Percy Jackson - Beyond the Gods

The next morning, after breakfast, Percy told Grover about the nightmare. They sat in the meadow, watching the satyrs chase the forest nymphs through the snow.

The nymphs had promised to kiss the satyrs if they were caught, but that rarely happened. Usually, the nymph would let the satyr get hot-headed, then turn into a snow-covered tree. The poor satyr would headbutt it, and a pile of snow would fall on him.

When Percy shared his nightmare with Grover, the satyr started twisting his finger in the shaggy fur on his leg.

"You saw Artemis in your dream?" Grover asked, curious.

"Yes... She was there, trying to save a woman I couldn't see clearly, but I knew it was Ikki's mother." Percy hesitated, recalling the feeling of despair in the dream. He knew it was impossible because Ikki's mother was dead. But that wasn't something he should tell Grover. That was Ikki's best friend's duty. Still, in the dream, Artemis seemed to know who she was and was doing everything to rescue her, but something went wrong. Artemis got trapped, and Percy couldn't do anything.

Grover frowned. "Ikki's mother? Why her...?" He stopped, still trying to process the information.

Percy looked away, not wanting to go into details. "In the dream, it seemed like Artemis knew who she was and tried to do everything to rescue her, but in the end, everything got out of control."

Grover looked perplexed. "That doesn't make sense... Why would Artemis be trying to save her?"

"I don't know, Grover. I just know it felt too real to be just a dream. In the dream, Artemis seemed to know something I didn't quite understand, and when she tried to intervene, she got trapped. I couldn't do anything to stop what was happening. The feeling of helplessness was like I was really there with them."

Grover was silent for a moment, trying to process Percy's words. "And the cave ceiling? What does that mean?"

"I don't know, Grover. I just know the ceiling collapsed on Artemis and the woman, and I couldn't stop it. I think Artemis was trying to prevent something much bigger, but she got trapped, and it left me with a strange feeling, like it was just the beginning of something much darker."

Grover bit his lip, visibly uncomfortable with the idea that something so big and dangerous could be happening without them knowing.

"Maybe what Zoe said is the key to understanding what's going on. If Artemis is really in danger, maybe this dream has some meaning."

Percy nodded. "I have a feeling it does. Something big is approaching, Grover, and we need to figure out what's going on."

Grover nodded. "I don't know. But after what Zoe dreamed—"

"Whoa. What do you mean? Zoe had a dream like this?"

"I... I don't know exactly. Around three in the morning, she came to the Big House and demanded to speak with Chiron. She seemed really panicked."

"Wait, how do you know that?"

Grover blushed. "I was kind of camping outside Artemis's cabin."

"For what?"

"Just to be, you know, near them."

"You're a hoofed stalker."

"I'm not! Anyway, I followed her to the Big House and hid in a bush and watched the whole thing. She got really upset when Argus wouldn't let her in. It was kind of a dangerous scene."

Percy tried to imagine that. Argus, the camp's head of security, was a big blond guy with eyes all over his body. He rarely showed up unless something serious was going on. Percy wouldn't bet on a fight between Argus and Zoe Nightshade.

"What did she say?" Percy asked.

Grover grimaced. "Well, she starts talking old-fashioned when she gets upset, so it was a bit hard to understand. But there was something about Artemis being in trouble and needing the Hunters. Then she called Argus a boiled-brained clown... I think that's a bad thing. Then he called her—"

"Whoa, wait. How can Artemis be in trouble?"

"I... well, finally Chiron showed up in his pajamas and his horse tail with curls and—"

"He curls his tail?"

Grover covered his mouth.

"Sorry," Percy said. "Go on."

"Well, Zoe said she needed permission to leave camp immediately. Chiron refused. He reminded Zoe that the Hunters were supposed to stay until they received orders from Artemis. And she said..." Grover swallowed hard. "She said, 'How are we supposed to get orders from Artemis if Artemis is lost?'"

"Lost? Like she needs directions?"

Percy struggled to process what Grover had just said. "No. I think she meant missing. Captured. Kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Percy murmured, feeling a chill run down his spine. He tried to focus his mind around this absurd idea. "How do you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?"

