I think my best friend almost got married.
P.O.V. Percy
Have you ever dreamed about your best friend wearing a wedding dress? Because, if so, you might want to consider that something really strange is going on with you. I am not saying it to judge, but… you should seriously rethink your friendship if that ever happens.
And that was exactly what happened to me.
There I was, standing in front of my best friend, who, by the way, is a satyr, wearing a dress that I do not think suited him as well as he seemed to believe.
It was too long; the hem was splattered with dry mud, the neckline was slipping off his shoulders, and a torn veil covered his face. The room we were in was barely lit by torches. There was a bed, just one bed, and a wardrobe. Nothing else. It was an absurdly simple room.
The moment he saw me, he brightened up as if he were finally seeing someone he had been waiting for a long time. To be honest, that gave me a slight chill. And yes, if I was also dressed as the groom, rest assured, I was not going to say yes.
"Percy, it's you! Thank the gods!" Grover shouted as soon as he saw me.
I, on the other hand, was still a bit slow, half asleep, so I kept looking around. The place was not exactly a normal room; it looked more like a cave. The ceiling was covered in stalactites, there was a strong smell of goat and sheep, and I could hear grunts and bleating that seemed to come from somewhere nearby. On top of that, a huge rock, about the size of a refrigerator, blocked the only exit.
"Percy, I do not have much strength left to project myself. Tell me if you can hear me properly or not," Grover said anxiously, staring straight at me.
"Yes, I can hear you. What is going on?" I asked immediately, because I did not understand absolutely anything that was happening.
But before Grover could answer, a monstrous voice roared from behind the rock.
"Sweetie, are you done yet?"
Grover took a step back, nervous. He cleared his throat for a moment.
"Not yet, honey," he shouted in a forced falsetto voice. "A few more days."
"But two weeks have not passed."
"No, honey. Only five days, so there are twelve more to go."
Whatever was on the other side stayed silent, probably calculating slowly. And it was surely very, very bad at arithmetic, because it replied:
"All right. But hurry up. I want to see what is behind that veil."
Then I heard huge footsteps moving away.
I could not help staring at Grover for a moment.
"Are you getting married?" I asked. "I mean, I am not going to say anything about your preferences, but you could have invited me, maybe as…"
"There is no time. Save the jokes for later," he said immediately, cutting me off. "I am trapped in this cave, on an island in the middle of the sea. He is using the threads of the Golden Fleece to lure satyrs, because he feels like the god Pan. It was all a trap. And Luke's people… wait. Why would Luke's people want the Golden Fleece or Pan?"
Grover fell silent, thoughtful, but quickly shook his head. This was not the moment.
"What is a fleece?" I asked.
"The Golden Fleece. The object that can heal anything, diseases or whatever. It is extremely powerful, and now it is under Polyphemus' control," Grover said quickly. "Listen carefully, Percy," he added, grabbing me by the shoulders. "You have to come and get me. I am in the Sea of Monsters. I do not know exactly where, but it is extremely important that you come. Because this empathy link…"
I could not help sighing before he finished, knowing perfectly well what was coming.
"If you die, I die too, right?" I said flatly.
"Well… maybe not. Maybe you could survive, although in a vegetative state for years or something like that," Grover replied. "Although it would be much better if you got me out of here. And I am sorry for dragging you into this," he added quickly.
"I do not mind. I was already thinking about saving you anyway," I said. "But I need you to clear something up for me. If you marry Polyphemus… would I be married to him too?"
I could not help asking. To be honest, I was not very interested in a goat-eating cyclops. I am pretty sure he would not be my type.
"If that makes you hurry, then yes. And I will do everything I can to make that happen," Grover said, as if he were perfectly ready to drag me down with him.
That was enough motivation. Suddenly, I was more than willing to travel the entire world to save my best friend.
"Do not let me die, Percy," Grover's voice said, as it began to fade.
Suddenly, I woke up with a jolt in my bed, in the cabin, and fell straight to the floor. Apparently, waking up like that was already becoming a habit.
