Andy Jackson: Child of Land & Sea

A Leap Of Faith

Act I — Storm At Sea

Part V — If only for one moment I had shared with you all I know, the sea wouldn't be a mystery.

They had to walk for a long time. That was tiring enough without Anthony going on and on about how it had been Andy's fault they had lost all of their stuff. "If you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—" he kept saying.

"What did you want me to do? Let you be killed?"

"I don't need you. I had everything under control. I would've been fine."

Andy didn't argue with that. Besides, she didn't know what to say to him. It was like walking on eggshells. She felt strange. Sad even.

He noticed it. "Look, I..." his voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

She sighed. "We need to have each other's back, right? That's the whole point of being a team. Isn't that why they send three half-bloods?"

Anthony was silent for a moment. "It's just that... I'm the one who needs to... I have to keep you alive. Because if you die... well the quest is over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."

"Wow." Andy tried to keep a straight face. "For a moment there, I almost believed you cared about my safety." He was about to say something, but Andy decided she didn't want to hear it. "Wait. You haven't left the camp since you were nine?"

"Kind of," he admitted. "My dad... It didn't work for me living at home. Camp Half-Blood is my home. And there you train and train and that is all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good at all."

"Well, I think you're good," Andy said, surprising even herself.

"You do now?" he jested.

"Anyone who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me." Andy couldn't be sure, but she thought he almost smiled.

As if in consequence to that tiny miracle, Andy collided with a tree and fell on her ass. Anthony showed his disapproval with a shake of his head but had the decency to help her up.

The deserted two-lane road had a weird roadside curio shop that sold statues. The neon sign was impossible for the dyslexic kids to read, so Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."

Nothing weird there. To Andy, the tasty smell of hamburgers was good enough.

"The lights are on inside," said Anthony, who now looked just as hungry as Andy felt. "Maybe it's open."

"This place is weird," said Grover. The others ignored him. They kept passing the statues until they reached one of a satyr playing the pipes. "Blah-ha-ha!" said Grover. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!" They stopped at the warehouse door. "Don't knock," he urged.

Andy knocked.

The door opened almost immediately revealing a woman wearing a long black gown that covered everything but her hands and a veiled over her head. "Children," she said, "it is too late to be out alone. Where are your parents?"

"They're... um... We're orphans," said Anthony.

"Orphans?" she repeated.

Andy wanted to end that futile conversation and jump to things that mattered: "Is this food I smell?" She tried peering inside.