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There we were, Annabeth, Grover, Percy and me. We were walking through the woods on the New Jersey shore, the lights of New York City colored the night sky yellow behind us and the Hudson stank. Grover shivered and grumbled. His eyes were narrowed, fear written in them. "Three friendly ones. All three at once." I, too, was pretty much in shock. The explosion of the bus windows was still echoing in my ears, and I still didn't have all my strength back. At least I could walk on my own again. Annabeth pulled us along and said: "Come on. The further away we get, the better."
"All our money was on the bus," said Percy. "Provisions and clothes. Everything." "Well, if you hadn't decided to get involved in the fight ..." "What else would I have done? Have you killed?" "You didn't have to protect us, Percy, I could have done it myself." Annie argued. Sure, and I feel wonderful. As if Annie had heard my thoughts, she looked at me with a warning look.
Grover grumbled plaintively. "Tin cans ... a whole rucksack full of tin cans!" We walked past strangely crooked trees. I'm sure Katie would know what kind they were. I miss camp. And if we keep arguing like this, none of us will live to see it again. I dropped back a little to walk next to Percy. "Listen, I..." My voice trailed off. "We're a team, all right?" "Tell that to Annabeth," he replied. I was silent for a few steps. "She needs time, she doesn't trust everyone. But if you had died ... Apart from the fact that it would have been really stupid for you, our mission would have been over. And maybe this is her... our only chance to see the real world." The storm had finally subsided. The city lights were left behind, and we were surrounded by almost complete darkness. The lack of sunshine means it will be even take longer before I'm fully recharged, so I might as well play the relationship therapist.
"You haven't left Camp Half-blood since you were seven?" Percy interrupted the silence. "No... Just for short trips. My mom...." "The waitress." "Yeah, I just couldn't live at home. Well, I mean, of course Camp Half-Blood is my home." The words were just spilling out of my mouth now. "At camp, we train all the time. And that's all well and good, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not..."
"You're pretty good with your knife and powers," he said. "You think so?" I don't have any self-doubt, but it's still good to hear that, especially when I can barely stand on my feet. "I think it's pretty amazing when someone pulverizes a fury with a glow ball." And again I thanked the gods that he couldn't see my reddened face. "You know," I said, "maybe I should tell you ... earlier on the bus, there was something weird ..." I was interrupted by a shrill "shoooooooo"; it sounded like an owl being tortured. "Ha, my reed flute still works," Grover exclaimed. "Now if I could just remember a scout tune, maybe we'd find our way out of these woods."
He blew a few notes, but still the song sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff. Instead of finding a path, Percy slammed into a tree and took a pretty big bump. Suddenly, I saw a light in front of us: the colors of a neon sign. I could smell food, fried, greasy, wonderful food.
