Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
25
25
it would dissolve into chaos. Demigods would be hunted to extinction. There would be no more
summers for us.
Annabeth stared at her inspection scroll. "Three out five," she muttered, "for a sloppy head
counselor. Come on. Let's finish your reports and get back to Chiron."
On the way to the Big House, we read the last report, which was handwritten on a maple leaf
from a satyr in Canada. If possible, the note made me feel even worse.
" 'Dear Grover,'" I read aloud. " 'Woods outside Toronto attacked by giant evil badger. Tried
to do as you suggested and summon power of Pan. No effect. Many naiads' trees destroyed.
Retreating to Ottawa. Please advise. Where are you? —Gleeson Hedge, protector.'"
Annabeth grimaced. "You haven't heard anything from him? Even with your empathy link?"
I shook my head dejectedly.
Ever since last summer when the god Pan had died, our friend Grover had been drifting
farther and farther away. The Council of Cloven Elders treated him like an outcast, but Grover still
traveled all over the East Coast, trying to spread the word about Pan and convince nature spirits to
protect their own little bits of the wild. He'd only come back to camp a few times to see his girlfriend,
Juniper.
Last I'd heard he was in Central Park organizing the dryads, but nobody had seen or heard
from him in two months. We'd tried to send Iris-messages. They never got through. I had an
empathy link with Grover, so I hoped I would know if anything bad happened to him. Grover had told
me one time that if he died, the empathy link might kill me too. But I wasn't sure if that was still true
or not.
I wondered if he was still in Manhattan. Then I thought about my dream of Rachel's sketch—
dark clouds closing on the city, an army gathered around the Empire State Building.
"Annabeth." I stopped her by the tetherball court. I knew I was asking for trouble, but I didn't
know who else to trust. Plus, I'd always depended on Annabeth for advice. "Listen, I had this dream
about, um, Rachel . . ."
I told her the whole thing, even the weird picture of Luke as a child.
For a while she didn't say anything. Then she rolled up her inspection scroll so tight she
ripped it. "What do you want me to say?"
"I'm not sure. You're the best strategist I know. If you were Kronos planning this war, what
would you do next?"
"I'd use Typhon as a distraction. Then I'd hit Olympus directly, while the gods were in the
West."
"Just like in Rachel's picture."
"Percy," she said, her voice tight, "Rachel is just a mortal."
"But what if her dream is true? Those other Titans—they said Olympus would be destroyed
in a matter of days. They said they had plenty of other challenges. And what's with that picture of
Luke as a kid—"
"We'll just have to be ready."
"How?" I said. "Look at our camp. We can't even stop fighting each other. And I'm supposed
to get my stupid soul reaped."
She threw down her scroll. "I knew we shouldn't have shown you the prophecy." Her voice
was angry and hurt. "All it did was scare you. You run away from things when you're scared."
I stared at her, completely stunned. "Me? Run away?"
She got right in my face. "Yes, you. You're a coward, Percy Jackson!"
We were nose to nose. Her eyes were red, and I suddenly realized that when she called me
a coward, maybe she wasn't talking about the prophecy.
"If you don't like our chances," she said, "maybe you should go on that vacation with
Rachel."
"Annabeth—"
"If you don't like our company."
"That's not fair!"
She pushed past me and stormed toward the strawberry fields. She hit the tetherball as she
passed and sent it spinning angrily around the pole.
I'd like to say my day got better from there. Of course it didn't.