Chapter 9: We get pranked by the statuary

POV: Percy

It didn't work out like that of course.

Unlike last time, we still had all our supplies, our clothes were dry, and we weren't camping out between litter in a forest but in a secure and warm building. Still, sleeping in a warehouse filled with life-sized statues was creepy. The fact that we were aware that all these statues had been alive at some point – before Medusa had turned them to stone that is – and that they gave you the feeling of looking at you, made it only worse. So, we had gathered blankets and taken refuge behind the kitchen counter where we didn't have to see them at least.

While we didn't think we would be attacked in here, we still decided to sleep in shifts, which meant that at least one of us would be forced to take the watch and endure the statues' gazes.

Annabeth had been healed by the Gorgon's blood, and I with the water, but just to be on the safe side we both took a little ambrosia and nectar. But today seemed to have taken a toll on her because she was fast asleep as soon as she hit the blankets. Grover was sitting next to me, playing with his father's pipe in his hands.

"Go ahead and sleep," I told him. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."

He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "You have changed, Percy."

Warning bells started to ring in my head. Grover could read emotions, and he knew me well enough, he had spent an entire school year with me after all. Of course, he had realized something, had been suspicious ever since Annabeth and I had first woken up again. The question now was, how much had he found out, and was there a way I could talk myself out of it.

"Changed? I haven't missed losing some body parts, have I?" I tried to deflect.

"No. I meant this." He pointed at the small bottle with blood on the table. "A week ago, you didn't even know what you were, but now you're already killing the Furies and Medusa, and you're not even close to your full power yet."

Oh, that was what he meant. I was glad that I didn't have to think of an excuse, but still, something was wrong with Grover. He looked distraught, glaring at the floor.

"You've become so strong, yet I…" he whispered. "At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

I suppressed a sigh. Of course, that was what this was about. I had trained for years to get to this point, but Grover didn't know this. All he saw, was me going from having no idea what was going on to extremely strong, and now he felt inadequate compared. Grover had been insecure, ever since his first assignment had gone wrong. It hadn't been his fault at all, but the stupid Council of Cloven Elders had of course no idea how the real world worked, the dump, fat, and incompetent satyrs that they were. Grover had been the one to find all the kids of the Big Three, survived as the first satyr ever in his search and cleared the path for the future, and most of all had it been him that had found Pan. Grover was the bravest satyr ever, the Lord of the Wild, the Chosen of Pan.

"Annabeth told me what a searcher's license is about," I said. "She also told me what happened five years ago during your first keeper job."

Grover flinched. "I'm sorry, I should have told you. I just thought…"

"Thought that I wouldn't want you around if I knew?" I asked.

He nodded but didn't look at me, his lower lip started quivering, suggesting that he would start crying soon.

"Well you're mistaken," I told him. "I knew and still took you with me, and do you know why? Because it wasn't your fault, none of it was, and Annabeth would agree with me if she were awake. It was Zeus' and Hades' fault for interfering, and it was mine and Thalia's fault for taking the decision that resulted in this outcome. You were the one to find both Thalia and me because you have the biggest heart of any satyr and you're a born seeker. None have ever returned from their search? Well, I know that you're going to be the first one, and you know what we're going to do? When we have given Zeus his stupid bolt back and you finally got the searcher's license that you already deserved for the past five years, you're doing an Empathy Link with me."

Grover looked wide-eyed at me and immediately tried to make me reconsider. "Percy, are you crazy? Do you know what an Empathy Link would do to you if the other one dies? I could never risk your life like this."

"It doesn't matter, because you won't fail. I believe in you. And if you can't believe in yourself, then believe in me, who believes in you."

I know, I know, no need to tell me. It sounded corny even to me, but it was what I truly believed. If embarrassing myself saying something like this was what it took to finally get it into Grover's head too, then so be it.

Grover was still staring at me, so I went on. "You are braver than you give yourself credit for, and you would see how strong you really are if you would just stop doubting yourself. You are as much part of this team as Annabeth and me, and you are just as strong. You got me the opening against Mrs. Dodds, and even Medusa was scared of your flying, Mr. Red Baron. Annabeth wouldn't have been able to stab her if you didn't distract her, and that would mean Annabeth most likely would be nothing more than a statue now."

