I don't own any characters in the Percy Jackson universe which is rightfully owned by Rick Riodan. However, the Greek gods and/or other mythological figures are used in my imagination and well you can't claim copyright on history.

Chapter 29

PERCY

We slowly start descending the staircase to meet Annabeth.

"What's the meeting for?"

"Well, you're gonna need to find out. It's about Grover."

Artemis looks at me quizzingly.

"I'll explain on the way."

We step out and start walking towards the woods, where the Council of the Cloven Elders met.

"So what happened to Grover?"

"Well, while we were in the Labyrinth, Grover went off to find Pan. We found him but he was fading. He was waiting for us to find him before he finally faded."

"But the council doesn't know this yet."

"Basically."

We arrived in the woods and make our way to the council. The satyr's spot Artemis and bow in respect. The satyrs were the creatures of nature and since Artemis was the goddess of the wilderness, they naturally had lots of respect for her. She takes a seat in the grass alongside us.

"If you don't mind, I have decided to join in on this meeting," She says.

"We would be honored to have you," Maron says.

"Grover Underwood, you have managed to summon the power of Pan. Can you please explain how?" Chiron asks.

"Well, everyone sitting here next to me right now, the exception of Lady Artemis, went on a long quest. It took over a month-"

"Which is many weeks past the one-week deadline we gave you." Leneus interrupts.

"Leneus! Let the boy finish." Chiron yells. "Continue, Grover."

"As I was saying we were on the quest and we found a tunnel filled with natural energy. We split ways. Percy and Annabeth went one way to find Hephestus and I went along the path we found with Nico. I was knocked out by a monster and I really don't remember much else that happened. By the time I was up the others had already arrived. We continued on and we did end up finding the lost one as the prophecy has stated. He blessed us and then he faded. His last words were for me to tell everyone that the great god Pan is really dead."

When Grover finishes his story there was an uproar. The satyrs and dryads present were conversing amongst themselves. The 3 lords of the wild looked at Grover in utter shock and disbelief.

"Do you really expect us to believe that? What foolish nonsense is this! WE HEREBY EXPEL YOU FROM THIS SOCIETY AND YOUR SEARCHERS LICENSE HAS BEEN REVOKED!" Screams Silenus.

"It doesn't matter. Pan is dead and my friends can confirm it. Maybe the problem wasn't with Pan's disappearance. Maybe it's because we refuse to do anything. Maybe if we weren't lead by a bunch of fat lazy satyrs like you three then we could actually make a difference. We were too dependant on Pan and we didn't do anything ourselves. We just wagged our tails and wait for a miracle to happen. Pan passed on a mission to me, rather all of us. He wants us to spread out and save nature. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. With or without your permission!" Grover retaliates confidently.

"Okay, great inspirational speech but who will support you? It doesn't change the fact that the three of us have already voted you to be exiled." Leneus mocks.

I grit my teeth. These 3 were making it so hard for everybody. They were lost in their little fantasy world and I wanted to punch them straight in their mouths.

"I support him." Says Chiron.

The confidence of the other 3 on the council falters for a split second.

"That doesn't matter, Chiron. It's still 3 against one."

"What I also vote in favor." Says a lazy voice in the woods.

We turned to see Mr. D walking up. Everybody bows out of respect.

"Ah, Artemis even your here. Well, welcome to my camp blah, blah. Honestly, don't care. Grover, tell me your story. From the top." Mr. D said.

"Lord Dionysus with all due respect, the story is absurd and pure nonsense." Maron interrupts.

Mr. D's eyes flare up in purple light. He turns to face the council; and the council shivers in fear.

"I have just learned that my son amongst others in my camp has died. So unless you would like to join them, I suggest you be quiet." Mr. D says with a steely face.

Artemis glances at me with a quizzical face. I just shrug at her. Death threats, among other threats, were just another day at camp. I was more worried about what was going to happen to Grover. Grover repeats his story so Mr. D could understand the situation. When Grover finishes he glances at us.

"Peter Johnson, Annabelle Chance, and Death boy can you all confirm?"

"Yes." We answered.

"Death boy?" Nico mutters.

"Alright then, I vote in favor of Chiron. Case dismissed."

"No, that would make it a 3 on 2. We still have the final say." The satyrs insist.

"Well, too bad for you, I am an Olympian council member. Last time I remembered, you three are not. My vote counts twice."

"That still doesn't cancel out our decision."

Mr. D looked around with anger in his eyes.

"Alright then, I also vote in favor of Chiron. If the same rules apply to me as they did to Dionysus, then it should be a 5 on 3." Artemis pipes up.

"Does that solve your little problem or do you need some more convincing." Mr. D threatens.

"No of course not. Grover, you are in charge of setting up the teams. The meeting is over." Maron says frantically.

We decided to leave and burn the burial shrouds for our fallen comrades. We wrapped the deceased body in the shroud and burned them in the campfire. After the ceremony, we clean up around the camp. I decided to talk to Mr. D.

"Mr. D, I'm sorry for the death of Castor."

"What makes you say that, Peter?"

"Well I could tell you hated a lot of things, but your son was not one of them. He was a great guy. He was funny and friendly."

"Thank you, Percy Jackson. Now go just because you wanted to give me your condolences doesn't exempt you from cleaning." He replies.

"Wow, that's a first. You called me by my correct name."

"I have no memory of that, Peter. Now go clean or I'll tell Artemis to make your training twice as hard."

I laugh and walk off. The cleaning was pretty much coming to an end but I managed to help out to the best of my ability. It also happened to be the last day at summer camp, unless of course, you notified the counselors that you were going to stay year-round. Tomorrow I was going to have to resume training with Artemis. I glanced around looking for her. It surprised me to find that Artemis and Annabeth had come out from the woods after presumably after having a talk. After all, Annabeth was blushing. After dinner was the bead making ceremony. The Hephestus cabin had decided to make a bead of the Labyrinth with all the names of the deceased. Among them was Casper, Lee, Bruce, William, and the list went on. It honestly hurt me that all these people I had once known were gone because of Kronos. The announcement that the end of camp fireworks was going to take place.

"Uh, Percy, if you're not going with anyone, would you mind going with me?" Annabeth nervously asks.

"Sure?"

I look around for Artemis and I spot her. She meets my eyes and nods. I grabbed Annabeth and went to the shore. This year they had added a lot of new fireworks. Some even were dedicated to me. I wasn't very surprised but I was flattered.

"So I talked with Artemis." Annabeth starts.

"Did you? About what?"

"She made me a champion just like you."

"Was that all?"

"No, she also explained some things."

"About?"

"Feelings about you."

I looked at Annabeth in surprise.

"And what did she tell you."

"The easiest way to say it would be sharing is caring."

I laughed. This was all still so confusing to me.

"She also told me it's my responsibility to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"Well, that's kinda hard."

"Tell me about it. We've known each other for over 3 years and it's still hard to not make you do something stupid."

She reaches over and kisses me. It lasted for a couple of seconds and she pulls away.

"Thanks for everything you've done for me." She says softly.

We silently watch beautiful fireworks. I notice a picture of when I fought the Minotaur. Another when I fought a hydra with Annabeth.

"So can you tell me how your relationship with Artemis even started?"

"Oh boy. That's an interesting story…"

End of chapter 29. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think. Peace.