Chapter Text
[Name] POV
We ran until we were exhausted—well, everyone else was. I was good for about another twenty minutes and then I’d collapse.
Rachel steered us away from traps, but we had no destination in mind—only away from the dark mountain and the roar of my great-grandpa.
We stopped in a tunnel of wet whiterock, like part of a natural cave. I couldn’t hear anything behind us, but that didn’t make me worry any less. Luke’s face, while underwhelming, was also haunting. I think it's the weird golden eyes, they make him seem way more powerful, titan-like.
“I can’t go any further,”Rachel gasped, hugging her chest.
Annabeth had been crying the entire time we’d been running. Now she collapsed and put her head between her knees. Her sobs echoed in the tunnel. Percy, Nico and I sat next to each other, with Percy in the middle. He and Nico laid their swords next to each other, Nico taking in shaky breaths.
“That sucked,” he said, pretty aptly.
“You saved our lives,” Percy said
“Way to go Nico”
Nico wiped the dust off his face. “Blame the girls for dragging me along. That’s the only thing they could agree on. We needed to help you or you’d mess things up.”
“You didn’t want to come to my rescue [Name]?” Percy asked
“You told me to trust you, so I did.” I said simply
Nico screwed his face up in confusion “What are you talking about you—”
I climbed over Percy to put my hand over Nico’s mouth. Then I realized my stomach was flat across Percy’s lap and I smiled at him sheepishly. Then of course I got embarrassed and scrambled off of him and back to my seat.
“Nice that you guys trust me so much.” Percy quipped. He shined his flashlight across the cavern. Water dripped from the stalactites like a slow-motion rain. “Nico…you, uh, kind of gave yourself away.”
“What do you mean?” the younger demigod asked
“That wall of black stone? That was pretty impressive. If Kronos didn't know who you were before, he does now—a child of the Underworld.”
Nico frowned, “Big deal.”
I’m not gonna lie I didn’t see what the big deal was either. Unless Nico like willingly sacrificed Bessie, what use would Kronos have for another child of the big three?
Annabeth lifted her head. Her eyes were red from crying. “What…what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?”
Percy told us what he saw in the coffin, the way the last piece of Kronos’s spirit had entered Luke’s body when Ethan Nakamura pledged his service.
“No,” Annabeth said. “That can’t be true. He couldn’t—”
“He gave himself over to Kronos,” Percy said. “I’m sorry, Annabeth. But Luke is gone.”
“No!” she insisted. “You saw when Rachel hit him.”
He nodded, looking at Rachel with respect. “You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.”
Rachel looked embarrassed. “It was the only thing I had.”
I stuck my hand out for a fist bump. She bumped it!
“But you saw,” Annabeth insisted. “When it hit him, just for a second, he was dazed. He came back to his senses.”
“So maybe Kronos wasn’t completely settled in the body, or whatever,” I said. “It doesn’t mean Luke was in control.”
“You want him to be evil, is that it?” Annabeth yelled. “You didn’t know him before, Percy. I did!”
“Didn’t know him before what Annabeth?” I snapped “Before he tried to kill Percy his first summer at Camp Half-Blood? Luke set a pit scorpion on a twelve year old! That’s not evil to you? What about the next year when he almost killed Percy on the Princess Andromeda. Or oooh what about when he tricked you into holding the sky up so that he could trap Artemis. Before his army attacks Camp? Before then?”
“Whoa, you three,” Rachel said. “Knock it off.”
Annabeth turned on her. “Stay out of it, mortal girl! If it wasn’t for you …”
Whatever she was going to say, her voice broke. She put her head down again and sobbed miserably. I wanted to comfort her, but I didn’t know how. I just yelled at her. I didn’t mean to make her feel bad, I just wanted her to open her eyes to all the bad he has done and not the good she thinks he’s capable of.
“We have to keep moving,” Nico said. “He’ll send monsters after us.”
Nobody was in any shape to run, but Nico was right. I hauled myself up and helped Percy up, who went on to help Rachel to her feet.
“You were great back there,” He told her.
