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—BRYCE Tanner, son of Hermes and oldest attendee of Camp Half-Blood, was selected as Judith and Clarisse's plus one for the quest. In order to keep things fair, there had to be at least one quester who wasn't a child of Ares. In the end, Clarisse didn't care who joined them, just that it wasn't someone totally insufferable. The Hermes boy was headed off to college as soon as summer vacation ended, and he had yet to ever go on a quest, so he volunteered himself eagerly. The older daughter of Ares looked him up and down once and supposed he would have to do.
If he ended up being a nuisance, they could just kick him overboard; they would be close enough to Virginia Beach's shore that he could swim.
Judith had no doubts that the steam engine they were on was an eye sore to the tourists as they passed by. But then again, the Mist could also be making them look like a yacht. Judith really wished she was on a yacht. Not that she didn't appreciate the 'gift' that Ares had bestowed them with, but she could go without the zombies who manned it.
As the girl made her way to the hull of the ship, one bumped into her and she actually shivered in disgust, getting a waft of rotten flesh. His bones clacked together as he stumbled away. Judith understood that they were supposed to be soldiers of a losing side in a war, but couldn't they have made it an older war? Long enough ago where the dead would just be bones? At least then, the smell wouldn't be too unbearable.
"They give me the heebie-jeebies," Bryce said, seeing her face twist up. He was currently lounging on a crate labeled 'explosives.' Judith decided to steer clear of those ones and instead lean against the railing.
"Heebie-jeebies, really?" Judith rolled her eyes.
"Fine," he held his hands up, "the creeps. I swear, I saw one's hand fall off earlier. Landed, right in front of me. I was like, 'Need a hand?'" Bryce cracked up over his own joke, clearly thinking he was the comedian of the century.
"Hilarious," Judith deadpanned. "You didn't actually touch it, did you?" She eyed his hands warily, wondering if he'd washed his hands and if she'd touched anything he had within the past few hours.
"No, I didn't. I felt kind of bad about not helping him, though," Bruce admitted, looking sullen for a moment in remembrance.
"Don't," Judith scolded. "They're here to help us, not the other way around."
"But still, I'd kind of want someone to help me out if my hand fell off."
The girl blinked, thinking they'd made a grave mistake by allowing Bryce Tanner on this boat. She hoped he got the hint to quit with the jokes and weird sentimentality from her grimace, but the hint was not received quite like she'd sent it, however.
