Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Annabeth?” Percy croaked.

Grover’s heard Percy’s voice when he woke up almost every day during the school year. Sharing their dorm meant that Percy’s lazy, moody self was known to Grover. He’s gotten used to shaking his friend awake so that Percy would finally open up his eyes to start the day while grumbling in annoyance at the early wake-up calls they had because of the school.

But never before has he been as happy as he was now to hear Percy’s rusty voice or see the momentary confusion on the boy’s face as he seemed to try and understand where he was and what was going on. It usually happened to him after the more vivid dream he had—though he could never recall them when Grover inquired about what they were about—and right now was no exception.

To be honest, Percy looked so groggy, Grover kind of expected him to just close his eyes and fall back asleep, but instead the boy blinked up at the shocked Annabeth with an odd expression, like he was trying to make sense of the fact that he just called her by name without knowing her—technically, anyway.

“What…” he said, blinking slowly up at the girl. “I don’t understand.”

“Welcome to our world,” snorted Thalia.

“And the land of the living, too,” noted Nico, his eyes watching Percy warily, like he was worried the boy might turn to face him, pull his sword out and cut straight through his throat.

Instead, all Percy did was furrow his eyebrows as he glanced around the room, his shoulders curling inward as he brought his free hand up to rest over his head. Grover didn’t need to hear his friend’s pained groan to know that he was suffering from some kind of headache—it was written clearly all over his face.

“Percy, my boy, it is good to see you awake again,” said Chiron, keeping his voice low so as not to aggravate Percy’s headache even more. “How are you feeling?”

Percy’s gaze switched to Chiron for a moment and his forehead crinkled in clear confusion, though he wasn’t even looking at the lower half of the centaur’s body, as if that wasn’t the shocking part about his teacher’s appearance even though they all just read about how much everything in the mythology world had surprised Percy. Or, er… was supposed to surprise him, apparently.

After opening and closing his mouth numerous times, Percy ended up saying, “I don’t understand.”

“Is this your new catchphrase, kelp head?”

He turned to look at Thalia then, his confusion easing up a little at the sight of her, like she was the least confusing thing in the room right now. Honestly, Grover wasn’t sure what was happening with his best friend, but he could feel the tension in the room as they all waited to hear what Percy was feeling and what he knew so far.

Seeing as he was looking at complete strangers with recognition shining in his eyes, Grover would say Percy knew quite a bit more than he was supposed to.

“You wish, pinecone face,” he mumbled with a tiny smirk. Then he grimaced again. “Ugh… I was just… I think I made an iceberg collapse. No, I was getting burnt by those telkhines… Grover was getting married, maybe?” He let out a pained whine, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes after pulling his hand out of Annabeth’s grip. “M-my nose bled and I jumped to Tartarus, or… or… I was looking for Annabeth. Or my mom. Or Grover. Or Nico. Or… or…”

His words dissolved into sounds none of them could comprehend. Grover didn’t need his ability to feel others’ emotions to know that Percy was distressed. One look at him confirmed that. He looked so small, lying in bed with his hands covering his face and his lips moving like he was still trying to form words though sounds were no longer leaving his mouth.

“Did any of that make sense to you guys?” asked Annabeth.

“Nope,” said Thalia flatly. “Although the nickname is accurate. He calls me that all the time in my time.”

Nico gave her a look. “Sure, but it makes no sense now,” he pointed out.

“It makes as much sense as him knowing your names,” commented Grover meekly.

“I can hear you, you know,” said Percy through his hands, his voice muffled.

Approaching Percy’s bed cautiously, Chiron regarded the boy lying there with a concerned and sympathetic expression. Grover could feel the centaur’s worry and slight alarm at what was happening to Percy, but he didn’t comment on it. After all, they were all feeling pretty much the same right now—except for the boy himself, who was more confused and lost than anything else.

“Percy, what do you feel? Can you try to explain it?” said Chiron, keeping his voice calm and collected, as if to try and get Percy to relax right along with it.

Shaking his head from side to side, Percy let out a groan. “It’s like… like I’m living everything at the same time,” he said quietly. “I don’t know what’s happening. I know where I am right now, but I don’t know how I got here. Everything before now is just… it’s all blending together. I was hiding in the music room in my school; I was drowning in poison under the sea; I was pinning Nico down in the Underworld; I couldn’t remember who I was, so I was looking for… looking for…”

He removed his hands and locked his eyes on Annabeth again. He looked at her with such desperation, it almost knocked Grover off his own bed. Even with the ability to understand some of what Percy was going through, it was all messier than it usually was, so Grover felt more lost than ever as he stared at his friend’s clear distress.

“How can that be?” demanded Annabeth, her eyes locked on Percy, like she couldn’t bring herself to look away from his desperate gaze. “Chiron, do you know what’s happening?”

“I think I have a pretty good guess,” the centaur admitted thoughtfully.

“Pray tell,” said Thalia.

Gesturing toward the four unread book and the one they just finished, Chiron said, “I was wondering how and why the books were written in Percy’s perspective. I know the Fates want us to know more about him, of course, but to read something this personal… I was perplexed as to how they may have gotten access to his direct thoughts, his very being, essentially.”

“What?” said Percy without looking away from Annabeth. “What’s that about my thoughts?”

Instead of replying, Annabeth picked up the book they just finished reading and handed it to Percy. He took it from her hesitantly, then widened his eyes as he opened and struggled to read a few lines. His eyebrows climbed up toward his hairline as he gaped at the book with an offended, scandalized expression on his face.

