That was four hours ago. After the volleyball pit, we walked over to the Apollo cabin, where Malcolm had gone to say hi to his friend Ned. Ned was ecstatic to see us, if not a little scared of my presence, but even he said that Gerald was nowhere to be found—he also mentioned that he could've sworn that Malcolm had left with Gerald, earlier in the day. It was right between their rounds of chess!
After that, we went to the Ares cabin, where Malcolm said he'd taken Gerald to have his ear pierced. Clarisse and a few of her siblings were home, and they'd greeted Silena and Malcolm pleasantly enough, shooting me the evil eye at the same time. An uncomfortable amount of standing later, Clarisse eventually recalled piercing the stuffed animal's ear, but ultimately admitted that even she didn't remember where she'd put him after- but he was definitely not in the cabin, she assured us.
"Didn't you walk out with him, little owl?" Clarisse had asked with a surprising amount of softness in her tone. It hardened as she regarded me, "You better find this rhino, Prissy. If you don't, I'm wiping you out during training."
"Yes, dear darling," I replied tiredly, much to the amusement of Silena and Malcolm.
By this point, I'm sure you guys are starting to suspect some of the same stuff I am. It's sort of ironic, and convenient, that every single time we go to one of these places or spots, not only is Gerald missing but everyone claims to have seen Malcolm walk out with him. I'm no detective (despite what Annabeth apparently told Malcolm), but it's starting to become clear to me that Malcolm knows a lot more than he's letting on.
If I was a betting man, I'd feel pretty comfortable putting a couple hundred down on the possibility of Malcolm knowing exactly where the stuffed animal was. Maybe Annabeth was right. Malcolm probably created this whole elaborate ruse so I'd spend the day with him without him having to ask and feel bad about interrupting my training!
Yikes…that didn't make me feel great. It's one thing having Annabeth win an argument or be right about something- it's a whole other animal if it's a situation where I feel bad at the end of it.
"You zone out a lot," Silena pointed out, her upper lip covered in chocolate sauce. She turned back to her pie. "My father used to tell me that people who zone out either have nothing on their minds or way too much, and you don't seem like the kind of guy to be thinking about nothing."
We were parked outside of the Aphrodite cabin for the moment, and the three of us were eating some of the pie I was talking about earlier today. Hunting a stuffed animal was tough work. Silena and I were both a bit cranky. Walking around in the blistering June heat wasn't too much fun, and it was even less fun having to go across camp over and over again to look for a stuffed animal that wasn't even there.
I think most of the other campers were avoiding us—we were giving off pretty annoyed vibes. I'd originally wanted to say hi to Piper, but given my mood and her temper, I decided against it. Malcolm was beside himself, though.
Gerald, he claimed, was going to be found soon, and all of his friends in the camp were super happy to see him. Plus, he'd gotten to spend the whole day 'going fast' on my head! The happiness was visible on the kid- he was bouncing up and down in his seat as he ate some pie.
"Eh. You'd be surprised," I replied evasively, scraping my fork against the tin-foil wrap to get the rest of my pie.
She looked at me, confused.
"I'll tell if you do."
"I doubt you'd be interested in my problems," Silena said, but her poker face wasn't as good as mine was. I could see the nervousness forming on her face—the tightness of her jaw, the slight furrow of her brow. "Just some girl stuff."
"I doubt that somehow," I said, resigning myself to fate—I was going to be forced into working this out, huh? I've had my suspicions all day—the few sentences out of place, the vague questions. Plus, it's only logical. I doubt Luke's the only Kronos supporter in this camp. The good thing is, though, I can tell Silena is on the fence. Maybe I can pull her back.
Malcolm watched the whole exchange intently, eating some rhubarb pie. I nudged him a bit. "Hey, buddy, why don't you go inside the Aphrodite cabin and look for Gerald? Maybe he wandered on in there!" Malcolm nodded, knowing better than to argue with me when I got serious. He went running off into the cabin, and I turned to Silena, the rest of my casual demeanor dropping. "I want you to think about what you're doing," I said as vaguely as possible, intensely staring into her eyes. I pushed a bit of power into my eyes.
The effect was immediate. Silena's face paled considerably and sweat beaded on her forehead. "I…I…"
"I'm not making any assumptions, and I'm not going to act on a hunch just yet," I continued, watching some birds fly overhead. "But I think we both know what I'm getting at, here. We've spent the whole day together. I'm not going to act like I'm this big legend you think I am, but I am capable of putting two and two together. I'm not going to bother asking about your reasons, and whatever, because I know you're torn at the moment, but I'm going to be as clear as possible. If you do this, and if you or your actions truly bring harm to anyone here, I'll be the one coming after you." I took the last bit of my pie. "And, friendly or not, I'll cut you down. That's a promise."
"It's just…I…" Silena's voice broke.
