Annabeth's POV
"Grover, calm down! It is not even your trial!" My words did not have the desired effect of calming my oldest friend down.
"Annabeth! The council is getting impatient with me. I need more proof that I heard him speaking to me or they're going to revoke my license! They invited me so that I could get a preview of my fate!" He lamented. He looked near tears and I had to refrain from marching straight up to those satyrs and punching them. While it would cause me immense satisfaction, it wouldn't help Grover's case.
"Whose trial are we going to, anyway?" I asked. Together we were trekking through the forest to get to the clearing. It wasn't a path that the campers traveled by often so I was letting Grover take the lead though it was obvious that he was more focused on his worries about the council than where he was leading. I had my hand on my dagger just in case he led us straight into a monster. It wouldn't be the first time. It took him a while to realize I had asked a question.
"A satyr named Gleeson Hedge. He got in trouble transporting a demigod back to camp or something." He responded absentmindedly. Gleeson Hedge - the name sounded familiar though I couldn't remember where I had heard it. Since neither of us had anything to say, we fell into a comfortable silence for the rest of the journey.
We were the last to arrive at the glade. Chiron smiled at me from his spot beside the thrones of Cloven Elders though my gaze was more focused on the person next to him. Clarisse La Rue. Possibly my least favorite person in the world. Why, in Athena's name, was she here? I took my place next to Grover as an observer though I couldn't help shooting Chiron an inquisitive glance. Chiron shook his head which I decided to take as I will tell you later.
I settled my glare on Clarisse. I expected the usual sneer in return but she wasn't looking at me. She hadn't even noticed that I was there. My nemesis was staring at the satyr on trial, Gleeson Hedge (seriously who named their child Gleeson), with was that worry in her eyes? Something was wrong here.
"Ah, now that Mr. Underwood and his friend have finally arrived," Grover flinched and I clenched my jaw. "We may begin." The satyr, sitting on the throne in the middle, drawled.
"And hopefully finish before lunch." The one on the left grumbled. Apparently suffering from voracious appetites was a satyr thing not only a problem that ailed Grover.
The satyr on trial, Hedge, muttered some unflattering things about the Cloven Elders. I didn't blame him. I was thinking the same things in my head but it wasn't going to help his case though I admired his boldness.
"Gleeson, your inexcusable behavior while transporting Chris Rodriguez to the safety of Camp Half-Blood is merely the first of the many atrocities that you have committed! First, it was that incident with the dalmations-"
"That was completely justified!" Hedge exclaimed indignantly. "Dalmatians are evil creatures! I was-"
"Enough!" The satyr in the center, Maron maybe, glared at Hedge for interrupting then signaled for his colleagues to continue. In the corner of my eye, I could see Chiron holding Clarisse back from charging the satyrs. The Cloven Elders continued to list off various infractions that Hedge had made while the satyr seethed in his spot. A glance at Clarisse showed that she wanted to punch the Elders more than I did, though that wasn't really a surprise.
"And finally!" I jumped slightly when one of the members of the Council began to shout. "You terrorized one of your charges, one who was already dealing with insanity! You clearly cannot be trusted with this! You are far too violent and unstable to be a protector!" At this, I frowned. For all of her faults, Clarisse wasn't someone who I would classify as insane. Bloodthirsty, annoying, arrogant, and a bully, definitely but not insane and the thought of Clarisse being terrorized by anything was almost enough to make me laugh.
"But violence is the way of nature! Don't you tree-hugging, flower-picking goats know anything! The law of nature is to kill or be killed, eat or be eaten! Even the mortals know that!" That was the wrong thing to say. Silenus rose to his full height, a towering 4 feet.
"Mr. Hedge," Why did that sound worse than Gleeson? "Are you comparing us to mere mortals?" Clarisse and Hedge looked like they were about to kill the Council so Chiron decided to step in. "Perhaps we should move on to the sentencing?" There was an awkward silence as Clarisse, Hedge, and the Council glared at each other.
Chiron cleared his throat. "Now, please." Leneus was the first to break the stare-off.
"I vote that we give Mr. Hedge a well-needed break. A vacation, perhaps." Leneus grinned. I gave a subtle raise of an eyebrow. His tone of voice was mocking. I wasn't liking Grover's chances with these overweight goats as his judges. Hedge didn't seem to catch the sarcastic tone.
"Now you're talking! So where am I going? Hawaii, the Bahamas, or maybe Florida!" Hedge's face lit up with excitement.
The Council gave him identical disdainful looks. "I propose that we sentence Gleeson Hedge to work at the Canadian Border for an indefinite amount of time." Hedge's smile slipped off his face and his mouth fell open in shock.
"What!?" Clarisse hadn't said a single word during the entire trial so I was surprised by her outburst. "Why, you mangy goats! You don't understand anything!" Chiron had to hold her back before she charged the three satyrs. I stared at my nemesis. Instead of the usual anger and pride on her face, (those were there too), I saw hints of sadness and despair. Her eyes were shining and I doubted it was sweat.
The Council ignored her and voted. It was unanimous. Grover and I didn't see the point in remaining after that.
Grover abandoned me on the way back to camp to meet up with his new nymph friend, Jasmine or Juniper - I couldn't remember. I didn't mind. It gave me a chance to be alone with my thoughts. Clearly, something was happening. Something involving that satyr, Clarisse, and her mysterious Winter trip to her mom's. Since Chiron wasn't going to volunteer information, I was going to have to force it out of him. As if he was summoned, Chiron appeared next to me. Clarisse was noticeably absent.
"Annabeth, I wasn't expecting you to be at the hearing. I assume you were there to support Grover." I didn't waste time on pleasantries.
