A/N: Don't kill me? Sorry I haven't updated in a while… This is your gift for sticking with me! Yes I'm planning on doing the whole series, and Heroes of Olympus, but not The Lost Hero. Sorry I just really don't want to do that one. A story without Percy, it's just not a story to me.
Deal with it all you Jason fans. He just seems like a real fail to me, I'll try not to portray him as an idiotic teenage boy with no personality whatsoever, who holds a grudge against the amazing Percy Jackson. Though he might seem a little cocky at times, like Thalia at times.
I mean that one scene in the Titan's Curse? Please, Percy would've whooped her if the Oracle did not decide to take a stroll in the end of the game.
Piper is alright, but I have a feeling that she's going to end up as your regular child of Aphrodite if Rick doesn't make up his mind on who he wants Jason with.
Leo. Leo, Leo, Leo. He is the only good thing that came from The Lost Hero, other than finding out where Percy is, and seeing Annabeth put a knife to Jason's neck.
So I don't have anything against him. Back to the topic.
I will be updating soon, do not worry. Well, actually you should be worried a bunch. I've hit that thing called… wait for it.
Writer's block.
I've kind of lost some inspiration, so I've been reading as much of fan fics as I possibly can, trying to get that spark of interest again.
No such luck, but I've found some real cool stories. Check out my Favorites list, there are some good stories (in my opinion) in there.
Anyways, I've been in a funk, seriously. I've been a little sad since I can't find any inspiration that I started venting my anger into music. And some new stories. That are pretty long in my opinion.
I have a bunch of things in the making right now, I can't decide what to work on. The stories are NOT on Hiatus, because I am seriously writing things down on the documents and seeing where that goes. I've erased a bunch of things because I don't like it on some of the chapters I will be uploading soon, so that's why it's taking so long.
And then there's another thing that's keeping me from updating. That thing is called…
The Maximum Ride series. I haven't read, but I've heard of it. I want to read it SO bad, I've even started reading crossover and fics of them. Most of them are the 'What if Angel and Max get kicked out of the Flock' idea.
But I can't read it now, why you ask? My mom has decided that she won't buy me any books this summer, and that I have to wait until fall. Which is okay I guess, The Demi-God Diaries are coming out, so is the Mark of Athena, Hidden, the Rise of Nine, and a whole lot of other books I am planning on reading.
Another thing is Twilight, which I hate. But I just like any crossover that involves Percy Jackson, and I like that Percy becomes a super-hot vampire in most of them.
Pre-teen hormones suck. Ha ha, see what I did there? You Pervs.
Well I guess I'm not as different as you.
Anyways, I've started this. And I have the first chapter ready for all the books, including Demi-God Files. So, stick with me? I'll get out of this soon.
Please PM ideas on where I can go with my stories, especially MTOTTC and Going Under. I might just put the latter on Hiatus… Maybe. I don't have a problem with my two others stories, will not any major problems. But I still need ideas, I love hearing from my reviewers!
This story will actually be uploaded every Wednesday and Saturday. That gives me enough time to write the chapter, and put in the little dialogues. And some new guests as well. If this story gets deleted, well guess what's going up again? I don't care if they delete this story over a 100 times; I will re-upload it every time.
Or I can just on that website jlmill told me about. I already have an account on that one, it's the same penname I have on here. I haven't uploaded any stories though; I just got it because some of my favorite stories were moved there.
I like writing Reyna, she's some sort of puzzle I'm trying to figure out. I do support Preyna, the relationship and the friendship. This won't be a Preyna though, just a lot of 'Aww, he's such a good friend' moments.
Huh, I actually like writing author's notes now, please take the time to read this. And please PM or review ideas! Now like I said before this story might be, or what the Hades, will be OOC, but that makes it better for you since I don't have to make the Romans so serious.
Now without further Ado, here is…
Romans Read The Lightning Thief!
"Percy, do you really think Jason's on the ship?" Reyna asked hesitantly, watching the giant war ship descend. She bit her lip nervously at the thought of Jason. He was her best friend, nothing more; people always mistook them for a couple. Honestly he was more like a brother, the best brother in the universe. They would do everything together, and she couldn't wait to see him again. When she found out he was alive and well, she kept her excitement to herself. But she knew once she saw Jason all of those would come out.
Percy chuckled. He stopped walking and she stood with him. The Romans beside and behind her gave them their space, still heading out to the Field of Mars. Percy tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, as if trying to see through the ship. Percy talked about a girl, Annabeth, and she was positively sure she was his girlfriend.
Now she could inwardly tease him all she wanted. Yes inwardly, because she couldn't show that she actually cared. If she let her emotions show all day, the Romans would see a weak broken girl. She sighed and put her head up high.
She was a daughter of Bellona, she was strong, and she was great.
No, she was not weak or broken. She was strong and mighty, one of the best out there. Soon everything would go back to normal and she could forget all about the months she spent worrying over Jason, and the months she spent evading Octavian. She could forget all about the stress of being the only Praetor, and finally be reunited with Jason. That is, if he remembered her.
She frowned and Percy snapped out of his thinking. He looked at her with a concerned expression. He always did care too much for his own good.
"You okay?" Percy whispered. Reyna put on a fake smile; she knew she didn't do well enough because he only got worried even more. She let out a nervous laugh.
"I'm just worried. Worried and scared. Worried, scared, and excited." She corrected. Percy rolled his eyes at her and she punched him on the shoulder. He let out a yelp and rubbed his shoulder.
