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—JUDITH had always been an expert at the lava rock wall at camp. She'd mastered it within months and got bored of it almost immediately. So, now, as she climbed up a cliff side with no lava or spikes that randomly popped out, she could only think it was torture. She didn't know why they couldn't just take the more fun route of outrunning the devil sheep they'd found devouring a deer. Her opinion on the matter had been irrelevant to Annabeth's concern to their safety.
Judith's hands gripped the wall easily, her many callouses coming in handy. Annabeth was huffing as she stayed behind to help a struggling Percy. He wasn't an exceptional land dweller, certainly not a mountain goat and he hadn't stayed at camp long enough to complete the lava wall a bazillion times over.
The daughter of Ares paid no mind as Percy shrieked at a mini sock slide going on next to them. She reached the top of the wall first, heaving herself over, only to find it dropped off not a few feet later. The other two behind her managed to gather their bearings at the top as well a few minutes later.
Once they had all caught their breath, they stared into the canyon below where a deep and angry voice bellowed.
"You're a feisty one!"
"Challenge me!" Clarisse's voice boomed back. Judith gasped her name and made a move to go climbing down but Annabeth's arm stopped her.
"We need to be smart about this." She whispered, unsure of how well their voices would travel into the canyon.
"That's my sister down there," Judith muttered. "I'm gonna go help her before that Cyclops eats her. That's me being smart."
Percy and Annabeth watched on helplessly as Judith began her descent with determination. Luckily for everybody, she was light on her feet and the rocks weren't crumbling. As Judith focused hard on her climbing, she could barely hear the conversation becoming steadily worse as it continued.
Clarisse exposed Grover in his wedding dress which angered Polyphemus to the point of deciding to marry Clarisse instead, arguably a worse fate than boiling in a vat of water.
As Judith was reaching the bottom, she became more hurried since Polyphemus was moving to lock the satyr and her sister in a cave with a giant boulder in front. Judith jumped the last few feet but it was to no avail. The cyclops walked away, leaving Judith alone in the chasm and with no way to get her sister and the satyr out. She looked up at Percy and Annabeth who understood and also began climbing down.
Judith scowled at how long they were taking and started to try and move the gigantic boulder by herself. Her shoulders started to ache as she slammed them into the hard surface.
"That's not helping," Annabeth said as she hopped down.
Judith turned to glare at her, unsheathing her sword like she was about to fight the girl but then spun on the boulder instead. Annabeth and Percy tuned out the sound of metal hitting rock over and over as they watched her in silence. They understood her desperation to see her sister again.
