Grover's pov

Grover felt very uneasy about having dinner at this strange aunt's house. Why? Grover didn't want to mention it. He still remembered Medusa's face when she was disguised as a gentle aunt. Although you could smell monsters when disguised, in this case, there was absolutely no sense of smell. He guessed that it was a good sign, or maybe a bad sign. But who knew what would happen?

Meanwhile, Percy was next to him, talking to the old lady Thea. Grover knew that Percy was not an idiot. So why would he not hesitate to enter a stranger's house (again)? There must be some other purpose?

Grover kept his suspicions to himself and remained silent until the old lady led Grover and Percy to the room where the two boys would sleep. She asked if they needed separate rooms. Of course not. Grover thought, he wouldn't want to risk being separated from Percy if something happened. After all, it was Grover's duty to protect Percy. Even though he didn't seem to be playing his role right now, and even nearly got in the way of Percy and Annabeth. Even now, Grover still felt bad thinking about how he almost turned into an inanimate plant.

The room was painted a simple brown color, the floor was made of light wood, the room had no windows and it was on the second floor. There was only a small wardrobe, a bed and a table and chairs in the room. It was quite small for two people, but only two adults. For two people in their child form, it seemed to be enough. That's why Percy said to tell the old woman that they only needed one bedroom.

Grover hadn't showered in about 2-3 days and he didn't like it. Even though Thea had given Percy and Grover towels to clean up, he was sure Thea didn't have any boyish clothes in the house, right? He hoped not, or else it would be even weirder.

-So, uh...what's your purpose, Percy?

Grover finally opened his mouth to ask. He didn't ask this in front of Thea for reasons that anyone with the ability to communicate beyond zero would understand.

Percy turned his head to Grover.

-Me? You know Thea's definitely not human.

Percy said. And he was saying something that anyone reading this, Grover, or even Annabeth, who was unconscious in the corner, could understand.

-Yeah, but isn't that too dangerous? I think we can survive in the woods, right?

Grover said. He'd been a Satyr all his life, how could a few days in the woods be difficult? Grover was even happy. Percy certainly understood that.

-Yeah..Listen, I think around 3-4am tomorrow, I'm going to search this house. You know, to find something that can prove who that old lady is.

Percy said, looking straight into Grover's eyes. Grover didn't know what Percy was trying to prove and Percy still hadn't given him a clear explanation.

- Percy...that's not what I asked. After the incident at Medusa's house, why would you...enter a stranger's house again?

Grover said. He wasn't sure what he was feeling, scared, angry, or opposed, probably all four.

Percy paused for a moment when he heard about Medusa. He looked down. Grover could feel Percy feeling sad and guilty. Grover didn't want Percy to feel that way, being at Medusa wasn't Percy's fault.

-My mother...I, want to find her. And if Thea is who I think she is...Maybe she knows something?

Percy said. Grover's heart stopped. Sally Jackson...Yes, Grover had to think about it. Percy still held out hope that she was alive. That night, Percy and Grover, half asleep, had seen her disappear in the flames.

Grover wanted to believe that Sally Jackson was alive and hiding somewhere, and he didn't want to believe what he, Chiron, or even the prophecy, in short, basically everyone except Percy (or at least he was lying to himself) thought. He knew that Percy had accepted the prophecy and come all this way for his mother. Even though in Percy's heart, Grover could feel that, deep down, he still wanted his father to care.

-The prophecy of the mission said that in the end I wouldn't be able to protect the most important thing, right? But my mother disappeared before the mission, what would be the point of that if she really died that night?! If that's the case, then what would be left for me to save...

Percy continued as if he could read Grover's mind. His friend's ears turned red, if he had been a little more, they might have caught fire. Grover understood what that meant.

Grover didn't want to make his friend sad anymore. If Grover couldn't protect Percy physically, Grover really wanted to protect him mentally, even if just a little, Grover didn't want to see his best friend sad. And he understood that Percy had been in a heavy mood these past few days.

-Okay..I'll help you, what can I do?

Grover said softly but loud enough for Percy to hear.

-Really..? You believe me?? Thank you so much! You're the best, G-man!

Percy rushed to hug Grover. Based on what Grover had learned about him over the past year, Percy was probably waiting for Grover to tell him not to get his hopes up, and that was why Percy was so moved to hug him.

Grover hugged Percy back. Then suddenly an image appeared in Grover's mind that he didn't want to remember even when he was unconscious and had been trying to get it out of his head for the past few days. Uncle Ferdinand's face was cold and gray, lifeless like a statue. Grover shuddered in horror at the memory but stopped himself from making any sound. The situation was bad enough, the fact that his uncle had been diagnosed as dead for a long time but could only be confirmed now shouldn't be a matter of concern. He had guessed it sooner anyway. It didn't matter.

-Let's go find something suspicious in this house, okay? Your sense of smell will definitely come in handy.

Percy said, looking happier that Grover had agreed to help. Grover shook off the thought that was forming in his head.

Grover nodded as if he understood.

-So... We're not sleeping tonight? Then weren't you planning to go searching at 3-4am?