Looking at Grover, I was glad I wasn't an Empath, because he showed so many conflicting emotions on his face, there was no way I wouldn't have gotten a migraine from it. I didn't mind, because he had been reading my emotions the entire time while I had gotten my point across, and he must have realized I was telling the truth.

It was a good thing too because even if we didn't want to tell anyone about our knowledge of the future, there was no way Annabeth and I would have let him go into the lair of Polyphemus unprepared. That it barely worked out last time wouldn't mean it worked out as well this time around. This fight with Medusa had only confirmed that point. We had always planned to tell him about our suspicions that something else used some kind of magic or item to lure the satyrs into a trap, and about what possible causes it could be.

"No objections, I'm rebellious you know, and I won't change my mind, even if you tell me otherwise. And don't even dare to sneak off on your search before we have done the link or I'm forced to follow you wherever you go," I told him. "Now go to sleep, I'll take first watch."

He looked deep in thought but didn't object and laid down next to Annabeth. I sat down at the counter of the dining area, where the only thing behind me would be my friends and I would have the entire warehouse in my field of vision. I took out Riptide in its pen form and put Annabeth's cap on my head. Better safe than sorry.

Time crawled by slowly and taking watch was so exhausting, I almost regretted us staying in the warehouse. We had kept the lights on, as only our enemies would have had an advantage in the dark, and we wouldn't want them to sneak up on us unseen. The problem was, the lights were flickering, and it resulted in the shadows of the statues moving with it, making it look like they were alive and closing upon us. That combined with the eyes staring at you? It made me feel paranoid real fast.

Finally, it was time to switch guards. I took off the cap and carefully woke up Annabeth. She blinked her eyes open, looked around the hall, and pulled a grimace.

"You ok?" I asked and moved back into my old position again, Annabeth sat down next to me.

"Dreams," she answered, pointing around us. "About that, and it wasn't a nice one."

"It isn't nice having them stare like this at you either," I answered.

She just hummed in agreement.

We sat for a while in silence, until I asked, "Who?"

Annabeth just snorted. "Take a wild guess," she told me.

I had already figured as much. "Why is it, that if something happens, it's always his fault?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Annabeth said. "But if what Medusa said is true – and I do believe that it is – then it had to be him. She was killed by a child of his after all."

I furrowed my brows.

"I still don't get it," I said. "What exactly was he trying to accomplish? I mean, there had to be a purpose, right? I know you have at least a guess."

Next to me, Annabeth sighed. She was playing with her necklace like she often did when she was deep in thought.

"Do you know about my mother's past? How she was born?"

"I think you once told me that she sprung from Zeus' split skull?"

She nodded. "But do you know why that happened?" she asked me.

I shook my head. I hadn't. The subject was just too weird. Like thinking about why Annabeth had a belly button even though she was born from her mother's thoughts.

"There was a prophecy that his wife – his first wife Metis that is – would bear him a daughter, and then a son who would be more powerful and eventually overthrow him – I would guess that's where his paranoia started. He tricked Metis into turning into a fly and swallowed her. I won't go into the details, but Metis had already been pregnant with my mother, and in the end, my mother was born when Zeus made Hephaestus split his head open."

I hadn't known that. But it sounded much too similar to what Kronos had done with his children. Why exactly would somebody who had helped cut his father into pieces for this very reason do the exact same thing? Right, he was the only one who hadn't been eaten, so of course, he wouldn't know what that was like. Even so, you don't try to fight a prophecy, even I knew that much.

"Ok, but that still doesn't answer my question," I said. "Was it a punishment for my father for the thing with them trapping Zeus? Or something to do with your mother? But then, I always thought she was his favorite daughter, the one he never punishes?"

The entire story was just too weird. The stories I had always heard, told how big a rivalry Poseidon and Athena had, how they were always fighting. But the way Medusa had said it, it sounded as if my father had been planning on meeting Athena, almost as if…

But that couldn't be true, I knew that much at least. That still left Zeus' reasoning, and I wouldn't put it past Zeus to do something petty like this in revenge.

