¹Mσɳ Aɱσɳ Cαɾα I ᴘᴇʀᴄʏ ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ

5. Pretty smiles and petty arguments

♡ The least the Oracle could've done was walk back to the attic by herself.

Instead, Asteria had asked Percy and Grover to carry her back. Percy had been about to argue but Asteria flashed him a pretty smile, he had felt his wrist tingle ain response and instead of saying no he has end up agreeing.

So now here Percy and Grover were carrying an old dusty corpse back into the big house attic with Percy mentally cursing himself for giving in so easily.

"Watch her head!" Grover warned as we went up the stairs. But it was too late. Percy whacked her mummified face against the trapdoor frame and dust flew.

"Aw, man." Percy set her down and checked for damage. "Did I break anything?"

"I can't tell," Grover admitted.

They were relieved when they finally got out of there and slammed the attic door shut.

"Well," Grover said, "that was gross."

Percy knew Grover was trying to keep things light for his sake, but he still felt really down. The whole camp would be mad at him for losing the game to the Hunters, and then there was the new prophecy from the Oracle. It was like the spirit of Delphi had gone out of her way to exclude him. She'd ignored his question and walked half a mile to talk to Zoë.

"What will Chiron do?" Percy asked Grover.

"I wish I knew." He looked wistfully out the second-floor window at the rolling hills covered in snow. "I want to be out there."

"Searching for Annabeth?"

He had a little trouble focusing on him. "Oh, right. That, too. Of course."

"Why?" Percy asked. "What were you thinking?"

He clopped his hooves uneasily. "Just something the manticore said, about the Great Stirring. I can't help but wonder... if all those ancient powers are waking up, maybe... maybe not all of them are evil."

"You mean Pan."

Percy felt kind of selfish because he'd totally forgotten about Grover's life ambitions. The nature god had gone missing two thousand years ago. He was rumoured to have died, but the satyrs didn't believe that. They were determined to find him. Grover was convinced he'd be the one to succeed.

"I've let the trail go cold," he said. "I feel restless, like I'm missing something really important. He's out there somewhere. I can just feel it."

Percy didn't know what to say. He wanted to encourage Grover, but he didn't know how. Before he could respond, Thalia trumped up the stairs.

She was officially not talking to him now, but she looked at Grover and said, "Tell Percy to get his butt downstairs."

"Why?" Percy asked.

"Did he say something?" Thalia asked Grover.

"Um, he asked why."

"Dionysus has agreed to calling a council of cabin leaders to discuss the prophecy, as per Callisto's wishes," She rolled her eyes, saying the last part. "Unfortunately, that includes Percy."

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

The council was held round a ping-pong table in the rec room.

Dionysus waved his hand and supplied snacks: Cheez Whiz, crackers, and several bottles of red wine. Then Chiron reminded him that wine was against his restrictions and most of us were underage. Mr. D sighed. The wine turned to Diet Coke.