I had to pull them along. The woods were dark, and it was still raining. Grover still looked scared, and Percy just looked shocked. I guess he hadn't seen too many monsters yet.
Grover kept whimpering, "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."
Percy tried to protest that we go any farther, but I knew the farther away, the better. "All our money was back there," he reminded me. "Our food and clothes. Everything."
That's when I got mad. "Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight-"
"What did you want me to do?" he cut me off. "Let you get killed?"
"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine." And what did he care if I got killed? He didn't even care how this stupid quest went.
"Sliced like sandwich bread, but fine," said Grover. I wanted to yell at him. Whose side was he on?
"Shut up, goat boy," was the best I could come up with.
"Tin cans…a perfectly good bag of tin cans."
We were quiet for a few minutes, just walking through the disgusting slush. I thought about what Percy had done for me. Would I have done what he did? I wanted to say yes, but I wasn't so sure.
I caught up with Percy, who'd strayed ahead. "Look, I…" my voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."
"We're a team, right?" he asked halfheartedly.
I was quiet, not knowing how to respond. "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." I wasn't sure how I felt. I hadn't had good friends for a while. Luke had grown steadily more distant since he had gotten back from his quest, and Grover was busy. He had been gone all year with Percy, and he seemed to think Percy was a really good friend. I guess he was, but I hadn't gotten to know him enough yet. I suddenly noticed the light had faded and I couldn't see anything except Percy's face.
"You haven't left Camp-Half Blood since you were seven?" he asked.
"No…only short field trips. My dad-"
"The history professor," he interrupted. I would have retorted, but I was too tired.
"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home." I was rushing, as if he was going to interrupt again. "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," I said, but I wasn't sure about this.
"You're pretty good with that knife," he said, obviously trying to make me feel better. It worked.
"You think so?" I asked, still doubtful.
"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me."
I smiled. Grover was right. Percy is a good friend. Then I remembered something I noticed on the bus, with the Furies. "You know, maybe I should tell you…Something funny back on the bus…"
Something horrible sounding interrupted me. Grover's reed pipes.
"Hey, my reed pipes still work! If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!" cried Grover. I agreed. If he could actually play a find path song on his reed pipes, we could get out of these woods!
He played a couple notes, but I didn't think they were a find path song, because I heard Percy's head thwack into a tree.
We didn't say much for a while, except for the occasional curse in Ancient Greek whenever we tripped. After about a mile, I saw a neon light up ahead. Food! We kept walking until we saw a road and a gas station that looked deserted, but past that was the neon light and the smell…the smell of fast food, which I hadn't had since I was about six. The neon sign read…something like UATNY SME AGDRNE MOEGN MUERPIO. Stupid dyslexia.
"What the heck does that say?" said Percy.
"I don't know," I replied.
"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium," said Grover. Oh. That makes more sense. But garden gnomes?
As I looked around, I saw more then just gnomes. There was a grizzly bear and lots of people. In fact, I didn't see one gnome, unless a satyr counted…wait, a satyr?
Percy started walking towards the shop. "Hey…" Grover warned.
"The lights are on inside," I said. "Maybe it's open."
"Snack bar," said Percy wistfully. We were hungry. I couldn't blame him.
"Snack bar," I repeated.
"Are you two crazy?" said Grover. "This place is weird."
Something in the back of my mind registered what he was saying, and agreed, but I ignored him.
I was too excited to take in my surroundings, but I vaguely saw a bunch of cement statues, including the satyr I'd seen earlier.
"Bla-ha-ha!" bleated Grover. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"
We stopped at the door.
"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."
"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," I told him. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"
"Meat!" he said. "I'm a vegetarian."
"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," Percy reminded him.
Technically, those weren't meat, but I didn't feel the need to point that out.
"Those are vegetables," said Grover. Technically they weren't vegetables either, but I didn't tell him that either. "Come on. Let's leave. These statues are…looking at me."
Suddenly the door creaked open, and we whipped around.
Sorry for the short chapter. I'll post again by...let's say Sunday. Okay?
-Cataniagirl
