Chapter 20: Let's have a PARTY!
As we walked away from the beach, Grover quietly stewed. Ever since he figured out that Artemis was down in the Labyrinth, whatever that is, he hasn't been too happy. If the five tin cans were anything to go, he was downright nervous.
He walked off to the side to send an Iris message back to camp relaying the news we found out to Chiron. He quickly finished up, letting go of the fountain's button and cutting the connection when it ran dry.
He walked back toward us with a conflicted look on his face. "I can't do it, not again" he mumbled to us in quiet, certain voice. "I went down there once scared out of my wits. I barely survived the last time. If it weren't for Tyson, Percy and Annabeth… I don't even want to think about it" he bleated as he shook his head, trying to shake off the feeling.
"Is it that bad?" I asked. It couldn't possibly be that bad.
Maxwell tightened his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Been down there once since they reopened the place after Daedalus died. It's worse than anything you can imagine. It can make a person, show them their greatest fears and weaknesses. It can make a person grow" he began before he added in a dark tone. "Or it can crush his spirit and shatter his mind".
"Sounds inviting, and we have to go down there?"
Grover shuddered at the thought. "If we want to confront Artemis, or at least talk to her, we have to track her down. But like I said. I'm not going down there. Besides" he added with a sigh of relief. "I'm not the best qualified. Rachel has clear sight. She can see through the Mist unlike most people. She can avoid the traps, get you through as quickly and painlessly as possible".
"But Rachel's back in camp" I added as I kicked a pebble out of the road. "Are we going to have to go through the nymph trees again? They didn't look so happy about it the first time we passed through. I can't imagine they'll be any happier to see us so soon". The rest of the campers nodded along with me.
Grover sighed reluctantly as he nodded with us, "agreed. Which is why I asked Chiron to send us a ride. He has some, relatives down here" he added a bit on edge.
"Oh cool, more centaurs, what are they like? Are they all serious like Chiron?"
Everyone had wide eyes as they twiddled their thumbs. They looked at Grover like he did something really dumb, like call an unwanted relative to the fun. "You'll see" Grover replied vaguely.
It wasn't all that long before the pebbles on the asphalt started jumping by themselves. I could hear the sound of hooves, as if a stampede was racing toward us. And then I saw them. They looked like strangest bunch of half men/horses I'd ever seen. Then again, I've only met Chiron, but I started to figure out that Chiron was more the exception than the norm among his family.
While Chiron was quiet, contemplative and serious, the guys in front of me were rowdy, loud and looked like they just wanted to have fun. They all had on tie dye shirts covered in a random kaleidoscope of colors with the words 'Party Ponies: Miami Chapter' in bold black letters on the front.
Some of the guys had giant number one gloves on their hands, which they waved about in everyone's faces. Some guys had glasses with slinky eyeballs flying all over the place as they ran around. Other guys had bows at the ready with arrows tipped with plungers at the ends. They bumped into each other, into their sides or knocking heads together and shouting off together 'Dude!'
I looked at the horde of centaurs with a wide, disbelieving eye. I promised that nothing would surprise me anymore, but once again, surprised! "Uhm Grover, you sure these guys are checked out? They seem a bit…"
"Wahoo!" One guy yelled as he reared up on two legs and pumped his fist. "Tally ho!" Another cheered as two centaurs raced past us, trying to out speed the other in a circular track.
"Off the walls" I finished in an uncertain voice.
"It's cool guys, the Party Ponies are here to give us a RIDE!" he ended in a yell to get the centaurs' attention. "To camp" he added calmly and with a tired sigh.
The centaurs looked a bit hesitant at us. "Ride? I thought we were hitting a party in Cocoa Beach? That's what Chiron told us".
I thought on my feet, I probably should have kept my mouth shut but we needed a ride. One good lie deserves another. "Sorry about that guys, but the party's back at camp. Chiron just wanted you to pick us up on the way up. You think that's okay?"
The centaurs mumbled among themselves, Grover looked at me with a worried face, "Alex, we're not supposed to have the centaurs visit camp, it never ends well".
"Toga party? Root Beer?" They asked as if stating terms.
"Sure! Why not, it's going to be a blast. Root Beer for everyone!" I won the horse men over with the foamy drink. They immediately grabbed us, placed us on their backs and tore the ground in a butt pounding cantor.
We raced straight for a brick wall. I thought were going to end up like giant flies under a flyswatter but suddenly the world around us seemed to slow to a crawl.
"Hold on little man, we're going for a trip" he told me in a hippie-like voice. I watched the trees, buildings and people get stretched out around me.
Then after no time at all, we broke back into the real world. Everything stopped stretching around us and me, the campers and the centaurs found ourselves right in the middle of the common green at camp. "How?" My mind stopped working as I started taking everything in. We must have jumped from Cocoa Beach to Long Island in a snap.
The centaurs put us down on the ground before rearing up on their back legs and yelling out, "PARTY!"
All the campers came out, either spilling out of their cabins or running back from the woods and the arena. The centaurs put down jukeboxes and turned them up and blasted out 'Shake that Groove Thing' by Peaches and Herb and started bumping their chests, shaking their horse's bottoms and spinning like tops.
One of the centaurs came back from Hermes Cabin after it looked like he looted the place. In one hand he had a bunch of togas; and in the other he had a giant keg of root beer. Where the heck did Hermes Cabin even get a keg of root beer? "Root Beer?" the centaur asked as he showed off the keg to his brothers.
They let out a resounding cheer, "Root Beer!" They poured themselves mugs of the stuff. Some of the impatient guys just lifted the whole keg above their heads and guzzled straight from the tap while others chanted, "chug, chug, chug!" It looked as if the common green had turned into a giant college frat party.
"What is going on here?" Chiron cantored down from Big House. He couldn't get his brothers to calm down and turned his attention to us. "Well? Why is there a party going on right in the middle of camp? Grover, don't you know the only party animals worse than my brothers are the Maenads!"
"Sorry, my fault" I fessed up. "It was the only way to convince them to drop us off at camp. Although to be fair, you lied and told them there was a party at Cocoa Beach".
Chiron raised a finger and began to counter me and then stopped. His shoulders sagged tiredly as he began to assess the damage. "Quite right. Well nothing to be done about it now. They'll just have to party themselves out before they'll leave. Hopefully in the process they don't leave the camp in much disarray…"
"Come on Chiron you old stuck-up party pooper, shake your groove thing!" A palomino centaur belted as he bumped into Chiron and downed a mug of root beer before cantering off.
Chiron sighed from embarrassment, "I hope your quest was a success?"
"Yep, found out where Artemis is. Somewhere down in the Labyrinth!" I replied loudly trying to be heard over the party.
Chiron shuddered, "most distressing, but nothing to be done. You and the rest will have to head down there soon enough and approach Lady Artemis and ask her about the recent rise in monster activity". He turned his gaze to Grover, who shuddered like a leaf and stared intently at the cliffs in the woods. Chiron could read him loud and clear. "We will send you on your way. Rachel will lead you down into the Labyrinth the day after tomorrow".
Grover sighed with a tired smile of gratitude on his face before he walked off. "Try to get some rest tonight, you'll have to gather your strength". A bunch of centaurs and kids from Hermes Cabin were whooping with a song belting from the juke box. "Or at least try to" Chiron added lamely before walking off.
I'll admit we didn't get that much sleep that night. We danced, partied, ate and drank so much, I thought we'd explode and collapse right on the common green. I barely remembered breaking away from the crowd and heading back to my cabin to slip into a bed and try to get some sleep.