II
Chiron placed Clarisse in charge of inventorying the packages that were found, and to summon Percy. Hours passed and with it the number of packages mounted, higher and higher. Percy chuckled as he walked up to Big House; he had never seen Clarisse so mad in all his days at camp half-blood. Upon entering the library, Percy observed Dionysus in his usual position, and in his usual quandary; a bottle of wine in each hand. "Ah Percy, thank you for coming, but now you have to go." Percy furrowed his brow, and pivoted on his foot without ever stopping his steps, " Oooook" as Percy reached the threshold to the room Dionysus called to him, "Don't you want to know where you're going? This quest, for the lost parcel, is yours." "What lost parcel?" Chiron had entered behind Percy, making him jump slightly when he answered. "Hermes dropped one of the packages into Blue Marsh Lake." Percy's shoulders slumped, when he had heard quest he thought of an adventure more glorious than swimming to the bottom of a lake in Pennsylvania. "You shouldn't be morose about it Percy, you will have at least Scylla to contend with at the very least", Chimed Chiron. Percy's shoulders perked back up, and then his chin dropped. "Scylla? THE Scylla? As in my father's ex … lover, who was turned into a squid … thing?" Percy raised his hands and joined them together, dangling his fingers below and wiggling them about as to imitate Scylla's tentacles. "One in the same, and who better to do battle with her than the Son of the Sea? Oh, and do take Annabeth with you, because I know if you don't she will simply pester me until I let her go anyway". Percy of course had no objection to spending large amounts of time alone with the object of his affection, and having received his assignment, he left Big House for his cabin to pack for the quest.
Upon leaving the cafeteria, and after consuming copious amounts of nectar, Grover stumbled his way towards his own cabin, but was stopped in his hooved tracks by the sound of a woman sobbing; even stranger was the fact that the cries emanated from Aries camp five's lead cabin, Clarisse's cabin. With trepidation he approached, and knocked gently on the door. "GO AWAY!" the response confirmed to Grover that it was in fact Clarisse inside. Grover did not head her words, and pushed the door in slightly; peeking through the crack he had created, what he saw caused him to enter the cabin fully and close the door behind him. Clarisse was sitting on her bed under her covers, knees drawn tight to her chest, with her face buried in them. When she realized Grover had entered, her head rose to reveal her swollen red eyes and rosy cheeks covered in tears. Grover sat at the foot of her bed. "I told you to go away!" she repeated, wiping the moisture from her eyes. "Now what kind of friend would I be if I actually listened to what you said all the time?" Grover shot back. The faintest of smirks appeared on Clarisse's face. Clarisse had always had trouble accepting friendship, even before camp half-blood; but in a most vulnerable state, she couldn't help but confide in her friend. Her friend, she repeated in her mind, she felt undeserving of his friendship as she had doubted his abilities and him in general for allegiance to Percy but decided to accept it for once. "What did I do Grover?" Grover had trouble holding back laughter; after all, she had done plenty to slight him. "What do you mean? You've done a lot of things." Clarisse's hands fell to her sides with open palms, and she laid her head back against the wall. "Aries ..." Grover interrupted her, "Your dad". Clarisse rolled her eyes and continued, "My dad had never said anything to me before today, and what does he do? HE GROUNDS ME!" a look of befuddlement came across Grover's face, "He what?" Clarisse repeated herself and elaborated, "He grounded me; I'm not allowed to go on any quests." Grover's eyebrows rose in the middle, "Well that explains it." The look of frustration and sadness on Clarisse's face was immediately replaced by an inquisitive one. "Explains what?" Grover thought for a minute, unsure if he would survive answering her question. "That explains why Percy and Annabeth are getting ready to leave … on a quest." Clarisse's hands rose up over her face, "Today could not get any worse." Grover reached over, placing a hand on Clarisse's covered foot, "Don't worry, you're still a rock star around here. It probably wasn't anything you did, maybe he's just trying to keep you safe, he is your dad after all." Clarisse had never thought about it in that fashion, as the majority of her life she had spent watching out for others, being their leader. The idea that someone was trying to protect her was foreign, and hard for her to accept. Dizzy with nectar, Grover returned to his cabin, retiring for the evening.
When Morning broke all the campers, with the exception of Clarisse, gathered to give Percy and Annabeth a proper hero's sendoff; they all knew Scylla was a formidable opponent, and not the only one that stood in the way of retrieving the lost package. Tyson stood at the end of the line, with his backpack fully stocked. As Percy and Annabeth approached, he stepped out of the line blocking their path. "I'm coming with you brother." He stated with his usual confidence. "Tyson, it's going to be very dangerous, we don't know what's waiting out there for us." Without skipping a beat, Tyson responded "And so was our last quest. We are better together brother, and I could never forgive myself if anything happened to you, just like you didn't when you thought I was dead." The truth of Tyson's words struck Percy with weight. He was right, without him the quest for the Golden Fleece would have been a failure; and it didn't hurt to have someone who was fire-proof with you on a quest. Percy looked to Annabeth, and begrudgingly she shook her head in affirmation. Even the daughter of the goddess of wisdom could not refute Tyson's logic. Percy took Annabeth's hand in his, and raised them high to the cheers of the campers. The three intrepid adventurers walked through the gates, starting what would become their most perilous quest to-date.