Song For This Chapter: Far Too Young To Die - Panic! At The Disco

Ch. 18 - Sounds Good To Me

    A still silence hung over the cool, mountain air as we walked over to the store Percy and the others decided to check out. In my new jacket, I shivered against the cold and took a sip of the coffee in my hand as Bianca and Percy came out to meet us.

    "Where is Thalia?" I rose a brow, looking towards the store front, but the rebellious daughter of Zeus was no where to be found.  

    Percy frowned a little and cast a glance towards the snow covered forest behind us. "She went off looking for a bus station or taxi service, but the store clerk told Bianca and I that we've missed the last shuttle until tomorrow." He frowned a little, casting me a small look. "Looks like we're stuck." He pulled the lion coat around his shoulders and gave me a reassuring smile, stepping closer to me.

    Bianca sighed and brushed her bangs out of her face, sending me a reassuring look. Perhaps I seemed as if I needed reassurance that everything was still going to plan. That what I was doing was right. Grinning, I handed Percy his hot chocolate as Zoë passed Bianca her drink as well.

    Quickly, I snatched a warm bag from out of Grover's grasp before he ate the contents. "Here, I got you a blueberry muffin, and a chocolate chip on for you, Bianca." I nodded at her while offering them the warm food. If we were stuck here, may as well enjoy ourselves.

    Huffing, Zoë pulled everyone's attention back to the main problem. "We should do the tracking spell once more." She turned to Grover who was eating a muffin wrapper. "Do you have any more acorns?"

    "Uh..." Grover patted down his pockets before suddenly freezing over as a strong, warm wind blew past us carrying the stench of spring time in the dead of winter. Encased inside the wind was a melodic voice, but is was shrouded - as if trying to call out a warning from a world away.

        Suddenly, all Hell broke loose. Slipping out of his fingers, Grover's coffee cup toppled to the ground, in mid-air the painted doves on the plastic peeled off and took flight, a horde of real doves dispersing into the sky. Dropping to his knees, Grover collapsed next to his steaming coffee in the snow.

    "Grover!" Bianca and I blurted out, dropping down onto the ground next to him and rolling him over to get him on his back. "What's wrong with him?" Bianca asked me frantically, dark eyes searching me for some coherent answer, but I had no idea. Under our hands, Grover groaned, eyes fluttering in a daze. 

    There was the sound of feet rushing towards us and Thalia popped up next to us, electric eyes flickering with fear. "Hey - What's wrong with Grover?" She prodded, grabbing his arm with a slightly concerned glare. 

    "I don't know," Percy frowned, "He...just collapsed." 

    Thalia grunted and yanked Grover onto his feet. "Well, get on your feet!" She yelled, spear in her other hand. "We have to get out of here." She glanced behind us, towards the trees as if she had been followed. "Now."

    Casting her a quick glance, Zoë and I nodded in agreement. "Here, I'll help." I smiled softly to Bianca as she struggled to support the loopy Grover. "Come on." 

    Fighting against the strong pull of the snow, we had made it to the outskirts of the small town before the skeleton warriors caught up to us. They came from the trees, surrounding us on either side and slowly closing in. Struggling under Grover's weight, I considered tossing him to the ground and facing the zombies head on, but I quickly turned that option down. I couldn't leave Bianca defenseless to hold up Grover by herself.

    Turning towards Bianca, I shot her a smirk. "You go ahead and fight those guys, I can handle the satyr by myself."

    "You sure?" She bore her eyes into mine with a new sense of authority that she had no doubt picked up from the other Hunters. She was a new life form entirely.

    Chuckling, I nodded as the skeletons began to get closer, Thalia drawing her shield and Percy summoning Riptide. "Of course, I'm a goddess. I'm stronger than you." I nodded at her as she stepped away hesitantly. Rolling my eyes, I grunted a little, getting a better hold on the idiot. When I realized that Bianca still hadn't left, I sighed and glanced directly into her eye. "From the authority granted to me as the Daughter of Artemis. Go fight." 

    Bianca straightened out and snapped her fingers, calling her weapons to her, and nodding a me with a small smile. "Yes, M'lady." I glared slightly, but let it slide, shifting Grover's dead weight around so I could grasp the handle of Frai incase one of them got too close.

    "Back up, guys." Thalia called out, trying to make an escape route, but we were surrounded. There was only one way out - and that was to fight.

    Grover moaned out, flailing around like a fish out of water. "It's near!" He cried, smacking me in the face with his hand as he spazzed around. Growling, I made a move to slap him back, but Percy interrupted me. 

