creep, percy jackson

3 | awkward introductions

"Is he gonna wake up soon?" Cora asked as she walked into the infirmary, fiddling with one of her rings.

"I don't know," Grover answered.

He was sitting in a chair in between the two beds, while Cora looked like she didn't plan to stop moving as she paced around the room.

"It's been days!" she said, a small vine curling around her wrist and snaking its way up her arm.

"I know," Grover sighed.

"So why isn't he awake?" Cora groaned, turning her ring around, not noticing that there were multiple thin vines holding onto her.

"I don't know."

"Why not?"

"I don't know."

"Aren't you old? Old people are supposed to know everything!" Cora said, almost like an accusation, throwing her hands up in the air.

"If you keep yelling, he's gonna wake up," Grover whispered, looking at Percy who was still unconscious in the first bed of the infirmary.

"Good!"

"He needs rest, Cora," Grover told her.

Cora blinked. "It's been days. I think that's enough rest."

"A lot happened. You're about to be strangled," Grover said, pointing to her neck.

"What?"

Cora had been so distracted, she hadn't felt one of the vines reach her neck.

"Oh!" she squeaked, quickly pulling the plant away from her throat and dropping it on the ground, stomping on it as if it would try to retaliate.

"You really need to get a handle on those powers, Cora," Grover said.

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled, pulling off the rest of the vines.

Grover looked at Percy again, while Cora was ridding herself of any unwanted decoration.

"It's okay," Grover said, making Cora look up. Percy was finally awake. "You're safe."

Percy looked over to the table sitting in the corner of the room, where the horn of the Minotaur was placed. Cora hadn't seen what happened, since she had gone to get Chiron, but Grover told her everything.

"It really happened," Percy said.

"Well, it's a big deal to kill a monster like that," Grover responded, "so, I wanted everyone to know that-"

"Did you see it?" Percy interrupted. "Did you see what happened to my mom?"

"I did," Grover answered.

"Grover told me," Cora said, still playing with her rings. "I'm really sorry, Percy."

Percy looked at them. They were both in orange shirts, saying CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Cora had a grey long sleeved shirt on underneath and black jean shorts, with a few leaves in her hair that she probably hadn't realised were there.

There was a small silence for a moment before Grover spoke again. "I'm sorry," he said, "for... everything. My job was to protect you, to get you here safely. Maybe if I'd told you the truth a little sooner, your mom would still be here-"

"Please..." Percy said, "stop."

"I know this isn't easy but I wanna talk about it," Grover said.

"I don't," Percy responded as he got up from the bed. "Your job was to get me here alive. So your job is done."

"Where are you going?" Cora asked as Percy went to the door.

"It was so important I get here cause my father's a god," Percy said. "So I'm gonna go find him."