Prophesied Powder, PJO

4.4

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Chapter 36
Hera's Messy Visit

Volume 4: The Battle of
the Labyrinth

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Just after dawn, the quest group met at Zeus's Fist. Pallas was a morning person by nature—son of the sun god and all—but the same could not be said for Percy, who looked like he had not slept at all.

Pat had a black backpack on and his hair tied back with a blue bandanna. His shorts matched the color. When he nudged his way in between Grover and Pallas, he said, "These are my 'let's get messy' shoes, which means no one can judge the state of them by the end of this." The shoes were black and already had about three colorful stains on them.

He looked put together. Then again, Pat always looked put together. Children of Aphrodite, in Pallas' opinion, were the most godly-looking of demigods, with their unnatural beauty and convincing words. Pat had only looked more and more stunning each time Pallas saw him. But right now, Pallas wished he let his beauty waver narrowly after last night. Pallas had attempted to explain his dream to Pat after telling him that Greg was fighting with the Titans, but Pat had not wanted to hear it. After a while, Pallas assumed he saw the closest Pat could get to crying; choking on air and silently weeping. It felt uncanny without tears, but Pallas had offered his arms as condolence.

He did not know much about Greg, and he knew less about Pat and Greg's friendship, but he knew they were close. If any of his half-siblings had joined the Titans, he would have been upset. Maybe not distraught, considering he had been tempted too, but betrayed certainly.

Pat showed no sign of the news today. He supposed that was what Aphrodite did too, pushed off her problems and continued on looking like a statued warrior. Distantly, Pallas wondered if he was that similar to his father.

All of them had ambrosia, nectar, and all of the materials they could need in their bags. It wasn't their first quest and they knew how to pack. The bottom of Pallas' backpack was basically made of extra batteries for the flashlights he had brought. He would not enjoy this quest, but he also refused to risk doing it all in the dark.

He had a brown bow slung over one shoulder and his bag on the other. With his bow, he had a leather quiver that he had painted. If he lost those or ran out of arrows, he had his enchanted weapon, a gift from the god Hermes.

The day was clear and the sky was blue, and there was no more fog in the area. While the campers had a good day of lessons and scaling the lava wall, they would be heading underground. No sun would be able to help them. No light at all. Just a confined space. Pallas' chest felt tight already.

Juniper and Grover stood apart from the group. Juniper had been crying again, but she was trying to keep it together for Grover's sake. She kept fussing with his clothes, straightening his Rasta cap and brushing goat fur off his shirt. Since they had no idea what they would encounter, he was dressed as a human, with the cap to hide his horns, and jeans, fake feet, and trainers to hide his goat legs.

Chiron, Quintus, and Mrs O'Leary stood with the other campers who'd come to wish them well, but there was too much activity for it to feel like a happy send-off. A couple of tents had been set up by the rocks for guard duty. Beckendorf and his siblings were working on a line of defensive spikes and trenches. Chiron had decided they needed to guard the Labyrinth exit at all times, just in case.

Pat kissed Silena on both cheeks and said, "Don't let the little kids touch my clothes."

Lee came over to Pallas eventually after he had finished discussing aerial defenses with Beckendorf. By that point, Pallas must have looked visibly nervous, because Lee greeted him by saying, "In and out, buddy."