Chapter 2- Give me a break...please I'm begging

Percy

I knew I couldn't shake the feeling off, even as I lied there in my bed in my bed at camp half blood. I just couldn't help thinking about the little girl I'd found yesterday at Goode Middle School's orientation. I'd begged Chiron to let me go after her and talk to her, calm her down, I knew how it felt to not know what you are and what world you actually live in.

I looked at my watch it was one o'clock in the morning; I rolled onto my back staring up at the grey ceiling. I felt comforted about the sound of the fountain and the smell of brine. It's what helped me finally get to sleep, but that when my problems just got worse. I began to dream...

I was stood in a hospital, actually New York's Lenox Hill Hospital; this was where I'd been born and where I'd sent a few kids over the years. I was in a large open spaced room; the blinds were titled to let little streaks of light in. There was no one in the room apart from me and a girl. I walked forward towards the girl; she lay in a hospital bed, with machines around her that were beeping quietly. I studied the girl, she had dark hair that was almost as black as night, her features were young so she must have been eleven or twelve years old, especially with the freckles that went across her nose and cheeks. But the strange thing was her face, on the left side of her cheek and forehead there was a large pink mark that went down to her neck, she had matching marks on her arms like she was recovering from sun burn. I knew exactly who the girl was; it was the young girl I'd save from the Ram Demons the day before. I felt guilt wash over me, I knew I should have gone after her, if I had maybe she wouldn't be here in the hospital. I wondered how she'd got here-

The door opened behind me and I almost jumped then I remembered this was a dream because I wasn't actually here. But someone else was. Grover walked in quickly wearing a doctor's outfit, green scrubs and a white lab coat. He wore however something that didn't look right (especially if was trying to pass for a doctor) a worn red baseball hat was covering his horns- that was so he could act human. He walked up to the little girl and then looked at the machines. He began flicking the switches off. I wanted to shout at him that one of those machines could be keeping the girl alive but of course he couldn't hear me.

Grover bent over the little girl and gently shook her awake "hi" he said, his little goatee was quivering as he spoke "can you hear me? Mine name is Doctor-er Doctor Grover"

The little girl blinked at him several times before saying "you're not a doctor"

Grover sighed "caught me red handed" he said jokingly he looked nervous "I'm here to take you somewhere"

The little girl sat up too quickly she clutched her head and swayed

"Easy" said Grover steadying her "what's your name?"

"Phoebe" she said quietly

"Well Phoebe do you want a friend right now?" asked Grover he began taking the sticking monitor things off her arms

Phoebe looked down at Grover's hands "how can I trust you?" she asked frowning her eyes were dark with anger "that women-that paramedic said everything was going to be ok, but she lied, my mum wasn't ok"

Grover's face fell "do you know what happened?" he asked kindly

Phoebe nodded "she died" little tears filled the corners of her eyes

"Well" said Grover firmly "I promise you right here right now, that I will take you to a special place where everything will be ok and you will be safe"

Phoebe wiped her eyes "what place? Another hospital? Not an orphanage please, not that" she looked panicked

" No not an orphanage, a camp" said Grover he slid down the railing and pulled a pair of jeans out from under his doctor's gown "a camp your dad wants you to go to"

Phoebe looked up suddenly as she swung her legs over the bed, she wore rainbow coloured socks on with her white gown "my dad?" she asked in shock "I've never met my dad"

Grover looked anxious as a phone outside the room rang "quick put these on" he said "and I will explain more on the way"

Phoebe hesitated for a moment then slid the jeans on under her hospital gown; they were a little big for her.

The door opened again, all three of us jumped a Doctor strolled in. He looked very young, with sandy coloured hair, he was very tanned and had white teeth...I frowned oh De Immortals what was he doing here?

"Good morning Phoebe" he said looking at a chart "how are we doing today?"

"Very well Doctor Fred" replied Phoebe she looked at Grover cautiously; Grover looked shocked and worried at the same time

"Well that's great to hear" said Doctor Fred, or shall I say Apollo who was pretending to be a doctor "ah Doctor Grover I've see you've come to collect Miss James. Excellent, she'll be in safe hands" he leaned against the bed casually "Don't stand there all day, I suggest you should get going"

Grover blinked twice, he took Phoebe's hand "come on Phoebe" they crossed to the door "and thank you" he said to Apollo

Apollo just waved he then turned and smiled "go on Percy you too" I didn't know how he could see me "I know everything" he added, great now he was reading my mind.

