They ran until they were exhausted. Rachel steered them away from traps, but they had no destination in mind—only away from that dark mountain and the roar of Kronos that never seemed to stop echoing behind them.
They stopped in a tunnel of wet white rock as if part of a natural cave. Y/N couldn't hear anything behind them, but he didn't feel any safer. He tried to shake away the thought of those unnatural golden eyes staring out of Luke's face, but he could as well have tried to stop thinking.
"I can't go any farther," Rachel gasped, hugging her chest.
Sobs echoed in the tunnel. Y/N turned and realized he was still holding Annabeth's arm. He let her go, and she collapsed and put her head between her knees.
Ethan stared back the way they'd come. His eyes were slit-pupiled and his whole body shook sporadically. "He's mad. Luke's mad."
Nico dropped his sword and took a shaky breath. "That sucked," he said, which summed things up pretty well.
"You saved our lives, Nico," Percy said, as if he couldn't believe it.
Nico wiped the dust off his face. "Blame Y/N for dragging us along. We needed to help you or you'd mess things up."
"That wall of black stone. . . ." Y/N said. "You shouldn't have done that, Nico. You gave yourself away."
"What do you mean?"
"That was impressive. If Kronos didn't know who you were before, he does now—a child of the Underworld."
Nico frowned. "Big deal."
"Don't act like you're not scared," Y/N said. "Now Cronos will try to have you on his side."
"I know that," Nico said. "What do you want me to do about it? Stop making it sound worse than it already is."
"As long as you're with me, you won't join with Kronos. Whatever dreams he sends you, I'll make sure that you don't make that choice."
Annabeth lifted her head. Her eyes were red from crying. "What . . . what's wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?"
"He gave his body and soul to Kronos," Percy said bitterly.
Annabeth turned to Y/N. "That's not true, right? Y/N, tell me it isn't true."
For a moment he didn't say a word. He hated Luke, but he really liked Annabeth. He didn't want to make her any sadder.
"I'm sorry, Annabeth," he said softly, at last. "But Luke is gone."
"No!" she insisted. "You saw when Rachel hit him. When the hairbrush hit him, just for a second, he was dazed. He came back to his senses."
"Annabeth, stop thinking about it. You're beating yourself up over no—"
"You want him to be evil, is that it?" Annabeth yelled.
Suddenly he was yelling, too. "And how would you want me to react? Do you want me to become his best friend? Annabeth, Luke tried to kill me, and he didn't wait to be under Kronos's complete control to do that!"
"Whoa, you two," Ethan said. "Knock it off."
Annabeth turned on him. "Stay out of it!" Back at Y/N she yelled, "You didn't know him before, Y/N. I did! We can still save him!"
"And how do you plan to do that? We are no match for him! It's not Luke we'd be going against, now. It's Kronos! He's far more powerful than any drakon we have ever faced! We wouldn't last two seconds against him."
"Because you're afraid of him, now?"
"You mean of Luke?" he said briskly. "No. Of Kronos? Of course I am! Didn't you see how the marble turned to ice when he walked, how he slowed time down around Percy? I may have fought monsters in the Labyrinth even while I couldn't see a thing, but this is on another level. I simply can't fight back against that."
He stopped yelling, panting. Annabeth was silent; she seemed about to sob miserably again. He didn't want to keep yelling, but he knew that if he opened his mouth again, he wouldn't be able to keep his calm. He wanted to comfort her, but she continuously talked about Luke. It was maddening.
He turned around and faced the tunnel. "We have to keep moving. Kronos will send monsters after us."
He stepped forward—and froze. Under his foot, a trampled clump of red fabric lay on the ground. It was a rasta cap; the one Grover always wore.
Percy came to Y/N's side. "What is it?" His eyes lowered on the cap, and Y/N saw him shiver.
The cave floor was mushy and wet from the water dripping off the stalactites. There were large footprints like Tyson's, and smaller ones—goat hooves—leading off to the left.
