𝔣𝔞𝔰𝔥𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔞 | percy jackson¹ ✓

022

THEY HAD REACHED THE EDGE OF THE DUMP WHERE THEY FOUND A TOW TRUCK. It may have looked old but it had a full tank of gas so they decided to borrow it. 

Zola usually would have joked about the fact that this time Thalia was driving instead of Zoë, who instead sat beside her but right then, she did not feel the need to talk about anything as her guilt piled on her shoulder. 

The fact that just a few hours ago they were joking and laughing with Bianca and now she was gone, worried Zola more than she showed. It had really hit her, then and there, that death is a real thing that happens on quests and you have to be prepared for it to come but she wasn't. 

The thought of another person dying by the hands of their parent's bothered her even more as she quietly fiddled with her bracelets on her wrists  in the pickup bed as she leaned against the tow wench beside Percy and Grover.

"It should've been me", a voice said alerting her of her surroundings. "I should've gone into the giant".

"Percy, don't say that. Don't blame yourself", Zola murmured so quietly if you weren't near her you wouldn't have heard. 

"It's bad enough Annabeth is gone, and now Bianca. Do you think I could stand it if..", Grover sniffled. "Do you think anybody else would be my best friend?"

"Ah Grover..", Percy started.

"I'm..I'm Okay", Grover reassured.

Zola could tell that Grover was definitely not okay. Ever since the 'thought to be' encounter with Pan back in New Mexico with the coffee, Grover had become more emotional than usual. Even though at first Zola was not very close with Grover, she felt that during this quest she began to really understand him and think of him as a friend so, her heart really did throb at the thought of Grover feeling so downcast. 

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They had got out of the truck as soon as they ran out of gas and proceeded to walk to the river before following it for about half a mile. They reached an small slope that led down to the water. On the shoe there was a canoe rental operation that was closed for the season.

Percy wrote a quick note with the words "IOU two canoes"  before leaving a stack of golden drachmas on the counter.

"We need to go upstream", Zoë said. This was the first time Zola had heard her speak since the junkyard and her voice was raspy like she had the flu. "The rapids are too swift".

"Leave that to me", Percy said.

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"They are so friendly, I always wonder what life like a naiad is like...it seems like a dream", Zola said as she waved back at a group of naiads who were waving at her enthusiastically.

She was in a canoe with Thalia and Grover and the naiads were pushing their canoes up the river. Suddenly, the canoes slowed down. Zola looked ahead and realised why. The river was blocked and there was a huge dam in their path.

"Hoover Dam", Zola breathed.

"It's huge", Thalia exclaimed.

Their canoes floated back downstream, swirling in the wake from the dams discharge vents.

"Seven hundred feet tall", Percy said. "Built in the 1930s".