Charmolypi

Chapter 36

The scene changed showing the group sitting in the forest. Thea was laying on her back, staring at the night sky. Percy had volunteered to take the first watch, but Thea wasn't getting any sleep, that was how she overheard the demigod's conversation with Grover. She looked over to where Annabeth was sleeping, curled up and covered.

"Go ahead and sleep," Percy told the satyr. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."

He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Percy."

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"

"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."

He glared at the son of Poseidon. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast ... ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan." Grover proceeded to sigh "at least Thea is on my side in this."

"Pam? Like the cooking spray? And what does Thea have to do with this?"

"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?" Grover then sighed. "Thea is also against what's happening. She's vegetarian most of the time, she might eat if someone offered her meat, but she doesn't intentionally ask for it. Something about increase in demand leads to increase in consumption, she'll tell you all about that economics theory if you ask."

"That explains why she only eats fruits and vegetables." Peter said in realization.

"No thanks, I don't like economics." Percy said. "Tell me about the search." Grover looked at Percy wearily, not understanding the sudden interest.

"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told him. "A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."

"And you want to be a searcher."

"It's my life's dream," he said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand ... the statue you saw back there-"

"Oh, right, sorry."

Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."

"Hang on-the first?"

Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."

"Not once in two thousand years?"

"No."

"And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?"

"None."

"But you still want to go," Percy said, amazement seeping through his voice. "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?"

"I have to believe that, Percy. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened."