Cruel Summer. ¹

76. will it patch your broken wings?

     "It saved my life."

     She met my eyes, then looked to the ground sheepishly.

     "We have to keep moving," Nico said. "He'll send monsters after us."

     Nobody was in any shape to run, but Nico was right. Percy helped me stand, and Rachel hauled herself to her feet.

     "Back to New York," Percy said. "Rachel, can you—"

     He froze. A few feet in front of us, his flashlight beam fixed on a trampled clump of red fabric lying on the ground. It was a Rasta cap: the one Grover always wore.

     Percy's hands shook as he picked up the cap. It looked like it had been stepped on by a huge muddy boot. After all that we'd gone through today, I couldn't stand the thought that something might've happened to Grover, too.

     Then I noticed something else. The cave floor was mushy and wet from the water dripping off the stalactites. There were large footprints like Tyson's, and smaller ones— goat hooves—leading off to the left.

     "We have to follow them," Percy said. "They went that way. It must have been recently."

     "What about Camp Half-Blood?" Nico said. "There's no time."

     "We're following them," I said, and it wasn't a suggestion so much as it was a demand. "They're our friends."

     I picked up Grover's smashed cap and forged ahead. The tunnel was treacherous. It sloped at weird angles and was slimy with moisture. Half the time we were slipping and sliding rather than walking.

     Finally we got to the bottom of a slope and found ourselves in a large cave with huge stalagmite columns. Through the center of the room ran an underground river, and Tyson was sitting by the banks, cradling Grover in his lap. Grover's eyes were closed. He wasn't moving.

     "Tyson!" Percy yelled.

     "Percy! Come quick!"

     We ran over to him. Grover wasn't dead, thank the gods, but his whole body trembled like he was freezing to death.

     "What happened?" I asked.

     "So many things," Tyson murmured. "Large snake. Large dogs. Men with swords. But then... we got close to here. Grover was excited. He ran. Then we reached this room, and he fell. Like this."

     "Did he say anything?" Percy asked.

     "He said, 'We're close.' Then he hit his head on rocks."

     "I knelt next to him. The only other time I'd seen Grover pass out was in New Mexico, when he'd felt the presence of Pan.
I shined my flashlight around the cavern. The rocks glittered. At the far end was the entrance to another cave, flanked by gigantic columns of crystal that looked like diamonds. And beyond that entrance...

     "Grover," I said. "Wake up."

     But he just groaned. Percy knelt next to him and splashed icy cold river water in his face.

     Grover spluttered. His eyelids fluttered open. "Percy? Theo? Where..."

     "It's okay," Percy said. "You passed out. The presence was too much for you."

     "I—I remember. Pan."

     "Yeah," Percy said. "Something powerful is just beyond that doorway."

     We made quick introductions, since Tyson and Grover had never met Rachel. Tyson told Rachel she was pretty, which made me angrier than Clarisse losing a card game.