"Chiron, what's going on?" He flinched.
"Child, I have no idea -." He stopped short when he caught my disbelieving stare. "Even after all of these years, I sometimes underestimate you." I didn't know whether to be pleased or offended. Chiron glanced around as if he was afraid of someone overhearing us. "Let's go to my office to finish this conversation." He invited me in and proceeded to tell me all that was necessary.
"The labyrinth!" My eyes widened with the possibilities. Daedalus was a genius. I would kill to see any of his inventions. It almost made me forget to be annoyed with the centaur. Almost.
"How could you not involve me in this?" I demanded. Chiron stroked his beard and sighed.
"This is a delicate business, Annabeth. Clarisse has recently found evidence that the Titan Army is trying to navigate the labyrinth. I am only telling you now because the labyrinth has been one of your greatest interests." As Percy would say, my brain exploded. The implications of that sentence were enough to send me railing. Oh, Luke. What were you doing? I jumped out of my seat.
"I need to start more in-depth research. This is crazy-serious!" I was about to leave when Chiron called after me.
"Annabeth, I'm going to need you to work with Clarisse on this." I twirled around, raising an eyebrow incredulously.
"Excuse me?"
And that's how I found myself in the Ares Cabin two days later, sitting with Clarisse La Rue. I tried not to openly glare at her. Clarisse did not give me the same kindness. We sat in silence for a few minutes, neither one of us wanted to be the bigger person and speak first. I decided to get it over with.
"So, the labyrinth-"
"I don't need your help." Clarisse interrupted. I glared at her. You did in the Sea of Monsters. But I decided not to mention that.
"And I don't want to help you but I have to because of a certain centaur." I was pretty sure that she muttered something about centaur soup.
"Well then, go have your little conference with Chiron and tell him about your oh-so-interesting research. I don't care." She went back to sharpening her knife.
"I would love to, you little brat. He would actually be interested." Clarisse just scoffed and didn't lookup. I snarled.
"Why are you even sharpening that knife? I beat you at everything so it doesn't matter if your blade is sharp or dull." Immediately she charged me. Children of Ares are completely predictable. I drew my dagger and engaged her.
"Alright, freeze!" Clarisse and I stopped mid-battle to look at the intruder. My half-brother, Malcolm was standing in the doorway with Sherman right behind him. He had a slight smirk on his face. Clarisse growled.
"Great, two egg-heads in my cabin." She threw the dagger at Malcolm's feet, tip first. "Grab your sister and get out." Malcolm ignored her and strode in. Sherman followed him, scowling.
Most people said that Malcolm and Sherman were the male versions of me and Clarisse. I agreed though Malcolm was slightly less intelligent than me and Sherman might have been dumber than Clarisse - something I didn't think was possible.
"I saw my sister walk into the Ares cabin, something that she wouldn't do willingly, and decided to make sure that she wasn't being kidnapped. Malcolm grinned at me. "Because I'm such a good brother," Sherman growled.
"If you brain-children-freaks, don't want anything, get out. Actually, I don't care if you need money to save your sick grandparents, get out of my," Clarisse glared at him. "Our cabin!" I rolled my eyes.
"Come on, Malcolm. I don't think I can stand the stench in here." Sherman and Clarisse shouted something at us, probably something that should not be repeated around small children, but we ignored them. Malcolm raised an eyebrow at me when we arrived at our cabin.
"You're welcome for the rescue but I do expect an explanation." I laughed and shoved him into our cabin. Then I remembered that I had to report back to Chiron. The laugh kind of died on my lips.
"Annabeth, I wanted you to try." I glared at my old mentor.
"You don't get it! She's so annoying! Why is she even involved in this anyway? She doesn't have any appreciation for Dedalus and she either doesn't care or doesn't understand how deadly the labyrinth is." Chiron looked at her sadly.
"Child, you don't understand her. Clarisse is," Chiron searched for the perfect word. Quite a few came to my mind though I doubted those were the kind of adjectives Chiron was looking for. "Clarisse is just a difficult person." He took a deep breath.
"I want you to show you something. I think it will help you." I frowned but I followed him to the infirmary but he didn't go in. "Find Lee. He'll show you." Before I could even make a complaint, Chiron was gone. Finding Lee was easy. He wasn't the largest fan of the infirmary, preferring to fight than to heal so he was in the lounge, eating.
"Lee, Chiron wants to show me something. He said you can take me?" Lee's eyes widened. He seemed to know what I was talking about which was only slightly annoying. "Alright, but you can't tell anyone about this," Lee commanded me as he opened a- the infirmary has a secret passageway?
The tunnel opened to a dimly lit room with 4 occupants. "Hey Will, Pollux, Castor! Your patient has a visitor!" I smiled at them. Will was my go-to guy for healing and while Pollux and Castor mostly kept to themselves, they were fun on karaoke night. Their smiles in return however were strained.
"We need to keep our voices low so we don't wake him," Will whispered. Him? I glanced for the first time at the bed. There was a guy, fast asleep. He looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't place him.
"Who is he?" I asked. Pollux and Castor looked at each uneasily and said at once, Chris Rodriguez. Memories immediately came flooding back. I swallowed.
"Chris Rodriguez as in -" Lee nodded to confirm my theory.
"Clarisse's old friend. The one who joined the Titan Army." He took a deep breath. "He- he went insane in the labyrinth. Clarisse has been down here 10 times since they got back from Arizona."
I looked Lee dead in the eye. "Tell me everything."
Yes, Ares will eventually appear in this story but it will only be for one chapter. As always, reviews are appreciated.