She inwardly frowned. Romans weren't supposed to show weakness. They were supposed to suck it up and keep fighting until they dropped dead. She was upset when she found out Percy was Greek, he had potential. She thought back to what she had thought about everything being normal once again. What if she didn't want it to be normal? She had gotten close to Percy; he was like an older brother. She had even gotten over Circe's Island! She flinched slightly, glad when Percy didn't notice. Maybe she wasn't completely over it, but she didn't want to strangle Percy any more, or his 'friend' Annabeth.
"You're thinking too much. Try being more impulsive. Embrace your ADHD-ness." Percy said. Reyna rolled her eyes.
"Percy, I told you already that my ADHD isn't as bad as yours. I can control it." She said proudly. It had taken a few years, but she could actually sit still when she was bored. Well mostly, but normal humans do tap their feet against the floor or drum their fingers on the desk right? So she really wasn't different.
Despite the fact that she was part god.
"Do you think Jason has his memories back? You drank gorgon's blood, but if you hadn't, do you think you would have your full memories?" Reyna asked. Percy thought for a while.
"I don't know, I think I would still have Annabeth in my mind, but I think some of my best friend's I would remember vaguely." That sort of cheered Reyna up. Maybe Jason remembered her vaguely.
A little, after all, was better than none at all.
"We should get going, the ship looks like it's about to land." Percy pulled her out of her thoughts. She shot him a small smile and began walking to her fellow Romans and future friends.
Well, hopefully future friends.
She walked with her fellow Praetor up to the crowd of Romans. They were staring at awe, for the ship was actually very graceful and beautiful. Behind her a son of Vulcan was whispering excitedly to his siblings.
"It must've taken months; do you see the dragon head? It looks beautiful. I wonder who built it; we must consult with the builder."
"It really does look beautiful; the Greeks will most definitely land in style." Percy grinned as he stared at the sky. Reyna nodded in agreement.
"Hey Perce, you ditched us back there." Frank Zhang, son of Mars, pushed his way through the crowd of people, holding hands with Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto. The pair looked much happier than they did the week before.
Percy chuckles and moved a little so he could see Frank.
"Sorry, I was giving Rey here a pep talk." Frank chuckled while Hazel rolled her eyes. Reyna glared at Percy, who was grinning cheekily at her.
"Really, Perseus," Reyna made sure to drawl out the word, taking pleasure in seeing Percy squirm, "I don't think you should call me that again unless you want a dagger at your throat." Reyna said, smirking the whole time and making a big deal of examining her dagger.
Percy wiped his face clean of emotions before smirking at her.
"I look forward to that, Rey." Percy said, taking out his pen. Reyna smiled and turned to Hazel and Frank.
"Remind me that I have a duel with our Perseus here later today." She said sweetly, which caused Percy to flinch and Hazel to laugh. Frank saluted her before giving a smile.
"Ma'am yes ma'am." The Praetor turned her attention back to the ship, a smirk on her face. Percy watched her cautiously from her right. Reyna sheathed her dagger, for now, and crossed her arms.
Percy watched the ship in the sky with happiness in his eyes. A blast of wind went through the crowd and chilled everyone to the bone. Reyna looked suspiciously to the sky, wondering if Jason was going to float down.
Percy however looked like someone had walked on his grave or something like it; he had his eyes closed and was beginning to sweat.
"Cheer up Perseus, your friends are on your way here and you look as if someone just kicked your puppy." Reyna said, trying to soothe her partner.
"I just have this weird feeling." Percy muttered a frown on his face. The wind was beginning to pick up and Reyna looked up, expecting the ship to be descending.
The ship wasn't, it was just floating I the middle of the air. The wind was getting stronger around them and Romans were pushed into each other. Thunder was heard and lightning struck, nowhere near them so they were safe. Reyna immediately turned around and began to yell.
"Everyone back to your bunkers! Do not come back out until I say it's okay. Frank, Hazel, stay here." She barked out commands. Everyone scrambled back towards their bunks except for Frank and Hazel who huddled around them.
"What do you think is going on?" Hazel yelled over the sound of thunder. It began to rain hard, soaking all of them to the bone, even Percy who was still standing there with a frown on his face.
"Percy? Are you the one causing this storm?" Reyna asked him. He shook his head.
"This is the feeling I got. Something's not right; it seems as if Zeus is angry for some reason. I don't know what, nothing major has happened. Other than the fact that Gaia is rising." Percy said, the other three barely hearing him over the roar of the wind.
Everything stopped. The wind, the rain, the lightning, and the thunder. The four stood in the Field of Mars utterly confused. The warship was gone and the sky was clear. Percy looked around confused.
"Where did everything go?" He asked. Reyna looked at him in confusion and followed his eyesight.
The Cohorts where all gone, so was the Senate House. The Field of Mars was still in place but everything else disappeared. Reyna could hear everybody trying to control their breathing, but she was oddly calm.
A flash of bright light blinded them for a second before they opened their eyes again. They were inside a green room, a lot like the color of Percy's eyes. They weren't alone though, the four stared at the three new people in front of them.
One was a boy about fifteen with blonde cropped hair and blue eye. He had a scar on his lip like he tried to bite something. He looked familiar to Percy, but he couldn't tell who he was thinking of.
The second boy Percy automatically recognized. He was on his knees, dirty and bloody. He had hair as dark as night all the way to his shoulders, but he didn't look like a girl at all. He had obsidian eyes, Percy couldn't see them but he was sure they held pain. He was pale, olive skin.
