Quinn didn't expect to be sharpening his knives in the back of a minivan, while a middle-aged mortal told embarrassing stories about the demigod savior of Zeus' lightning bolt. But hey, not like he had any other plans. And not like he had much of a choice.
He looked over at the others. Everyone seemed too nervous to talk, except for Percy's mom (What was her name? Susan? Something like that.), who seemed to get even more talkative when she was nervous. They were on the third story now, when Percy tried to bring his favorite blankie into the bathtub. Speaking of the demigod...
Quinn had only known Percy for two months. He heard all the stories, everyone had. The forbidden son of Poseidon, traveled to the Underworld and back, sailed the Sea of Monsters and found the Golden Fleece, all with the help of Annabeth Chase.
Who was sitting opposite him, only half-listening to the embarrassing stories. One hand gripped her cap tightly, while the other was nervously tapping her knee. Didn't look like much, but he knew that if he was half as smart as her, he'd be a genius.
He saw her sneak a look to Percy, who looked like he waned to jump out of the car off the cliffs (he had plenty of experience, from what Quinn heard), but one sympathetic look from her made him smile like the sun.
They were friends, definitely. But what else? Perhaps, given a bit more time, maybe in the future...
Coincidentally, that led him to the spikey-haired punk girl sitting beside him, the one and only child of Zeus, Thalia Grace. Earbuds in, staring idly ahead while listening to music that would make Hades blush.
Annnd she saw him. Eyebrow raised, she popped out an earbud. "Something up, Harley?"
One of her endearing nicknames for him. Quinn, Harley. When he got to camp all he had was a comic book, and the name just stuck.
"No, it's just...its just..." Somehow, he always seemed to fall silent when he talked to her. Fortunately, his vague gesturing seemed to take it into a whole different line of thought.
Thalia looked over at Percy and his mom. "Oh." She sidled up to him, closing the little distance they had in the cramped compartment, lowering her voice. "Quinn, family isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I mean, you know what it's been like for me."
Totally wrong thing, but, he wasn't one to look a gift pegasus in the mouth. "Hey, at last you had a parent. I don't even know how my mom met him."
She sighed. "Quinn, this is not a contest to see who had the worst upbringing."
"But if it was, I'd win."
Thalia smacked him, giving him a static shock. Another one of her charming traits.
"Ow! Alright Storm, lay it off." Quinn looked up smiling, only o realize that everyone sees in the car was entirely silent. Percy's mom had even stopped blabbering on about adorable baby stories.
Thankfully, his mother or whatever god looked over awkward silences saw fit to deliver them right at the door of Westover Hall at that moment.
"Oh thank Zeus." He was out of there in record time.
Quinn shivered. He hated the cold, always had. Whenever the fog rolled around back home, the only place anyone would find him was in the library's comic book section, curled up right next to the heater.
Annabeth and Thalia were unpacking the rest of the luggage, while Percy was speaking to his mom.
"Come on Mom, I'll be fine. Got everything I need." The demigod was bouncing with energy, read to get inside. Thalia told him that Percy was friends with Grover, the satyr that they were meeting up with. Worried for his friend.
He walked over, clapping a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Don't worry Ms. Jackson, I'll make sure your son gets back to you without a scratch."
Percy's face turned as red as a tomato, but she just laughed.
"Very well. And please, call me Sally. Percy, you better listen to this young man. He knows what he's doing. Have fun!"
"Mom, I-" But it was too late, and the cramped sea blue minivan that Quinn sincerely hoped he'd never see again drove off into the night.
Quinn chuckled, turning towards the Hall. "Well come on, Golden Boy. You need to carry all my stuff."
"Not a chance."
Thalia tried to hide her laughter, but failed miserably. "You know Percy, your mom's not that bad."
"Yeah, I guess so. You ever call your mom after the whole pine tree thing?"
And there it goes. Quinn never really understood why people always described a mood as 'stormy', until he met her. The daughter of Zeus literally looked like she was about to shoot lightning bolts out of her eyes. For all he knew, she actually could.
"If I thought that was any of your business-"
Quinn put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Storm. Save the thunder and lightning for whatever monster George called us about."
"It's Grover," Thalia corrected.
"Right, Gregory. Like I said."
It took a second, but eventually she had a small smile on her face. "Alright. Let's just get inside. I'm freezing to death here."
"Said the girl wearing a leather jacket."
As they hiked up the steps to the hall, Quinn took a quick look behind them. Annabeth and Percy were a little behind.
He turned back towards Thalia. "You were a bit harsh towards Percy."
"Was I?"
Quinn stopped, grabbing her shoulder. "Look, he was just trying to be friendly. The whole 'tough punk girl who turned into a tree for a few years' routine tends to make people uncomfortable. It might help you to share a few things.'
