ROYAL CRIES
━━ chapter thirteen

━━ THE AIR WAS thin and cold, something that wouldn't be uncommon in the winter and high enough in the air. Elisa's stomach lurched when she read the sign as they walked to the outskirts of a little town called Cloudcroft, New Mexico.

               Elisa knew where they were; a six-hour drive from Durango and a three-hour drive from Albuquerque.

               The roofs of Cloudcroft were piled with snow, something she was used to seeing in the winter when she lived in Durango. Muddy piles of snow were left on the sides of roads after they had been cleared to drive on; that was something Elisa was also used to seeing. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.

               Bianca stepped in line with Elisa. "You look sick," she noted.

               Elisa took a deep breath, feeling as if her stomach was thirty pounds heavier. "I had a hard time sleeping in the car. Hurts my neck, y'know?"

               Bianca looked skeptical. "Your neck hurting wouldn't make you look green in the face," she pointed out.

               "I'm a little hungry," Elisa admitted. It wasn't exactly a lie, the last time she had eaten was two nights ago.

               "We'll see if we can get some food here, then," said Bianca. "They're bound to have a restaurant."

               Cloudcroft definitely did not have a restaurant that they could afford if they could afford any at all. The town had a grocery store they may be able to get food from, but even that's pushing it since Cloudcroft is a ski town. Tourist towns always have overpriced everything, even more so if the products were cheaply made. But if Elisa said that, Bianca would ask why she knew that, and Elisa didn't want to think about her past again. She preferred to act like it never happened in the first place.

               Elisa knew how dumb it was to confess her past to Percy, especially with how little she knew about him and how much he already annoyed her. She knew it was dumb, and yet, Elisa told him. Did she tell him everything? Gods, no.

               There were a lot of things Elisa did to survive for those two years, a lot of things she wasn't proud of. All of those things she was ashamed of, why would she confess it to some fourteen-year-old boy that made her want to rip out her hair?

               She wouldn't because that would be even dumber of her.

               Elisa felt a jab of pain in her knees every time she took a step. It was the cold, which found a way past the lion skin coat. She was freezing by the time they made it to Main Street, which had to be around half a mile from the train tracks.

               They stopped in the middle of the town. Elisa could see almost everything from where she stood: a school, some tourist stores and cafés, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.

               "Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."

               Elisa wasn't sure how it was possible, but there was just nothing. No way for them to get out and head west.

               "There's a coffee shop!" Grover said happily.

               "Yes," said Zoë. "Coffee is good."

               "And pastries," Grover said dreamily. "And wax paper."

               "I hate coffee," Elisa sniffed. "It tastes like a puddle of water that's been sitting in dirt for three weeks."

               Grover looked at her, an offended expression on his face. "It does not!" he denied.

               "It totally does," Elisa insisted.

               Thalia sighed, shifting her weight from one foot to another as she looked around the town. "Fine. How about you two go get us some food. Percy, Bianca, Elisa, and I will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."

               Bianca and Elisa weren't too keen on having to stay with Percy and Thalia. Elisa knew Bianca would rather be with Zoë, and Elisa would rather not, but that left her with no option, so she didn't protest anything. In the end, they all agreed to meet in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes.

               The grocery store was in shambles; most items were either out of stock or only very few were left, and the items that were left were completely useless to Elisa. She saw snow globes, key chains with names on them ( she never did find her name, that may be because she's dyslexic ), and hoodies in all sorts of colors with Cloudcroft stamped on them. The only thing that piqued Elisa's interest was the candies. She stuffed one in the back pocket of her jeans as Percy and Thalia talked to the cashier.

               Cloudcroft was basically a ghost town; a ski town without enough snow to actually ski, the only grocery store also sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and with no way out unless you had a car. And none of them had a car unless they stole one.

               "You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo," the clerk said doubtfully, frowning at the four teens. "That's down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars."

               It slipped out of Elisa's mouth before she could think: "We could try La Luz, too, if Alamogordo won't ship a taxi here for us."

               The cashier nodded as the three looked at Elisa funny. "You could," the cashier agreed. "I doubt it'd be any cheaper, though."

               Percy looked at Elisa curiously as he picked up a rubber rat. He tossed the rubber rat on the counter, pulling out a dollar. Elisa looked over her shoulder, looking around the store. She knew that being so private about the fact she lived six hours away was silly.

