mastermind - percy jackson

xi. dam

"let us find the dam snack bar"

Cassandra refused to drop the figurine. Bianca had died for it. She wasn't letting it go until she gave it to Nico.

At the edge of the dump, the group found a tow truck so old it might've been thrown away itself. But the engine started, an it had a full tank of gas, so hey decided to borrow it.

Thalia drove. She didn't seem to be as stunned as Zoe or Grover or Percy.

Cassandra offered but Zoe said that she needed to rest.

"The skeletons are still there" Thalia reminded them. "We need to keep moving."

She navigated them through the desert, under clear blue skies, the sand so bright it hurt to look. Zoe sat up front with Thalia. Grover and Percy were in the pickup bed, leaning against the tow wench. Cassandra was sitting on the opposite side of the staring into space. The air was cool and dry, but the nice weather just seemed like an insult after loosing Bianca.

She still couldn't tell what god the figurine was. She had spent some time trying to figure it out but it just made her want to cry, forcing her to look away.

Nico would know, she told herself.

Her breath hitched and Percy looked at her with worry. How was she going to tell Nico?

"It should've been me" Percy said seeing how sad the blonde looked. "I should've gone into the giant."

"Don't say that!" Grover panicked "It's bad enough Annabeth is gone, and now Bianca. Do you think I could stand it..." He sniffled. "Do you think anybody else would be my best friend?"

"Ah, Grover..."

He wiped under his eyes with an oily cloth that left his face grimy, like he had war paint on. "I'm...I'm okay"

But Cassandra could tell he wasn't okay. Ever since the encounter in New Mexico, he seemed really fragile, even more emotional than usual.

Cassandra realized she needed to move on from Bianca. It was a shame to her memory to stay sad and depressed about her death.

She glanced over at Percy who was staring at her with worry. "I'm fine. Really."

"Oh... uh, are you sure?"

Cassandra nodded. "And even if I'm not, I will be. Eventually."

They sunk into silence for the rest of the ride.

The truck ran out of gas at the end of a river canyon. That was just as well, because the road dead-ended.

Thalia slammed the door and immediately one of the tires blew. "Great. What now?"

Cassandra scanned the horizon. There wasn't much to see.

Desert in all directions, occasional clumps of barren mountains here and there. The canyon was the only interesting thing. The river itself wasn't very big, maybe fifty yards across, green water with a few rapids, but it curved like a huge scar out of the desert. The rock cliffs dropped away below them.

"There's a path" Grover said "We could get to the river."

Cassandra rolled her eyes at the path he was talking about. A tiny ledge winding down the cliff face. "That's a goat path."

"So?" He asked.

"The rest of us aren't goats, Grover" Percy said.

"We can make it." He said "I think."

"No" Percy said "I, uh, think we should go farther upstream."

"But—" Grover said.

"Come on" Percy said "A walk won't hurt us."