The Tension In Air

The demigods were pretty miserable that night.

They camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.

They'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but they didn't dare light a fire to dry the damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. They didn't want to attract anything else.

They decided to sleep in shifts. Percy volunteered to take first watch.

Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. Y/N stayed awake for sometime looking at her arrow, more like inspecting it but then gave up and went to sleep. Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.

"Go ahead and sleep," Percy told him. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."

He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Percy."

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"

"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."

He glared at him. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast ... ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?"

"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"

A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rainwater, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly he was nostalgic for something he'd never known.

"Tell me about the search," Percy said. Grover looked at him cautiously, but told him everything nonetheless. Percy thought it was insane how his friend thought he can find Pan when so many before him couldn't. But then again, he was going against some gods in the first place.

He stared at the orange haze of the sky and tried to understand how Grover could pursue a dream that seemed so hopeless. "How are we going to get into the Underworld?" he asked him. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me-"

"Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out."

"She's had a tough life, but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me...." His voice faltered.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Forgave you for what?"

Suddenly, Grover seemed very interested in playing notes on his pipes.

"Wait a minute," Percy said. "Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp five years. She wasn't ... I mean, your first assignment that went wrong-"

"I can't talk about it," Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he'd start crying if he pressed him. "But as I was saying, back at Medusa's, Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."

"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunderbolt that Hades took."

"That's not what I mean," Grover said. "The Fur-The Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy ... why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."

"They seemed plenty aggressive to me."

Grover shook his head. "They were screeching at us: 'Where is it? Where?'"

"Asking about me," Percy said.

"Maybe ... but Annabeth and I, we both got the feeling they weren't asking about a person. They said 'Where is it?' They seemed to be asking about an object."

"That doesn't make sense."

"I know. But if we've misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt...." He looked at Percy like he was hoping for answers, but he didn't have any.

Percy thought about what Medusa had said: he was being used by the gods. What lay ahead of him was worse than petrification. "I haven't been straight with you," he told Grover. "I don't care about the master bolt. I agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring back my mother."

Grover blew a soft note on his pipes. "I know that, Percy. But are you sure that's the only reason?"

"I'm not doing it to help my father. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him."

Grover gazed down from his tree branch. "Look, Percy, I'm not as smart as Annabeth. I'm not as brave as you. But I'm pretty good at reading emotions. You're glad your dad is alive. You feel good that he's claimed you, and part of you wants to make him proud. That's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to notice what you'd done. And I can feel some other emotions from you too." He turned and looked at sleeping Annabeth.

"Yeah? Well maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you're wrong. I don't care what he thinks."

Grover pulled his feet up onto the branch. "Okay, Percy. Whatever."

"Besides, I haven't done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York and we're stuck here with no money and no way west."

"Okay then let's talk about the other feeling I noticed," Grover said, "Annabeth?"

"Don't be riduculous. How can I even like someone like her? I can't even tolerate her."

"You say that but...she's the one you were looking at whenever we got into trouble."

"Ofcourse! She has the plans right?" he blushed. Maybe he wasn't as subtle as he thought he was.

"Why do I have friends who are all in denial," Grover muttered, but Percy heard it.

"...Who else?" he asked, his heart was pounding loudly on his chest. He...was afraid to hear it but at the same time, he wanted it to be her. Annabeth.

Even he couldn't understand why he was feeling like this. But he knew that it might be because of the tension in the air and how both of them fought with each other all the time but also looked out for each other. Maybe it was because they suppressed their feelings about each other that was finally coming up to the surface.

Grover looked tensed for a moment and then said, "...Annabeth." He looked at the direction where both the girls were sleeping but his eyes were on Y/N. That girl was way too positive about things. He didn't get it, how she was able to watch her friend fall for the guy she likes. And the worst part is his best friend, Percy being a dumbass liked her back. Grover probably would've done the same if he was in her shoes. But then again, he never would've volunteered and take the torture in the first place.

"Wait, for real?" Percy asked eagerly.

But Grover didn't lie, "Yeah...she's just not that good in expressing it."

"Yeah...I've seen it."

"Hey are you mad at Y/N?"

"What? No, why?" Percy asked confused.

"Cause this whole trip, you guys have been talking the least out of all of us."

"I didn't think of it that way. I guess I was too focused on the gravity of the situation we are stuck in. I didn't exactly find the time," he cleared his throat, "Besides, she could've started first."

