Having fun? Here's the next chap in this exciting saga!
Needless to say, they had all freaked out a bit. Gohan had let out a shocked scream and ran around in circles. Grover was shocked, making terrified bleats.
"I told you he wasn't a demigod!"
Percy was just numb with confusion. Annabeth was the only one who kept her composure, slapping Gohan first, then Percy.
"All of you, calm down!" she ordered.
"How can I calm down? I've got a tail!" Gohan yelled.
"I can see, you moron!" Annabeth snapped. She turned Gohan around and looked at the wiggling brown tail.
"Fascinating. I've never seen anything like this." She observed with a look of awe as she traced her fingers across the side of it, causing Gohan to giggle.
"That feels pretty good!" Gohan grinned.
"You think it was your mom, for that crack Gohan made before?" Percy asked. Annabeth gave him a scathing look.
"Oh please. Monkey tails are hardly Athena's style. If my mom was going to do something to Gohan, it'd be much more creative." Gohan glared at Athena.
"Hey!" Annabeth ignored him.
"I must admit, I've seen a lot of things, but someone growing a tail is new to me." She looked at Gohan's back with curiosity.
"Why don't we just cut if off?" Percy asked. He uncapped Riptide, which gleamed in the evening light. Gohan's eyes nearly shot out of his head.
"Oh no! Don't even think about it! Nobody is cutting anything off anyone!" he yelled in a higher octave.
"Put the sword away, Percy." Annabeth ordered as she inspected Gohan. Percy nodded as he recapped the pen
"It looks like it's part of you." Then, testing the tail out, Annabeth squeezed. Gohan howled as his body stiffened up and he collapsed, leaving the others stunned.
"Sorry." She apologized as Gohan slowly got up.
"You said that your back's been itching?" she asked. He nodded.
"Since you checked my arm." She nodded at that.
"The ambrosia. Seems like that tail might be a part of you after all." Gohan scratched his head.
"I can't explain it, but this tail does feel familiar." Gohan frowned as the tail wiggled. Grover bleated.
"I told you he wasn't a demigod! This explains how the Furies found us! Who do you work for, uncle smasher!" he demanded angrily.
"NO! I'm not the enemy, I'm trying to help you guys!" Gohan yelled at Grover.
"ENOUGH!" Percy roared, causing everyone to look at him.
"Look, Gohan's our friend! He just risked his life to help us! He's not our enemy, and I'm sure all this will make sense!" silence followed as Percy took several breaths.
"Come on, we've got a long way to go."
They were pretty miserable that night.
They camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.
They had taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but they didn't dare light a fire to dry their damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. No one was in the mood to attract anything else. Gohan was still getting used to his tail, which wiggled behind him as he tried to sit comfortable. Grover was still giving Gohan wary looks.
They decided to sleep in shifts. Percy volunteered to take first watch.
Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. Gohan was curled up on the ground, looking at the side of a tree as he tried to go to sleep.
Grover put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.
"Go ahead and sleep," Percy told him. "I'll wake you if there's trouble." He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Percy."
"Will you stop ragging on Gohan? He's not a threat!" Grover bleated angrily.
"I'm not talking about that! This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."
"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist." Gohan spoke up.
He glared at Gohan. "Only a human wouldn't be, or whatever you are. Your species is clogging up the world so fast ... ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."
"Pam? Like the cooking spray?" Percy asked. Gohan snorted.
"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"
A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rainwater, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly Percy was nostalgic for something he'd never known. As for Gohan, another memory flashed through his head, of a small house, a vast forest, tall mountains, and clear streams. Gohan couldn't explain why, but that memory made his chest ache, and he felt a sense of longing.
"Tell me about the search," Percy said. Grover looked at him cautiously, as if he were afraid he was just making fun.
"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he explained.
"A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."
"And you want to be a searcher."
"It's my life's dream," he said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand ... the statue you saw back there that Gohan smashed…"
"I said I was sorry!" Gohan snapped.
Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."
"Hang on— the first?" both boys asked at the same time.
Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."
"Not once in two thousand years?"
"No."
"And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?"
"None."
"But you still want to go," Percy said, amazed. "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?"
"I have to believe that, Percy. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened." Gohan frowned.
"So, while you've spent the last two thousand years searching for this Pan, you've all just let the wild get destroyed?" Grover stared at Gohan with a look of shock.
"What?" Grover asked.
"Even if you find this Pan, what do you think he's going to do? Flick his hand and make everything right again? It seems like a bit of a stretch to me." Gohan frowned. Grover let out a furious bleat.
"What are you saying?" he demanded.
"What? Just seems like if you guys tried to save the Wild yourselves instead of looking for a savior, it wouldn't be as bad as you say it is." Gohan could have sworn the wind picked up for a brief second there. Percy quickly decided to jump in before those two started killing each other.
"How are we going to get into the Underworld?" Percy asked Grover. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me—"
"Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out."
"Don't be so hard on her, Percy. She's had a tough life, but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me..." His voice faltered.
"What do you mean?" Percy asked. "Forgave you for what?" Suddenly, Grover seemed very interested in playing notes on his pipes, much to Gohan's chargin.
"Wait a minute," Percy said. "Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp five years. She wasn't ... I mean, your first assignment that went wrong—"
"I can't talk about it," Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he'd start crying if Percy pressed him. "But as I was saying, back at Medusa's, Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."
"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunderbolt that Hades took."
"That's not what I mean," Grover said. "The Fur—The Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy ... why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."
"They seemed plenty aggressive to me." Gohan stated
Grover shook his head. "They were screeching at us: 'Where is it? Where?'"
"Asking about me," Percy said.