She managed a weak smile. “Yeah, well. I didn’t want you to die.” She blushed. “I mean…just because you know. You owe me too many favors. How am I going to collect if you die?”
I knelt next to Annabeth. “Hey, I’m sorry for yelling at you. I’m willing to give you an extensive apology later, but first we need to move.”
“I know,” she said. “I’m…I’m all right.”
She was clearly not all right. But she got to her feet, and we started straggling through the Labyrinth again.
“Back to New York,” I said. “Rachel, can you—”
I froze. “Percy? is that—”
A few feet in front of us, my flashlight beam fixed on a trampled clump of red fabric laying on the ground. It was a Rasta cap: the one Grover always wore.
Percy’s hands shook as he picked up the cap. It looked like it had been stepped on by a huge muddy boot. After all that we’d gone through today, I couldn’t stand the thought that something might’ve happened to Grover, too.
Then I noticed something else. The cave floor was mushy and wet from the water dripping off the stalactites. There were large footprints like Tyson’s, and smaller one—goat hooves—leading off to the left.
“We have to follow them,” Percy said. “They went that way. It must have been recently.”
“I’m down.” I said
“What about Camp Half-Blood?” Nico asked. “There’s no time.”
“We have to find them,” Annabeth insisted. “They’re our friends.”
She picked up Grover’s smashed cap and forged ahead. I followed, bracing myself for the worst. The tunnel was treacherous. It sloped at weird angles and was slimy with moisture. Half the time we were slipping and sliding rather than walking.
Finally we got to the bottom of a slope and found ourselves in a large cave with huge stalagmite columns. Through the center of the room ran an underground river, and Tyson was sitting by the bank, cradling Grover in his lap. Grover’s eyes were closed. He wasn’t moving.
“Tyson!” Percy yelled.
“Percy! Come quick!”
We ran over to him. Grover wasn’t dead, thank the gods, but his whole body trembled like he was freezing to death.
“What happened?” I asked.
“So many things,” Tyson murmured. “Large snake. Large dogs. Men with swords. But then…we got close to here. Grover was excited. He ran. Then we reached this room, and he fell. Like this.”
“Did he say anything?” I asked.
“He said, ‘We’re close.’ Then he hit his head on rocks.”
Percy and I knelt next to him. I was scared. I loved Grover, he was one of my best friends. I’d only ever seen him pass out in New Mexico, when he’d felt the presence of Pan.
Percy shined his flashlight around the cavern. The rocks glittered. At the far end was the entrance to another cave, flanked by gigantic columns of crystal that looked like diamond. And beyond that entrance…
“Grover,” Percy said. “Wake up.”
“Uhhhhhhhh.”
Annabeth knelt next to him and splashed icy cold river water in his face.
“Splurg!” His eyelids fluttered “Percy? Annabeth? Where’s [Name], no don’t tell me”
“It’s okay” Percy said “He’s right here”
He moved out of the way so I could peek my head in “Hey G! How’ve you been?” I smirked
“What happened”
“You passed out.” Percy said “The presence was too much for you.”
“I—I remember. Pan”
“He’s here Grover. I can feel it” I confirmed. “Just beyond that doorway”
Percy POV
I made quick introductions, since Tyson and Grover had never met Rachel. Tyson told Rachel she was pretty, which made Annabeth’s nostrils flare like she was going to blow fire.
“Anyway,” I said. “Come on, Grover. Lean on me.”
[Name] and I helped him up, and together we waded across the underground river. The current was strong. The water came up to our waists. I willed myself to stay dry, which is a handy little ability, but that didn’t help the others, and I could still feel the cold, like wading through a snowdrift.
“I think we’re in Carlsbad Caverns,” Annabeth said, her teeth chattering. “Maybe an unexplored section.”
“How do you know?”
“Carlsbad is in New Mexico,” she said.
“That would explain last winter.” I nodded.
Grover’s swooning episode had happened when we passed through New Mexico. That’s where he’d felt closest to the power of Pan.
We got out of the water and kept walking. As the crystal pillars loomed larger, I started to feel the power emanating from the next room. I’d been in the presence of gods before, but this was different.
