Chapter 4
"How much longer?" Nico whined, dragging his feet through the soft soil of the forest floor. He'd complained almost the entire time and it was officially starting to get on my nerves. And when he wasn't complaining, he spewed meaningless nonsense that I'm pretty sure none of us cared about. For such a little guy, he was a huge chatterbox. Although, I'd rather take Nico's complaining over Apollo's "I am so awesome poems" which he'd been shouting the second they'd come to his mind-I swear my ears will start bleeding if I have to hear another one.
"We've been walking FOREVER." Nico cried way over dramatically. He's such a Drama Queen.
"Nico, we've walked for barely two hours so stop being so mellow dramatic. Your complaining is only going to get us unwanted attention so I suggest you stop now before I staple your mouth shut."
He didn't say anything else after that, but he sure looked like he had a few words he wanted to tell me and I had a hunch that they weren't very nice. But at least he stopped even if it meant that silence took over and our ears picked up every scuttle and snap that sounded all around us. It was unnerving not being able to see where you're going, hearing noises in the pitch blackness, unable to identify what made them and where they're coming from. The worst part is when you spot movement in your peripheral vision, you turn your head toward it and it's gone. You have no idea what it is, an animal? A person? An enemy? A friend? It's unknown.
The hair on my neck prickled and I heard rustling behind me. I stopped, turned around slowly, and saw….nothing. Nada. Maybe I was just imagining everything, creating false feelings and noises in mind. That has to be it. I'm just being paranoid, which I should be after breaking out of the most elite prison in the world. I'm just paranoid that Kronos would track me down and demand my head on a platter. Yeah, that's it. No matter how hard I tried to reassure myself, part of me didn't believe it.
Snap! My head flew to the noise as the twig snapped loudly off to my right. I surveyed the ground for the said stick when a indentation in the soggy brown dirt caught my eye. It was a footprint, but not a human one. It looked like-Hooves? Probably from a deer, but as I examined the tracks closer, I took notice that instead of four like a deer would have, there were only two. What kind of animal has only two hooves?
A whimper emitted from somewhere in the distance, soft and petrified. Whatever was out there was scared to death. Following the soft breaths, I was lead to a massive oak tree, the trunk thicker than three of me put together. I traced my hands over the rough, splintering bark when I heard rustling leaves just behind the oak. Circling around, I found a satyr, body pressed against the trunk, peeking around the corner cautiously. His shoulders were tensed and sweat trickled down his neck, speckling his fiery orange t-shirt. He constantly shifted his weight from hoof to hoof, preparing himself to run at the first sign of danger, which to him, would be me. He had curly redish orange hair tucked underneath a Rasta cap. His furry goat legs were bare.
I stepped toward him, taking slow, tentative steps so I wouldn't scare him off, and tapped his shoulder, causing him whip towards me and send a sharp kick to my chest. I flew backwards about 5 feet away, the wind knocked out of me. A groan left my lips as I laid on the forest floor, staring up at the blindingly bright stars above me.
The satyr hesitantly crept forward, tapping the tip of his hoove against the sole of my shoe.
"Umm…are-are you okay?" He asked timidly, his hands shaking slightly despite them being fisted at his sides.
"Not really. I feel like I've been trampled by a heard of elephants chasing after a bucket of peanuts."
"Sorry about that. Here, drink this. It'll make you feel better." The satyr leaned down to my level and placed the lip of a canteen to my lips. The cool, refreshing liquid poured down my parched throat, tasting no different than my mother's homemade blue chocolate chip cookies back home, healing my aching and most likely bruised body from the inside. My cuts and scrapes faded and the pain in my chest receded, making me feel good as new. Better than I had felt in months.
"Thanks,…umm…didn't catch your name?"
"That's 'cause I didn't throw it out there. But I'm Grover Underwood. And you are?"
"Percy Jackson. Nice to meet you. So, what are doing out here all by yourself?"
"Trying to get away from that madness over there," He pointed in the darkness off to the right. "It's chaos, absolute chaos. Demigods aren't the only ones being captured and locked away; the mortals have moved on to satyrs and nature spirits now, too. They think were a "danger to society", which is insane because we not big and brawny like you demigods."
"What makes you think I'm a demigod?" I asked curiously, a little uneasy that me managed to figure it out so easily.
"You have a distinct odor." He explained matter of factly, seeming satisfied with his answer.
"Umm…I'm sorry? I haven't really had time to shower lately." Which was the truth. Lotus Prison lacked many common necessities, but a shower was the worst. If you wanted to talk to another demigod, you'd have to stand at least three feet away or you'd catch a whiff of some bad BO. My nose will never be the same.
"No, no, I'm not saying you smell, well I am, but not in a bad way. I'm saying demigods have a certain smell that allows us to identify you."
