A/N: Certain ancient Greek names matches words use of foul language but no foul language was intentionally used. Also if you haven't read them yet read 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Early Adventures' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief' and 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters' before reading this story. Lastly, any one who wants to do a Demigods and Olympian reads story using 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon' is allowed as long as you inform me about it.

The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse

We Face Trouble Right Away

The Friday before winter break, my mom packed me an overnight bag with my thermos and a few deadly weapons and took me to a boarding school. We picked up my friends Annabeth and Thalia on the way.

It was an eight-hour drive from New York to Bar Harbor, Maine. Sleet and snow pounded the highway. I been in contact with Annabeth and Thalia the last few months, but tonight with the blizzard and the thought of what we were about to do, we were too nervous to talk much. Except for my mom. She talks more when she's nervous. By the time we finally got to Westover Hall, it was getting dark, and she'd told Annabeth and Thalia every embarrassing baby story there was to tell about me. Of course they already heard of it before seven years ago, but it doesn't help.

Thalia wiped the fog off the car window and peered outside. "Oh, yeah. This'll be fun."

Westover Hall looked like an evil knight's castle. It was all black stone, with towers and slit windows and a big set of wooden double doors. It stood on a snowy cliff overlooking this big frosty forest on one side and the gray churning ocean on the other.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait?" my mother asked.

"No, thanks, Mom," I said. "I don't know how long it will take. We'll be okay."

"But how will you get back? I'm worried, Percy."

I hoped I wasn't blushing. It was bad enough I had to ask my mom to drive us here on an eight hour trip for a possible life-or-death battle bringing the emergency Lotus Cash Card in case we ran short on cash along the way.

"It's okay, Ms. Jackson." Annabeth smiled reassuringly. Her blond hair was tucked into a ski cap ad her gray eyes were the same color of the ocean. "We'll keep him out of trouble."

My mom seemed to relax a little. She thinks Annabeth has grown over the seven years into the most levelheaded demigod to ever hit the eighth grade. She's sure that whenever I started acting without thinking Annabeth kept me from getting killed. Although it hasn't happened as much as some might think, it does happen.

"All right, dears," my mom said. "Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes, Ms. Jackson," Thalia said. "Thanks for the ride."

"Extra sweaters? You have my cell phone number?"

"Mom—"

"And Paul's phone number just incase, right?"

"Mom—"

"Your ambrosia and nectar, Percy? And a golden drachma in case you need to contact camp?"

"Mom, seriously! We'll be fine," I said, and sighed. "I promise I'll contact you when we arrive at camp. See you after the winter solstice."

That seemed to ease my mom's mind a little. "Okay, dear."

We got out of the car into an icy cold wind.

Once my mother's car was out of sight Thalia asked, "Whose Paul?"

"My mom's new boyfriend," I replied. "He's an English teacher at a high school. They met during a current and future writer convention at NYU. He's actually really cool but my mom and I agreed not to tell him about my secret life until we know for sure if he can take the news."

"What about Tyson?" Annabeth asked.

Tyson was my baby cyclops half-brother that my mom and I adopted off the streets on my dad's request. Last summer, before Thalia was purged from tree back in our lives, Tyson left the forges.

"As far as Paul understands we adopted Tyson for my dad, and he's attending a school he got a scholarship in with an internship for those with his special skills," I responded.

"I still can't get over the fact your mom adopted a cyclops," Thalia said. "I get he's not the same Cyclops as the one we faced in Brooklyn, but still—"

I shrugged. Before dad led Tyson to us if someone said that way about Tyson that way, I would agree. Now I experience it myself that that not all cyclops are like the Brooklyn Cyclops or worse Polyphemus, and that until someone see it for themselves, it will take time for anyone—especially a half-blood—to get use to Tyson.

"We better get inside," Annabeth said. "Grover will be waiting."

Thalia looked at the castle and shivered. "You're right. I wonder what he found here that made him send a distress call."

I stared up at the dark towers of Westover Hall. "Nothing good," I guessed.

…

The oak doors groaned open, and the three of us stepped into the entry hall in a swirl of snow.

