[ Brandon T. Jackson as Pan ]

I 037. I

𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔

❝ pan ❞

THEY RAN UNTIL THEY WERE EXHAUSTED. Rachel steered them away from traps, but they had no destination in mind—only away from that dark mountain and the roar of Kronos.

They stopped in a tunnel a wet white rock, like part of a natural cave. Ariadne cojín the hear anything behind them, but she didn't feel any safer. She could still remember those unnatural  golden eyes staring out of Luke's face, and the familiar scar that they shared.

"I can't go any farther," Rachel gasped, hugging her chest.

Annabeth had been crying the entire time they'd been running. Now she collapsed and put her head between her knees. Her sons echoed in the tunnel. Ariadne kneeled next to the girl, hands rubbing circles on her back as a sad look crossed her face.

Nico and Percy sat next to each other. Both of them dropped their swords and took shaky breaths.

"That sucked," Nico said.

"You saved our lives," Percy said.

Nico wiped the dust off his face. "Blame the girls for dragging me along. That's the only thing they could agree on. We needed to help you or you'd mess things up."

"Nic that they trust me so much." Percy shined his flashlight across the cavern. Water dripped from the stalactites like a slow-motion rain. "Nico... you, uh, kind of have yourself away."

"What do you mean?"

"The black wall of black stone? That was pretty impressive. Of Kronos didn't know who you were before, he does now—a child of the Underworld."

Nico frowned. "Big deal."

Ariadne felt Annabeth's sobs quiet down. She kept a soothing hand on her back in case they began again, and the brunette sat next to her sister.

She didn't want to cry, and frankly, she didn't have any tears left. It hurt her greatly seeing Luke that way, in Kronos's hand, but the Luke they knew was gone. And no matter how much Ariadne wanted to believe he was there, he wasn't, and that was the sad truth.

Annabeth lifted her head. Her eyes were red from crying. "What... what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?"

Percy told them what he'd seen in the coffin, the way the last piece of Kronos's spirit had entered Luke's body when Ethan Nakamura pledged his service.

"No," Annabeth said. "That can't be true. He couldn't—"

"He gave himself over to Kronos," Percy said. "I'm sorry, Annabeth. But Luke is gone."

Ariadne gave him a disapproving look.

"No!" she insisted. "You saw when Rachel hit him."

Percy nodded, looking at Rachel with respect. "You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."

Rachel looked embarrassed. "It was the only thing I had."

"But you saw him," Annabeth insisted. "When it hit him, just for a second, he dazed. He came back to his senses."

"So maybe Kronos wasn't completely settled in his body, or whatever," Percy said. "It doesn't mean Luke was in control."

"You want him to be evil is that it?" Annabeth yelled. "You didn't know him before, Percy. I did!"

"What is it with you?" Percy snapped. "Who do you keep defending him?"

"Woah, you two," Rachel said. "Knock it off!"

Ariadne turned to her. She was tired of Rachel, and she was tired of this constant fight between the group. And not having her medicine was taking it's toll on her. "Stay out of it, mortal girl! If it wasn't for you..."

The threat that had been on the tip of her tongue disappeared as her voice broke. She bit back her sob, and tears trickled down her cheeks. Annabeth put her head down and sobbed miserably.

Percy wanted to comfort Ariadne, but he didn't know how. He was too stunned.

"We have to keep moving," Nico said. "He'll send monsters after us."

Nobody was in any shape to run, but Nico was right. Percy hauled himself up and helped Rachel to her feet.

"You did good back there," he told her.

Ariadne wiped away her tears and scowled.

Rachel manage a weak smile. "Yeah, well. I didn't want you to die." She blushed. "I mean... just because, you know. You owe me too many favors. How am I going to collect if you die?"

Percy knelt next to Annabeth. "Hey, I'm sorry. We need to move."

"I know," she said. "I'm... I'm all right."

She was clearly not all right. But she got to her feet, leaving the brunette on the ground.

Percy inched closer to Ariadne, who didn't flinch like he expected her too. He hesitantly grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Hey, Aidan, we need to go," he said.