The third was one all four hoped they didn't have to deal with. He was sort of like a scarecrow, blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a toga and held a teddy bear in his hand. All four of the demi-gods there rolled their eyes, Hazel finally seemed to notice her sibling at last and she rushed to him.
"Nico? How are you here? I thought Gaia got you?" Hazel asked, tears forming. Frank walked over and held her hand, Reyna was staring at the boy with the scar and Percy had a suspicion on who he was.
Octavian scowled as he saw them, looking around to see where he was.
"Where are we? I bet you the Greeks are up to this, I told you we couldn't trust them!" Octavian said with a smirk. Percy cleared his throat.
"I am one of those Greeks, Octavian. I advise you to shut your mouth, we are still trying to make sense of the situation here." He said. Octavian backed down.
Reyna ran at Jason and hugged him tightly. Jason looked surprised but became happy when he saw who it was. He hugged back before looking uncomfortable and slowly prying Reyna off.
"Oh gods Jason, don't scare me like that again! I thought you were dead!" Reyna exclaimed, refusing to let the tears fall.
"I don't have my full memories back Reyna, what are we? Because I'm… dating someone and uh…" Jason trailed off.
Reyna laughed at him.
"We didn't date Jason, we were like siblings, getting along one second trying to kill each other the next. Nothing more, it's actually pretty funny you thought so." Reyna said, mischief in her eyes. Jason looked relieved and was about to speak before Reyna stopped him.
"Whoever the girl is, she better not hurt you or else she'll face me." Reyna said coldly. Jason looked surprised before grinning.
"You haven't changed at all." Reyna smirked at him when he said that. Percy stepped up and looked at Jason.
"You must be Jason. Camp Jupiter won't shut up about you." Percy said grinning. Jason relaxed and looked at him.
"And you must be Percy. The campers at Camp-Half Blood all worship you." The two chuckled.
Octavian cleared his throat.
"Will any of you mind telling me where we are?" He asked rudely.
A note appeared as soon as he finished talking. Reyna narrowed her eyes before stepping cautiously towards it. She grabbed it out of the air and began reading it.
"Dear Romans, we have decided to send you here to learn more about the adventures of Perseus Jackson, to give you an idea on how the Greeks act and live, and to find out their role in the Titan War. There will be six books, five in first person one in third person which alternates between demi-gods. Time will be frozen until you finish, and we might add a few people every once in a while. Happy reading! Signed Apollo and Hermes." Reyna frowned.
"Isn't Hermes Mercury?" She asked Percy. He nodded.
A stack of books appeared by Reyna feet and she bent down to see them clearly. She picked up the one on the top.
"It says 'The Lightning Thief'." Percy groaned.
"That was my first quest." Jason and Reyna looked surprised.
"You've had more than one?" They asked at the same time.
Percy smiled and nodded.
"Yes, you'll also learn something about a certain Ambassador of Pluto." Percy said smirking at Nico. He seemed to barely realize his condition and his eyes widened.
He grabbed ambrosia from his back pocket. Reyna looked at him in question.
"What? I had a suspicion that Octavian would charge as soon as the Greeks landed." He said sheepishly. Octavian groaned. Percy walked over and handed it to Nico.
"Here you go Death Breath." Percy said. Nico looked at him with wide eyes.
"You remember?" He whispered. Percy nodded and Nico groaned.
"Sorry," Nico whispered. Percy chuckled.
"I'll get you back later, but for now you've got to rest." Percy said.
"You sound like Sally." Nico said.
"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Percy asked smiling. Nico chuckled and ate the ambrosia. Some of his cuts closed and the bleeding stopped.
"Now that we have that out of the way, I've gotta ask how you got there. The gods aren't as powerful as Gaia are they?" Percy asked confused. Nico's eyes brightened.
"But Gaia's power isn't as great as the Fates." Percy's eyes widened.
"Well if the Fates brought you here we should really read this, even if this is going to give you guy's major blackmail." Percy said cheerfully. Reyna's eyes glinted.
"I hadn't thought of that, thanks Percy." She said. Percy groaned.
Frank and Hazel laughed and stood up.
"Well if we're going to be reading books I think we're going to have to get comfy." Hazel said. Blue bean bags appeared and Percy happily flopped down on one. Reyna looked at the bean bags.
"Couldn't the gods… get something classier?" Reyna asked. Thunder rumbled.
"Don't insult the gods, they're really sensitive." Percy snickered. More thunder. Nico chuckled from his bean-bag.
"You haven't changed at all Perce." Percy grinned at him and looked at Jason.
"I think you already know Octavian, Hazel, and Reyna, that over there is Frank, son of Mars." Frank awkwardly waved at him.
"He might not look like much," Frank called out here, "But he kicks butt when you give him a chance." A 'thank you' was heard here. Hazel giggled.
"Anyways, the sooner we get this over with the better, Reyna can you read please?" Percy asked. Reyna nodded and opened up to the first page. She raised her eyebrow at Percy before reading the chapter title.
"I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher."
Hazel and Frank laughed while Nico looked at Percy.
"Accidentally?" He asked.
Percy blushed and looked away.
Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.
"None of us want to." Reyna said darkly.
If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now.
"A little too late." Octavian snorted.
Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.
"It'll work for a while, but your heritage will catch up to you." Nico said.
Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.
Nico flinched, thinking how Bianca died.
If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.
"Why would a mortal be reading this?" Jason asked.
Percy shrugged.
"I don't know, maybe it's an actual book published somewhere." He smiled.