“What in Hades—” he started, then winced and shook his head. “Wait, yes, I remember. They asked me—” He let out a shuddering breath, then simply released a small and resigned sound as he shut the book, as if disgusted by what was inside. Lifting his head, he seemed to search for a moment before spotting his reflection staring back at him from the windowpane. “My mom…”

Seriously, Grover thought he was confused when the Fates first showed up there to give them these books about Percy, but right now his head was spinning even more than it did before. He thought it was weird enough to read about Percy’s future—their future—but seeing his friend’s odd behavior was the next level of strangeness, honestly.

Seeing as Percy was lost in staring out the window now, Chiron cleared his throat and went on.

“As I was saying, to have this much information extracted from a person could ruin them. It’s, essentially, the same as taking who they are out of their bodies and trapping it inside these pages we are reading. But maybe… maybe that’s not the case here. I might be wrong, but perhaps instead of taking the memories out of Percy, they made it so that everything he’s been through would constantly be at the front of his mind, trying to come out to the books.”

Annabeth scrunched up her nose. “So… the books are writing themselves as we go?” she said unsurely, tilting her head to the side. “Isn’t it worse for Percy?”

“No, because it means the memories never truly leave him. They’re not emptying him—they’re chasing each other constantly. Though it’s clearly too much to experience while being awake, hence why he was forced to be unconscious for the duration of this whole thing.”

Nico and Thalia exchanged a look that very clearly said, “I didn’t get it. Did you?” Truthfully, Grover could relate. He had no idea what Chiron was talking about. All he knew was that Percy was suffering from this, and he was very clearly awake right now, apparently feeling like he’s living more than one memory at a time.

“Um… then shouldn’t he be unconscious, then?” said Nico. “Since, you know, we’re not done yet?”

Percy’s head snapped in his direction. His pain-glazed eyes sharpened as they took Nico in. relief seemed to wash over his features. Then annoyance. Then his face flashed with anger that the boy was seemingly fighting to hold back. Nico shifted under the glare he was receiving from the boy, looking like he wanted to just melt into the shadows and disappear.

Chiron’s tail flicked anxiously. “Perhaps when we start the next book he will fall back asleep,” he said, giving Percy a contemplative look. Then he seemed to notice the boy was upset. “Percy?”

“I have a bone to pick with you, ghost boy,” said Percy with narrowed eyes. Then he turned to Grover, his features relaxing a little. “How much more do you have to read, then? How much more am I going to feel this way?”

“Uh… we finished the first book just now.”

“Out of…?”

“Five,” said Annabeth.

Percy released a long-suffering groan, then dragged a hand down his face. He looked so done with everything, Grover had to wonder what was running through his head right now and how bad things were for Percy in the future. His best friend was a good person—it hurt to think that he didn’t get the peaceful life he deserved.

Then again, Percy was the son of Poseidon and lived at a time when, apparently, Kronos was rising again. His life had to be pretty crazy, all things considered. The only comfort Grover felt was from knowing that no matter what, he would be there for his friend. Because unless something happened to him, Grover couldn’t imagine leaving Percy to deal with this fate by himself.

“Just get it over with,” said Percy tiredly. “Hopefully this psychotic experience would end then.”

Looking at each other, Grover could see everyone else in the room hiding slightly guilty expressions, like they were feeling bad for what Percy was going through for the sake of this thing. But Grover had to believe this would help them. This had to help them. If there was something big coming, they would be ready for it with the help of these books, right?

“We’ll do our best, Seaweed Brain,” promised Annabeth.

Several emotions flashed across his face at the nickname; then Percy smiled at her with a glint in his eyes. Grover found himself hiding a smirk behind his hand as he felt Percy’s feelings. Sure, there were some bitterness, annoyance and anger in between, but most of what he felt when looking at Annabeth was just pure love and care.

Off to the side, Chiron picked up the second book from the pile and looked at its cover. It was just as blank as the previous book, only displaying Percy’s name and the number 2 on its front. With one more cautious look toward Percy, he opened the book to the first page.

The moment he flipped it open, Percy’s eyes closed and his breaths evened out. His body turned limp as he fell back asleep.

“Well,” said Thalia blankly, “that was strange.”

Next to her, Nico heaved a sigh of relief and sagged down in his chair. Apparently, he was glad Percy was no longer awake to glare at him some more, which was honestly understandable when Percy was as scary as he was when he was upset.

Hesitantly grabbing Percy’s hand again, Annabeth seemed to wait to see if there would be any type of reaction from the boy. When she got nothing, she looked at Chiron and nodded, her gray eyes swimming with determination.

“Come on, let’s finish these as quickly as possible,” she said decisively.

And, well, nobody was going to argue with her when she looked like that, so Chiron raised the book and started reading the next chapter.

Chapter Text

MY BEST FRIEND SHOPS FOR A WEDDING DRESS

The reaction was immediate—every single eye in the room turned to Annabeth, who blinked dumbly at them all, her eyebrows shooting up as she seemed to try and find something to say to defend herself in the face of the incriminating chapter title.

“Wait, did we just skip ahead a couple of years or something?” said Thalia teasingly. “Because I think twelve and thirteen is still too early to get married, guys, even if you are in love with each other.”

“No one’s in love with anyone!” protested Annabeth in a shriek that made Thalia and Grover snicker. “It’s probably misleading. It’s got to be. There’s no way I’m actually buying a wedding dress. If you think about it, Grover is actually Percy’s best friend. He’s known him longer!”

Grover snorted. “Yeah, but why would I buy a wedding dress? Even if I did get married, it wouldn’t have been in a white dress.”

“The goat boy’s got a point,” Thalia said in a sing-song voice.

