How It All Goes Down
"We Get Advice from a Poodle"
- We were pretty miserable that night." (12.1)
- They camp out in the middle of the woods where kids like to have parties. There's litter everywhere.
- They decide to take turns keeping watch through the night. Percy takes the first watch.
- But Grover can't sleep. All of the litter and the pollution makes him sad: "This is a terrible time to be a satyr" (12.9).
- Grover tells Percy that it's his life's dream to find Pan. He tells Percy about Pan:
"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago […] A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died." (12.17) - No satyr has ever found Pan or has come back alive from his search for Pan.
- Grover tells Percy that, back at Medusa's house, Annabeth had an interesting idea.
- Annabeth realized that there is something weird about this quest: all of the monsters seem to be holding back a bit.
- Grover tells Percy that, when the Furies found them on the bus, they were asking, "where is it?" rather than "where is he?" It seems they are looking for an object, rather than a human.
- Percy confesses to Grover that he's only on this trip so that he can get his mom back from Hades, not because he cares about the master bolt or because he cares about helping his dad.
- Grover already knows this about Percy – he can read emotions really well. But he also suspects that, deep inside, Percy wants to make his dad proud.
- Percy protests.
- Grover offers to take the first watch.
- Percy falls asleep.
- Percy has another vivid dream. This is what happens:
- Percy is standing on the edge of a big chasm in a cave.
- Dead spirits swirl around Percy grabbing at his clothes and pulling him away from the edge.
- A voice rises from deep within the chasm. It says, "barter with me. I will give you what you want" (12.62).
- A glowing image of Percy's mom appears over the chasm.
- Percy tries to scream, but he has no voice.
- The evil voice laughs and says, "help me rise, boy […] bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!" (12.67).
- The thing in the deep chasm uses Percy to pull itself out.
- Annabeth shakes Percy awake.
- It's morning.
- Grover is cuddling with a pink poodle.
- Since Grover can talk to animals, the pink poodle told him that he ran away from a rich family because he didn't like living with them anymore. But the family has a reward out for him for $200. He would let Grover return him to his owners and collect the reward. He wants to help them out, and they definitely need the money.
- Gladiola tells them that there's an Amtrak station half a mile away and that "the west-bound train leaves at noon" (12.100).