ii. rewards

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THEA IS STARTING TO REGRET HER CHOICE. She knows that they have something to do with her no longer being stone, that even if her father did free her, it's because they arrived. Whether it's because of them or the bolt, she's not sure. That isn't her worry, though. The three of them had been attacked by The Furies--or "Kindly Ones," as they called them--one of which had been Percy's teacher for most of his sixth-grade year. They crashed a bus that they were trying to attack them on, fled, and managed to find Aunty Em's Garden Emporium, kill Medusa, and free her. All in the span of a few hours.

While she would usually be excited at the idea of fighting monsters, her heart is no longer in it. Even though it's been three years since she was turned to stone, the last thing she remembers is fighting her away across the country to get to Camp Half-Blood. She spent nearly half a year getting there, fighting several monsters a day just to stay alive. She's tired of fighting monsters.

At least she gets a few hours of sleep. She doesn't sleep easy due to the other three, but it's more than she's gotten in a long time. Grover takes watch, insisting that he doesn't need sleep as much as they do, but Thea still wakes up before the sun rises. Grover seems alright, even if he does seem skittish around her. Thea wants to ask what he smells, if it's strong or weak, or if he knows which god it is, but she doesn't. She doesn't need to scare him off so soon, not when he knows something.

Grover and Annabeth had gone back to Medusa's greenhouse earlier and took everything they could find that was useful--money, drachmas, food, water. Grover offers Thea one skittishly, as if she'll break his fingers when she takes it, but she denies it. She has her own food in the army green hiking bag she carries everywhere with her. Nearly everything in it she's collected along her way, aside from a few things she took from her home. Percy had asked where she'd gotten it before they went to sleep, and she'd answered unashamedly: she stole it.

Almost everything in it is stolen. She does have some money—everything left at her house, plus things she took along the way—but it doesn't mean she has to use it. She knows that once it's gone, there's no more. She has to use it wisely. Plus, she's good at stealing.

Thea sighs to herself as she continues to eat her granola bar. Her mother said she had ADHD, like all demigods have, a safety net in battle. Thea took her word for it, since she never got diagnosed for it, or her dyslexia and autism. It wasn't her mother's fault, they had to live out far from the "real world." Her mother always said that their enemies would jump at the chance to hurt her, which Thea took as the truth, since she always seemed to be the center of monsters' attention.

Percy finally wakes up, shares a few words with Annabeth, and starts to eat a bag of nacho-flavored tortilla chips she hands him. Before her mother died, and before she had to flee her home, Thea had a strict diet of her own choice. It kept her in shape, always above the monsters, even if she didn't have a weapon. She's still lean and muscular, but the physique from hours upon hours of training is gone. The only training she has now is walking for miles upon miles and fighting whatever monster comes forth. Even though she isn't picky with food because of her time on her own, she doesn't want to eat Medusa's food. The idea makes her feel sick to her stomach.

They clearly hadn't gotten good sleep, they're used to soft beds and the sound of air conditioning rather than cicadas. Annabeth seems more used to it than Percy, while Grover is more disgusted at the pollution than sleeping outside. Thea doesn't mind it much, though she does find the pink poodle in Grover's lap slightly unusual. She doesn't ask any questions, though, because she was a statue the day before. A tiny pink poodle in a satyr's lap is an average day compared to that.

"Look," Annabeth says, "he found a friend."

Percy rubs his eyes tiredly and blinks as if he thinks his eyes are tricking him. Thea huffs out a laugh to herself, a small smirk on her lips.

"No," Grover hisses at the dog, "he's not."

"Are you . . . talking to that thing?"

Percy says he's new to the whole "demigod thing," that he had only gotten claimed a week or so before, and only knows what he learned in school. Still, Thea at least expects him to know that satyrs can speak to animals. They're part animal.

The poodle growls. "This thing," Grover warns, "is our ticket west, be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

He ignores Percy's question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, meet Percy."

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," Percy says. "Forget it."

"Percy," Annabeth says, "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."

The poodle growls. Percy says hello to the poodle. Thea offers a weak two-finger wave, not overly interested in Gladiola or why it's there.

Grover proceeds to explain why the poodle's there, about how he had come across Gladiola in the woods and they started talking. The poodle had run away from a local rich family, who posted a $200 reward for his return. The dog doesn't want to go back to the family, but he's willing to do it if it means helping Grover. Thea's mildly tempted to use her money so the poor dog doesn't have to go back, but she scraps it as soon as she realizes that there isn't that much money left.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asks.

"He read the signs," Grover says. "Duh."

"Of course, silly me."

"So we return Gladiola," Annabeth explains in an overly strategic voice. "We get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

"Not another bus," Percy says warily.

"No," she agrees. She points downhill to where the train tracks are, the ones Thea had noticed the night before. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile away. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."

"Great, so we buy some tickets," Thea says, which startles Percy, who seems to have forgotten she was there. "Then what?"

Annabeth's eyebrows pinch together. "What do you mean 'then what?'"

"Nothing," Thea sighs. "Let's just get this shit-show over with. Alright?"

"Yeah, let's do this."