𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲.

Ghost boy has a plan

Lilia followed Percy to the sword arena.

She probably shouldn't have considering she was still annoyed at him, but she had no one else to hang out with, so she did.

Percy turned around and raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Are you following me Houdini?"

"Sort of." She said catching up to him.

"You confuse me Lili." He said shaking his head.

Mrs. O'Leary came bounding toward them and jumped on Percy.

"Ow!" He said. "Hey, girl. Good to see you too. Ow!"

It took a few minutes for Mrs. O'Leary to calm down and get off Him (Lilia stood watching instead of helping). By then he was pretty much drenched in dog drool. She wanted to play fetch, so Lilia picked up a bronze shield and tossed it across the arena.

"Thanks for the help." Percy said with a raised eyebrow.

Lilia pulled a face, "you stink now."

Mrs. O'Leary made a wailing sound, like she needed to go on a walk, Percy opened the gates and the hellhound ran off toward the woods.

They jogged after her, not too concerned that she was getting ahead. Nothing in the woods could threaten Mrs. O'Leary. Even the dragons and giant scorpions ran away when she came close.

When the two of them finally tracked her down, she wasn't using the facilities. She was in a familiar clearing where the Council of Cloven Elders had once put Grover on trial. The place didn't look so good. The grass had turned yellow. The three topiary thrones had lost all their leaves. But that's not what surprised Lilia. In the middle of the glade stood the weirdest trio she'd ever seen: Juniper the tree nymph, Nico di Angelo, and a very old, very fat satyr.

Nico was the only one who didn't seem freaked out by Mrs. O'Leary's appearance. He looked pretty much like he had the last time she'd seen him-an aviator's jacket, black jeans, and a T-shirt with dancing skeletons on it, like one of those Day of the Dead pictures. His Stygian iron sword hung at his side. He was only twelve, but he looked much older and sadder.

He nodded when he saw them, then went back to scratching Mrs. O'Leary's ears. She sniffed his legs like he was the most interesting thing since rib-eye steaks. Being the son of Hades, he'd probably been traveling in all sorts of hellhound-friendly places.

The old satyr didn't look nearly so happy. "Will someone-what is this underworld creature doing in my forest!" He waved his arms and trotted on his hooves as if the grass were hot. "You there, Percy Jackson! Is this your beast?"

"Sorry, Leneus," He said. "That's your name, right?"

The satyr rolled his eyes. His fur was dust-bunny gray, and a spiderweb grew between his horns. His belly would've made him an invincible bumper car.

"Well, of course I'm Leneus. Don't tell me you've forgotten a member of the Council so quickly. Now, call off your beast!"

"WOOF!" Mrs. O'Leary said happily.

The old satyr gulped. "Make it go away! Juniper, I will not help you under these circumstances!"

Juniper turned toward them. She was pretty in a dryad-y way, with her purple gossamer dress and
her elfish face, but her eyes were green-tinted with chlorophyll from crying.