After my little... spectacle, the others seemed pretty concerned about me, constantly asking if I was okay and everything. I nodded and told everyone I was fine.
I didn't know how to feel. Apart from embarrassed for vomiting.
Only Percy would've known I had a dream, and afterwards, he made a start towards me multiple times, hoping to get me alone.
Luckily, I'm good at avoiding.
We were now in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. The air was cold and thin. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.
I was shivering under my coat, and I really wished I had brought layers.
I'd kill for a thermal right about now.
Bianca took me to the side whilst we were walking. "You okay?"
"I'm fine. Just got up too quickly y'know."
She didn't believe me. That was obvious enough in her face.
I debated the pros and cons of telling her.
Pro : I feel better, she can give me advice, we strengthen our bond.
Con : currently none that I could think of.
I started with the dream with Apollo, and she listened quietly, nodding every now and then. Then I began to start talking about my other dream, the dream about my mom. But I couldn't. It was too private, too personal. But I wanted to say something.
"My mom. She's in a mental facility somewhere in South Carolina. I had a dream about her. Threw me off a little bit."
"How did she...?"
"Oh. Yeah, I'm not sure. The doctors said it was because she recently had suffered a loss. I was pretty young when it happened, but one day she just switched. Schizophrenia, BPD, some others. She woke up one day out of her mind. Hallucinations, delusions. Eventual paranoia. It got so bad that they had to take her away."
Bianca frowned. "Woah."
"I know, right."
"No I mean... I'm sorry. Kind of. I used to stereotype you I think. Rich girl with the perfect life and pretty and popular and sporty and clever. I had no clue - well, I just assumed that even your family life was perfect."
"I wanted people to think I was perfect." I told her.
"They would've done that anyway. I mean, that month you joined in - what, December or January?- immediately all everyone could talk about was the new girl and how cool she was."
I smiled bitterly. "I joined September."
"What?"
"Yeah. No-one noticed me the first couple months, so I made a promise to myself that from now on, nobody would ever not notice me. I'd make sure that when I walked into a room, all eyes were on me. And it worked. And eventually, it became less of a façade and I fell into it naturally."
Bianca was silent for a couple moments. Then, "I think I'd like you both with and without a façade. You're great either way. Kai saw that. I'm sorry that nobody else did for a while."
I smiled at Bianca. "Thank you. I wish that I had become friends with you. You're really cool."
She blushed lightly.
"Hey!" Thalia yelled behind us. We turned to see that everyone else had already stopped and we hadn't noticed, too caught up in conversation.
Thalia continued. "There's a town. We're stopping here."
We walked into the middle of town. You could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.
"Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."
"There's a coffee shop!" said Grover.
"Yes," Zoë said. "Coffee is good."
"And pastries," I said happily, mouth watering at the thought.
"And wax paper." Grover added. I snuck him a look.
Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about you three go get us all some food. Percy, Bianca, and I will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."
We agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable going with them, but she did.
Zoë looked towards the café. We all hurried there, because the basis was we were all starving.
Zoë ordered herself a coffee and a muffin. I ordered tea and a chocolate cookie. Grover ordered himself about three hot chocolates and four pastries.
We decided to get the others hot chocolate and muffins too.
As we walked out, I felt renewed. What wonders food could do for a person.
When we reached Percy and Bianca - Thalia had gone to another shop - and Bianca was staring at Percy so angrily, that I felt the urge to glare at him too. He ignored her and dug into his blueberry muffin.
"We should do the tracking spell," Zoë said.
"Grover, do you have any acorns left?"
"Umm," Grover mumbled. He was chewing on a bran muffin, wrapper and all. "I think so. I just need to-"
He froze.
I was about to ask what was wrong, when a warm breeze rustled past, like a gust of springtime had gotten lost in the middle of winter. Fresh air seasoned with wildflowers and sunshine. And something else - almost like a voice or a whisper in the wind, trying to say something. A warning. I let out a breath and my body relaxed. I felt as if I might collapse.
Zoë gasped. "Grover, thy cup."
Grover dropped his coffee cup, which was decorated with pictures of birds. Suddenly the birds peeled off the cup and flew away-a flock of tiny doves.
Grover collapsed next to his coffee, which steamed against the snow. We gathered around him and tried to wake him up. He groaned, his eyes fluttering.
"Hey!" Thalia said, running up from the street. "I just... What's wrong with Grover?"
"I don't know," Percy said. "He collapsed."
Everyone's head - excluding Rover's - turned to look at Percy Critically. Obviously.
"Ughhh," Grover groaned.
"Well, get him up!" Thalia said. She had her spear in her hand. She looked behind her as if she were being followed. "We have to get out of here."
I pulled Grover up by one shoulder, Bianca doing the same on the other side. We all left quickly.
We made it to the edge of the town before the first two skeleton warriors appeared. They stepped from the trees on either side of the road. Instead of gray camouflage, they were now wearing blue New Mexico State Police uniforms, but they had the same transparent gray skin and yellow eyes.
And handguns.
I unclipped my hairpin from my hair with my free hand. It transformed into my sword, and I gripped it harshly, knowing there'd be a fight. I wouldn't hide this time.
