𝖇𝖆𝖉 𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 || ᴘᴊᴏ x ʜᴘ

21 - 𝖂𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖕𝖊𝖓𝖘 𝖎𝖓 𝖁𝖊𝖌𝖆𝖘, 𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖞𝖘 𝖎𝖓 𝖁𝖊𝖌𝖆𝖘

"You bet it is," Percy glanced at her arm which she's been picking on since she woke up. "Does it hurt?"

"Surprisingly, the pain is gone." Holly says, debating whether to take off the sling or not. "Whatever Ares gave me must've been magic."

"That's good," Percy hums, and then he rests his head against the door of the truck and closes his eyes.

"You can rest, I can keep watch." Holly says, reaching for her bag and organising the clutter inside.

"It's okay, I wasn't sleepy anyways. It's difficult sometimes, to fall asleep."

"Because of the nightmares?" Holly asks. "You mentioned them to Luke, but...you never mentioned it to us."

She knew of course, but they never spoke about it once he woke up.

"Mostly because of the nightmares," he says, and then he pats the patch they were sitting on. "Also because of the bed."

He was true of course; they've slept on the forest floor, on a railway train, now in a zoo truck.

Holly stretches her arm, nodding in agreement. "I would kill for a proper bed."

"Hopefully we'll get to soon," Percy hums as he lays back as Holly begins to hum. "But first..."

He didn't get to finish his sentence, he was already asleep as Holly continued humming a song.

***

Holly was sharpening her rapier when the truck stopped, she immediately retracted her rapier back into a quill before shaking Annabeth awake.

"The truck's stopped," Holly said as Annabeth stirred awake. "I think we're here."

Grover stirred awake next to Annabeth, and eventually all four were awake.

"We think they're coming to check on the animals," Grover explained to Percy as he sat up.

"Hide!" Annabeth hissed.

She had it easy. She just put on her yankees cap and disappeared. Grover, Holly and Percy had to dive behind feed sacks and hope they looked like turnips.

The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in.

"Man!" one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. "I wish I hauled appliances." He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.

"You hot, big boy?" he asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face.

The lion roared in indignation.

Slowly, behind the turnip sacks, Holly untied the knot on her sling and flexed her arm. It didn't hurt anymore, she definitely felt lighter. She pulled out her quill, it flourished into a rapier in her hand.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said.

Next to Percy, under the turnip sacks, Grover tensed. For a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous. Holly kept a cautiously close hand on Grover, prepared to pull him back in case he did anything he wasn't supposed to.

The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"

The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked straight at Percy. He stiffened, Holly glanced at him worriedly and nudges his arm in question.

There was a loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer.