CHAPTER TWELVE - DOGS LIKE ME MORE THAN PERCY

Miserable didn't come close to how I was feeling that night.

We camped out about a hundred yards from the main road, in an empty clearing that had obviously been used for parties. The campsite was riddled with crushed soda cans and empty chips packets. It made me think about the parties my friends and I used to have, before I moved from California, back in my world. We never went into the woods, since there were no woods where we lived, but we'd go to parks a lot, and just hang out. The thoughts made me nostalgic for a life I wasn't even sure I had anymore.

We took some blankets and food from Aunty Em's, but the fear that something was out there, waiting for us, kept us from lighting a fire to keep warm.

While we were getting situated, I grabbed my backpack from Annabeth's shoulder to check the contents. "I have fifty dollars in cash, and a few drachmas," I said to the group. "Plus an extra set of clothes, and a toothbrush. Also, a canteen of nectar and a few squares of ambrosia."

Annabeth nodded, sleepily. "That's good, we'll need those, from the looks of how the quest is going so far."

I don't think she meant to sound bitter, but her comment still made me feel even worse than before. Not remembering about Medusa had freaked me out. If that was going to happen with every monster, I was basically useless.

Percy must have sensed my discomfort, because he quickly changed the subject. "Get some sleep, you guys. I'll take first watch."

Annabeth didn't need to be told twice. She pulled a blanket around her body and was snoring within seconds. Grover flew up into the nearest tree, courtesy of the flying shoes, and stared up at the sky, a sad look crossing his face. Not feeling tired at all, I dragged my blanket over to where Percy was stationed, and wrapped it around the both of us, to keep warm.

"Go ahead and sleep," Percy told us. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."

"After what just happened?" I asked. "I doubt I'll ever sleep again."

Percy nudged my shoulder, trying to get me to smile. "Hey, you were awesome back there. Without that distraction, I would probably be a statue right now."

"It's not that..." I sighed, and wrapped my arms around my knees, making my body as small as possible. "Percy, I didn't remember. I should have known that was her lair before we even stepped foot in it. But it was like the memory was blocked from my mind. I didn't figure it out until right around when Annabeth did. And that terrifies me. Even though I wouldn't have been able to say anything, I would have still been able to keep my guard up. But I failed. Without my knowledge of this quest, I'm...I'm dead weight."

Grover spoke up. "Av, you're not dead weight. You're actually helping us the most here. Your warnings have kept us alive."

Percy nodded. "I don't care if you know the future, or not. I'm just glad that you're on this quest with us."

I smiled at the both of them, grateful for what they had said. The entire time we've been on this death mission, I had been thinking about my worth, my contribution to the group. Having their reassurances made me feel better about volunteering for this.

I wriggled down next to Percy and stared up at the sky. The orange haze from Manhattan was diluting the atmosphere, making it impossible to see the stars. I thought about my home in my own world, my little apartment in the middle of nowhere. On a good night, when there was no moon, the stars were so bright, I could see the giant band of the Milky Way making its way across the sky. I would sit outside for hours, finding the constellations I knew so well, using my telescope to look at the planets. That was impossible, here.

Grover caught on to my emotions. "It makes you sad, doesn't it Av?" he asked.

I nodded solemnly. "Yeah, yeah it does."

Percy looked between the two of us. "What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"

Grover shook his head. "No. This makes me sad." He gestured to the ground, pointing at the garbage. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh, yeah," Percy said. "I guess you'd be an environmentalist."

"Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast...ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human."

"But Avalon's a human, too." Percy turned towards me. "Why do you hate it so much?"

I pointed up through the trees, glaring at the smog. "Back in my world, I was in college, yeah? Well, my major was astronomy. Ever since I was little, I lived for the stars, the universe beyond this planet. I would take hikes out in the middle of the desert whenever there was a meteor shower. I bought a high-grade telescope when I was sixteen instead of a car, so I could see things like Jupiter and Neptune with my own eyes. I hate what's going on, purely for selfish reasons. I miss the stars." My arm fell back onto my stomach, and I closed my eyes, trying to remember what the heavens looked like.