"Percy." Someone called, voice echoing through the large expanse that separated my friends and I, their voice filled with worry.
"Percy, where are you?" A second voice bellowed, this one more masculine and rough. Nico.
Regret flooded through my body. I shouldn't have just wandered off. They're probably worried sick that someone or something had snatched me away without them knowing. Apollo most likely couldn't care less, but my friends are obviously distraught with my sudden disappearing act.
"Over here." I called back, hoping they'd hear and relax a bit.
"I've got to go. It was nice meeting you, Grover." I brushed past him and trekked back toward where I'd left my friends.
"Wait," Grover shouted, running to catch up to me, "Where are you going?"
"Umm…" I was unable to recall where Apollo was taking us or if he'd told us at all. "I'm not really sure honestly." Turning back around, I continued walking when Grover once again stopped me.
"How about I make you a deal?"
"What kind of deal?"
"I'll bring you somewhere safe, no one will be able to get to you, ever, but in return, you offer me protection. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a fighter like you; I can't protect myself, but you, you can. So, what do you say?" He asked hopefully, eyes wide and pleading as they stared straight into mine. Grover seemed to be looking right into my soul and call me a sap, but it broke my heart as his saddened eyes connected to mine. His face held a widespread mixture of emotions ranging from hopeful to sad to terrified to begging, begging for me to accept a deal that is an obvious lie. He seemed honest, but I knew he wasn't considering he'd just lied to me. There is no safe place, there's no place in the entire world that can protect our kind, no place in existence is safe for us and there never will be. But he needed protection, safety, someone he could count on to fight for him, and I'll be damned if I say I wasn't tempted for the job.
I rocked my jaw from side to side, chewing my thoughts, before looking into his brown eyes again, searching for anything that could talk me out of offering help, searching for any sign that he wanted to cause me harm. And I came up with none. Nothing, but sad eyes that tell of an unspoken heartache that has left him raw and exposed. Emotion like this is incapable of being faked. No man has the ability to conjure up such loss and use it as an act of deception. Not emotion like this, not emotion that runs so deep it leaves cracks in the heart.
Right then. Right at that moment, I knew. I knew I couldn't leave him. He was so sad and so broken, his eyes dull and lacking luster. Safe haven or no safe haven, he's coming with me.
"There's no such place," He frowned and opened his mouth to object, but I cut him off, "and you don't need to lie in order for my assistance to be offered, but I'll help you, you come with me. No monsters will get to you, no mortal will lock you away, you'll be safe as long as I'm standing" He smiled gratefully, shaking my outstretched hand up and down, as he thanked me repeatedly.
"Percy." A relieved feminine voice said, releasing a long, deep breath.
I caught a head of red hair in the corner of my eye and knew it could only be Rachel. Turning my head toward her, I offered a small smile to assure her that I'm alright, which worked because her tensed features relaxed and the worry receded from her face.
"We've been looking everywhere for you. We thought something bad happened." She let out another sigh of relief when she realized we weren't alone. Shifting her attention over to Grover, she quickly became confused and looked toward me to explain.
"Rachel, this is Grover. I heard him moving around by this tree and followed him, which explains why I wandered off. I want to take him with us."
She gave me a look that clearly expressed how she thought I lost a few marbles.
"Can I talk to for a second, Percy?" She asked.
"Yeah sure."
She threw yet another rude look at me when I stood there waiting for her to speak.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I meant talk over there, in private."
"Oh, okay. One second, Grover, I'll be right back"
Rachel led me, or more accurately, dragged my by the arm deeper into the forest, about 10 feet away from Grover before stopping us.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She hissed at me.
"What do you mean?"
"You're just inviting random people to come with us."
"He's not random."
She raised one red eyebrow critically, causing me to rethink my statement.
"Okay, okay. I know it seems kind of random, considering I just met him, but he needs help. Just look at him. He's all alone, he needs somebody."
"Percy, has it ever occurred to you that people never tell the truth? That's what this world has come to. It's not the same as it was before all of this happened. I'm not the same, you're not the same, no one's the same. Everyone's self-centered and cruel and you'd know that if you were with us when Apollo was telling us about how things have been while we were imprisoned. Things have gotten worse. Demigods are turning against demigods, their own kind, their family, to avoid capture. They're turning in their stepbrothers and sisters to spare themselves the solitude of the prison. The nature spirits, the satyrs, the naiads, are just as bad, lying to get what they want whether it be food, shelter, drachmas, anything they can get their hands on that's useful. And it only gets worse from there. Anyone, demigod, satyr, man, woman, or child, who resist capture are slaughtered. It's a massacre, Percy. Hundreds are being murdered. And here you are, inviting a satyr to join us, risking ourselves for someone who's only going to let us down."
