Percy Went Where?

by The Imaginative Babbler

Percy doesn't know how much longer he can do this. Everyone's watching his life and now he has no privacy left. And with this quest especially, no one knows about what really happened in the Labyrinth. Until now. Everyone watches the quest through the Labyrinth in the fourth of the Percy Did What Series.

35. Ch 35 Nature's Anomalies - Girls & Goats

Chapter 35: Girls and Goats: Nature's Anomalies

AN: I wrote this a long time ago. I had a warning for an infinity war spoiler here. Help!

Nico shook his head as he watched the conversation. "I don't get girls."

"I'd much rather have you."

"You're gross."

"Says the guy who works with dead bodies."

"You literally work with blood, sweat and barf and other gross things."

"Stop it before you gross the rest of us out with your weird romance," Sadie whisper-shouted at both of them.

"Girls are so moody," Nico said again. "I hope Hazel never becomes like that."

"Don't jinx yourself," Apollo muttered. "Little sisters will surprise you."

"Great."

Percy followed down the tunnel which sloped at weird angels making them slide on the wet rock floor. The scene fast-forwarded until they got to the bottom of a slope in a large cave with huge stalagmite and stalactite columns. In the center of the room was an underground river and Tyson sat by the banks with Grover cradled in his lap not moving.

Juniper's green tint lessened as she hugged her boyfriend hard. He shook his head. "Still here."

"She has a good reason to worry," Chris told him. "You're always unconscious."

"Not always."

"Several times," Juniper said. "No more quests."

"I need to help now June. I'm the lord of the wild," he said. Then sighed. "A vacation sounds nice though."

Percy yelled Tyson's name. He yelled back Percy's then to come quick. They ran over to him where Grover was shivering and shaking in Tyson's arms. Percy looked at Tyson palely full of worry and asked what happened.

"That's what I'd like to know," Juniper huffed as she crossed her arms.

"I didn't tell you cause I didn't want you to worry."

"But that happens anyway!"

Tyson muttered so many things like he'd been traumatized. He listed large snake, large dogs and men with swords and then they got close to here. Grover got excited and he ran. Then when he reached the room and he fell. Like that. Tyson gestured with his head to where Grover was in his lap.

"It's New Mexico all over again," Thalia sighed.

"Exactly."

"What does that mean?" Thalia demanded from him.

Percy asked if he'd said anything. Tyson said he said they were close and then he hit his head on the rocks.

More laughter erupted in the forms of snorts and snickers. Grover rolled his eyes and blushed but didn't say anything.

Percy knelt down next to them and looked at Grover more closely with concern. Then he shined his light around the cavern. The rocks glittered and at the far end was the entrance to a different cave with crystal columns that looked like diamonds. Percy looked at that and his eyes flashed with something like realization. He said for Grover to wake up. Grover groaned.

"I've learned my lesson now. I just need to mention food."

"That's how to wake you up too," pointed out Jason.

"Don't fix it if it's not broke."

Annabeth knelt too and splashed the stream water into his face. He sputtered and his eyes fluttered and he asked Percy's and Annabeth's names before asking where they were. Percy said it was okay. He'd passed out. The presence was too much for him.

"Presence?" frowned Sadie. "Not a ghost."

"No," Carter said. "You mean godly presence don't you?"

"You found him," Magnus gaped.

Grover said he remembered. Pan. Percy said yeah. Something powerful was just beyond that doorway.

"Can I ask how you knew that?" Rachel asked. "I mean I felt something. I knew something was up but I only knew the direction because of my clear sight."

"I mean it was powerful. I can feel it now. Like when Ares or Hades is radiating their power but in a good way. And somehow less controlled… I guess because he was-"

"You won't be able to say," Annabeth frowned. "But for some reason, I think you sense more of the presence than all of us except Grover."

"I don't think there's really a way for us to know," Percy shrugged. "And I probably only knew it was Pan because I'd seen Grover react that way before."

"I guess."

Percy helped Grover sit up and suddenly remembered something. "Oh. Guys this is Rachel. She's a mortal. I met her at the Hoover Dam last year. She can see through the mist and she's helped me get away from monsters twice and agreed to lead us through the labyrinth. Rachel, this is my best friend Grover and my brother Tyson."