Fat chance.
But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.
"I wish we could just have a few moments of peace." Jason sighed. Percy nodded in agreement.
The two had it worse, for they were the leaders of the two camps, they were supposed to fight together and beat Gaia, they were supposed to give hope to all the other demi-gods and to pretend everything was alright when it wasn't.
In fact Percy was surprised he hadn't broken down yet. Jason was as well.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
"You didn't warn me?" Nico said, trying to lighten the mood.
He failed.
My name is Percy Jackson.
Nico managed a dry smile.
"No, it's Perry Johnson." Percy snickered.
"I even miss Mr. D." He said wistfully.
I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.
"You'll fit right in." Reyna teased.
Jason frowned. He remembered some things, but he was sure Reyna was never this care-free. Maybe it was because she was spending a lot of time with Percy. He scowled at the thought.
Am I a troubled kid?
"Why yes, yes you are." Nico said. Percy rolled his eyes.
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious." Nico blinked at him.
Everyone stared at him weirdly. Reyna spoke slowly.
"You do realize you just called yourself troubled?" She asked.
Percy nodded, pleased with himself.
Yeah. You could say that.
"See? I agree with myself."
I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus,
"Who would be crazy enough to do that?" Reyna exclaimed.
heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.
"The Roman stuff sounds interesting, not the Greek though." Reyna said. Percy glared at her.
"I'll have you know the Greeks are awesometacular." Percy grinned proudly. Nico clapped him on the back.
"I have to agree with Percy on here, we're pretty awesome."
Jason snorted.
"Romans pwn all." Reyna agreed.
"Oh really now, so you're dissing the people who have been letting you live with them for months?" Percy taunted. Jason turned red.
"Now you're dissing the people you've lived with for months." Jason smirked.
"Actually I've only been here a week, I barely know anyone outside of Frank, Hazel, and Reyna." Percy said. Jason's jaw dropped.
"And how did you get Praetor ship so fast?" He asked with his jaw clenched.
"They raised me on a shield." Percy said. Jason looked alarmed.
"You've already had the battle?" He asked. All the people there nodded.
"Percy went against Polybotes, man you should've seen him. He defeated him with Terminus…" Frank started babbling.
"Frank honey," Hazel put her hand on his shoulder and he stopped. "You're blabbing." He blushed and looked at Jason.
"So yeah."
Jason looked at Percy with curiosity.
"The campers say you're the best swordsman in 300 years, I'd like to see how good you are later." Jason smirked.
Percy surprised him by smirking back.
I know—it sounds like torture.
"What part are we on again?" Nico asked confused.
"The Greek and Roman stuff." Reyna answered.
Most Yancy field trips were.
But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.
"Isn't Mr. Brunner?" Nico asked.
"Yeah, but don't tell them."
"Okay, but why is he?"
"Because it's a house call."
"A house call? What?" Octavian asked.
"I'll explain later." Percy said.
Octavian looked at them suspiciously.
"They're planning on killing us all! Off with their heads!" Octavian yelled.
Percy started humming to the beat of the mash-up glee did, Thriller/Heads Will Roll. It wasn't that bad of a song, plus he ended up watching it because the Super Bowl was on before it.
Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.
"Roman armor and weapons? Why didn't he have Greek?" Nico asked Percy.
"I don't know, maybe he knew about all of this? Maybe he didn't want me finding out?" Percy answered.
I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.
Everyone snorted except Jason, Octavian, and Reyna.
"Please, you meet trouble wherever you go." They said at the same time. Nico turned to the newly couple.
"You went on the quest with him?" Nico asked.
"Yeah, and we found out how much monsters hated him." Frank laughed. Hazel nodded in agreement.
"What about you?" She asked. Nico smiled.
"I've known him for three years." Everyone's eyes widened.
"So he found you when you were ten?" Reyna asked.
Nico's eyes darkened and he didn't answer the question.
Boy, was I wrong.
"When are you ever right?" Nico asked.
"I have my moments." Percy protested.
"But they are very rare." Reyna added.
Everyone laughed, except Octavian of course.
See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon.
"What did you do?" Nico asked, curious.
I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.
Everyone laughed, actually including Octavian this time.
"How? What were you aiming for?" Hazel asked. Percy smiled his lop-sided grin.
"I wasn't aiming for anything, someone just told me he bet I couldn't shoot it." Percy said.
"I obviously proved him wrong." Percy finished proudly. Everyone started chuckling again.
"No wonder Annabeth calls you Seaweed Brain." Nico laughed.
Percy saddened but nodded. He couldn't believe he had to read his life story before he could see Annabeth again.
And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.
Everyone started laughing again.
"I can see why the Hermes cabin, especially the Stolls, respect you. This would be pranking gold." Jason complimented.
Percy grinned and took a bow.
And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.
This trip, I was determined to be good.
"You and the word good should not be in the same sentence." Nico said.
Frank and Hazel started laughing.
All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.
"Peanut butter and ketchup? Who eats that?" Reyna asked. Octavian looked at her insulted.
"I'll have you know it's actually pretty good." Everyone looked at him weirdly. Octavian huffed.
"Don't tell me you've never tried a peanut butter and ketchup sandwich?" Octavian asked. Everyone shook their heads.
"I might eat it if it was blue." Percy blurted.
Nico laughed.
"You'll eat anything that's blue."
Percy grinned sheepishly.
"What kind of last name is Bobofit?" Frank asked curious.
"What kind of last name is Zhang?" Octavian shot back.