My skin tingled with living energy. My weariness fell away, as if I’d just had a good night’s sleep. I could feel myself growing stronger, like one of those plants in a time-lapse video. And the scent coming from the cave was nothing like the dank wet underground. It smelled of trees and flowers and a warm summer day.
Grover whimpered with excitement. I was too stunned to talk. [Name] looked at peace. His smile was gentle and sweet, his eyes less scrutinizing. Even Nico seemed speechless.
We stepped into the cave, and Rachel said, “Oh, wow.”
The walls glittered with crystals—red, green and blue. In the strange light, beautiful plants grew—giant orchids, star-shaped flowers, vines bursting with orange and purple berries that crept among the crystals.
The cave floor was covered with soft green moss. Overhead, the ceiling was higher than a cathedral, sparkling like a galaxy of stars. In the center of the cave stood a Roman-style bed, gilded wood shaped like a curly U, with velvet cushions. Animals lounged around it—but they were animals that shouldn’t have been alive.
There was a dodo bird, something that looked like a cross between a wolf and a tiger, a huge rodent like the mother of all guinea pigs and, roaming behind the bed, picking berries with its trunk, was a woolly mammoth.
On the bed lay an old satyr. He watched us as we approached, his eyes as blue as the sky. His curly hair was white and so was his pointed beard. Even the goat fur on his legs was frosted with grey. His horns were enormous—glossy brown and curved. There was no way he could’ve hidden those under a hat, the way Grover did. Around his neck hung a set of reed pipes.
Grover fell to his knees in front of the bed. “Lord Pan!”
The god smiled kindly, but there was sadness in his eyes. “Grover, my dear, brave satyr. I have waited a very long time for you.”
“I… got lost,” Grover apologized.
Still, Pan looked tired. His whole form shimmered as if he were made of Mist.
I noticed my other friends were kneeling. They had awed looks on their faces. I got to my knees.
“You have a humming dodo bird,” I said stupidly.
The god’s eyes twinkled. “Yes, that’s Dede. My little actress.”
Dede the dodo looked offended. She pecked at Pan’s knee and hummed something that sounded like a funeral dirge.
“This is the most beautiful place!” Annabeth said. “It’s better than any building ever designed.”
“I’m glad you like it, dear,” Pan said. “It is one of the last wild places. My realm above is gone, I’m afraid. Only pockets remain. Tiny pieces of life. This one shall stay undisturbed…for a little longer.
“The land is so fertile here. I feel like I can grow anything. More than just vines.”
“Give it a try” Pan said, eyes twinkling.
“How?” [Name] asked.
“Think really hard about eating a mango. Then think about how it would feel to stretch up and out and grow really big. Think about the colors of a ripe mango and how juicy it should be. And then imagine that mango tree dropping that perfect mango into your hand.”
I felt a weight drop into my hand. I opened my eyes and gasped at what I saw.
“You just—” Annabeth muttered, hands full.
“How?” I asked
“I just imagined it.” [Name] shrugged
Pan’s laugh reminded me of wind chimes.
“My lord,” Grover said, “please, you must come back with me! The Elders will never believe it! They’ll be overjoyed! You can save the wild!”
Pan placed his hand on Grover’s head and ruffled his curly hair. “You are so young, Grover. So good and true. I think I chose well.”
“Chose?” Grover said. “I–I don’t understand.”
[Name] let out a short knowing gasp.
Pan’s image flickered, momentarily turning to smoke. The giant guinea pig scuttled under the bed with a terrified squeal. The woolly mammoth grunted nervously. Dede stuck her head under her wing. Then Pan re-formed.
“I have slept many aeons,” the god said forlornly. “My dreams have been dark. I wake fitfully, and each time my waking is shorter. Now we are near the end.”
“What?” Grover cried. “But no! You’re right here!”
“My dear satyr,” Pan said. “I tried to tell the world, two thousand years ago. I announced it to Lysas, a satyr very much like you. He lived in Ephesos, and he tried to spread the word.”
Annabeth’s eyes widened. “The old story. A sailor passing by the coast of Ephesos heard a voice crying from the shore, ‘Tell them the great god Pan is dead.’”
