Chapter 14
*Thalia Grace*
As I headed through the woods looking for Grover, I went over the two strange things that had happened since the end of the war.
~~~~Flashback~~~~
After the third anniversary of the war, we were having a ritual of silence before the meals to honor our friends, when Grover burst in. He was panting, out of breath, not wearing pants or shoes, and his hat was hanging haphazardly onto one of his horns. His eyes were wide, and he was visibly trembling. He was frantically scanning the crowd, then he spotted me. He immediately rushed over, then dragged me out of there.
“Grover, let go of me! What’s going on?” I asked, while struggling to get out of the death grip he had and my arm. He squeezed tighter, and I winced.
“Sorry,” he said glancing at me, his grip loosened a bit. “I’ll explain when we get somewhere more private. I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who won’t think that I’m crazy.”
I raised an eyebrow, but stop struggling, and let him lead me to wherever he wanted to go. That place turned out to be Zeus’s Fist. When Grover finally let go of me, I turned to him, rubbing my arm where he had ahold of me and raised an eyebrow. “Now, care to explain why you dragged me away from lunch to talk at Zeus's Fist, and why you looked half out of your mind when you arrived?”
Grover gulped, “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, I may just be going crazy, and with all that’s happened, I wouldn’t be surprised.” He said, chuckling darkly.
“Grover, just tell me what’s going on.” I said softly, he wasn’t the only one who was concerned with his sanity. Me, I sometimes thought I heard Annabeth’s voice behind me, and I’d turn around fully expecting her to be there. Then when no one would be there except a surprised camper, her death would hit me once again like a blow from a giant, knocking the air right out of me. Sometimes, I’d be walking through the city, and a dark haired man will just be turning away from me, and I swear to the Gods, his eyes are sea green and there was that familiar smirk upon his face. Then I’d catch up to him, tap him on the shoulder fully expecting it to be Percy, then he’d turn around, and it’d be some mortal. I would then numbly say sorry as his death hit me in the gut and twisted there sickeningly, it was like I was being stabbed and the sword was being twisted as it cut through me.
He shifted uneasily, “Remember when I told you it felt like the empathy link was still there?”
“Yeah, what about it?” I asked, of course I remembered that day. it wasn’t even two days after the war when Grover ran up to me, and shocked the daylights out of me. It was then that he said that he still felt the empathy link he had made with Percy, that it was still humming, and occasionally he could get flashes of sadness and guilt from it, but nothing more. He said it was like it had weakened, or more like he was being blocked. I immediately dismissed it, told him he was just imagining things, then, before I walked off, I yelled at him, “He’s dead! Just like Annabeth, just like Nico and Hazel and Frank and Leo and Piper and Jason! Don’t you dare talk to me about something like this again, don’t you dare give me a glimmer of hope only to let it be squashed by reality!” With that I had stalked off, tears glimmering in my eyes as the pain of them being gone washed over me once again, like an old, torturous wound that would never heal. Afterwards, I regretted exploding on him I was just angry and sad for what the Fates had done. The next day, I found him and apologised profusely.
“I felt something this morning.” He said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I felt pain, despair, guilt, and fear. But it was more than just emotions, I felt him Thalia, I felt his presence for not even a second, but it was there. It was horrible Thalia, I felt whatever pain he was in at the moment and it… it was bad, really bad.” He said his eyes flashing with sadness.
I stared at him, wide eyed and shocked, if I didn’t believe him when he tried three years ago, I halfway did now. His eyes, they told me that he wasn’t lying, not a bit. “What do mean by bad?”
“I don’t know myself, all I know is that he’s experienced years of pain and hurt since the end of the war, and he’s so guilty and wants to die to be with them. Thalia, whatever has happened, it changed him, and I don’t think it’s necessarily good.” He replied, frowning, concern tracing his features.
“If he’s alive, then why hasn’t he contacted us, why don’t the Gods feel any of this?” I asked, confused. If Grover could sense that he was still alive, couldn’t the Gods?