"That's awful. How could anyone do that to those people? What possessed them to become even worse than the monsters that we fight against?" I was appalled, disgusted, by the demigod race that dare call themselves heroes.
"Self-preservation. As long as they're alive, they couldn't care less about the ones who aren't. To them, it's survival of the fittest. They've convinced themselves that only the ones numb enough to sacrifice others will survive. Now do you understand why I'm paranoid about new people? All we have is each other, you, Nico, Thalia, me, we're all we have, we can only trust each other. Together, all of us, can get through this thing alive and maybe even change things, but we can't do that if we're dead. We can't take any chances, none, not even for this Grover guy."
"I don't know, Rachel. He just seems different and I've got this crazy feeling that meeting him wasn't a coincidence. Part of me truly believes he can help us."
"Percy, he's lying. He doesn't want to help, he just wants everything we have, down to the clothes on our backs.
"But I don't think he is. I say we give him a change, one day. One day to observe him. If he's acting strange or odd, then he's gone, we'll make him leave." Her skeptical expression was glued to her face and she appeared to be less than pleased that I was so set on Grover coming along, but slowly, her face softened. " Please, Rachel." She didn't looked happy about it, but I could read it in her eyes that she was going to give me permission.
"Alright, Percy," She said with a sigh, " but on one condition."
"What is it? I'll do anything."
"Make Annabeth leave." My heart literally stopped beating. Annabeth was a lying bitch, but I couldn't abandon her to fend for herself. I couldn't, my heart couldn't take it.
"But…but….but…why?"
"Thalia and I were talking and we came to the conclusion that it would be best if she left. And didn't come back. Oh, Percy, don't look so surprised. Annabeth works for Kronos, she's not the same girl that you were in love with, and you need to come to terms with that. She helped us escape, but it's not enough."
"What do you mean it isn't enough?"
"Percy, how do we know that that whole escape thing wasn't for a bigger purpose, huh? How do we know that they didn't let us escape on purpose? It seemed too easy. I think they wanted us to get out for some reason. Maybe so they could play a game of cat and mouse with us, I don't know, but it seemed way too easy. And Annabeth is a part of that, a part of a group that wants us gone. How does that make you feel?"
"Sick to my stomach."
"I know you care about her, but it's time to let her go." She said gently, patting my shoulder. "We should head back."
Our trip was silent, not a word was spoken. Too many thoughts swam through my mind. Truthfully, I wanted to be mad at Rachel, to shout at her, but for what? Being right? That's not fair. She'd hit the nail on the head, put everything into perspective for me. My mind had been clouded by thoughts of freedom. I hadn't been able to see the whole picture. Rachel was right, 100% right. Our escape was too easy. Kronos and the army want something, but what? And why us? Why us out of all people? I didn't have the answers. And as much as I wanted to deny it, Rachel had been right about Annabeth. I can't let my heart cloud my judgement and I sure can't let my friends get hurt because of it. She needs to leave, to go far, far away from us. It's for the best.
We found Thalia and the other several minutes later. All of them were clustered around a makeshift fire pit, the orange flame licking the wooden slabs, setting them ablaze. Nico looked worried as he fidgeted and scanned the woods for me. Thalia, on the other hand, had her arms crossed angrily over her chest and a harsh glare adorning her features. If looks could kill, I'd be a goner. Apollo couldn't care less that I'd pulled a Houdini act. The crazy god was tapping two twigs together like they were drumsticks setting the beat for a tune; he appeared to be enjoying himself as he tapped his feet and bopped his head to the rhythm.
Walking out of the shadow of a tree, I approached and threw myself down on a log placed carelessly around the fire, slumping over with my elbows on my knees and face in my hands. Exhaustion swept over me despite the nectar that coursed throughout my body not moments ago.
"Percy, you're back." Nico exclaimed at the same time Thalia screamed:
"Where the hell have you been?"
"I thought I heard something so I went to check it out and I found something."
"We'd looked everywhere for you and when we didn't find you, we thought you were dead," Thalia shrieked, ignoring what I'd said. "Do have any idea how that made us feel? Like failures, that's how. We felt like we'd failed you, we'd let you get killed, and there was nothing we could have done."
"I know and I'm sorry, but I'd like you to meet someone," I waved Grover over and slumped down beside me on the log. "This is-"
"Grover?!" Thalia said in awe.
"Oh my gods. Thalia." He ran…err….trotted over to her and pulled her in for a quick hug. "I can't believe I found you, it's been so long." They chatted away, catching up on what happened since they'd been separated.