"Your brother," Rachel repeated. "Right, the Cyclops one."

"You are pretty."

Annabeth huffed and his nostrils flared as she fumed. Rachel grinned and said thanks.

"You're jealous about that too?" Thalia snorted.

"Shut it. This quest was a huge blow to my pride," Annabeth muttered back. "I was supposed to lead it."

Thalia rolled her eyes.

Percy seemed to ascertain that Grover was okay now. He said anyway they should come on. Then he told Grover to lean on him. Annabeth and Percy both helped him up and they all waded across the river together. It reached their waists and they seemed to be struggling with the current though it parted around Percy a little. The others were soaked though he was dry.

Percy shivered. "Man, that was cold."

"You got cold?" asked Frank surprised. Even in Alaska Percy had been fine with the weather.

"I'm resistant to extreme temperatures but to an extent. It feels like walking through snow."

"But you weren't as cold as Annabeth, Rachel, Nico or Grover," pointed out Magnus. "Annabeth's teeth were chattering so hard you could hear it."

"It was cold."

Annabeth's teeth chattered as she spoke breaking apart the words as she spoke. She said she thought they were in Carlsbad caverns. An unexplored section. Percy asked how she knew. She said Carlsbad was in New Mexico which would explain last winter. Percy nodded.

"That's what you meant," Thalia realized.

They got out of the water and kept walking. Percy stopped shivering but the others still did and even their lips looked a little blue though as soon as they walked into the next room it stopped. Percy straightened up looking less tired and stood stronger. Grover whimpered as they walked and they stepped in and Rachel said wow. All of them regained color and stood straighter. Even Nico's bags were gone and he was much less pale than normal.

"Tell me you have that power?" Will asked. "Cause he won't actually sleep or rest."

"Sadly no," Grover frowned. "I'd be using it on Nature."

"You have some power. Just not that level," Thalia reminded him.

Percy breathed in. "Yeah dude. You smell like goat and Mexican food not like trees and flowers and summer. Wow. That's nice."

The walls glittered with multicolored crystals and giant plants grew everywhere. Large orchids, star-shaped flowers and vines with berries of several weird colors. The floor was covered with green moss. The ceiling was high and sparking. In the center of the cave was a roman bed with velvet cushions and animals lounged around it. A Tasmanian tiger, a dodo bird, a huge rodent, like a capybara but bigger and behind the bed was a wooly mammoth. On the bed itself was an old satyr watching them with sky blue eyes. His curly hair and beard were white and his glossy brown horns were huge. Around his neck was read pipes. Grover stumbled over and fell in front of the bed on his knees and said, Lord Pan.

"Wow."

"That's amazing."

"Does this place still exist?" Magnus asked. "Wait, does Dad have something like this?"

"Who knows? I just want to watch. Tell me you spent time with the wooly mammoth."

"The dodo bird. Is it really stupid?" Leo asked.

"The tiger. I'm trying that form later," Alex decided. "It looks vicious."

"Um can't answer so you'll see, we didn't, kind of and yeah it does," Percy said in answer to the questions and comments.

"If that's the wild then the worlds missing out on a lot," decided Piper.

"You don't even know half of it."

"I thought the hunt was wild," Thalia muttered. "But that…."

"He looks old. Most gods don't. But he looks nice too," Jaz said.

"I think the gods that look old are the ones whose realms have issues or are under stress," Sadie said remembering Shu and his asthma from air pollution.

Apollo nodded.

"Why have we lost this?" wondered Will next to him in awe. "What kind of awful species are we?"

"One who needs to learn. One that is and is fixing its mistakes," Grover said.

The older satyr smiled with kindness but also somewhat sadly. He said Grover his dear and brave satyr. He'd waited a very long time for him.

"Two thousand years to be exact," Percy said.

"I doubt he knew it was me that whole time. Or that he waited for anyone then."

"He knew," Apollo said confidently. Rachel seemed to agree.

Grover blushed.

Grover stuttered apologetically he got lost.

Everyone laughed.

