Zero to Hero (Percy Jackson Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Eight-My Friend Who Knows Everything

Hey guys! Sorry, I'm the worst; I decided to be a part of The Music Man production at my high school, so I had rehearsal basically 24/7. Anyway, here's another update.

SOS!!!!

If you guys could help me out: I need to get more readers on my original novel, and I don't want to be one of those annoying authors that refuses to update or something until I reach a certain amount of reads. Suggestions? Because just asking you guys to read it doesn't seem to be working. Thanks!

Percy's POV

I found Grover in the strawberry fields. His rasta cap bobbed between the rows of spiky green leaves as he scavenged for fallen berries. 

"Hey man," I said, looking down at him, too flustered to give him a weird look at his prostrate position amid the shrubbery, "Could I talk to you for a sec?"

Grover squinted up, a pair of strawberries shoved between his teeth. There was juice dribbling down his chin. "Oh, 'ey Herthy!" He got to his feet and swallowed both strawberries back, stems, leaves, and all. "What's up?"

"This is going to sound really weird," I began, knowing it would in no way prepare him for what I was about to tell him. "The horses can talk."

Grover's eye twitched like he wanted to say something. Instead, he shoved another berry in his mouth, "You mean, li'e you been 'earin' voices?"

I kneaded my forehead with my knuckles. "I'm not going crazy. I was just in the stables, and the horses told me the pegasi have been missing for weeks. I didn't know Camp Hero had pegasi, did you?" I tried to sound casual, but actually I was panicking.

The berry fell out of Grover's mouth. "Do the horses know where they are? I mean..." he cleared his throat and began fiddling with a set of reed pipes around his neck, "Are you sure you're feeling okay, Percy? Maybe you should lie down."

I blinked. I'd known Grover too long to not recognize he was hiding something from me. "Wait...you knew they were missing? And...you knew they were there to be missed?"

"What?" Grover asked, horrified that I'd guessed right, "I never said that!"

"Grover..." I said threateningly.

"Alright!" Grover said, holding out his hands. "Chiron told us to act like everything was normal, so I tried. But now the curse is starting to break, so I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to do."

"What are you talking about?" I said, worrying about his sanity. 

"The curse!" Grover whispered in a frightened voice, "Menoetius's curse! To make you all forget about being demigods and to take away your ability to see through the Mist! We were supposed to act like...well, Mortals, but now the curse is breaking and I don't know what to do."

The poor guy looked like he was about to cry. "Look," I said, more gently, "I'm sorry if you weren't supposed to tell me or something, but I've spent the last few weeks being super confused, and if you know anything about all this, now would be a great time to mention it. Also, I think we should go look for those flying horses, because Camp Hero's equine population is really concerned."

"Right...sorry." Grover bit his lip nervously and glanced around as if to make sure no fabled harpies were listening in. "Explaining everything would be long and complicated, and...you know, earth-shattering. For now let's just go with: everything you know is a fabricated life. It isn't real. Your real life is something far less safe and far more uh...mythical." He said this last part like he was trying to give me a hint.

Most of that I'd guessed, subconsciously, so it didn't actually hit me very hard. I raised an eyebrow. "You mean that my dad is Poseidon?" 

Grover was so startled by this pronouncement that he seemed to be threatening a leap into the treetops. "How did you know that?"

"It's been coming on for a while. I've been having these dreams." I eyed him. "I'm not saying I believe it, but that's what I've concluded, using Annabeth's theories. But that's not important right now. I'm going to find those pegasi, and I need your help. Especially now that I know you've known everything all along."

"I'm sorry, Percy," Grover said, scuffing his toe against the ground. "I wanted to tell you, but...well, you wouldn't have believed me anyway. Probably why Chiron said not to, I guess."

"You can explain later. For now, let's find those pegasi. At least, that might give us some help on how to get the world back to normal." I wasn't sure if I was talking about the Percy Jackson champion of Camp Hero, dweeb of Goode High as "normal," or if I meant...whoever Grover thought I was.

"Fair enough. Where do we start?"

I paused. "That, is a great question. Where would somebody take a herd--a flock?"

"I'm pretty sure it's a peck of pegasi," Grover said helpfully.

"Whatever. Where would somebody take a group of pegasi?"

We both assumed thinking poses. 

"What are we doing?" Grover said after a while, "We can't go running off on some quest to find pegasi!"

"Why not?" I demanded, exasperated.

Grover smirked. "We don't have the most important member of our trio; three is the prime number to bring on a quest."

"Of course it is," I nodded, like I knew what he was talking about. "So, who do we bring? Jason?"

"No," Grover wrinkled his nose. "Annabeth, of course."