Annabeth, Grover, and I camped out in the woods after we raided the office at Medusa's place. In the office, we found delivery receipts for statues to Hades, a large bag of drachmas, and Annabeth found an order form for a potion from Medea to induce the trance we were put under with the food. After we looked through the office, we took a lot of the food after we made sure it didn't have a potion in it.
In the woods, we found a small clearing so we set up our sleeping bags there. I told Annabeth and Grover that I would take first watch and they went to sleep, but Grover stayed up for a little while.
"So, you're a son of Poseidon, have powers from all of the Olympians, Hades, and Hestia, then?" he asked.
"Yep. You are the satyr that found Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke aren't you?"
"Yeah. Those were great times. Of course, Thalia didn't make it to camp, and I still don't have a searchers license. That's part of the reason I agreed to come on this trip, so if it succeeds, I'll get to search for Pan."
"Pan? God of wilderness? Missing since Ancient Greece, right?"
"Yeah, it's the dream of every satyr since ancient times. Pan is the patron of all satyrs, and everyone aspires to be the one to find him."
"But none have come back from the search alive, though, have they? Why do you want to go looking for him?"
"Well, we all want to get him back. There's no proof we'll find him. We just have to hope."
"I don't know if I'd be able to keep searching for someone lost that even the best hadn't found yet."
"I suppose that it's just that the best haven't looked in the right places. We all hope to be the one to find him, you know. My father and Uncle Ferdinand both disappeared looking for him. I want to be the one to find him so I can make them proud."
"I'm sure you've already made them proud, G-Man. You just have to keep trying and, you know, not die. You found Thalia, one of the most powerful demigods in a very long time, I think you can find him if you try hard enough. Maybe you will get your searchers license after this."
"Thanks, Perce. You know what to say when someone's upset. You'll be a great leader."
"Thanks, G-Man. I appreciate it."
"No problem, but do you have any idea what this quest might end like? What will happen? Who stole the magical items from the Big Three?"
Unbidden, the final line came to my mind and I made my decision that it wouldn't be Annabeth or Grover that would betray me. I don't know how, but I knew I would be able trust them with my life and they would stick with me.
"I have a few ideas, but none very good. We can discount Hades, his helm is missing, too. The prophecy said 'You shall go far west to the Crooked One's place, Two gods tricked and fooled you shall face, You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, But be too late and the world shall end.' We think it means that Kronos is rising. There's another prophecy about me, but they refuse to tell me and say I'll understand when I'm older. I say that it would be better for me to know so I can be prepared when the time comes, but it's not my decision. They'll tell me everything when the time comes," I sighed.
"Maybe it's for the best you don't know. Maybe they're trying to protect you so you aren't hurt."
"Maybe. Anyway, it's late. Do you want to keep watch, or should I?"
"You sleep, I'll keep watch."
"Night, Grover." So I went to sleep, anticipating the demigod dream that I would have as soon as I closed my eyes.
I was in a dark cavern that had a suppressive aura in it. I heard an ancient voice talking, crooning, calling. Telling for me to come closer and help him come out, but then my dream suddenly switched. I was on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a very busy city. I recognized this. It was Las Vegas. Out of my control, I moved closer to the city, towards a casino. The Lotus Hotel and Casino.
I went inside, and I saw lots of games and people that looked like they were from different time periods. I was drawn to a corner where there were two kids that looked like siblings. A brother and sister. The girl looked up and I noticed that they had a certain resemblance to Uncle Hades. Maybe these are the kids that Aunt 'Sephone is always grumbling about. I know all about this casino.
Then my dream changed again. I was in Uncle Hades' throne room.
"You see, Perseus. You will pass the casino on your way to your destination on this quest. I'm sure you know where you must go. Alecto will be waiting. Get them out. It is time for them to come back to the regular world. I will see you soon nephew. It is time for you to wake," Uncle Hades said.
I snapped up where I was, awoken by the smell of food and my uncle's request. Well now that's five things I need to retrieve on this quest, on top of figuring out which gods are being tricked, figuring out if it really is my evil grandfather, being betrayed, and possibly ending the world. Wonderful. Can you tell the sarcasm.
I looked around, assessing my surroundings and saw that Annabeth was sitting by a fire, making breakfast out of the scavenged foods we had gotten last night, and Grover was talking to a poodle.
"Morning Percy. I was just about to wake you up. We've got a way to get a ride. The poodle Grover is talking to is named Gladiola. She ran away from her home, but is willing to go back so we can get the reward and then we can use that to buy train tickets," Annabeth said.
"Okay, that'll work out fine. Hey, let me get breakfast. Aunt 'Meter and Auntie 'Tia taught me how to cook and I have some powers over fire, so I can cook it easily. I've always had a natural affinity for cooking, but I have some strange obsession with blue foods, so it always turns out like that. I've never understood that, but Dad says that was something my mortal mom liked," I say, not understanding why I told them that when I'd only decided to trust them late last night.
"Oh, I'm not really on the best terms with my dad. I ran away when I was younger, but you probably know that already, don't you. So, do you know my mom well?" Annabeth said, seeming sad about not being on good terms with her dad, but curious about her mom.
"Yeah, she's my Auntie 'Thena. She taught me strategy. She's my favorite. She watches you and your siblings all the time. It's one of the few times she worries, when her children are hurt or in danger. She probably panicked a lot when we were fighting Medusa. She pays close attention to quests."
"Really?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah, they watch most of the time when they aren't working on their jobs. They all worry over their children a lot. Zeus regretted it when Thalia didn't make it. Hades apologized for it later, he was just upset that he had to give his children up back in the 40's due to the Oath, but Zeus had Thalia. He was bitter," I tell Annabeth.
"Whoa. I guess that we never thought that they paid that much attention to us because there are so many unclaimed."
"Well believe me, when I get back to Olympus I'll talk to them about that," I promised.
"I'm sure that will mean a lot to the unclaimed," Annabeth said.
A/N: Shout out goes to Bibliophilic12. Please go follow her for she is the reason for this chapter. Thank you for all of you patience and support. I will try to keep stories updated with the help of my new co-author. Till next time, my flaming birds. Feel free to share it and all that stuff.