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xvii. he made him smile so easily
the wheels of the chariot soon fell off, and as much as gale enjoyed riding with arion, seeing frank's vomit flying through the air behind them wasn't a very pleasant sight, to say the least. he also didn't necessarily enjoy getting thrown onto the wet mossy ground as the smoking chariot collapsed from the absence of the wheels that got it this far. arion seemed pleased with his work, and if he could, gale would probably stroke his mane and give him a sugar cube or something, but he was currently too focused on blinking all the yellow spots out of his eyes.
only hazel seemed unaffected by the ride. grinning with pleasure, she slid off the horse's back. "that was fun!"
"yeah," frank managed, swallowing back some nausea. "so much fun."
arion whinnied.
"he says he needs to eat," percy translated.
"well, that's surprising," arcana said, struggling to her feet. "he probably burnt like 6 million calories getting us here."
hazel studied the ground at her feet and frowned. "i'm not sensing any gold around here... don't worry, arion. i'll find you some. in the meantime, why don't you go graze? we'll meet you-"
the horse zipped off. leaving a trail of steam in his wake.
"well damn, see ya," gale mumbled.
hazel knit her eyebrows. "do you think he'll come back?"
"i don't know," percy said. "he seems kind of... spirited."
gale sighed, running a hand through his hair as he helped the others salvage supplies from the chariot wreckage. there had been a few boxes of random amazon merchandise in the front, and ella shrieked with delight when she found a shipment of books. she snatched up a copy of the birds of north america, fluttered to the nearest branch, and began snatching through the pages so fast, gale wasn't sure if she was reading or shredding.
he took a shaky breath, staring at the scenery around them. you could say gale was... more observant than others. maybe that was due to how quiet gale usually was (that is, until he got comfortable with you, then he couldn't shut up, or at least, that's what jason thought) but he noticed things others might not have, so it wasn't hard to recognize this odd feeling he's had ever since they left r.o.f.l. he felt like he was being watched, like someone was hiding in the nearby greenery and tracking his every move, or maybe it was related to that dark presence he felt in his mind earlier.
he stopped himself. he didn't have time to theorize now.
"i'm practically home," frank said, looking around. "my grandmother's house is right over there."
hazel squinted. "how far?"
"just over the river and through the woods."
percy raised an eyebrow. "seriously? to grandmother's house we go?"
