It Shouldn't Have Come to This...(Percy Joins Kronos)

Chapter 11: A Girl Sits on my Table (ew, cooties)

Percy POV

The first dinner back on the Princess Andromeda had both a joyful and subdued atmosphere. Most of the demigods were injured, and Luke was somewhere else, because he said that he had 'business he needed to attend to'. At the time, I had asked him why he sounded so formal. He just glared at me, then ran off.

I was sitting alone at one table, eating my cheeseburger and sipping my coke (thank gods, it was out of the can), when a girl came to sit next to me. She had straight dirty-blonde hair that reached her shoulders, and a light brown complexion. Her eyes were a dark brown, so dark that at first I thought they were black. I watched as she grabbed a plate of fried chicken, and started stuffing her face with it.

'Um, hi?'

She glanced at me in-between chewing. She gulped her food down and waved at me.

'Hey.' With that, she went back to eating her chicken.

'So, um... just a question... why'd you decide to come sit here?' I asked, hoping I wouldn't get a slap on the shoulder. This girl looked like she could pack a punch.

Luckily, all she did was smile.

'You looked lonely.'

'I'm not lonely.'

She snorted. 'Yeah, and I'm the president of the United States.' Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. Usually, I am the sarcastic one.

'You never know.'

She rolled her eyes, but grinned all the same.

'I'm Evadne. Evadne Heath.'

'I'm-' I started, but she cut me off before I could say my name.

'I know, you're Percy Jackson. When everyone heard that Percy Jackson, the only son of Poseidon, joined us, the whole ship celebrated.'

'Oh.' I felt myself going red. I wasn't that special, was I?

'So, wanna be friends?'

She seemed pretty likeable. And, if I was gonna be here for a while, I might as well make friends other than just Luke.

'Sure.'

We ended up laughing and joking and smiling until our cheeks hurt. She was really funny, and had a mischievous glint in her eyes whenever I mentioned the word 'prank' (we were discussing the best ways to prank someone) that made me suspect she was a Hermes kid. I enjoyed her company, but the whole time I was with her I couldn't stop thinking about Annabeth.

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In my dream, Grover was wearing a wedding dress.

It didn't fit him very well. The gown was too long and the hem was caked with dried mud. The neckline kept falling off his shoulders. A tattered veil covered his face.

He was standing in a dank cave, lit only by torches. There was a cot in one corner and an old-fashioned loom in the other, a length of white cloth half woven on the frame. And he was staring right at me, like I was a TV programme he'd been waiting for. "Thank the gods!' he yelped. 'Can you hear me?' My dream-self was slow to respond. I was still looking around, taking in the stalactite ceiling, the stench of sheep and goats, the growling and grumbling and bleating sounds that seemed to echo from behind a refrigerator-sized boulder, which was blocking the room's only exit, as if there were a much larger cavern beyond it.

'Percy?' Grover said. 'Please, I don't have the strength to project any better. You have to hear me!'

'I hear you,' I said. 'Grover, what's going on?'

From behind the boulder, a monstrous voice yelled, 'Honeypie! Are you done yet?'

Grover flinched. He called out in falsetto, "Not quite, dearest! A few more days!'

'Bah! Hasn't it been two weeks yet?'

'N-no, dearest. Just five days. That leaves twelve more to go?'

The monster was silent, maybe trying to do the maths. He must've been worse at arithmetic than I was, because he said, 'All right, but hurry! I want to SEEEEE under that veil, heh-heh-heh.'

Grover turned back to me. 'You have to help me! No time! I'm stuck in this cave. On an island in the sea.'

'Where?'

' I don't know exactly! I went to Florida and turned left.'

"What? How did you -'

'It's a trap!' Grover said. 'It's the reason no satyr has ever returned from this quest. He's a shepherd, Percy! And he has it. Its nature magic is so powerful it smells just like the great god Pan! The satyrs come here thinking they've found Pan, and they get trapped and eaten by Polyphemus!'

'Poly-who?'

'The Cyclops!' Grover said, exasperated. 'I almost got away. I made it all the way to St Augustine.'

'But he followed you,' I said, remembering my first dream. 'And trapped you in a bridal boutique.'

'That's right,' Grover said. 'My first empathy link must've worked then.

'Look, this bridal dress is the only thing keeping me alive. He thinks I smell good, but I told him it was just goat-scented perfume. Thank goodness he can't see very well. His eye is still half blind from the last time somebody poked it out. But soon he'll realize what I am. He's only giving me two weeks to finish the bridal train, and he's getting impatient!'

'Wait a minute. This Cyclops thinks you're -'

'Yes!' Grover wailed. 'He thinks I'm a lady Cyclops and he wants to marry me!'

Under different circumstances, I might've busted out laughing, but Grover's voice was deadly serious. He was shaking with fear.

I'll come rescue you,'I promised. 'Where are you?'

'The Sea of Monsters, of course!'

'The sea of what?'

'I told you! I don't know exactly where! And look, Percy ... um, I'm really sorry about this, but this empathy link ... well, I had no choice. Our emotions are connected now. If I die..'

Don't tell me, I'll die, too.'

'Oh, well, perhaps not. You might live for years in a vegetative state. But, uh, it would be a lot better if you got me out of here.'

'Honeypie!' the monster bellowed. Dinnertime! Yummy yummy sheep meat!'

Grover whimpered. 'I have to go. Hurry!'

'Wait! You said "it" was here. What?'

But Grover's voice was already growing fainter. 'Sweet dreams. Don't let me die!'

Hey! I just wanted to clarify, Evadne means good in Greek. So, if she joined the bad side, what might happen in the later books? (Hint hint). She is a child of Hermes, so she is pretty close with Luke.