Finding Pandora (a Percy Jackson Fan-Fic)

Chapter 8

~~~~8~~~~

“I still don’t understand why we can’t just sleep insidethe car, I mean bears can’t open doors, and I don’t want a bear to eat me. Plus, and this is just a guess, but I think the cushioned seats may be a bit more soft than the ground.” Ryan continued to rant as he had been for over an hour. 

Willow gave him a sharp look. “We’ve slept in that truck for the past two days!”

Eryx pouted as he continued trying and failing to put up the guy’s tent. “We would have gotten here a hell of a lot faster if mister goody-goody hadn’t taken the wheel from me…”

James crossed his arms defensively from where he was in the car narrowing down the location of the map on his laptop, the blue computer light making him look like a zombie from where I was. “You were going forty above the speed limit! We would have gotten pulled over or crashed into something, and I’m the only other one who can drive!”

I was about to remind them that I could drive perfectly mediocre, but before I could speak up Eryx jumped from his seated position on the ground and pointed at James, his skin becoming a dangerous red. “We were on a freaking high way for the gods’ sakes!  And we’re trying to get on with a quest; we can’t waste time thinking about the dumb law!”

Kit, who Willow volunteered to put up their tent, gave Eryx a reproachful look. “James may be painfully slow but I threw up when you were driving. Twice.”

Ryan jumped in before the petty argument could go any further. “I mean both Colorado and the Grand Canyon are known for black bears! And we’re in both of them! Doesn’t that worry you guys at all?”

I chuckled as Eryx began to go back to work on his tent building skills. “Ryan if I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re afraid of bears.”

He looked down and began to play with his thumbs. “Everyone’s afraid of something.”

I could feel the confusion falling onto my face. “But you’re a child of Ares, I mean yeah people have fears and all, but bears? From you I expected it to be failure or death or something along those lines! Not something that the warrior boy can kill.”

Ryan shrugged and just muttered something like “… just don’t like ‘em…” and went very quiet for the first time in hours.

The days we spent on the road are not what I would call fun. It included lots of arguing, being squished together (after a police officer caught Ryan and willow riding in the bed of the car), three teenage guys talking about things which shouldn't be heard, and either going fast to the point of throwing up or slow to the point of having elderly people pass us (and flipping us off with a few choice words as they went). We had only gotten to our new camp site an hour ago and man did it feel like a relief!

Kit and Eryx went straight to working on getting the camp set up and James started trying to understand our location on the map better (which he was slightly successful in considering we now knew the general location and were staying close to it). Ryan had taken the responsibility on warning us about bears for the past hour, and how sleeping in the truck would be a very good (“maybe lifesaving”) idea. Willow was waiting for debates and arguments to start so she could pick a side, and even more importantly, so she could win it. I, on the other hand, seemed to have become even more addicted to heights and was enjoy my time above them with my feet stretched out in a tree.

Kit looked around at Willow, Ryan, and I after a few minutes of awkward silence. “Why don’t you guys make yourselves useful?”

I chuckled. “And do what? I could rain dance! Wait… would that work?... cause I mean I’m Zeus’ daughter now… so if I really tried-”