¹On This Spring Day, percy jackson & the olympians

013.

ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ chapter thirteen

━━━━━ VIOLET FELT LIKE she had been stabbed in the gut and had been run over. Her ears rang, her eyes stung with tears, and her chest felt hollow, as if someone had taken an unsharpened knife and carved out her heart for the hell of it.

               She had never felt so much guilt. If ... if that had been her fault—that wave of darkness—what had Bianca seen? Did Violet only confuse the new Hunter? Had she been the reason Bianca had become trapped inside the confines of Talos?

               Despite what she knew was true, Violet tried to tell herself she wasn't at fault.

               At the edge of the dump, 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 fuel, so they decided to 'borrow' it.

               Thalia drove. She didn't seem as stunned as the rest of them. Violet couldn't help but be jealous.

               "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 it. Zoë sat up front with Thalia. Grover, Violet, and Percy sat in the back, leaning against the tow winch. The air was cool and dry, but the nice weather just seemed like an insult after losing Bianca.

               Violet glared at the sun for a moment, hoping Apollo could hear the curses in her head. He had the nerve to have a sunny day after what had happened. He must have known they had just lost Bianca.

               She turned the small figurine in her hand over, staring down at it. Something as small as the figurine had cost a girl's life. A girl's life. A girl who had everything to live for. She had just joined the Hunters, a new leaf at life. A girl who had a brother—

               Nico.

               Violet's heart lurched with new-found despair. How was she going to tell him? How could you tell someone that their sister was never coming back? That her death had been all Violet's fault?

               "It should've been me," Percy spoke up, breaking the silence. He stared at the statue in Violet's hand. "I should've gone into the giant."

               He stared at Violet. Maybe he expected her to agree, but the daughter of Eros stayed silent. She stared it for a moment before closing her hand around it.

               "Don't say that!" 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?"

               Percy's gaze dropped. "Ah, Grover ..."

               Violet looked over, her brown eyes glassy with tears. "I'm sorry, Grover," she said softly.

               She wasn't exactly sure what she was apologizing for. For Bianca? For Bianca's death? For causing Bianca's death? Being useless? For not fighting hard enough to stop the Hunter?

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