"The gods need to shape up, I'm with you on that, but if you think the Titans would be better in any capacity, you're wrong," I said, calmly placing the empty tin foil down on the table. "Again, think it over. I'll give you the summer, just because I don't think you're a bad person. When I come back, we can talk again."
Silena nodded to herself, mostly, her hands shaking a little bit. "I don't…know what to do."
"I understand. It can seem like a tough choice," I said gently, switching gears. Activating some of my powers from Hestia to calm Silena, I said, "But the Titans care little for anything else except power. I know that. The gods aren't the best, either, but they're a much better alternative. Plus, even if you don't believe in thembelieve in me! Once the Titans are taken care of, I'll make sure everything is better."
"How can you honestly say that?" Silena found her voice. "You're just one guy! Do you really expect—"
"Think it over," I interjected as Malcolm walked back out of the cabin, no rhino in sight. "Can you say hi to Piper for me?"
"I haven't seen her all day," Silena mumbled. "She's on some field trip." I smiled at her, "Her, too, huh? Well, alright. I'll be back later in the summer, Silena. We'll talk then." I hefted Malcolm on my shoulder and left without a word.
"Bye!" Malcolm said, waving at Silena. She waved back hesitantly. "Where are we going now, Percy?"
"My cabin," I said confidently. I was tired of walking around aimlessly, and the whole exchange with Silena had gutted my mood. Malcolm's eyes widened. "Are you sure you don't want to check somewhere else first? I think Ned said he went to the Demeter cabin!"
"Nah, kiddo," I patted Malcolm's back. "I have it on pretty good authority that Gerald's waiting for us inside." Malcolm tried, in vain of course, to stop me from walking into my cabin. Sure enough, Gerald the Rhinoceros was there, nestled in my bunk with a storybook. I had to hand it to Malcolm. The plan was pretty ingenious—even as I walked over to the rhino, I found myself smiling at the lengths he'd gone to have us spend the day together. I felt a little bad that he'd really thought he'd have to do all of this just to get me to spend the day with him, but it was kind of fun, honestly.
I picked up Gerald, turning him over in my hand, feeling the soft fur. I'd skipped a whole day of training just looking for this little guy. If there's some god of hippos, or stuffed animals or something out there—thanks a lot.
No, really.
Thanks.
I guess I didn't truly realize how much of a break I needed until I'd actually been forced to take one. My fingers burned for a moment. I looked, curiously, at where my hand had just brushed. There was some weird symbol underneath his left ear- it kind of looked like a humanoid greyish-purplish hippo with the build of a nine-month pregnant woman. She was wearing a nurse coat and hat, it looked like. Every time I moved my finger over it, it blazed golden. I kept running my finger over the symbol, gazing at it oddly. I could vaguely make out some letters forming as I continued. They looked like TWRT or something.
I frowned, "What's this, Malcolm?"
Malcolm sat down on the bed next to me. He peered at Gerald's ear and his face broke out in a big smile. "That's his mommy!"
"His mommy?" I repeated.
"Yeah! Gerald's mommy is a nice woman. When I lived in the orphanage, she came to say hi and gave me Gerald as a present," Malcolm told me. "And then Anna found me!"
"Huh," I said, still trying to make heads and tails of the symbol. "Did the woman mention her name?"
"No, all she said was that she was Gerald's mommy," Malcolm frowned.
He yawned a few moments later. "That's okay, kiddo," Right, he hadn't taken his nap. I gave Malcolm the stuffed animal, and he started nuzzling Gerald. "Come on. I'll read you a story."
I pulled the blankets up and let Malcolm snuggle inside. I grabbed the storybook off of the pillow—just some book of Greek myths for children—and began reading. Honestly, though, my mind was reeling. Silena was something, and I still don't know if I played that situation the right way. Leaving a potential danger in camp is not good, but I also know that deep down, she's conflicted and doesn't know which way to go with it.
Plus, Hestia's around, so there's no way anyone in camp would actually get hurt if Silena tried anything. The only risk would be if she was a spy or something, but even that won't make too much difference in the short time I'll be gone. I think it's a risk worth taking if it means I can steer her away from that path. No, see, the real thing that's sending my mind into overdrive is this other mystery that seems to have come out of nowhere.
The picture of the garden, the weird boomerang in Malcolm's hand— Gerald the rhino and his weird symbol. This woman that was helping Malcolm… I felt like I was back on the arch. It felt like the river was opening underneath me, threatening to pull me into the depths. There was so much I felt like I was missing.
The wand...the drawing...everything felt so deliberate. Not by Malcolm, of course, he's just a little kid—but someone, somewhere's trying to tell me something. I just don't have the full story yet. I glanced back at the stuffed animal as Malcolm finally fell asleep, reminding me of the most burning question on my mind—who the Hades is TWRT and why was she interacting with Malcolm?