“But that wasn’t true!” Grover said.
“Your kind never believed it,” Pan said. “You sweet, stubborn satyrs refused to accept my passing. And I love you for that, but you only delayed the inevitable. You only prolonged my long, painful passing, my dark twilight sleep. It must end.”
“No!” Grover’s voice trembled.
“Dear Grover,” Pan said. “You must accept the truth. Your companion, Nico, he understands.”
Nico nodded slowly. “He’s dying. He should have died long ago. This…this is more like a memory.”
“But gods can’t die,” Grover said.
“They can fade,” Pan said, “when everything they stood for is gone. When they cease to have power, and their sacred places disappear. The wild, my dear Grover, is so small now, so shattered, that no god can save it. My realm is gone. That is why I need you to carry a message. You must go back to the council. You must tell the satyrs, and the dryads, and the other spirits of nature, that the great god Pan is dead. Tell them of my passing. Because they must stop waiting for me to save them. I cannot. The only salvation you must make yourself. Each of you must—”
He stopped and frowned at the dodo bird, who had started humming again. “Dede, what are you doing?”
Pan demanded. “Are you singing ‘Kumbaya’ again?”
Dede looked up innocently and blinked her yellow eyes.
Pan sighed. “Everybody’s a cynic. But as I was saying, my dear Grover, each of you must take up my calling.”
“But…no!” Grover whimpered.
“Be strong,” Pan said. “You have found me. And now you must release me. You must carry on my spirit. It can no longer be carried by a god. It must be taken up by all of you.”
“Percy Jackson,” the god said. “I know what you have seen today. I know your doubts. But I give you this news: when the time comes, you will not be ruled by fear.”
He turned to Annabeth. “Daughter of Athena, your time is coming. You will play a great role, though it may not be the role you imagined.”
Pan looked at [Name] “You are much more than a warrior. You are a wild card. The Lover. An agent of chaos. The power you hold is immense, but you will learn to unleash it”
Then he looked at Tyson. “Master Cyclops, do not despair. Heroes rarely live up to our expectations. But you, Tyson—your name shall live among the Cyclopes for generations. And Miss Rachel Dare …”
Rachel flinched when he said her name. She backed away like she was guilty of something, but Pan only smiled. He raised his hand in a blessing.
“I know you believe you cannot make amends,” he said. “But you are just as important as your father.”
“I—” Rachel faltered. A tear traced her cheek.
“I know you don’t believe this now,” Pan said. “But look for opportunities. They will come.”
Finally he turned back towards Grover.
“My dear satyr,” Pan said kindly. “Will you carry my message?”
“I—I can’t.’
“You can,” Pan said. “You are the strongest and bravest. Your heart is true. You have believed in me more than anyone ever has, which is why you must bring the message, and why you must be the first to release me.”
“I don’t want to.”
“I know,” the god said. “But my name, Pan…originally it meant rustic. Did you know that? But over the years it has come to mean all. The spirit of the wild must pass to all of you now. You must tell each one you meet: if you would find Pan, take up Pan’s spirit. Remake the wild, a little at a time, each in your own corner of the world. You cannot wait for anyone else, even a god, to do that for you.”
Grover wiped his eyes. Then slowly he stood. “I’ve spent my whole life looking for you. Now…I release you.”
Pan smiled. “Thank you, dear satyr. My final blessing.”
He closed his eyes, and the god dissolved. White mist divided into wisps of energy, but this kind of energy wasn’t scary like the blue power I’d seen from Kronos. It filled the room. A curl of smoke went straight into my mouth, and Grover’s, and the others’. But I think a little more of it went into Grover.
The crystals dimmed. The animals gave us a sad look. Dede the dodo sighed. Then they all turned grey and crumbled to dust. The vines withered. And we were alone in a dark cave, with an empty bed.
I switched on my flashlight. Grover took a deep breath.
“Are… are you okay?” I asked him.
He looked older and sadder. He took his cap from Annabeth, brushed off the mud, and stuck it firmly on his curly head.
“We should go now,” he said, “and tell them. The great god Pan is dead.”