Crimson Rivers [1] - Percy jackson

Chapter 6: The Gargen Gnome Emporium

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 we were, Annabeth, Grover, Percy and I, walking through the
woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making
the night sky yellow behind us, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in our
noses. Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. “Three Kindly Ones. All three at once.”

I was pretty much in shock myself. The explosion of bus windows still rang in my ears. But Annabeth kept pulling us along, saying: “Come on! The farther away we get, the better.”

“All our money was back there,” Percy reminded her. “Our food and clothes.
Everything.”

“Well, maybe if you hadn’t decided to jump into the fight—”

“What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?”

“You didn’t need to protect us, Percy. We would’ve been fine.”

"Syrus back me up" He says looking at me.

"I had it Percy I appreciate your concern but they're attacking you not us" I tell him

"Your in the prophecy too" He looks annoyed

"Yeah sorry" I mumble. Awkward.

“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.”

We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that
smelled like sour laundry. After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to me.

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

“We’re a team, right?”

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.”

The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind us,leaving us in almost total darkness. I couldn’t see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair.

“You haven’t left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?” Percy asked her.

“No…only short field trips. My dad—”

“The history professor.” I chime in

“Yeah. It didn’t work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half- Blood is my home.” She was rushing her words out now, as if she were afraid somebody might try to stop her. “At camp you train and train. And that’s all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That’s where you learn whether you’re any good or not.”

If I didn’t know better, I could’ve sworn I heard doubt in her voice.

“You’re pretty good with that knife,” Percy said.

“You think so?”

“Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me.”

I couldn’t really see, but I thought she might’ve smiled.