[1] something new | pjo

xxiv. twenty four

DAPHNE ALMOST LAUGH WHEN SHE SAW PERCY RODE IN THE CENTAUR'S BACK.

Percy sent her a glanre make Daphne disguised her laugh as a fake coughed and looked away tried to focused on Grover. Grover seemed to be telling the council a story. He twisted the bottom of his T-shirt, shifting nervously on his goat hooves. He hadn't changed much since last winter, maybe because satyrs age half as fast as humans. His acne had flared up. His horns had gotten a little bigger so they just stuck out over his curly hair.

Daphne standing off to one side of the circle with Annabeth, Juniper and Clarisse. Until Chiron dropped Percy next to them.

Clarisse glared at Percy and muttered, "Punk," which must've meant she was in a good mood. Usually she says hello to Percy by flying death threat all over the places.

Annabeth had her arm around Juniper, who have been crying since Daphne, Annabeth, and Clarisse arrived. She was small—petite, with wispy hair the color of amber and a pretty, elfish face. She wore a green chiton and laced sandals, and she was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.

"It's going terribly," she sniffled.

"No, no," Annabeth patted her shoulders. "He'll be fine, Juniper."

Annabeth—noticed the confused look on Percy's face looked at him and mouthed the words Grover's girlfriend.

Percy—who had a baffled look after what Annabeth said turn his face to face Daphne for confirmation. But the girl only elbowed him on his side to make the son of Poseidon shut up. And it did worked.

"Master Underwood!" the council member on the right shouted, cutting off whatever Grover was trying to say. "Do you seriously expect us to believe this?"

"B-but Silenus," Grover stammered. "It's the truth!"

The Council guy, Silenus, turned to his colleagues and muttered something. Chiron cantered up to the front and stood next to them. Daphne remembered he was an honorary member of the council, but she'd never thought about it much. The elders didn't look very impressive. They reminded her of the goats in a petting zoo—huge bellies, sleepy expressions, and glazed eyes that couldn't see past the next handful of goat chow.

Silenus tugged his yellow polo shirt over his belly and adjusted himself on his rosebush throne. "Master Underwood, for six months—six months—we have been hearing these scandalous claims that you heard the wild god Pan speak."

"But I did!"

"Impudence!" said the elder on the left.

"Now, Maron," Chiron said. "Patience."

"Patience, indeed!" Maron said. "I've had it up to my horns with this nonsense. As if the wild god would speak to...to him."

Juniper looked like she wanted to charge the old satyr and beat him up, but Annabeth and Clarisse held her back. "Wrong fight, girlie," Clarisse muttered. "Wait."

Daphne didn't know what surprised her more: Clarisse holding someone back from a fight, or the fact that she and Annabeth, who despised each other, almost seemed like they were working together. But then again she found and talked to both of them civilly in the big house the second she arrived at camp.

"For six months," Silenus continued, "we have indulged you, Master Underwood. We let you travel. We allowed you to keep your searcher's license. We waited for you to bring proof of your preposterous claim. And what have you found in six months of travel?"

"I just need more time," Grover pleaded.

"Nothing!" the elder in the middle chimed in. "You have found nothing."