no one talks about the missing Half-Blood, most definitely not around Chiron and Mr D.
but everyone knows of the missing Half-Blood, even after a whole century.
two days before Percy's first capture the flag game, the Half-Blood mysteriously arriv...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
≈ ❂ ≈ ❂ ≈ ❂ ≈ ❂ ≈ ❂ ≈
Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Percy and Grover at the lake, resting from Percy's near-death experience on the climbing wall. Sadly, I had missed that, I had gone with my cabin to infirmary class.
Not much of a class for me anyways. I knew most of it, but Chiron felt the need that I was brought up to date on everything, how the healers do it now, "since I had missed about a hundred and five years of nursing evolution." His words, not mine.
Percy told me that Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten to him. Percy's shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off his forearms and I had healed the scrapes and cuts from his knees and arms.
We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until Percy got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.
Grover's face turned a sickly shade of yellow. Not that I had a clue what it was about.
"Fine," he said. "Just great."
"So your career's still on track?"
He glanced at Percy nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"
"Well... no." Percy says. I have always admired the bravery of the satyrs and their devotion to Pan. "He just said you had big plans, you know ... and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"
Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."
That seemed to have lifted Percy's spirits. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"
"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want me along?"
"Of course I'd want you along!"
Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."
"Tell me about it." I say. "I'll probably never do anything else."
Percy tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, Percy asked him about the four empty cabins.