"Yeah, she did try a couple of times but you didn't notice. So she decided to let it go."

"Oh...well first thing in the morning."

"Percy, she really considers you a close friend of hers and she's doing all she can to help both of you. So don't screw it up. The girl's giving her best," Grover chuckled, "Too bad you screwed up enough to not hear her sing solo."

"What?"

"Oh yeah, only Annabeth, Alex and Luke heard her sing before them alone. Well, now I kind of did too," he displayed a cocky smile, "Only special people have the chance to hear her sing alone."

"...special?" Percy asked as his eyes moved towards Y/N. She was sleeping and curled into a fetal position. Her cheeks were squished on one side. She looked...cute.

"Yeah, her healing technique. Besides, she promised to sing to me," Grover said snapping him out of his thoughts.

"So...when can I hear her sing? You just said she considers me a friend."

"Well, it's up to her to be honest," Grover looked at the night sky, and said, "How about I take first watch, huh? You get some sleep."

Percy wanted to protest, but he started to play Mozart, soft and sweet, and he turned away, his eyes stinging. After a few bars of Piano Concerto no. 12, Percy was asleep.

[ TIME SKIP]

Y/N woke everyone up as soon as the sun started rising, as she was the last to watch over the others. Annabeth was quick and soon enough got ready. Grover did look a bit tired but he was up anyway. He went out to explore and brought back a pink fluffy animal with himself while Annabeth started brushing her teeth. Y/N washed her face with water and said hello to the pink poodle. She wanted to pet it but decided against it and looked at Percy.

She shook him lightly and tried to wake him up several times, but this guy slept like a log. When Annabeth was done, she noticed her struggling, and came forward and said, "Don't be soft on seaweed brain. He sleeps like the dead. Let me try."

Then Annabeth started shaking him harshly. And his eyes finally opened.

"Well," Annabeth said, "the zombie lives."

Percy was trembling and asked, "How long was I asleep?"

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed him a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."

Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with a pink poodle. The poodle yapped at Percy suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not."

Percy blinked. "Are you ... talking to that thing?"

The poodle growled.

"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

Grover ignored the question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," Percy said. "Forget it."

"Percy," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."

The poodle growled and he said hello to the poodle.

Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked.

"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

"Not another bus," Percy said warily.

"No," Annabeth agreed.

She pointed downhill, toward train tracks and said, "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."

They had their breakfast and pretty soon started walking to the station. Percy remembered his conversation with Grover and looked at Annabeth who was walking fast. He had a small smile on his face. He decided that when all of this is over, he's going to ask her out. Life is too short for a half-blood and he wasn't going to waste an opportunity. Grover confirmed that she felt....something for him right? The only thing in the way was Luke. He wasn't sure if Annabeth had the same feelings but...whenever he was present before her, she always blushed and stuttered. She never did this in front of him.

Grover walked beside him and cleared his throat, "First thing in the morning, huh?"

Oh shit.

He turned to look back at Y/N who was walking looking at the ground. Percy slowed down and let her catch up to him. She was aware of that though. It felt...uncomfortable after what Grover said about their feelings - his feelings. But he didn't deserve this. Heck, he doesn't even know about her crush on him.

"I've never seen you this quiet before," Percy said.

Y/N smiled and sighed, "Well, you don't know a lot of stuffs about me." She bit her lower lip and finally looked at him. Those sea-green eyes always made her drawn to him. She quickly looked away and said, "I wasn't much help. Sorry, I just..."

"No it's fine. Uh, you helped Grover and us back in the bus."

"I would've helped more if I knew why it didn't work. The bow and arrow is divine. Just like your pen, it is supposed to return back to me and work like the way yours does. But...it didn't affect the Furies."

"Maybe...you forgot something."

"No, I'm sure I didn't. I was itching to use this and saved it for some dangerous situation but...anyways," Y/N huffed and asked, "Why the sudden interest Percy?"

"What?"

"I mean...aren't you mad? Chiron did say trio quests are better."

"What? Wait no-" he sighed, "You're..my friend and I'm glad you volunteered." He could've sworn that Y/N blushed hearing that. It made him chuckle. She appeared bright and almost bubbly. It was a surprise to see her blush over something that he said. He wondered how she looked when she sang. It made him a bit envious that Annabeth and Grover, even Luke and someone named Alex, heard her sing. He just needed to wait for his chance, right?

"Well, good that it's cleared up now," Y/N smiled and looked forward, "We're almost there."