The Blessing or Curse of the Goddess of Love - Part 1
After seeing that Bianca was completely fine, having only a few minor burns that Grover could easily heal with healing magic, nectar, and ambrosia, Zoë, who had been complaining earlier that she didn't want to follow them, had no choice but to go with them, since apparently they were heading in the same possible direction.
As for Percy, he had been left temporarily mute. Not even Grover's healing magic or nectar could heal the damage caused by using the power of the Voice in that way.
In the end, after seeing that Talos was no longer moving, the group decided, as a precaution, not to spend the night there as originally planned. It would be better to keep moving and get away from that place before perhaps a second remastered Talos appeared from somewhere among Hephaestus's scrapyards.
Fortunately for them, and in a rather suspicious manner, the moment they left the scrapyard they came across what looked like a battered tow truck that seemed to have been abandoned there as scrap.
But the strange thing was that not only was the fuel tank full, but the engine started up with surprising ease.
It was obviously the work of some meddler.
Maybe even the goddess of love herself, who had been hinting something stupid to Percy the previous night purely for her own amusement.
But Percy couldn't literally complain because he couldn't speak.
And also because it had actually been genuinely helpful.
Though he still suspected whatever the goddess of love had planned.
Besides, Percy's gaze kept drifting toward Bianca's head without meaning to, and every time it did, his frown deepened a little more.
Making Bianca think he was pretty angry with her over the foolish thing she had done when everyone told her she had nearly been electrocuted to death.
Not to mention that she had destroyed Percy's precious jacket-armor.
Although if Percy was somewhat annoyed about the foolish thing she had done, he didn't care all that much about the jacket.
Well... maybe a little.
But it was good that Bianca had survived because she was wearing it, so he wasn't going to complain.
"So, what attacked you were skeletons?" Bianca asked Zoë, being perhaps the one who got along best with the Hunter.
Maybe because they were both archers, and Bianca herself had already been invited by Artemis to join them.
Even though Bianca had turned down the offer, Zoë seemed to think it was only temporary, since being a Hunter came with many benefits.
For example, immortality.
And following a goddess on her hunt.
So Zoë had been trying to befriend Bianca in order to invite her again once the mission she had undertaken to rescue Artemis was over.
"Spartoi. Yes, and they should be nearby. They're like hunters, and there were too many of them for me to deal with alone," Zoë explained calmly.
Meanwhile, Thalia was the one driving, wearing a completely serious expression as she watched the road and paid attention to every traffic sign.
Though that wasn't really necessary since they were in the middle of a damn desert.
Of course, nobody complained, because at least among those present, she was the best driver.
Grover, for his part, sat in the passenger seat beside her, trying to navigate using the large map spread open in front of him.
Though maybe he wasn't being very helpful, since all they really had to do was keep driving straight until they found civilization.
In the end, though, finding it turned out to be a bit more difficult, because out of nowhere the vehicle they were using seemed to burn through its entire fuel tank after several hours of driving without a single gas station nearby.
Or maybe that was the passenger's fault for choosing the route with the fewest gas stations in the world.
"Uh. I could've sworn there was supposed to be a gas station around here," Grover said while studying the map.
But in truth, they had heard those words several times at different points throughout the trip.
Finally unable to take it anymore, Thalia snatched the map from Grover and began examining the route they had followed.
Then she looked up and scanned the desert around them until her gaze settled on something in the distance.
"Isn't that one over there?" Thalia said while pointing toward what appeared to be a gas station.
Though it was hidden behind desert shrubs and cacti.
And it was so rusted that its roof had collapsed.
There was very little chance that any of its pumps still worked.
"Ah, well... maybe the map is a little older than we thought," Grover said, finally realizing a very important fact.
Everyone had to get out of the vehicle.
And when Thalia closed the door, the tires deflated as if the truck itself had finally decided it couldn't go any farther.
And this was as far as it was willing to take them.
"Just what we needed," Thalia said irritably while looking in every direction.
Seeing only dry earth, cacti, and a few distant mountains.
Oh, and obviously the road.
Percy, who still couldn't speak—or if he did, his voice came out rough and hoarse—began gesturing with his hands.
Since Tyson wasn't there this time to act as his interpreter, that job fell to Grover.
Who had his special connection for situations like these.
Or well, not really for situations like these.
But it was useful right now.
"Percy says we can walk and hitch a ride along the road. It's not like we haven't done that before," Grover repeated.
Nobody objected.
After all, even though it wasn't like many cars actually traveled these roads, they had seen a few while driving.
So if they were lucky, they'd find someone kind enough to take them to the nearest town.
And fortunately, it actually didn't take very long to find the good Samaritan who would do exactly that.