Grover Underwood and the Sorceress' Secret

Part 1

Notes:

Warnings - Demigod levels of violence injury and trauma (for the whole fic)

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Summary:

"It's a good thing we found a forest swimming in the Mist and were smart enough to wait for backup!" Annabeth and Percy are coming to pick them up so they could have waited and used Mrs O'Leary to shadow travel out of here. They should have waited.

They did not.

***

"Stop that!" Rachel hisses as Grover scuffs his hoof against the ground for the fifth time since they were dropped off here by Mrs O'Leary (thanks Percy). He looks up at her in surprise - Rachel is usually pretty easygoing.

"Sorry." he mutters then says nothing for a bit before coming out with a quiet, "It's cold.".

"We're in Scotland." she replies, more gently this time. Grover is clearly nervous: becoming Lord of the Wild has improved his confidence but that doesn't mean he's stopped worrying.

Grover scuffs his hoof against the ground again. "Why is your dad's..."

"Gala." she provides, "Corporate event, I wasn't really listening.". Rachel made a deal with her father a while ago so her presence is necessary but that does not mean she is going to pretend to care.

"... meeting in Scotland?"

Rachel shrugs. "Ben Nevis, remember?"

"Yeah." he mutters. It's not the thing that made him come but it's the thing that stopped him from backing out. Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in Great Britain apparently. "Domesticated wilderness is better than nothing."

"Billionaires go crazy for 'wellness retreats'." Rachel sagely adds like she isn't one. Technically she isn't but she will be for as long as it takes to properly share her family's hoarded wealth when she inherits it. "And they'll at least pretend to care about the environment while you're talking to them about it."

Grover, well-versed in the deceit of mankind and gods and anyone in between, nods. He is sure to hear plenty of empty promises but he has got to try, got to keep hoping. "I hate speaking to people like that."

"I know."

"When's your dad getting here?"

"No idea." Her dad hadn't cared to ask how they were going to get here, just as long as Rachel came. He hadn't been too pleased by her plus one being another environmental campaigner but as he is one of those billionaires who pretends to care, she'd gotten her way. Her mom isn't coming, of course, too busy with her job to come with her husband or even think about her daughter. It's part of the reason Rachel keeps trying with her dad.

Grover scuffs his hoof against the ground for the seventh time. She gives up on saying anything after that.

The event goes well enough which really should have made them suspicious. Percy's luck is contagious. Grover manages to get chatting to several people, six of which seem to be taking him seriously. Three of them actually swear to do something, even though that something is vague.

(The most insulting thing is that after everything that happens next, none of the six do a single thing. Clearly, caring is nothing in the face of greed.)

Grover thought it was going to go a lot worse, particularly when Rachel's dad arrived, looked him up and down, clucked his tongue and completely ignoring him, turned to Rachel.

"The pants." is all he said, disapprovingly.

"Shag pants are back in fashion." Rachel batted back smoothly, like a liar. Grover's not that good at lying yet but he's gotten a bit better according to the Hermes cabin who have taken it upon themselves to 'educate him in such matters'.