Rick Riordan The Last Olympian- 05
Leneus huffed indignantly and brushed the twigs off his shirt. " Now, as I was trying to explain, young lady, your boyfriend has not sent any reports since we voted him into exile." " You tried to vote him into exile," I corrected. " Chiron and Dionysus stopped you." " Bah! They are honorary Council members. It wasn ' t a proper vote." " I ' ll tell Dionysus you said that." Leneus paled. " I only meant... Now see here, Jackson. This is none of your business." " Grover ' s my friend," I said. " He wasn ' t lying to you about Pan ' s death. I saw it myself. You were just too scared to accept the truth." Leneus ' s lips quivered. " No! Grover ' s a liar and good riddance. We ' re better off without him." I pointed at the withered thrones. " If things are going so well, where are your friends? Looks like your Council hasn ' t been meeting lately." " Maron and Silenus... I... I ' m sure they ' ll be back," he said, but I could hear the panic in his voice. " They ' re just taking some time off to think. It ' s been a very unsettling year. " It ' s going to get a lot more unsettling," I promised. " Leneus, we need Grover. There ' s got to be a way you can find him with your magic." The old satyr ' s eye twitched. " I ' m telling you, I ' ve heard nothing. Perhaps he ' s dead." Juniper choked back a sob. " He ' s not dead," I said. " I can feel that much." " Empathy links," Leneus said disdainfully. " Very unreliable." " So ask around," I insisted. " Find him. There ' s a war coming. Grover was preparing the nature spirits." " Without my permission! And it ' s not our war." I grabbed him by the shirt, which seriously wasn ' t like me, but the stupid old goat was making me mad. " Listen, Leneus. When Kronos attacks, he ' s going to have packs of hellhounds. He ' s going to destroy everything in his path— mortals, gods, demigods. Do you think he ' ll let the satyrs go free? You ' re supposed to be a leader. So LEAD. Get out there and see what ' s happening. Find Grover and bring Juniper some news. Now, GO!"
I didn ' t push him very hard, but he was kind of top-heavy. He fell on his furry rump, then scrambled to his hooves and ran away with his belly jiggling. " Grover will never be accepted! He will die an outcast!"
When he ' d disappeared into the bushes, Juniper wiped her eyes. " I ' m sorry, Percy. I didn ' t mean to get you involved. Leneus is still a lord of the Wild. You don ' t want to make an enemy of him." " No problem," I said. " I ' ve got worse enemies than overweight satyrs." Nico walked back to us. " Good job, Percy. Judging from the trail of goat pellets, I ' d say you shook him up pretty well." I was afraid I knew why Nico was here, but I tried for a smile. " Welcome back. Did you come by just to see Juniper?" He blushed. " Um, no. That was an accident. I kind of... dropped into the middle of their conversation." " He scared us to death!" Juniper said. " Right out of the shadows. But, Nico, you are the son of Hades and all. Are you sure you haven ' t heard anything about Grover?" Nico shifted his weight. " Juniper, like I tried to tell you... even if Grover died, he would reincarnate into something else in nature. I can ' t sense things like that, only mortal souls." " But if you do hear anything?" she pleaded, putting her hand on his arm. " Anything at all?" Nico ' s cheeks got even brighter red. " Uh, you bet. I ' ll keep my ears open." " We ' ll find him, Juniper," I promised. " Grover ' s alive, I ' m sure. There must be a simple reason why he hasn ' t contacted us." She nodded glumly. " I hate not being able to leave the forest. He could be anywhere, and I ' m stuck here waiting. Oh, if that silly goat has gotten himself hurt—" Mrs. O ' Leary bounded back over and took an interest in Juniper ' s dress. Juniper yelped. " Oh, no you don ' t! I know about dogs and trees. I ' m gone!" She went poof into green mist. Mrs. O ' Leary looked disappointed, but she lumbered off to find another target, leaving Nico and me alone. Nico tapped his sword on the ground. A tiny mound of animal bones erupted from the dirt.
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