𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 • 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

Meeting Gladiola

A/n: I apologize if the last chapter was too long. I guess I got carried away. This one will be much shorter.

Emi Riddle

Y/n Pov:

We were pretty miserable that night. 

We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had been using for parties. They littered the ground with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers. 

We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else. 

We decided to sleep in shifts. Percy volunteered to take the first watch.

Annabeth took a large blanket and covered me and her with it, spooning me. We fell asleep instantly. I woke up to the lovely sound of:

"Y/n Luna Hunter if you don't wake up this instant I will throw you a bucket with the coldest water in it!!"

I groggily opened my eyes.

"Wassapenin?" I asked, rubbing my eyelids.

"FINALLY!" celebrated Annabeth.

"What time is it?" I asked.

Annabeth looked at the sky.

"Early," she sassed.

"I figured that part out," I sassed back, now sitting straight.

She exhaled through her nose, chuckling lightly.

"Here," she said while tossing me a bag of nacho-flavoured corn chips. "Breakfast."

"Lovely," I sighed.

I started opening the bag, but couldn't find out how to.

"Can you help me, please?" I asked Annabeth.

"Aren't you like what, twelve?" she asked.

"Please?"

"Fine."

She had great difficulty opening the bag, but at last, she made it. She handed it to me and I took five chips and shoved them in my mouth all together.

"Guys look!" said Grover from afar. "I made a friend!"

I got up, chips in hand, and headed over to him, Annabeth following close. Grover was sitting cross-legged with what looked like a pink poodle in his lap.

Honestly, I've seen such crazy things in my life, I'm not even surprised.

"Girls meet Gladiola," Grover said. "Gladiola these are Y/n and Annabeth."

"Hello, Gladiola," I said, kneeling. "I'm Y/n."

"Hi," simply said Annabeth.

Gladiola barked at me. My head started pounding and I heard a soft voice with an incredibly heavy southern accent saying:

"She can' understan' me, righ' ?"

I sighed and sat down on the grass.

"You ok?" asked Annabeth.

"Yeah," I lied. "Just tired."

"C'mon, help me wake up Jackson," she said, getting up.

I sat next to Percy. 

"Percy, wake up," I told him.

Nothing.

"Wake up!"

Crickets.

After the 15th try, his eyes opened.

"Well," I said, "the zombie lives."

He was shaking as if he had just had a nightmare.

"How long was I asleep?" he asked.

"Long enough for Annabeth to cook breakfast," I replied, tossing him the corn chips bag.

"And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend." I said, pointing in Grover's direction.

 Gladiola yapped at Percy. 

Grover said, "No, he's not." 

"Are you...talking to that thing?" Percy asked.

Gladiola growled. 

"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him." 

"You can talk to animals?" asked Percy.

Grover ignored the question. 

"Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy." Grover said.

Percy looked at me as if he thought this was all a joke.

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," Percy said. "Forget it." 

"Percy," I said. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle." 

Gladiola growled. 

Percy said hello to him.

Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover. 

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked. 

"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh." 

"Of course," Percy said. "Silly me." 

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple." 

The place became silent.

"Not another bus," I said warily. 

"No," Annabeth agreed. 

She pointed downhill, toward train tracks I hadn't noticed last night. 

"There's an Amtrack station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon," she explained.