"Maybe ... but Annabeth and I, we both got the feeling they weren't asking about a person. They said 'Where is it?' They seemed to be asking about an object."
"That doesn't make sense." Percy countered.
"I know. But if we've misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt..." He looked at Percy like he was hoping for answers, but he didn't have any.
He thought about what Medusa had said: I was being used by the gods. What lay ahead was worse than petrification. "I haven't been straight with you," Percy told Grover. "I don't care about the master bolt. I agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring back my mother." Gohan looked up at that.
"Ummm, say what?" he asked
Grover blew a soft note on his pipes. "I know that, Percy. But are you sure that's the only reason?"
"I'm not doing it to help my father. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him." Percy responded.
"Now wait a second! Shouldn't we save the world first, then go get your mom?" Gohan asked. Percy whirled on Gohan.
"You don't get it! I have to get my mom back!"
Grover gazed down from his tree branch. "Look, Percy, I'm not as smart as Annabeth. I'm not as brave as you. But I'm pretty good at reading emotions. You're glad your dad is alive. You feel good that he's claimed you, and part of you wants to make him proud. That's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to notice what you'd done." Grover said
"Yeah? Well maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you're wrong. I don't care what he thinks." Gohan laughed.
"Okay, even I can tell you're lying."
"No I'm not!" Percy insisted.
Grover pulled his feet up onto the branch. "Okay, Percy. Whatever."
"Besides, I haven't done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York and we're stuck here I don't even know if we have enough money to go out west!"
Grover looked at the night sky, like he was thinking about that problem. "How about I take first watch, huh? You get some sleep. You too!" He directed that one at Gohan, who rolled his eyes.
Percy wanted to protest, but he started to play Mozart, soft and sweet, and I turned away, my eyes stinging. After a few bars of Piano Concerto no. 12, he was asleep, and Gohan followed a second later. Unfortunately, it was not a peaceful sleep.
In Gohan's dreams, he was standing on a large stretch of rocky ground. The sky was flashing red lighting, and the ground shook.
"Hello?" Gohan called out. A loud laughing filed the air. Then, something slammed into his back, sending him flying. He tumbled on the ground, winching as he sat up.
"Not bad, boy." Gohan gasped as he sat up. Then, the ground cracked. He screamed as he leaped, leaving a massive hole in the ground.
Gohan had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss, something huge and evil.
Cold laughter echoed from the chasm, washing over him like a bath.
"At long last..." a voice laughed. Gohan didn't answer.
"It was foretold you would come. I'm impressed. You're even better than I give credit, lost warrior."
An invisible force pulled him forward. It would drag him into the pit unless he stood firm.
"Help me rise, boy." The voice became hungrier.
"Bring me the bolt. Slay the son of Poseidon and daughter of Athena, and strike a blow against the treacherous gods. Follow me, and I will restore you to the warrior you once were. You will become the most powerful being in the universe!
"What do you mean?" Gohan demanded as he clenched his fists with rage.
Good, it murmured. Good. Your power is even greater than what was promised.
"Wake up, Gohan!"
Gohan yelped as his eyes opened. It was daylight.
"Well," Annabeth said, "the monkey lives." Gohan glared at her as he sat up.
"Not funny. How long was I asleep?" he groaned as he sat up.
"Long enough for me and Percy to cook breakfast." She handed him a plate of scrambled eggs.
"You packed eggs?" Gohan asked with surprise.
"Of course. And that's all you're getting, so don't pig out and whine for more." Gohan pouted.
"And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."
Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal.
No. It wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle. The poodle yapped at me suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not." Gohan blinked. "Are you ... talking to that dog?"
The poodle growled.
"This dog," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."
"You can talk to animals?"
Grover ignored the question. "Gohan, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Gohan."
I stared at Annabeth, figuring she'd crack up at this practical joke they were playing on him, but she looked deadly serious.
"I thought they were joking too."
"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," Gohan said. "Forget it."
"Gohan," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."
The poodle growled.
Gohan said hello to the poodle. The dog barked at Grover, who laughed.
"What?" Gohan demanded.
"He's jealous that your tail's longer than his." Gohan snarled at that.
"Not funny."
Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.
"How does Gladiola know about the reward? Why do we even need it?" Gohan asked.
"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."
"And we spent a bit of what we have already on the bus tickets. We'll probably need more money before this quest is over, and mortals don't exactly take drachmas."
"Of course," Gohan said. "Silly me."
"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."
I thought about my dream—the whispering voices of the dead, the thing in the chasm, and my mother's face, shimmering as it dissolved into gold. All that might be waiting for me in the West.
"You guys wanna take another bus?" Gohan asked warily.
"No," Annabeth and Percy said at the same time. She pointed downhill, toward train tracks that hadn't been able to see last night in the dark.
"There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon." Gohan leaped to his feet.
"Perfect! Let's get going." Gohan leaped to his feet.
"Hold it! You can't go out like that." Annabeth barked.
"What?" Gohan asked.
"Ummm, she means your tail." Percy pointed at the wiggling tail behind Gohan, causing him to grumble.
"The Mist may hide a lot of things, but I'm not taking a chance with that." She stated. Gohan frowned as he looked at his tail. Then, out of nowhere, an idea flashed into his head.
"How about this?" Then, he curled his tail and wrapped it across his waist. Now, it looked like a custom belt.
"Not bad." Annabeth admitted.
Come on! Onto the next adventure!" He grinned. Annabeth gave him an annoyed look.
"Moron." she muttered as she walked past him with Percy and Grover.
"Hey! Wait up!" Gohan yelled as he ran after them.
Enjoy that? There's plenty of action next chapter! Enjoy!