When Annabeth and Percy came back downstairs, Percy holding my mother's now invisible head, Grover stood back up. I didn't; I just sat there for a bit longer, not really bothering to listen to their conversation.
Why would I?
Sure, I would be going with them on whatever quest-thing Grover said they would be doing. But, that didn't mean I cared about the quest-thing, I just cared about not dying. And if helping the miserable gods responsible for what happened to my mother was what I had to do to live — and, let's be real here, avenge my mother after — this quest-thing was what I would go on.
Salem suddenly tensed, and whatever zone I was in I fell out of. I glanced at the trio, where Percy and Annabeth appeared to be fighting with each other, while Grover — presumably the peacekeeper of the bunch by how he's acted so far — does his best to get them to quit.
I sight quietly, trying to calm down Salem. There haven't been many tense moments with me and my mom all alone here, but when there is, Salem doesn't do particularly well. Any argument or sign of trouble gets her nerves going wild, and until things calm down it's hard to get her to calm down.
"Salem." I murmur quietly, Percy and Annabeth's voices drowning out my own. "It's fine. They're fine. We're fine."
Are we fine? I'm not really sure, to be honest, but Salem is a cat. She doesn't need to know anymore than she can figure out with her cat brain.
"No one's gonna hurt you, Salem." I add in a hushed voice, holding her up in my arms. I cradle her, rocking her slightly, like my mom did with Salem when she was just a little kitten and I wasn't old enough for mom to fully trust me with her.
"-all day, I've been trying to keep this quest on track without upsetting either of you!" Grover shouting captures both mine and Salem's attention. "But, maybe things need to get a little upsetting before they move forward." He takes a deep breath before looking between the two of his friends. "She asked you a question back in the woods, and you never really answered. What are you so afraid of?" Grover questions.
"What are you talking about?" Percy demands.
"You heard me." Grover says back.
"I don't know." Percy brushes it off.
"I think you do." Grover pushes. "You've been fighting with her, you've been fighting with me."
"Because the Oracle said one of you would betray me, okay?" Percy caves. "'You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, and you shall fail to save what matters most in the end.'" He quotes. "That's the rest of what she said to me. I chose her," Annabeth, "because I couldn't imagine we'd ever be friends. And I chose you because I thought if I can count on anyone to be on my side, no matter what, it was you. And now, I'm feeling so alone. I don't know what to think or who to trust."
There's a moment of awkward silence, and the three of them look between each other. Salem senses the tenseness about as much as I do, her claws out and gripping my shirt.
"I didn't mean it that way." Percy says after a few beats of silence, looking at Annabeth.
"Alecto offered to help our quest if I gave you up to her." Annabeth says.
"What did you say?" Percy furrows his brows.
"I killed her sister." Annabeth admits. I mean, gods be damned, this feels like the plot of a book or two on my shelf.
"Medusa offered to help me save my mom if I turned on the two of you." Percy glances around.
"And what'd you say?" Annabeth questions him.
"I cut off her head." Percy says. Right then, this isn't as fun as it was a few moments ago.
"You didn't choose to be demigods." Grover cuts in. "We didn't choose this quest. But we can decide that as long as we're together, none of us are gonna be alone." I have a strong feeling that neither of Grover's demigod friends are thinking of that sentiment with me in mind. "And if we can't do that, we might as well just head back to camp right now. 'Cause we won't make it."
"I think I've got a better idea of what to do with this." Oh, great, Percy. I'm glad you know what to do with my mother's head. Lovely boy he is; probably just as great as his father, I think.
Grover finally glances back down to me, and his smile drops for a moment. He clears his throat, and now all three of them are staring right at me. Doesn't make me feel weird at all, because why would the people who murdered my mom looking dead at me bother me?
"She's coming with us." Grover finally says after a moment of them all looking at me in utter silence.
"She-she's what?" Percy turns back around. He clearly isn't taking this well, and judging by Annabeth's expression, she isn't either.
"She turned us to stone, Grover!" Annabeth gestures her arm out to me as if it wasn't obvious who she was talking about.
"She can't come!" Percy argues. "What if she actually kills us this time? Or one of the gods or goddesses hears and then they kill us?"
"We killed her mom!" Grover argues back. Great, just after everything was settled, they started arguing again. If Salem's claws were drawing blood by now, I wouldn't be surprised. "If she wanted to kill us, she would've done it here; in her basement."
"Okay, so she won't kill us herself." Annabeth sounds unsure, but she lets the idea of me killing them go momentarily. "But what about one of the gods or goddesses? Like my mother?"
"She isn't Medusa herself." Grover points out. "Athena cursed her mom, not her. If they see her helping, they might even let her live in peace."
Percy pauses, before he finally sighs. "You're not letting this go, are you?" Grover just shakes his head. "Fine." He looks back in my direction.
"Salem's coming too, then." I speak up. Percy rolls his eyes, but waves me off.
"Back to the head." Percy says. Clearly, I'm not a part of this decision he's already made, so I stand up and pick up Salem with me.
Grover glances at me curiously, but he doesn't interrupt Percy as he rambles on about his plan. I gesture backwards, towards the stairs, and mouth 'Be right back'. Grover nods for me to go do what I need to do before looking back to Percy; I'm glad he's decided to not question me, it makes things a bit easier.
I bring Salem up to my shoulder and jog up the stairs, all the way back up to my room. I think about just lying in my bed and crying for a minute; can't hurt, right? No, probably not, but I came up here to pack a small bag for whatever this quest-trip-thing is, so I decided to do that.
"You know where your leash is, Salem?" I ask her in a babyish voice, setting her down on the bed. My mom said most cats aren't good with leashes, but after a bit of training, I got her to not only be fine with one but to get it herself.
As I go to my closet to grab my messenger bag, Salem goes to find her leash. I reach up and grab the deep green bag and throw it on my bed, along with a hoodie and a new — unclawed — shirt. I change into the shirt as I grab the little star ring my mother gifted me, the one my father had gifted her, and slip it onto my finger.
I proceeded to pack the messenger bag; hairbrush, a couple hair ties, hand sanitizer, the money I have lying around, chapstick, deodorant, the small bag of cat treats I keep in my room, a book, and my water bottle.
I put the hoodie on and zip it halfway just as Salem jumps back on the bed with her leash held in her mouth. "Good job." I smile softly at her, pulling the bag on. I take the leash and clip it to Salem's collar, holding the other end in my hand.
"S'pose we gotta go, now, huh?" I brush through Salem's fur a few times before I pick her up and put her back down to the ground. "Go on, then." Salem takes the first few steps, and I follow right after.
"You were serious about bringing that cat, huh?" Grover's voice comes through as I make it downstairs, to the middle level of the house.
"Very." I reply, picking Salem up after figuring it would be easier to carry her that way.
"Right. Let's go." Percy says, and him and Annabeth take the lead, Grover and myself trailing behind.
"I can- I could carry Salem, if you want." Grover offers as we make it outside.
I hesitate for a moment; I mean, his friends killed my mom. But, then again, we did just consider ourselves even not long ago, so why wouldn't he keep up with that now?
"Yeah, sure." I hand her over gently, and Grover is careful as he takes the leashed cat into his arms.
I'm not so sure about Percy and Annabeth yet, I'll be honest.
But Grover?
I actually think Grover might be someone I can trust.
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