ʙᴏᴏᴋ ɪ : 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙛 | 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚢 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

Chapter 10

So there they were, Annabeth, Percy, Grover and Y/N, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind them, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in their noses.

Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."

Y/N was thinking hard too. About why her bow and arrow didn't work the way it should. Atleast that's what Chiron told her. But Annabeth kept pulling them along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

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

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

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

"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine."

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

"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth.

Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans ... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."

They sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.

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?"

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 was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."

Y/N was walking behind them. She heard them talk. Maybe if it was a crowded area she wouldn't be able to listen but it was completely silent in the forest. She could hear every word they said clearly. 

And she felt restless.

Why was she feeling restless? She should be fine because finally Annabeth and Percy were getting along right? Finally they'll be able to come up with better plans if they are not coming for each other's throats. This should be good for all of them. She focused on the conversation going on before her.

The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind, leaving them in almost total darkness. Percy couldn't see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair.

"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were nine?" Percy asked her.

"No...only short field trips. My dad-"

"The history professor."

"Yeah....Y/N told you, didn't she? It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home." She was rushing her words out now, as if she was afraid somebody might try to stop her. "At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."

"You're pretty good with that knife," Percy said.

"You think so?"

"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me."

Percy couldn't really see, but he thought she might've smiled. It felt funny. It felt like someone pulled at his heartstrings. Oh wait.

This is gonna be weird now, isnt it? Maybe it was the same with Y/N. He tried to reason and find logic but it just wasn't working. If he genuinely talked with some logic, he knew what everyone would say if he told about how he felt.