But it seemed it wasn't the case either because Annabeth shook her head. "No, that event happened sometime afterward, shortly before the outbreak of the Trojan war happened," she told me. "As for my mother, while it is true that she is Zeus' favorite daughter because of her wisdom and strategic prowess, that is also the reason he fears her the most. Or to be more precise, he is afraid that she uses her abilities in support of someone else's rise against him. That is why he never punishes her, why he lets her get away with so much more than anyone else. He is afraid doing otherwise would only push her to support somebody else instead of him. And the only ones powerful enough to challenge his position as king are his brothers."

I thought about what Annabeth said. "You're saying he was afraid of our parents working together against him, so he tried to fuel their rivalry and make them hate each other?"

Annabeth nodded and answered, "Think about it. Why does everyone fear Hades, why did they banish him from Olympus? We have met him, and he is not that terrible of a person to deserve this, right? No, it's to prevent him from gaining any kind of support. And if you think about the story of Medusa, it says that my mother had been extremely angry at your father for this, right?"

It did make sense, somewhat. From what I understood was Hades angry at how his family was treating him, how he was forbidden from going to Olympus, the place that was supposed to be his home too.

"But then our parents still worked together again, and did exactly what Zeus was afraid of?"

Annabeth shrugged her shoulders. "They most likely found out that he had his fingers in it. There was another event that had to do with it too, something that would most likely have made my mother extremely angry at him when she found out about the truth. In the end, they acted against Zeus because of the actions he took in his attempt to prevent it. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy," she said. "The fact is, we know that Zeus was acting because he is shortsighted, paranoid, and trigger happy. What is much more interesting though are the events that happened after the Trojan war. My mother lost her position as the main war goddess. The Romans did not hold Poseidon in as high regard as the Greeks did, but feared him instead as much, if not more than they did Hades. Zeus was weakening the positions of those who could be dangerous to him. But what exactly had happened? And what had gone wrong?"

Annabeth sighed and shook her head, looking annoyed.

"There is no point in talking about it until we hopefully get more information out of Ares. You should get as much sleep as you can, Percy. It's my turn to take watch."

I nodded and decided to drop the subject. I went back to our makeshift bed and lay down. I was sure I wouldn't find any sleep, but my fatigue won out in the end and my eyes closed.

In my dreams I stood in the middle of the warehouse surrounded by statues, light coming from somewhere behind me, casting long shadows. The building was rattling as if something was trying to force its way through the walls inside. There were dozens of voices around me.

"HELP!" "Save me." "Please." "Free me."

Some of the statues were pleading with me, begging me to save them, but all I could do was watch. The more time went by, the stronger the rattling got, and the more pleading the voices became.

"You can safe us, why do you refuse to do so?"

"I can't, I don't know how," I wanted to say, but no sound came from my mouth.

With a last groan, the wall and floor started to give away, breaking apart and dropping in a familiar chasm. It was slowly growing, the voices of the statues broke off, the statues in the way of the void were getting swallowed up by it.

The pit yawned wide and completely black before me now. I shiver ran down my back, I could feel the coldness and evilness of Kronos from its depths, trying to rise. This would be the first time since we traveled back that I would meet him.

We finally meet, little hero, the amused voice of Kronos echoed far down in the darkness. It was harder getting through to you than I thought. I think you will do just fine.

Cold laughter echoed from the chasm.

But stop hiding from me, boy, it is useless, I can feel your presence.

Hiding? I looked down, but I could see myself just fine. What was he talking about?

An invisible force took a hold of me, I could feel Kronos trying to use me to pull himself out of the pit. I knew I couldn't let him; I would never allow it again. I would fight him with all I had.

But there seemed to be no need to throw him off, because the moment he grabbed onto me, I could feel his power recoil just as fast, as if he had been burned. A gentle red fire appeared around me, filling the hall in its warm shine of light, the shadows started receding, the air around me changed, the suppressing feeling was gone, instead, it felt peaceful and like home.

Kronos' voice turned livid but started to slowly get quieter while he spoke.