Tyson woke up because of my sudden movement and my particular way of getting up. Oh, right, maybe I had not mentioned it; Tyson has his own room at home, although he likes sleeping in the forge. He looked at me completely confused when he saw me on the floor, getting up with obvious pain.
"The bed is more comfortable, Percy," he said, looking at me with his single eye.
"Yes, I know," I replied. Explaining it now was a pain. "Just a nightmare. With Grover. And the Sea of Monsters or something like that," I added while stretching my back.
That was when my eyes fixed on a map of the oceans hanging on the cabin wall.
And right there, my mind caught up with the words I had just said.
Sea of Monsters.
And since the map even seemed to have longitudes and latitudes, I could see them clearly.
"Thirty, thirty-one; seventy-five, twelve."
The same numbers the Gray Sisters had mentioned.
…
Change of P.O.V.
Percy walked through the darkness in a hurry, straight toward the hill where Thalia's Tree stood. It was still night, and he believed that if he went there now, he might still find Annabeth.
And he was right.
The blonde girl was leaning against the tree, as if trying to give it warmth with her own body or, at the very least, transmit some sense of calm. She herself was wrapped in a blanket. When she heard Percy's footsteps approaching, she lifted her gaze to meet his.
Percy watched her for a moment before looking at the tree. More than half of its leaves were completely dry.
"Do you know what the Golden Fleece is?" Percy asked immediately.
That made Annabeth's eyes widen almost at once, as if she understood the meaning of the question the moment she heard it.
"Yes. But it is lost. No one really knows where it is," she replied with a hint of disappointment.
"No. Grover knows where it is," Percy said in a serious tone.
Annabeth looked at him, confused.
"But we do not know where Grover is," she added right away.
"Yes. Now I do," Percy replied. "And we have to go get him. And while we are at it, we can save Thalia's Tree… and maybe the camp," he said with a slight, proud smile.
The next day, Percy stood watching as the bulls, which a couple of days earlier had ended up with their heads completely crushed thanks to the seaweed brothers, the new nickname he and Tyson had received as the duo of Poseidon's sons, were being repaired by Hephaestus' cabin.
By the way, they seemed to get along quite well with Tyson. After all, his father was known for having cyclopes working for him. Besides, when Charles Beckendorf, whom everyone simply called Beckendorf, took Tyson to the forge to see what he could do, the cyclops showed his skills as a smith immediately.
That was enough for him to be "kidnapped".
Tyson began helping to improve the weapons, armor, and shields of the campers who took turns guarding the surroundings. Even Beckendorf proudly said that bothering Tyson was the same as bothering Hephaestus' cabin. It seemed they had truly fallen in love with his work in the forge.
Suddenly, strange noises began to be heard around the area, among the trees and in the sky. They seemed to come from some kind of white and gray birds, which emitted a metallic screech, similar to the sound of a submarine.
"Stymphalian birds," Annabeth said, appearing right next to Percy, who was looking up at the sky. "They could cross the barrier at any moment," she added seriously.
"Then they are monsters. Do they have acidic poop or something like that?" Percy asked, without taking his eyes off the sky.
Annabeth glanced at him.
"Their beaks are sharp. Focus," she told him firmly.
"Oh, right, yeah," Percy replied quickly. "See you at the race. I hope you are not too sad when you finish after me," he added with a shameless grin.
She gave him a flat look.
"Yeah, sure. I hope you do not end up like that," she said before walking away.
Percy smiled as he watched her leave and then headed toward his chariot, the one he had built with Tyson, or rather, repaired. It had been in Poseidon's cabin for a long time, probably used by another son of the god before the pact of the Big Three.
As he walked toward it, Percy could feel eyes fixed on his back from different points. Not only those of the campers who resented him for being Miraak's champion, but others more steady, more controlled, clearly placed by Tantalus to keep watch on him.
That happened every time he left his cabin.
Percy let out an annoyed sigh before approaching the place where Tyson was waiting for him.