⋰☆✄♘➶⋱
【𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬】
ᵍʳᵒᵛᵉʳ❦ⁿᵒᵃ

"I didn't really think this through!" Grover came flying in and crashing into the statue, distracting Medusa while Noa came jogging close behind him. Annabeth put the Yankees cap on Medusas head, shouting for Percy to do it now. He opened his eyes, swinging his sword as the snakes hissed and the thud of a body fell. Noa held her arms out, catching the invisible head as she cringed at the slimy feeling.

"Ugh!" she gagged. "Nice aim, Percy."

"Are you okay?" Annabeth went toward Grover.

"Did you say something?" he winced from where he still laid.

"I got her?" Percy walked toward Noa as she held the invisible head with a nod.

"You caught it?" Annabeth headed back over.

"Aw, man." Grover cringed. "Let's get out of here before Noa starts hallucinating again."

"I second that." she nodded her head, hurrying up the steps while the trio walked close behind her. "You wanna hold your Medusa head?"

"No really but I can." Percy offered.

"Yeah, you're turn." she handed it off to him and flung her arms around. "It's invisible but I can feel snake guts all over me right now."

"Just make sure it's pointing in the right direction before you take the hat off." Annabeth spoke to Percy, standing at the door.

"My hands are kinda full." Percy admitted, nodding to the door.

"Of course." she opened the door for him, letting him walk outside. The girls watched closely as he walked out to Alecto, taking the hat off and stoning her immediately. The statue crashed on the ground, Percy looked back as he headed their way. "Noa, what happened back there?"

She looked her way. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

She looked back for Grover, finding no one there. She looked around quickly. "Grover?"

Percy walked inside. "What's wrong?"

"Grover?" Noa called as she hurried back to the basement, jogging down the steps to find him standing infront of one of the statues. "Grover...what is it?"

"Uncle Ferdinand." he answered her quietly, staring at the man that was nothing but stone. Annabeth and Percy close behind Noa as they approached.

"Oh, no." Percy frowned.

"Grover, I'm so sorry." Annabeth sympathized with him.

"This is as far as he got on his quest." he further explained, sadness in his tone. "We're not even to Trenton, but look at him. He's not like the others, he...he doesn't look afraid."

Noa sighed as he looked down, his eyes watery. She slipped her hand into his. Grover cleared his throat squeezed it back. "You used the, um, you used the head to get rid of Alecto?"

"Yeah." Percy answered, still very visually concerned.

"Good." he exhaled. "That was the right move. We should probably get going. It'll be dark soon."

"What are we gonna do with the head?" Percy looked back to the invisible head he sat on the table. "I just took down a Fury with it and I wasn't even trying. We can't just leave it for someone to find. Leave the hat on and bury it in the basement, that oughta keep it safe."

The three looked to Annabeth, her sad face looked away quickly. "Sure. Now, can we talk about the bigger issue here? "

"What bigger issue?" Percy shifted on his heels.

"You could have saved your mother." Annabeth quoted Medusa, Noa exhaled in annoyance at another argument approaching. Grover's gaze shifted back up to his uncle. "That's what she said to you, like you discussed it already. Is your mother still alive?"

"She's with Hades." Percy further told her. "But, I appreciate your concern."

"Guys, just please stop." Grover mumbled, Noa glanced in his direction and back at the pair.

"Oh, i'm concerned. What are you actually doing on this quest?" Annabeth ignored him and glared at Percy. "And why did I have to hear about this from Medusa?"

"Okay, while we're at it, 'you should have accepted my offer' ? What's that about, do you think. And why did we have to hear about it from Alecto?" Percy rose his tone back to her.

"Jesus, could you two shut up for once?" Noa cut in fast, her raised tone and harsh words making them both stare at her in shock. "Do you seriously not see how selfish the both of you are being right now? Grover just now, like less than thirty seconds ago, showed us how upset he was about his uncle and you two take advantage of the silence to argue? Like your clear issues couldn't have been discussed in ten minutes or by just leaving the room to yell at each other?"

