The Fallen Goddess...PJO

Chapter 12

Armani Pov

I was pissed, extremely pissed off, for two reasons.

One, I didn't want to go on this shitty quest and be part of a stupid prophecy, but nooooo the fates seem to find my misery enjoyable.

And then there's Perseus bloody Jackson. I made the mistake of trying to apologize and comfort him, only to have it thrown back in my face. I get it, my apology just made it more crystal clear that he's not joining us, which was my bad. But did he really have to add the diss? Like that was a bit extra and it hearing it hurt a lot, especially from him.

I already felt bad enough for lying and throwing all of my shit on him, but he just made that feeling even more worse.

Now, as we're about to embark on this dangerous quest, he's nowhere to be found. We've been dodging each other all day, but his absence still stings. I'm heading off to face gods-know-what, and wouldn't you expect your best friend to at least bid you farewell?

Sure, we've had our clashes before, but we always patch things up pretty quickly. Yet, there's a gnawing worry in the pit of my stomach that this time might be different; that this might be the fight.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Zoe sharp turn to the left. The car swerved hard, causing all the passengers to fall into each other. Whose brilliant idea was it to let the ancient woman drive the car again?

I was really grateful when we pulled into a rest stop in Maryland to regroup because another 5 minutes in that car would make me hurl.

Thalia and Bianca used the restrooms in the back, while Grover squatted down and pulled a handful of acorns out of his pocket. He cast them onto the ground; five immediately grouped together while the other five shirted out of the way. However, as the ones in the middle began to form into a shape, a sixth drifted toward them from the discarded pile.

"Hmm," Grover mused. "Odd", he flicked the sixth acorn out of the way as he continued to examine the pattern created.

"D. C," he decided. "We need to go to Washington, D.C."

I suddenly felt a little nauseous. Washington D.C wasn't my favorite place. That's where my dad, my mortal dad, left my mortal mom. I was really young and didn't quite understand the situation at the time, but I knew it hurt my mom a lot. But she smiled at me even though she was crying and kept on saying 'everything's going to be okay'. At that time, it comforted me, but now I realized she was saying that to herself too, she wanted to believe that everything would be okay.

"Nico and I... we used to live there once. That's strange? I'd forgotten." Bianca said, looking equally disturbed as me.

"I dislike this," Zoe said. "We should go straight west."

"I'm 99 percent sure about this," Grover said. "Well, maybe 85."

"Sure about your...acorns?" Zoe asked with an arched eyebrow. Grover looked offended.

"This is a time-honored tracking spell!"

"I'd like to see you do better," Thalia scoffed.

Zoe stepped up, "are you questioning my skills, scullion?"

"Oh scullion? You're calling me a scullion? What the heck is a scullion?" Thalia asked, stepping up as well.

"Break it up you two," I said. "We're not getting anywhere if you two keep on fighting. Now, both you scullions get in the car and let's set course for D.C."

When none of them moved, I turned towards them and glared, "Now." They both paled and walked towards the car.

I sighed and looked towards Grover who just stared at me, "what?" I asked.