Embrace the Shadows

Ch 19

-Percy-

"But what about Grover?!" a voice demanded from behind him as he turned around to see Paris and Annabeth glaring at him angrily "he's still in the cave!".

"Ah, your Satyr friend," he said "I forgot about him." As he finished he pointed his hand at the boulder sealing Polyphemus' cave, causing it to shatter to pebbles "well go get him.". The moment the two were out of sight he sighed "Grover is someone I hadn't expected to side with them before.".

"I saw it coming," Clarisse admitted with a shrug "you saw the way he was the moment Thalia had come back, he saw her as the new 'prophecy child' and hung on her every word, took her opinion over yours in everything. Grover was and is an opportunist of the highest caliber, he just uses being the 'best friend rather than being a lover like Annabeth.".

"Thank Olympus for that," he said with a shudder "I do NOT want the mental image of Grover coming onto me anywhere in my mind.".

"I don't think anyone wants that mental image," Clarisse said with equal revulsion "I actually managed to find Juniper and it turns out she's completely disgusted with Grover at this point in time, I think he might have used a love potion or had Aphrodite send Eros with his arrows to shoot her.".

"Well that's interesting," he said with a raised eyebrow "I'll have to meet with her myself when we get back. Perhaps she would make a good replacement for Persephone."..

"How many replacements do you have planned Percy?" Medusa asked him intrigued.

"Well besides the ones I've already done or mentioned," he said as he pulled Medusa and Circe close to him "I was thinking of having Jason replace Zeus, Damian Replace Poseidon, maybe Katie replacing Demeter and Lou for Athena. Not as sure for the other ones yet.".

"That's a good plan so far," Circe said nodding "are you planning on getting any other allies for your army?".

"Well I'm going to take you and Medusa on a little voyage after this situation is resolved for another ally," he said with a nod "and I have a few more in mind for this winter, including a certain red haired friend of ours.".

"Rachel," Clarisse said with a grin before she frowned "why weren't her memories sent back? And what about Katie?".

"With the spirit of the Delphic oracle her memories couldn't be sent back and she can't become the oracle again if we found a way for her to regain those memories. As for Katie, well she, her sister, and a few other campers were away from camp when the whole situation occurred so they weren't able to betray me or remain loyal. My parents decided to let their actions in this time line speak for themselves.".

"Here comes the three stooges." Zoe said, giving them a heads up as Grover, Paris, and Annabeth were running over.

"Alright," he said when they got over to him "You've got your Satyr, now let's go." Before turning to his staircase and climbing down it along with the others "I want to make good time back to camp.".

They sailed through the night, using Circe's knowledge of the Triangle to avoid dealing with any of the nastier beings that dwelled within, and managed to reach Miami by the morning. "Alright," he called getting everyone's attention "time moved differently in the triangle than it does out here, right now it's June Eighteenth and Thalia's tree must be almost dead by now. We need to get the Fleece back tonight. Clarisse, I'm sending you back via plane, get to Camp and heal the tree.".

"Hey!" Paris yelled angrily "I should be the one…" before Paris could continue he blasted the irritation over the side of the ship with a burst of air. He hadn't wanted to spend as much time in the Sea of Monsters as he had, hadn't wanted to bring saving Thalia this down to the wire like it had been last time.