The Ultimate Deception (Grover Underwood)

Beginning of A Journey

I stand in the bathroom wiping my eyes. I hear a knock on the bathroom door and turn my head seeing Luke. "Stop." He tells me and grab a rag from the closet and sets it. "I thought you said you were gonna contact the dead anymore. You know what it does to your body." "I know. It wasn't my choice." I say as he grabs my chin and starts checking my face for anymore blood. "What do you mean?" He asks. "Kronos...he contacted me and told me about the quest." I explain. He looks at me shocked.

"Your dad? Isn't he..." "I thought he was but I guess he still has some power." I shrug. "He told me if I don't find a way to get on that quest then they'll die." I say as my voice cracks as I think back to what I'd seen. "Who?" "Anna-B...Percy...and Grover." His breathe hitches when I said Annabeth and Percy.

"How do you know he isn't lying?" "I saw it. I fucking saw it. I...I felt it." I say hoarsely as tears brim in my eyes. "Do you trust him?" "Do I have a choice?" I sigh heavily. "You should go for the quest ceremony." "He's not gonna pick me." Luke points out.  "Still." I say walking to the door. "Alright." I hug him and he kisses my forehead.

I sit in my cabin drinking a exlir to subdue my pain. My skin is still pale but I can handle it. I hear a loud knock on my door. I turn to the door and knocking gets more persistent. I walk over to the door and open it seeing a panting Grover. He looks worried and like he just ran a marathon.

"Grover-" he wraps his arms around me tightly. "What's wrong?" I ask him and I hug him back. "I heard...about what happened." He says pulling back slightly. "Did you try to talk to your mom again?" I press my lips together. I can't tell him I talked to my dad. He'd tell my dad for good reason. "Yeah...I guess I felt like I need to see her you know?" I lie. He places his hands on my shoulders. "You promised you wouldn't do it again." "I know. I'm sorry, I worried you." I say sincerely. "As long as you're okay and you never do that again." He says the last part sternly as holds my shoulders tightly. "I promise." I know that's a lie. I hate lying to him...

After getting some of my strength back I walked out of my cabin and started to head towards the lake again to think of a plan to get Percy to invite me on the- "ATHEDIA!" I turn my body and see Percy. "Hey Perc. I heard the news. You're luck to get to go on a quest your first few days. I hope you Grover and Annabeth bring back glory...to Olympus." I had to force myself to say the last part.

"I wanted to talk to you about that-" "oh yeah! Of course you can have some of my healing elixirs and I'll make some more of those moss patches." I turn around to head back to my cabin to get my stuff. He grabs my wrist. "No no no no. I wanted you to come with us." He states. I freeze in shock. I turn around and look at him and use my psychic powers to see if he's serious and he actually is.

"But I'm not a fighter. I don't a particular skill set. I'm practically useless. Why would you want me?" "Addy- Athedia! Stop!" I cut my ramble short at his sudden outburst. He grabs my shoulders and looks up at me. "You are one of the few people here who haven't bullied me. You helped me when your psycho ex tried to kill me...twice." He says putting emphasis on twice. "You also healed my injuries when I was hurt and I'm pretty sure on a journey like this we'll need a medic. Besides you're my aunt." He had me until he said the word aunt. "You're best friend 24 and you call me 'aunt'?" "He looks 12." "And I don't look 30! I'm 16!" I argue back. He rolls his eyes and drops his hands from my shoulders.

"Are you in or not?"

I wander around my old bedroom at the house looking for my shoes.  "I was wondering who was tearing up my house." I glance at the door seeing my dad. "Not now Dad. I can't find-" "these." He holds up my boots. I gasp and jog over to grab them. "Thanks dad-" he pulls my shoes back. "You weren't gonna say goodbye?" He asks. I look at him and see hurt in his eyes. "Dad...nothing bad is gonna happen to me. Zeus and Poseidon would never hurt me. They're my brothers." "And I'm Zeus' son. Look where that got me." He states. I sigh heavily and sit on my bed.