The brunette nodded. "O-okay." Her voice broke and she held back her tears. Percy helped her up and she pulled away from him, much to his dismay.

They started straggling back through the Labyrinth again.

"Back to New York," Percy said. "Rachel, can you—"

Percy froze. A few feet in front of them, his flashlight beam fixed on a trampled clump of red fabric lying on the ground. It was a Rasta cap: the one Grover always wore.

***

PERCY'S HANDS SHOOK AS HE PICKED UP THE CAP. It looked like it had been stepped on by a huge muddy boot. After all that she'd gone through that day, she couldn't stand the thought that something might've happened to Grover, too.

The she noticed something else. The cave floor was mushy and wet from the water dripping off the stalactites. There were large footprints like Tyson's, and smaller ones-/goat hooves—leading off to the left.

"We have to follow him," Percy said. "They went that way. It must have been recently."

"What about Camp Half-Blood," Nico said. "There's no time."

"We have to find them," Annabeth insisted. "They're our friends."

She picked up Grover's smashed cap and forged ahead.

Ariadne braced herself for the worst. The tunnel was treacherous. It sloped at weird angles and was slimy in moisture. Half the time their were slipping and sliding rather than walking.

Finally they got to the bottom of a slope and found themselves in a large cave with huge stalagmite columns. Through the center of the room ran an underground river, and Tyson was sitting by the banks, cradling Grover in his lap. Grover's eyes were closed. He wasn't moving.

"Tyson!" Percy yelled.

"Percy, come quick!"

They ran over to him. Grover wasn't dead, thank the gods, but his whole body trembled like he was freezing to death.

"What happened?" Ariadne asked.

"So many things," Tyson murmured. "Large snake. Large dogs. Men with swords. But the ... we got close to here. Grover was excited. He ran. Then we reached this room, and he fell. Like this."

"Did he say anything?" Percy asked.

"He said, 'We're close.' Then he hit his head on rocks."

Percy knelt next to him. The only other time she'd seen Grover pass out was New Mexico, when he'd felt the presence of Pan.

Ariadne shined her flashlight around the cavern. The rocks glittered. At the far end was the entrance to another cave, flanked by gigantic columns of crystal that looked like diamond. And beyond that entrance...

"Grover," Ariadne said. "Wake up."

"Uhhhhhhhh."

Annabeth knelt next to him and splashed icy cold river water in his face.

"Splurg!" His eyelids fluttered. "Percy? Annabeth? Ari? Where..."

"It's okay," Percy said. "You passed out. The presence was too much for you."

"I—I remember. Pan."

"Yeah," Percy said. "Something powerful is beyond that doorway."

***

     ARIADNE ROLLED HER EYES AT PERCY. He made quick introductions, since Tyson and Grover had never met Rachel. Tyson told Rachel was pretty, which made the brunette scoff, and Percy was ready for her breath to turn to fire.

"Anyway," Percy said. "Come on, Grover. Lean on me."

Annabeth and Percy helped him up while Ariadne carried his pack and hat. Together, they waded across the underground river. The current was strong. The water came up to their waists. Percy willed himself to stay dry, which was a handy ability, but that didn't help the others.

Ariadne felt like her bones were layering in ice.

"I think we're in Carlsbad Caverns," Annabeth said, her teeth chattering. "Maybe an unexplored section."

"How do you know

"Carlsbad is in New Mexico," Ariadne said. "That would explain last winter."

Percy nodded. He could see that Ariadne was trying not to shiver, but her hands shook. She had only ever been in that much cold last winter, and when her mom had disposed of her at the age of five.

She remembered Grover's swooning episode that had happened when they passed through New Mexico. That's where he'd felt closest to the power of Pan.

They got out of the water and kept walking. As the crystal pillars looked larger, Ariadne started to feel the power emanating from the next room. It was different than the gods, her skin was tingling with living energy. She felt herself growing stronger. The girl could feel her body gaining Eve more power as they grew closer. It smelled of trees and flowers and a warm summer day.

Grover whimpered with excitement. Percy was too stunned. Even Nico seemed speechless. They stepped into the cave, and Rachel said, "Oh, wow."

