Twins of the Hunt - Book 3: The Rescue ✔️

Chapter 10: I Am Reminded Of My Trauma

2815 words

It's a longer chapter than usual, I know, but I still hope y'all enjoy it!

Raiden P.O.V

For the next few hours, we rode onto the giant boar. I switched After about an hour of boar riding, I decided to switch to riding on Orion's back. My butt was already killing me from sitting on the giant pig's bristly hair and bouncing around.

"Orion," I called up to the chestnut pegasus soaring above us, "can I ride on your back?"

Sure! Orion dove down and began flying as close as he could to the pig. Hop on.

"This is going to be difficult," I muttered. "Παγιώνω!"

The air before me solidified into a surface firm enough for me to walk on. Zoë held onto my waist as I stood up, helping to stay steady. I took a deep breath, jumped onto the solid air, quickly traveled across the short distance from the boar to Orion, and plopped onto his back behind Snow.

The ride until sunset was much more comfortable after that. The other dismounted the boar after it stopped and started gulping down bucket loads of water from a nearby stream. Orion landed, and I got off, glancing around. We were surrounded by miles and miles of desert. In front of us stretched a road with two lanes, with half of it covered in sand. On the opposite side of the road stood a collection of buildings, too small to even be a town.

Among them were a boarded-up house, a taco shop that appeared to have been closed for a long time, and a white stucco post office with a crooked sign reading GILA CLAW, ARIZONA. Beyond the buildings stretched a series of hills, except they weren't normal hills. The huge mounds comprised old appliances, cars, and scrap metal. It was a giant junkyard.

"Wonderful," Thalia said bitterly, "That's just peachy. No civilization and no food. What do we do now?"

How about you stop complaining? barked Snow irritably. It's getting very irritating very fast.

"Did your wolf say something?" Thalia asked Orion, frowning at the white wolf.

"Well, Snow can't really say anything," said Orion casually. "But yes, she did say something. She wants you to stop complaining."

Thalia looked furious, but she didn't say anything; she only glared.

"Well," said Zoë matter-of-factly, "we should remain here for the night. There is no point attempting to navigate this junkyard during the night."

She and Bianca grabbed five foam mattresses and sleeping bags from their backpacks. I grabbed the moose meat out of my backpack. I had kept it from my last night with the Hunt. Percy and Grover snagged some wood from the run-down house, and we got a fire going.

"Is anyone hungry?" I asked.

"Me," said Thalia, Percy, Grover, and Orion together.

"Okay." I distributed a portion of the moose meat among them. "It's from a couple of days ago, but it should taste okay."

Everyone gobbled the moose meat down. I scooted my sleeping bag over so I was next to Orion. He was having a whispered discussion with Zoë and, judging from the anxious looks on both of their faces, it was an intense one.

"I'm getting seriously concerned," Orion said as I Iaid down my stomach. "The Titan Lord is planning something. First, he has his troops kidnap Artemis and force her to hold up the sky. Next, he has troops kidnap my daughter and forces her to bear the sky." He sighed deeply. "I know Ainsley is strong, but she won't last much longer."