"You got lost?" Clarisse asked incredulously.

"I think ending up in the sea of monsters counts as lost," Grover said.

"You get lost a lot," Percy told him. "Or missing and out of touch."

"Look who's talking."

"Touché."

Pan laughed and it twinkled and filled the whole cavern. The tiger-wolf sighed and rested his head on the god's knee. The dodo pecked at his hooves and hummed it's a small world.

Percy sat up even more. "I miss that feeling. It's like just an energy drink of hope, energy, peace, and nature. Like springtime."

"Yeah," Grover agreed.

Percy stared as Pan shimmered not realizing his other friends knelt with awed looks on their faces. Percy saw as he looked behind him and followed quickly.

"That took too long."

"I was a bit too busy trying to absorb everything. I actually respect Pan, unlike some other gods."

"You called him Pam," Grover reminded him.

"I was twelve and it was the first time I'd heard about most gods. I didn't mean it."

"I know dude. I was joking."

Percy said he had a humming dodo bird.

The room started to laugh and Thalia started a slow clap. "Good job Percy. That's how you do it."

"I was a little in shock."

"There was a lot going on," Percy said. "If you were there you would've seen."

Pan's eyes twinkled and he said that was Dede his little actress.

"See? He didn't mind."

"Pan likes demigods and mortals. Just not us gods."

"Didn't you gods get into a huge fight about a contest?" Percy asked.

"There was something with Midas too, wasn't there?"

"He's better than most though," Annabeth said.

"Definitely from my experience," Percy agreed.

The dodo somehow looks offended and pecked at Pan's knee and hummed a funeral dirge.

"Wow. That bird is dramatic."

"No kidding."

Annabeth said this was the most beautiful place. It was better than any building ever designed.

"We have too many buildings actually," Annabeth said. "We destroyed too much nature in the process taking what we don't' need."

"We can stop it from happening more," Rachel said. "I know we can."

"Didn't you get grounded last time?" Percy asked.

He was shushed in response.

Pan said he was glad she liked it. This was one of the last wild places. His realm above was gone. Only pockets remained. Tiny pieces of life. This one would remain undisturbed for a little longer.

"This is getting depressing," Leo muttered.

"He is right. I was shocked to see how much the world had changed and how much was gone when I came. Though there are improvements too," Calypso admitted.

Grover called him my lord and begged, please. He had to come back with him. The elders would never believe it. They'd be overjoyed. He could save the wild.

"You got one part of that right," Percy said.

"Not in the way I meant though," Grover said sadly.

"Pan wasn't the one to save the wild," agreed Rachel sadly.

"That started here," Nico said to Grover. "With you and now the rest of us."

Grover started to tear up and sniffled before starting to talk under his breath. "I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry."

Pan put his hand on Grover's head and ruffled his hair fondly. He said Grover was so young. So good and true. He chose well.

"He chose the best, " Percy said solemnly.

Everyone started to get an understanding of what was happening and the air grew somber and more still.

"He couldn't have chosen better," agreed Juniper. "No one's better than Grover."

He gripped her hand as the first tear fell. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself.

Grover said chose? He didn't understand.

"I didn't want to," Grover said softly. He saw several of his friends look at him worriedly. He ignored it.

Pan's image flickered and became smoke. The giant rodent scuttled under the bed with a squeal. The wooly mammoth grunted and Dede the dodo bird stuck her head under her wing. Pan re-formed. He said he'd slept many eons. His dreams had been dark and he woke fitfully each time shorter. Now they were near the end.

"Because each time we destroy more of his realm," Magnus realized. Was that why his dad never showed himself?

"We really need to stop it."

Grover cried what? He said no. Pan was right here. Pan said his dear satyr, he'd tried to tell the world two thousand years ago. He announced it to Lysas, a satyr who lived in ephesos and he tried to spread the word. Annabeth's eyes widened and said the old story. The sailor passing by the coast of Ephesos heard a voice crying from the shore that the great god pan was was dead.

"Was the sailor the satyr or was it the voice from the shore?"

"I thought it was the sailor, but that just made me unsure."