All I could say was, "Whoa."

The place was huge. The walls were lined with battle flags and weapon displays: antique rifles, battle axes, and a bunch of other stuff that looked like something Ares' kids would collect in their cabin (I should know since my father's cabin neighbor's Ares cabin). I knew Westover was a military school and all, but the decorations seemed like overkill. Literally.

My hand went to my pocket, where I kept my lethal ballpoint pen, Riptide. I could already sense something wrong in this place. Something dangerous. Thalia was rubbing her silver bracelet, her favorite magical item. I knew we were thinking the same thing. A fight was coming.

Annabeth started to say, "I wonder where—"

The doors slammed behind us.

"Oo-kay," I mumbled. "Guess we'll stay a while."

I could hear music echoing from the other end of the hall. It sounded like dance music.

We stashed our overnight bags behind the pillar but not before I took out my own magical item—a celestial bronze thermos with a coating of fossilize sea shells inside so that when I focus my power into it, it can fire a jet of water as powerful as I want it to be. It was a gift from my father—Poseidon God of the sea—to help me with my first quest two years ago. However, last year I asked Beckendorf—son of god of forge Hephaestus—to modified the lid so I can just hook it on my belt so if I can carry it around even when I don't have my backpack.

I don't have to worry about people finding it odd that I carried a thermos around on my belt most of the time because since the thermos is made out of Celestial Bronze on the outside, the magical veil that covers up the mystical or magical items: the Mist, covers it up making it look like something else or the mortals don't even see it at all. If not I knew how to manipulate the Mist if needed.

Once my thermos was hooked to my belt and concealed we started down the hall. We hadn't gone very far when I heard footsteps on the stone floor, and a man and woman marched out of the shadows to intercept us.

They both had short gray hair ad black military style uniforms with red trim. The woman had a wispy mustache, and the guy had a clean shaven, which seemed backwards to me. They both walked stiffly, like they had broomsticks taped to their spine.

"Well?" the woman demanded. "What are you doing here?"

"Looks to me we have uninvited visitors! Which means you have to be eee-jected!"

He had an accent that almost sound French. He pronounced his J like in Jacques. He was tall with a hawkish face. His nostrils flared when he spoke, which made it really hard not to stare up his nose, and his eyes were two different colors—one brown, one blue—like an alley cat's.

Unless we wanted to be thrown into the snow, I knew we need to manipulate the Mist to alter their memories.

Thalia must have thought the same thing, because she stepped forward and snapped her fingers. The sound was sharp and loud as a gust of wind rippled out of her hand across the room. It washed over all of us, making the banners rustle on the walls.

"Oh, but we're not visitors, sir," Thalia said. "We go to school here. Remember: I'm Thalia. And this is Annabeth and Percy. We're in the eighth grade."

The male teacher narrowed his two-colored eyes that gave me a shiver down my back. Judging from his expression he wasn't fooled by the Mist Manipulations. It occurred to either this guy is not what he seems, which I hope is not the case, or he is one of the few percentage of mortals that not only able to see through the Mist but wasn't affected by it.

See, despite the Olympians tried to cover up everything mystical to Mortals, there are few known cases of mortals who can see through the Mist and see stuff most mortals can't comprehend. Cause of it, these mortals aren't affected by all the powers of the Mist, including the alteration of memories. I know this because my mom is one of those mortals—it was one of the few things about her that caught my dad's attention. However, most of those mortals try to keep it to themselves since no one would believe them.

Fortunately the guy turned to his colleague. "Ms. Gottschalk, do you know these students?"

Despite the danger we were in, I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. A teacher named Got Chalk? He had to be kidding.

The woman blinked, like someone had just woken her up from a trance—like most mortals do when you use the Mist to change their memories. "I… yes. I believe I do, sir." She frowned at us. "Annabeth. Thalia. Percy. What are you doing away from the gymnasium?"

Before we could answer, I heard more footsteps, and Grover ran up, breathless. "You made it! You—"

He stopped short when he saw the teachers. "Oh, Mrs. Gottschalk. Dr. Thorn! I, uh—"

"What is it, Mr. Underwood?" said the man. His tone made it clear that he detested Grover. "What do you mean, they made it? These students live here."