"And what part do you suggest? The constant paparazzi? The attention stunts? Jason?" Thalia shrugged off his hand, continuing to walk. "I'd probably end up depressing him."
Well, I tried.
When the two love birds catched up with them, he slammed open the doors with both arms. It was important to have a sense of style, most importantly on life-or-death missions.
"Woah."
Annabeth was right. The hall was absolutely covered in weapons, from eighteenth-century rifles to medieval battleaxes. Even for a military boarding school, Westover Hall was overkill. He even spotted what looked like an actual gatling-style minigun, mounted on the wall underneath a cannon.
He was quite focused on the minigun. So he didn't notice when the doors slammed shut, or when there were the sounds of foot steps from the other side of the entrance hall.
"Halt! What are you three doing here?"
He did however, hear that.
Teachers. And seeing how this was a military boarding school, the sticks up their asses would be made of Celestial Bronze. Which they would probably use to beat him to death for stealing.
While he was trying to get the horribly disturbing images out of his head, the woman with the faintest wisps of a mustache spoke again.
"Well? You are trespassing on the finest boarding school in the state. I suggest you speak quickly." Quinn had a terrifying image of the woman charging with the minigun, three screaming demigods running away from her in terror.
Percy, bless him, was in the middle of stammering out what was sure to be a well-crafted and flawless excuse, before Thalia stepped in. She snapped her fingers, the sound of which echoed strangely in the air.
Quinn's eyebrows shot up into his messy hair. Manipulating the Mist? Impressive. No matter how many times he had asked, Chiron refused to teach him. Probably assumed he was just going to use it for parlor tricks and stealing things. He was right, but still...
"We're not visitors, we're students. I'm Thalia, these are my friends Percy, Annabeth, and Quinn." She pointed to each of them in turn. "We were just stepping out for some fresh air."
It seemed to have worked. The woman shook her head, as if she was trying to remember something. The man was just frowning.
"Yes...you four." She refocused, scowling at them. "I thought I made it quite clear you were to stay inside the gymnasium."
The man turned to his companion. "Mrs Gottschalk, do you know these students?"
"Yes, yes, Dr Thorn. Some of my best, you know."
Gottschalk and Thorn? Well, it was better than Angelopoulos. Seriously, which one of his ancestors came up with that?
He thought Dr Thorn was scowling, but by now Quinn just realized that was just one of his charming qualities, like the heavy French accent he was pretty sure was fake. "Hmm...very well. Get back to the dance immediately, or all four of you will be demoted."
It was at that moment that a boy (he assumed Grover) ran out into the hall. "You guys made it! I-"
And then he noticed the teachers. "Uh, I mean-"
Thalia jumped in. "-Back from outside,"She added quickly. "He means from outside." The satyr nodded so fast it looked like his head would fall off, roll out the door, and make a rather odd gargoyle.
The daughter of Zeus gathered them up, pushing them in the direction Grover came from, snatching Quinn as they passed.
Quinn looked back at the teachers. Mrs Gotlock or whatever was droning on to her military peer about security, but he didn't appear to be listening. Instead, the Doctor had his mismatched eyes focused on them, staring at them with suspicion.
He knew that there were some mortals, who for whatever reason, could see through the Mist. Unsurprisingly, they tended to end up having demigod children.
Dr Thorn seemed confused about Thalia's explanation. But he didn't call them out on it. Maybe Thorn could only see through the Mist little bit? Was that even possible? Note to self, ask Chiron. Also ask him to teach me again.
They stopped before a set of doors, behind which he could hear what sounded like muffled pop music. Made sense, as out of place as it was in Westover. Throw together a couple dozen kids in a uniform they always had to wear, and then throw them in a room together and tell them to go nuts. He'd probably be doing the same as them, but with a better taste in music.
Quinn stood by awkwardly while they all greeted Grover. Apparently he had been the satyr to bring Annabeth, Thalia, and their friend-turned-enemy Luke to camp. Also helped Annabeth and Percy go to the Underworld and live to tell the tale, and found the Golden Fleece. Looked like satyrs really got around.
How nice.
Finally, Grover noticed him. He went through the efforts of putting on a smile, which Quinn thought was a nice touch.
"I'm Grover, a satyr," he said while putting out his hand, "And you must be..."
He took it. Despite his scrawny look, the satyr had a pretty strong grip. Also, he appeared to have horns.
"Quinn Angelopoulos."
"Son of...?"
He shrugged. "No idea. Guess my mother has more important things to do then paying attention to her son.
"Oh." Grover seemed a bit thrown off by the note of bitterness in his voice. "Maybe she'll claim you, after seeing you helping out here?"