               They were six hours away from Durango, and the six didn't have time to make a pit stop. There was no harm in them knowing that Elisa knew the area somewhat. It would probably be better in the end if they knew. ( Or that's what she told herself; she figured if Percy knew that her mother was beheaded, what was the harm in him knowing she grew up in Colorado? )

               Percy paid for the rubber rat, telling the cashier thanks. Elisa followed Bianca and Thalia back outside into the biting winds of New Mexico. Percy walked out of the store soon after.

               Thalia grumped, "Wonderful. I'm going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion."

               "But the clerk said—" Percy started.

               "I know," Thalia said. "I'm checking anyway."

               "I'm going with you," said Elisa, taking a step away from the white railing of the store.

               Thalia started walking away. "This isn't a two-person job—"

               "I don't care," said the daughter of Dionysus. "I can't just stand here."

               Perhaps Elisa was running away from the questions she knew Percy would ask.

               Percy watched Elisa and Thalia walk down the street; the two were standing five feet apart from each other. He knew what it was like to feel always restless, it came with the natural battlefield reflexes that helped to keep them alive.

               Percy knew with either party he went with, awkward silence and painfully uncomfortable conversations were sure to follow. Thalia and Elisa had never talked one-on-one as far as he knew and there he was, stuck with a Hunter of Artemis, girls who hated men.

               Bianca and Percy stood awkwardly on the porch. Percy had never been good at talking to girls anyway, and he had never been alone with Biana, either. It wasn't like talking to Elisa, with Elisa they could bicker about anything. ( Maybe they weren't bickering and were arguing instead, he wasn't entirely sure if Elisa truly did hate him or not. ) But it was even worse trying to talk to Bianca now that she had joined the Hunters.

               "Nice rat," Bianca said, nodding to the rubber rat Percy had sat down on the railing.

               The boy tried to smile. "So ... how do you like being a Hunter so far?" he asked.

               Bianca pursed her lips. "You're not still mad at me for joining, are you?"

               "Nah." Percy shook his head. "Long as, you know ... you're happy."

               Bianca raised her eyebrows briefly, looking out to the snowy land before them. "I'm not sure 'happy' is the right word with Lady Artemis gone," she said. "Being a Hunter is definitely cool. I feel calmer somehow. Everything seems to have slowed down around me. I guess that's the immortality."

               Percy looked at Bianca closer, trying to see the difference that he hadn't noticed before. Bianca seemed more confident than she had at Westover Hall, like she was at peace. She didn't hide her face under that green cap as she had. She kept her hair tied away from her face, and looked people right in the eye when she spoke.

               A shiver traveled up Percy's spine as he realized that a thousand or five thousand years from then, Bianca di Angelo would look exactly the same as she does. Maybe Bianca would be having a conversation just like the one they were having with another half-blood long after Percy's time had passed. But in the end, Bianca would still look like a twelve-year-old girl.

               "Nico didn't understand my decision," the Hunter admitted. "Elisa doesn't either, no matter how hard she tries."

               "They'll be okay," Percy tried to reassure Bianca. "They have each other. Camp Half-Blood takes in a lot of young kids, too."

               "How old were you when you arrived at camp?" Bianca asked.

               "Twelve," said Percy. "Two summers ago."

               Bianca nodded. "I still don't understand how Elisa knew so much about camp."

               Percy shook his head. "Do you ...? You've never asked about her past?"

               Bianca shrugged. "I never thought to ask, I always assumed she got sent to Westover for bad behavior."

               "That wouldn't be hard to believe," the son of Poseidon said.

               Bianca tried to smile. "She's a good person."

               "I never said she wasn't."

               "I figured you would think that since how much you two argue," said Bianca.

               "Elisa and I don't argue," said Percy. He reconsidered when Bianca looked at him silently; "Okay, maybe a little. Most of our arguments are because of me, though. I kept pestering her."

               Bianca shook her head lightly. "It's not hard to get under Elisa's skin, she's pretty hot-headed."

               "Then why did you ask her to take care of Nico?" Percy asked. "You made her promise to keep Nico safe."

               Bianca frowned. "How do you know that?"

               "She told me," Percy said. "Elisa told me," he clarified.

               Bianca raised her eyebrows. "Elisa told you? You pestered her enough that you got that out of her?"

