The Adventure That Lies Ahead | PJO x HP

CHAPTER 8

They were pretty miserable that night.

They camped out in the woods, hundred meters from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously used 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 didn't dare light a fire to keep them warm. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. They didn't want to attract anything else.

"Here," Isa said and touched Percy's shoulder. In an instant, his clothes were dry, no longer damp. She repeated the same thing for Annabeth and Grover.

"Thanks," Annabeth said.

"No problem."

They decided to sleep in shifts. Percy offered to take the first shift, but Isa couldn't go to sleep that night, so she decided to help Percy take watch.

Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. 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 them. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."

Grover nodded but Isa remained still, sitting beside Percy against the trunk of a tree.

"It makes me sad," Grover told the two. Isa already knew what he was talking about.

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?" Percy said, making Isa snort.

"No. This makes me sad," he 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." Isa shook her head but had an amused smile on her face.

Grover glared at the two. "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."

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?" Percy asked. Isa couldn't hold it in. She burst out laughing but covered her mouth to muffle her laughs in order not to wake up Annabeth.

"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 have once been in the woods.

Percy looked at his sister with raised brows.

Isa sighed and looked up at the sky. "Pan. God of the wild, he was a satyr too. Went missing years ago," Isa said, shrugging her shoulders, and looked back at Percy and Grover.

"Tell me about the search," Percy said.

Grover looked at Percy cautiously, as if he were afraid he was gonna make fun. The only person who understood was Isa as she too didn't like the pollution and garbage humans were making.

"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told Percy. "A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to find Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden and wake him from his sleep."