The walls glittered with crystals—red, green, and blue ( but Percy still found that Ariadne's were the brightest crystals in the room ). In t the strange light, beautiful plants grew—giant orchids, star-shaped flowers, vines bursting with orange and purple berries that crept among the crystals.

The cave floor was covered with green moss. Overhead, the ceiling was higher than a cathedral, sparkling like a galaxy of stars. In the center of the cave stood a Roman-style bed, glided wood shaped like a curly U, with velvet cushions. Animals lounged around it—but they were animals that shouldn't have been alive. There was a dodo bird, something that looked like a cross between a wolf and a tiger, a huge rodent like the mother of all guinea pigs ( Ariadne chuckled at the memory of Percy as a guinea pig on Circe's island ), and roaming behind the bed, picking berries with its trunk, was a wooly mammoth.

On the bed lay an old satyr. He watched them as they approached, his eyes as blue as the sky. His curly hair was white and so was his pointed beard. Even the goat curb on his legs were frosted with gray. His horns were enormous—glossy brown and curved. There was no way he could've hidden those under a hat the way Grover did. Around his neck hung a set of Reed pipes.

Grover fell to his in front of the bed. "Lord Pan!"

The god smiled kindly, but there was sadness in his eyes. "Grover, my dear, brave satyr. I have waited a very long time for you."

"I... got lost," Grover apologized.

Pan laughed. It was a wonderful sound, like the first breeze of springtime, finning the whole cavern with hope. The river-wolf sighed and rested his head on the god's knee, and it reminded her of Zoe. The dodo bird pecked affectionately at the God's hooves, making a strange sound in the back of its bill. I could swear it's humming 'It's a Small World."

Still, Pan looked tired. His whole firm shimmered as if they're eye made of Mist.

Ariadne kneeled next to her friends and Rachel. She gave the god an awed look. When Percy didn't kneel, she grabbed his hand and dragged him down.

"You have a humming dodo bird," Percy said stupidly.

The god's eyes twinkled. "Yes, that's Dede. My little actress."

Dede the dodo looked offender. She pecked at Pan's knee and hummed something that sounded like a funeral dirge.

"This is the most beautiful place!" Annabeth said. "It's better than any building ever designed

"I am glad you like it, dear," Pan said. "It is one of the last wild places. My realm above is gone, I'm afraid. Only pockets remain. Tiny pieces of life. This one shall stay undisturbed... for a little longer."

"My lord," Grover said, "please, you must come back with me! The Elders will never believe it! They'll be overjoyed! You can save the wild!"

Pan placed his hand on Grover's head and ruffled his curly hair. "You are so strong, Grover. So good and true. I think I chose well."

"Chose?" Grover said. "I—J don't understand."

Pan's image flickered, momentarily turning to smoke. The giant guinea pig scuttled under the bed with a terrified squeal. The wooly mammoth grunted nervously. Sedes tuck her head under her wing. Then Pan re-formed.

"I have slept many eons," the god said forlornly. "My dreams have been dark. I wake fitfully, and each time my waking is shorter. Now we are near the end."

"What?" Grover cried. "But no! You're right here!"

"My dear satyr," Pan said. "I tried to tell the world, two thousand years ago. I announced it to Lisa's, a satyr very muck like you. He lived in Ephesos, and he tried to spread the word."

Annabeth's eyes widened. "The old story. A sailor passing by the coast of Ephesos heard a voice crying from the shore, 'Tell them the great god Pan is dead.'"

"But that wasn't true!" Grover said.

"Your kind never believed it," Pan said. "You sweet, stubborn satyrs refused to accept my passing. And I love you for that, but you only delayed the inevitable. You only prolonged my long, painful passing, my dark twilight sleep. It must end."

"No!" Grover's voice trembled.

"Dear Grover," Pan said. "You must accept the truth. Your companion, Nico, he understands."

Nico nodded slowly. "He's dying. He should have died long ago. This... this is more like a memory."

"But gods can't die," Grover said.

