cover you now ; pjo

five ; band on the run

As the sun began to peek over the horizon, five demigods and a centaur stood at the base of Halfblood Hill. All had backpacks on their backs, and three had weapons by their sides.

"I am so. Fucking. Tired." Gabi rubbed her eyes again. Her backpack was massive, it weighed her whole body down with its weight, around 70 pounds of supplies. Her dagger lay in its sheath, attached to a belt around her waist. "I stayed up for hours last night making sure I had supplies for every single situation that we might encounter." She straightened herself.

"I can agree to that," Anela called back to her. Her dagger also lay in its sheath by her side, but her backpack wasn't even a third of how heavy Gabi's was. Her hair was a mess, and she looked like she literally just rolled out of bed. Which she had. She zipped up her windbreaker and stepped closer to Ben. Damn it was cold outside.

Stef fiddled with her bracelet as she looked up at the morning sky. She didn't really want to be up either, and if she had known that signing up to the quest meant getting out of bed at 5 in the morning she wouldn't have accepted the offer. She fiddled with the zipper on her brown leather jacket and yawned, loudly.

Carolyn's bow slung across her shoulder, over her backpack. Her sweater was ugly, and so was her mood. She also did not enjoy being woken up at 5, but her way of expressing that was glaring at anyone who talked to her and really just not being a nice person to be around. Ben had tried to talk to her, but she promptly told him to go away. So he did.

Ben's blond hair caught the sun rays and bounced them off in every direction, making it appear as if he had a halo encircling his head. He was in the best mood out of the five. Sure, he wasn't a morning person, but Peter P. had wished him luck before lights out the night before and that made him really happy.

"I brought 200 bucks worth of mortal money and a few handfuls of drachmas like you asked, Chiron," Peter K. said, walking up to the group. Anela brightened up immediately and raised her hands to smooth her hair.

"Thank you, dear boy. I know it was a lot to ask you to get at this hour, but everyone appreciates it," Chiron answered. "Now, say your goodbyes. They'll be leaving now."

Ben, Gabi, and Stef's gazes all snapped towards Anela. She shook her head quickly. Gabi pointed at him harshly, and she sighed. "Ok," she mouthed, but just as she was about to start walking he came up to her.

"Oh, hey," she remarked, crossing her arms so she looked cool.

Peter grinned. "Good luck, Anela Rei. Hope you don't die. That'd be bad." And he leaned down and kissed her quickly on the cheek before standing back up and walking away as quickly as one could without looking awkward. Anela glances over at her friends, and Stef gave her a big thumbs up, grinning. She shook her head in exasperation.

"Now that that's over-" Chiron chuckled. "Argus has the car waiting at the top of the hill. Let's go."

As the was group trudging up the hill, Carolyn spoke. "Didn't Argus like, kill Typhon's wife?"

Chiron coughed. They could see the car now. "Why, yes. But don't bring it up around him, he gets very emotional about it."

When they reached the car, Chiron wished them luck and then headed back to the Big House. They all slipped inside, and even before Argus started the car, Ben was asleep on Gabi's shoulder, who in turn was asleep with her face smushed up against the window, her glasses askew. Throughout the whole hour long car ride, Carolyn pulled out a map and plotted their route as Stef and Anela whispered excitedly about the events that conspired with Peter K.

•••••

Stef could feel the eyes of the two burly men behind them burning into the back of her head.