THE CHALLENGE OF THE GODS: The City Of Beasts

I make an unexpected ally... sort of

"Much better." Grover said chuckling, after I'd finished getting fully dressed. Then, we finally left the cabin. Again. I was still wondering about my dream - which clearly wasn't a dream at all, more like a vision - when we made it to the place. The place where the only person who can understand coordinates is, where the only person who can help with this dream is. Cabin five. "You've got this!" Grover said supportively, yet, he was hiding behind a bush. He clearly didn't think that I had it. And neither did I. I walked up to the door of the cabin slowly, as if to signal to Grover to say, 'No, Percy don't do it! There's another way!' But no. He was still hiding behind a bush every time I turned around. He was acting like whatever was gonna happen when I opened the door was going to cause a disease that would kill us. And to be fair, I wasn't over reacting that much, but I did think that we - mostly me - were in trouble. My hands shook as they neared the door of the cabin. She couldn't be that bad. Plus, she would do anything to help other campers out. Wouldn't she? I turned back to Grover one last time before I unconsciously knocked on the door. Before I could realise I had done it, the door was already open with a girl standing there.
"What do you want?" She questioned me as she looked me up and down as if I was a homeless hobo who had just made his way into the camp. I was too lost in my own thoughts that I forgot to respond. ADHD is another consequence thing about being a half-blood. I finally zoned back in right before she slammed the door in my face.
"Wait!" I exclaimed, reaching my hand out to keep the door opening. "I need your help. Annabeth needs your help." I was scared what she was going to say. Even though I knew she would help, since Annabeth is in trouble, but something about the way she was staring at me was making me doubt myself for the eighth time today (and I'd been asleep for most of it). What if she said no and Annabeth was lost forever? What would I do without her?
"Why's your friend in a bush?" She asked me instead of answering my plea. Her dark-brown hair swayed with the movement of her head. How could she just ignore a statement like that?
"He thinks you'll curse us or something. Now what about my request?" I stated, trying to ignore her question like she did mine. She made a kind of whimpering noise in the back of her throat, as if she was clearing it. Oh gods, what did I do?
All the kids in the Ares cabin started staring at me. Most of them began to whisper and seemingly mock me. "Listen, Annabeth needs your help and you always help your campers, don't you Clarisse?" Her eyes grew wide as she got stiff and looked around. Did I accidentally put her on the spot in front of all her half-siblings? Well, now she couldn't say no.
"I might have to think." She half mumbled to me. All the Ares kids made surprised noises and I couldn't take it anymore.
"You aren't all involved! Move along guys!" I shouted impulsively. Oops. All the kids snarled me then turned back to whatever it was that they were doing before: playing chess, fake fighting, acting and all that stuff. Weird for the kids of the God of war.
"Clarisse, she needs you."
"And I said, I'll have to think."
"What do you mean? It's obvious what the answer should be!"
"Well I'm not sure."
"How are you not sure?"
"Why are you putting me under so much pressure and on the spot?!"
I did not mean to make her lose her cool. Or at least, not that much. I took a few steps back down the front stairs of the cabin, turned around and ran with Grover slowly limping after me.

Ever make someone lose their cool that much that they go red (hi, Clarisse) and you think their head might pop off? Yeah, that just happened, and in front of many, many people. Like, a whole camp cabin full of people. And people outside the cabin.
"How could she not agree straight away? Annabeth is in danger!" I screamed into my pillow.
"You seem frustrated. Are you okay?" Grover asked me, placing a shaky hand on my back. I was so mad at that question. Like, take a hint, isn't it obvious? I always get mad when somebody asks me that.
"No, I'm perfectly fine! Just wondering if my girlfriend is dead yet!" I removed my head from the pillow, my face as red as a tomato but I didn't care. But as soon as I saw Grover's expression, I cared. "Im sorry, Grover. I didn't mean it, I just really hate that question." Grover stood there, eyes wide as if he were to burst out crying. Poor Grover, I hate when I lash out at him. I stood up and without a word, gave him a hug. That hug made up my mind. "Grover, go pack your bags. Bring food, drinks, drachmas, anything. We're leaving tonight. Meet by Aphrodite's cabin." I said, pulling away from the hug and grabbing a backpack from under my bed. I grabbed clothes, underwear and socks and shoved them into the bag as much as I could.
"Wait, what? We're leaving camp without permission?" Grover said concerned as if we haven't done it a hundred times before. I stared at him as if to tell him to go do what I said right there and then. He must've took the hint because he took off faster than I'd ever seen him limp before. Sorry, run.

Later that night, me and Grover met up at the place we said we would. We exchanged drinks and drachmas as were ready to leave, right before we heard rustling in the bushes. I stared at the bushes as I grabbed onto riptide who was rattling in my pocket. I'm so glad I didn't forget him. I took out my pen from my pocket, holding it up to the bushes. I pressed the lid of my ball-cap pen and it formed into the gleaming, golden sword. The gold light reflect off the puddles, letting me see a little more of the figure in the bushes. I could see black hair, moving slowly. As I creeped forward, Grover grabbed my shoulder, warning me to be careful. I knew what I was doing. In a way. I kept creeping forward, as the rustling got louder and louder, I slashed at the bushes and a girls scream came right after the slicing sound.
"You cut a bit of my hair off!" The girl stood up looking furiously at me and Grover. What is Clarisse doing here? Me and Grover exchanged concerned looks. She has pure red fury in her eyes as she looked at us, gritting her teeth together.
"Sorry about that. I see you made up your mind?" I asked, backing away in case she attacked us. I knew she wouldn't but you never know with Clarisse. She can be perfectly fine one moment, then the next you're swimming in camp half-blood lake.
"Yeah. Annabeth was my friend once too. It's only right that I come to help her. I still care for her, no matter what." Clarisse said, glaring her eyes back and forth between me and Grover. It was as if she was the apex predator, and we were her prey, and she was stalking us, ready to pounce out from that bush. I put riptide away with a relived sigh and looked her dead in the eyes.
"We better get going then, before somebody catches us sneaking out." I said, looking Clarisse up and down like she did to me before. I still had one tiny question she needed to answer that I was confused about. "How did you know we were leaving camp?" I questioned her, trying not to seem too suspicious. She seemed anxious to tell us, but eventually she caved in.
"I was eavesdropping on you guys' conversation about sneaking out." She admitted, not daring to look us in the eyes. Before I could question her any further, Grover sensed something.
"Chiron is coming. We need to go, now!" He said, beginning to run away. I looked at Clarisse with suspicion but ran with Grover, with Clarisse overtaking me shortly. I didn't know why she suddenly changed her mind. Something wasn't adding up. I hoped Clarisse doesn't mess this up. I really hoped.