"They can fade," Pan said, "when everything they stood for is gone. When they cease to have power, and their sacred places disappear. The wild, my dear Grover, is so small now, so shattered, that no god can save it. My realm is gone. That is why I need to carry a message. You must go back to the council. You must tell the satyrs, and the dryads, and the other spirits of nature, that the great god Pan is dead. Tell them of my passing. Because they must stop waiting for them to save them. I cannot. The only salvation you must make yourself. Each of you must—"

He stopped and frowned at the dodo bird, who had started humming again.

"Dede, what are you doing?" Pan demanded. "Are you singing Kumbaya again?"

Dede looked up innocently and blinked her yellow eyes.

Pan sighed. "Everybody's a cynic. But as I was saying, my dear Grover, each of you must take up my calling."

"But... no!" Grover whimpered.

"Be strong," Pan said. "You have found me. And now you must release me. You must carry on my spirit. It can no longer be carried by a god. It must be taken up by all of yiu."

Pan looked straight at Percy with his clear blue eyes, and Ariadne realized he wasn't just talking about satyrs. He meant half-bloods, too, and humans. Everyone."

"Percy Jackson," the god said. "I know what you have seen today. I know your doubts. But I give you this news: when the time comes, you will not be ruled by fear."

He turned to Annabeth. "Daughter of Athena, your time is coming. You will play a great role, though it may not be the role you imagined."

Then he looked at Tyson. "Master Cyclops, do not despair. Heroes rarely live up to our expectations. But you, Tyson—your name shall live among the Cyclopes for generations. And Rachel Dare..."

Rachel flinched when he said her name. She back up like she was guilt of something, but Pan only smiled. He raised his hand in blessing.

"I know you believe you cannot make amends," he said. "But you are just as important as your father."

"I—" Rachel faltered. A year traced her cheek.

"I know you don't believe this now," Pan said. "But look for opportunities. They will come."

Pan looked at Ariadne, who was eyeing the plants around them, trying to not meet his eyes. The god smiled kindly. "Ariadne Phoenix," he said. The girl looked at him hesitantly, afraid of what he would say. "You can not save everyone. But, you can remember them, and that is enough. You, Daughter of the Vines, are powerful in my realm, keep it alive, for me."

She gave him a firm nod. The girl felt her hand in a familiar hold, glancing over at Percy who smiled slightly, not looking at her.

Finally he turned back toward Grover. "My dear satyr," Pan said kindly, "will you carry my message."

"I—I can't."

"You can," Pan said. "You are strong and the bravest. Your heart is true. You have believed in me more than anyone ever has, which is why you must bring the message, and why you must be the first to release me."

"I don't want to"

"I know," the goddess said. "But my name, Pan... originally it meant rustic. Did you know that? But over the years it has come to mean all. The spirit of the wild must pass to all of you now. You must tell each one you meet: if you would find Pan, take up Pan's spirit. Remake the wild, a little at a time, each of your own corner of the world. You cannot wait for anyone else, even a god, to do that for you."

Grover wiped his eyes. Then slowly he stood. "I've spent my whole life looking for you. Now... I release you."

Pan smiled. "Thank you, dear satyr. My final blessing."

He closed his eyes, and the god dissolved. White mist divided into wisps of energy, but this kind of energy wasn't scary. It filled the room. A curl of smoke went straight into Ariadne's mouth, and Grover's and the others. But she believed a little more of it went into Grover. The crystals dimmed. The animals gave them a sad look.

Dede the dodo sighed. Then they all turned gray and crumbled to dust. The vines withered, and Ariadne could feel them dying, and the wisps of mist inside of her slithered under her skin. And they were alone in a dark cave, with an empty bed.

Percy switched on his flashlight.

Grover took a deep breath.

"Are... are you okay?" Percy asked him.

He looked older and sadder. He took his cap from Ariadne, brushed off the mud, and stuck it firmly on his curly head. He also took back his pack

"We should go now," he said, "and tell them. The great god Pan is dead."

Percy looked at Ariadne, only to find her purple eyes on him. And for the first time in days, he felt at peace.

authors note:

This was short.

My mouth is in so much pain but Criminal Minds is keeping me company as I write. Spencer Reid and Derek Morgan are 🥰✨❤️

I may start writing a Spencer Reid fic so stay tuned.

Love you guys!