GOLDEN | annabeth chase

vii

EVE KNEW THAT SHE SHOULD HAVE FELT MORE MISERABLE THAT NIGHT, BUT CAMPING OUT REMINDED HER OF ALL THE TIMES SHE WENT WITH HER MOTHER.

they camped out in the woods, about a hundred metres 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.

eve thought that the pollution was disgusting, but grover looked delighted for supper.

they'd taken some food and blankets from aunty em's, but they didn't dare light a fire to dry their damp clothes. the furies and medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. they wouldn't want to attract anything else.

and so they decided to sleep in shifts. percy volunteered to take first watch.

annabeth curled up on the blankets and whispered a good night whilst looking at eve, even though that was for everyone. she was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. 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, no longer happy about free supper. "and the sky. you can't even see the stars. they've polluted the sky. this is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"agreed," eve said. "as a nature lover too."

"oh, yeah. i guess you two would kinda be environmentalists."

he glared at percy. "only a human wouldn't be. well except you eve, and maybe some exceptions. 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."

eve placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"i know you will grover, you'll be the first. i just know it." eve confided.

"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 licence 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. 

eve felt at peace, and calm.

"tell me about the search," percy said.

grover looked at him cautiously, as if he were afraid percy was just making fun.

"the god of wild places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told him. "a sailor off the coast of ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, tell them that the great god pan has died! when humans heard the news, they believed it. they've been pillaging pan's kingdom ever since. but for the satyrs, pan was our lord and master. he protected us and the wild places of the earth. we refuse to believe that he died. in every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding pan. they search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden and wake him from his sleep."

"and you want to be a searcher."

"it's my life's dream," grover said. as he explained to percy.

he also explained how his father and uncle were searchers too-  but now he knew where his uncle was.