σɾɳιƚԋαʂ (ρʝσ x ɱαʅҽ σƈ)

The Words of a Dead Lord

Percy: Grover. Wake up.

Grover: Unnnh—zzzzz.

Percy: Dude, you're covered in dirt. Wake up!

Grover: Sleepy...

Percy: Food! PANCAKES!

His eyes shot open. A blur of thoughts filled my head like he was suddenly on fast-forward. The image shattered, and I almost fell over.

Theo: You okay?

I nodded.

Nico: What happened?

Percy: I got through. He's...yeah. He's on his way.

A minute later, the tree next to us shivered. Grover fell out of the branches, right on his head.

Percy: Grover!

Mrs. O'Leary looked up, probably wondering if we were going to play fetch with the satyr.

Grover: Blah-haa-haa!

Percy: You okay, man?

Grover: Oh, I'm fine.

He rubbed his head. His horns had grown so much they poked an inch above his curly hair.

Grover: I was at the other end of the park. The dryads had this great idea of passing me through the trees to get me here. They don't understand height very well.

He grinned and got to his feet—well, his hooves, actually. Since last summer, Grover had stopped trying to disguise himself as human. He never wore a cap or fake feet anymore. He didn't even wear jeans, since he had furry goat legs from the waist down. His T-shirt had a picture from that book Where the Wild Things Are. It was covered with dirt and tree sap. His goatee looked fuller, almost manly (or goatly?), and he was as tall as me now.

Percy: Good to see you, G-man. You remember Nico.

Grover nodded at Nico, and then he gave me and Theo a big hug. He smelled like fresh-mown lawns.

Grover: Perrrcy! Theeeo! I missed you! I miss camp. They don't serve very good enchiladas in the wilderness.

Theo: We were worried, Grover. Where were you the last two months?

Grover's smile faded.

Grover: The last two—The last two months? What are you talking about?

Percy: We haven't heard from you. Juniper's worried. We sent Iris-messages, but—

Grover: Hold on.

He looked up at the stars like he was trying to calculate his position.

Grover: What month is this?

Percy & Theo: August.

The color drained from Grover's face.

Grover: That's impossible. It's June. I just lay down to take a nap and... (grabs Percy's arms) I remember now! He knocked me out. Percy, we have to stop him!

Percy: Whoa. Slow down. Tell me what happened.

Grover: (takes a deep breath) I was...I was walking in the woods up by Harlem Meer. And I felt this tremble in the ground like something powerful was near.

Nico: You can sense stuff like that?

Grover: (nods) Since Pan's death, I can feel when something is wrong in nature. It's like my ears and eyes are sharper when I'm in the Wild. Anyway, I started following the scent. This man in a long black coat was walking through the park, and I noticed he didn't cast a shadow. Middle of a sunny day, and he cast no shadow. He kind of shimmered as he moved.