"Hey," I whispered to Bianca. "Drop Grover, we can protect him better if we can fight."
She did so, and we left him on the snow, leaning on a tree.
Thalia tapped her bracelet. Aegis spiraled to life on her arm, but the warriors didn't flinch. Their glowing yellow eyes bored right into me.
"Back up," Thalia said.
We started to-but then I heard a rustling of branches. Three more skeletons appeared on the road behind us. We were surrounded.
I wondered where the other skeletons were. I'd seen a dozen at the Smithsonian.
Then one of the warriors raised a cell phone to his mouth and spoke into it. Except he wasn't speaking. He made a clattering, clicking sound, like dry teeth on bone.
Suddenly I understood what was going on. The skeletons had split up to look for us.
These skeletons were now calling their brethren. Soon we'd have a full party on our hands.
I resisted the urge to scream. Not only were they skeletons sent to kill all of us, they had brains too.
"It's near," Grover moaned.
"It's here," Percy responded.
"No," he insisted. "The gift. The gift from the Wild."
I didn't know what he was talking about, but I was worried about his condition. He was in no shape to walk, much less fight.
"We'll have to go one-on-one," Thalia said. "Five of them. Five of us. Maybe they'll ignore Grover that way."
"Agreed," said Zoe.
"The Wild!" Grover moaned.
A warm wind blew through the canyon, rustling the trees, but I kept my eyes on the skeletons. I took in a deep breath. And we charged.
The skeleton I went after immediately shot at me, and I dropped to the ground, before getting up and running back at him. He lifted a sword and as he swung down, I threw my sword up, trying to defend myself. When I had practiced with Lillian, it was much easier with much less higher stakes. I realised that now, I could actually die. I was inexperienced and fighting a skeleton which somehow used a sword better than me.
His heavy sword forced me and my own sword into the ground, so I was forced to go down in order to not be sliced alive.
I heard Thalia scream Percy's name, but I couldn't look without risking myself.
I took a chance and rolled out of the way, the skeletons sword hitting the ground harshly where I had just been. He lifted his arms, and turned his head to me, about to swing again. In a panic I swung my sword blindly, hoping to at least slash him. As soon as my sword touched him, he erupted into flames.
I stumbled back in surprise. Where he had once been, was now just a pile of ashes and a badge.
I picked the badge up, staring at it in confusion.
"How did you do that?!" Thalia yelled at me, exactly when Bianca stabbed another skeleton and he too erupted.
I watched as Percy cut down a skeleton, only for it to reform moments later.
"I don't know," Bianca said nervously.
"Lucky stab?" I asked myself.
"Well, do it again!"
Bianca and I tried, but the remaining three skeletons refused to come closer now. They pressed us back, keeping us at baton's length.
Cornering us.
"Plan?" Percy said as we retreated towards Grover.
Nobody answered. The trees behind the skeletons were shivering. Branches were cracking.
"A gift," Grover muttered.
And then, with a mighty roar, the largest pig I'd ever seen came crashing into the road.
It was a wild boar, thirty feet high, with a wet pink snout and tusks the size of couches. Its back bristled with brown hair, and its eyes were wild and angry.
"REEEEEEEEET!" it squealed, and raked the three skeletons aside with its tusks. The force was so great, they went flying over the trees and into the side of the mountain, where they smashed to pieces, thigh bones and arm bones twirling everywhere.
Then the pig turned on us.
Thalia raised her spear, but Grover yelled, "Don't kill it.'"
The boar grunted and pawed the ground, ready to charge.
"That's the Erymanthian Boar," Zoë said, trying to stay calm. "I don't think we can kill it."
"It's a gift," Grover said. "A blessing from the Wild!"
The boar said "REEEEEEET!" and swung its tusk. Zoë and Bianca dived out of the way. Percy shoved me and Grover to the ground as it came back for round two, just in time before we got bulldozed.
A blessing. How fucking sweet.
"Yeah, I feel blessed!" Percy yelled. "Scatter!"
We ran in different directions, and for a moment the boar was confused.
"It wants to kill us!" Thalia said.
"Obviously!" I responded.
"Of course," Grover said at the same time. "It's wild!"
"So how is that a blessing!" Bianca asked.
It seemed a fair question to me, but the pig was offended and charged her. She was quick and rolled out of the way of its hooves and came up behind the beast.
It lashed out with its tusks and pulverized the WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT sign. What was now left of the sign read V OM O C O D C O F!
I hoped Cloudcroft was insured against giant wild boar attacks.
"Keep moving!" Zoë yelled. She and Bianca ran in opposite directions. Grover danced around the boar, playing his pipes while the boar snorted and tried to impale him. But the rest of us won the prize for bad luck. When the boar turned on us, Thalia raised her shield in defense. The sight of the decapitated head made the boar squeal in outrage.
Maybe it looked too much like him. Maybe he knew her. They used to be friends or whatever and had weekly chats on how to pulverise teenagers.
Doesn't matter what though, as either way it grew incredibly angry. With a high pitched squeal, it pawed the ground with one hoof, a lot like a bull.
Then it charged.