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Grover heaved deep, filling breaths. He had instinctively covered his legs with his pants as he went down, as they had been right next to him on the bed. The specter hadn't seemed to notice anything, thank gods. He would need some semblance of his identity if he were to stay in the city and observe. He wasn't sure if this was technically a monster or not, and he didn't want to rely too much on technicalities. He needed to call Chiron.

Grover groaned.

And Chiron would want the full story. Which meant Grover had to get his furry ass in gear and watch the 'ghosts' from the newly-made giant hole in the wall.

He stood slowly, the sounds of fighting outside reassuring him that they were still there. He quickly pulled his pants on, not bothering with the fake feet.

He did a strange mixture of hobbling and trotting as he made his way over to the massive hole. Gods, how did someone so small even make a hole like that, anyway?

He peered out at the skyline to see the 'ghosts' floating in mid-air. Grover finally took into account the features of the smaller one who had crashed into his room, and realized it was the ghost from the photo Annabeth had shown him. Phantom or something like that, if he remembered correctly.

The other monster, however, looked nothing like Phantom. While Phantom was more humanoid, and had more mortal features, the other was the exact opposite. He seemed be completely made of metal, and was absolutely decked head-to-toe in weapons. Grover froze. This could definitely prove to be problem.

The metallic ghost had Phantom suspended in the air, his metal fist clamped around his throat. Grover was too far away to make out what they were saying, but he could see the metal one's mouth moving, so they were having a conversation. Phantom seemed fairly quiet, not saying much. He wasn't struggling, either. The only sign that he was in any form of distress was his hands gripping the metal one, trying to pry his fingers away from his throat.

Grover didn't know if ghosts needed to breathe or not, not that these were ghosts.

Phantom suddenly smiled darkly, his green eyes turning an icy blue. Grover could only just register the look of fear on the larger ghost's face before everything turned to ice - his suit, his weapons, even the metal hand. Phantom easily shattered the metal hand, giving a whooping happily. It didn't last, however, as the ice casing on the ghost melted around him.

Grover felt chills down his spine. The monsters were powerful.

"Nice try, whelp!" Grover made out. "My new upgrades can escape your core power now. You are weak!"

Phantom folded his arms over his chest. "Says the ghost with one hand." He smirked.

The metal ghost looked at his hand in panic, just to see sparking wires. He looked up at where Phantom was, rage written across his face, but Phantom was gone.

"Come out where I can see you, Ghost Child!"

"Gladly, metal head." Phantom yelled, shooting up from below the metal ghost, a green glowing ball growing in his hand. The metal ghost looked down in surprise and fear, but Phantom expelled the energy in a flash of green light. The energy of the blast shot the metal ghost several feet higher into the air. Grover could see singe marks on the entire lower half of his body.

Grover winced, thinking about the damage. "Damn," he muttered.

The other ghost was outraged. "I will have your pelt on my wall!"

Phantom cringed visibly, saying something Grover hear. He unstrapped from his waist what appeared to be... a soup thermos? Grover didn't quite get that.

The other monster looked physically afraid, backing several away several feet before being sucked in by a column of blue energy. Grover blanched, taking a second look at the thermos. What in Hades?

Phantom visibly relaxed, rubbing the back of his neck and slouching a bit. He turned, seeming to remember Grover. He floated back over to the massive hole in the side of the building, looking almost sheepish.

"Sorry about that again, he gets on my nerves." And before Grover could say anything, he disappeared.

Grover blinked, trying to get this all to process.

"Di immortales."

"Chiron, we might have a problem."

Chiron set his cards face down on the ping-pong table. "Hello to you too, Grover. What's wrong?"

Grover cleared his throat. "Sorry. Hello Chiron, hi Mr. D."

Mr. D grunted his hello, not looking up from his cards.

"This place has a different sort of monster, Chiron. The locals are calling them ghosts."

Chiron's smile faded."Elaborate, please."

Grover nodded. "They don't seem to be the kind I've seen before; they aren't the underworld type."

Chiron raised his eyebrows. "How so?"

"Well," Grover thought out loud. "They're solid, to start. They've also got colors."

"Anything else?"

Grover frowned. "They can fly. They also have, er," He tried to think of a word, not wanting to say powers. "Abilities."

Chiron frowned. "Perhaps these creatures aren't ghosts, then." He glanced at Mr. D, who probably wasn't paying attention. He looked back to Grover. "And the locals can see them?"

Grover nodded. "I've talked to a few and all their stories seem to line up. They mostly doesn't seem to affect them."

"How do you know," Mr. D grunted, finally looking up from his cards. "That these 'locals' aren't just batshit? It's probably just a tourist trap."

Grover wished that was the case. "I've seen them myself. Two, actually."

Mr. D rolled his eyes, looking back at his cards. Chiron sent him a look, which he ignored.

Grover stood to the side, revealing the crater and new window in his room. "One crashed in here not five minutes ago. I'm getting weird vibes from this place."

Mr. D looked up from his cards and whistled. "Holy Hera."

Chiron nodded. "This is certainly a new situation. It'll need a prophecy, most likely."

Grover's eyes widened. What if Rachel couldn't give a prophecy?

Seeming to read his mind, Chiron said, "If Rachel cannot produce one, then there might be an issue. I cannot just send young demigods into an unknown situation without a reason. We will worry about that when it happens."

Grover gulped and nodded. "Yes s-sir." He couldn't shake the sickening feeling that he had.

The Iris message ended.

As if on cue, the door to the big house burst open. Percy and Annabeth rushed in, clearly worried. Annabeth had Daedalus' laptop tucked under her arm, and Chiron had no doubt that there were plenty of websites pulled up for him to look at.

"Chiron-" Percy started. Chiron raised his hand, silencing him.

"Grover has already contacted me. He's alright, don't worry."

They both heaved a sigh of relief. "We need to help him." Annabeth said, her eyes stormy with worry.

Chiron inclined his head. "I feel the same way Ms. Chase. However," He glanced at Mr. D, who still wasn't paying much attention. "I cannot let you leave camp without a prophecy. We know too little about the situation."

Annabeth nodded. "We'll go talk to Rachel."

Chiron smiled. "Good luck."

Annabeth took Percy by the arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He gave her a half smile, leaving with her.

"You know," Mr. D said, trying to catch a glance at Chiron's cards. "That Peter Johnson kid is just trouble."

Chiron angled his cards away from Mr. D. "If he had direct order from a god, he wouldn't need the oracle."

Mr. D snorted. "What, you want me to make a quest for him? What would that do, other than piss off Hades?"

Chiron smirked, hiding his mouth with his cards. "It would get 3 demigods and a satyr out of your hair for a while."

Mr. D didn't even pretend to think about it, slamming his cards on the table. "Sold." He smiled at his hand. "Ha! Take that, furry."

"Oh I'm taking it," Chiron said, laying down his winning hand. "I'm taking it very well."

Mr. D looked at the centaurs cards with disbelief. "Dammit!"

Hello friends! Sorry this took so long!

Quick little poll:

Who would you prefer to be a demigod child out of the DP trio? Sam or Tucker?

I think I've already decided about Jazz, and she'll probably be a child of Athena. I think I'm limiting it to two demigod children for now, but that doesn't mean I couldn't write other stuff thats off the timeline of this particular story. Let me know what you want/think!