I grab my old dragon plushie, hugging it to my chest. "I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye I just...I don't wanna say goodbye as if I'm not coming back." I admit. He sits next to me. "A quest like this, you might not." "Exactly why I don't want to say goodbye." He sighs and pulls me into his shoulder rubbing my arm.

"Then how about we don't say goodbye. This could just be a see you later." I glance up at him. "What if I mess up? I'll let them down...they'll think I intentionally tried to ruin them. Everyone already blames for a battle that happened centuries ago. What's to stop them from blaming me for this war?" "You're not gonna fail, kid. You know why?" He asks me. "Why?" "Because you're a different. Youre special. You're not like the rest of our family. You're better than them. You don't let pride get the best of you. You're not selfish. You don't care about titles. You don't care about power. You care about your friends. You care about life. You love and support others no matter what. You are the one good thing that came out of this family. Besides since when has Athedia Dionysuson never had a back up plan?" U smile softly. "Thanks dad."I say hugging him. He hugs me back and kisses my head. "I love you, my little Titan." "I love you too, Dad."

I stand infront of the Thalia. (The Tree) I hug it. "My first quest. You always told me I was destined for greatness. I'll make you proud." I kiss the tree and sigh. I glance at Annabeth. "You ready for this?" "My whole life." I smile at her.

"The most powerful being in the universe's best idea to save his daughter's life...was to turn her into a tree?" Percy says in disbelief. "She was the bravest person I ever knew. She fought valiantly, and met a hero's fate." Annabeth says defending Thalia's name.

"She met a pinecones fate."

Annabeth glares daggers at Percy. "That was best friend. The closet thing I had to a sister. Kids like me you and her. We always attract the most danger. Especially me. No matter how strong we are..." I say sigh a sad sigh. "That's why I disappeared when Alecto revealed herself. I didnt want to draw more attention besides...you lived." "Wait you saw what happened and did nothing?" He asks ignoring everything else I just said.

"I mean you're alive." I say nonchalantly. He owls his mouth to respond but then sighs. "Do exactly as we say, and maybe you survive this." Annabeth states. "Are we clear?" I can sense the anger and annoyance in my sister. Annabeth starts walking forward. "Does she think she's in charge?" "Who's your think would be in charge?" Grover asks. "Sure as hell isn't me." I state.

Annabeth and Percy walk ahead of me and Grover. "Don't take it personally. Percy's just not used to this like us." He says trying to keep some peace. "I know just because he acts like a dick doesn't mean he is one. You remember the first thing I said when I found out Zeus turned her into a tree." He chuckles softly. "Don't remind me."

I look at the tree with narrowed eyes. I glance at my dad and then at Luke Grover and Annabeth. "A tree?" I say in disbelief. "Hades can bring people back from the dead and instead of asking him for help he turned his daughter into a tree." "A heroes fate." I scoff. "Yeah cause if I risked my life to protect my friends I'd definitely wanna be honored by being turned into something wolves mark their territory on." I say sarcastically. "Then I get smell like shit first all eternity." I say taking a smile. "Athedia!" Chiron scolds. "What? It's true. If the king of Olympus is really all powerful then why didn't he save her?" I ask him.

"It is not our right to question the gods-" "they're not gods. They're selfish." I say walking back to camp.

I chuckle softly. "I was a mean 12 years old." "You spoke your mind . Sometimes I wish you stopped letting people walk all over you." I take a breathe. "People change." I state. "I wish you didn't...at least not so much. I miss that part of you that wasn't afraid to speak up or do things that others wouldn't." "You mean like yesterday." I chuckle remembering the whole situation.

"Yeah. Even at your weakest your strong. It's one of the things I like about you." I smile softly at the compliment and his ears turn red like just said something he wasn't supposed to. "I- I mean not like about you. I mean I do like that about you. Wait! I don't like you-" I cut adorable rant short with a laugh. "I get it, G. No worries. I like you too." I say nudging his shoulder. He gives me a lopsided smile and his face is still red.

"Are you two done flirting?" Percy shouts from across the valley.