"It's Chinese!" Frank protested.
"Don't listen to him Frank, your last name is wonderful." Hazel said.
Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.
"That sounds like a faun. Why is a faun at your school?" Reyna asked curious.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out. I'm not just going to blurt out all of Camp's secrets." Percy said. Nico snorted.
"I'm sure Grover wouldn't like how you described him." Percy turned red.
"He would throw tin cans at me and then order for me to pick them up since it was harming the wild." Percy laughed.
"I take it you and Grover are close friends?" Reyna guessed. Percy nodded.
"He went on a few quests with me, oh and he's the Lord of the Wild." Percy explained. Jason raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't see Grover at camp." Percy blinked.
"He had responsibilities as the Lord of the Wild; he can't spend all his time at camp." Percy said. Nico spoke up.
"Plus he was looking for you." Percy blushed.
"Oh stop being so modest Perce." Nico rolled his eyes.
"I thought Faunus was the Lord of the Wild?" Reyna asked. Percy and Nico darkened.
"It's a long story. It'll be in one of the books." Percy spoke darkly.
He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.
Nico sighed.
"Way to blow his cover."
"You know he loves enchiladas though." Percy pointed out. Nico chuckled.
"Do not take his enchiladas unless you wish to be trampled." He warned.
Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.
"Which you are going to ignore anyway right?" Nico asked. Percy nodded.
Hazel whispered to Frank.
"I haven't seen Nico this happy since ever." Frank nodded in agreement.
"It must be his Greek side."
"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.
"Please do, I hate bullies." Reyna mumbled.
Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."
"Not as much as Tyson." Percy snickered.
Nico laughed as he remembered the story Percy told him about Tyson's battle cry.
He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.
"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.
"Aw."
"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."
Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.
"Looking back on it, deck and decked is a pretty weird way of describing punching someone. I've never really got it. I mean when you think of the word 'deck' you think of like the patio or something, not really the punching 'deck'." Nico said.
The rest looked thoughtful.
"That is a pretty good argument, but don't you think punch is a weird word too? I mean when you think of 'punch', do you think of the physical action or the drink?" Reyna asked.
"I think of the physical action." Jason spoke up.
"I think of blue punch." Percy sighed dreamily.
In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.
"I sense foreshadowing!" Hazel said.
"I don't really like it when people foreshadow, it ruins the surprise and makes me want to skip straight to the action." Reyna frowned.
"You read books? Don't you have dyslexia?" Percy asked confused.
"No, why? Do you have dyslexia?" Reyna asked.
Percy nodded.
"You see almost all Greeks have dyslexia because we're hard wired for Ancient Greek." Percy explained. Reyna nodded in understanding.
"Not many of us have dyslexia, but a lot of us have ADHD." She said.
"That's your instincts that keep you alive during your fights." Nico nodded.
"Back to the books though, do you guys skip to the last page and read the last paragraph or sentence? The one time I did that I found out there was no more District Twelve." Nico pouted.
(Extremely OOC characters coming in a few seconds.)
"District Twelve? Don't you mean District Nine?" Jason asked confused.
"Don't tell me neither of you have heard of The Hunger Games Trilogy!" Nico sighed.
"I heard the movie is coming out in 2012." Frank said.
"Yeah, the last book is coming out this fall." Nico said excitedly. (1)
"Can't wait, but how are we supposed to buy it without adding some unwanted attention?" Frank asked. Nico thought for a while.
"I don't care I just need to find out if she loves Peeta or Gale!" Nico cried.
Octavian mumbled something. Nico narrowed his eyes.
"What was that?" He asked. Octavian glared at him.
"I said I ship Hawtniss." He said. Nico spluttered.
"What kind of name is that?" He exclaimed.
"Hawthorne and Katniss of course. Hawtniss. Or Everthorne. Gale-vergreen. Gatniss. Kale." Octavian said. Nico gasped.
"How dare you? Peeniss all the way!" The others tried to stop their giggling.
"Peeniss?" Frank asked.
"It's better than Keeta." Nico said. Frank sighed.
"I've always shipped Fatniss." Octavian and Nico looked at Frank oddly.
"Fatniss?" They asked at the same time. Frank rolled his eyes.
"Finnick and Katniss of course! Kinnick is weird so I call them Fatniss. Or Odaireen. Odair and Everdeen." Frank said proudly.
Percy spoke up.
"You guys are all wrong. Katniss belongs to Cato. Catniss and Kato FTW!" Percy yelled.
"SUHT UP! WE ALL KNOW THAT KATNISS LOVES SENECCA!" Reyna yelled.
"You guys could at least pick canon pairings." Hazel sighed.
"Well since Katniss is a strong woman she should be with someone equally strong. I'm betting she gets with Gale." Reyna said. Nico smiled.
"Alright everyone put in your bets." He said.
Frank went next.
"Well since Finnick has to be madly in love with Annie, I'm going with Peeta. Just because he's been madly in love with her since she was young."
"I don't know what you guys are talking about, but I'm siding with Frank. Peeta." Hazel said.
Jason spoke.
"I'm gonna side with Reyna here even though I've never heard of The Hunger Games. If Katniss is a strong woman, she'll need someone who can keep up with her. Gale." He said.
"I'm going with Gale; they've helped each other survive for years! GATNISS FOREVR!" Octavian said.
"I'm going with Peeta since he's the only one who truly understands what she's been through, other than Finnick. But like Frank said he's with Annie so yeah..." Percy said.
Nico made the final one.