Annabeth went to talk but Noa cut her off. "All the two of you have done is argue this entire quest and it hasn't even been a full day yet. It's annoying, but to not even think about what's happening right infront of you? I mean, neither of you even reacted when he went flying off with the shoes Luke gave us or when I ran after him, despite knowing I was hallucinating. That was just the two of us. He managed to save me back there when I almost died, even when he wasn't in control over the shoes, and now he's grieving the loss of his uncle. Less than thirty seconds and the two of you can't even shut up long enough to at least have enough respect for him to-"

Only the gods would have known how long she would have kept going if Grover hadn't reached back and grabbed her hand, silencing her as he looked to Percy and Annabeth. He exhaled with an annoyed look on his face, staring at Percy first. "The hat was a gift from her mother. It's the only thing she's ever possessed that connects them. That oughta matter to you."

"Okay, but how are we gonna make sure this thing is safe?" Percy questioned him.

"I'm not up to that yet." Grover snapped at him, shifting his gaze onto Annabeth next. "And you, really? His mom's alive. Can you imagine how confusing that must be for him? Feeling like he may have to choose between the fate of the world and the fate of the only person who's ever cared about him?"

"Why are you talking like this?" Annabeth frowned in his direction, an attitude from Grover something non of them seemed to be used to.

"Because all day I've been trying to keep this quest on track without upsetting either of you!" he took a deep breath from how he had been raising his voice, nodding his head. "But maybe things need to get a little upsetting before they move forward."

He looked at Percy. "She asked you a question back in the woods and you never really answered. What are you so afraid of?"

"What are you talking about?" Percy tried to argue but it was clear Grovers tone got to him.

"You heard me." Grover shot back, Noa's eyebrows shot up in shock.

"I don't know." the blonde hesitated.

"I think you do." he argued back. "You've been fighting with her, you've been fighting with Noa, you've been fighting with me."

"Because the Oracle said one of you would betray me. Okay?" Percy shot in his direction, revealing his truth behind why he'd been so off and questioning toward them. "You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, and you shall fail to save what matters most in the end. That's the rest of what she said to me."

He looked to Annabeth and back to Grover. "I chose her because I couldn't imagine we'd ever be friends. And I chose Noa because she didn't seem interested in a friendship, plus I wanted to get it on video if something went wrong. And I chose you, because if I could count on anyone to be on my side, no matter what, it was you. And now, I'm feeling so alone. I don't know what to think or who to trust."

The all were quiet, looking away. Annabeth shook her head, Percy gave her a look. "I didn't mean it that way."

"Alecto offered to help our quest if I gave you up to her." Annabeth explained her side of secrets.

"What did you say?" he questioned.

She shrugged. "I killed her sister."

Percy hesitated. "Medusa offered to help me save my mom if I turned on the three of you."

"What'd you say?" Annabeth pretty much already knew, but she asked anyways.

"I chopped off her head." he shook his head.

"Percy, I have something I have to tell you." Noa gave him a guilty look, the type of guilt that looked like she was going to be sick or cry. "I am interested in a friendship but not for the reasons I should be."

The trio all seemed confused, but Percy was the only one who she looked at. "What are you talking about, Noa?"

She hesitated but took a deep breath. "Your father...Poseidon. He came to me in a dream a few days before you came to camp."

"What?" Percy gaped at her. "You knew he was my father the entire time?"

"He told me not to tell you." she pleaded with him. "I met him once, a long time ago when I was upset with my mother. That's how I knew about him and Medusa, and why she acted like she knew so much about me earlier. When he came to me, he told me that his son would be coming to camp and he was counting on me to protect you from what was coming. He didn't tell me what it was, just that you'd need people watching your back. I told him I didn't want to, that I couldn't but he didn't give me a choice. He called it a gift but-"

"But sometimes god's give gifts that are actually like oranges on Halloween." Percy cut her off, quoting her from this morning. "Why weren't you just honest with me? Or any of us?"