In the seat beside her, Nico looked like he was trying hard not to squirm in discomfort, which made sense, seeing as those emotions from before were back. Grover tried not to dwell on it because, well, it really was none of his business, but it was hard keeping his facial features blank enough so as not to let anything slip about him knowing something he shouldn’t.

Scoffing and scowling, Annabeth looked at Chiron and stiffly told him to start reading the chapter, Thalia snickering into her palm in the background. Though, despite her clear annoyance, Grover noted that the teasing didn’t make Annabeth embarrassed enough to pull her hand away from Percy’s, which was something, at least.

My nightmare started like this .

“Oh, fantastic,” Thalia drawled out. “This is clearly going to be a fun book.”

Nico shifted next to her. “Seriously though—when does this thing happen? Do you think you’re already around, Thalia? Or me? What if it just skips ahead to Percy being, I don’t know, fifteen?”

There was a small pause there, before the boy said the number. Grover wouldn’t have paid it any mind, but he could see Chiron and Annabeth exchanging a look with each other at it, like they knew why Nico hesitated before coming up with a random age for Percy. Like there was actually something to consider when thinking about Percy’s future.

The prophecy, Grover thought. It was probably related to it. But he had no idea what the prophecy actually said, and he was getting the feeling that he didn’t want to know too much, either. It was bad enough to see the darkness deepening in Nico’s eyes, or feel the nerves and sadness that were rolling off Chiron and Annabeth. He didn’t need more reasons to worry about his friend’s future.

“Then let’s hope we would also hear about what’s been happening in the time between the last book and this one,” said Chiron. “Although I don’t think the Fates would skip that far ahead. They’d want to inform us of something we are all a part of, so we would surely hear about how you enter this mess, too.”

Thalia’s lips thinned a little, like she was thinking about something unpleasant, but she didn’t say anything. Nico’s impassive face flashed for a moment with a look of terror that he quickly hid away. Apparently they were both less than thrilled about how they came to meet Percy.

Well, if nothing else, this was at least going to be interesting, Grover figured.

I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. [Description of the place.]

Florida , I thought. Though I wasn’t sure how I knew that. I’d never been to Florida .

“Er… amazing dream instincts?” suggested Annabeth. “Dream logic?”

Chiron shook his head. “It’s strange, I’m not sure how Percy could know where he is in the dream. He didn’t know he was facing the pit in the Underworld in his dreams with Kronos, after all. And I’m sure that as specific as the surroundings might be in this dream, a lot of places would look the same to Percy. He could have mistaken Florida with any other place, but he supposedly knows it’s Florida of all states…”

Thalia shook her head from side to side. “I swear, this guys becomes weirder and weirder with every second I know him,” she said.

“He’s probably dreaming about Kronos, right?” said Nico. “What’s the Titan Lord doing in Florida?”

“Or Luke, most likely, since Kronos doesn’t have a body of his own yet,” said Grover gloomily.

“Which is something we would like to keep that way,” Chiron stated firmly.

Hunching his shoulders, Nico lowered his gaze to the floor, like he wanted to disappear instead of sitting in the Big House with all of them, speculating about the future. Seriously, Grover did not want to ask the guy what the future looked like in his time if this was his reaction to the discussion.

Of course, he might as well hear it all now rather than live to that point and experience it all first-hand. But Grover preferred his blissful ignorance for now—it felt safer than inquiring for more information.

… I turned and saw my friend Grover running for his life .

Grover felt the way the blood drained from his face at the sound of that. Why was Percy dreaming about him running for his life? What in Hades was he running from? Was it a monster? A goat-hating human? Some deranged demigod? Gods, he just hoped it wasn’t Luke, because running away from his friend would feel terrible…

“Wait,” said Thalia, “so it’s Grover who’s gonna buy that wedding dress?”

Zeroing in on Thalia, Grover bleated angrily. “Is this really what you’re focusing on? Not the fact that something’s clearly chasing me?”

“You’re searching for Pan in Florida,” noted Annabeth thoughtfully. “I wonder what drew you there of all places. I mean, I’m not saying Pan isn’t in Florida—just that… maybe there’s something else you’re chasing? Because getting to Florida would have been the obvious to all satyrs if it was as simple as following Pan’s signs, right?”

He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t even sure he was still looking for the god in this future, since they weren’t even sure when this was taking place. Like Nico said earlier—this could be years into the future instead of close to the disaster that was the first book about Percy. So maybe Grover’s already found Pan at this point? Or maybe he was on a different mission now, taking a break to help camp. Or—

“Chiron, just read before Grover faints,” said Thalia, effectively snapping Grover out of his own head.

He still glared at her weakly for the insinuation that he was terrified of what might be happening to his future self. Not that it wasn’t a valid deduction, but still.

… Grover is a satyr. From the waist up, he looks like a

“Wait,” Nico cut in. “He’s doing it again—he’s explaining things, like it’s a book written for mortals and not just, you know, his straight up thoughts being put on a page for us to read. He did the same thing when we started reading the first book, remember?”

“That’s true,” said Annabeth slowly. “Then he warned people about how dangerous it was to be a half-blood, and now he’s explaining to us that Grover is a satyr even though, well, we already know that. It’s like it’s an actual fantasy book or something.”

Thalia snorted. “For people who can’t even remember the characters from the last book, might I add,” she said airily. “Anyway, does it really matter how his thoughts are presented here? The thing that matters is the plot itself, and we still haven’t heard what Grover’s running from.”

“Right, can we get back to that now?” said Grover.

Rolling his eyes, Nico crossed his arms over his chest, looking rather dejected. “Jees, just wanted to point it out…”

Inclining his head in acknowledgement, Chiron offered the black-cladded boy a smile. “And we might come back to discuss it later, child, but for now we had better hurry along. We did promise Percy to do our best to read these as quickly as possible.”