Of course, I could see the stars from Camp Half-Blood, but they weren't as potent. And, in the past week, I hadn't had much time for stargazing.

I heard Grover sniff indignantly, obviously irritated that I didn't care about the planet as much as he thought I did. "At the rate things are going," he said, "I'll never find Pan."

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?" Percy questioned.

"Pan!" Grover cried. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"

A breeze blew through our campsite, warm and gentle. I took a deep breath, and was rewarded with the smell of ripe berries, and wildflowers, and my favorite smell of all - petrichor. It reminded me of where my sister lived, up in Sonoma, California. I had only visited her once or twice, but the beauty of that place, it rivaled everything that I had ever seen before.

"Tell me about the search," Percy said. His voice sounded a little wistful, probably due to Grover's invocation of the god's name.

Grover looked at us cautiously, but I gestured for him to go on.

"The God of the Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he began. "A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan had died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."

"And you want to be a searcher," Percy said.

"It's my life's dream. My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand...the statue you saw back there–"

"Oh, right, sorry."

Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."

"The first, ever?" I asked.

He took out his reed pipes, and played a short, low tune on them. I instantly became tired. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."

"Not once in two thousand years?"

"No."

"What about your father?" I asked. "Do you have any idea what happened to him?"

"None."

"But you still want to go," Percy said. He looked a lot more awake than I was feeling. It made me wonder if Grover could pick out the sounds that made us tired, the same way he could pick out our emotions, so he could target us specifically. "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?"

"I have to believe that, Percy. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened."

I looked up at Grover, fatigue quickly taking over my body. "You'll find him, Grover. You'll find Pan."

He glanced down at me, hope laced in his eyes. "Are you saying that because you know, or just because you want to make me feel better."

I gave him a sleepy smile. "Both."

And with that, my head slumped down on the ground, and I fell asleep almost immediately.

*

My dreams weren't pleasant.

Then again, not many demigod dreams are.

They started out simple enough: I was watching myself in the battles I have fought already, being here. Even before coming to this world, I had often placed myself in these adventures, being a demigod on the very quest I was on now. Funny how that works.

I was just fending off Mrs. Dodds on the bus, in the dream when it shifted. Suddenly, I was in my own body, and I was watching Percy swordfight against a huge opponent, in the surf of Santa Monica Beach. Images began to rush past me, like someone had pressed the fast-forward button on a dream remote. I saw Annabeth fighting a gorgeous woman, while I was looking at a brown and orange Guinea pig; Grover trapped in a cave, rocking back and forth in a wedding dress; Grover passing out on a snow-covered road, a girl in silver hoisting him onto her shoulder; Annabeth peering over a cliff-face, her face streaked with tears; Percy throwing a drum at a cheerleader; Lee fighting a monster in the forest of Camp Half-Blood; Annabeth getting stabbed in the arm, Percy's back to her; and, worst of all, Percy being blown backwards by an explosion. I could feel the heat blister my skin. The sound was like a sonic boom, and the explosion shattered my dream.

I woke up, panting. My body was covered in a cold sweat, and I was shivering, though from cold or fear, I wasn't sure. I thought about the images I had seen in my dream. They seemed so familiar. I scrunched up my eyes in concentration, trying to hold onto what the images had looked like, but they were already fading.

I took in my surroundings. It was light outside, but the sunlight was soft, so it was obviously early morning. Percy and Annabeth were asleep. Percy's eyebrows were scrunched together, his face contorted in worry. I thought about waking him up, but he needed to go through that nightmare. Of course I remember what his nightmare is, but I can't remember my own.

I heard a voice from behind me. "You're up early." I turned around and saw Grover still in his tree, fiddling with his reed pipes.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. "Did you sleep at all last night?" I asked.

"Annabeth took watch for a while, but we didn't want to wake you or Percy. You guys needed the rest."

"So do you," I said, but I didn't press the subject. I stood up and stretched, cracking the kinks in my back and neck as I did. "Well," I said, smiling at Grover, "since we're up, how about a little walk around the camp?"

Grover looked apprehensive, but I waved off his concerns. "We won't go far, I promise. We just need to find a friend."