Grover swallowed. "Yes, sir. Of course, Dr. Thorn. I just meant, I'm glad they made… the punch for the dance! The punch is great. And they made it!"

I wanted to slap my forehead and groaned. Grover never was good at lying. In fact, the only reason he survived last summer on Polyphemus' island up until we saved him was because he used Polyphemus was blind and dumb enough to think Grover was a female Cyclops in a wedding dress with bad weaving skills and wearing a perfume that makes him smell like a satyr.

Luckily Mrs. Gottschalk said dreamily, "Yes, the punch is excellent. Now run along, all of you. You are not to leave the gymnasium again!"

We didn't wait to be told twice. We just left with a lot of "Yes, ma'ams" and "Yes, sirs" and a couple of salutes, just because it seemed like the right thing to do.

Grover hustled us down the hall in the direction of the music.

I could feel the teachers' eyes on my back, but I walked closely to Thalia. "Nice work with the Mist there."

"Thanks, Chiron taught it to me before letting me leave Camp with Annabeth," Thalia replied, "From what I heard you became quite a master on the Mist Manipulation yourself."

I tried to hide my embarrassment. Sure two years ago I used it to make Annabeth Grover and I look like victims of a an attack of psychotic old lady attacks, change our appearance so the authorities wouldn't catch us, and made the whole country think Ares kidnapped us and dragged us into a cross-country terrorist attack, not to mention last year I used the Mist over my previous school Meriwether into thinking I saved my classmates from a fire in the gymnasium, but saying that I'm a master of the power.

Still, I wasn't surprise Chiron taught Thalia how to manipulate the Mist. It's a handy skill for demigods, especially Thalia and me—children of two of the big three—who tend to attract the most monsters thus attracting the most trouble.

Grover hurried us to a door that had GYM written on the glass. Even with my dyslexia, I could read that much.

"That was close!" Grover said. "Thank the gods you got here!"

Annabeth and Thalia both hugged Grover. I gave him a big high five.

It was good to see him after so many months. He'd gotten a little taller and had sprouted a few more whiskers, but otherwise he looked like he always did when he passed for human—a red cap on his curly brown hair to hid his goat horns, baggy jeans and sneakers with fake feet to hide his furry legs and hooves. He was wearing a black T-shirt that took me a few seconds to read. It said WESTOVER HALL: GRUNT. I wasn't sure whether that was Grover rank or the school's motto.

"So what's the emergency?" I asked.

Grover took a deep breath. "I found two."

"Two half-bloods? Thalia asked, amazed. "Here?"

Grover nodded.

Finding one half-blood was rare enough. This year, Chiron had put the satyrs on emergency overtime and sent them all over the country, scouring schools from fourth through high school for possible recruits since that's the usual grade age where demigods start attracting monsters. These were desperate times. We were losing campers. We needed all the new fighters we could find. The problem was, there just weren't that many known demigods out there. If there was, they either aren't strong enough for even a satyr to find, or they been killed by a monster, or—at this point we feared—already been recruited by Kronos: the titan lord of time, and my friend Luke—who was the first to turn to Kronos.

"A brother and sister," he said, "They're ten and twelve. I don't know their parentage ,but they're strong. We're running out of time, though. I need help."

"Monsters?"

"One." Grover looked nervous. "He suspects. I don't think he's positive yet, but this is the last day of term. I'm sure he won't let them leave campus without finding out. It may be our last chance! Every time I try to get close to them, he's always there, blocking me. I don't know what to do!"

Grover looked at Thalia desperately. I was hurt at first. Grover use to look up to me. But I reminded myself that Thalia was the oldest here, and too be honest, after Thalia came back I looked up to her time to time. No matter what, Thalia was still the older-sister figure to Annabeth and me.

"Right," she said. "These half-bloods are at the dance?"

Grover nodded.

"Then let's dance," Thalia said. "Who's the monster?"