               Percy shrugged. "Maybe."

               "I asked Elisa because I know she would do everything she can to protect Nico. She told me she would have even if I hadn't asked her," admitted Bianca. "It's a little odd to me that she would go on a quest when she promised that."

               Percy tucked his hands in the pockets of his coat. "We all have our reasons to go on this quest," he said.

               Bianca stared at him. "Why'd you go then? Annabeth?" Percy flinched at the name. The Hunter's stare turned sympathetic. "I'm sorry—for what happened to her. I hope we find her. She's lucky to have a friend like you."

               He took a breath. "Lot of good it did her."

               "Don't blame yourself, Percy," said Bianca. "You risked your life to save Nico, Elisa, and me. I mean, that was seriously brave. If I hadn't met you and Elisa, I wouldn't have felt okay leaving Nico. I figured if people like you two lived there, he'd be okay. You're a good guy."

               Percy took the compliment by surprise. "Even though I knocked you down in Capture the Flag?"

               Bianca laughed. "Okay. Except for that, you're a good guy."

               A couple of hundred yards away, Grover and Zoë were leaving the coffee shop, their arms loaded down with pastry bags and drinks.

               "So, what's the story with you and Nico?" Percy asked Bianca. "Before Elisa and Westover, where'd you go to school?"

               The new Hunter frowned. "I think it was a boarding school in D.C. It seems like so long ago."

               "You never lived with your parents? I mean, your mortal parent?" Percy clarified.

               "We were told our parents were dead," said Bianca. "There was a bank trust for us. A lot of money, I think. A lawyer would come by once in a while to check on us. Then Nico and I had to leave that school."

               "Why?" Percy asked.

               Bianca knitted her eyebrows together. "We had to go somewhere. I remember it was important. We traveled a long way. And we stayed in this hotel for a few weeks. And then ... I don't know. One day, a different lawyer came to get us out. He said it was time for us to leave. He drove us back east, through D.C. Then up into Maine. And we started going to Westover. Eventually, Grover and Elisa showed up."

               It was a strange story, then again, Bianca and Nico were half-bloods, and nothing about their lives was ever normal.

               "So you've been raising Nico pretty much all your life?" Percy asked. "Just the two of you?"

               Bianca nodded. "That's why I wanted to join the Hunters so bad. I mean, I know it's selfish, but I wanted my own life and friends. I love Nico—don't get me wrong—I just needed to find out what it would be like not to be a big sister twenty-four hours a day."

               Percy thought back to the summer of '07, the summer when he learned he had a Cyclops for a brother. He understood Bianca and what she was saying.

               Bianca went on to say, "I hate to push the role onto Elisa but I know she'll do fine. They're practically siblings already. You should hear them when they bicker over whether this or that is a Mythomagic rule. Elisa's always trying to convince Nico some rule exists so she can win."

               "Does she win?" Percy asked.

               Bianca shook her head, laughing. "Never. She never wins."

               Percy watched as Zoë and Grover walked over. "Zoë seems to trust you," he said. "What were you guys talking about, anyway—something dangerous about the quest?"

               "When?" Bianca asked, starting to frown.

               "Yesterday morning on the pavilion," said Percy. "Something about the General."

               "Percy knew he told too much when Bianca's face darkened. "How did you ...? The invisibility hat. Were you eavesdropping?"

               "No!" Percy denied. "I mean, not really. I just—"

               The son of Poseidon was saved from answering as Grover and Zoë arrived with the drinks and pastries in hand. Percy took a hot chocolate and a blueberry muffin as he tried ignoring the outraged look Bianca kept staring him down with.

               "We should to the tracking spell," said Zoë, looking over at the satyr who knew how to perform one. "Grover, do you have any acorns left?"

               "Um," Grover, mumbled, chewing on a bran muffin, wrapper and all. He started rummaging through one of his pants pockets. "I think so. I just need to—"

               He froze mid-sentence, his eyes wide with confusion.

               Percy was ready to ask what was wrong when a warm breeze passed by him. The breeze was like a gust of springtime but had gotten lost in the middle of winter somewhere along the changing of seasons. The breeze was fresh air, something hard to come by in Colorado, but there was something else there—almost like a voice, trying to say something to them; a warning, perhaps.

               Zoë gasped. "Grover, thy cup!"

