The Legacies: The Next Generation - A Percy Jackson Fanfc

Chapter 8: Rose

Rose was positive that her legs were going to melt away if they continued walking. Her stomach didn't really like the long hike either, as it growled and grumbled ever so often. The others took no notice of this. Of course they didn't.

For once, Rose wasn't talking. She wasn't throwing out andom cheesy jokes or sarcastic replies. Her head, which was wrapped in white bandages, throbbed dully, giving her a headache. No one said anything as they hiked soundlessly through the woods.

Rose had a feeling that the others were ignoring her, even Silena. She knew that they all thought it was her fault the cave was set on fire, and poor Marie had a panic attack. (What was with her and fire?)

And why wasn't it Rose's fault? If there was one thing Rose excelled at, it was messing things up. And she'd done just that, even though her fire had burned the Minotuar. She'd always been the least of their friend group. They all never really paid much attention to her. Nope, she was just there to burn monsters and tell jokes, wasn't she?

The trees were extremely thick here, the ground spotted with a billion leaves. Rose's head gave another sharp throb. She supressed a moan.

"Stop," Cora commanded. She leaned on a nearby tree, her nose buried in her map. She was frowning. "I can't see where we are. I think we're—--"

"Lost?" Bianca offered. She was once again lurking in the shadows. Marie, who was right in front of her, gave a small start. Rose supposed it was an improvement that Bianca was using her mouth muscles and talking for once. It was her first time since she'd woken up to a swarm of bees. Bianca definitely used her mouth muscles then.

Rose frowned at the 13-year-old. She didn't really like Cora. The girl was too mature and—-well, serious. And, ok, her knowledge was kinda freaky. Rose had known Zoe for long enough to know that some people were just straight on smarty pants, but this felt different. She'd rounded all of them up in the middle of the night, told them they were to follow her on a quest, promised that they could all trust her, and now here she was, agreeing that they were lost.

Silena sat down under the same tree that Cora was leaning against, brushing her hair out of her face. She met Rose's eyes. Rose looked away. She had always been closer to Silena than to any of the other girls. Silena understood her and shared her humor, but it felt like she was drifting away from her, becoming more mature while Rose stayed the same as ever. . .

Laura sat next to Silena, and pulled out a tin can from her backpack. She miserably chewed on it. The poor whatever-she-was was either feeling awful for turning into a tree when she was needed most, or she missed being a tree. In her opinion, Rose thought being able to turn into a tree was probably the best power ever.

Laura had kept her distance from Rose ever since their first encounter after the hydra, but it was nothing compared to now. She wouldn't even come close to her. Marie seemed slightly reluctant too. As if Rose was suddenly going to burst into flames. (Ok, that had happened a few times before, but no time to dwell on the past!) It wasn't like she was going to do it on purpose. But that's just the problem. Rose usually never did do it on purpose, not if she didn't want to. She still hadn't figured out how to fully control her fire powers. And in some ways, Silena was right when she had said that it was freaky.

"No!" Panic was clear in Zoe's voice. "No, we can't be lost! Give me the map! I mean, please?" Zoe outstretched her hand toward Cora, who gave her the dirty piece of parchment and slipped down to sit next to Silena and Laura.

"I can't plot our location, it seems impossible," Cora told Zoe, who was examining the map with such intensity that Rose thought her eyes might pop out.

"No, that can't be right," Zoe murmured, flipping the map upside down. "Maybe we're reading it wrong,"

"It's you who's reading it wrong," Rose said, finally talking. She could not miss this opportunity. "It's the other way up, Zo, you're reading it upside down. See, the name "Long Island" is all—-"