The group tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. The boys honestly didn't know how Percy's mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.
Naruto looked at Grover oddly and when the lightning flashed, he saw those goat legs. He sighed, already knowing what he was and knew that Grover was on their side….hopefully.
"So, you and my mom... know each other?" Percy asked, not able to stay silent
Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind them. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."
"Watching me?"
"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."
"Um ... what are you, exactly?" Percy asked.
"That doesn't matter right now."
"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"
Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!" Naruto could tell that Grover a bit ticked but he gaffed, that was really funny to him.
"Goat!" Grover cried.
"What?"
Once getting hisself under control, Naruto helped the poor guy out. "Percy, he is a Satyr….a being that is Half human and Half goat."
"Huh? But….you would mean Mr. Brunner's myths?"
"You paid attention to that?" Naruto smirked. "Let's throw a party!" Percy just glared at him. "Ok ok. Anyway, with the way Grover reacted, I am assuming that other Satyr would trample you for that donkey remark."
"I thought it didn't matter." Percy shot back while Grover bleeted again.
"Obviously it does." Naruto replied with a smirk.
"Wait, so all that Mr. Brunner taught us was actually preparing us for this stuff?"
"Pretty much." Grover said.
"Great…" Naruto replied sarcastically. "Just what we need. Freaky monsters coming after us."
"Not only that, but those three old ladies were the Fates and not myths and neither was Mrs. Dodds." Grover told them.
"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!" Percy exclaimed.
"Of course."
"Ok, so what was the point of hiding the fact that she was real?" Naruto asked.
"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You both started to realize who you are."
"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?" Percy asked.
"Yeah, you lost me as well." Naruto deadpanned.
The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.
"Percy," his mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you two to safety."
"Safety from what? Who's after us?" Percy asked while Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."