I followed Grover and Phoebe out of the side room, "Just taking her for another x-ray" Grover said to the nurse who was at the station. She smiled with a dream like expression as Grover and Phoebe walked pass. I saw the television set behind her; I could hear what the news reports were. A photo of an apartment on fire was shown followed by a photo of Phoebe and one of her mother. The over dressed and make up wearing women spoke "In other news NYPD are still investigating the freak gas explosion at the apartment of Emma James and daughter Phoebe" I stopped walking to listen "Police say they believe the explosion came from a faulty cooker in the apartments kitchen. The police have quarantined the house and are questioning people. The service for Miss Emma James will be held on Friday, while her daughter Phoebe, who was badly burnt still, recovers in New York's Lenox Hill Hospital-"

I turned round to see where Phoebe and Grover had gone they were stepping into an elevator, I ran to catch up, could I pass through walls here or would I have to wait for the next one?

As I got closer a doctor ran pass he threw out his arm and prevented the lift from closing, I jumped in and noticed the doctor was wearing a pair of Nike trainers, with wings. Hermes, how many gods were here?

Grover didn't seem to notice until Hermes turned to him "I suggest you don't linger at the gift shop when you get to the ground floor" he said

Grover turned, his goat eyes dilated he seemed just as shocked as I was that there were two gods here. "Err" he didn't know how to reply

"Yes I know you weren't going to the gift shop, it was just an example" Hermes's eyes blazed, Phoebe shrunk back behind Grover "there aren't just my kind here"

The elevator pinged and shuddered to a stop. The doors opened, two security guards had their backs to us. Grover tugged Phoebe out of the lift and towards the main exit. The security guards turned too late "Hey there they are!" yelled one of them. The other spoke into a walky-talky "there at the main entrance!"

"Don't just stand there you fools!" shouted a third voice that sent a chill down my spine "get that imposter and bring back my patient!"

I turned to see Doctor Thorn in a proper doctor's uniform; he smiled as he went after Phoebe and Grover.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, Hermes was there "wake up Percy" he said gently and poked me in the forehead.

I sat up back in cabin three in my bunk, it was morning now, I'd been dreaming for hours. I jumped from my bunk and hurried to get change.

Phoebe

Grover pulled me behind the nearest car, it was warm outside and the tarmac was hot under my feet, I was only wearing socks.

"It looks like someone's regenerated" said Grover, his hat was slipping off, and I saw something sticking up out of his hair that was holding the hat on.

I slowly reached out for the hat, while Grover peered round the side of the car, looking for the security guards and porter.

"I don't think their coming this way- HEY!" Grover's hat fell from his head, I gasped he had two horns growing out of his hair. Grover snatched his hat back off the ground "I know this may look strange-" his eyes were wide, probably like mine

"Strange?" I spluttered out "you're a mutant, you've got horns like Angel has wings from x-men"

Grover blinked at me "I'm not a mutant" he said plainly "I'm a satyr"

I blinked at him "yeah and I'm the Queen of England" I stood up and saw the security guards searching the parking lot, Doctor Thorn- the doctor who had been treating me- was helping them look. I felt a shiver run up my spine and I slowly sank back down "you said you were going to take me somewhere safe" I whispered "please I want to go there right now please"

Grover looked at me with sad goat eyes, he took my hand "it's a long journey Phoebe" he bleated "we need to find some clothes for you then, we'll see if we can get help, I really didn't actually tell anyone I was coming to get you- I was sent as a request to see if you were safe and could travel. But for some reason I knew I had to get you out of there"

I swallowed "we can't stay here; they'll come this way soon enough"

Grover sighed "This way" he said "towards central park"

Percy

I knocked on the door to cabin six, I could see the little grey owl above the door looking at me it gave me the creeps that owl, it looked like the gods were actually watching...the door opened and one of Annabeth's brothers stood in the doorway "Its Percy" he called behind him "Come on in" he said walking away from the door and back to a computer he'd obviously been working at. The rest of the Athena cabin were also there working on laptops or looking in books. I couldn't see Annabeth anywhere "She'll be out in a minute Percy" said Malcolm, he turned to look at a load of writing written on a smart board

"Late night?" asked Percy, all of the children of Athena had deep bags under their eyes

"We could say the same thing about you" said Annabeth's sister, Percy recalled her name been Stephanie

"Bad dreams" admitted Percy

"You too" Annabeth had appeared from the small bathroom at the back of the cabin "None of us could sleep"

The cabin mates all nodded their heads or said "yeah" in groggy tones

"Can we talk?" I was embarrassed to talk about dreaming of another girl, in front of my girlfriend's siblings

"Yeah" said Annabeth she slipped her hand in mine, and led me outside to sit on the steps of her cabin, "this is about your dream isn't it?"