Y/N was still angry inside, but he made up his mind in a gust of wind. "We have to follow them. They went that way. It must have been recently."
"What about Camp Half-Blood?" Nico said. "There's no time."
"We have to find them," Percy insisted. "They're our friends."
He picked up Grover's smashed cap and forged ahead.
Y/N followed, the footsteps of the others echoing in the tunnel behind him. For a second he feared that Annabeth wouldn't come because of him. Stupid thought—of course she'd come; an argument between them couldn't have that much impact, right?—but he couldn't get it out of his head. He suppressed the need to look back and headed forward.
The tunnel was treacherous. It sloped at weird angles and was slimy with moisture. Half the time they were slipping and sliding rather than walking.
The farther they went, the more feverish Ethan looked. He kept mumbling to himself, staring ahead without blinking. Soon they weren't following the tracks but Ethan.
"Hey, wait for us," Y/N said, but Ethan was already jumping over a chasm.
"He's here," Ethan whispered feverishly.
Finally they got to the bottom of a slope and found themselves in a large cave with huge stalagmite columns. Through the center of the room ran an underground river, and Tyson was sitting by the banks, cradling Grover in his lap. Grover's eyes were closed. He wasn't moving.
"Tyson!" Percy yelled.
"Percy! Come quick!"
They ran over to Tyson. Grover wasn't dead, thank the gods, but his whole body trembled as if he were freezing to death.
"What happened?" Percy asked.
"So many things," Tyson murmured. "Large snake. Large dogs. Men with swords. But then . . . we got close to here. Grover was excited. He ran. Then we reached this room, and he fell. Like this."
"Did he say anything?"
"He said, 'We're close.' Then he hit his head on rocks."
Y/N glanced at Ethan, who still was staring at the darkness around them like a satyr become wild.
Annabeth shined her flashlight around the cavern. The rocks glittered. At the far end was the entrance of another cave, flanked by gigantic columns of crystal that looked like diamonds. And beyond that entrance . . .
"Grover," Percy said. "Wake up."
"Uhhhhhhhh."
Y/N knelt next to Grover and splashed icy cold river water in his face.
"Splurg!" Grover's eyelids fluttered. "Percy? Y/N? Annabeth? Where—"
"It's okay," Percy said. "You passed out. The presence was too much for you."
"I—I remember. Pan."
"Yeah," Y/N said. "Something powerful is just beyond that doorway."
Percy made quick introductions, since Tyson and Grover had never met Rachel. Tyson told Rachel she was pretty, which made Annabeth's nostrils flare as if she were going to blow fire.
"Anyway," Percy said. "Come on, Grover. Lean on me."
Y/N grabbed Ethan by the collar of his shirt as he was about to go without them. "Wait for us."
Together they waded across the underground river. The current was strong. The water came up to their waists. Y/N felt like he was wading through a snowdrift.
"I think we're in Carlsbad Caverns," Annabeth said, her teeth chattering. "Maybe an unexplored section."
"How do you know?" Y/N asked.
"Carlsbad is in New Mexico," she said after a moment's hesitation. "That would explain last winter."
He nodded. Ethan and Grover's swooning episode had happened when they passed through New Mexico. That's where they'd felt closest to the power of Pan.
They got out of the water, all soaked except for Percy, and kept walking. As the crystal pillars loomed larger, Y/N started to feel the power emanating from the next room. He'd been in the presence of gods before, but this was different. His skin tingled with living energy. His weariness fell away, as if he'd just gotten a good night's sleep. The scent coming from the cave was nothing like the dank wet underground. It smelled of trees and flowers and a warm summer day.
Ethan and Grover whimpered with excitement. They stepped into the cave, and Rachel said, "Oh, wow."