They sent the boy on the bed a look, all of them emitting a strong sense of uneasiness. See, it was easier to read the first book, thinking Percy was completely out of it, mumbling nonsense while not paying attention or knowing what was happening. But now, after he’s been up for a minute or two…

Suddenly this whole thing felt like a serious breach into the guy’s privacy, even if Percy’d given them the green light to move on. After all, Grover knew his friend only said it because he wanted them to make the pain and confusion leave him already, which had to suck a lot for Percy to be willing to encourage them to read these books.

He wondered if he could feel it all right now, too, while lying on the bed unconsciously. Was Percy listening? Was he dreaming about other experiences he’s had? Would have? Uh… it was a little confusing to think about, which actually made Grover shudder at the thought of being in Percy’s shoes right now.

Grover, after all, knew how confusing Percy’s emotions could be. If his memories and sense of self were now in the same amount of disarray… it had to be less than pleasant.

he looks like a typical gangly teenager … unless you happen to catch him without his pants on (which I don’t recommend),

The others let out chuckles and snickers, not even trying to hide them from Grover.

His blood returned to his face at the comment and he glared at the book. He loved his friend, don’t get him wrong, but why did Percy have to comment on every little thing? Seriously, couldn’t he have just left it at that, without being weird and bringing up the pants thing?

Seriously, couldn’t Percy just say that Grover was a satyr, then explain what a satyr was without making it all sound like he was warning people from some kind of pervert? Was Percy controlling any of this? If so, he was most likely having the time of his life, making the descriptions in the books as strange as possible, just to make them all squirm.

“Know what? Laugh it up,” said Grover in frustration, his eyes locked on Thalia and Nico, “but when you guys enter the story, I’m sure Percy will have enough embarrassing things to say about you, too.”

“He’s already seen me in a dream,” noted Thalia between her snickers. “What’s he gonna do? Apologize for dreaming about me with the wrong eye color?”

Unlike her, Nico stopped laughing and instead looked like he was realizing for the first time how uncomfortable it would be once Percy met him in the books. To be fair, Grover wasn’t sure how they met and what would happen then, but if he could mess with Grover—his best friend—like that, then surely he would do the same with those two.

“Just you wait,” said Grover with more confidence than he was actually feeling. “I’m gonna savor every moment of it when it finally comes.”

… Baggy jeans and fake feet hide the fact that he’s got furry hindquarters and hooves .

Grover grumbled some more under his breath as Annabeth and Thalia kept on chuckling. At least Nico looked like he took his warning to heart, though, which was a small mercy.

When he glanced in Percy’s direction, he thought he saw the boy’s lips tugging up just a little in a smirk, like he was having the time of his life listening to this in his sleep.

“Shut up, Percy,” muttered Grover under his breath.

Grover had been my best friend … I hadn’t seen him since last July, when he set off alone on a dangerous quest …

“Last July? So it hasn’t even been a year yet,” said Chiron. “So I’m assuming we were right when we speculated that the books were leading up to the prophecy—one book per year, until Percy turns sixteen.”

Annabeth bit her lip, her laughter dying as she stared at the centaur with an almost pained expression. The feeling of grief from her made Grover wish he could not feeling the emotions in the air for once. He didn’t want to linger on this—on the reason behind why Annabeth felt this way at the mere mention of this scary, dangerous prophecy.

Anyway, in my dream, … Grover was terrified of something behind him. … He was trying to get away from… something .

A bone-rattling growl cut through the storm. … [A shadowy figure] swatted aside a street lamp, …

Grover’s eyes widened in shock and alarm. He felt the way his body trembled a little at the description in the book. They haven’t even heard what it was exactly that was chasing him in this dream, but it sounded bad. Like… really, really bad.

He wondered where he went wrong in life to reach such a point. How come he constantly ended up in life or death situations? And how in the world was this all connected to wedding dresses of all things? Because wasn’t it bad enough that Grover had to, apparently, escape something that could swat street lamps aside as if they were nothing? Did the Fates really have to also embarrass him somehow during this whole thing?

“Hey, I’m sure you’ll be fine,” said Annabeth comfortingly. “If it’s in Percy’s dream, then he’s going to go and help you, you know that already.”

“Not to mention how you’re definitely alive in the future, so you’re going to get away from this thing soon enough,” said Thalia reassuringly, her earlier teasing tone gone as she nodded at Grover encouragingly. “It’s gonna be fine, goat boy.”

Despite how bad it sounded, Grover mumbled a faint thanks to his friends. He was still shaking from head to hoof, but at least he was able to remind himself that they were right—he would be fine. If he wouldn’t be able to save himself, then at least he could be sure that Percy would be on his way to rescue him after seeing this in his dream, knowing his friend was in danger.

Right? Percy would do that. After all, it wasn’t like Percy to leave his friends hanging, especially knowing they were in mortal danger. At least… he’d crossed the U.S. for his mom the previous summer (or was it this summer?), so there was something to base this theory on other than the instances when Percy had helped Grover with the bullies at Yancy.

… [Grover:] Have to get away. Have to warn them !

“Warn who?”

“Warn them about what?”

“Do I look like I know?” snapped Grover.

They flinched and turned to look back at Chiron, looking properly scolded. And he would have felt bad about it, had he not been in the middle of still panicking over the situation he might find himself in the middle of in the future.

I couldn’t see what was chasing him, … The ground shook as it got closer. … The nearest door had been blown open by the storm. … Grover dashed inside. He dove behind a rack of wedding dresses .