No, you're not doing it yourself, he realized. Who is interfering? Who is the one hiding you from my gaze? Who is the one shielding you? WHO DARES TO DEFY ME!

The chasm shrunk during the entire time he had been speaking only to disappear completely now. The statues and walls returned to how they had been, but it no longer felt oppressive, Kronos' presence was gone.

Someone was shaking me.

My eyes opened, meeting Annabeth's worried gaze.

"How bad was it?" she asked. "Him?"

When I told her what happened she had a curious gleam in her eyes.

"That sounded like Hestia," she thought out loud. "Like she did with our normal nightmares, but she can block his presence too?"

I had a crazy thought. "Do you think she could do that for every demigod if they gave her offerings as we do?"

Annabeth's eyes got wide. "He influenced so many in their dreams," she said. "If that works we could save so many from getting brainwashed by him."

Scrape!

A sound behind us made both of us whirl around and I uncapped Riptide. It sounded like stones scraping against each other.

"Grover?" I whispered to Annabeth.

I got my answer by seeing how tense she looked.

"No, I sent him outside to meet his fluffy, pink, four-legged old friend again," she answered.

I remembered the poodle Annabeth was talking about – Gladius or something. But that was not important right now, I searched the warehouse without finding anything, there were just too many places to hide. Still, I got the feeling something looked out of place. Something was different than before.

Scrape!

There was the sound again and it was close. I let my eyes wander searchingly over possible hiding places close by when I saw what was different. One of the statues had tiny cracks running down its surface. It was the one of the little girl, the one with the easter basket.

Scrape!

I could see the cracks lengthening in front of my eyes.

"Annabeth!" I said jumping over the counter, pointing at the statue.

When I got closer I could hear more sounds coming from it. It almost sounded like… like breathing.

"By the gods," Annabeth exclaimed. "Is she still alive?"

Then it hit me. That was the statue Annabeth was trapped against during the fight with Medusa, and her arm had been covered in Gorgon blood. In my dream the statues had been begging me to save them, saying I knew how I could help. The blood had prevented Annabeth from turning to stone. I thought back, Annabeth had said the girl had been the first to be turned to stone, did that mean the others were still alive as well? Could the blood cure them too? We watched the cracks slowly widen; it wouldn't take much longer before we would know the answer to our questions.

The moment the surface of the statue broke apart completely, I jumped forward and caught the small girl before she dropped to the floor. She was still covered by a layer of stone, it looked like she came out of a giant stony eggshell, with the parts still clinging to her. She was not responsive, but alive and breathing.

I looked back up at Annabeth. "Do you think the others are alive too?" I asked.

She had thoughtful look in her eyes, her mind running through all possibilities.

"Remember how Medusa said that her ability was weakened against immortal blood?" she asked. "I think there is a high possibility, that if there are other demigods among them…"

She didn't finish, there was no need. There was nothing around here for miles, and yet there were an awful lot of statues of children here. Medusa's lair was really close to camp, would be practical on the way for many of us, and once you smelled her food you were already in the influence of her magic, already in her trap. There was a high possibility that many, if not most of these children were demigods.

"You shall seek those in need, turn their prisons to dust," I whispered.

Annabeth sharply inhaled next to me.

"That's what our dreams were about," she said. "Why I felt we should go here. Stay with her, I'm going to write a message to Chiron, we can send the bottle over to him, he'll be the best to look into this and take care of it for us."

I nodded and while Annabeth was busy I focused back on the girl in my arms. I carefully picked the stone pieces from her. She was still dressed in shabby clothes, her shoes looked as if they should have been thrown away for some time already. She was small, maybe around eight, she had black hair, but it was really light, coming closer to brown. She was sleeping peacefully in my arms, snuggling against me, and I couldn't help but feel protective about her. I tried giving her some nectar to strengthen her.

I was pulled from my thoughts when the door opened. Grover came in, carrying a pink poodle in his arms.

"I'm back and I found a new friend," he called, trotting in our direction before he saw the girl and halted. "Who's that?"

I smiled up at him. "It seems we found a new friend as well."

He blinked his eye traveling between Annabeth behind, and me and the girl in my arms. "Did I miss something?"