"Oh," Grover said, and looked around nervously. "You just met him. The vice principal, Dr. Thorn."

So much for a mortal that can see through the Mist.

…

Weird things about military schools: the kids go absolutely nuts when there's a special event and they get to be out of uniform. I guess it's because everything's so strict the rest of the time, they feel like they've got to overcompensate or something.

There were black and red balloons all over the gym floor, and guys were kicking them in each other's faces, or trying to strangle each other with the crepe-paper streamers taped to the walls.

Girls moved around in football huddles—my guess is the popular clique since they were wearing lots of makeup and spaghetti-strap tops and brightly colored pants and shoes that the daughters of Aphrodite—goddess of love and beauty—would wear in camp if Chiron allowed it.

Every once in a while they'd surround some poor guy like a pack of piranhas, shrieking and giggling, and when they finally moved on, the guy would have ribbons in his hair and a bunch of lipstick graffiti all over his face. Some of the older guys looked uncomfortable, hanging out at the edges of the gym and trying to hide, like any minute have to fight for their lives. They don't know how lucky they are that they don't really have to fight for their lives.

"There they are." Grover nodded toward a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers. "Bianca and Nico di Angelo."

The girl wore a floppy green cap, like she was trying to hide her face. The boy was obviously her little brother. They both had dark silky hair and olive skin, and they used their hands a lot as they talked. The boy was shuffling some kind of trading cards. His sister seemed to be scolding him about something. She kept looking around like she sensed something wrong.

Annabeth said, "Do they… I mean, have you told them?"

Grover shook his head. "You know how it is. That could put them in more danger. Once they realize who they are, their scent becomes stronger."

"Well, the girl—Bianca—she seem to sense something," I responded.

"Yeah, that's what worries me," Grover said, "Nico is still oblivious, but—"

"He's interested in the Greek stories even though he doesn't know they're real?" I asked.

Grover nodded.

Just then, the vice principal, Dr. Thorn, had slipped out of a doorway near the bleachers and was standing near the di Angelo siblings. He nodded coldly in our direction. His blue eye seemed to glow. I could tell he wasn't effected by the trick of the Mist. He suspected who we were. He just waiting to see why we were here."

"Don't look at the kids," Thalia ordered. "We have to wait for a chance to get them. We need to pretend we're not interested in them. Throw him off the scent."

"We could at least stay in groups of two," I said. "Grover and I can contact each other using our the Empathy link."

Last year Grover created an empathy link between me and him when he was captured by Polyphemus and after he was saved, I convinced him to keep the link and to teach me how to open it on my end so if I ran into trouble, I can contact him.

"Great. Then all we need to do is mingle. Act natural. Do some dancing. But keep an eye on the kids," Thalia said.

"Dancing?" Annabeth asked.

Thalia nodded. She cocked her ear to the music and made a face. "Ugh. Who chose the Jesse McCartney?"

Grover looked hurt. "I did."

"Oh my gods, Grover. That is so lame. Can't you play, like, Green Day or something?"

"Green who?"

"Never mind. Let's dance."

"But I can't dance!"

"You can if I'm leading" Thalia said. "Come on, goat boy."

Grover yelped as Thalia grabbed his hand and led him onto the dance floor.

Annabeth and I smiled. It was good to have Thalia back. However, unlike Thalia and Grover we were hanging back.

Annabeth had grown taller than me since last summer. She used to wear no jewelry except for her Camp Half-Blood bead necklace, but now she wore silver earrings shaped like owls—the symbol of her mother, Athena. She pulled off her ski cap, and her long blond hair tumbled down her shoulders. It made her look older.

"So…" I tried to think of something to say, "Design any good buildings lately."

Annabeth's eyes lit up, the way they always did when she talked about architecture. "Oh my gods, Percy. At my new school, I get to take 3-D design as an elective, and this cool computer program…"

She went on to explain how she'd design this huge monument that she wanted to build at Ground Zero in Manhattan. She talked about the structural supports ad facades and stuff, and I tried to listen. It sounded to me Annabeth found something that made her feel like a normal student, just as swim meets made me feel like one. I knew she wanted to be a super architect when she grew up—she loves math and historical buildings and all that.

