't like to have to say the truth out loud, especially because nobody wanted to hear it right now. "The lightning strike probably burned it all up anyways," he said. "We're on a deadline. We can't go back."

"Well, maybe if Percy hadn't decided to jump into the fight—" Annabeth began.

"Well, it's not like there's anything we can do about that now," Milan said in a deadpan tone. He was tired and in a sour mood; he didn't want an argument to start, especially now that his eyes were growing heavy and his stomach was hurting. "What should we do, go back in time?"

"We probably would've been fine!" Annabeth insisted.

"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover cut in, "but fine."

Annabeth sensed that this was a losing argument, so she just weakly said, "Shut up, goat boy."

"Tin cans," Grover brayed. "A perfectly good bag of tin cans."

They continued to walk through the swampy ground, the humid air and the sour smell practically suffocating them. Milan coughed and sputtered the instant he walked directly into a swarm of gnats, but he managed to catch up enough to fall in step with Percy. He had noticed Percy's slightly dismayed expression, especially when Annabeth started arguing.

"Hey," Milan said. "You okay? Er, I mean, as okay as one can be when their bus explodes on a quest."

     "I guess," Percy mumbled. Even though he was just as miserable as Milan was, he seemed to find comfort in Milan's presence. "I just... I can't help but think that maybe Annabeth is right. Like, am I making the wrong choices right now?"

     "Look, I'm sure Annabeth appreciated the fact that you came back for us," Milan said. "And for the record, there's no right way to do this. She's honestly just as new to questing as you are."

     "I know, I know. We're supposed to be a team, but it's like I can't do anything without her criticizing it!"

     Milan glanced back at Annabeth, but luckily, she was in her own little world. She didn't know what they were talking about, so he spoke. "Look, she's just stressed. First, she's probably hyper-critical of everything you do because you're Poseidon's kid, but also... well, this is her first chance to see the real world. You know she's been at Camp Half-Blood since she was seven? She's probably going mad; I would be, too. So this is her chance to see the real world."