Apparently, when Thalia was younger about 7 or 8, she'd went to school with Grover and they'd been friends. One day, the school had been attacked and Grover had gotten Thalia out safely. He'd told her what he was and that he could protect her and bring her somewhere where she could learn to harness her power. They'd traveled together for months, dodging monsters, calling cabs, mile after mile of walking, until finally, they reached the front gate of the safe place. A place known as Camp Halfblood. Grover told her that no monsters could get through the magic barrier surrounding the camp. Just before they were about enter, they were ambushed. Hordes of monsters slipped from the shadows and into view, forming a tight circle around them. Grover tried to convince Thalia to run, but she wouldn't leave him. The monsters, all of varying kinds and species, charged forward, weapons raised, bellowing a fierce battle cry. Thalia closed her eyes and focused her mind, thinking only of the blinding jagged bolts that illuminated the skys. She could feel the electricity in her fingertips, quickly surging throughout her entire being, itching to unleashed, and all hell broke loose. The monsters disintegrated from the charge, evaporating into thick, puffy dust that coated the ground. That had been the first time Thalia had summoned lightening. She was thrilled that she managed to use her power to call upon it and that was her biggest mistake. Thalia had be so elated, jumping up and down in her own personal bubble of excitement that she hadn't noticed that one monster still remained, perched behind her. The giant lept out, tossing her over his shoulder as she cried out for Grover. Thalia had tried to summon the lightening once again, but was so drained from the first time and her energy was so depleted that she couldn't summon another bolt. Grover had kicked, clawed, bitten, played his reed pipes, even hit the creature with a large tree branch, but its grip never loosened. The monster soon became annoyed with Grover's futile attempts at a rescue mission and knocked him over the head with its club. Grover quickly lost consciouness, the last thing he had heard was the screams of Thalia being dragged away from him to the unknown.
Thalia had managed to escape, of course, but she wouldn't tell us how. I'm thinking it's because it still haunts her to this day and speaking of it will only reopen the wound.
I don't know how long I sat around the fire, chewing my thoughts, replaying Thalia's story over and over in my head, but it must have been a while because when I looked at it, it was barely a spark. I threw several more logs onto the small flame, blowing on it so it can feed off of the oxygen.
I heard snoring off to my right and found Nico laying across the logs, legs tucked close to his body, teeth chattering, goose bumps coating his bare arms from where the short sleeves don't reach. Poor guy must be freezing. Creeping closely to a sleeping Apollo, I gently slid the purple hoodie off his shoulders and draped it over Nico, who sighed in his sleep.
I looked toward Thalia and Rachel, who were still awake, but now slumped over face in their hands, eyelids drooping, exhaustion clear on both their faces.
"You guys sleep, I'll take first watch." I told them, tilting my head towards an unconscious Annabeth and a sleeping Grover to show that I'm not only looking out for monsters or the army, but to keep an eye on them as well. They didn't even object despite the look Thalia gave me that said she wanted to. Both of them spread themselves across the logs like Nico had done and within minutes were both sound asleep.
I plopped myself on the log, staring at the bright orange flames, before turning to look at Annabeth. This is will probably be one of the last times I get to look at her. The thought made me sad. I loved Annabeth, cared about her, but I don't trust her. Asking her for assistance in our escape had been a risk, but I didn't ask her out of trust. I asked her out of sheer desperation. My friends and I had discussed it plenty of times during lunch back at the cafeteria, back when we were first beginning our plan. We contemplated the risks, odds, our options and only came up with two. Rot away in the confines of our cells until we shrivel away to a shell of a person we'd once been or go down fighting. And it had been a unanimous decision on the latter. We didn't trust Annabeth, I didn't trust her. Care about her, yes, but I didn't and don't trust her. We asked for help because we were desperate, we felt like we had nothing left to lose. If she turned on us, calling the guards to put us to death, we wouldn't have gone without a fight, we would have died fighting against their cruelty, fighting for what we thought was right. Just like Bianca di Angelo had. When I burst out that exit door of the prison and out into the open air, I could've dropped dead right then and I wouldn't have cared one bit. That one taste of freedom after all those months locked away would've been worth it. Annabeth could have slit my throat herself and I wouldn't have thought of a better way to go than to have the breeze blowing on my face, to have that one taste of freedom still fresh in my mind.
Thalia woke hours later to take my place and keep watch, allowing me a few hours of much needed sleep.
I stretched out on the log as the others had. The rough bark poking me in the back through my t-shirt, but even so, I was so drained that it almost felt comfortable.
I looked at Annabeth again, soaking in every detail about her before she's gone. I can't let her stay with us. It will only cause us problems in the long run.
Tomorrow, no matter how much my heart argues against it, I'll send her packing.
But little do I know that I won't be given the chance.
That's chapter 4. Sorry for the long wait, I've been kind of busy lately with school and I was sick for a few days.
Anyway, hoped you liked the chapter! :) Leave a review down at the bottom and let me know what you think.
~TwistedTrident~