“Oh.” Grover blinked at the book in Chiron’s hands, then nodded. “Okay, that’s not as embarrassing as I’d thought. I’m just hiding behind the dresses. It’s fine.”

“Maybe if you buy this monster a dress they’ll calm down,” suggested Nico.

When Grover looked at him, he honestly couldn’t tell whether the boy was serious or not. His expression was bleak, like he was listening to all of this from afar, not really feeling much. He no longer looked fearful at the prospect of hearing Percy’s description of him, which probably meant that he figured there was still time until that happened.

Next to him, Thalia smirked. “Yeah, Grover, why don’t you try it out? I’m sure it’s worth the shot.”

“Blaa-ha-ha! Not funny guys, not funny at all!”

The monster’s shadow passed in front of the shop. I could smell the thing—a sickening

“Wait,” Chiron cut himself off, frowning down at the book he was holding. “He could smell in the dream?”

“I could never smell in a dream before,” said Annabeth. “Is that actually possible?”

“As possible as it is to instinctually know where you are for no reason, I’d say,” commented Thalia flatly. “Which means that… what, Percy is actually there? Is this not an actual dream?”

Nico gave her a weird look. “You think someone bothered kidnapping and taking him to Florida?” he said skeptically. “First off—why would anyone bother doing that, even if he is the prophecy child. And second off—it doesn’t explain how he can just follow Grover around like he would in a dream.”

“That’s right. He hasn’t mentioned running after Grover or putting any effort into escaping that thing,” said Annabeth. “But then… how can he smell in the dream? It shouldn’t be possible. I’ve never heard of anyone smelling in a dream, not even demigods.”

Grover could see Chiron’s eyes flashing toward him thoughtfully and a pit formed in his stomach. An idea came to the front of his mind as he took in the information from the first chapter and the considering gaze Chiron was giving him. There was something that he never imagined actually doing, although… well, if he ever would try something like that… his first choice would be Percy, wouldn’t it?

“I’ll keep on reading—maybe it will be explained later on,” said Chiron eventually.

Following in his steps, Grover kept his mouth shut about his idea. If he was right, then… then this was really going to happen to him—he would really be in enough danger to need to rely on such a thing. And oh, gods, Percy might hear about it and want to kill him for doing such an invasive thing without consulting in him first—not that Grover would have a choice, evidently.

But anyway, if Chiron wasn’t going to mention it right now, neither was Grover. The book would surely bring it up if they were right about this.

A sickening combination of wet sheep wool and rotten meat … like a skunk that’s been living off Mexican food .

Nico slowly shook his head at the description, looking weirded out. Thalia snorted in amusement and rolled her eyes before she sent Percy a look, as if silently trying to send him the message that he was stupid, but she still appreciated his inner thoughts in the books.

Naturally, Percy’s only response was to drool onto his pillow.

… The monster’s shadow passed on . … Maybe the thing was gone .

… The entire front of the store exploded, and a monstrous voice bellowed : “ MIIIIINE !”

They still didn’t know what that thing even was!

Grover was losing his mind, imagining all sorts of monsters chasing him into that wedding boutique. It was obviously something big, but what? He wanted to know what was trying to most likely kill him. No, he wanted to know what was bad enough to force Grover’s hand and make him create a thing as dangerous and complicated as an empathy link with Percy.

Gods, his friend really was going to kill Grover for this. If he actually did link the two of them, it meant that if anything happened to Grover, Percy would be affected, too. If Grover ended up being killed, Percy’s life might end on the spot as well, which was not something Grover ever wanted to be responsible for.

But it had to have been a last resort, right? Grover wouldn’t have attempted such a thing without first checking his other options. Maybe everything else failed. Or maybe there were simply no other options to even check out. Maybe Grover was left to handle this on his own, no backup or assistance from anything and anyone. Maybe he was shoved into a corner and his last chance at getting out of it was to risk his best friend’s life.

No, that still made him feel really bad. He couldn’t imagine Percy doing anything like that to him. Percy would never knowingly ask for help by connecting his life to someone else’s. He would never endanger his friends and family by choice just to get out of a bad situation. That was just Grover’s desperation.

What a horrible, horrible friend he was…

“Hey, Grover?” said Annabeth. “Are you okay?”

“I—yeah, sure…”

She bit her lip. “I know it sounds bad, but we’ll come and get you out of this, I swear,” she promised, even though they were reading about the future and couldn’t actually guarantee much. “You’ll be safely back at camp soon enough, you’ll see.”

She thought he was feeling down because of the danger he was going to be in. Grover didn’t feel like explaining what was actually upsetting him, so he just nodded and offered her a small smile, hoping she’d let it be for now.

I sat bolt upright, shivering in my bed .

There was no storm. No monster .

“I mean, they’re both in Florida, apparently,” said Thalia. “And I bet Percy’s in New York again, so… of course they wouldn’t be there.”

“At least Florida isn’t as far away from New York as Los Angeles, right?” said Annabeth. “It means the quest to go and rescue Grover should, theoretically, be easier. Or at least shorter, in the very least.”

Nico sent the unconscious Percy an unimpressed look. “With the guy that’s the embodiment of Murphy’s Law? Forget it. It’s somehow gonna be double as hard to get Grover back than it was to retrieve the master bolt. That’s what Percy’s track record would suggest, anyway. The simpler the quest seems to be, the harder it would become.”

“It’s because the kelp in his head prevents him from making good choices,” said Thalia.

“Thalia,” sighed Chiron exasperatedly.

The girl sent him an innocent smile.

… I thought I saw a shadow flicker across the [window] … But then there was a knock on my bedroom door … and the shadow at the window disappeared .

