Abracadabra | Percy Jackson

1.5

IN A WAY, IT'S NICE TO KNOW there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong.

For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.

So there they were, Annabeth, Atalanta, Grover and Percy, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind them, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in their noses.

Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror.

"Three Kindly Ones. All three at once." He whimpered out.

Percy looked pretty much in shock and although Annabeth kept pulling them along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better.", Atalanta could tell that she was just as frazzled as Percy or Grover.

"All our money was back there," Percy reminded them. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight-" Annabeth started

"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?" Percy cut her off, giving her an incredulous look.

"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine." Annabeth stated with a huff.

"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."

"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth.

Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans ... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."

"I still have my bag" Atalanta announced, filling the uncomfortable silence.

Grover let out a huge sigh, "That's great! At least we have some resources."

"And why didn't you tell us to keep our bags?" Annabeth demanded.

"Oh I have no idea it wasn't like there weren't three kindly ones to worry about instead" Atalanta remarked sarcastically.

Annabeth glared at the ground in front of her but put up no argument.

As the quartet continued on, they sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.

After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to Percy. Atalanta continued walking with Grover a few feet in front of them.

"Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

"We're a team, right?" Percy asked, giving her a gentle smile.

She was silent for a few more steps. "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."

Atalanta lightly scoffed under her breath. She couldn't believe all Annabeth cared about was completing a stupid, life threatening quest.

Grover lightly nudged her in the ribs and softly shook his head.

Atlanta sighed and felt slightly better when Grover interlocked their fingers and gave her hand a squeeze.

As they continued their walk the thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind them, leaving the group in almost total darkness.