anxious Chapter 7

Piper

"Come on everybody, time for our next activity! I said to my cabin. We had just finished canoing and almost everybody was wet and complaining about their messed-up hair.
"Hurry up guys! We don't want to be late for pegasus riding!" I tried to sound as positive as possible. Positive head councillior meant a positive cabin. Well, sort of.
"Ewww, gross. The stables smell horrible. I don't want to get any mud on these shoes either," said Drew, pointing to her 3-inch heels. "They're designer. I suppose you wouldn't know much about that though, huh Piper?"

I turned to see Drew smirking mockingly at me. As much as I wanted to use her 'designer heels' to claw her eyes out that wouldn't be setting a good example for our newer campers. "Please keep talking Drew," I said in a bored monotone. "Beacause I'm sure that everyone is so anxious to hear you complain for the next hour."
Drew's expression darkened and luckily she went silent.

She had stopped calling me dumpster girl, but only because now I was in charge of her. Other than that she was same old annoying, self-centred Drew.

We were at the stable doors when I noticed one of my half-siblings lagging behind. "Hey, Priscilla. Are you okay?" I fell into step beside her and waveed everybody else on.
"I don't think so. I'm... afraid of heights? Yeah, afraid of heights, and the thought of riding something so high up just scares me to death." She looked at me pleadingly. I could tell that she really didn't want to do this.

I sighed. Priscilla was going to have to get over her fear at some point, but since this was her first few days I made an exeception.
"Come with me. I'll take you back to our cabin, but you need to meet us at the dining hall when they blow the conch, okay?"

I could hear the relief in her voice. "Okay, thanks Piper. Maybe I'll try next time."
I smiled at her. "No problem. Come on, the instructor will take it from here."

We started up the path back toward the cabins. I studied Priscilla curiously. Something was off about her, she was very on edge. But also she seemed very comfortable at camp, not like the usual new campers who were scared out of their wits by everything. She was able to disarm me in seconds, claiming that she had never even touched a sword before. I would have to keep an eye on her.

"Thanks, but I think I can take it from here," she said when we reached the cluster of cabins.
I watched her walk away. I really hoped that she wouldn't go get herself into trouble.

I blew my hair out of my face, now what was I going to do. I really didn't want to do pegasus riding, but I also really didn't want to hang out in my cabin.
"Piper!" A familiar voice called to me.
I couldn't keep the smile off of my face as Jason enveloped me in a hug. "Where have you been?" I asked my boyfriend.
"I was doing a favor for Annabeth. She wanted me to fly around the the area by Olympus, see if Percy was there somewhere," Jason explained. He brushed his blone hair back looking stressed.
I frowned at him. "Find anything?"
"That's just the thing. I didn't find anything. Nothing." he said, throwing up his hands in dismay.
I put my arms around him so I could look him in the eyes," well Annabeth didn't find anything either and she's, you know, Annabeth."

Jason pushed me away and leaned his head against a nearby tree. "You don't get it," he said, his voice muffled. "I didn't just fly around. I actually snuck into the Empire State building to watch the lobby footage. Percy and Annabeth went up to Olympus, but only Annabeth came down. Percy never left."

The info shocked me. How would he get off Olympus without coming through the lobby? "Well, that means Percy could still be on Olympus. Just tell Annabeth to go back and take a look around," I said nonchalantly.
Jason didn't buy my fake relaxation. "Annabeth searched Olympus top to bottom when she couldn't find him. Percy's dad has been searching too. If a god can't find him I don't know who can."

"That puts a bit of a damper on things," I said, plopping onto a large rock.

Grover

I sucked in a breath. I was exhausted trying to communicate with Percy. It was no use, our empathy link was't working. I was really worried, we were running out of places to look.

I walked into the forest holding my panpipes. I played a soft melody and multicoloured flowers grew around my feet. This was the best way to forget all of my problems. I sat down on a log and played for a while, watching the grass around me grow past my hooves.

Then a twig snapped not to far in the distance. I fell silent, inclining my head toward the noise in order to hear better. It sounded like someone was walking, not a monster, but a camper. I sniffed the wind and drew back.
The scent was familiar, I knew exactly who it was. Percy. I lept up and charged through the forest, pausing every few seconds to redirect myself. After following his trail for almost a mile I came across a clearing where the trail ended.

But I didn't find Percy. Instead, I saw a girl I recognized from the Aphrodite cabin. I didn't know her name, but apparently she had disarmed Piper on her first try with a sword.
The Aphrodite girl was talking with someone over Iris message. Strange, ususally demigods don't know about that until they had been at camp for a few months. As far as I knew she'd been here for about three days. (Percy's been missing for 4) Even stranger, she seemed to be conversing with Aphrodite.

I leaned in to listen to their conversation.
"Any luck with Hecate yet?" she asked the goddess.
Aphrodite bit her lip looking guilty. "I can't find her. She's probably in disguise so she can attack Atlas from the inside."
The camper girl groaned, "I can't take it anymore, you need to find her."

I wonder what she needed Hecate for. She was the minor goddess of magic, right? This girl was getting stranger and stranger.

"I'm sorry, she's not an easy person to find," Aphrodite complaineded. "You really can't blame me, Per-"
I lost my balance and fell into a bush.
The girls fell silent and looked in my direction. The camper sliced her hand through the mist and canceled the conncetion. "Who's there?" she asked while drawing her sword.
I stepped out of the brush. She would find me anyways. I smiled at her, "Hi. I'm Grover Underwood, lord of the wild."
A look of alarm passed over her face. She didn't meet my eyes when she spoke. Something about her seemed familiar. " I'm Priscilla Jacobs."

That's when everything clicked. Everything. "Percy?" I spluttered.
She looked defeated. Much to my horror she nodded her head. She smiled at my open mouth and shocked expression. "Hey G-man."
I took a step closer. After the initial shock it was really obvious that she was Percy."How?"

Peryc started to explain. About how Aphrodite turned him into a girl and persuaded him to wait at camp for a cure under the ailias 'Priscilla Jacobs'.
I scoffed at the fake name. "Obvious much?"
"I forgot to think up one before coming to camp, it was the first thing I thought of," she said, holding her hands up in mock innocence.
Something occured to me: Annabeth was going to kill him when she found out. I jumped up in surprise. "Percy, we need to tell Annabeth, she's been freaking out since you've been gone!"
Percy wrung her hands in front of her, she wasn't telling me something. "Okay, Gover, here's the deal, we can't tell Annabeth. We can't tell anyone. You weren't even supposed to find out," she said, using guestures to hint how serious she really was. "Sorry, but this is top secret. If it somehow leaked that I was a girl now not only would I be the laughing stock of the entire demigod communnity, but Atlas might choose now to launch a full-out attack on camp." She looked tired, as if she didn't want to be keeping secrets either.
"Fine. I won't tell."
"Great, now I need to be getting to Arts and Crafts," she huffed and set off back towards camp."
I called her back,"It's good to see you again, Percy."
She smiled at me, a genuine lopsided smile. The one thing about Percy that hadn't changed.

Done! Super sorry about not updating. I've had this chapter typed up for a while now and I feel really stupid for not releasing it sooner. I'm such a derp.
Wisegirl6