“I think that Poseidon can sense it when Percy uses his powers, that’s whenever I can sense him the strongest, I can always sense his concentration on water. I think Poseidon thinks it’s just his imagination, grief causing him to imagine that he still senses Percy out there, alive and well. I honestly don’t know why he’s not contacting us. Maybe he feels too guilty about their deaths to come back to the place that will remind him of them the most, maybe he feels we’ll be angry at him from being away for this long.”
“Well of course we’d be mad Grover, it’s been three years, and whatever excuse he should have, it better be a good one. But we wouldn’t be mad for very long, me? I’d probably punch him, then hug him, then scold him for being away for so long and making everyone think he was dead, then I would probably hug and punch him again.” I said seriously.
Grover laughed, “I’d probably just tackle him while hugging him.”
“So… I'm pretty sure everyone else will think we’re crazy.”
“Most likely,” Grover replied, shrugging.
“How can we prove this? Have you ever sensed his location?” I asked.
“I haven’t ever sensed his exact location, but I know that he’s in New York. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to prove that he’s alive unless he chooses to reveal that himself.”
I thought about it, “Maybe...maybe he’s not alive.” Grover started to protest. “Hear me out okay? Maybe your empathy link wasn’t severed when he died and you are connected to his spirit, is that possible?” I asked.
Grover blinked, and thought about it, “I don’t think so, but if I’m connected to his spirit, why is he in so much pain?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.” I said, then I stalked off, that started my monthly interrogation I have with Hades, where he frustratingly told me that he didn’t know, couldn’t sense him anywhere, and that he hasn’t sensed him since he hurled Zeus’s lightning Bolt into the ground beneath him.
***End Flashback***
Those two things, Grover thinking the empathy link was still there, and bringing it up to me those two times, began the suspicion, and this, this only cemented it, this third thing that made the suspicion real. When I finally made it to the clearing for the Elder satyrs. The meeting had apparently just ended, since some of the satyrs were leaving, Grover was talking to a younger satyr, and I waited impatiently for them to finish.
When he was done talking, Grover saw me and his eyes brightened a bit, “Hey Thalia, what do you need?”
“Can we talk?”
“Of course.”
“Privately?”
Grover’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded in agreement, “Lead the way.”
I nodded, then walked quickly to Zeus’s Fist, I could feel Grover’s suspicion increasing behind me as we neared the rock. Once we reached there, I turned to face him, “Someone sweared on the River Styx using Percy’s name, Poseidon came to Camp and threatened the campers against doing it again, he looked horrible, the three years Percy’s been gone has not been good to him.”
Grover’s eyes widened in shock, “What? When did this happen?”
“Someone sweared on the River Styx using Percy’s name today sometime during our ceremony.” I told him.
“But… you can’t swear on the River Styx using someone else’s name, it’s never been done before.”
“Right, that’s why I want to go see Nico, Hades still won’t give me answers, and Nico realized his powers around Percy, so he would be the first person that he would sense, maybe he could sense where he is now. That was probably the problem with Hades,” I mused, “He didn’t know what Percy’s life-force felt like. Anyway, I need you to take me to the the opening to the Underworld that required music, you do still have your reed pipes, right?”
Grover looked half dazed, “Yeah, sure I do, I mean I need to grab them from the Big House but-”
“Perfect, I’ll meet you by the Big House after I grab some of my supplies, I should be there around five, see you there, okay?”
“Okay,” Grover replied still trying to catch up.” I rushed off to get my supplies, but as I reached the woods, I heard Grover yell after me. “Wait, does that mean you believe me about Percy?” I didn’t answer him, I wasn’t sure if I believed Grover just yet, wasn’t sure I could until I saw the Seaweed Brain in front of me alive for myself.
When I reached the Artemis cabin, I grabbed my bow and filled it to the brim with arrows. I grabbed the bracelet that was my shield, Aegis, and headed out to meet Grover at the Big House.