Annabeth and Thalia attended an all girl boarding school in Brooklyn, and made arrangements with Annabeth's dad and Chiron that if needed, if there was an emergency they can either contact my mom since she and I were in Manhattan, or Chiron who was at Camp Half-Blood.

Meanwhile I attend MS-54 in Manhattan, which was better than Meriwether. The swim team there is pretty good, and I'm the best on my team.

"Yeah, uh, cool," I said. "So you're staying there the rest of the year, huh?"

Her face got dark. "Well, maybe, if I don't—"

"Hey!" Thalia called to us. She was slow dancing with Grover, who was tripping all over himself, kicking Thalia in the shins, and looking like he wanted to die.

"Dance, you guys!" Thalia ordered. "You look stupid just standing there."

I looked nervously at Annabeth, then at the groups of girls who were roaming the gym, searching for their next victim. Even if we weren't doing this to watch over the di Angelo kids, between the girl I practically grew up with and a group of girls who would hound me down and give me an unwanted makeover, I think I rather dance with Annabeth.

"So… um… do you want to dance? With me, I mean," I responded hoping I don't look as awkward and embarrassed as I feel.

"Sure…" Annabeth replied.

So we went to the dance floor. I placed one hand on Annabeth's hip, and she clasped my other hand like she was about to Judo throw me, and believe me, she could.

"Geez, Percy, relax. Have you been dancing at all since the Camp Prom?" Annabeth asked.

I didn't answer. Five years ago Camp Half-Blood hosted a prom with the centaurs—one of Aphrodite cabin's crazy ideas—to celebrate a year of not having to worry about monsters attacking the camp—which later came to be known as the Centaur prom due to the fact that the centaurs had more fun in it than the half-bloods. We had dance lessons and everything, but I never danced during it—I was more disturb that for some reason there were even male centaurs wearing prom dresses.

Even now, after attending a school without having to worry about bullies teasing a friend or brother of mine and getting a full reputation as a swim meet jock, I never actually danced with anyone.

We shuffled around for a few minutes. I tried to concentrate on the little things, like the crepe-paper streamer and the punch bowl—anything to try to calm me down, stop my hands from being sweaty.

"What were you saying earlier?" I asked. "Are you having trouble with your dad and stepmom again?"

Although Annabeth didn't talk much about it, I knew about her rough history with her dad and her stepmom.

At the end of last summer Annabeth and I finally arranged to have my mom and her dad and stepmom to pick us up at the same day, so they can meet each other, mostly so Annabeth's dad could meet the woman that housed Annabeth along with Thalia and Luke when they brought me home. It seemed to went off well, but there was still the lingering feeling that one misunderstanding will cause Annabeth to run away again.

Annabeth sighed. "My dad decided to move. Just when I was getting settled in New York, he took this stupid new job researching for World War I book. In San Francisco."

I sighed. "He does know Mount Tam is actually Mount Othrys home of the titans, right?"

"He doesn't care," Annabeth said.

"Well, until you decide, you know you are welcome at the Jackson Apartment," I responded.

Annabeth seemed to hesitate at that. "I… I probably should tell you something, Percy."

Suddenly she froze. "They're gone."

"What?"

I followed her gaze. The bleachers. The two half-blood kids, Bianca and Nico, were no longer there. The door next to the bleachers was wide open. Dr. Thorn was nowhere in sight.

"We have to get Thalia and Grover!" Annabeth looked around frantically. "Oh, where'd they dance off to?"

"Hold on!" I responded. I closed my eyes and focus on finding Grover. Grover told me as long as we're not too far apart, we can use the Empathy Link to contact each other without one another being asleep, but we won't have the visual link as we would when one of us is asleep.

Grover, if you hear me, Dr. Thorn, Nico, and Bianca are missing.

It took a while before: Percy, I got your message. We noticed it too.

"They noticed it too," I responded.

"We better hurry," Annabeth said.

I nodded and told Grover who agreed. We headed out of the gym and searched for the di Angelo kids.