Chapter 3
"Mom, I have to go back to camp, there's been an emergency. I'll call you as soon as I can."
Percy Jackson spoke to the answering machine in his house. His mother was bound to worried if he went to her in person, asking questions, questions that Percy was not ready to answer.
He knew he had to get to Annabeth and fast, he and Chiron drove to her apartment.
*ding*
The doorbell rang.
Annabeth Chase was not expecting anyone to arrive; she wondered who would be visiting her so late at night.
She answered the door.
"Percy! Chiron?!" she said in almost a scream.
"I know you must be shocked to see me Annabeth and of all places, here. But you must pack your things at once; we must go to camp." Chiron said.
"I'll explain on the way." Percy added.
Annabeth stood there for a moment pondering on what she had just heard, what? Was all that entered her mind. She immediately got what she thought she needed and joined Percy and Chiron in the cab.
"Ok Annabeth, this is what we know so far...."
The whole ride to camp half-blood Percy explained in detail all that he knew, the package, the Protogenoi, everything. When he had finished all that remained in the cab was dead silence, Annabeth did not know how to react to this, her mind still not accepting what passed through her ears.
"Percy, this is big." Was all her mind seemed to come up with.
"Yes Annabeth it is, I think this is even bigger than Grover's appetite." Percy responded.
Hey? At least the humour didn't totally vanish right? Well that is for now...
"Here we are, welcome back you two." Chiron said.
Camp didn't change that much, still the same hill, fields, from a distance they could see a couple of campers sword fighting. They smelled in the fresh air. They were happy to be home.
"Well you both best be heading to your cabins to get settled, we meet in my office in a hour."
Percy and Annabeth made their way to the cabins, waving to the campers that they passed, after all they were famous around here, everyone in camp knew them, all the new campers wanted to be them, at least since they were not aware of the horror that they were both about to face.
After they settled in their respective cabins, they headed to Chiron office their hands locked together, more of a reassurance than a romantic gesture.
"Percy my man!" Grover exclaimed.
"Grovs! Man I miss you, you goat!" Percy chuckles.
They all chuckle.
"Very funny man." Grover says Cleary not ammused.
"And well if it isn't my lady Annabeth Chase." Grover says, kissing Annabeth's hand.
"Why! Lord Grover, it's very nice to see you again." Annabeth replies with a curtsy.
They all hug, the famous trio, they were known for, every quest they took the last 5 years, they did together, they were practically family in a sort of I'm-never-going-to-kiss-you-in-the-lips sort of way, but of course Percy and Annabeth were an exception.
"Ehem." A noise comes from the back.
Clarisse. Who else right?
"CLARISSE!" Percy and Annabeth exclaim together. Going in for a hug.
"No one's touching me." Clarisse said, disgusted.
They could not help but all laugh.
"Percy, Annabeth, I've missed you so much." A voice comes from the corner.
"Rachel!" they both come in for the hug, Rachel accepts.
"Ok now that you've all made your introductions, let's begin this meeting shall we?" Chiron said.
"I would like to add that Thalia will be here shortly, Zeus is trying his best trying to get Artemis to join this quest."
Everyone missed and loved Thalia, when she decided to leave and join the Hunt, nothing had been the same, especially for Annabeth, Thalia was a sister to her.
"Now back to business, Percy and Annabeth have already been debriefed about this. So what we know is that..."
Chiron said the story to Rachel, Clarisse and Grover, the same story that Percy had told Annabeth in the cab just hours ago.
After a hour of explaining, he finally finished, his story met by dead silence, everyone taking in what they just heard. It was Clarisse who spoke up first,
"So you're telling us that we, a bunch of half-bloods have to defeat the Protogenoi, also known as the first ever entities that emerged from the universe all by ourselves because if we don't all gods and demi-gods will seize to exist?"
"Well that's the basic idea." Chiron said, unfazed by the tone in Clarisse's voice.
"You're kidding right?" Grover spoke up.
"We, he said pointing his finger around the room, have to defeat, Khaos, the void of darkness?" Grover was Cleary scared and petrified, he fear the worst.
"Yes Grover, you must." Chiron said.
"We especially included you Grover because we think that you can help us figure out how Pan was able to get rid of this void that is inside us."
"Chiron, not to be rude, but do you seriously think that Pan was able to get rid of this void in a matter of days? It must have taken him decades, hell even centuries, I mean this may have been the reason he went into hiding the first place, he needed complete peace, we don't have that here and we certainly can't achieve it in days!" Grover said defensively, as he got when Pan was ever brought up, it was the great god himself who tasked Grover in spreading to everyone that they should care and preserve nature. Pan was his idol.
"Well Grover, I'm afraid you must complete this mission, all of you must, we will not take no for an answer, this is not just Kronos were dealing with this time, it's the whole Protogenoi. We must begin this with lessons, the gods have decided that we must educate you about the level that you will be dealing with, Athena will be arriving tomorrow, lesson begin 6 am, mess hall, you are dismissed." Chiron said firmly, he was never usually this strict and stiff, but Percy had a pretty good idea of what lay behind that tone- fear.