𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀, percy jackson!

𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈. grover meets a sassy, fuzzy, pink poodle

──★ Chapter eight

After a wretched day, the group found refuge in a secluded clearing in the woods, about a hundred meters from the main road. The spot, often used by teenagers for parties, was littered with the remnants of their gatherings—flattened soda cans, crumpled fast-food wrappers, and more.

They had taken some food and blankets from Medusa's place, but Annabeth cautioned against lighting a fire to dry their damp clothes, fearing it would attract monsters. So, they agreed to sleep in shifts, with Percy volunteering to take the first watch.

As soon as Annabeth's head touched the ground, she fell into a deep sleep, exhaustion overtaking her immediately. Grover and Percy remained sitting up. Adira lay next to Annabeth, her body weary but her mind restless, unable to find the solace of sleep despite her best efforts.

Percy and Grover probably thought she was asleep too, since Percy said. "Go ahead and sleep. I'll wake you if there's trouble."

Grover nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Percy."

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"

"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

The night sky stretched out above them, a vast expanse of deep, unbroken darkness. When Adira rolled onto her back, she could see a scattering of stars glimmering brightly.

"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist." Percy said.

"Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast...ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

There was silence before Percy spoke up. "Pam? Like the cooking spray?"

Idiot.

"Pan!" Grover cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"

Adira knew about the great god Pan. She read about him in books, he was the god of the wild and now also known as the 'Lost God'. Many satyrs cherished dreams of discovering Pan and thus applied for a searcher's license, hopeful yet wary of the risky quest—none had ever returned. Despite this, Adira knew that if anyone could find Pan, it would be Grover. She believed in him.

She turned away from Grover and Percy's conversation, attempting to drift into sleep.

During moments like these, when sleep evaded her, Adira longed for a cellphone or a record player of her own. She couldn't always rely on borrowing from the Stolls, although they had managed to sneak a cellphone into camp. They assured her it was that old, it wouldn't attract monsters, but Adira still harbored occasional doubts.

Before Camp Half-Blood, she used to listen to the songs from the musical "Wicked" with her father, back when he was alive. Those were the days when everything, or most things, had been alright. But after that fateful night—after her father's death and the haunting pursuit of monsters—she hadn't dared to listen to a single song since. She could talk about "Wicked", but she couldn't listen to it.

Whenever she had the opportunity, though it wasn't frequent, she indulged in listening to Ariana Grande and other pop icons.

Growing up, she rarely listened to American music because her father, who didn't speak the language well, had moved to America after his parents passed away, before meeting and falling in love with her mother. Her father was the sweetest man she had ever known, and she often wondered how her mother had been so fortunate to have him. Even after his passing, she received no sign from her mother—not even an omen. She began to question if the goddess had ever truly loved him.