𝑻𝑶𝑮𝑬𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹 ⁽ᵖᵉʳᶜʸ ʲᵃᶜᵏˢᵒⁿ ˣ ᵒᶜ⁾

𝑰 𝙖𝙢 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙩

LANA

LANA WAS TRYING TO BRUSH OFF WHAT the Fury had said to her earlier. She couldn't allow such thoughts to disrupt her mind, the quest and the two idiots with her demanding her full attention.

Grover was playing with his horns, his big eyes full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once." He looked at Lana. "And you defeated them."

Lana dragged his hands away from his head and offered him a piece of plastic from her hoodie pocket. He began to nibble on it nervously.

"I could've killed all three of them if someone," Lana began and Percy looked at her with a glare, "didn't stop me."

"I was trying to protect you. One more second on that bus and you would've been burnt to a crisp." Percy turned towards her.

"I was about to kill her, but you just had to interfere!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize her death was more important than your life!"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're really exaggerating that, you know?"

"It's the truth, Lana! Your life is more important to me than your need to kill her." He ran a hand through his shaggy hair. "I - We need you on this quest. It's been barely an hour since we left camp. If I didn't have you with me back there, Grover and I would've been killed on the spot. What's to say it won't happen again?"

She remained silent.

"We should keep moving, guys." Grover said, his eyes drifting between the two nervously.

Percy glanced down at her, waiting to see her next course of action.

She exhaled and dropped her arms to her side. "Grover's right. The farther we are, the better."

They resumed their trekking through the woods.

"What are we going to do about our stuff?" Grover questioned.

"All our money was back there." Percy added. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

"I would've been able to grab it if you hadn't revealed yourself. You were this close," she pinched her fingers together, "to getting off the bus, but no, you just had to fight."

"I couldn't just let you get killed." Percy defended himself.

"I had it all under control. I already had one out of three defeated and would've been able to take down the other two easily."

"So, what? I'm just supposed to run away every time we're getting attacked?"

She threw her hands up, exasperated. "Yes, Percy, yes!" She slammed her finger into his chest. "These monsters want you. They don't give a minotaur's ass about Grover and I, they want you." Her breathing quickened. "We are on this quest because of you. We are retrieving the bolt because of you. I cannot have you trying to sacrifice your life for us because you are the most important thing on this quest!"