               Grover dropped the coffee cup, the drink pouring across the ground. The paper cup had been decorated with blue drawings of birds, which quickly peeled themselves off the cup and flew into the sky. The rubber rat Percy had set on the railing squeaked, scampering off the railing and running for the line of trees. The rubber rat hadn't been so rubber when it was running off; it was coated in real fur, real whiskers poking out, and real, not-so-glassy eyes blinking at its surroundings.

               Grover collapsed next to his spilled cup of coffee, which was steaming in the snow. Percy looked over his shoulder at the sound of frantic footsteps; Elisa and Thalia had returned. This time they didn't look so uncomfortable and awkward around one another, but that didn't mean they looked at ease, either. Thalia held her spear in hand as Elisa broke out into a run. 

               "What the hell happened to him?" Elisa demanded, pushing her way past Percy.

               "What?" Thalia asked, hurrying after the daughter of Dionysus. "Elisa, we have to—! What's wrong with Grover?"

               "I don't know," Percy said. Elisa crouched down next to Zoë, lifting Grover's head out of the snow. "He collapsed."

               "Do you know what made him collapse?" Elisa asked, shooting Thalia a look over her shoulder.

               Percy didn't know what the look meant but the way Thalia was holding her spear, he figured the two had seen something. "No," he admitted. "He gasped and then—"

               Grover groaned loudly, drowning out Percy's words. 

               "Well, get him up!" Thalia said. She looked over her shoulder once more. Her frantic looks around the deserted street made Percy believe the two thought something was following them. "We have to get out of here."

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The questers made it to the edge of Cloudcroft before the first two skeleton warriors appeared. They were exactly who Percy described them; transparent grey skin that made their whiting bones visible, along with piercing yellow eyes. They stepped from the trees on either side of the road.

               They grew their handguns on the quest members. Elisa stared down the barrel of the gun, pulling out Acantha from the back pocket of her jeans. She wasn't sure how much damage she could do with a spear when her opponents had guns.

               Thalia tapped her bracelet. Aegis spiraled to life on her arm, but these warriors weren't afraid of Medusa. The skeleton warriors stared daggers at the son of Poseidon.

               Zoë and Bianca drew their bows, but Bianca was having trouble as Grover kept leaning against her.

               "Back up," said Thalia.

               They started to back away, but Elisa paused when she heard rustling tree branches. She looked over her shoulder as Bianca and Grover backed into her. Three more skeleton warriors appeared on the road behind her.

               They were surrounded.

               "Dammit," Elisa snapped. "They couldn't play fair?"

               She knew it could be more unfair considering she was only seeing five and Percy told her there were a dozen. Still, they had guns and Elisa didn't.

               She looked between the five skeletons, wondering who was going to make the first attack. It wasn't an attack but one of the skeletons raised a cell phone to his mouth and spoke into it.

               Expect, he wasn't exactly speaking, the teeth he had left were clanging against each other. Elisa knew why the skeleton made a call, the twelve had split up, and he was calling his brethren.

               If they didn't get out soon, the quest members would have to fight twelve instead of just five.

               "It's near," Grover moaned.

               "It's here," Percy corrected.

               "No," Grover insisted, shaking his head. "The gift. The gift from the Wild."

               "Gift?" Elisa asked.

               Grover groaned. "Sent from the Wild," he said.

               Elisa wasn't sure if that was supposed to make her feel better. All she knew what that Grover was in no position to be fighting anything, let alone some skeletons with guns.

               "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 Zoë.

               "The Wild!" Grover shouted out.

               A warm breeze made its way through the canyon, rustling the trees, but Elisa kept her eyes trained on the skeletons in front of her. She gripped Acantha, eyeing which of them was going to make the first move:

               It was Percy.

               He charged for the two skeletons in front of them. One of the skeletons fired, but somehow, Percy deflected it and kept going. The other skeleton drew a baton but Percy sliced off his arm at the elbow. Percy then swung his sword through the skeleton's waist and cut him in half.

               The skeleton's bones were unknitted and clattered to the asphalt in a pile. Immediately, the bones began to move, reassembling themselves back together.

               Elisa turned away from the two skeletons as Thalia charged for the second skeleton. The three skeletons behind Elisa looked just as dangerous, equipped with guns and batons.

