LUNACY; percy jackson

03.7

"Why?" The green eyed boy asked. "What were you thinking?"

He clopped his hooves uneasily. "Just something the manticore said, about the Great Stirring. I can't help but wonder...if all those ancient powers are waking up, maybe...maybe not all of them are evil."

"You mean Pan." Andromeda said softly, though there was a slight edge to her voice that anyone could have missed.

"I've let the trail go cold," he said. "I feel restless, like I'm missing something really important. He's out there somewhere. I can just feel it."

"You'll find him eventually." Andromeda smiled at him, patting his shoulder. "I can't explain it but it's supposed to be you. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but you'll be the one to find him, Grover."

Percy didn't know what to say. He wanted to encourage him, but he didn't know how, he didn't know how Andromeda could find something to say. His optimism had pretty much been trampled into the snow out there in the woods, along with our capture-the-flag hopes.

Before he could respond, Thalia tromped up the stairs. She was officially not talking to Percy or Andromeda now, but she looked at Grover and said, "Tell Percy to get his butt downstairs."

"Why?" Percy asked.

"Did he say something?" Thalia asked Grover.

"Um, he asked why."

"Dionysus is calling a council of cabin leaders to discuss the prophecy," she said. "Unfortunately, that includes Percy and Storm."

Andromeda grumbled under her breath, "Right, act like I didn't save your sorry life, Grace. Call me by my last name, little—"

"Dromeda."

She turned towards Grover and sighed. "Fine. I'll keep my inner turmoil to myself. Annie would listen to it and then tell me to suck it up and get over myself. Probably hit me in the head with something, too."

She walked down the stairs, continuing to talk to herself like someone was listening. She turned her head and stuck her tongue out at the two boys before disappearing out of their line of sight.

—🏹—

The council was held around a Ping-Pong table in the rec room. Dionysus waved his hand and supplied snacks: Cheez Whiz, crackers, and several bottles of red wine. Then Chiron reminded him that wine was against his restrictions and most of them were underage. Mr. D sighed. With a snap of his fingers the wine turned to Diet Coke.

Nobody drank that either.

Mr. D and Chiron (in wheelchair form) sat at one end of the table. Zoë and Bianca di Angelo (who had kind of become Zoë's personal assistant) took the other end. Thalia, Grover, Donnie, Andromeda, and Percy sat along the right, and the other head councilors—Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and the Stoll brothers—sat on the left. The Ares kids were supposed to send a representative, too, but all of them had gotten broken limbs (accidentally) during capture the flag, courtesy of the Hunters. They were resting up in the infirmary.

Zoë started the meeting off on a positive note. "This is pointless."

Sense the sarcasm?

"Cheez Whiz!" Grover gasped. He began scooping up crackers and Ping-Pong balls and spraying them with topping, occasionally handing one to Donnie who looked like he was contemplating whether to have any or not—or like he was having a midlife-not-so-midlife crisis.