The walls glittered with crystals—red, green, and blue. In the strange light, beautiful plants grew—giant orchids, star-shaped flowers, vines bursting with orange and purple berries that crept among the crystals. The cave floor was covered with soft green moss. Overhead, the ceiling was higher than a cathedral, sparkling like a galaxy of stars. In the center of the cave stood a Rome-style bed, gilded wood shaped like a curly U, with velvet cushions. Animals lounged around it—but they were animals that shouldn't have been alive. There was a dodo bird, something that looked like a cross between a wolf and a tiger, a huge rodent like the mother of all guinea pigs, and roaming behind the bed, picking berries with its trunk, was a wooly mammoth.
On the bed lay an old satyr. He watched them as they approached, his eyes as blue as the sky. His curly hair was white, and so was his pointed beard. Even the goat fur on his legs was frosted with gray. His horns were enormous—glossy brown and curved. There was no way he could've hidden those under a hat the way Ethan and Grover did. Around his neck hung a set of reed pipes.
Ethan put a hand on Y/N's shoulder. "Pinch me."
Y/N pinched him, but it seemed Ethan didn't feel anything; he kept staring at the old satyr.
Grover fell to his knees in front of the bed. "Lord Pan!"
The god smiled kindly, but there was sadness in his eyes. "Grover, my dear, brave satyr. I have waited a very long time for you."
"I . . . got lost," Grover apologized.
Pan laughed. It was a wonderful sound, like the first breeze of springtime, filling the whole cavern with hope.
The tiger-wolf sighed and rested his head on the god's knee. The dodo bird pecked affectionately at the god's hooves, making a strange sound in the back of its bill. You could have thought it was humming "It's a Small World."
Still, Pan looked tired. His whole form shimmered as if he were made of Mist.
"You have a humming dodo bird," Percy said stupidly.
The god's eyes twinkled. "Yes, that's Dede. My little actress."
Dede the dodo looked offended. She pecked at Pan's knee and hummed something that sounded like a funeral dirge.
"This is the most beautiful place!" Annabeth said. "It's better than any building ever designed."
"I'm glad you like it, dear," Pan said. "It is one of the last wild places. My realm above is gone, I'm afraid. Only pockets remain. Tiny pieces of life. This one shall stay undisturbed . . . for a little longer."
"My Lord," Grover said, "please, you must come back with me! The Elders will never believe it! They'll be overjoyed! You can save the wild!"
Pan placed his hand on Grover's head and ruffled his curly hair. "You are so young, Grover. So good and true. I think I chose well."
"Chose?" Grover said. "I—I don't understand."
Pan's image flickered, momentarily turning to smoke. The giant guinea pig scuttled under the bed with a terrified squeal. The wooly mammoth grunted nervously. Dede stuck her head under her wing. Then Pan re-formed.
"I have slept so many eons," the god said forlornly. "My dreams have been dark. I wake fitfully, and each time my waking is shorter. Now we are near the end."
"What?" Grover cried. "But no! You're right here!"
"My dear satyr," Pan said. "I tried to tell the world, two thousand years ago. I announced it to Lysias, a satyr very much like you. He lived in Ephesos, and he tried to spread the word."
Ethan's eyes widened. "The old story. A sailor passing by the coast of Ephesos heard a voice crying from the shore, 'Tell them the great god Pan is dead.'"
"But that wasn't true!" Grover said.
"Your kind never believed it," Pan said. "You sweet, stubborn satyrs refused to accept my passing. And I love you for that, but you only delayed the inevitable. You only prolonged my long, painful passing, my dark twilight sleep. It must end."
"No!" Grover's voice trembled.
"Dear Grover," Pan said. "You must accept the truth. Your companion, Nico, he understands."
Nico nodded slowly. "He's dying. He should have died long ago. This . . . this is more like a memory."
"But gods can't die," Ethan said.
