ALORA HAD NEVER LIKED ANYONE BEFORE. She didn't know what to do with the discovery of her liking Percy so like usual, she kept it to herself.
When he came back in they went downstairs again in silence. Alora didn't know what to say now. Her heart was going at a speed she didn't know it was capable of with him being so close.
They got back to Annabeth and Grover, who was standing in front of a satyr turned to stone and Grover had tears in his eyes.
"What is it?" Alora asked, feeling like she already knew the answer.
"Uncle Ferdinand." Was all grover said.
Alora stood beside him and put an arm around his shoulder, not knowing what to say. Touch was always her favourite love language.
"I'm so sorry Grover."
"oh no."
"This is as far as he got on his quest." Grover admitted upset, not taking his eyes off his uncle. "We aren't even to Trenton. But look at him. He's not like the others.. He doesn't look afraid."
Alora rubbed his arm in attempt to comfort him, as he cleared his throat.
"You used the, um, you used the head to get rid of Alecto?" He turned to the girl.
"Yeah, Perce did." She nodded and she could see Percys small smile at the nickname. Her stomach did a backflip.
"Good." Grover nodded, still looking at his uncle. "That was the right move. We probably should get going, it'll be dark soon."
He wiped his eyes of the tears but Alora couldn't take her eyes off the statue in front of them. How were they meant to go any further in their quest when they were fighting like they were? It made them all feel separated, alone. Nobody would be able to do this alone.
"What should we do with the head?" Percy asked, gesturing to where he set it. "I just took down a fury with it, and I wasn't even trying. We can't just leave it here for someone to find. Leave the hat on and bury it in the basement, that oughta keep it safe."
They all looked towards Annabeth, considering it was her hat. Alora knew that she wouldn't want to leave it behind, it was the only thing she had to connect her to her mother.
"Sure," Annabeth agreed, making grover and Alora share a look of confusion. "Now can we talk about the bigger issue here?"
There it is, Alora thought.
"What bigger issue?" Percy asked, shifting nervously on his feet.
"You could have saved your mother." Annabeth repeated medusas words, walking away from the statue. "That's what she said to you, like you already discussed it. Is your mother still alive?"
"She's with Hades." Percy admitted. "But I appreciate your concern."
"Guys, just please stop." Grover pleaded, sick of hearing them argue all day.
"Oh, I'm concerned." Annabeth ignored him. "What are you actually doing on this quest? And why did i have to hear about this from Medusa?"
"Seriously, the both of you stop." Alora warned them, about to go crazy at their fighting.
"Well I don't see you saying any of this to Ally." Percy ignored her but turned it to her now, his face softening slightly. "You should've accepted my offer? What was Alecto talking about?"
"Enough!" Grover shouted and they all turned to look at him. Alora was thankful he stepped in because she did not know what to say. "The hat was a gift from her mother. It's the only thing she's ever possessed that connects them. That oughta matter to you."
"Okay but how are we going to make sure this thing is safe." Percy spoke like was ashamed of what he had done.
"I'm not up to that yet." Grover spoke like a parent scolding his child, Alora found it quite funny but didn't feel like laughing in that moment. He turned to Annabeth. "And you, really? His mom's alive. Can you imagine how confusing that must be for him? Feeling like he may have to choose between the fate of the world and the fate of the only person who's ever cared about him?"
Alora saw the upset look on Percys face and wanted to comfort him but she didn't know how.
"Why are you talking like this?" Annabeth asked, never hearing grover raise his voice before like this.
"Because all day me and Grover have been trying to keep this quest on track without upsetting either of you." Alora gestured between them both and Grover nodded in agreement to his point. "But maybe things meed to get a little upsetting before they move forward."
Grover turned to Percy and there was instant worry on his face.
"She asked you a question back in the woods, and you never really answered." He said. "What are you so afraid of?"
"What are you talking about?" Percy acted clueless.
"You heard me."
"I don't know." Percy avoided looking at them.
"I think you do." Grover persisted. "You've been fighting with annabeth, you've been fighting with me, you've even been fighting with Alora."
"Because the oracle said one you would betray me, okay?" Percy snapped.
Alora looked at him then at her other two friends. None of them would do that, right?
