Annabeth in this chapter 'Oh gods we need a plan!'
Piper 'Well that's your territory'
Percy 'See ya guys later I'm off being me'
Annabeth 'For fuck sake!'
Piper 'Fair enough'.
Also Percy in this chapter: Hah! Yeah she did have a crush on me but Annabeth totally just sees me as a friend now it didn't last.
Yeah, I love them all very much.
Replies:
Undeath9087: Reyna and Hylla will have a bit more splotlight in the near future but I will say that they won't be sticking around for now, though it will have fun implications in the future if/when I get to HoO.
Guest: Only Triton and Amphitrite know, because they're the ones who live with Poseidon, and they saw his reaction the day he found out Percy was 'Dead'. And I don't think Aphrodite would check in that often. She's not the worst godly parent but she's not exactly there for her kids either. She only checks in very occasionally so she's just not seen anything suspicious yet. And reactions will be revealed in time.
MKDemigodzilla-Warrior: I mean, who says Grover can't become a searcher without the Percy situation :D.
Noir Nyan: Hehehehe.
rage2091: Time for excitement.
Ryan Fowler: It will be a shock for him.
Zephyr0f8: She's a Hawk because they have been connected to Nephthys, and I chose a dove for Piper because of Aphrodite and an owl for Annabeth because of her mother, I chose a snowy owl because it just made sense to me lol.

Percy was the first to land, settling on the ledge of the cliff and ruffling her wings as she turned, twisting her head from this way to that, sharp bird vision focusing on the two other birds- and soon enough the dove and the owl were landing next to Percy.

"That was amazing Percy." Annabeth's voice was breathless in Percy's mind. "I've never flown before but that- the feeling of the air rushing through- it must be how Icarus felt- soaring high except my wings weren't made with wax."

"Told you it's amazing." Piper was laughing. "First time I did it we were escaping a moving train on the run from Apollo and Artemis."

"It was pretty fun." Percy would have grinned if she had a mouth, "The best part is riding the air currents- just gliding through the sky. It's amazing. Like, so so amazing."

"Gods it was perfe-" Annabeth's voice was cut off mid thought by the bellowing noise from below them.

Percy's gaze snapped down towards the source of the sound.

The ledge was narrower than Percy had realised at first- not that it mattered given their current size but still, she made her way to the edge and peered over it- and she could feel Annabeth and Piper following close behind her.

The ledge dropped off on the opposite side, and that's where the voice was coming from, right below them.

"Honeypie!" the voice was deep and booming. "I'm tired of waiting. We will marry and I will see behind your veil! And we will have a feast of sheep meat."

The Cyclops. Polyphemus, Percy knew, was a horrible sight. He was huge, his arms alone were the same size as Percy was-he had to be at least fifteen foot tall, she could see jagged yellow teeth, gnarled hands, his single eye was milky.

Undoubtedly from where Odysseus had injured him.

And as if that wasn't enough he was wearing what Percy had to assume- based on what he'd said, was a wedding outfit.

A crude kilt and shoulder wrap stitched together from baby blue tuxedoes. Percy couldn't help but wonder where he'd gotten them- did wedding guests often stumble upon his island or something. And at least as a bird Percy's sense of smell wasn't nearly as strong as it was when she was human, but even still she could tell that there was a rancid stench rolling off of him.

And with him was a much smaller figure- it was hard to tell from the distance but whoever they were they were wearing a wedding dress caked in dirt and mud. And a veil was covering their face- also somewhat dirty.

Percy noticed that Piper had shifted closer to Annabeth, offering silent comfort.

"He's bigger than the one I saw when I was little." Annabeth's voice was small even in their minds.

"We're going to be fine Annabeth." Piper's voice was reassuring, "You're insanely strong. We can handle it."

"I'm working as fast as I can!" the voice was male, Percy was pretty sure of that. But it was high pitched- a fake falsetto. Whoever it was was trying to pretend to be a woman- likely to trick Polyphemus. "Really, just give me a few more days."

Annabeth let out a shocked hoot- which made the wedding dress clad stranger look up quickly- and Polyphemus did too- but since all there was to see was three birds they didn't seem too interested- if they could even see them, and Piper pecked at Annabeth, pushing her away from the ledge even as Annabeth's frantic voice was projected into their minds.

"It's Grover! It's Grover, the Satyr I told you guys about." Her voice was almost hysterical, "I know we can't see him but I can recognise his voice anywhere you guys."

"Okay- okay-" Percy tried to sound calming, her mind racing. "What is your Satyr friend doing here?"

"I don't know. I don't know how he wound up here- maybe... maybe he convinced them to let him become a searcher- the magic of the fleece might have drawn him in. I don't know but clearly he's trying to buy himself time to figure out how to escape."

"By pretending to be a lady Cyclops and marrying him." Piper sounded incredulous. "That is the most ridiculous stupid plan I have ever heard-"

"No, no because Polyphemus has bad eye sight. Odysseus saw to that. So Grover's used it to his advantage. You two I know it's not part of the plan but-"

"We need to save him." Percy didn't even hesitate, though her mind was racing because how the hell did they do that?
She turned her attention back to the Cyclops and the Satyr- they'd missed part of the conversation because Grover was being pushed towards a large cave.

He didn't look happy- but Percy realised that if he protested too much he was liable to give himself away. That had to be the reason he wasn't fighting harder, but he was still protesting.

"Please my love, I just need a few more days-"

"Tonight!" the Cyclops declared loudly, "I will get the sheep. We will marry and eat them for the main course!"

And then they were inside.

"How do we get him out?" Piper asked swiftly. "He's not exactly your run of the mill monster like the ones we usually deal with."

