The Battle of the Labyrinth (32 page)

I shined my 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 diamonds. And beyond that entrance…

“Grover,” I said. “Wake up.”

“Uhhhhhhhh.”

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

“Splurg!” His eyelids fluttered. “Percy? Annabeth? Where…”

“It’s okay,” I said. “You passed out. The presence was too much for you.”

“I—I remember. Pan.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Something powerful is just beyond that doorway.”

* * *

I made quick introductions, since Tyson and Grover had never met Rachel. Tyson told Rachel she was pretty, which made Annabeth’s nostrils flare like she was going to blow fire.

“Anyway,” I said. “Come on, Grover. Lean on me.”

Annabeth and I helped him up, and together we waded across the underground river. The current was strong. The water came up to our waists. I willed myself to stay dry, which is a handy little ability, but that didn’t help the others, and I could still feel the cold, like wading through a snowdrift.

“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,” she said. “That would explain last winter.”

I nodded. Grover’s swooning episode had happened when we passed through New Mexico. That’s where he’d felt closest to the power of Pan. We got out of the water and kept walking. As the crystal pillars loomed larger, I started to feel the power emanating from the next room. I’d been in the presence of gods before, but this was different. My skin tingled with living energy. My weariness fell away, as if I’d just gotten a good night’s sleep. I could feel myself growing stronger, like one of those plants in a time-lapse video. And the scent coming from the cave was nothing like the dank wet underground. It smelled of trees and flowers and a warm summer day.

Grover whimpered with excitement. I was too stunned to talk. Even Nico seemed speechless. We stepped into the cave, and Rachel said, “Oh, wow.”

The walls glittered with crystals—red, green, and blue. In 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, gilded 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, and roaming behind the bed, picking berries with its trunk, was a wooly mammoth.

On the bed lay an old satyr. He watched us as we approached, his eyes as blue as the sky. His curly hair was white and so was his pointed beard. Even the goat fur on his legs was 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 knees 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, filling the whole cavern with hope. The tiger-wolf sighed and rested his head on the god’s knee. The dodo bird pecked affectionately at the god’s hooves, making a strange sound in the back of its bill. I could swear it was humming

“It’s a Small World.”

Still, Pan looked tired. His whole form shimmered as if he were made of Mist.

I noticed my other friends were kneeling. They had awed looks on their faces. I got to my knees.

“You have a humming dodo bird,” I said stupidly.

The god’s eyes twinkled. “Yes, that’s Dede. My little actress.”

Dede the dodo looked offended. 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 young, Grover. So good and true. I think I chose well.”

“Chose?” Grover said. “I—I 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. Dede stuck 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 Lysas, a satyr very much 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 you 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 me 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 you.”

Pan looked straight at me with his clear blue eyes, and I 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 Miss Rachel Dare…”

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

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

“I—” Rachel faltered. A tear traced her cheek.

“I know you don’t believe this now,” Pan said. “But look for opportunities. They will come.”

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 the strongest 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 god 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 in 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 like the blue power I’d seen from Kronos. It filled the room. A curl of smoke went straight into my mouth, and Grover’s and the others. But I think a little more of it went into Grover. The crystals dimmed. The animals gave us a sad look. Dede the dodo sighed. Then they all turned gray and crumbled to dust. The vines withered. And we were alone in a dark cave, with an empty bed. I switched on my flashlight.

Grover took a deep breath.

“Are…are you okay?” I asked him.

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

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

GROVER CAUSES A

STAMPEDE

Distance was shorter in the Labyrinth. Still, by the time Rachel got us back to Times Square, I felt like we’d pretty much run all the way from New Mexico. We climbed out of the Marriott basement and stood on the sidewalk in the bright summer daylight, squinting at the traffic and crowds. I couldn’t decide which seemed less real—New York or the crystal cave where I’d watched a god die.

I led the way into an alley, where I could get a nice echo. Then I whistled as loud as I could, five times.

A minute later, Rachel gasped. “They’re beautiful!”

A flock of pegasi descended from the sky, swooping between the skyscrapers. Blackjack was in the lead, followed by four of his white friends.
Yo, boss!
He spoke in my mind.
You lived!

“Yeah,” I told him. “I’m lucky that way. Listen, we need a ride to camp
quick
.”

That’s my specialty! Oh man, you got that Cyclops with you? Yo, Guido!

How’s your back holding up?

The Pegasus Guido groaned and complained, but eventually he agreed to carry Tyson. Everybody started saddling up—except Rachel.

“Well,” she told me, “I guess this is it.”

I nodded uncomfortably. We both knew she couldn’t go to camp. I glanced at Annabeth, who was pretending to be very busy with her Pegasus.

“Thanks, Rachel,” I said. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it. I mean, except for almost dying, and Pan…”

Her voice faltered.

“He said something about your father,” I remembered. “What did he mean?”

Rachel twisted the strap on her backpack. “My dad…My dad’s job. He’s kind of a famous businessman.”

“You mean…you’re
rich
?”

“Well, yeah.”

“So that’s how you got the chauffeur to help us? You just said your dad’s name and—”

“Yes,” Rachel cut me off. “Percy…my dad’s a land developer. He flies all over the world, looking for tracts of undeveloped land.” She took a shaky breath. “The wild. He—he buys it up. I hate it, but he plows it down and builds ugly subdivisions and shopping centers. And now that I’ve seen Pan…Pan’s death—”

“Hey, you can’t blame yourself for that.”

“You don’t know the worst of it. I—I don’t like to talk about my family. I didn’t want you to know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No,” I said. “It’s cool. Look, Rachel, you did awesome. You led us through the maze. You were so brave. That’s the only thing I’m going to judge you on. I don’t care what your dad does.”

Rachel looked at me gratefully. “Well…if you ever feel like hanging out with a mortal again…you could call me or something.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.”

She knit her eyebrows. I guess I sounded unenthusiastic or something, but that’s not how I meant it. I just wasn’t sure what to say with all my friends standing around. And I guess my feelings had gotten pretty missed up the last couple of days.

“I mean…I’d like that,” I said.

“My number’s not in the book,” she said.

“I’ve got it.”

“Still on your hand? No way.”

“No. I kinda…memorized it.”

Her smile came back slowly, but a lot happier. “See you later, Percy Jackson. Go save the world for me, okay?”

She walked off down Seventh Avenue and disappeared into the crowds.

* * *

When I got back to the horses. Nico was having trouble. His Pegasus kept shying away from him, reluctant to let him mount.