was sure they'd love to find two kids hanging out in the park at one in the

morning.

 

"It's no good," Nico said at last.

 

But I had a feeling. My empathy link was really tingling for the first time in

months, which either meant a whole lot of people had suddenly switched on the

Nature Channel, or Grover was close.

 

I shut my eyes and concentrated. Grover.

 

I knew he was somewhere in the park. Why couldn't I sense his emotions? All I

got was a faint hum in the base of my skull.

 

Grover, I thought more insistently.

 

Hmm-hmmmm, something said.

 

An image came into my head. I saw a giant elm tree deep in the woods, well off

the main paths.

 

Gnarled roots laced the ground, making a kind of bed. Lying in it with his arms

crossed and his eyes closed was a satyr. At first I couldn't be sure it was

Grover. He was covered in twigs and leaves, like he'd been sleeping there a long

time. The roots seemed to be shaping themselves around him, slowly pulling him