Jiper's Child: Children of Olympus #2

Chapter Three: We Eat Enchiladas

“What in Hades is going on?” Grover exclaimed as Juniper dragged him swiftly through the forest. One moment he had been fast asleep inside that strange jail cell, and the next Juniper was running through the undergrowth like  nobody’s business.

 

“Shhh!” Juniper scolded.

“But-”

 

“Just keep running!” she whispered fiercely. “I’ll explain everything later. But we need to get out of here.”

 

Grove had no idea what was happening, where he was or why he was there or why Juniper was fleeing like someone was about to cut down her tree.

 

They weren’t, where they?

 

“Is someone trying to cut down your tree?” he asked, being sure to whisper this time. “Because if they are, I’ll-”

“No one’s cutting down my tree,” she replied, teeth gritted. “We’re pretty far away from my tree. That’s the problem. I shouldn’t be this far away. In fact, I don’t even know how I managed to get this far away. I really need to get back to my tree.”

 

“Of course,” Grover said, speeding up his pace. He was still dazed and half-asleep from whatever nap he had been taking in that forested jail cell, but he knew how hard it was for Juniper to get away from her tree. Something serious must’ve been up.

 

Come to think of it, this forest Grover was in didn’t look at all familiar. Sure, he had been through a lot of forests in his time, but he usually had a way of recognizing them and telling them apart: a certain type of plant that grew there or a smell in the air or the very density of the trees. Hey, he was the Lord of the Wild. He was pretty comfortable with forests.

 

This one, however, was completely foreign. There was nothing wrong with it that he could sense; it was just that he was positive he had never been in it and yet, he obviously had to have gotten to that cell he woke up in somehow.

 

Not that he could remember anything about that. The last memory he had was chewing on a tin can in the summer breeze by Juniper’s tree, then venturing into the forest of Camp Halfblood (which he was most certainly no longer in) in search of a strange noise and an ominous hunch.

“Okay,” Juniper said as she reached the edge of the forest, breathing hard. “There was something weird about that forest. I just needed to get out of there. From her, if I have enough energy, I think I may be able to get us back to my tree.”

“Like… by coach bus?”

 

“By teleportation. But again, that’s if I can find the energy,” Juniper panted. Grover noticed that his girlfriend wasn’t even fazed any longer when he threw out random suggestions and jokes like that.

 

“Alright,” she said. “Let’s see if I can do this.” She closed her eyes softly, her expression transforming into one of deep concentration. Grover placed his hand gently on her shoulder, really wanting more answers but knowing that now was not the time to ask.