They glanced warily at each other.

Odd things tended to happen to demigods, sure. The Greek world contained plenty of strange and disturbing myths they could think of that might make the day of a demigod extra difficult. But what would skulk outside Percy’s window? What kind of creature was it? Some kind of monster that wanted to catch him off guard and tear Percy apart? Perhaps an annoyed god?

It must’ve been my imagination.

“I thought his instincts were better than that,” groaned Thalia.

“Well, he’s still not a seer or anything—he’s just trying to start a normal day after having a nightmare about his best friend. I mean, after less than a year in this world, can you really blame him for dismissing one odd thing?” said Nico defensively.

The girl gave him a flat look. “Yes.”

Rolling his eyes, Nico looked like he regretted even asking the question in the first place.

… [Sally:] Last day of school. You should be excited! You’ve almost made it .

[Percy:] C oming, …

I felt under my pillow. [Percy pulls out Anaklusmos in pen-form.]

… I hadn’t used Riptide for so long … .

“Oh, no,” said Annabeth. “He’s out of practice? What was he thinking? I figured he’d leave camp but still train back home, but apparently he’s been neglecting that skill entirely. What’s wrong with this guy?”

Grover shrugged. “Yeah, okay, he’s not the best when it comes to being dedicated,” he said easily, fondly. “I mean, it’s a bad thing now, because he should really be prepared when he knows there’s, um, someone out there that wants him dead, but it’s very much like Percy to just not do anything about it.”

“He’s so lucky he’s a natural with a sword,” said Thalia. “Otherwise he probably wouldn’t have even made it long enough to meet Nico and I, I’m sure of it. And even without Kronos very clearly having it out for him, he’s a Big Three kid! He should know there’ll be monsters lining up to kill him no matter where he goes.”

“Other than camp.”

“Other than camp,” she agreed.

“Although even camp isn’t as safe as we’d thought,” commented Grover. “You know, with how a hellhound showed up to try and kill him in the last book.”

Annabeth ran a hand down her face. “Keeping him alive is going to be even harder than I thought.”

“Yeah, good luck there,” said Thalia.

Nico shook his head at her cheerful tone but didn’t actually bother correcting the girls, which didn’t exactly cheer Grover up all that much. Sounded like Percy was going to get in trouble more often than they would have liked. Way too often. He was already getting tired just imagining this future.

… mom had made me promise not to use deadly weapons in the apartment … [Percy’d] taken out her china cabinet.

They snorted with laughter at that. Even Chiron let out several chuckles as he shook his head fondly, most likely thinking of some of the accidents Percy’s had in his class when the teacher had let some of the students try out the weapons he had.

One time, Percy had nearly ended up impaling both himself and Nancy with a spear. Back then it had been hilarious to watch the chaos and then mock Percy for his poor skill with the weapon. Although to this day Grover was still unsure as to whether Percy was telling him the truth when he’d explained that he meant to poke Nancy with the spear—lightly, sure, but still poke her.

Well, at least this bit explained to some degree why Percy hasn’t been practicing as much, although it would have been smart for him to find someplace safe to go wild with his sword, because Grover didn’t want to imagine how bad it would be for Percy to run into a monster after not drawing out his weapon in months.

… I tried not to think about my nightmare …

Have to warn them !

What had Grover meant ?

“Obviously that he wants to warn us about something—either camp or just the satyrs…” said Annabeth. She shook her head. “Either way, it didn’t sound like anything good.”

“And, of course, he can’t force himself not to think about something,” commented Grover.

“It’s hard not to think about things,” grumbled Nico, like he had experience in the matter.

Grover decided not to ask. Especially when the boy’s depressing emotions licked at his consciousness, as if taunting Grover, begging him to unravel the truth already and figure the creepy kid out. Okay, no, Nico wasn’t creepy… just… he smelled like death, and Grover didn’t like it, okay?

… The dream couldn’t have been real .

“Perrr-cy!” bleated Grover in despair. “I beg of you, don’t just dismiss my plight for help!”

On his bed, Percy turned to lie on his side, his cheek smooching against the pillow. He mumbled something even Grover couldn’t understand with his enhanced hearing, then shut up and kept on breathing peacefully and obliviously while limply holding onto Annabeth’s hand.

“We’ll still come for you,” assured Annabeth. “I’m sure I’ll hear about it. Maybe I’ll have a dream about you, too, Grover. Then I’ll drag Percy with me to find you in… wherever you are in Florida.”

Actually, if Grover was correct and Percy’s dream really was the result of a newly formed empathy link between the two of them, then Annabeth would most likely not have any such dreams. She wouldn’t know what was happening to Grover at all unless Percy decided to tell her about it—which he wouldn’t do unless he starts believing the dream was real!

Last day of school. … I’d almost made it an entire year without getting expelled. … No teachers turning into monsters and trying to kill me with poisoned cafeteria food or exploding homework.

Thalia whistled.

“I’m almost afraid to ask what Percy’s life looks like when he’s not in camp or on a quest,” said Nico, his eyes shining. “I mean… poisoned cafeteria food?”

“Exploding homework?” demanded Grover.

Annabeth shook her head at them. “Right, but can we focus on the really bizarre thing about all of this, please? Percy said no weird thing’s happened to him that year, which shouldn’t have been true since… he’s a child of the Big Three, and he’s aware of who he is now. Not to mention how Lu—Kronos is after him. This should have been his first truly hectic year, yet it sounds like it’s been really calm.”

Well, when put like that, it was a bit odd that Percy hasn’t encountered anything unusual during that school year. Grover remembered Annabeth’s stories from her time before she ran away from home, and it sounded like even at the age of seven monsters knew where to find her and took advantage of it. And she wasn’t even a Big three child.