"Yes" I said "you know that little girl I told you about, the one I saved yesterday"

"The demigod"

"Yeah, I dreamt about her last night" I turned to look at Annabeth. Her blonde hair was catching the sunlight, she looked beautiful, I couldn't believe mere weeks ago we'd been fighting a war against Kronos and his minions, are first kissed followed days after that

"What happened in the dream?" she turned her storm grey eyes to meet mine, they were calm

"Grover has found Phoebe in a hospital in New York" I replied "he's trying to bring Phoebe to camp, but Doctor Thorn's after them..." I saw Annabeth shudder, she'd had the worse experience with Doctor Thorn then any of us; I reached over and put my arm around "I thought he'd stay in Tartarus after Mr D squeezed the life out of him"

Annabeth nodded, I could practically hear her brain thinking "We need to go see Chiron, we need a quest, we have to help Grover, and Phoebe get to the camp"

"We need one more person to be granted a quest, three companions" I looked round at the newly built cabins; my eyes were drawn to one with bright green lights...

Nico wasn't too impressed that he'd been woken up on a Saturday morning, trust me the kids of Hades can be grumpy, they are even grumpier when woken up at eight o'clock in the morning.

"Q-q-q-quest?" he yawned "what quest?"

"We haven't got it yet" said Annabeth she went to perch on the end of Nico's bed, but when she saw that it was made of metal bones and skulls she decided not to.

"So go get it, then come back and wake me up" said Nico lying back down his bed, his black pyjamas blended into the black silk sheets

"Nico" I appealed to his better nature "we need to go see Chiron together, we stand a better chance of getting a quest"

Nico opened one eye; it was black against his pale skin "give me five minutes to get dressed"

By the time Nico was dressed and had woken up properly, we headed up to the big house it was bright blue against the trees and hills around it.

Chiron and Mr D were already up and were sitting on the porch playing cards and drinking coffee.

"Good morning demigods" said Chiron pleasantly he was in his wheel chair again today

"What do you three want?" whined Mr D he picked up a card

Annabeth and I leant against the railings, while Nico stayed in the shadows under the porch.

"I had a dream last night" I said honestly

Chiron stopped playing cards immediately "tell me more" he said

I told Chiron and Mr D (who took a sudden inertest) the whole story, I left out the bits about Doctor Fred and Hermes for the moment.

"Doctor Thorn" growled Mr D, the air filled with pressed grapes the purple fire in his eyes increased "they usually stay dead longer when I wrap them in vines"

"Apparently not" said Chiron "so Grover needs help, and you've come for permission to go on a quest?"

Annabeth and I swapped a look "yes" we both answered

"Well under normal circumstances it would be permitted" said Mr D he started playing cards again

"Why can't we go?" asked Nico frowning

"Rachael" said Chiron

"Rachael?" I questioned

"Rachael" groaned Annabeth "she's back at school"

"Without the Oracle" said Chiron "we cannot allow you to leave camp, only she can give you a prophecy for your quest"

I sighed; this was why having a mummy in the attic was easier she didn't wonder off to school.

"So we wait for Rachael then we can leave?" demanded Nico "Grover and that little girl could be dead by tomorrow morning"

"Cheerful thing isn't he?" remarked Mr D sourly

Nico went red in the face "how do we know their safe though there's no way to contact them?"

"Yes there is" said Annabeth smiling "Percy and Grover have an empathy link, maybe it's time to make a connection call"

I shrugged "it's the best shot we got" I closed my eyes and shouted in my head "Grover can you hear me?"

Suddenly all these images filled my head at once, Grover and the little girls pictures on a television set in a clothes store, Grover ushering the little girl into a stall with some clothes while he counted out money to the women behind the cashier.

"Percy?" he blurted out suddenly

"No I'm Amy" smiled the shop girl at him

"Er-never mind" said Grover, and he moved back to the stall where Phoebe was "Percy, Percy I can hear you!"

"Great" I felt myself smile "where are you?"

"Near Central park" said Grover "I've had to buy Phoebe clothes, we're on the news, they say I've kidnapped her"

"Wow, wow calm down, G-man" I said "Annabeth, Nico and I are trying to get a quest but Rachael's not back yet"

I felt Grover panic even more "Percy you're going to have to get to New York, Doctor Thorn's looking for us, and we have to keep moving, but there's something wrong with Phoebe she keeps getting tired really quickly, then she perks up I'm worried that Doctor Thorn might have given her something"

"We'll try and get there as soon as we can" I felt terrible, I knew that maybe he and Phoebe might not make it to camp "until then good luck G-man"

"Thanks Percy" he replied and then he was gone.

I retold Chiron, Mr D, Annabeth and Nico everything that Grover had said

"Maybe a poison of some kind?" said Mr D it was the first time I'd seen him take an interest in a demigod apart from his sons

"If it was a poison she would be dead by now" said Chiron "maybe an enchantment or a curse?"

Mr D shrugged

"Did Grover say anything else?" asked Chiron urgently "was there any other monsters or anyone else at the hospital?" the question he was dying to ask was there a god there?

