OMG! People! People! People! An update in the same year!? A less than half-year spacing!? Yes!

Ch. 6


Awakening

The morning sun filtered through the sky, the birds cheering the sun on its climb up behind the mountains. The sharp smell of pine and early morning earth was almost oppressively pungent as I blinked my eyes open.

Annabeth shifted from her place, curled up against my side. I hugged her a little closer.

Annabeth nuzzled into me. "Seems like we left Wolf to the last of the night-watch."

I responded with a light hum.

She sighed, and we dozed off again, lulled by the birds' song and the aging dawn.

A movement had me lifting my head to see Annabeth starting to wake up. Annabeth mumbled something incoherent, slowly pushing herself up to sit and stretch. I instinctively reached out to pull her back.

I inhaled a sharp breath and let out a groan as the needle-like feeling of my arm coming back to life raced up it.

A gasp and a muddled, "Whatisit?" let me know Torak was awake.

"Mmm. You 'kay, 'ercy?"

Well, Grover sounded determinedly not worried.

"I'm fine," I said, a light break splitting my words.

"Mmm, good. Zzz… Mmm, pinecones. Zzz…"

"Sorry," Annabeth said, leaning in for a kiss.

When she pulled back, a huff of a sigh escaped my lips, and Annabeth's face contorted into a grimace.

"Yeah, your breath smells like lavenders, too," I said.

Annabeth's lips tugged into a smile and she half-rolled her eyes. "Thanks."

She made no move to stand, and I didn't move a muscle from my place, either.

The silence was comfortable. As I absentmindedly traced the shape of her eyes with my own, I realized I could take a dead limb to wake up with her by my side. Besides, while my eyes felt heavy, like with sleep, my arm, with the rest of my body, was waking up to that idea. Gods, her frazzled hair was still up in that messy ponytail. I wonder if she would let me guide her back down to me if I tugged on it just a bit.

I leaned in slightly, my fingers gently brushing a loose strand of hair, and Annabeth's smile played into a small laugh, a knowing look in her eyes. She teasingly narrowed them in a challenge, and I fell all too easily. Hey, I'm still half asleep here! So what if I take the easy way?

Just as we were about to close the gap, a rustle and a small Pop! yanked us back to reality.

Torak froze under our stares, his eyes wide. Slowly, he stretched his other arm out, eliciting another pop. "Sorry," he muttered with a grimace.

Annabeth sighed and got up. "It's all right. Morning, Torak."

I disagreed but gave out a grunt of acknowledgement anyway. Annabeth nudged my foot with hers on the way out of our makeshift camp, and I mumbled, "You're good, man."

It fell flat, and Torak seemed to shrink, his face turning down and away.

I searched for something diplomatic to say when Torak suddenly perked up. His guard slackened and he rubbed his face awake. He focused his sight again, the curiosity on his face twisting into confusion, then into something like awe—or maybe fear.

I followed his gaze and noticed Grover, still half-asleep, sprawled out on his side. But it wasn't just the sight of Grover that caught Torak's attention. His eyes were locked on Grover's legs—his very goat-like legs.

As if with a snap, we were both fully awake.

"He—He's…" Torak stammered, eyes fixed on Grover's legs. Even as he started to turn his head towards me, his gaze stayed glued to them.

"A satyr," Annabeth said calmly.

Torak's eyes jumped to her.

"Grover's a satyr," Annabeth said again in a gentle tone. "Half human, half goat."

"He's a friend," I said. "You can see him."

It was not a question, but Torak, in his nervousness, answered. "Well, yes, I—Am I not—He's a… forest spirit…"

"Um," I felt my brows scrunch together as I glanced at Annabeth, "I guess?"

"He's a kindred spirit for the forest."

I shot an approving nod at her, and she responded in kind.

"So, he's part of the forest, then? Part beast?"

"Part goat," I corrected.

Torak stared at us before wetting his lips. His eyes searched between us.