    "It's here, Grover." 

    Grover shook his head. "No, no the Wild. The Wild's gift is here!" I had no idea what he was talking about, but for a moment I questioned if he had a concussion from the fall. 

    Talking over Grover, Thalia devised a plan. "Four of them, five of us - we can all split up, Olive taking Grover so that they can't get to him in this condition." She quickly glanced around at everyone and nodded. "Agreed?"

    "Agreed." Zoë nodded quickly, to my surprise.

    However, as everyone began to pull away towards opposite directions to run, Grover cried out loudly in my ear, "The Wild!" Suddenly, a sharp breeze blew through, it was warm and smelt like spring time - similar to what had happened only minutes before. Percy lifted his sword and charged head-first, striking a skeleton in the chest. Expertly, Percy began chopping the zombie into bits, limb from limb.

    Time froze when a skeleton lifted a gun and a shot echoed across the canyon, echoing inside my head. "Percy!" I screamed out, dropping Grover and making a move to run to his side, but I was held back by Bianca. Another shot was fired into Percy's back and he dropped down into the snow. 

    "Percy!" Thalia cried, eyes going wide in horror as she spared me a mournful glance. Shaking off Bianca as she watched the scene unfold in remorse, I popped open my necklace and began firing arrows at anything that moved, leaving Grover to stand blankly in the middle of the street, gazing at the trees with arms held wide.

    Rushing over to where Percy was sprawled out in the snow, I realized that there was no blood, he wasn't hit. "You're okay?" My voice cracked a little as I helped him onto his feet. "How?" I questioned, firing a few arrows into the skull of a skeleton on our right, but it wasn't fazed in the slightest.

    "The lion's fur." Percy grinned, tugging at the fabric for a moment in awe. "It is bullet proof." A booming sound, like a bulldozer, ripped it's way into the area. Glancing around, I watched as a skeleton lunged at Bianca, teeth first. Bianca quickly side stepped and pulled out her hunting knife, lodging it deep into it's chest. As she did, the monster erupted into flames, reducing into nothing but a pile of rubble and ash.

    "How'd you do that?" I grinned, raising a brow at her as she stared down at the pile with a mixture of shock and confusion blatantly displayed on her face. 

    Bianca shrugged her shoulders and chuckled a little. "I don't know, lucky stab?"

    "Well, do it again!" Zoë grinned, firing more arrows into the zombies even though it didn't do anything helpful. Bianca nodded and swung at another one, but the others were smart enough to avoid her. 

    Percy held Riptide out in front of us like a shield as we slowly retreated against the on coming skeletons. "Plans?" He asked, looking around. No one answered. No one but the trees. Branches began cracking, the forest floor was shaking, and a loud roar shrieked through the air with a screeching, "REEEEEEEETTT".

    "A gift!" Grover cheered in a daze, spreading his arms out wider as an extremely large boar tore through the forest fringe, crushing things in it's wake. And by things, I mean the skeletons. It pummeled them into pieces, limbs scattering around the ground. After finishing off the monsters, the boar turned on us, tusks first and angry.

    Thalia rose her spear, poised to kill. Mimicking her, I arched my bow, aiming at it's tiny eyeball, but Grover suddenly yelled out, "Don't kill it!" 

    "Why not?" I spat, narrowing my eyes onto the beast. "Sounds good to me..." At my words, the boar grunted, pawing the ground as if to prepare to charge.

    Zoë's face whitened and she swallowed a lump in her throat, trying to keep her voice calm. "That's the Erymanthian Boar. I don't think we can kill it." 

    "It's a gift," Grover muttered out again, making me wonder if he was completely mental. "A blessing from the Wild!" 

    The boar let out a loud screech once again, swinging it's tusk around. Bianca and Zoë dodged expertly out of the way, but I yanked Grover down since he was acting the fool. Percy rolled around in the snow once the Boar stopped it's assault. "Yeah, I feel real blessed!" Percy hissed, rolling his eyes and hopping up onto his feet, helping me up. "Scatter!"

    On Percy's command, we all ran in different directions, momentarily confusing the beast. "It wants to kill us!" Thalia hissed towards Grover, arguing for a reason to kill it.

    "Of course," Grover spared her a small look as if she should have known this all along. "it is wild."

    Bianca rolled her eyes, tossing her braid over her shoulder. "So, how is that a blessing exactly? Because I seem to be confused." The sarcasm in this group was exceptional. The boar let out an outraged roar and aimed one of it's tusks at Bianca, causing her to roll onto the ground to avoid being pulverized. The sign that read, "Welcome to Cloudcroft" was less fortunate.