"Well, it is," Grover replied, though his voice was full of uncertainty. "I mean, it happened with Persephone."

"But she was like, the goddess of flowers," Percy retorted, trying to find logic in what seemed illogical.

Grover frowned, offended. "Spring."

"Whatever. Artemis is way more powerful than that. Who could kidnap her? And why?"

Grover shook his head miserably. "I don't know. Kronos?"

Percy felt his stomach churn at hearing that name. "He can't be that powerful already. Can he?"

The last time they dealt with Kronos, he was in pieces. Well, they didn't actually see him. Thousands of years ago, after the great war between the Titans and the Gods, the gods sliced him into pieces with his own scythe and scattered the remains in Tartarus, a sort of bottomless recycling bin for enemies of the gods. Two summers ago, Kronos tricked them to the brink of the abyss and almost pushed them in. Last summer, aboard Luke's demon cruise ship, they saw a golden coffin, where Luke claimed he was summoning the Titan Lord out of the abyss, piece by piece, each time someone new joined his cause.

Kronos could influence people through dreams and deceive them, but Percy couldn't understand how he could overpower Artemis physically if he was still just a malevolent pile of tree bark remains.

"I don't know," Grover said, his voice sounding almost desperate. "I think someone would know if Kronos had rebuilt himself. The gods would be more nervous. Still, it's strange, you having a nightmare the same night as Zoe. It's almost like—"

"If they were connected," Percy completed, a chill running down his spine.

Across the frozen lawn, a satyr skidded on his hooves while chasing a red-haired tree nymph. She smiled and crossed her arms as he ran toward her. With a little pop, she turned into a Scots pine, and he collided with the trunk at full speed.

"Ah, love," Grover sighed, dreamily.

Percy, however, was lost in thought. Zoe's nightmare, occurring just a few hours after his, seemed more than a coincidence. "I need to talk to Zoe," he said, determined.

"Um, before you do that..." Grover pulled something out of his jacket pocket. It was something folded in the shape of a tree, like a travel brochure. "You remember what you said—about how it was strange the Hunters showed up out of nowhere at Westover Hall? I think they might have been watching us."

"Watching us? What do you mean?" Percy asked, confused.

Grover handed him the brochure. It was about Artemis's Hunters. The cover said; A wise choice for your future! Inside were photos of young maidens doing hunter things, chasing monsters, shooting bows. The captions included: Health Benefits: immortality and what it means for you and a boy-free morning!

"I found this in Annabeth's backpack," Grover said.

Percy stared at it, his mind spinning with the implications. "I don't understand."

"Well, I think... maybe Annabeth was thinking about joining."

Percy felt a knot form in his throat. He wanted to say he took the news well, but the truth was his heart was heavy with the possibility.

He wanted to say he took the news well, but he knew that would be a lie. The truth was he wanted to strangle Artemis's Hunters, one immortal maiden at a time. How could Annabeth even consider such an idea? How could she think about walking away from everything they had fought to build? Every bit of his confidence seemed to shatter with each new thought, and he couldn't help but wonder what he had done wrong. All he felt was anger, a deep burning anger in his chest.

When he was about to complain, he was interrupted. stretching as he walked across the snow-covered meadow. He approached the two, looking casual, but his eyes shone with a veiled concern.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Ikki asked, his voice light, but the tone suggested he knew something serious was at play. Indeed, he noticed his two friends seemed to be having an important conversation.

Percy and Grover exchanged glances, surprised by the sudden appearance.

Percy took a deep breath, feeling the weight of what he needed to explain. "Ikki... it's about Artemis. We think she's in danger."

Ikki stopped, his face hardening at the information. "In danger? What do you mean by that?"

He felt like a punch had hit him in the stomach. Returning from his meditation to the life of a camper again, he didn't expect to receive this news, something he had avoided during the year he was gone, something he didn't want to touch. He felt empty, indifferent, but only on the surface. Inside, a storm of emotions roared, a desperate urge to scream, to cry, to lose himself in the pain that consumed him.