"They can fade," Pan said, "when everything they stood for is gone. When they cease to have power, and their sacred places disappear. The wild, my dear Ethan, is so small now, so shattered, that no god can save it. My realm is gone. That is why I need you, Grover, to carry a message. You must go back to the council. You must tell the satyrs, and the dryads, and the other spirits of nature, that the great god Pan is dead. Tell them of my passing. Because they must stop waiting for me to save them. I cannot. The only salvation you must make yourself. Each of you must—"
He stopped and frowned at the dodo bird, who had started humming again.
"Dede, what are you doing?" Pan demanded. "Are you singing Kumbaya again?"
Dede looked up innocently and blinked her yellow eyes.
Pan sighed. "Everybody's a cynic. But as I was saying, my dear Grover, each of you must take up my calling."
"But . . . no!" Grover whimpered.
"Be strong," Pan said. "You have found me. And now you must release me. You must carry on my spirit. It can no longer be carried by a god. It must be taken up by all of you."
Pan looked straight at Y/N with his clear blue eyes, and he realized the god wasn't just talking about the satyrs. He meant half-bloods, too, and humans. Everyone.
"Y/N L/N," the god said. "I know that destiny stand against you, and more so than you will ever imagine. I know your dreams and their meaning. So I will give you this comfort: You shall still stand tall at the end."
He turned to Ethan. "My dear Ethan. To you, I won't give advice, but hear me. There will come a time when you will have the choice between taking part in the continuation of my work or continuing your role as guardian. Keep helping your friend, even though everything will stand in your way."
"But nature—" Ethan started to say.
"Some people have things to attend to that, though not more important than nature, are just as valuable," Pan said.
The god turned to Annabeth. "Daughter of Athena, your time is coming. You will play a great role, though it may not be the role you imagined."
Then he looked at Tyson. "Master Cyclops, do not despair. Heroes rarely live up to our expectations. But you, Tyson—your name shall live among the Cyclopes for generations. And Miss Rachel Dare. . . ."
Rachel flinched when he said her name. She backed up as if she were guilty or something, but Pan only smiled. He raised his hand in a blessing.
"I know you believe you cannot make amends," he said. "But you are just as important as your father."
"I—" Rachel faltered. A tear traced her cheek.
"I know you don't believe this now," Pan said. "But look for opportunities. They will come."
Finally he turned back toward Grover. "My dear satyr," Pan said kindly, "will you carry my message?"
"I—I can't."
"You can," Pan said. "You are the strongest and bravest. Your heart is true. You have believed in me more than anyone ever has, which is why you must bring the message, and why you must be the first to release me."
"I don't want to."
"I know," the god said. "But my name, Pan . . . originally it meant rustic. Did you know that? But over the years it has come to mean all. The spirit of the wild must pass to all of you now. You must tell each one you meet: if you would find Pan, take up Pan's spirit. Remake the wild, a little at a time, each in your own corner of the world. You cannot wait for anyone else, even a god, to do that for you."
Grover wiped his eyes. Then slowly he stood. "I've spent my whole life looking for you. Now . . . I release you."
Pan smiled. "Thank you, my dear satyr. My final blessing."
He closed his eyes, and the god dissolved. White mist divided into wisps of energy, but this kind of energy wasn't scary like the blue power of Kronos. It filled the room. A curl of smoke went straight into Y/N's mouth, and the others. But a little more of it went into Grover. The crystals dimmed. The animals gave them a sad look. Dede the dodo sighed. Then they all turned gray and crumbled to dust. The vines withered. And they were alone in a dark cave, with an empty bed.
Annabeth switched on her flashlight.
Grover took a deep breath. He looked older and sadder. He took his cap from Annabeth, brushed off the mud, and stuck it firmly on his curly head.
"Are . . . are you okay?" Percy asked.
"We should go, now," he said, "and tell them. The great god Pan is dead."
A/N: Hey! Hope you liked the chapter.
I'm sorry I uploaded it so late. Last week was busy for me. But I'll try to upload the next chapter as soon as possible (I'll begin writing it tomorrow, so expect it in a few days). It'll be the conclusion of this book, and I think you'll like it ;)
See you next time and happy reading!