    "I hope they're insured against wild boar attacks..." Percy muttered under his breath, making me chuckle and roll my eyes. "Now's not the time for that, Waterboy!" I shouted as the boar gained on us once more. 

    "Keep moving!" Zoë instructed running to the left while I paired with Bianca and ran to the right. Percy, Thalia, and Grover disappeared in a different direction. We both ran for a quarter mile before stopping for a quick breather. 

    "You see it anywhere?" I stretched my arms out, realizing that I wasn't as out of breath as I would be when I was human. Bianca pushed a few strands of hair that had fallen into her eyes back, glancing around us with her bow grasped tightly in her hand. 

    "No, it's not here." 

    There was a moment of silence as I strained my hearing, picking up the direction of where the beast was. "Bianca, Lady Olive." Zoë popped up from around a tree and smoothed out her shirt. "We seem to have lost the beast." 

    Sighing, I cursed and ran a hand through my bangs, my braid had long ago fallen out. "That means it's tailing Percy, Grover, and Thalia." Bianca nodded in agreement and cocked her head to the side.

    "Do you know their direction?" 

    Listening is, I heard a low roar of anger sounding from the boar and I quickly sprinted off, calling over my shoulder, "They're West." Picking up the speed, Zoë and Bianca trailed behind me on my flanks, as if we were still part of the smooth moving Hunt. It came naturally, but I couldn't help but feel unnerved by the fact that Zoë was so willing to let me take the front position.

    Running up hill, the yells from Percy and Thalia became more and more prominent and coherent. "Shut up, Percy! You don't know what you're talking about!" Thalia yelled just as we made it up to the peak of the cliff.

    Smirking slightly, I caught my breath as I glanced down at the sight of Percy and Thalia sitting, unharmed, at the bottom of the hill. Thalia looked a little green, Percy was covered in minor cuts that were bleeding a little, but other than that they were okay. "Hello?" Grover called out, stumbling out from the forest next to our little pack of Hunters. 

    Percy lifted his head and smiled up at us, meeting my eyes. "Down here." He waved us down, motioning towards the boar that was wedged into the snow tightly. 

    Carefully, we slid down the cliff side, being sure not to slip on any rocks jutting out from the snow or slippery patches of ice. I was a little too excited to get to the bottom, so I tripped and slid forward a great length, only stopped by Percy's grasp. "Percy." I grinned a little as I backed out of his arms, blush spreading onto my face.

    "Olive." He nodded, eyes shining a little. 

    Grover heaved a sigh, but as I assessed him, I noticed he was no longer in a daze. " A blessing from the Wild indeed." 

    "I agree," Zoë nodded with a small frown pulling the corners of her lips down. "We must use it."

    Thalia stepped forward. "Hold up," Her brow twitched as she began to yank pine needles from her hair. Next to me, I could hear Percy mutter under his breath about how she looked as if she'd lost a fight with a Christmas tree. "How do we know this thing was a blessing?"

    Grover rose a brow at her, small smile on his mouth. "It's our ride West, of course. Do you know how fast this guy can travel?"

    I groaned a little under my breath. "Fun." 

    "Yeah, like... pig cowboys." Percy pipped up, smirk on his face while I rolled my eyes at that, but a smile slid onto my face none-the-less.

    The boar began to struggle in the snow, making a little wiggle room for itself to escape. "I guess it's now or never..." I added watching Grover toss an apple in front of the beast's nose and begin to play a chirpy tune on his wind pipes, enchanting the fruit to hover mere inches in front of the Boar's nose. 

    "Wish I could have more time to explore, though...." Grover pouted while Thalia, Bianca, and Zoë hopped onto the back of it, it was wide enough to fit us all comfortably, but I still was unsure about it. This wasn't going to be a fun time.

    Hoisting myself up, I slid behind Zoë and held out a hand for Percy as he looked towards Grover with a raised brow. "What was he just talking about? Why would he want to explore more?" Frowning, I shrugged my shoulders, not having an answer.

    As I helped him onto the beast, Zoë turned slightly and heaved a small sigh. "Didn't you feel it, Percy? The warmth?" She rose a brow while Percy only nodded. "That was the presence that I have only felt once before. The god of the Wild... Pan."

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Hey guys! Sorry it's so short, but I'll try to update soon :) For all of you who've read the books, you all know what's coming next ;/ 

THE WINNING SHIP NAME WAS: Perlivia (perlive) it had the most votes :D awesome, guys!