𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐈𝐋¹ || 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍

𝐈𝐗

✦ 𝐀 𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐏𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐋𝐄 ✦

THEY WERE PRETTY MISERABLE AT NIGHT. They camped out in the woods, a hundred meters from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.

They'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but they didn't dare light a fire to dry their damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. They didn't want to attract anything else.

The quartet decided to sleep in shifts. Percy volunteered to take the first watch. Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. Aurora was laid next to her with her back facing Percy and Grover, however, despite the weariness that tugged at her limbs, sleep eluded her, her senses attuned to every rustle of the leaves and snap of twigs in the night.

Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.

"Go ahead and sleep," Percy told him. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."

Grover nodded but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Percy."

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"

As Percy and Grover conversed softly nearby, Aurora remained still, her breaths shallow and even to feign sleep. Despite her closed eyes, her mind buzzed with curiosity, eager to catch any hints or clues that might shed light on their predicament.

"No. This makes me sad." Grover pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist." said Percy.

Grover glared at Percy. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast... ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

Aurora strained to listen, her ears attuned to the hushed tones of their voices, the words carrying on the night breeze like distant whispers. Each word was a piece of the puzzle, a glimpse into the thoughts and fears that plagued her companions.

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?"

Idiot, Aurora thought.

"Pan!" Grover cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a Searcher's License for?"

A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rainwater, things that might've once been in these woods.

"Tell me about the search," Percy said. Grover looked at him cautiously, as if he were afraid he was just making fun.

"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told Percy.