At that time, he knew he should have expected this outcome. From the beginning, something inside him always whispered that love wasn't for him, neither in his past life nor in this one. But still, he hoped. He nurtured a spark of hope, an almost naive belief that things could be different this time. He had convinced himself he could escape the fate that always seemed to drag his happiness away.

How naive...

He wanted to deceive himself, wanted to believe that in this life, he could find something that had always been denied to him. But he was wrong. His optimism, his attempt to live fully to compensate for the tragedy of his previous existence, led him only to another painful disillusionment.

That day, even with the delicacy of her words, Artemis's rejection hit him with the force of a cannonball, shattering the glass wall he had built to protect his heart.

The pain was unbearable. Love, he realized, was like a cruel addiction. When deprived of it, the suffering was more intense than any substance could cause. The emotional withdrawal corroded him, leaving an open wound that seemed impossible to heal. The only thing that kept him standing, that prevented him from completely surrendering to that overwhelming pain, were the chaotic events that followed. The death of his mother, and his obsession with bringing her back, all happened in a whirlwind, not giving enough time to process or absorb what he was feeling.

Time didn't erase the pain of his rejection, but transformed it into something more complex—a mix of bitterness and a remnant of love he couldn't completely extinguish. He remembered how he felt when she rejected him, the cold rain that accompanied him as he flew back home, carrying a broken heart and an exhausted soul. Now, upon learning she was in danger, the old wound seemed to throb again, bringing to the surface feelings he thought he had buried.

Percy reported the nightmare he had, describing the vision of Artemis trying to save a woman. He mentioned that the woman in the dream seemed to be Ikki's mother, even though he knew that was impossible.

Ikki was silent for a moment, his fists clenching, but he struggled to maintain control. "My mother is dead. How could Artemis be trying to save her?"

The words escaped his lips before he could contain them. The silence that followed was thick. Grover's eyes widened, shock evident on his face. "Dead?" he murmured, his voice faltering. "Ikki... your mother is dead?"

The satyr still didn't know this news, and he let it slip just like that...

Ikki looked away, his shoulders tense. "Yes, Grover. She died over a year ago."

Grover took a step back, as if he had been punched in the stomach. The news hit him hard, making his heart ache. "Is that... is that the reason for your disappearance?"

Ikki took a deep breath, struggling to stay calm: "It was Luke... he killed her. I... I couldn't deal with it. So, I left."

The mention of Luke made Grover flinch, as if he had been hit again. "Luke?" he repeated, his voice trembling. "No... not Luke. I never imagined he would do something like that."

The pain and disbelief in Grover's eyes were evident. He remembered the time when Luke was one of the heroes, one of the most trusted friends. Luke's betrayal was already hard to accept, but hearing he had done something so terrible left him shaken in a way he didn't know how to process. But after all, now he knew the reason for the son of Zeus being so sad...

"I... I've always felt something different about you since you came back," Grover murmured, trying to hold back tears. "There was a coldness, a sadness I couldn't explain. But I didn't want to push you. I waited for you to open up."

"I'm sorry, Grover. I didn't want you to find out like this." Ikki sighed as he spoke, calming his emotions and focusing on anything but the memories.

Grover stepped forward, placing a hand firmly on Ikki's shoulder. "You don't need to apologize. I'm your friend. I should have noticed earlier. I'm here for you." The satyr was clearly shaken, sadness and guilt reflecting in his voice. "Ikki, I should have asked. I should have done more. I never imagined Luke... could do something like that."

Ikki looked at Grover, seeing the sincerity in his friend's eyes. "Thanks, man..."

"There's something else..." Percy spoke suddenly, drawing the attention of the Son of Zeus and the satyr to him. "Annabeth wanted to join the Hunters, Grover found this pamphlet in her backpack."

Ikki was slightly surprised by the reaction. He had indeed seen the satyr rummaging through Annabeth's backpack while they waited for Apollo; the daughter of Athena had all her focus on him, so she didn't notice. He thought of something that made him sigh inwardly. Was it because of him? The idea that Annabeth might be considering joining the Hunters to look for him was the most logical, considering the growing emotions she had for him that he had noticed, or maybe he was just too narcissistic?

After talking a bit more with the boys, he went off to do camper things.