"Peeta of course! The two are cute together, the strong woman and the weak fluffy man." He said.
"That's three against four; we'll just have to wait until the book comes out." Nico smirked. Reyna smirked back at him.
"May I remind you that he's been abducted by the Capitol? He might not even be alive!" Reyna cackled. Nico narrowed his eyes.
"Don't you dare say that again."
"Um guys as much as I love The Hunger Games can we start reading again?" Percy asked.
"Wait, you said you read the books, but how? You're dyslexic." Reyna pointed out.
"The Greeks are deceiving us!" Octavian went back to his annoying self. Percy rolled his eyes.
"I had a copy made in Ancient Greek." Reyna nodded. Frank spoke up.
"One more question? Which District do you guys want to live?" Frank squealed. Nico's eyes brightened.
"Well I think I would like District 13 since its underground, but we haven't heard much of it yet so I'm not sure." Nico said.
"I think District Two would be… nice." Octavian said. Reyna nodded in agreement.
"We could train to be Careers!" Reyna said excitedly.
"CAREER PACK!" Octavian and Reyna hi-fived.
"I think I'd be in District Four. I don't know if I'd be in the Career Pack, it'd be pretty dangerous because of my Fatal Flaw." Percy wondered. Reyna asked a question.
"What's you Fatal Flaw?"
"Personal loyalty, I wouldn't be able to kill my Career Pack so I think I'll fly solo." Percy said.
"I think I'll side with Octavian and Reyna. Is the Career Pack good?" Jason asked. Nico scowled.
"No! They're trained to win and kill." Octavian and Reyna's eyes sparkled.
"Exactly." Jason shrugged.
"I'll still be with them, you never can stop learning different ways to kill people." Percy twitched.
"I think I would be in District Eleven." Frank said.
"You just want to meet Rue's family." Octavian snorted.
"From what I've heard District Twelve is the mining district, so I think I'll go there." Hazel said hesitantly. Frank pouted.
"That's the poorest District!" Reyna interrupted them.
"As much as I like this conversation let's go back to the book."
Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.
He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.
"Echoey isn't a word." Reyna said matter-of-factly.
It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.
"Longer." Jason said. Percy snickered.
"You do know you guys called our parents really old?" Nico laughed.
He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top,
Percy shuddered.
And started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting,
"Kind of? Try extremely!" Reyna protested.
But everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.
"I have a bad feeling about that one." Hazel said.
Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.
"Nervous breakdown?" Jason raised an eyebrow. Percy smiled sheepishly.
"It wasn't all my fault! I got help from a few other students." Percy said evilly.
From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.
"Oh no, that's Nico." Percy said.
"Exactly! Wait what?"
She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.
Nico froze.
"Wait a minute is that who I think it is?" Nico asked Percy.
Percy nodded and Nico paled.
"She was your first monster?" He exclaimed.
"She's a monster?" Frank asked. Percy looked at Nico annoyed.
"Yes she is. I'm not spoiling anything else." He said.
One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight,
"That was horrible." Percy muttered.
I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious,
"Here it comes." Nico sighed.
And said, "You're absolutely right."
"Knew it." Nico muttered.
Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.
"Because it's so interesting." Hazel said.
Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"
"You go Percy!" Hazel cheered.
It came out louder than I meant it to.
"Of course it did." Jason laughed.
The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.
"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"
My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."
"One must not tell lies, Mr. Jackson." Nico said smiling.
Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"
I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"
"Of course it's that one." Nico groaned.
"Now before we continue, promise you won't make fun of me for the next few sentences, this was before I knew anything about the gods."
Everyone promised.
"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."
"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"
Everyone looked at Percy like he just fell down from Mars. Not the gods Mars, but Mars Mars. You get what I mean!
"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.
At least someone has a brain. Everyone thought.
"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.
"I never understood that, how did Saturn not know he was eating a rock?" Hazel asked. Reyna thought for a while before answering.
"I think Saturn didn't really look at what he was eating. He was probably rushing because he didn't want any of the gods getting away." Reyna answered.
"Or Saturn knew and saved the best." Jason boasted. Nico, Hazel, and Percy glared at him.
"You know I think we should have a contest on who has the most powers." Reyna spoke up.
"That way all of you guys would stop arguing." Frank said.
"Magnificent idea. Just warning you now, you better bring some ambrosia and nectar." Jason smirked.
"Someone has an ego~." Percy said. Nico and Hazel laughed.
"I think we should split into teams, since Zeus and Poseidon hate each other a lot more, Jason will be on one team and Percy on the other. Jason you choose first." Reyna ordered.
"I choose Nico." Jason said. Nico groaned.
"Great, now we're going to lose." Jason looked at him confused.
"Aren't you super powerful or something?" He asked.
Nico ignored the question.
"And looks like I'm with my buddy Haze! Welcome to the club." Percy smiled. Hazel rolled her eyes.
"We'll have the battle after this chapter. Or should we read one more before?" Reyna asked.
"We should wait another chapter; we do need our rest y'know?" Percy said.
"Or you're just afraid you're going to lose." Jason coughed.
Percy gladly ignored him.
And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"
"You know sometimes I wonder what if the Zeus never tricked his dad. Would the gods and goddesses in there mate and create their own family? Like what if Hades hooked up with Hera, or if my dad hooked up with Demeter?" Percy asked.
"Would the Titans still be in charge?" Nico asked. Percy nodded.
