'•' The Lightning Thief '•'

4 :: It's Not Goodbye

Published: November 5, 2021

Edited: May 18, 2022

'•'

I was struggling up the steep hill, holding tight to Thalia's steady hand. My chest and stomach felt like they were on fire and my feet were heavy with exhaustion. Luke had a shaking Annabeth on his back and the satyr boy Grover was ahead of us all, cantering halfway up the hill and then pacing back to the rest of us. It had been at least a few month since we had found Luke and Thalia, then after that a satyr named Grover had found us and was leading the group since then. Grover skittered his way back to us for the third time, his goat feet clicking against the ground anxiously.

"Hurry up guys, c'mon we've got to get there!" He urged circling around Luke and hopping from foot to foot in front of Thalia and I. Thalia leveled him with her scariest glare, something I was lucky to had never been on the receiving end of.

"We're going as fast as we can, Neridia is still injured and Annabeth is about to pass out. Stop rushing us before you make it worse." Thalia scowled, stopping her walking and turning towards me. She crouched down and I knew immediately what she was offering. I stumbled forward into her arms and she lifted me up onto her hip. "Up you get Guppy, I'm not letting you walk on your own like this anymore."

Guppy was Thalia's nickname for me. Luke called me Mermaid because of my name but Thalia liked to joke that I was too small to be a full mermaid. Hence the name 'Guppy'; little fish. At first it bothered me that she was teasing me about my height but the name grew on me until it became endearing. Thalia hoisted me up so I stopped slipping out of her arms and brushed past Grover to keep walking up the hill. Grover had told us that there was a place safe from monsters just over this hill but it seemed like we'd never get there.

First Grover had led us down a wrong turn in Brooklyn which caused me to get a really bad wound. Then Thalia and Luke had insisted that we take a break and try to heal me before we kept going. Now by the time we were almost to the safe place, everyone was exhausted and we all knew that the pursuing monsters were right on our tails. We walked for twenty more minutes, with Grover still hopping around us nervously, before we finally reached the crest of the hill. A huge valley sprawled out before us filled with cabins, a house, a wall of some kind and a huge forest.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood." Grover said warmly, looking smug at our shocked expressions. Annabeth began to wiggle and Luke set her down with a laugh.

"Are we gonna live here now?!" Annabeth gasped in excitement, running to the edge of the hilltop. Grover bleated out a laughed and trotted up to her. He placed a hand on her small shoulder and smiled proudly.

"Yes Annabeth, you will all be safe here." He said kindly. Annabeth's eyes lit up and she ran back to grab Luke's hand.

"Let's go let's go let's go!" She cheered, suddenly energized as she yanked Luke down the hill. Luke chuckled and allowed himself to be dragged along. Grover laughed and trotted after them. Thalia was still standing at the top of the hill with me in her arms as we both laughed at Annabeth's antics. Suddenly the air around us turned cold and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Thalia seemed to sense it too because she froze whipped around to face the way that we had come. More hellhounds than we could count and all three furies emerged from the wild trees.

"For your fathers' sins you will die!" The fury screeched, hovering in the air with a huge set of leathery bat wings. A whip made solely of fire was in her hand and she was grinning maliciously.