RED ¹ / Percy Jackson !

66

THEY DECIDED TO CAMP FOR THE NIGHT AND TRY THE JUNKYARD IN THE MORNING. None of them wanted to go Dumpster-diving in the dark and Percy noticed how Viviene seemed to be the one person who was most bothered by it.

Zoe and Bianca produced six sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. Viviene didn't know how they did it, because the packs were tiny, but must've been enchanted to hold so much stuff. 

She'd noticed their bows and quivers were also magic. She never really thought about it, but when the Hunters needed them, they just appeared slung over their backs. And when they didn't, they were gone. 

The night got chilly fast, so Grover, Viviene ( who was paranoid as fuck, might Percy mention) Percy collected old boards from the ruined house, and Thalia zapped them with an electric shock to start a campfire. Pretty soon they were about as comfy as you can get in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere. 

"The stars are out," Zoe said. She was right. There were millions of them, with no city lights to turn the sky orange. 

 "Amazing," Bianca said. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way." 

 "This is nothing," Zoe said. "In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution." 

 "You talk like you're not human," Percy said.

Zoe raised an eyebrow. "I am a Hunter. I care what happens to the wild places of the world. Can the same be said for thee?"

 "For you," Thalia corrected. "Not thee"

 "But you use you for the beginning of a sentence."

 "And for the end," Thalia said. "No thou. No thee. Just you"

 Zoe threw up her hands in exasperation. "I hate this language. It changes too often!"

Viviene cracked a smile at her friend's antics.

Grover sighed. He was still looking up at the stars like he was thinking about the light pollution problem. "If only Pan were here, he would set things right." 

 Zoe nodded sadly.

 "Maybe it was the coffee," Grover said. "I was drinking coffee, and the wind came. Maybe if I drank more coffee..." 

Viviene was pretty sure coffee had nothing to do with what had happened in Cloudcroft, but she didn't have the heart to tell Grover. She thought about the rubber rat and the tiny birds that had suddenly come alive when the wind blew. "Grover, do you really think that was Pan? I mean, I know you want it to be." 

"He sent us help," Grover insisted. "I don't know how or why. But it was his presence. After this quest is done, I'm going back to New Mexico and drinking a lot of coffee. It's the best lead we've gotten in two thousand years. I was so close." 

 Viviene didn't answer. She had no problems squashing people's dreams - she was her fathers daughter after all, but this was Grover. She could never be that cruel to Grover.

"What I want to know," Thalia said, looking at Bianca, "is how you destroyed one of the zombies. There are a lot more out there somewhere. We need to figure out how to fight them."