"And Zeus was just living in hiding, but then he does make Kronos barf his sisters and brothers, would Zeus still be king? Would Hades be married to Hera instead or Persephone? Would my dad have had me if he had Demeter? It's just something you have to think about." Percy said.
"It'd be… different." Hazel said uncertain. Everyone nodded.
"Just something to haunt your thoughts until you can't get it out. And then you'd be forever thinking what would happen if it did turn out like that." Percy said, grinning innocently.
"You give me headaches." Reyna muttered.
"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.
"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."
"Well that's an easy way to explain it."
Some snickers from the group.
Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"
"Hey, no need to be so disrespectful!" Reyna said.
"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"
"Busted!" Hazel said.
"Busted," Grover muttered.
"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.
"That's unattractive." Octavian said.
At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.
"Or horse ears." Percy snickered. Nico smirked.
"Horse ears?" Reyna asked. Jason caught on.
"Oh, it's Ch-"
"SH!" Percy yelled.
I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."
"If it wasn't for Annabeth you wouldn't know anything." Nico said. Percy stuck out his tongue.
"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine,
"Mustard? I always knew it was bad for your stomach!" Percy exclaimed.
"I hate mustard. It's disgusting." Frank said.
"There's nothing bad about mustard." Octavian muttered.
"Says the boy who eats a peanut butter and ketchup sandwich." Reyna mumbled.
Which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"
"Ah Chiron, he really needs advice on how to change subjects." Percy said.
The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.
"They always do." Reyna laughed.
"We do not!" All the boys said. Reyna raised her eyebrow.
"You guys just argued about who Katniss, a fictional character, should end up with. That's a girl's job!" Reyna exclaimed.
Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."
"That makes you sound really old." Nico said.
"Says the guy who was born in the 1930's." Percy said. Everyone looked at Nico who grumbled.
"I'll explain later."
I knew that was coming.
I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"
"How is it your polite to Chiron but never to the gods?" Nico asked. Percy shrugged while everyone gaped at him.
"I can't say I'm surprised, I always imagined him the kind of person who could get under anyone's skin." Reyna shook her head.
Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.
"He has seen everything." Jason muttered.
"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.
"About the Titans?"
"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."
"Oh."
"You have a way with words."
"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."
I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.
"It's for your own good." Hazel said.
"I know that now." Percy nodded.
I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.
The Roman's eyes widened.
"That sounds pretty hard, I think we should have a class like that." Reyna said.
"Great, now this book is giving Reyna ideas." Jason muttered.
"Wait until the introduce camp." Percy grinned.
But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life.
"Really?" Reyna asked with her eyebrows raised.
Percy grinned cheekily at her.
"Actually when I started dating Annabeth I moved it up to a B-." Nico gaped at him.
"Huh, I guess there are advantages of dating the smartest girl at camp." Percy stuck his tongue out.
"Smartest?" Reyna asked interested.
"Yeah, daughter of Athena, or Minerva." Percy explained. Reyna's eyes twinkled.
"I think I'll get along with her." Jason laughed.
"Trust me you will, she's a great fighter." Jason said. Percy smiled.
No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.
"Gods, you should've seen the grade got for my writing test, I got a one!" Percy said. (2)
Nico burst out laughing.
I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.
"Probably." Nico shrugged.
He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.
The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.
Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.
"Why is my dad so mad?" Jason asked.
We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.
"Ok, so Neptune and Jupiter are fighting?" Jason asked.
Percy nodded.
"I've always wanted to ask this, but why is Neptune low in your standards? At the Greek camp he is one of the most important gods, and no I'm not trying to boast." Percy said. Reyna hesitated.
"We don't like him very much because, well one we don't use the sea as much, and two… he's too powerful for our liking." Reyna admitted. Percy raised an eyebrow.
"So you don't like him because he's powerful? You should consider yourselves lucky, my father is not as sensitive as the other gods, or by now you would've felt his fury at being ignored." Percy said seriously.
Reyna paled.
Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.
Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.
"I don't think it worked Percy." Nico said.
"Detention?" Grover asked.
"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."
"Understatement of the century." Hazel laughed. Percy pouted at her.
Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"
Nico laughed.
"That is a lot like Grover, thinking of food in the most random and serious times. Kind of how you want to laugh in serious situations." (3)
I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.
"You're too nice." Reyna scowled.
I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.
A lot of people looked sad, thinking about what happened to their mortal parent or siblings. Percy realized how lucky he was for his mom to still be alive and to care about him.
Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.
"He's interesting…" Octavian said.
I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.
"I don't like her." Reyna said gritting her teeth.
"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.
"How do you know all this stuff?" Frank asked while laughing. Percy smiled.
"I'm a special boy."
I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.
"And this is when your powers kick in."
I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"
Everyone laughed.
"She got what she deserved!" Reyna said smiling happily.
Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.
Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"
"—the water—"
"—like it grabbed her—"
I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.
As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester.
"What monster is she?" Jason asked. He really wanted to know who his first monster was to compare it to his.
"Now, honey—"
"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."
"If I learned anything from being in the Hermes cabin, it's to not guess your punishment." Nico said seriously.
"You were in the Hermes cabin?" Hazel asked. Nico nodded.
"I was unclaimed. All unclaimed campers go to the Hermes cabin, we don't have any Cohorts." Hazel gasped.
"That's horrible, if we had it here I would be alone." She said. Nico shrugged.
"Percy is alone, so is Thalia." Jason's eyes sparkled.
"She's my sister." Reyna gasped.
"You have a sister?" She asked. She sounded hurt.