Grover cried out that wasn't true. Pan said his kind never believed it. The sweet stubborn satyrs refused to accept it. He loved them for that but they only delayed the inevitable. They prolonged his long painful passing and his dark sleep. It had to end.

"We made it worse," Grover realized. "We caused him pain."

"He didn't mind. He wasn't mad. He was happy that you guys had faith in him."

Grover looked away. "I don't know."

Grover cried out no with a trembling voice. Pan said dear Grover. He had to accept the truth. His companion, Nico, he understood.

"That must have surprised you."

"A lot," Nico said. "I didn't expect him to acknowledge me. None of us did besides Grover and him I'm not even sure about."

Nico nodded slowly with a sad look. He said Pan was dying. He should have died a long time ago. This was more like a memory.

"Like Tom Riddle?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Stop the comparisons," Percy begged.

Grover said that gods couldn't die. Pan said they could fade when everything they stood for was gone. When they ceased to have power and their sacred places disappeared. Pan said the wild, his dear Grover, was too small now, to shattered and no god could save it. His realm was gone. Which is why he needed him to carry a message. He had to go back to the council. He had to tell the satyrs, dryads and other nature spirits that the great god Pan was dead. Tell them of his passing because they had to stop waiting for him to save them. He couldn't. They could only bring salvation themselves. Each of them must, there he paused and frowned at the dodo bird who was humming again. He demanded to know what Dede was doing. Was she singing Kumbaya again? Dede looked up and blinked innocently.

There was laughter with a sad tinge of regret at what was happening. The Egyptians could only thing of the House of Rest and the old gods in the retirement home who would never be the same. Magnus and Sam were thinking of the other residents of Hotel Valhalla, the ones who'd been there too long and had lost their sense of purpose going a bit insane.

Percy couldn't help but think of all those he'd seen fade and the rest that probably would. How could he stop it? Jason's pontifex Maximus project would probably help but he needed to do more. His thoughts were interrupted as it started back up again.

Pan sighed and said everyone was a cynic. But as he was saying, his dear Grover all of them had to take up his calling. Grover whimpered no. Pan said to be strong. He'd found him and now he had to release him and carry on his spirit. It could no longer be done by a god. It had to be taken up by all of you. Pan looked at each of them all in the eyes.

"He didn't just mean Grover, did he?" asked Jason.

"No."

"And not just the people who were there either," Piper said softly. "Us too now, right?"

"Before even. It's all our jobs," Rachel said softly.

"And we have the best guy to lead us in it," Percy said with a hand on Grover's shoulder. He had shifted a little to move behind his friend and Juniper with Annabeth. Grover smiled weakly.

"I'll try."

He looked right at Percy and said, Percy Jackson. He knew what he had seen today. He knew his doubts. But he gave him this news. When the time came he wouldn't be ruled by fear.

"That's good," said Frank. "I think. It sounds like something my Grandmother would say."

"He was right, mostly," Percy said. He was always a little scared and when Annabeth had been hurt and the world about to end he was terrified for most of it until he let go and made the choice.

"What's it mean though?"

"You'll see."

Pan turned to Annabeth and said Daughter of Athena. Her time was coming and she'd play a great role though maybe not the one she imagined.

"No," Annabeth smiled softly. "It certainly wasn't."

"When you did do that in the next war was it really up to the hype?" Percy pressed.

"You know the answer to that."

"This guy is being really cryptic," frowned Sadie. "Like Iskandar."

"He was wise," Zia said.

"That's like a requisite to being mysterious," Sadie reasoned.

"Thank the gods for Odin's power points," muttered Magnus. There was no way he'd put up with the mysterious messages the others did.

He looked at Tyson and said Master Cyclops, don't be sad. Heroes didn't always live up to their expectations. They rarely did. But Tyson, his name would live among the Cyclopes for generations. Then he said, Miss Rachel Dare.

"That's not cryptic," frowned Leo. "No fair."

"He was right about it though," Percy grinned. "Tyson's a famous Cyclops now. And he's a hero. One that lives up to all the best expectations."

"Percy too," Tyson said. "You are a hero too."