               Zoë and Bianca raised their bows and started firing at the three skeletons. Their arrows didn't do any damaged and only irritated the warriors, but they kept them at a length away. Elisa wasn't sure how much help that was going to be considering how far bullets could travel.

               Elisa raised Acantha, pulling Grover behind her. One skeleton knocked Bianca's arrow out of his way and lunged for Elisa. Elisa knocked the skeleton back with one end of Acantha. The bones were unknitted and clattered to the floor in front of her. No sooner, the bones started to reassemble by themselves.

               Elisa backed Grover away, keeping an eye on the skeleton in front of her. She raised Acantha in defense of the baton but Bianca stabbed the skeleton in the ribcage with her hunting knife.

               Bianca and Elisa watched in shock as the skeleton warrior erupted into flames. The only thing left of the skeleton was a small pile of ashes and a singed New Mexico police badge.

               Elisa looked at Bianca. "How'd you do that?" she demanded.

               "I don't know," the new Hunter admitted nervously. "Lucky stab?"

               "Make another 'lucky' stab, then!"

               Bianca tried, but the remaining four skeleton warriors were wary of her and her hunting knife. The skeleton warriors continued to press them back, keeping them all at baton length, now.

               "Plan?" Percy asked nervously.

               But nobody had a decent answer for him and they all stayed silent. The trees behind the skeletons were shivering, branches were being snapped in half.

               "A gift," Grover murmured.

               At the sound of a mighty roar, the largest pig Elisa had ever seen came barreling headfirst into the road. It had to be a wild boar, thirty feet high, sporting a snotty pink snout and tusks the size of canoes. The boar's back bristled with brown dirty hair. Its eyes were wild and angry.

               It squealed and raked the four skeletons aside with a single swipe of its tusks. The force was so great, they went flying over the trees and into the side of the mountain, where they smashed into pieces, small enough pieces Elisa hoped they wouldn't be able to form back together.

               After the skeletons had been dealt with, the boar turned to the quest members.

               Thalia and Elisa raised their spears but Grover yelled, "Don't kill it!"

               The daughter of Dionysus gawked at the satyr. "Don't kill it so it can kill us?"

               The boar grunted and pawed the ground, ready to charge and skewer them alive.

               "That's the Erymanthian Boar," said Zoë, eyeing the wild animal wearily. "I don't think we can kill it."

               "Oh, great," Elisa snapped. "That makes me feel so much better. Some kind of gift ..."

               "It's a gift," Grover insisted. "A blessing from the Wild!"

               The boar squealed and swung its tusk. Zoë and Bianca dived out of the way. Elisa grabbed Grover by the back of his shirt, rolling out of the boar's line of target.

               "Yeah, I feel blessed!" Percy said, backing away from the wild boar. "Scatter!"

               They all ran in different directions, and for a moment, the boar was confused.

               "It wants to kill us!" Thalia said.

               "Of course," said Grover. "It's wild!"

               "That's a blessing how?" Elisa demanded.

               It was a very fair and very good question, but it seemed she had pissed off the boar. It snorted and charged for her. Elisa rolled out of the way, ending up behind the boar, which pulverized the WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT sign with its tusks.

               Elisa was pulled to her feet by Bianca. "You know the story about this boar?" she asked Elisa hopefully.

               "No." Elisa shook her head. "Maybe Hercules fought it?" she offered.

               "Keep moving!" Zoë barked.

               She and Bianca ran in opposite directions, confusing the boar on who to go after. Then the boar turned to Elisa. It seemed the boar still hadn't gotten over her comments and charged for her once more. She ducked and rolled through the snow, managing the graze on the side of the boar with Acantha.

               Grover yelped, "Don't hurt it!"

               "It wants to hurt me!" Elisa yelled. "It's either me or the boar, Grover!"

               Grover frowned, pulling his reed pipes to his lips to play a sappy tune. The boar huffed and turned towards him. Grover played and danced his way around the boar, avoiding the tusks.

               But out of all of them, Percy and Thalia ended the worst off.

               When the boar turned to the two, Thalia made the mistake of raising Aegis in defense. The sight of Medusa's head made the boar sequel in outrage. Then, the boar charged for them.

               Somehow, the two managed to stay ahead of the boar and its tusks. Part of it could have been due to the fact Thalia and Percy could dodge and weave through trees when it seemed the boar only knew how to plow them down.