What was up with the monsters that year, then?

“Maybe monsters attacked him when he wasn’t at school?” suggested Thalia. “He did say it while talking about school, right? So maybe the attacks happened when he was on his way home, or when he was home.”

But for some reason Grover could tell no one believed it. It sounded like nothing actually happened, which baffled them all and made them look at Chiron with anticipation, waiting to learn more.

… Only one more day to go. Surely even I couldn’t mess that up .

“Oh, but if anyone could mess something this perfect up, it would be Percy,” said Thalia with a snort.

Annabeth shook her head. “This is just sad.”

As usual, I didn’t have a clue how wrong I was .

Thalia smirked, like she was the only one to realize Percy would somehow mess up despite the knowing glints in the eyes of everyone in the room. Grover could feel the despair hanging in the air as they all waited to hear what exactly Percy did to ruin his last day.

At least Grover hoped it would be spectacular. He didn’t want to hear that somehow Percy got expelled because he cursed his teacher or something again—that really would be sad.

My mom made blue waffles and blue eggs … her way of saying anything is possible. Percy can pass seventh grade. Waffles can be blue. Little miracles like that .

“It really is a miracle.”

“Can you actually go five minutes without mocking Percy?” said Nico warily.

Thalia shrugged. “Sure. But he makes it too easy.”

I ate at the kitchen table while my mom washed dishes. … I guess I wasn’t digging in like I usually did.

… [Sally:] Percy, are you all right?

[Percy:] Yeah… fine .

… [Sally] sat down across from me.

[Sally:] School, or …

… I told her about my dream .

The breath he didn’t know he’s been holding came out of his lungs after hearing that. It was good to know that Percy didn’t actually believe his dream was merely a regular nightmare. Grover trusted Percy with his life, yes, but… but it was good to have confirmation that Percy would really take the dream more seriously than he was making it sound.

Still, Grover had to admit that he felt bad for worrying Percy like that. This was his first time reaching the end of a school year without getting in trouble, and here he was, sending his best friend a distress message in his sleep to try and get Percy to drop everything and come and get him.

Maybe it was his fault that Percy’s last day got ruined. Maybe the worry ate up at Percy and he did something stupid because of it. After all, Grover’s grown to know the boy over their year together at Yancy, and he knew that if something bothered Percy, he wouldn’t let it drop until he solved it, even if it backfired in the end.

And the fact that Percy’s appetite took a blow from the events in his dream let Grover know that it really upset him. As far as Grover was concerned, Percy was like a bottomless pit when it came to food, so for him to not enjoy blue food as much as he normally would was a glaringly obvious sign that something was up with his friend.

Gods, Grover couldn’t even go searching for Pan without finding himself in so much trouble that he was forced to call for help. How pathetic was that?

… [Sally:] If there were a problem, I’m sure we would’ve heard from… from camp…

Her shoulders tensed as she said the word camp .

… [Sally:] I’ll tell you what. This afternoon … I’ll take you and Tyson to Rockefeller Center—to that skateboard shop you like .

Oh, man, that was tempting.

“Is she… bribing Percy?” Thalia blinked at the book, then gave Grover a look. “Why does she not want him to look more into what’s going on with you? Do you think she knows something?”

“No way. Mrs. Jackson wouldn’t do that,” he protested.

“I think she’s trying to direct the conversation away from Camp Half-Blood rather than Grover specifically,” said Annabeth. “Percy said her voice tensed when she mentioned camp, so maybe… maybe something’s going on and she doesn’t want Percy to get involved in it?”

Chiron opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped when they all noticed Thalias stiffening in her seat, her eyes growing wide. She formed an ‘o’ shape with her mouth, her hand coming up to mess with the bracelet around her wrist that Grover knew held Aegis.

Furrowing her brows, Annabeth cocked her head to the side and stared at the older girl. “Thalia? Hey, are you okay?”

Blinking rapidly, the girl nodded, her black hair flipping all around her. “Yeah, yes. Sorry. I just… I think I know what’s going on back at camp. And, uh, it’s not good. I didn’t hear a lot about it, but… I know enough to say that we’ll probably read about it, since Percy was definitely involved.”

“I think he was involved in everything that happened in the last few years, honestly,” said Nico dryly.

When he said ‘the last few years’ Grover had to remind himself that Nico was talking about the years that would be his future, because Nico came from a different point in time. As did Thalia. This was really confusing if he let himself think about it for longer than several seconds at a time.

“Well, this should be fun, then,” said Annabeth lowly, her gray eyes straying toward Percy for a moment with a look of curiosity on her face.

… But something in her voice bothered me .

… [Percy:] I thought we were packing me up for camp tonight .

… [Sally:] I got a message from Chiron last night . … it might not be safe for you to come to camp just yet. …

“Might not be safe?” spluttered Annabeth. “But it’s camp. It’s the safest place for half-bloods there is! How can it be that staying at home would be safer for Percy than going to camp, Chiron?”

A crease formed between the centaur’s brows. “I do not know, Annabeth,” he said, “but if I think it would indeed be safer for Percy to stay home with his mom for the time being, I can guess that whatever is happening is extremely bad.”

Instead of looking at either one of them, Grover found himself looking at Thalia and Nico. While Thalia looked more subdued than usual, her gaze locked on her feet and her hands still messing with her bracelet, Nico was looking at the girl like he was curious about her story, yet not surprised about her reaction.

