We Visit The Garden Gnome Emporium
They are just about to start the new episode when a letter falls into Artemis's lap.
"What does the letter say?" Zeus asks, annoyed.
"Chiron is joining us," Artemis says after reading the letter.
As soon as Artemis says this, there is a white flash and Chiron appears, looking around confusedly. Once he realizes where he is, he bows his head respectfully. "Ladies and gentlemen, children, what am I doing here?" he asks curiously.
"We're watching Ariel Jackson's life," Athena declares. Chiron's eyes widen as he looks at Ariel, about to say something, but Annabeth quickly interjects.
"We're on the second day of our first quest, and so far, out of Ariel's soulmates, they only know Lord Apollo," Annabeth says.
"Well, this will be interesting..." Chiron says as he takes a seat among the demigods. The film starts.
In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're waling away from a bus that's just been attack by monster hags and blown up by lighting, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck: when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mes up your day.
The gods glance awkwardly at each other. Are they really this bad?
"Hah, I've always loved Ariel's cheeky thoughts," Nico says amusedly.
"Is the situation really this bad?" Demeter asks.
"Well, even if the quest doesn't fall apart, there are always gods who intervene or step in, especially if one of the Big Three's children is on a quest," Will explains.
"Damn luck," Thalia mutters, pouting.
So there we were, Annabeth and Grover and I, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind us, and the smell of the Hudson reeking our nose.
Grover was shivering and braying, his goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. - Three Kindly Ones. All of three at once.
Persephone casts an angry glance at Hades. Hades, meanwhile, hopes that Zeus will soon do something wrong to shift the attention away from him.
I was pretty much in shock myself. The explosion of bus windows still rang in my ears. But Annabeth kept pulling us along, saying. - Come on! The farther away we get, the better.
- All our money was back there. - I reminded her. - Our food and clothes. Everything.
"And this is how you expect them to complete the quest?" Hestia asks Zeus.
"Uh, you get used to it..." Ariel says awkwardly.
"My poor little baby," Amphitrite murmurs with concern.
- Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight-
- What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?
- You didn't need to protect me, Ariel. I would've been fine.
"Do you really mean that, Annabeth? If Ariel hadn't intervened, you'd be dead by now. You could tone down your ego a bit."
"I don't understand at all how these two became friends," Travis says.
"I didn't mean it like that..." Annabeth begins to say but stops when she receives many angry looks.
- Sliced like sandwich bread. - Grover put in. - But fine.
- Shut up, goat boy. - said Annabeth.
"Be nicer to the satyr," Dionysus says as he looks up from his newspaper.
Grover brayed mournfully. - Tin cans... a prefectly good bag of tin cans.
We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry. After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to me. - Look, I... - Her voice faltered. - I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave.
- We're a team, right?
"Oh, what a sweet girl," Demeter says with a sigh.
"My soulmate is the sweetest," Apollo says with a grin, giving Ariel kisses on the cheek.
Seeing this, Poseidon and Triton roll their eyes.
She was silent for a few more steps. - It's just that if you died.. aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only change to see the real world.
"Huh, does this girl really mean it?" Hermes asks, raising an eyebrow.
"I really want to knock that girl out. She's so damn annoying... And the way she treats Ariel..." Ares mutters with clenched fists.
Aphrodite looks at the two of them with a soft gasp, then turns her gaze to Ariel.
Ariel realizes from Aphrodite's glance. She already knows.
The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. I couldn't see anything of Annabeth expect a glint of her hair.
- You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven? - I asked her.
- No... only short field trips. My dad-
- The history professor.
- Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home. - She was rushing her world oout 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.
"Annabeth, the camp is for survival training, not for entertainment," Chiron says disappointedly.
"I'm saying the same thing," Thalia adds, pointing at Chiron. A few demigods chuckle at his dramatic behavior.
If I didn't know better, I could've sworn I heard doubt in her voice.
- You're pretty good with that knife. - I said.
- You think so?
- Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me.
"I want to join too!" Connor and Travis exclaim excitedly.
"No!" Ariel interrupts them sternly.
The two boys look at her sullenly.
"Kind of maternal, isn't she?" Apollo asks playfully, causing Ariel to blush as red as a tomato.
I couldn't really see, but I throught she might've smiled.
"Finally, they're starting to get along," Hera says.
- 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, like the sould of an owl being tortured.
