The Truths Spoken In The Sea Of Lies

Mrs O'Leary runs into a tree

Nico is here now,

Shadows travelling with him,

Yey, on Mrs O'Leary's back, I go.

***

Rhea walked into the arena and prepared herself as a wall of darkness slammed into her.

"WOOF!"

The next thing Rhea knew she was hugging Mrs. O'Leary, taking all the weight, and keeping herself from falling on the ground as a huge oversized Brillo-pad tongue licked her face.

"Hey, girl. Good to see you too. Ow!"

It took a few minutes for Mrs O'Leary to calm down and get off her. By then she was pretty much drenched in dog drool.

The hellhound wanted to play fetch, so Rhea picked up a bronze shield and tossed it across the arena. And continue to throw the shield a few more times because Mrs. O'Leary insisted.

Soon she started barking—a sound slightly louder than an artillery gun—like she needed to go for a walk. The other campers didn't think it was funny when she went to the bathroom in the arena. It had caused more than one unfortunate slip-and-slide accident.

So Rhea opened the gates of the arena, and she bounded straight toward the woods.

Rhea followed after her when she finally tracked her down, they ended in a familiar clearing where the Council of Cloven Elders had once put Grover on trial. The place didn't look so good. The grass had turned yellow. The three topiary thrones had lost all their leaves.

In the middle of the glade stood Juniper the tree nymph, Nico di Angelo, and a very old, very fat satyr.

Nico was the only one who didn't seem freaked out by Mrs. O'Leary's appearance. He nodded when he saw Rhea, then went back to scratching Mrs O'Leary's ears. She sniffed his legs like he was the most interesting thing since rib-eye steaks. Being the son of Hades, he'd probably been travelling in all sorts of hellhound-friendly places.

The old satyr didn't look nearly so happy.

"Will someone—what is this underworld creature doing in my forest!" He waved his arms and trotted on his hooves as if the grass were hot. "You there, Rhea Jackson! Is this your beast?"

"When you address me." Rhea glared down at him, her voice cold and harsh. "Do it with respect unless you want to lose your head."

The satyr gulped.

Now don't get Rhea wrong, she has a good relationship with nymphs, naiads, and satyrs, but the Satyrs of the Council? No respect whatsoever -not that Rhea respects people normally- she was neutral about them most of the time till they pulled that stun with Grover.

And the relationship worsened between them after another stun pulled on the nymphs and naiads while they were bathing, the less said would be better.

"Well ... at least call off your beast!"

"WOOF!" Mrs O'Leary said happily.

The old satyr gulped. "Make it go away! Juniper, I will not help you under these circumstances!"

Juniper turned toward Rhea, her eyes were green-tinted with chlorophyll from crying.

"Rhea," she sniffled. "I was just asking about Grover. I know something's happened. He wouldn't stay gone this long if he wasn't in trouble. I was hoping that Leneus—"