Penny Ranger and the Lightning Thief

Chapter XVIII: Grover Negotiates With A Poodle

"What would they be looking for?" Grover asked.

Annabeth didn't get to answer, as Percy came back with a box, like the kind you'd use to ship out merchandise, and a pouch. He put Medusa's head in the box and sealed it shut before filling out the delivery form. It now read:

The Gods
Mount Olympus
600th Floor
Empire State Building
New York, NY

With best wishes
Percy Jackson

"They're not going to like that. They'll think you're impertinent." Grover warned.

"I am impertinent." Percy replied.

He dropped a few drachmas into the pouch and placed it on the box. The box lifted off the table for a few seconds before disappearing with a pop, along with the divine money. Percy then glanced at Annabeth, as if daring her to scold him for his rash actions.

Luckily for him and my sanity (I swear, if those two don't find a way to get along!), she didn't.

"Come on. We need a new plan."

*

The plan was to find a place to sleep. And that place ended up being the woods, since none of us wanted to stay in Medusa's lair. I would have preferred something with a bed, but half-bloods can't be choosers.

Percy took the first watch, letting us get some rest. Of course, it wasn't a very pleasant rest, because of the nightmares.

This time I was in some sort of dark space. I couldn't tell where it was or how big it was. Only that it was pitch black, the only light seeming to emanate from me. Then I heard a voice. The same ancient and dark voice from my previous nightmares.

"Come to me. Join me."

I tried to speak out. To tell the voice to leave me alone. But no words left my throat.

"You are nothing to the Olympians. You cannot stop this war."

I could feel the darkness creeping closer.

"Join me, little light. Or I will snuff you out!"

Then the darkness covered me. For a few seconds I felt like I couldn't breathe. Then I woke up with a jolt, my hands flying to throat just to make sure air was getting through my airways.

"Penny, are you okay?"

I looked to my right to see Annabeth looking at me worriedly.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a nightmare."

Annabeth knew that half-blood nightmares were never 'just nightmares', they were always some sort of message or warning, but she didn't push the subject. I was thankful for that.

As I sat up and looked around I noticed it was already morning. I also noticed that there was a canine in our camp. A pink poodle to be more precise.

Its hair was dirty and matted, looking for all intents and purposes like a stray. It was sitting next to Grover. As soon as it saw me, it growled.

"No, she's a friend." Grover told the dog.

I was too confused by the fact that we for some reason had a dog in our makeshift camp to question the fact that my friend could talk to animals. I ended up just attributing it to satyr magic.

"Grover, why is there a dog in our camp?" I asked.

The dog in question snarled at me.

"I found him while I was walking." Grover explained.
"And he has a name."

"Which is?"

"Gladiola. He's our ticked west."

I glanced over at Annabeth to make sure I heard everything right. She seemed a bit wary of the raging poodle, but not overly surprised, alarmed or confused. So I assured I did in fact understand everything correctly.

"That's great, Grover. But I don't see how he's gonna get us to LA. He's not exactly large enough to carry any of us." I pointed out.

Gladiola didn't seem to appreciate my observation, growling at me as a response.

"Hey! Language!" Grover scolded.

"What did he say?" I inquired.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Grover replied.
"He ran away from his family, and they're offering a 200$ ransom for his return. He says he doesn't want to go back, but he'll do it for us."

The poodle growled again,

"Sorry, to help me." Grover amended.

I cracked a smile.

"Well, that's great, but I'm really hungry. So I'm gonna eat my breakfast."

Depressingly, my breakfast consisted of a package of crackers I'd bought from camp that I shared with Annabeth. Soon after, Percy woke up.

"Well, the zombie lives." Annabeth commented.

Percy ignored her.

"How long was I asleep?" he asked.

"Long enough for us to make breakfast." I answered, throwing him a packet of nacho-chips.
"And long enough for Grover to go for a walk. He even found a new friend."

That's when Percy noticed the dog. The poodle yapped, probably cursing again.

"No, he's not." Grover told him.

Case in point.

"Are you... talking to that thing?" Percy asked.

"That thing is our ticket west." Grover corrected.
"Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

Man, Percy sure was quick to understand things.

"Percy, this is Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy." Grover introduced, ignoring Percy's question.

The son of Poseidon looked at Annabeth and I as if to check if we were messing with him.

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle. Forget it." he said with determination.

"Percy, we said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."

As if to reinforce Annabeth's statement, Gladiola growled.

"Hello!" Percy said hurriedly.