The Day I Was Claimed (a pjo fanfiction)

act one-scene four

act one-scene four: the most beautiful thing i've ever seen.

corresponding chapter:  my mother teaches me bullfighting

word count: 3254

pre-text author's note:

i don't think there are any breaks in this chapter. it's all one scene. the final scene.

that's right. this is the final chapter for this part. if you don't understand why, please refer to the post-text authors note in scene one.  

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The wind howled and the rain pelted as we ripped through the night like scissors to cardboard. Violently and unevenly. Light up scissors, of course, but what good is that against cardboard? Basically, we couldn't see the road in front of us. I trust my mother, I do, but I didn't trust her that much.

Besides the raging storm, it was silent inside the car. It was a scary silence, filled with unanswered questions and answers that didn't make sense. Grover, Percy, and I had all piled into the backseat, and I was quickly regretting my decision to leave my bag on. At least it gave me something to focus on besides our apparently imminent doom.

"So," Percy said, breaking the silence. "You and Mom... know each other?"

Grover shifted in his seat. "Not exactly," he said vaguely. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching the two of you."

"Watching us?" I asked, putting my guard up, ready to fight him if necessary.

"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay?" He tried. I scoffed at the weak answer, causing him to panic a bit. "But I wasn't faking being your friend," he rushed out. "I am your friend." We'll see, I thought and rolled my eyes.

"Um... what are you, exactly?" Percy asked, probably ruder than he meant.

"That doesn't matter right now."

"Yes, absolutely. I agree. It does not matter at all that my best friend is half donkey-" I snorted as Grover let out an irritated sound.

"Goat," I said, putting the joke out of my head.*

"What?" Percy said dumbfounded.

"He's half goat. From the waist down. Didn't you pay attention in Ancient History? The Half-Asses walk on four legs." Percy covered his mouth to contain laughter while our mom sighed in exasperation.

"Thank you, Ariel," Grover lamented, clearly not impressed with my intellect.

Percy fixed him with a pointed stare. "I thought it didn't matter," he sassed

"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you under hoof for such an insult!"

"I thought you had a sense of humour," I said dryly.

"Whoa, wait a minute. Hold up. Satyr? You mean like...Mr Brunner's myths? Ariel. This is surprising. Why aren't you surprised?" I groaned. Does nobody listen to me anymore?

"Percy, dear brother, you pulled an angry-Katara on Nancy, last May and we had an angry bat ready to fillet us for dinner. I've spent the past month and a half questioning reality. Nothing will surprise me." Percy stared at me a moment.

"Five bucks says you're wrong," he said finally.

"Alright, Director Fury," I teased.**

Grover cleared his throat in a way that made me want to hit him.