Chapter 40 - Percy News. Percy News. Percy News!

It was a couple busy weeks later when Grover ran into the middle of dinner screaming, "I felt him!"

Which, ok, wasn't the best words to use, like, ever. Everyone looked at him curiously.

"Care to rephrase that, Grover?" Chiron said tactfully.

Grover bent over, breathing hard. "I…. felt… Percy."

I swear my heart stopped for a moment. It had been months now. Grover had felt him in his empathy link?

"Grover, wha-"

He turned to me. "I didn't get much, Annabeth. Some fear. But he's alive."

I turned on Leo. "And the boat? How long -"

My expression must have been fierce because Leo started stammering. "Uh, um, not, uh,"

"Say it, Leo." Piper commanded. Gods, I love her charmspeak.

"It'll still be a while. A few months, at best. I think we can make our original timeline, but -"

Clearly something in my expression cut him off. The entire pavilion was silent. I looked at Chiron.

"Not alone, Annabeth." He said firmly. "Wait. Make a plan. Go with the Argo II in the summer. You heard what Rachel said."

I knew he was right but I still slammed my cup down on the table and stormed out of the dining pavilion. I had too many thoughts going through my head, and most of them weren't good. There had to be a reason that Grover finally felt Percy today. And whatever that reason was, it probably had to do with Hera and so it was going to be messy, painful, and likely come back to bite me. I couldn't stay at the pavilion. I couldn't sit there while everyone questioned me, pestered me, talked to me. I needed to get away. I ended up on the north shore, and kicked off my shoes. I stuck my feet into the water.

"Come on…. Come on… come on…." I muttered. I hadn't even realized what I was doing when I heard a voice behind me.

"Annabeth."

I turned. It was Grover.

"Annabeth, I'll keep -"

"I know." I snapped.

His shoulder sagged. "I thought you'd be happy -"

"I am." I insisted.

"Yeah, you don't look it." He told me warily.

I glared at him, but this was Grover. He had been one of my longest friends. I took a shaky breath.

"I just… Jason's memories are getting clearer. He's remembered how to get to the Roman camp. That was supposed to be the last piece. Percy is probably in trouble, since you sensed fear. And we can't DO anything!" I yelled it at the ocean.

Grover nodded, clearly troubled.

I stormed through the water and marched back to my shoes.

"Annabeth." I didn't turn around this time. I shoved my feet back into my sneakers, even though they were still wet. "I know it's hard. You're mad at me. That I don't know more. That you can't contact him."

My shoulders sagged. I hadn't even realized it, but I did feel some of that. But what I was truly feeling was anger at myself. It had been months of worry, but I truly hadn't done anything. I was supporting Leo, working like crazy on the ship. I was helping Piper practice, and her charmspeak was becoming a truly powerful weapon. I was learning to heal. I was learning about Roman myths. But all of that was for some quest the gods needed us for. And I honestly didn't care anymore. I didn't care about any of that anymore. Because the one person I truly wanted to help was beyond my reach and I didn't know what to do. Percy needed me, and I couldn't be there. He had always been there when I needed him, but now I couldn't return the favor. I was stuck at camp, trying to trick myself into believing that any of what I was doing was bringing me closer to him.

"Grover." I sighed. "Yeah, ok, I'm angry that we don't have more information. But I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at me, ok?"

He looked relieved when I told him I wasn't mad at him, but shocked when I said I was mad at myself.

"Why would you -"

"You. Tyson. Thalia. Heck, even the Party Ponies are out looking for him. And I'm stuck here, eating marshmallows and acting like everything is fine. I can't do a single thing to help -"

"You're building a freaking flying ship to go rescue him."

"Leo's building a ship. I'm trying to make sure no one kills him before he does."

"That's its own kind of challenge." Grover said with a smile. "You're learning about the Roman camp so you can -"

"That's for the quest. That has nothing to do with Percy. Not really. None of this is helping him."

Grover shook his head. "Annabeth. You do remember that you can't actually save the entire world, right?"

I glared at him. "Actually, I've done a pretty good job saving the world so far. This time I just want to save my boyfriend. That doesn't seem like a big ask after holding up the sky, fighting Titans -"

Grover held up his hands. "Yeah. Ok." We were silent for a few moments. "Is there anything I can do, Annabeth?" He asked it quietly. I shook my head.

"Just… I think I need to be alone for a while."

He nodded. "I'll have someone come check on you before lights out. Make sure you don't fall asleep out here."

I nodded, but I was barely hearing him. I yanked my shoes back off and tossed them and my socks higher onto the beach. Then I sat in the surf and cried, for once letting everything just wash over me again.

When I felt better I walked back to the cabins. I could tell most of the campers were at the evening campfire still. I showered and then walked to the Hypnos cabin and got myself set up. Clovis walked in.

"Oh! Hi, Annabeth."

"Hi, Clovis. I was hoping we could -"

He smiled and nodded, then pointed to someone behind him. Grover came in, looking sheepish. We shared a smile, then got ready to enter the dreamscape.