Quinn shrugged. He sincerely doubted that, but he recognized Grover was only trying to help. "Yeah, maybe. Anyways, Gregory-"
"It's Grover."
"Yeah, like I said. So, where's the demigods?"
He pointed to the doors. "Through there. A brother and sister. Strong, for their age."
Quinn looked past him, focusing on the steel doors. "Ten and twelve?"
"Um, yes...how did you know that?"
Wait, how did he know that? It was like it had just popped into his head, something he knew as well as his own name. "I...Lucky guess. Anyway what's the problem, why haven't you brought them to camp?"
If Grover was wondering about his ability to sniff out the age of demigods, he didn't show it. "Well...the monster. I keep trying to get close, but he's always there! He doesn't know who it is yet, but he's closing in on them. And today's the last day of term. If we can't get them out today, it's over!"
"Woah, settle down there Goat Boy." Thalia placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "They're at the dance, right? Then we'll dance, blend in. Now what's the monster? Cyclops? Dracanae?"
He calmed down somewhat, but still had that nervous energy in him, like the rest of them.
"Oh, you've already met him. Dr Thorn."
Quinn had once been on the edge of a cliff with a pack of harpies harrying him, and a hellhound waiting hungrily below. It was one of the worse experience of his life. Still, he would've preferred that again to a military school dance.
Packs of girls roamed the edges of the hall, seizing any guy who was unattended and gruesomely covered him in a store's worth of makeup. Then they moved onto the next victim.
There were a few guys playing basketball at the far end of the gym, clearly not interested in the suspiciously-coloured punch. Quinn would've loved nothing more to just go with them for the rest of the night, but Thalia stopped him.
"Not a chance Harley, you're with me."
Her grip was like steel. "Pick Grover, I'm sure he's an excellent dancer."
Behind him, the satyr shrugged. "Half-decent waltz, but I'm a bit rusty at the tango."
"Grover's been here a while, nobody cares if he doesn't dance. While you on the other hand, will stick out like a sore thumb and probably get yourself killed by the French-ness Monster."
Couldn't argue with that. And that pun really deserved some recognition. "I really hate you sometimes, you know that?"
"No you don't."
"So, since when could you do that?"
"Huh?" Quinn tore his eyes away from the far side of the gym, where it looked like he was having the time of his life. Chatting with some of the other grunts, laughing, both drinking and eating a soda. And here he was, stuck dancing with Thalia.
Which if he had to admit...well, it wasn't really the worst thing in the world.
"The whole 'sniffing out demigods' thing," Thalia repeated. "You've never mentioned it before."
"Well I wouldn't really call it 'sniffing out'. More like a sixth sense, if anything." He sneaked a quick look over at the Di Angelos. Nico was still playing his card game, and Bianca was engrossed in some Roman mythology book. Sorry, wrong pantheon.
"But you couldn't tell Dr Thorn was a monster?"
"It doesn't exactly work that way. It's like..." Quinn paused for a moment, taking the opportunity to spin Thalia under his arm and pull her back towards him, provoking an impressed look from her.
"Okay, how on earth does a sixteen year old comic book geek learn how to do that?"
Quinn did his best to appear modest. Of course, he failed miserably. "Grew up with a foster family for a few years. One of their rules was that everybody had to learn to dance, because it was as important as breathing or some other inspirational bullshit."
Thalia laughed, which felt nice. "Oh, you poor thing. Must've been-wait, don't think you can change the subject." She hit him in the chest. He knew from experience that she could hit far harder than that.
"Ow. Look, it's not like I have a manual on this. Some things I know, and some I don't. Simple as that."
"So...can you tell what I'm thinking right now?"
He couldn't. But there was no reason to tell her that.
"Yes, you're thinking about how to get the pine tree smell out of your leather jacket. I recommend saltwater." He anticipated it this time, easily evading her fist.
"Listen, you-Annabeth?"
"What?" Turning around, he noticed Annabeth approaching them, a protesting Grover in hand. Quinn stepped away as they approached.
"Something wrong, Annie?" She seemed a bit confused at the sudden distance between him and Thalia, but clearly had bigger issues on the mind.
"First of all, I told you not to call me what. Second of all, have you guys looked at the twins yet?" He followed her hand, but Quinn couldn't spot the Di Angelos.
"Um, can't seem to find them...Crap."
Thalia instantly turned from her punk girl persona to her Daughter of Zeus Commander, which he had to admit was all kinds of appealing. "All right. Annabeth, take your cap and follow behind us, invisibly. Grover, get your pipes. Quinn try and find their scent, maybe we can track them that way. Percy...wait, where's Seaweed Brain?'
Annabeth look around wildly. "Di Immortales. I think he went after Thorn."
Great. Just what Quinn needed.