The Adventure That Lies Ahead | PJO x HP

CHAPTER 7

"Isa, come on. Get up, get up!" Grover said slapping her cheek as her eyes were slowly opening and closing.

"Ugh!" Isa groaned. "My leg!" Her leg was in a bad condition. There was a huge hole in her jeans and the exposed raw and red skin.

"Put her down," Annabeth ordered when they were a good distance away. Percy and Grover plopped her down ungracefully making her cry out in pain.

"You couldn't have placed her down gently?" Annabeth asked, glaring at Percy and Grover.

Annabeth rolled Isa over on her belly and looked at the burn on her calf. It was bad, but the burn⎼thankfully⎼wasn't that large.

"It's a second-degree burn," Annabeth said as she looked inside the bag that Isa was able to save.

"No dip!" Isa exclaimed as she propped herself on her forearms, so she was in a military crouch. "I wouldn't be shocked⎼no pun intended⎼if it's a ten-degree burn if that exists! I just got zapped by the lord of the sky!"

"Well, it was your fault!" Percy said but immediately regretted saying that when he saw his sister's glare.

"My fault? I just saved us some money, food, and clothes!" Isa said and glanced at the burnt bag. "Ok maybe not, but at least I tried! You blew our cover!"

"There's nothing left inside. All the food turned to ash, the clothes won't cover anything, and the money is burnt. The only thing left we have is Nectar and Ambrosia. But it's only enough to heal your burn," Annabeth said, handing Isa the Ambrosia who gladly ate it.

Then Annabeth picked up the canteen and tipped it on her wound. Isa winced, but the pain subsided into a soothing, cool, and minty feeling.

"Let's get going. The further away we get the better," Annabeth said, five minutes after healing Isa. She looked good as new as she regained her strength. Isa changed into the one change of clothes that survived. Although it still had some holes, it passed off as old and worn off.

So there they were, Annabeth, Grover, Percy, and Isa, walking through the woods on the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City 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 eyed turned slit-pupilled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."

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

"Nice to know your eyes and ears still work," Isa teased with a toothy grin.

"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight⎼" Annabeth started.

"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?" Percy asked.

"You don't need to protect me. I would've been fine! Protect Isa all you want, but I don't need help," Annabeth told him.

"I was doing fine on my own, and I don't need protection as well," Isa piped up from in front of them., trying to get away from the two bickering teens with Grover beside her.

"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "But fine."

"Shut up, goat boy!" Annabeth snapped.

"The only one sliced like a sandwich bread was the one I killed. Don't remember her name though," Isa said.

Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans... a perfectly god bag of tin cans."

They sloshed across the mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that looked like they smelled sour.