The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind them, leaving us in almost total darkness. Phaedra couldn't see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair.
"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" Percy asked her
"No...only short field trips. My mom-"
"Yeah, you don't really mention her."
"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home." She was rushing her words out now, as if she were afraid somebody might try to stop her. "At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."
Phaedra tried not to doubt it, but that was hard.
"You're pretty good with that dagger," Percy said.
"You think so?" She perked up, feeling better.
"Anybody who can cut a Fury like that, is okay by me."
She smiled brightly at the boy.
"You know," she said, "maybe I should tell you...Something funny back on the bus..."
Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.
"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"
He puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.
Instead of finding a path, Percy immediately slammed into a tree and got a
nice-size knot on his head.
Phaedra laughed and tried and failed to stifle her giggles once Percy glared at her.
After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, Phaedra started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. She could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food.
She realized she hadn't eaten anything
unhealthy since she'd arrived at Half-Blood Hill, where they lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue.
They kept walking until they saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees.
On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and the good smell.
It wasn't a fast-food restaurant like she'd hoped. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above the gate
was impossible for her to read, because if there's anything worse for her dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English.
To her, it looked like: ATNYU MES
GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.
What the Frick frack frickity fruck does that even say?
"What the heck does that say?" Percy asked.
"I don't know," Annabeth said.
"Don't even think about asking me. I have no idea." Phaedra said when they looked at her.
Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."
"Thanks Grover." Phaedra said to the satyr. He nodded in response.
Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.
YOU ARE READING
Luminesence (Slow Updates)
FanfictionPhaedra Belinda Guerreo was only seven years old when she was abandoned by her mother. She got to camp with the help of a few demigods named Luke and Thalia. On the way, they met another little demigod named Annabeth. They became best friends. Annab...