"I don't live up to the hype like you do." There was a snort and he wasn't sure where it came from. "Seriously, I shouldn't be anyone's hero. Tyson, that's another story…"

"Percy is my hero," Tyson said softly.

Percy tried to say something but stopped. "Then I hope I can make you as proud of me as I am of you bro."

Tyson gave him a crooked grin in return.

Rachel flinched as he said her name and backed up but Pan smiled and raised his hand in blessing.

"What's wrong?" Hazel asked her.

"It should explain. I haven't been so secretive about it recently but you probably don't all know," Rachel sighed. "It's not something I advertise."

Pan said that he knew she didn't believe she couldn't make amends but she was just as important as her father. Rachel started to say something and paused saying I.. A tear fell down her cheek.

Piper gripped her hand. She'd talked to Rachel about it in the past. An actor's child wasn't the same as a socialite's but it was similar enough at times. Piper thought Rachel had it tougher. Her father didn't actually care at all, and she'd barely gotten a taste of normal life besides the freshman year of high school before being forced to Clarion's Academy. Piper had several years before they moved to LA and still went to several normal schools. And her father loved her and tried, even if he wasn't always the best at it.

Pan said he knew she didn't believe this now but to look for opportunities. They would come.

"They came all right," Rachel said eyeing Percy and Apollo.

"You like it."

"It wouldn't have been an opportunity if I didn't."

Pan turned back to Grover and said his dear satyr, and then softly, would he carry out his message? Grover stuttered he couldn't. Pan said he could. He was the strongest and the bravest. His heart was true and he'd believed in him more than anyone ever has which was why he should bring the message and he needed to be the first to release him.

Grover was openly crying now. Percy clutched his shoulder and Juniper his hand. Annabeth and Thalia sent him supporting looks.

"Release him, like back into the wild?"

"Something like that," Nico answered for the satyr.

"Hufflepuff," muttered Apollo with a look at Grover.

Grover said he didn't want to. Pan said he knew. But his name, Pan, it originally meant rustic. Did he know that? But over the years it came to mean all. The spirit of the wild must pass to all of them now. They had to tell everyone they met if you would find Pan to take up Pan's spirit. Remake the wild, a little at a time, each in their own corner of the world. They couldn't wait for anyone else, even a god to do that for them.

"That's true," Percy said decidedly. "We can't wait for the gods to change the world. We have to start it ourselves."

"And we have," Annabeth said. "You have. And Grover's gotten the nature spirits to rally and help each other too. We've all done it."

"Us mortals have to go ahead and show a little initiative before the gods do anything," agreed Carter.

"So I guess that's our next thing. Saving the environment," Sadie asked him with an eyebrow raised.

"Doing more about it anyway," Carter told her.

"And it's our mission too," agreed Magnus. "Just maybe after we get the gods to agree and help us stop Ragnorak."

"It's all of ours," agreed Percy again.

"And you're all going to continue it. We all are," Grover said. His eyes were still red but he sat up a little straighter.

"Most of all it's your mission," Thalia told him. "You heard the god. He chose you. And he was right. There was no better choice, no Satyr is braver and as he said truer. No other Satyr's done as much or will do as much as you. I mean you had to put up with an adolescent Percy, Nico and me."

Grover laughed tearily. "Well, I do know I've got the hunters on my side and the craziest and best one leading them all."

Grover wiped his eyes and slowly stood. He met Pan's eyes. He said he'd spent his whole life looking for him. Now he released him.

"I want you to know that we know it was hard for you," Percy told him. "You had to be incredibly strong to do that and brave to just give over your life's dream like that. That's why he chose you. Because you were the only one brave enough to take the burden and to take away his suffering."

"Thanks man," Grover told him.

Pan smiled and said thanks to his dear satyr. His final blessing. With that he closed his eyes and dissolved. The white mist became wisps of energy that filled the room and filled his mouth and Grover's and the others but more to Grover's than the others. Then the crystals dimmed and the animals gave him a sad look and the dodo sighed before they all turned gray and crumbled to dust. The vines withered and they were alone in a dark cave with an empty bed.

"Did the animals just do a Voldemort and crumble into dust?" asked Leo.

"Stop with the Harry Potter!"

