GOLDEN | annabeth chase

vi

EVE PRAYED SILENTLY TO EVERY GOD SHE KNEW TO KEEP THEM SAFE FROM ZEUS AND HADES' WRATH AS THE STORM RAGED ON,

other than the two previously mentioned of course.

she prayed that if she were to encounter the god of the underworld, he wouldn't be too pissed at her for slicing one of his subjects.

so there they were, percy, grover, annabeth, and eve walking through the woods on the new jersey riverbank, the glow of nyc making the night sky yellow behind them and the smell of the hudson reeking in their noses.

grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupilled and full of terror. "three kindly ones. all three at once."

eve could still hear the explosion of bus windows as it rang in her ears. 

but annabeth kept pulling her hand along, saying: "come on! the further away we get, the better."

"all our money was back there," percy reminded her. "our food and clothes. everything."

eve raised her bag in confusion. "mines still here- i forgot to take it off when we got off."

"at least we have nectar, ambrosia and other healing supplies." annabeth said.

"honestly though," annabeth continued. "maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight –"

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

"you didn't need to protect me, percy. i would've been fine."

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

"shut up, goat boy," said annabeth.

grover brayed mournfully. "tin cans... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."

"we'll get new one's, i promise." eve patted his back.

they sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.

after a few minutes, annabeth fell into line next to percy. 

"look, i..." her voice faltered. "i appreciate your coming back for us, okay? that was really brave."

"yeah percy! that was some quick thinking on your end!" eve cheered for her friend.

"it's just that if you died... aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. this may be my only chance to see the real world." annabeth admitted.

the thunderstorm had finally let up. the city glow faded behind, leaving them in almost total darkness. 

as percy and annabeth slowly warmed up to each other, annabeth was interrupted by a shrill toot ̃toot ̃toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured. 

"yikes! owwww..." eve massaged her ears.

"hey, my reed pipes still work!" grover cried. "if i could just remember a find path song, we could get out of these woods!"

he puffed out a few notes, and percy immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot in his head.

eve immediately rushed over to heal it.

and so after the fantastic four tripped, cursed, and generally felt miserable for another mile or so, eve began to see light up ahead: the colours of a neon sign. she could smell food. fried, greasy food.