Percy Jackson: Genderbent

Chapter 19

Nico's POV:

It was obvious Perci was distressed about the deadline. She briefed us about how little time we had, and really needed to pick up the pace. I nodded like I understood, but most of the time I was staring at the distressed gleam in her beautiful sea green eyes, the way her black hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, how she would occasionally brush a stray strand behind her ear, the sound of her voice like the waves crashing on the beach. 

"- so let's go now. We've got no time to loose." Perci concluded, and we all nodded. "Great. Let's go." We were off less than a minute later. I walked alone while Leo and Jason talked, but we'd picked up the pace. Perci was in the front, leading the way. She seemed in a hurry, and we had to go really quite fast to catch up. By the end of that day, my feet were sore again. My feet hadn't been this sore since the first day of walking, but I'd gotten used to it.  So I wasn't too thrilled when it started hurting all over again. 

We'd gone to sleep that night, and did the same thing the next day. Jason and Leo didn't talk much, and I spent my time staring at Perci. It was a pretty good pastime, actually. This time, though, we kept walking until well after dark. We'd just collapsed from exhaustion on the ground, but we'd needed to get up really early the next morning. At least it was still dark. That day had just been half-asleep stumbling.

This morning, Perci was really stressed. It was the day of the deadline. To be honest, I wasn't sure why she was so stressed. I guess it was because this was her first quest, being a new camper and all. She'd be eager to impress the gods. But really, they weren't all that great. They just played us, using us for their dirty jobs and entertainment. I gave a bitter smile. 

"Hey, it's fine. It's not worth it to impress the gods." I assured her, walking up to her. She shot me an annoyed look, and I resisted the urge to brush back a stray hair. She had braided her hair in a messy fishtail braid. I found that rather ironic, a daughter of Poseidon with a fishtail braid. "Oh, I know that. It's not about them." She said dismissively, looking back at her compass. "We should be there soon." Perci said, and repeated the information to the boys behind us. "Thank the gods!" Leo exclaimed. "Can we take a break?" "No!" Perci said sharply, and continued. I noticed the way Jason was looking at her, and narrowed my eyes. I didn't like that. I continued behind Perci.

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"Wow. Can we stay there?" Leo begged as we came across the little cabin where mortals were bustling about. "No. We don't have time." Perci said as we walked through the area. We attracted some stares from the mortals, but I didn't really care at this point. What I did care about was the way some of the mortal boys, around our age, were looking at Perci. Though between the glares from Jason and I, they knew to stay away. 

Sooner than I would've liked, we were back in the forest again. I sighed, and my feet started to ache again. Not that they weren't aching before. "Come on, we're almost there." Perci said as she had to stop for the fifth time. "Can we get a rest?" Leo complained. "No!" Perci said sharply. "Anyway, at the pace you're going, a snail could get there before you." She tossed over her back. I watched Jason wince a bit, while Leo just glared. 

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Leo was on the verge of driving me mad with all of his muttering and complaining when we arrived. My jaw dropped at the people in the clearing, and even Leo was speechless. I looked over at the other guys to see they were drooling over the girls as well. I was sure my expression mirrored theirs. If you were there, you would've too. The four girls in the clearing didn't appear to notice us, as they were frolicking around the clearing. But they were the most breathtakingly beautiful girls I'd ever seen, second to only Aphrodite herself. They didn't have the same kind of beauty as Perci, but they were still beautiful nonetheless.