Percy sighed and began to pack. Before he went into Tartarus he wouldn't start with packing till an hour beforehand, but now he always took some extra stuff with him. He never wanted to be in a situation like that again. No food, no water, nog clothes, no ambrosia or nectar. He had a little backpack with two bottles of water, a spare set of clothes, a zip lock bag ambrosia and a bottle of nectar. He also had two knifes in there, for if the person he travelled with lost his or hers.
The knifes were simple, but balanced and were hidden in a magic compartment(he asked Lou Ellen to help him with that.) Only Percy could get them and even if the backpack would be destroyed no one but Percy would be able to find the knifes.
He put an extra bottle of water in the backpack and some more ambrosia and nectar. He thought about putting in some food, but he would do that right before they would leave. If he would get the food now, it wouldn't be okay to eat anymore.
Percy put the backpack under his bed and went out of his cabin. He tried to find Grover first. He wanted to tell Grover everything, but he would tell Annabeth and that wasn't good. Let alone that Hecate would incinerate him on the spot if he did.
Percy found Grover after a few minutes in the strawberry fields. The satyr was a lot better with his woodland magic than when he first met him, but he wasn't the best jet. Grover just sat there in the middle of the fruit plants and was clearly thinking about something.
"Grover!" The satyr's head shot up and he smiled at Percy, his best friend. "Hey, Percy!" Percy sat down next to Grover and was silent for a few seconds.
"I have a new quest. It's not really anything dangerous as far as we know, but I have to leave in two days." Grover studied his friend. "You are excited about this quest aren't you?" Percy smiled. They still had the Empathy-link so of course Grover knew how he felt about it.
"Who is going with you?" Grover knew Percy would never ask him. He had duties to attend to and Percy didn't want to put Grover in the position to choose between his best friend and his duties.
"Hazel and Piper. The rest of the seven is busy, you have your Lord of the Wild duties to attend to." Grover smiled at himself. "Annabeth is up in Olympus and doesn't even have enough time to talk to me." Grover raised an eyebrow. He didn't know this! And Annabeth did talk to him. Percy's tone was bitter and hurt, but he quickly went on. "I don't think Clarisse would want to go with me even if she would get paid and the Stolls are just dangerous." Grover laughed.
"You could call it that." Percy smiled. "What kind of quest is it?" Grover sounded interested. "We can't tell. All I can tell you is that we have to leave camp in two days and that we don't know how long we are going to be away." He sighed. "I wish I could tell you, but I will stay in contact." Grover nodded. He knew Percy hated it to keep secrets from him.
"I am going to tell the Stolls next. They will certainly tell the rest of camp so I don't have to tell everyone, but I wanted to tell you and Annabeth in person." Grover nodded in understanding. The Hermes cabin was even better in spreading rumours than the Aphrodite cabin.
"I'll be going than, say Juniper hi for me!" Percy got up, waved to Grover and walked towards the Hermes cabin.
Piper walked into her cabin. Since the war every cabin could sent Iris-Messages from their bathroom. Drew tried to charmspeak her into something embarrassing , but because didn't even listen and because she could do it herself, it didn't work on Piper.
When the girl arrived in the bathroom she kicked all her other cabin members out and locked the door. She sighed and turned on the sink. It had a special option so it would create a rainbow and she threw a drachma.
After the prayer an image appeared of Jason and Reyna. They were hovering above a map of New Rome. The city was in reparation progress and creating space for when the greeks wanted to visit.
Piper noticed that they were closer than necessarily, but pushed the thought out of her mind. "Jason! Reyna!" The two turned around to find the person who called them.
"Hey, Pipes!" "Piper!" Jason had a big smile on his face, but something was different in the way he looked at her. A mixture of loving, nervous and even a little guilty and ashamed.
Reyna had a small(for her big) smile on her face. Piper and Reyna had a better relationship after the war and they were close friends now, but even her smile looked a bit guilty.
"What's up Pipes?" Piper smiled at her boyfriend. "I am going to leave camp in a few days." She began. The two romans looked worried. "There is this new quest and Hazel, Percy and me are going. We leave in two days." She felt bad that she couldn't say anything else.
"What is it for the quest?" Asked Reyna. Piper looked down. "I can't tell, it kind of a secret. Even we don't know the details yet. We don't know how long we are going to be away either." When she looked back up she saw Reyna and Jason looking at each other like they were having a conversation.
"I have to go, it is late anyway. I assume Hazel is going to talk to Frank so I won't have to tell him?" Asked Reyna. Piper nodded and Reyna walked out of the room. Jason was clearly nervous now and looked even more guilty than a few seconds before.
"What's wrong Jason?" Jason looked up at his girlfriend and took a deep breath. "It's just that I... I thought that uhmm... Maybe it is better if ..." Piper didn't like where this was going. Jason began to speak so fast that Piper could barely understand. "I-fit-in-better-with-the-Romans-and-don't-think-we-should-continue-our-relationship." He took a deep breath and looked Piper in her teary eyes. "So you are breaking up with me?" Jason nodded and looked at Piper.
She didn't say anything she just stared at Jason. After half a minute she wiped away her tears and nodded. "I think I can understand." Her voice shook, but she didn't show any emotion except for that.
She was surprised to discover she wasn't as broken as she thought she would be. Don't get her wrong, she loves Jason! He is just really Roman. He never breaks rules and is very business-like, even if they are alone. They love each other, but don't fit.
"Roman and Greek can mix, but are too different for a relationship." Piper nodded again like she was trying to confines herself and looked at Jason for a moment before she gave him a weak smile.
"If I am correct about the girl you might like I want to give you some advice." Jason was shocked. He didn't expect her to take this so easy. "Don't make her angry, she will skin you alive." With that she cut the link and she sank to the ground. She just stared into space for a few minutes before wiping away the tears and walking out of the bathroom ignoring her siblings and going to bed, without having any dinner.