               Elisa stopped, watching the trees shake and fall from what was happening within the forest. She took a deep breath, looking around at the damage that had been caused. Her heart was racing and she could hear her blood flowing; adrenaline.

               Elisa couldn't say she didn't not enjoy the feeling of fighting for her life. For a long time, it was better than dealing with her problems.

               The sound of wood snapping, trees falling, and boar squeals were getting quieter. Eventually, they faded altogether.

               Zoë stood up, dusting the snow off her pants. "Let us go find them," she said.

               "Are they okay?" Bianca asked, tucking away her hunting knife.

               Zoë looked at the line of fallen trees with a frown. "Let us hope."

               Grover paled. "I'm sure they're okay."

               Elisa walked into the forest, following the path of fallen trees. "Is this the land of the rain to you?" she asked.

               Bianca looked around the snowy land. "No ...?"

               "Then, they're probably fine," said Elisa.

ˋˏ [ 👑 ] ˎˊ

"Hello?" Grover called down the tunnel.

               "You see something?" Elisa asked, walking over to Grover who was in an abandoned tunnel. Zoë and Bianca followed after the two, looking around.

               "Down here!" It was Percy's voice.

               He and Thalia were stuck at the bottom of a snowy hill. Both looked pretty banged up but didn't seem to have been gouged by the boar at any point. The boar wasn't too far away from them, buried in snow, struggling to get itself out.

               Elisa raised her eyebrows. "How the hell did they get down there?"

               Bianca shrugged. "Who knows."

               Grover started to climb down the steep hill first, leaving the three girls to follow after. Elisa's feet grew cold and numb, but soon enough, she was down there, next to Percy and Thalia.

               "A blessing of the Wild," Grover repeated, looking much more agitated.

               "I agree," said Zoë. "We must use it."

               "Hold up," Thalia said irritably. Pine needles were stuck in her hair, making her look like she got into a fight with a Christmas tree and lost. "Explain to me why you're so sure this pig is a blessing."

               "Exactly," said Elisa, crossing her arms. "All it did was try and poke holes in us."

               Grover looked over to the bull, distracted. "It's our ride west. Do you have any idea how fast this boar can travel?"

               "The average speed of a boar?" said Elisa. "Like, one mile per hour?"

               "Fun," Percy said, staring at the boar. "Like ... pig cowboys."

               Elisa narrowed her eyes. "Pig cowboys?" she repeated.

               "Pig cowboys." Percy nodded, raising his hand up his head, swinging his fist around like he had a lasso.

               "Don't ever do that again," said Elisa, frowning, a disgusted look on her face. "I don't wanna see that again."

               Grover was still staring at the boar, an unreadable expression on his face. "We need to get aboard. I wish ... I wish I had more time to look around. But it's gone now."

               "What's gone?" Percy asked.

               Grover didn't seem to hear Percy. The satyr walked over to the boar and jumped onto its back. At that point already, the wild animal was making some headway through the snow, and once it broke free, there would be no way of stopping it. Grover took out his pipes, played a sappy tune, and tossed an apple in front of the boar. The apple floated and spun right above the boar's nose, and the boar went nuts, straining to get it.

               "Automatic steering," Thalia murmured. "Great."

               She trudged over and jumped on behind Grover. Zoë and Bianca walked toward the boar.

               "Wait a second," Percy said. "Do you two know what Grover is talking about—this wild blessing?"

               "Of course," said Zoë. "Did you not feel it in the wind? It was strong ... I never thought I would sense that presence again."

               Elisa and Percy exchanged a look.

               "Whose presence?" Elisa asked.

               Zoë stared at Elisa like she had sprouted two heads. "The Lord of the Wild, Elisa. Just for a moment, in the arrival of the boar, I felt the presence of Pan."

               Elisa looked at the boar wearily, remembering how it tried to gouge some holes in her. "You think Pan sent this boar to us? This happy to gouge a hole in my stomach boar to help us?"

               "It is likely," said Zoë. "And it is wild, of course it will act like a wild animal."

               "So Pan couldn't pick any nicer boars? I'm sure there are some nice ones around that can travel just as fast," Elisa muttered, making Percy snort.

👑 JULY 8TH, 2022 / i was gonna have elisa and thalia bonding time but i couldn't figure out a way to add it :( BUT it will be added!!