A.N. Alright, I understand where you're coming from and she does kind of sound like that. But I think you're kind of over exaggerating when you said that she's treating Percy like a b****. That's way too far to say that she's acting a little less lovey dovey with him. I'm sorry I don't totally flow Percabeth from my fingertips, and I'm also not good with relationships so you can't blame me for not having her kissing his toes and tossing his salad, okay?


Chapter 8:
Grover Underwood

Why did it have to be Dr. Thorn? The manticore Dr. Thorn? I would have been fine with the Minotaur or Medusa, but Dr. Thorn?! Wait, I take back what I said about Medusa, she can rot in Tartarus.

And even if I was the new " Protector of the Wild" monsters still scare the Hypno out of me! Plus, it was Dr. Thorn! He had no ties with humans or any gods, in fact, he hated them both! So nothing held him back from totally annihilating the world, well, except us, " So I guess you're not too fond of the phrase " reforming in Tartarus" are you Thorn?" I could tell there was anger in his voice from the fact that Dr. Thorn had taken a very short time to reform.

" Oh, angry are we, Mr. Jackson? But in fact, I am fluently fond of the phrase only because I'm the one who usually teaches the crash course!" He pounced towards Percy, but Percy just moved his hand in the same motion he usually used to sweep his opponents away with water, except this time all he did was sweep away air, " Percy, look out!" He took my warning immediately and ducked, but the manticore's tail caught Percy by his shirt and pinned him to the wall, " You see, I've learned from a lot of the mishaps I made when I was alive before. The number thing I learned how to do was: how to kill you. " Percy's eyes widened because he must have realized that Dr. Thorn might just know where his Achilles Heel is, but I wouldn't have that.

I pulled out my flute and played a few notes. Next thing Dr. Thorn knew, a tree trunk was implanted on his face opposite the wall from Percy! Percy, immediately reacted and dropped from the wall and ran straight for the stuck Dr. Thorn, pulled out Riptide and slashed the Dr.s midsection clean off. Gold dust exploded from the wound and by then, even a doctor couldn't save the Dr. ( Get it!?), " Talk about a crash course! That was the easiest class I've ever had to pass! " Percy gave me a high five, but then a spike appeared right at our feet.

We both slowly rose our heads to see the legion of manticores that now had no leader. No leader meant no organization, no order, no mercy, I gulped down fear at that very moment, " Percy, you can handle them right?"
" Yea, right! Did you see what happened to me earlier?!" That sealed it. We were doomed, so to prolong our demise, I spoke in a low tone, " Percy, we're going to make a run for it. Get close to the kids, and when I say go, we're going to run for our sorry lives got it?" He nodded his head obviously knowing we couldn't win this fight.

I watched as Percy took short and slow steps towards the group of completely freaked out demigods, and he whispered something to them. When he was done and he gave me the thumbs up, " Now, it's time for me to work my magic..." I knew that I would have a very small window of time to complete the chant and an even shorter amount of time to get out of the building! But even in light of that, it would still give us some time and that was all we needed: some time.

My flute was already to my lips as I screamed, " Go!" and played the notes that would start a frenzy of chaos. Percy and the others sprinted for the hole in the wall as the manticores shot spikes at us and moved in on me, and when they were about a yard away from me, a giant wall of vines and poison ivy sprouted from the floor, and caught some manticores, but the others were just blocked from reaching us.

As soon as I saw the wall, though, I was gone! I had actually ran past Percy before they even left the building, " Come on you guys! We'll take the Sun Chariot!" Percy just stared at me, " We can't do that! Even if we leave, Annabeth is still in Tennessee! "

And it hit me: I was really just about to leave Annabeth, " Ok... Let me think!"
We kept running until I saw a sewer plate on the street, " We're going in there!"
" You know even the sewer doesn't smell bad enough to mask all of our demigod smell!"
" It's better than nothing isn't it?! If we keep running they're going to catch up with us, anyway!" Percy just nodded which looked like a dog wagging off its water with the rain coming down and everything, " Help me move it!"
I bent over and pushed the thing out-of-the-way, and I could literally feel the manticores claws pounding on the pavement somewhere behind us, " Everyone, hurry up and get in!" Hearing that, no one bothered taking the stairs; we all just jumped straight into the abysmal cavern. I came last, though, so I pulled the top back over as soon as the manticores ran straight over our heads.

" Everyone stay quiet!" The pounding continued for ten very long and excruciating minutes, but finally, it subsided, and we were safe...for that point in time at least.

I climbed down the ladder to see a lot of tired faces, but I only needed to talk to one of them, " Percy, what happened up there!? That's never happened before has it? I mean, you've been able to use water since you came to camp!"
" Grover just calm down and breathe for a second! It's probably just exhaustion. I got thrown out the front window of the Sun Chariot remember? It's me, so just relax!" I had no idea how he was calm. We had just literally dodged a legion of manticores that would've killed us on sight! Yet, he was cool as a cucumber! But if I argued with him, he just dodge the question.

" I will, but what about them?" I pointed to the five new demigods camp was going to get, " They're terrified out of their minds!" But two of them stood up completely outraged, " What the hell was that!? We're just eating our food and then we're about to get eaten!? And who are you two?"

One of them was a mixed kid with curly hair, obviously rebellious from his attitude. The one standing beside him was just about the same height as him, but this one was white and he had a cowlick. But all in all, they were brothers from two different lives, " I am Grover Underwood and this is Percy Jackson, and we're here to take you to Camp Half-Blood."

And that was when I learned that sometimes saying nothing says everything. Why do I say that? " What's Camp Half-Blood?" " What happened back there?" " What's your zodiac?" " Where is Camp Half-Blood?" " What are you?" They all seemed to be asking their questions at the same time and it became so overwhelming I felt like I would Panic again!

I looked at Percy to see if he had any ideas, " I don't know why you're looking at me! You're the ' protector'! You've done this before!"
" But I haven't done it in so long!"
" Well, don't you have some chant you can use and explain it to them?" I hate it when he's right... A chant that the elders used to use on new protectors to give them a quick round of information on the world from their own memories, and I had absolutely no idea if it would work on half-bloods. It wouldn't have hurt to try, though.

My flute was raised to my mouth and I blew three notes: An F, G flat, and a C. You wouldn't normally hear those notes on a flute, but as you now, we live in a world of Greek mythology. " Normal" isn't an option.

Anyway, all five demigods fainted, and that's when I realized I'd made a mistake. The elders only used it on satyr's because they could stand the magic and stay awake long enough for the chant to take effect. Demigods don't have that luxury. They will faint when magic like that enters their cerebrum cortex at a fast pace like that, " Don't worry, Percy. They'll wake up sooner or later, and then, we'll be able to leave."
" Yea, but you know, we have to get to the Mississippi River and meet up with Annabeth."
" Well, that plan won't work if you won't work if you can't get us there! Now, you get some rest, we're leaving as soon as they wake up, and I'm guessing it will be in about another hour..."

Percy had no argument. Of course, how could you? My plan was solid, and as much as he hated it, it all depended on Percy. But in the case that Percy's water failed him again, we were probably going to be in the South for a while.


A.N. For all of you who read my other story Who Are You? The sequel to said story is out and it's name is Death Rides On a Storm I'm two chapters strong on it, and I'm hoping to make it many more!
While I was typing this chapter( I started it 7-10-13 and it's still 7-10-13!), I typed for a half- hour straight and before I knew it, I already had about 977 characters on it! I actually got a little scared that my laptop was freaking out and it wouldn't save all the work I had already done! But, this chapter is still here, and it's not going anywhere!