XIII
PERCY
She didn't want me to go. She wanted me to stay at camp until the gods cooled down. When she had come to me about an hour after she had locked me up, she had explained to me what she had tried to do.
"Stay here, make amends with the campers, and create a treaty with the gods. If you don't run, they'll reduce your punishment," she whispered, sitting cross-legged in front of my cage.
"Annabeth, you know the gods. They won't give up. They'll find a loophole through the treaty of yours," I countered. She rolled her eyes.
"The dagger," she said, as if that was the key to everything. "They want that dagger more than revenge itself. They could kill you at any point, but that could result in them losing the dagger. They are too scared of death. They don't even want the possibility in our heads. Just a myth of the dagger is enough to send them into a frenzy. So, you have the dagger, they'll do anything," she said, leaning forward with every sentence.
"So, you're blackmailing them," I said.
"Well… something like that."
"You should've let Panda keep it," I said. I knew Panda was the best person to protect that dagger. It was almost as if it had been made for her and she was the only one who could wield it with such accuracy, precision and control.
"I would've, but if any camper caught on to what I'm trying to do, they'll rat me out before the treaty is made. If there's no treaty then we'd be sunk. They'd come and stop me," she said, a small frown playing on her lips. "I would've told you Percy, but well… you don't have the best poker face or the best discretion," Annabeth said with a soft smile.
"I'm hurt," I said and Annabeth chuckled softly.
"Panda told me about Hecate. It might work," she said and she proceeded in telling me all about her midnight plans.
It was darker than usual tonight, because huge storm clouds gathered over the moon. We had been walking for at least two hours already when Nico finally spoke.
"You think it's going to rain?" Nico asked, looking up sulkily. Panda glanced up.
"I'm pretty sure," she answered, as she slowly stalked down the road. Her footsteps were silent, so I had to glance in her direction every so often to make sure she was still there. Suddenly, it started pouring.
"Well that's just great," Nico complained.
"It is," Panda said, coming to halt.
"How is pouring cold rain great?" he asked, almost bumping into Panda. She put her hand up to silence us.
"Because it's harder for giant dogs to smell us," she whispered, staring down the road. I glanced down and at first I didn't see anything, just road being pounded by rain. Then something moved about three miles down the road. It looked like a dog on steroids and a mix between a wolf and a golden retriever; golden coat, shaggy tail, but strong, fierce with a sleek muzzle.
He was walking slowly over the ground, sniffing.
"He's looking for us," Panda whispered, so low I wasn't even sure if she had spoken. "But we're downwind right now. We better move before the wind changes," she said, as she changed direction and started walking off silently to her right. It was an open clearing, but it was small. In a minute, we'd be in the woods. I kept glancing down the road, keeping an eye on the dog. It wasn't in any particular hurry in finding us. It was softly padding across the street sniffing the floor and occasionally stopping to scratch behind its ear.
The forest floor was littered with crunchy dead leaves, so we were walking on the tree roots for some silence. We had several close calls. Once, Nico almost face planted but I was able to grab his backpack just in time. Another time, Panda gasped because she almost walked into the web of a giant spider. I got the worse one. A squirrel had jumped on my head and I would've screamed my lungs off if Nico hadn't clamped his hand over my mouth.
"Do you think he can hear us now?" Nico whispered, as Panda jumped across a small pathway onto another tree root.
"I don't know, but with the rain gone, he might catch our scent," she whispered back before she lunged for a branch, swung and landed on plain dirt. Nico glanced behind me before he jumped, mimicking Panda's movements.
"Do you know what it is?" I asked softly, when I landed next to them. Panda looked at me with concern.
"I don't know," she replied, but there was something about the look in her eyes that told me that wasn't true.
"Well whatever it is, I think we've lost it," Nico said, shifting his backpack.
"Yeah," Panda said, as if she wasn't completely convinced. "We shouldn't be far from town now," she said, peering through the trees. "Probably another mile. Let's keep quiet though," she said, as she took a few steps and climbed onto another root.
"So, what's the plan now?" Nico asked five minutes later. Panda stayed quiet for a while.
"Find Hecate," Panda finally answered.
"Seems more like a goal than a plan," Nico said. Panda halted and turned, holding on to a branch above her to keep her balance.
"You've got a better idea?" she asked, locking her big green eyes on Nico. Nico looked a little taken aback. Without waiting for an answer, Panda turned again and jumped to the next root. Nico turned to look at me.
"What was that about?" he asked softly. I shrugged. Nico continued, but his question made me wonder. What had happened in that time we had been at Camp Half-Blood? She seemed more bitter and more agitated and definitely quieter. A few minutes later I heard a soft gurgling and I could feel a stream nearby. I decided I could use this as a chance to talk with Panda.
"I finished one of my water bottles, I should refill," I said.
"Okay," Panda answered as she stopped next to the small stream. She sat down, nestling herself into the crook of a tree. Nico walked across the tiny path and sat on a tree root opposite of Panda. I pulled out a water bottle from the side pocket of my backpack and pretended to fill it up. After I had finished, I sat next to Panda. Luckily, Nico was out of earshot.
"Panda, is something wrong?" I whispered. She looked up at me with creased eyebrows, wondering why I was even asking her.
"I'm fine, Percy," she said firmly.
"Panda, I think I've known you long enough to know that you're not." She sighed and crossed her arms.
"Percy," she said softly, looking me in the eyes. "Can you pretend, just this once, that there's nothing wrong with me? That I didn't screw up, that I'm not falling apart. That I'm the same person who helped you defeat Kronos. That I'm the same girl that slept on the bunk bed above you at home," she stood up. "That I'm the person who can fix everything."
Well guys, I'm sorry the updates are not coming as frequently as I'd like them to come :( Things are getting pretty busy, so it's getting a little harder to think and plan for the next chapter! If the chapters are not up to standards, let me know and I'd be glad to fix them. So, I hope this chapter came out okay. If the ending seems a bit choppy, sorry about that. So, you know the drill! Tell me what you liked and/or didn't like! Have a nice weekend :)