"Because I didn't want any of you to think I was the bad he was trying to tell me to keep you safe from." she further explained, wishing she'd just been honest from the beginning. "Plus, he said not to tell you he was your father because he wanted to claim you on his own. I don't know why he chose me but I felt...I don't know, important for once. I didn't want to mess that up. He didn't tell me what was coming no matter how much I asked, I'm not even sure if he knows or not. He said that he and my mother discussed it and she approved, but I had to be careful on my mission to avoid embarrassing the both of them."

"Why would it embarrass them?" Noa forgot Percy was still so new to all of this.

"Because it looks like they put their trust into someone that couldn't even succeed on their own but instead has to take the help of others." she looked around at the group. "But, I do need help. I can't protect you and lie to you at the same time, it's not right and I want all of you to trust me. I'm sick of lying and pretending, I just want to be honest with all of you. I'm sorry, Percy. I should have told you from the beginning."

"You should have." he nodded his head honestly. "Is that really the only reason you were talking to me? Not for the magazine?"

"Well, the magazine was the main reason." she answer pulled a laugh from the group some. "But, I also wanted to try and comfort you so you knew you would be claimed before long. When he finally did, I was just so happy for you...I didn't know this quest would come along with it."

Percy watched her. "I guess it's no worse than the secret I kept. Not cool...but I understand."

"Same here." Annabeth sympathized with Noa. "I should have said something about Alecto early on."

"And I should have been honest about being Thalia, Luke, and Annabeths Protectors." Grover added in, looking around at the group. "We've all hid big things from each other. We can't do that anymore....we have to trust each other or this is going to end badly. You didn't choose to be demigods. We didn't choose this quest. But, we can decide that as long as the four of us are together, none of us are going to be alone. And if we can't do that, we might as well just head back to camp right now. Cause we won't make it."

Percy looked around. "I think I have a better idea what to do with this."

Percy found a book and flipped to the pages he was searching for. "Hermes express, she ships these things all over. Some of it goes to Olympus."

"Percy, you can't ship Medusas head to Olympus." Annabeth stared at him in shock.

"Why not?" he rose his eyebrows.

"Because the gods won't like it." she stated obviously.

"At all." Grover agreed. "At all, at all."

"I think that may be his point." Noa rose her eyebrows at the look on Percy's face.

"Why? That's what you do with dangerous stuff." he shrugged, quoting what they were always taught that didn't seem to be true. "Like batteries, you just send 'em back where they came from."

"Okay, look, this is a bad idea." Annabeth looked worried. "They will see this as impertinent."

"I am impertinent." Percy argued, unbothered.

"Small reminder that not all of us are though." Noa pointed around to the remaining trio. "It's also just a matter of time before my mom and your dad figure out that I told all of you about what they wanted me to do....and they'll definitely punish me for it. Sending Medusas head might make that so much worse."

"We really, are very not impertinent!" Grover agreed.

"Look." Percy gave them all a look. "Medusa tried to derail our quest. She's got serious beef with your mom. When you look at it that way, this seems kinda like tribute or something, doesn't it?"

"Like maybe they'll be happy?" Noa asked, Percy nodded. She then looked to Grover and back to Percy. "May help cushion my fall when Poseidon figures out I asked for help instead of being strong enough to handle it on my own. Maybe it won't embarrass him so much."

"You are strong enough." Grover promised her. "You could have done it...your conscience just values something deeper than the gods."

Grover just saw Noa. He just did. She offered him a small smile, breaking their eye contact.

"And besides..." Percy hid his face as he removed the hat for Medusas head, handing it back to Annabeth. "This way...part of your mom is still with us."

"Thank you." she mumbled as he taped up the box.

"So, this isn't exactly what I meant by choosing each other." Grover pointed out, Noa laughed as she put her arm around his shoulders. "There are actual dangers involved here that cannot be-"

Percy began to slowly clap, Grover hung his head low as Noa laughed again and rubbed his shoulders she was still holding. "You're gonna sing the song, aren't you? Okay."

Percy clapped faster. "Oh, golly, the roads getting bumpy. Consensus!"

•

kylie speaks

and here comes the dangerous
part of this book! slay