ATYCHIPHOBIA¹ | p.jackson

EIGHT.

NICASIA walked through the woods along the new jersey riverbank, still holding her arm. the new york lights painted the night sky a nuance yellows and the smell of the hudson river was strong.

the adrenaline was starting to wear off and nicasia was starting to realize how bad her arm actually hurt. grover shivered, eyes wide and full of terror. "three kindly ones," he said. "all three of them, at once." grovel and annabeth walked in front of nicasia, leaving percy walking a little bit behind them, but still in front of her. he hadn't said anything since the explosion, so nicasia figured he must be in shock. annabeth kept dragging them along saying, "keep going, the farther we get the better."

"we left all our money and clothes back there," percy suddenly spoke up. "and all our food." nicasia would have rolled her eyes at him, but she was in too much pain to be doing that. the rain was still coming down, seeping into her burn, which desperately needed to be tended to, fast. "you mean—you left all your clothes and money." nicasia chimed in. "i still have all my stuff,"percy looked at her. "and maybe if you didn't jump into the fight—" nicasia continued.

"what did you want me to do?" percy interrupted. "let you get killed?"

"you didn't need to protect me—or any of us. we would've been fine. —i would've been fine."

"sliced like sandwich bread." grover put in. "but fine."

"shut up, goat boy," annabeth said. they continued to walk through the muddy, mushy ground. they walked past nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry. nicasia turned around and scanned the woods again, making sure there were no monsters.

when she turned back around, she saw the one thing she wouldn't had expected to see at that moment: percy jackson walking right next to her, probably about to say something. "hey, i uhm—i'm sorry about your arm. i didn't mean for that to happen, i just wanted to help." she looked at him and saw sincerity in his eyes.

"are you feeling okay?" she asked faking concern. "did you, percy jackson, really just apologize to me?" percy rolled his eyes as nicasia laughed. "oh, the world must truly be ending, you just said you were sorry, to me!"

"and i mean it, alright." he said slightly embarrassed. "i am sorry about what happened to your arm." he said, completely honest. nicasia sighed. "it's fine, jackson." nicasia said. "it was just a scratch." she said a little more serious.

percy sent her a quizzical look. "looks like more than a scratch to me." he said in a know-it-all tone.

nicasia looked at her arm. her shirt had been burned off, leaving a gap in the clothing, swirling around her arm and shoulder. her burns followed the same pattern, swirling up her biceps and shoulder, even a little bit on her forearm. blood stained her shirt from both her burns and the barbs on the fury's whip digging into her skin. she looked back up, shrugging her uninjured shoulder. "it's fine, really. it doesn't hurt that bad. but you can't do what you did on the bus again." she replied.

"what? try to save you?"

"no. you can't go against the plan like that again. that is how you get yourself and others killed."

percy sent her a slightly stunned look. "you say that like you've done this before." he said. nicasia just shrugged rather than answering.

"how long have you been doing this type of thing, anyway?" percy asked, moving onto a new topic quickly. "you were pretty good with your spear back there and with the minotaur."

nicasia looked up. "you think?" she asked, a little bit curious.

"yeah, anybody who can grab a fury by the whip and strangle her with it is cool by me. i mean, you almost cut her in half." he said, cracking up on the last part.