ᥴꪮ𝘴ꪑꪮ𝘴 ➪ 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚢 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚕𝚢𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜 [𝟷]

❦

𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐

𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞
𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐
𝚒'𝚟𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗

-𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊 𝚗 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚗

Aᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴅɢᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴜᴍᴘ, they found a tow truck so old it might've been thrown away itself. But the engine started, and it had a full tank of gas, so they borrowed it.

Thalia drove. She didn't seem as stunned as Zoë or Grover or Polaris or Percy.

"The skeletons are still out there," she reminded them. "We need to keep moving."

She navigated them through the desert, under clear blue skies, the sand so bright it hurt to look at. Zoë sat up front with Thalia. Grover, Percy, and Polaris sat in the pickup bed, leaning against the tow wench. The air was cool and dry, but the nice weather just seemed like an insult after losing Bianca.

Percy was looking at his hands, clutching them together like it was the only thing keeping him from falling apart.

"It should've been me," he said. "I should've gone into the giant."

"Don't say that!" Polaris chided. Her eyes stung.

Grover panicked. "It's bad enough Annabeth is gone, and now Bianca. Do you think I could stand it if..." He sniffled. "Do you think anybody else would be my best friend?"

"Ah, Grover..."

He wiped under his eyes with an oily cloth that left his face grimy, like he had on war paint. "I'm... I'm okay."

But he wasn't okay. Ever since the encounter in New Mexico—whatever had happened when that wild wind blew through—he seemed really fragile, even more emotional than usual.

Polaris wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and allowed herself one more minute of mourning. Then she cleared her throat and sat up straighter. She didn't have time.

The tow truck ran out of gas at the edge of a river canyon. That was just as well, because the road dead-ended.

Thalia got out and slammed the door. Immediately, one of the tires blew.

"Great. What now?" She grumbled.

Percy scanned the horizon. There wasn't much to see. Desert in all directions, occasional clumps of barren mountains plopped here and there. The canyon was the only thing interesting. The river itself wasn't very big, maybe fifty yards across, green water with a few rapids, but it carved a huge scar out of the desert. The rock cliffs dropped away below them.

"There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river."

Polaris tried to see what he was talking about, and finally noticed a tiny ledge winding down the cliff face.