"It was more like an Infinity War," Apollo muttered. Before he'd lost his powers he could still see into the future. And he was patrons of the arts and muses. He saw pieces of most of their works and even though the movie wasn't supposed to come out for another few months he'd seen it all through production.

"Or a Demogorgon."

"What's happening?" Calypso asked again.

"I'm a little out of date so I didn't get the last one."

"I'm more concerned it seems like they were possessed. It was energy like Kronos's," pointed out Will.

"No. It didn't have the same evil essence and feel to it," Percy said.

"It was pure," agreed Nico. "It was life and spreading the need to protect nature everywhere."

"So now you all have Pan in you?" asked Sadie. "I thought you said you'd never possessed a god before."

"I hadn't then," Percy argued. "I think he was blessing us. I think the actual power went to Grover."

"But it's still gone," Magnus gaped. "All that life, the actual energy and breath of nature in the cave. It's gone. Probably around a lot of the world too. The brightness faded, so did the animals."

"They did and it was," Grover agreed. "Which is why it's our job to find those spots and keep them preserved and bring back what brightness we can."

"And Maggie can help you," Alex told him. "He specializes in brightness and nature."

"You really should find out more from your dad," Carter urged him. He and Magnus had talked a lot the past few days. There were times they were in their room without Percy who spent so much time with everyone making sure to get to know them all. The Norse einjheri and the Egyptian pharaoh/magician had spent time watching geeky shows and playing games and having fun and eventually even sharing a little.

"I want to," Magnus said honestly.

Percy switched on his flashlight providing light in the dark cave. Grover took a deep breath. Percy asked hesitantly if he was okay.

"Stupid question."

"No," Grover told him. "The one I needed from my best friend."

Grover's eyes looked old and sad. Somehow he stood straighter as he took his cap from Annabeth and brushed off the mud and stuck it on his head. He turned to his friends and said they should go now and tell them. The great god Pan was dead.

Juniper kissed her boyfriend's cheek. It was salty and she'd been crying as well but it was genuine when she whispered, "I'm proud of you."

"I just wish it was different."

"You're doing a great job."

"You haven't seen it out there in California. The plants, the spirits, they all just keep fading. We're trying to hold on and I'm trying to keep them together. I'm not sure just how long I can."

"You'll find a way."

"Maybe Annabeth and I can come out early on our way to New Rome and help," suggested Percy.

"The three of us again," Grover grinned. "Just like old times."

"Maybe some less life or death experiences?"

"I don't know. We'll be near LA," Annabeth teased.

"Which means you can also visit both of us," Piper gestured to her and Jason.

Percy watched as his friends talked and looked at Grover again. That cave had been the moment that made him who he was now. He was a leader and people followed him. Somehow he was older, stronger, wiser but also sadder and more burdened. Percy supposed that's what growing up was. Especially if you were a leader. Grover had grown into his role. He filled it well.

Percy looked at his friend. "I know you're doing great man. I'm sure you're a, you know, natural."

Grover groaned at the pun and Annabeth whacked Percy. The rest of them just stared and stayed silent trying to absorb the death of the wild.

"Is everyone okay to move on?" Percy asked after a minute. Outside himself, those in the labyrinth, Thalia, Clarisse, Chris, and Apollo the room was absorbing everything they'd seen.

"I think," Jason said after another second.

"Then another second. I don't think I ever got a real chance to absorb everything we go through on quests. Another thing just happens to fast."

The questers emerged from the labyrinth in Times Square. Percy led them into an alley and put his fingers to his mouth letting out a new york taxi cab whistle.

"Dam that was loud," Grover said again.

"Dam," giggled Thalia.

"I have skill," Percy said. "What can I say?"

A second later Rachel gasped they were beautiful as Blackjack led a flock of Pegasi down from the sky. Blackjack's voice echoed as he said yo boss. He said he lived.

The atmosphere dissipated with Blackjack's voice and congratulation at Percy surviving again.

"I miss that horse," Percy said again.

"He's hilarious," agreed Piper. "I mean I'm pretty sure I've seen him roll his eyes before."

