Miss Quinn

70 ~ The Quest

The least the Oracle could've done was walk back to the attic by herself.

Instead, Grover and Percy were elected to carry her. Emma went along for moral support.

"Watch her head!" Grover warned as they went up the stairs. But it was too late.

Bonk! Percy whacked her mummified face against the trapdoor frame and dust flew.

"Ah, man." He set her down and checked for damage. "Did I break anything?"

"I can't tell," Grover admitted.

They hauled her up and set her on her tripod stool, both of them huffing and sweating. Who knew a mummy could weigh so much?

Emma was relieved when they finally got out of there and slammed the attic door shut.

"Well," Grover said, "that was gross."

Emma knew he was trying to keep things light for Percy's sake, but he still seemed really down. And for good reason. The whole camp would be mad at him for losing the game to the Hunters, and then there was the new prophecy from the Oracle. It was like the spirit of Delphi had gone out of her way to exclude him. She'd ignored his and Emma's question and walked half a mile to talk to Zoe. And she'd said nothing, not even a hint, about Annabeth.

"What will Chiron do?" Percy asked Grover.

"I wish I knew." He looked wistfully out the second-floor window at the rolling hills covered in snow. "I want to be out there."

"Searching for Annabeth?"

He had a little trouble focusing on Percy. Then he blushed. "Oh, right. That too. Of course."

"Why?" Percy asked. "What were you thinking?"

He clopped his hooves uneasily. "Just something the manticore said, about the Great Stirring. I can't help but wonder... if all those ancient powers are waking up, maybe... maybe not all of them are evil."

"You mean Pan," Emma said.

She felt kind of selfish, because she'd totally forgotten about Grover's life ambition. The nature god had gone missing two thousand years ago. He was rumored to have died, but the satyrs didn't believe that. They were determined to find him. They'd been searching in vain for centuries, and Grover was convinced he'd be the one to succeed. This year, with Chiron putting all the satyrs on emergency duty to find half-bloods, Grover hadn't been able to continue his search. It must've been driving him nuts.

"I've let the trail go cold," he said. "I feel restless, like I'm missing something really important. He's out there somewhere. I can just feel it."

Emma didn't know what to say. She wanted to encourage him, but didn't know how.

Before Emma could respond, Thalia tromped up the stairs. She was officially not talking to Percy now, but she looked at Emma and said, "Tell Percy to get his butt downstairs."

"Why?" Percy asked.

"Did he say something?" Thalia asked Grover.

"Um, he asked why."

"Dionysus is calling a council of cabin leaders to discuss the prophecy," she said. "Unfortunately, that includes Percy."

The council was held around a Ping-Pong table in the rec room. Dionysus waved his hand and supplied snacks: Cheez Whiz, crackers, and several bottles of red wine. Then Chiron reminded him that wine was against his restrictions and most of the campers were underage. Mr. D sighed. With a snap of his fingers the wine turned to Diet Coke. Nobody drank that either.