He raised an eyebrow in confusion, but didn't say anything. It was nice to know that he was used to my vague word choices by now. He hopped down from his tree branch, and we started to case the perimeter of the camp.

I went out of my way to step on a crunchy-looking leaf as we walked. I frowned as it didn't make a crunching sound. Stupid deceptive leaf.

Grover adjusted the rasta cap that he was wearing to hide his horns. "What are we looking for, exactly?" he asked.

I let out a small laugh. "Oh, trust me," I said. "You'll know it when you see it."

It didn't take us very long to find our friend. The muddy poodle was sleeping underneath a fallen tree branch, its pink fur a dirty gray by now. I approached quietly, careful not to disturb him, and spoke in a hushed tone. "Hello, Gladiola."

Gladiola's ears perked up and he looked at me, teeth slightly bared in warning. I didn't go any closer, but Grover went right up to the poodle and started conversing with him. I had to admit, it was a little weird to watch.

After a few minutes of the somewhat silent conversation, I nudged Grover with my foot. "We should probably get back. Annabeth is most likely awake by now, and we don't want her to freak out that we're missing."

Grover nodded, and picked Gladiola up, carefully. Tentatively, I reached out a hand for him to sniff. He seemed to think I was okay, and I started petting the pink poodle as we walked back to camp.

Annabeth was just coming into consciousness when we got back. Grover explained to her how we came across Gladiola while walking. Annabeth nodded, her face entirely serious, and bid hello to the dog. He obviously didn't trust her, but liked her more than the sleeping lump beside me. He kept growling at Percy's back.

I shook Percy's shoulder, trying to wake him up. It wasn't an easy task. I knew that he was having one of his nightmares, and I knew that it wasn't going to let go of him without a fight.

A minute later, Percy's eyes shot open. "Well," I said, "the zombie lives."

Percy sat up, trembling slightly from his nightmare. I didn't know if Annabeth or Grover noticed, but I didn't point it out.

Percy's eyes scanned the campsite. "How long was I asleep?"

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast," Annabeth said. She tossed him a bag of chips, and offered me another. I wrinkled my nose involuntarily. I wasn't much of a chip person, especially nacho-flavored ones. But, I took it anyways. I couldn't afford to be picky in our situation.

"Grover and I went exploring this morning," I said to Percy. "We found a friend."

Percy looked over at Grover, who now had Gladiola sitting contently on his lap. Gladiola eyed Percy suspiciously, and then barked, his eyes narrowed. I stifled a laugh. It wasn't very often that you saw a fuzzy pink poodle glaring at your best friend.

Grover addressed the dog. "No, he's not," he said, which made me wonder what Gladiola thought of Percy even more than before.

Percy blinked in surprise. "Are you...talking to that thing?"

"This thing," Grover said, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

I sighed. "By now, don't you think that's a given? He is half-animal, after all."

Grover gestured between the poodle and Percy. "Percy," he said, "meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."

Percy looked at me and Annabeth, trying to determine if this was a joke or not. I replied by scratching Gladiola behind the ears. He licked my hand affectionately.

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," Percy said. "Forget it."

"Percy," Annabeth warned. "I said hello to the poodle. Avalon found the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."

Gladiola growled at him again.

Percy said hello to the poodle.

"Gladiola belongs to a rich family from around here," Grover explained. "He ran away, and the family is offering $200 for his return. He told me that he doesn't really want to go back to his family, but he's willing to because it will help Avalon. He likes you," Grover said, which surprised me. I smiled and scratched the dog again.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" I said. When Percy didn't reply, I rolled my eyes. "He read the signs, duh."

"Of course," he said sarcastically. "Silly me."

Annabeth turned on her planning voice. "So we turn in Gladiola, we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

Percy thought about it for a minute. His face turned paler as the seconds went by. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly, but it didn't seem to help much.

"Not another bus," he said.

"Definitely not," I agreed.

Annabeth pointed downhill. Through the trees and the underbrush, I could just make out a set of train tracks cutting through the woods. "There's an Amtrack station half a mile that way," she said. "According to Gladiola, the west-bound train leaves at noon."