"Maybe a distraction-" Annabeth had her planning voice on.

Then there was a whistle and Polyphemus was leading out a mixed flock of goats and sheep- smaller than the man eating ones the three girls had seen when they'd arrived.

They flooded out of the cave and past their master. As they went to pasture, Polyphemus patted some on the back and called them by name—Beltbuster, Tammany, Lockhart, etc.

When the last sheep had waddled out, Polyphemus grabbed a boulder and started rolling it in front of the doorway.

And Percy did what she did best.

Annabeth and Piper didn't stand a chance of stopping her- by the time they even reacted she was dropping like a stone before levelling out as she spread her wings wide and flapped them once, and then she was gliding into the cave just as Polyphemus managed to finish rolling the boulder in front of the cave.

"PERCY!" The two voices almost merged into one in her mind.

"I've got this!" Percy sent back quickly, landing on the cool stone floor and ruffling her wings. "You two explore the island, keep an eye on Polyphemus for me and if he starts heading back here let me know. I will get Grover out."

"You are insane!"

"Embodiment of Chaos you guys-"

"Stop using that as an excuse-"

"I mean, it is a reasonable excuse-"

"Piper!"

"We'll scope out the island." Piper reassured her. "I'll watch Polyphemus. Annabeth can you scope out the fleece and come up with some plan."

"I- ugh fine, fine I can do that but be careful in there Percy."

"When am I ever-"

"Do not finish that question."

"... Fair point."

"Hello?" the voice was hesitant- and Percy looked around for the first time.

The cave was lit by torches- there were sheep skin carpets- bones and what looked like a lot of corridors- it was more than she'd expected truth be told. And Annabeth's Satyr friend. "What are you doing in here?" his voice was soft. "First the owl yelling no and now a hawk."

And Percy let out a screeching sound- which if she was able to actually talk would mean 'How did you know what she yelled?'.

"I'm a Satyr. We can understand animals."

And Percy blinked twice before she decided to try again- letting out another screech, 'I did not know that. Prove it, best color?'

"Uh-" the Satyr sounded bemused. "Green but-" and Percy's next screech was triumphant.

'You fail! Blue is superior.'

"What is going on here?" Grover hissed the words. "You are not a normal bird."

Screech. And Grover gave her an offended look at that- she could tell even with the veil hiding his face.

"Hey it's been a long couple of weeks for me- holy Styx!" he fell backwards, because Percy was transforming, turning back into a human.

Once she was done she flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Hi there. You must be Grover. Nice to officially meet you." she held out her hand. And Grover just stared at her in shock for several long moments before he pulled himself together enough to speak.

"You're Percy Kane." his voice was stunned. "My friend- my friend had the biggest crush on you."

And Percy couldn't help it, she burst out laughing, tossing her head back.

"I mean, I don't think it lasted very long after meeting me. I assume you're talking about Annabeth right?"

"I-" Grover suddenly pushed the veil away from his face, revealing curly brown hair, with two horns pointing out from the curls, brown eyes and the start of a wispy beard.

Something about him just looked friendly. Percy liked him automatically- except for the fact that he looked like he wanted to cry. "You just said- you know- how do you- how do you know Annabeth she- she went missing she died-"

"Uh, not quite." Percy gave a slightly sheepish grin, "Annabeth's the owl."

"You- how? I don't understand."

"Well that would be a super long story. How about we save that for when we're away from here."

"She's alive?"

"Yes."

"Oh thank the gods." Grover let out a sob, "Thank the gods," he surged forward, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

And Percy automatically wrapped her arms around him in return, rubbing his back soothingly. "You'll see her soon."

"How did she know I was here?"

"We didn't. We came for the Fleece. Long story, your camps in danger, we're fixing it."

"I-" Grover paused, "Will listen to the explanation once we're out of here." he paused."How exactly are we getting out?"

"That-" Percy grinned, "Is a fun question. You've seen my movies I guess?"

"Yes."

"They're all based on real things that happened." Percy shoved her hand into the duat and drew out her wand- which made Grover step back, his eyes wide with shock and awe. "And me? Well I'm one of the most badass magicians you'll ever meet."

"Oh my gods." Grover breathed the words, "I am going to need to ask so many questions."

"Soon dude." Percy moved towards the builder, carefully drawing glowing golden lines into the surface of the rock, before she stepped back, admiring the hieroglyph before she thrust out her hand, fucked and felt the slight pull of the magic as she called.

"Ha di!"

The loud crack was almost deafening and Percy winced slightly as Grover yelped and covered his ears.

"Is all clear?"

"Yes." That came from Piper, "Annabeth is checking out the fleece in the tree, I'm on Polyphemus. Are you okay?"

"Fine, just wanting to make sure that he didn't hear that."

"Hear what?" the suspicion in Annabeth's voice really was almost offensive in Percy's opinion.

"I broke the boulder. I've got Grover, we'll make our way out and I'll show him to the boat. He can wait here."

"That sounds like a good plan." There was a brief moment of hesitation before- "Thank you Percy. For helping him."

"Anything for you guys. Percy out." She focused her gaze on Grover again, who was watching her curiously.

"You looked out of it there."

"That would be because I was having a conversation with Annabeth and our friend." she eyed the now cracked boulder- and the large crack went straight through the middle.

She quickly walked up to it, and then she kicked out hard with the bottom of her foot- directly on top of part of the crack.

And the crack spread out, shattering and cracks spreading across it like a spiders web before it crumbled apart into a pile of rubble, letting sunlight into the cave.

She heard Grover gasp loudly and then Percy turned, holding out her hand.

"Well then Grover. Are you ready to get the heck out of here?"