"You shall be betrayed by the one who calls you a friend, and you shall fail to save what matters most in the end." Percy quoted the oracle. "Thats the rest of what she said to me. I chose annabeth because ally told me to and because I couldn't imagine we'd ever be friends. And i chose you because I thought it i can count on anyone to be on my side, no matter what, it would be you. And I would've chose Ally if i could have because she's been there the whole time since i found out about all of this and hasn't left my side once, even if it doesn't benefit her. And now, I'm feeling so alone. I don't know what to think or who to trust."
Alora looked at Percy with guilt. She always wanted to be there for him, no matter the occasion. She didn't want him to feel like she was going to betray him, and the fact he thought of her as an option for that hurt her slightly.
"I didn't mean it that way." Percy turned to Annabeth, realising that he had hurt her feelings, but she just looked to the ground still.
"Alecto offered to help the quest and let me go back to camp if I gave you up to her." Alora spoke to break the awkward silence. She knew she had to tell him at some point because things would continue to be off until she did. The sooner the better.
"What did you say?" Percy turned to her, looking at her face for any sign of hesitation.
"I killed her sister." She looked him in the eye, something that made her stomach erupt in butterflies.
"Medusa offered to help me to save my mom if I turned on the three of you." Percy admitted, still holding eye contact with the girl.
"What did you say?"
"I used her head to kill Alecto."
Alora could feel a small smile grow on her face at his remark.
"You didn't choose to be demigods." Grover spoke up and Alora remembered they weren't the only people in the room and turned to face the satyr, percy looking at her side profile for a second longer than he should have. "We didn't choose this quest. But we can decide that as long as the four of us are together, none of us are going to be alone. And if we can't do that we may as well just head back to camp right now, because we won't make it."
"I'm sorry for treating you like you have nothing to prove Lora." Annabeth immediately apologised. Alora knew this must have meant a lot because annabeth never apologised.
"Don't worry about it Annie." She smiled. "I'm sorry for snapping at you both early, hanger got the best of me."
The group laughed quietly for the first time in what felt like years.
"I think I've got a better idea what to do with this." Percy smirked, gesturing to the head.
He picks it up and brings it over to a table in the middle of the cave. He starts flipping through a book that Alora thinks is an address book.
"Hermes Express, she ships these things all over." Percy stated. "Some of it goes to Olympus."
"Percy, you can't ship Medusa's head to Olympus." Annabeth spoke, trying to stay calm after they sorted everything out.
"Why not?" He looked between the three in front of him who were looking at him as if he had ten heads.
"Because the gods won't like it."
"At all." Grover added, nodding.
"In any way, shape or form." Alora also agreed.
"Why?" Percy asked again. "That's what you do with dangerous stuff. Like batteries, you just send them back where they came from."
"Uh what are batteries?" Alora asked, sick of not knowing what all these things they mentioned were.
"Okay, look." Annabeth started taking a deep breath. "This is a bad idea. They will see this as impertinent."
"He is impertinent." Alora said at the same time he said,
"I am impertinent."
He smiled at her, although she looked down instead of meeting his eye. He shrugged it off and grabbed a box from beside the table.
"But we are not." Annabeth gestured between them three.
"Really, very not." Grover agreed.
"In most cases." Alora nodded.
"Look, Medusa tried to derail our quest." Percy pointed towards Annabeth. "She's got serious beef with your mom. When you look at it that way, this seems kind of like tribute or something, doesn't it?"
Percy put the head in the box and took the hat off it.
"And besides," he threw it to annabeth, "This way, a part of your mom's still with us."
"Thank you." Annabeth said genuinely.
"Can i sign the note?" Alora asked, easily convinced. Percy nodded and handed her the paper before taping the box shut. Grover looked at her like she was crazy. "What? I did kill her, i want the gods to know that since no one else was in the room where it happened. I'm not going to throw away my shot to make my dad proud."
"Look there are actual dangers involved here that cannot be...." Grover was cut off by percy beginning to clap. "You're going to sing the song aren't you?"
Annabeth and Alora shared a look before laughing as Percy began clapping faster.
"Oh golly." Percy sang and Alora could feel Grovers annoyance. "The roads getting bumpy."
"Whatever." Grover rolled his eyes.
"Consensus." Percy continued to annoy grover as Annabeth turned to Alora.
"You're drooling a little." She whispered so that only Alora could hear. Alora finally pulled her eyes away from Percy and wiped her mouth. When she realised nothing was there she shoved annabeth.
"You aren't funny annie."
authors note:
my cute little babies!! i hope you all enjoyed my lin references because i was in tears at it.