Grover asked. It would be great if there was some coffee here, Grover thought.

-No, of course we have to sleep! If we don't sleep, we'll be exhausted tomorrow.

Percy said matter-of-factly, he backed away and walked towards the bed, sitting on the mattress. Grover didn't know if he would be refreshed after sleeping or not.

-Ah, okay.

Grover said and walked towards the bed, he took off his coat and hung it on the chair as he walked towards the bed. He lay down on the bed, and then he felt a strange but pleasant pain running down his spine.

He had never realized how tense he had been for the past few days until this moment.

Then Percy took off Sally's coat and lay on the bed. Both of them fell asleep.

That night, Grover continued to dream of his uncle turning into stone. His uncle's cold face and lifeless grey eyes scared Grover. He didn't want to see them anymore.

He wanted to run away, run away from this image, but then he saw the stone statues of his family, his parents, all lifeless. They were all dead, surrounded by snakes crawling out from the cracks on the statues.

-No- Dad..Mom..

Grover cried out, he was trembling, he couldn't even move his legs, soon, the snakes would come to him and then..

Next in front of him was Percy.. crying as he was turned into a statue, although he couldn't see his face clearly because Percy's back was turned to him. At least he was glad, how could he face Percy? Although, that tired, desperate back was enough to break Grover's heart.

No no no-, From Thalia, Annabeth, Luke to Percy. He...was so weak that he failed to protect them in one sense or another..

This time he wanted to run, run to escape this scene, run because of the shame of himself. Run to escape all those feelings. He felt weak, selfish and terrible.

But he realized that it would be useless because now his legs were also petrified...he was just a stone statue, inanimate, like everyone else.

-Hey, wake up, Grover! It's 6am!

Percy's voice rang out. Grover opened his eyes and he realized that he was just dreaming. He sighed to calm himself down.

-Are you okay, Grover? You're all sweaty, and you were shaking just now. Are you okay? Just tell me.

Percy asked worriedly.

-No, I'm fine. It's just too hot.

Grover said. He didn't want to worry anyone, it was the only thing he could really try, even though it would probably fail.

Percy looked at Grover skeptically. Grover knew that wouldn't convince Percy. But Percy would understand that Grover didn't really want to talk about it at all.

-Oh..Okay. So here's the plan, you and I will go quietly to check out all the rooms on the second floor first. Then we'll go down to the first floor because it seems like Thea's room is on the first floor because I didn't hear any footsteps last night.

Percy said. Although there was still a hint of worry in his eyes, he decided not to dig any deeper.

-Yeah, I see.

Grover said. He wasn't really sure he could be of much help. If only he had been the one unconscious instead of Annabeth.

Next, the two boys stealthily left the room and slowly walked into the next room, why? They had agreed that it was the closest, easy to hide in if the old lady came up and caught them.

This was a relatively normal room, nothing special, just a room like the one he was in. But don't let it fool you in the slightest.

walked around the room to get a better look. He could sense something from the room but he couldn't be sure if what Percy was looking for was there.

-What's wrong, Grover? Anything unusual?

Percy asked as he opened the closet in the room to rummage through it. Oh my, this felt illegal and weird.

-Yeah, but there's always been something unusual since entering this house. Is it still considered "unusual"?

Grover asked, not knowing how to put this strangely normal feeling into words. It was like something unusual was true, happening so often that it was considered normal.

-Eh?

Percy turned to look at Grover. A look of confusion was on his face. Grover knew Percy wouldn't understand right away, and he couldn't blame him.

-Well..

Grover had just opened his mouth to speak when the sound of the door opening softly sounded like Thanatos's voice through Grover's ears at that moment. It was definitely the old woman's voice.

-Hurry up,  hide in the closet!

Grover called out to Percy, but Percy's eyes were uncertain.

-What about you?

Percy asked, he certainly didn't want to abandon Grover, and Grover felt warmed by that. But right now, Grover hoped he could do what he did best.

-Stop talking and get in the closet! At least one of us can search! Come on, you're the son of Haephatus!

Grover could have screamed for a moment, but he stopped. Percy had no choice but to hide in the closet. That satisfied Grover enough.

-So what are you doing here?

Thea, opening the door, asked him. Her face was still the same, the same stern, judgmental look in her eyes. She adjusted her glasses a little. On her body was a popular pajama from the 1980s~ for the elderly that Grover had seen in magazines.

-Yes, I just couldn't sleep. It's a strange place anyway, right? So I'm not used to it yet. It seems like grandma can't sleep either, right? How about we go downstairs and talk? Ah, I know how to make tea! Do you want some?

Grover spoke in one breath without any pause. He didn't know what he was saying anymore, but he was pretty sure that even a normal person could see that he was quite nervous, he thought he was about to die. And he didn't even know if this old lady had any tea ingredients.

-Hmm? Okay, I want to see how good your tea-making skills are.

Grandma Thea said, then she turned around and went downstairs while signaling Grover to follow. Grover quickly ran after her, still not believing that he had succeeded or anything. But it doesn't matter, just keep the old lady as long as possible.