It made sense, in a way, since Nico came from a time even further away from Thalia’s. Maybe he’s heard about whatever it was that was happening back at camp. Maybe it still hasn’t been fixed. For all Grover knew, it could just be that everyone was expecting Kronos and an army of monsters to attack camp any moment now and Chiron just didn’t want to risk the life of the one living known child of the Big Three that was around at the time.

But Thalia’s reaction confused him. Because while her eyes seemed to be distant, seeing something other than her feet or the wooden floor of the building they were in, her emotions revealed anger and betrayal and hurt. She was clinging to hope, Grover could tell, but it wasn’t firm or strong enough to really help all that much.

Without hearing her thoughts he wasn’t sure what exactly was going through her head, but Grover figured it wasn’t all that pleasant.

… [Percy:] I’m a half-blood! It’s like the only safe place on earth for me !

… [Sally:] I’m very, very sorry. … I can’t explain it all now. … Everything happened so suddenly .

… I wanted to ask a million questions, but just then the kitchen clock chimed the half-hour .

“Ugh, who cares about school now?” groaned Grover. “I want to know what’s going on in camp! And I want to know what he’s going to do about that dream! For all he knows, I’m still hiding behind a stack of wedding dresses!”

Chiron put a comforting hand on Grover’s shoulder as the boy reached for his pillow again and started anxiously playing with it while reminding himself not to munch on it. This was still nothing. So what if they were being left in the dark. It looked like Percy was always being kept in the dark. So, really, it was only fair that they would suffer the same fate now, too.

Nico was probably celebrating internally at having them all realize how horrible it was to be in Percy’s shoes if his reaction to how cryptic everyone was being in the last book was anything to go by.

… [Sally, relieved:] You should go. Tyson will be waiting.

At that Thalia’s head lifted and she smiled. “Tyson? I’ve heard of him.”

“Is he another demigod?” asked Annabeth eagerly. “Or just a close mortal friend of Percy?”

“Neither.”

Nico’s dark eyes twinkled with recognition, too. He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest while glancing toward Percy, as if expecting the boy to wake up at the mention of this Tyson guy alone. To Grover’s bafflement, the only thing Percy did was mumble a quiet, “Peanut butter,” and turn to lie on his back once more.

“I swear, Percy stumbles upon the strangest companions,” he said, his lips tugging up a little.

Thalia threw him a look. “What? Talking about yourself there, death breath?”

“No. I’m talking about—” Nico cut himself off, then shrugged. “You haven’t met her yet, right. I forgot. Um… guess you’ll see. I’m sure she’ll come up at some point in the books. Percy loves her.”

A strange shadow crossed Annabeth’s face at the words and she pursed her lips but didn’t comment. Instead she just seemed to squeeze Percy’s fingers a little, as if making sure he was still right there on the bed she was sitting on.

[Percy:] But —

[Sally:] Percy, we’ll talk this afternoon. Go on to school .

That was the last thing I wanted to do, but my mom had this fragile look in her eyes … Besides, she was right about my friend Tyson. … He was scared of traveling underground alone .

Grover tilted his head to the side. “Did Percy find himself a new protector or something? Is this a satyr?”

It made sense in his mind—after all, satyrs hated being underground. It drove them nuts and it petrified most of them, including Grover. So maybe Tyson was like him, right? It could be a possibility.

Although (and he wasn’t going to voice this out loud) the idea that Percy might find himself a different satyr to hang out with other than Grover kind of made his insides squirm unpleasantly. He didn’t want to leave Percy without a friend around, and he knew that Annabeth couldn’t be with Percy during the school year—whether she remained at camp or went back to her parents—but if Percy started hanging out with another satyr, it would feel like… well… being replaced.

Okay, maybe he was being a little dramatic there. Nico and Thalia already made it pretty obvious that he and Percy were still close in the future, but he couldn’t help but feel like he stepped out of Percy’s life, got in trouble, and in the meantime his friend found himself someone else to hang out with.

It didn’t matter that Grover’s job had been to protect Percy rather than be his friend. They’d spent an entire year getting to know each other, and he wasn’t ready for Percy to find himself a different best friend during his absence, all right?

To his surprise, though, Thalia snickered and shook her head. “Tyson’s not a satyr, no.”

Then what in the world was he?

“And he’s not a demigod or a mortal?” said Annabeth slowly, looking just as baffled as Grover felt.

Nico shook his head. He looked like he was having fun with the confusion Thalia and he were causing with this Tyson guy. And despite not showing it much, Grover could tell that Chiron was flabbergasted as to who and what this Tyson guy was, too. His tail kept swishing from side to side irritably.

… [Percy:] Mom, this problem at camp. Does it… could it have anything to do with my dream about Grover ?

… [Sally:] We’ll talk this afternoon, dear. I’ll explain… as much as I can.

Reluctantly, I told her good-bye. …

I didn’t know it at the time, … I wouldn’t be seeing home for a long, long time .

“At least this time he didn’t predict it himself,” muttered Thalia. “I swear, Percy’s accurate feelings make me worry about what kind of world we live in. I don’t want to exist in the same world where kelp head can predict the future.”

“Instead you live in a world where Percy can destroy the future because of some kind of old prophecy,” Nico noted.

Thalia’s nose scrunched up in distaste but she didn’t say anything about it.

As I stepped outside, … I saw a dark shape in the morning sunlight … a shadow that belonged to no one.

Then it rippled and vanished .

“Ooookay, so we’re all in agreement that Percy is being stalked, right?” said Thalia.

“Do you think it’s Luke?” asked Grover.

Chiron sighed. “We won’t know unless we keep reading, I’m afraid.”

He glanced toward Percy once, as if to make sure the boy was still asleep. Then he flipped over to the next page.