"Yeah. He's a fun animal. Unlike tempest. I mean he's a wind spirit but he still speaks horse. That Ventus is too serious."

"Hey!" Jason argued. "Tempest is amazing."

"He's cool," Percy agreed. "But Blackjack is better."

"The best is Arion," Hazel told both of them.

"Your horse is a monster," Percy told her.

"He's faster though."

"But he can't fly."

"He can run across water and he's so fast if feels like flying."

"My horse is a storm," Jason said proudly. "Literally."

"Blackjack will always be the best," Percy told them both. "Hazel, seriously, when you hear your horse's mouth you're gonna be appalled."

"Appalled?" Annabeth teased.

"See? I've been studying," Percy said smugly.

Percy said yeah. He was lucky that way. Listen, they needed a ride to camp quick.

"Lucky that way?" snorted Nico.

"What? It's true."

Blackjack said that was his specialty. Then he groaned oh mah, they had that Cyclops with them. He yelled out another Yo, in a whinny to another Pegasus Guido and asked how his back was holding up. Guido groaned really? Did he have to? He saw Tyson trying to talk to the other Pegasi and sighed fine.

"The ponies don't like me trying to ride them," Tyson muttered.

"That's what Mrs. O'Leary is for."

"She is more fun to ride," agreed Tyson.

"You're a good brother," Annabeth whispered to Percy who nodded.

"With him. I hope it's just as easy with a little actual human baby girl."

Percy pointed Tyson towards Guido and then Nico, Grover and Annabeth climbed on theirs. Rachel looked at Percy and said she guessed this was it. Percy shifted and nodded uncomfortably then looked back at Annabeth who was watching while pretending to be busy with the pegasi. Percy said thanks to Rachel and they couldn't have done it without her.

"You really couldn't have," Piper told them.

"I know. And I agree," Annabeth said. "Did I ever thank you?"

"No, but I'll always take thanks for being spectacular," Rachel told her.

Rachel said she wouldn't have missed it, except for almost dying and Pan there her voice fell. Percy said Pan had said something about her father. What had he meant? Rachel twisted her backpack's strap nervously and said her dad's job. He was kind of a famous businessman. Percy said she meant she was rich? Rachel said well, yeah.

"Sorry, that was rude. It's just all the rich kids I'd met before were huge snobs. And I just—"

"It's fine, Percy."

He said so that's how she got the Chauffeur to help. She just said her dad's name and—Rachel interrupted with an affirmative. She said her dad was a land developer. He flew all over the world and looked for tracts of undeveloped land. With a shaky breath, she said the wild. He bought it up and she hated it but he plowed it down and build subdivisions and shopping centers. Now that she'd seen Pan…Pan's death—

"Rachel, that's not your fault," Will reminded her.

"If anything you've shown you were against it."

"I wouldn't have chosen anyone bad as my oracle," Apollo agreed.

"I know."

"And hey! We'll help you protest your dad. I say rich, sucker dads can get a lindworm shoved up—"

Alex was interrupted by Sam. "She means we understand."

"Thanks."

Percy said she couldn't blame herself for that. Rachel said he didn't know the worst of it. She didn't like to talk about her family. She didn't want him to know. She was sorry. She shouldn't have said anything. Percy said no. It was cool. He said look, she did awesomely. She led them through the maze. She was so brave. That was the only thing she was going to judge him on. He didn't care what her dad did.

"How were you not bawling? Or just even melting?" Jaz asked her.

"Oh, I was."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked.

"Nothing,"

Rachel looked at him gratefully. She said if he ever felt like hanging out with a mortal then he could call her. Percy said yeah, sure. She knit her eyebrows.

"And there you just wrecked it," Thalia told him.

"It was in front of everyone. And I was kind of confused."

"Okay, I'll give you that. There was a lot going on."

Percy said he meant he'd like that. She said her number wasn't in the book. Percy said he had it. Rachel said still on her hand, no way. Percy said no. He kind of memorized it. Rachel smiled brightly at him, first slowly. She said see you later Percy. Go save the world for her, okay?

"And there you managed to fix it again," Thalia said.

"I'm still not sure what you guys what you are saying."

"Nevermind."