𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑺 • 𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐶𝑌 𝐽𝐴𝐶𝐾𝑆𝑂𝑁 ²

THIRTY-FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
—dumb ambushes

🗡🗡🗡

  —TWO pairs of footsteps fell in step with Judith. One on either side, trapping her in. Heavy, sure-footed, long strides. She could smell the lingering sulfur, a scent she now attributed to nightmares and hatred.

  Of course. Foolish of her to think she was rid of them after their psychotic behavior that morning...night, whatever.

  She was quite a ways behind the main crew of Aphrodite kids, so they didn't notice the unwelcome newcomers, but that was just as well. She didn't trust the minor gods not to mess around with their father's girlfriend's children, or any other campers they might come across on the way. The gods meddled around in mortal affairs far too often for her to be content with them being around anyone.

  Though, if she was being honest, something about their presence put her a little at ease. Who better to detect and defend against monsters than two gods? She still hated them, though.

  "Finally," Phobos rasped. "We thought you were never going to leave him."

  "Scared?" Judith taunted, recalling how Percy put her half-brothers in their place just a few hours ago. "Oh, how the tables turn. You'd think the god of fear wouldn't be scared of anything."

  "I'm not scared of that twerp," he spat harshly, but she saw his whole body tense up in her peripherals, as if just the thought of Percy triggered his fight or flight. "We were just caught off guard. He wasn't supposed to go in the Styx; he wasn't even supposed to be released."

  She cracked her knuckles, scowling. "You're telling me you knew Hades was going to trap him?"

  "Well," Deimos drawled, almost sheepish. "We didn't not know that Hades was planning on doing something with him. What happened to him was none of our business, though. All we cared about was getting you down there and in the river like we were told to do."

  "Thanks for that, by the way," she grumbled sarcastically. "What if I had died? Would you have gone and kidnapped another one of my siblings? Clarisse, maybe?"

  Phobos groaned and threw his hands in the air with frustration. "Ugh, mortals. 'What if this,' 'What if that.' You always want to ask these obsolete questions. What if I drop kicked you off a cliff, huh?"

  "Just answer the freaking question," Judith snapped, not in the mood for his dramatic complaints. If anyone was going to complain, it was her. They basically threw her into a death-pool.

  "No. Our instructions were clear: you and no one else," Deimos offered truthfully. "Dad was pretty convinced you'd pull through."

  "Perhaps the first time he's ever had that kind of faith in me," she muttered under her breath.

  What was Ares's deal, anyway? Who scorned the existence of their kid for most of their life just to turn around and thrust all these expectations and burdens unto them? She was bad at math — absolutely atrocious, really — but things weren't adding up no matter how much she thought about it. She was sure that Clarisse would have changed her mind about participating in the war if their father had just approached her about it. Clarisse would have dove headfirst into the Styx to please the guy. So...why her?

  "What are you guys even doing here? Going to carry me off on some other life-threatening adventure?" she asked, then.

  Deimos scoffed. "Technically, you're doing that all on your own. If you're looking for some epic showdown, you're well on your way. Who decided to have the Aphrodite cabin take on the only tunnel that's a straight shot to Olympus? That's a bloodbath waiting to happen."