Over the weeks, one of the biggest things we had figured out was how to meet inside the dreamscape. As soon as I opened my eyes into the shadow world I saw Grover in front of me.

"Where should we try?" Grover asked, looking around at all the paths to get to dreams.

I shook my head. "Try your empathy link. See if maybe one of them feels different now."

Grover nodded, looking determined. He carefully walked around the clearing. I followed him down a path. We found a dark area, almost completely black, then it opened back up. I can't say if it was trees, or rocks, or fog, or what the landscape of the dream world is made of. But we were in a clearing of some sort. Dreams hummed all around us.

"This one feels promising." Grover decided. We grabbed hands and touched the dream. Suddenly, we were somewhere else. I looked around. We appeared to be in a museum, but it wasn't one I recognized. We were all alone. I held onto Grover's hand, not wanting to lose him.

"Where are we?" Grover asked.

"Not sure." I admitted. "But I don't think Percy would dream of a museum."

We walked around a corridor for a while, then I spotted someone. Someone with red hair and jeans with drawings on them.

"Rachel!" I called to her. She turned and looked stunned to see us.

"Wh-what? This is my dream, guys. What are you two doing here?"

"Wait, you know you're dreaming?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah. I've been working on this. A way to control the visions, make them make a bit more sense." She gestured around at the artwork. I realized each picture was moving, like a TV screen.

"Uh, the visions?" Grover asked nervously as I walked up to one. It was the one Rachel had been staring at. It was me, in a dark cave, looking up at something in horror.

"I force each vision into its own picture frame. That way I can try to keep track of them, connect them. And they aren't so scary if they're pictures."

I turned back to her, pointing at the frame. "Any ideas on this one?"

She shook her head. "No, it appeared today. Something bad." She offered.

I smiled at her. "Let me know if there are any changes. We're actually trying to find Percy's dreams. Grover felt his empathy link activate."

Rachel's eyebrows shot up. "Oh? Good."

I looked at her quizzically. "Rachel? What do you know?"

She shook her head. "Only that it means that Hera's put him in play now. She's kept him back until now for a reason, and released him for a reason."

I nodded grimly. "Yeah. Any ideas what that reason is?"

She smiled. "I think you and I both have a thousand guesses. But nothing really solid."

I sighed and went to sit next to her on the dream bench. "I like the architecture of your dream museum."

She grinned at me. "Thanks! I've been working on it."

Grover cleared his throat. "Uh, Annabeth, do you want to stay, or?"

Rachel shook her head. "I should ask you both to leave. It's probably not ok for you to see some of these yet."

I looked around the museum. Hallways went off in three directions and I could see more hallways off of those. Was each filled with this many paintings, this many visions? How could Rachel make any sense of any of them?

Grover and I grabbed hands and stepped out of Rachel's dream.

"Ok." Grover said, rubbing his eyes. "Your turn to guess which dream is his."

I gave him half a smile. "Hey, at least it was someone we know. I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally appeared in random mortal's dreams."

I looked around at the different dream bubbles. None of them felt like Percy, but none of them felt like anybody. They were just images. I wondered if I'd ever be able to find his dreams.

"Hey, don't give up." Grover bleeted. "We can do this."

I nodded and touched the dream next to us. In a flash, we were somewhere else. I blinked and looked around. We were…. In Montauk. At a beach. And in front of us…. I grabbed Grover and yanked us behind a lifeguard stand.

"Wha- Percy?" He asked.

"No - his mom. We're in Sally Jackson's dream."

Grover grunted. "At least we're close, you know, biologically speaking."

I heard voices coming from the figures. I looked around the post, trying to see what was going on. Sally Jackson looked significantly younger. She looked happy, talking to the other person. When the second figure turned I caught my breath. It was Poseidon. He was grinning and grabbed Sally up in a twirl, setting her down gently. She kissed him, then took his hand and walked towards a cabin.

"Nope." I informed Grover. "Nope, I absolutely don't want to know what happens next."

"Wha- why? What's happening?"

"This appears to be Sally remembering her time with Poseidon, and leading him back to the privacy of a cabin, and -"

Grover blushed. "Oh - oh. Oh gods. Get us out of here."

"Trying!"

We were both so flustered it took several moments for us to get back to the dreamscape. At which point we both looked at each other in horror for a minute. Then we both burst out laughing in relief.

"Oh, gods." Grover said. "Can this get any worse?"

I shook my head, still grinning. "Uh, let's not find out. How about that be it for tonight?"

Grover and I left the dreamscape and found ourselves back in the Hypnos cabin. Clovis was asleep next to us. Grover smiled at me and helped me up.

"So, what are you going to say on your next visit to the Jackson's residence?" Grover asked wickedly.

"You are a very naughty goat." I informed him.

"I don't think you should call her a goat." He joked back. I punched him lightly in the arm.

"I just wish there was a way to block going into dreams like that ever again."

He nodded. "Yeah, it'd be nice if we got a preview before jumping straight in."

We talked a while more before we decided to go our separate ways to sleep.