Identifying exits, I realized, and searching for help. I took a glance. Wolf had disappeared.

Torak's jumpiness was affecting my ADHD, but I forced myself to remain sitting still and relaxed.

"He's a friend," I repeated. "He's with us."

That did not calm him down.

"If he's with you, does that mean…" He glanced at our jeans.

"Oh! No, we're human," I said and rolled up my pant legs. Well, half-human, too, but maybe not the time to share that.

Torak's lips tightened into a thin line, and he spoke again, more earnestly. "You must know something. The bear... you must know what it truly is, right? How to stop it?" His words were slow. "You've got a nature spirit with you. Does that mean you know how to cleanse it? How to find the Mountain of the World Spirit?"

The sheer weight behind his words caught me off guard. I felt the weight of his hope—that we had the answers, that we could fix everything.

I heard my younger self in his desperation. Back when I lost Mom to the minotaur and the weight of the world came crashing down on me.

For a second, Nico's face flashed in my mind. I'd failed once—I wasn't going to let that happen again.

I hesitated, glancing at Annabeth. She gave me a slight nod, though her eyes warned me to tread carefully.

"Look, I'll be real with you, dude."

Torak frowned, mouthing 'dude' to himself.

"We don't know the full story," I said. "We never do; we're putting the pieces here ourselves. We don't know too much about the bear. Just…" I hesitated, recalling the words of the prophecy and my tone turned my following statement to more of a question. "It's been corrupted by a spirit put there by a mage?"

Torak's eyes flickered. "A demon. That's what my father said." His voice caught on the last words.

"Who was your dad, Torak?" Annabeth asked. "How did he know this?"

Torak swallowed. After a moment, he shook his head. "I—I don't know."

"It's okay," she said, offering a small smile.

Torak looked away, and a heavy silence descended upon us, only broken by the occasional incomprehensible murmur from Grover.

"I swore an oath to my father," Torak suddenly said. His voice trembled, but he looked at us with resolute fire in his eyes. "I swore an oath to go to the Mountain of the World Spirit."

"The Mountain," Annabeth repeated, staring off to the side before looking back at Torak. "What do you know about the World Spirit?"

Torak blinked up at her with an open mouth. "I—Uh—You don't know?"

Annabeth shook her head.

"But…" Torak glanced at Grover.

"He doesn't know either," Annabeth said. "We need your help on this, Torak."

Torak looked between the three of us and licked his lips. "I don't… No one has ever seen it." He looked down and rubbed his hands in the dirt as he spoke as if he was petting a dog, seeking comfort from it. "It's said that the spirit lives on its own on its mountain. In the summer it takes the form of a man with the antlers of a deer, and by winter as a woman with bare red willow branches for hair." He paused and looked back up. "It's the most powerful spirit of all."

Annabeth hummed, eyes brimming with curiosity. "Where is the mountain?"

"I don't know. No one has ever found it before. It's supposed to be the northernmost mountain. But…" Torak hesitated. "I've heard the spirit kills anyone that gets too close."

"Oh, great!" I droned. "Another warm welcome."

Annabeth snorted and grinned back at me, while Torak furrowed his brow.

I gave what I hoped was a reassuring smile to Torak. "Guess we'll be the first ones to successfully visit."

Torak's mouth dropped. "We? You'll help me?"

"Yup." I leaned back on my arms and sighed. "I think we'll need you anyway."

Torak froze. "Why? What do you mean you need me?"

Annabeth scrunched her nose at me. Bad idea, it said.

I raised my eyebrows at her. Good idea, I sent back. I won't keep him in the dark. Not after everything.

Annabeth sighed and raised her hands in defeat.

I rolled my head to get the cinches out of my neck. "Alright, let's wake Grover up. He should hear this, too."


...Nobody move... Don't breathe... The updates... they scare easily...

*Floorboards creak*

-The ears prick up-

(My heart pounds in my ears, and I can only hope that the Update Creature cannot hear it, too.)