𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐊𝐘-(ᴘᴇʀᴄʏ ᴊᴀᴄᴋsᴏɴ )¹

𝟎𝟏| 𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞

《 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍 》

𝐎𝐧𝐞⊰᯽⊱┈── (𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑡𝒉𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑, 𝑚𝑦 𝒉𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡'𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑡)

⊰᯽⊱┈──╌❊ ¤ ❊╌──┈⊰᯽⊱

── ✦ 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏, and it was not because Annabeth was mad at him for some inexplicable reason. Even amidst the chaotic flying lessons the campers were having, he could sense that underneath that facade, there was something big about to happen, and it wasn't anything pleasant.

"I need to talk to Clarisse," he heard Annabeth say. Every single thought in his head came to a abrupt stop. He looked away from the flying horses and looked at his friend, his nose wrinkling a little bit from the mention of the daughter of Ares. Otherwise, his facial expression didn't change much.

"What for?" He asked.

Something flashed across Annabeth's face, her stormy grey eyes darkening. Percy rarely saw her with a look like that, and when he did, it usually meant bad news for everyone.

Before he could question her on what her expression meant, Annabeth kissed her teeth in distaste and answered. "We've been working on something." Her eyes darkened again, but she didn't elaborate any further. "I'll tell you later."

She was brushing him off again. Annabeth had a habit of doing that whenever he was out of the loop of something important, like she thought he couldn't handle the truth. Moments like this made him want to explode in anger and shout that he wasn't a child, that they should stop treating him like one.

"Working on what?" He asked calmly despite himself, swallowing the small ball of anger that was clogging his throat. She didn't answer.

Annabeth flit her gaze towards the forest, her eyes narrowed and focused like she was searching for something. "I'll tell Chiron you're here,"she said, completely dismissing his question. "He'll want to talk to you before the hearing."

Percy held back an exasperated groan. "Hold up, Annabeth. What hearing-"

The question was barely out of his mouth when Annabeth started jogging down the path towards the archery field, without looking back.

Then she was gone. Completely out of his sight.

Percy softly breathed out from his nose to keep his emotions at bay. "Yeah," he muttered. "Great talking to you too."

A little while later, after a strange encounter with the new camp instructor, Quintus, Percy found himself at the hearing Annabeth had been taking about earlier. Out of the all the people he thought would be have been at the centre of the case, Grover was not one of them.

He then found out two things during the trial.

One, Grover had a girlfriend. Not that he had anything against the satyr, it's just that he had always known Grover to be very...timid at times. Grover barely managed to keep his cool if he waited too long to get his daily dose of cheese enchiladas, much less grow a pair and ask someone out.

Two, they were planning to revoke his researcher's license.

"Master Underwood!" One of the Council members shouted, completely disregarding Grover's attempt at explaining himself. "Do you seriously expect us to believe this?"