I knew it was time to come clean "In my dream Apollo and Hermes were both at the hospital"

Mr D and Chiron both stared at me like I'd just dropped a bomb "I think we need to bring Rachael back" said Chiron; he wheeled himself down the porch and into the big house

We waited for him to return, he looked less disheartened "Rachael will be here in twelve hours time" said Chiron "until then, Grover will just have to do his best"

I stormed away from the Big House with Nico and Annabeth at my heals

"We're going to have to do something" said Annabeth she was thinking as she bit her lip

"I know but what?" I asked, I hit one of the thither balls and it went flying round the pole

"We could just sneak out of camp tonight?" suggested Nico, "we could shadow travel to New York and find them from there"

"But we need a proper plan, we need to find supplies and gather all of our equipment" said Annabeth hands on her hips "I'm scared that if we go without the prophecy we won't know the dangers"

"Yeah, but sometimes not knowing a prophecy is good" said Nico "look at Percy's prophecy so many people freaked out about it- and the new great prophecy"

"Ok" said Annabeth, she had her strategy face on "prepare a backpack each and meet here at midnight then we'll head out down the beach, where Percy can call for some help- shadow travelling would mean you been weak and a missing Mrs O'Leary"

"Ok it's a plan" I said "what was your dream by the way Annabeth I never go to ask you?"

Annabeth looked taken back; she folded her arms over her chest "It's nothing important"

"You sure?" asked Nico

"Yes" snapped Annabeth, I knew better than to push her so I let the subject drop.

We headed off to breakfast, and then, we returned to our cabins.

Nico like me had his cabin all to himself, which was lucky, because I knew Annabeth would have to leave some instructions with Malcolm her second in command.

I was packing my backpack, and just thinking of messaging Tyson (to tell him I wouldn't be able to talk to him for a while) when my cabin door opened. I jumped with fright expecting Chiron or Mr D to be standing there ready to bust me but it was someone else.

"Lord Hermes" I said bowing awkwardly. Hermes was wearing his usual postal care outfit with his helmet that had wings, which matched his Nike trainers, no doctors outfit today "err- not to sound rude- but what are you doing here?"

Hermes smirked at me, his son Luke had died last year and I still thought he might blame me in some way "hello Percy Jackson" he said

"Good evening Percy?" said Martha she curled out from Hermes's pocket

"Sup Percy?" said George appearing too

"hush you two, we're here on important business" Hermes snapped his fingers and a packaged appeared, "these are for you, I cannot say who they are from, but you will be needing them on your journey, we've all put a few things in" he handed me the box, it was surprisingly light

I opened the lid and blinked, there were five sleeping bags, a flask of ambrosia and a bag of nectar, Hermes own multivitamins, along with a map and a few campaign equipment essentials and some drachms and a bag of mortal money.

"Wow thanks" I said gratefully smiling "can you tell whoever sent this thanks too" I knew it must have been a god.

Hermes nodded "they also wanted to send a message" I looked up hopefully "but I and someone else suggested this may not be the best idea. The little girl you are going after is known only to four of us" I knew 'us' meant gods "myself, and three others, you have been given a quest by the gods, Percy Jackson, to find this little girl and bring her safely to camp-half blood because she is key person in the future"

I nodded "I'll do my best" I said "but what about the prophecy? What I'm doing is wrong"

Hermes waved his hand "most of us survived all of last year without prophecies and Rachael will tell the quests prophecy once she realises your missing" he explained "I also have to say, I don't think going on a quest to rescue every hero is good. You need something better maybe a team to help them arrive here..." he was rambling

"Right…" great now Rachael was going to be angry at me for been missing and I had no idea what Hermes was going on about

"Now you have a message to send and a friend to speak to, I shall not keep you" he snapped his fingers and George and Martha changed into his Caduceus and Hermes began to fade

I turned away from the bright light of the god and headed towards the huge glowing sink, I threw in a drachma and said "oh goddess accept my offering- Tyson, the kingdom of Poseidon"

The water glowed and then I saw Tyson, he was bigger than when I'd last seen him but he was a Cyclops. "Tyson!" I called

Tyson turned round and grinned he was eating a peanut butter sandwich "Percy!" he cried back and went to hug my illusion "is something wrong? Does Percy need Tyson?"

"No I have bad news" I said "we've got a demigod to rescue, so I'm going away for a while"

Tyson's brown eyes widened "demigod in trouble?"

"Big trouble" I nodded "so do you think you could send Rainbow and some friends?"

"Tyson will send help" he grinned showing yellow teeth that had bits of peanut butter stuck in them

"Think you can have them here by midnight?" I asked

Tyson set his sandwich down "Tyson will have help for Percy by midnight" he said "that's what brothers do"

"Great" I smiled "and I'll see you soon"

Tyson nodded and I waved away the connection

I looked down at my wrist watch we had hours to go yet, I might as well go hack a dummy to pieces in the arena.