Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase: Never As Simple As It Seems

Goat?

I had gone back to staring at my sneakers. Mommy had bought them for me... "When do we find home?"

The day we met the goat-man was weird. Well..normal. Until the goat-man. But he was kinda normal too. Normald for us, i mean.

There were monsters. Lots of monsters. Nothing that we all couldnt take care of. Small monsters. Just a lot of them. Until the big one. It was a man-bull-thing. He was a bull. But he walked like a man thing. He charged us, and i got scared.

I need to toughen up. Im nothing but a mommys boy.

"Holy, minotaur!" Luke said. I dont know what a minotaur is and i dont wanna seem stupid. So i wont ask. I hope it isnt important.

Thalia and Luke tried to fight the guy but he was too fast. Big and fast. Scary. At least Smelly Gabe was slow. He hit hard but he was as slow as molasses. Whatever that is.

Eventually i somehow tore the horn off the thing man person and i cut him. He became dust. I dont know why, but all monsters became dust after you killed them. Thalia tried to explain Tartur Sauce to me once. Its a really scary place where monster spirits go. But all i could think about was how i wanted fish n chips.

A boy who was a little older than me, maybe 8 or 9, (a/n: small note for those who don't know or don't remember: satyrs age at half the speed of humans. In the Canon PJO books, Percy is 12 and Grover seems the same age as him, making him 24 in theory. These event happen 5 years before that, making Grover appear anywhere between 7-9 mortal years old. Okay, Author Out!)  ran up to us. He was panting. He had some sort of wood flute or something around his neck, and he had curly hair. I wanted to touch it.

I tried to touch it.

"Gods...you guys...hey dude please dont touch my hair...you guys are pretty strong. You too." He looked at me.

Strong? Im not strong. I needed to be, but im not. If i was strong then Mommy...Mommy might be...

"Um, who are you?" Thalia asked the guy with curly hair.

"Oh, im Grover. Junior protector." He moved part of his curls and showed us little nubs. I didnt understand. "Theyre not big enough to hide, no point wearing a hat, amiright?" He laughed. Then cleared his throat. "Anyway, Im here to take you guys somewhere safe."

"We're runaeay demi-gods. There is no "safe". Youre just another monster. Trying to trick us." Luke said. He stepped back and drew his sword.

Hes so cool.

"No, no. I assure you im not. P-please put that away. Swords unnerve me." The "junior protector" bleated. Bleated?

"You made a funny noise." I smiled up at him. "Also can i play with your wood flutes?"

He looked offended. I hid behind my arms. "I-im sorry. I won't say anything about them again. Dont hurt me."

"I wouldnt hit you. No, no, see im a satyr. Im half goat." He smiled at us.

"Goat?" Thalia asked. She had moved to comfort me, so she was standing behind me with her arms on my shoulders.

"Yup. Thats right." Grover smiled an nodded. "And this," he grabbed the wood flute on his neck and looked at me. "Is not a flute. Its called a Pan. Im but a servant of Pan. And- and Dionysus." He looked scared.

"You serve the flute on youre neck?" I asked. Because who would serve a wooden flute?

"No, no. Pan, yknow. Father of the satyrs? God of the wild?" Grover tried to explain Pan to me, but i didnt understand who would serve a wooden flute. Or a cooking spray.

"Okay, okay. Thats enough." Thalia stopped us as we were arguing between coconut oil or Pan cooking spray to oil a pan for brownies.

I said Pan was better.

"Now, Grover," Thalia didnt seem to trust this new guy. "You said we could be safe. What does that mean?"

"Oh, theres this lovely place," Grover explained a place we could go. It sounded too good to be true. A strawberry field. A lake. A campfire. Cabins. Everything. And it was safe for demi gods?! "And its okay five days away." Grover smiled as he finished.

"Five days," Luke scoffed. "We've been searching for a safe home for months and you come along saying we could have it in five days? I dont believe it."

"But guys. If we could be safe. No more momsters. No more. Dont you think we should try?" I said. I think i was gonna cry. I dont know. But it was sad. I was safe before and now i have the chamce to be safe again. I wanted to.

Thalia and Luke looked at each other for a long time.

"What was it called?" Thalia asked Grover.

"Oh! Its amazing, its called... Camp Half Blood."