𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐈𝐋¹ || 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍

𝐋𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐗

✦ 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐁𝐘𝐄𝐒 ✦

THERE WERE TOO MANY GOODBYES. That night was the first time Percy actually saw Camp burial shrouds used on bodies, and it was not something he wanted to see again.

Among the dead, the son of Dionysus who'd gone down fighting an enemy half-blood was wrapped in a deep purple shroud, embroidered with grapevines.

His name was Castor.

Percy was ashamed that he'd seen him around Camp for three years and never even bothered to learn his name. He'd been seventeen years old. His twin brother, Pollux, tried to say a few words, but he choked up and just took the torch. He lit the funeral pyre in the middle of the amphitheater, and within seconds the row of shrouds was engulfed in fire, sending smoke and sparks up to the stars.

They spent the next day treating the wounded, which was almost everybody. The satyrs and dryads worked to repair the damage to the woods. At noon, the Council of Cloven Elders held an emergency meeting in their sacred grove.

The three senior satyrs were there, along with Chiron, who was in wheelchair form. His broken horse leg was still mending, so he would be confined to the chair for a few months until the leg was strong enough to take his weight.

The grove was filled with satyrs and dryads and naiads up from the water – hundreds of them, anxious to hear what would happen. Percy, Aurora, Annabeth, and Juniper stood by Grover's side. Silenus wanted to exile Grover immediately, but Chiron persuaded him to at least hear evidence first, so they told everyone what had happened in the crystal cavern, and what Pan had said.

Then several eyewitnesses from the battle described the weird sound Grover had made, which drove the Titans' army back underground.

"It was panic," insisted Juniper, "Grover summoned the power of the wild god."

"Panic?" Percy asked.

"Percy," Chiron explained, "during the first war of the gods and the Titans, Lord Pan let forth a horrible cry that scared away the enemy armies. It is – it was his greatest power – a massive wave of fear that helped the gods win the day. The word panic is named after Pan, you see. And Grover used that power, calling it forth from within himself."

"Preposterous!" Silenus bellowed, "Sacrilege! Perhaps the wild god favored us with a blessing. Or perhaps Grover's music was so awful it scared the enemy away!"

"That wasn't it, sir," Grover said, he sounded a lot calmer than Percy would have if he'd been insulted like that, in fact, Aurora looked like she was ready to jump the old satyrs for Grover.