"I didn't know if she was still alive." Jason defended.
"Huh, I guess I can see the resemblance." Nico said.
"They have the same eyes." Percy said.
That wasn't the right thing to say.
"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.
"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."
"Almost as loyal as you." Nico mumbled.
I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.
She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.
"She sounds horrible."
"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.
"But—"
"You—will—stay—here."
Grover looked at me desperately.
"I wonder if he'll go tell Mr. Brunner." Nico said.
"Of course he'll tell Mr. Brunner, if he hadn't I wouldn't—" He cut himself off. Everyone was looking at him.
"Um, can we read please?"
"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."
"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."
Nancy Bobofit smirked.
"Now I want to deck her in the face." Hazel whispered.
I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.
"That stare is horrible." Nico shuddered. Hazel nodded in agreement.
"You've seen it?" He asked.
"He used it on a few monsters, I was shocked they didn't vaporize instantly." She admitted. Frank laughed in agreement and Percy turned red.
Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.
How'd she get there so fast?
"Because she's a monster." Nico explained.
"I know that now Nico-kins." Percy said smiling.
Nico scowled.
I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.
"I don't think so." Jason muttered..
I wasn't so sure.
I went after Mrs. Dodds.
"Biggest mistake ever."
Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.
"Really? I need to have a chat with him when I get back." Nico said.
I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.
Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.
"You wish."
But apparently that wasn't the plan.
I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.
Except for us, the gallery was empty.
"Great, no witnesses." Reyna muttered.
Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.
"Uh oh."
Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...
"Because she did want to pulverize it." Hazel explained gently.
Percy rolled his eyes.
"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.
I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."
"The second time you've been polite, the first time you've done the safe thing. What happened to the Percy I knew?" Nico asked, wiping a fake tear away.
She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"
"Get away with what?" Reyna asked confused.
The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.
She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.
"Oh she is."
I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."
"The third time you've been polite! But who's counting?"
Thunder shook the building.
"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."
"Confess to what?" Reyna wondered.
I didn't know what she was talking about.
"You usually don't know what people are talking about." Nico said.
"Hey!"
All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.
"If the Stolls were here, they would be kissing your feet." Nico said.
Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.
"Now they'd be hugging you."
"Well?" she demanded.
"Ma'am, I don't..."
"Your time is up," she hissed.
"Here it comes!" Jason whispered.
Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.
"A Dirae!" Reyna exclaimed.
"How did you get out of this alive?" Hazel asked worried.
That's a lot harder than my first monster. Jason thought.
Then things got even stranger.
"How could it get stranger than this?" Nico asked.
Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.
"A pen?" Jason asked.
Everyone who knew about Riptide laughed.
"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.
Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.
"Please don't get hurt." Hazel whispered.
With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword
"Oh." Jason said.
"Do you still have it?" He asked.
Percy nodded and took out Riptide. He uncapped it.
"Awesome."
—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.
Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.
My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.
"You must've been terrified." Hazel said sympathetically.
She snarled, "Die, honey!"
And she flew straight at me.
Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.
"Naturally?" Jason asked. Nico nodded for Percy.
"He currently holds the best swordsman for the last 300 years at Camp." Percy blushed. Reyna looked at him impressed.
The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!
"You use a lot of water references." Octavian pointed out.
"It's in my blood." Percy said roudly.
Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan.
"See? Sand castle. The beach?" Octavian said. Everyone groaned.
"We see your point Octavian."
She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.
I was alone.
"What? You're actually letting the Mist affect you?" Jason asked.
"I was confused and I wanted to know what the Hades had just happened!" Percy defended himself.
There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.
Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.
My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.
"Only you Perce."
Had I imagined the whole thing?
"Sadly no. Welcome to the world of Greek Mythology Percy, we've been waiting for you." Nico said seriously.
Percy started cracking up.
I went back outside.
It had started to rain.
"Either Zeus is pissed you got away, or Poseidon is pissed that you got attacked." Frank said.
Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head.
"That's a finny visual." Hazel said.
Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."
"Mrs. Kerr? Is that the Mist's doing?" Reyna asked.
I said, "Who?"
"Our teacher. Duh!"
"Yep, the Mist. Gotta love it." Percy said smiling.
I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.
She just rolled her eyes and turned away.
"Rude."
I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.
"Grover is a horrible liar." Nico said.
Percy nodded in agreement.
He said, "Who?"
But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me. "Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."
"He really is." Reyna mused.
Thunder boomed overhead.
I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.
I went over to him.
He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."
"Ha." Octavian snorted.
Everyone glared at him.
I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.
"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"
He stared at me blankly. "Who?"
"Chiron can lie thought." Nico nodded.
"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."
He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"
"And that's the end of the chapter." Reyna said.
"That took forever!" Percy groaned. He stood up and pushed his bean bag.
"I have to talk to Nico, so will one of you gods you know?" Percy asked the air.
Percy and Nico flashed out of the room only to end up in one that looked suspiciously like a kitchen.
"Hey look a note." Nico said nervously. He picked it up and began to read it.
"When you finish your talk the others will come here for a little break. There's food in the fridge. Signed Nobody." Nico read.
Percy stared at Nico who laughed nervously.
"What did Gaia do to you?"
I heard The Son of Neptune takes place in 2010, Mockingjay came out that August.
In Texas it was called the Writing TAKS test, you would take it in fourth grade. One was the worst, four was the best.
We've all wanted to do that at least ONCE.
A/N: And the next chapter shall be up on Wednesday. I don't care if you review or not, I'm going to upload anyway. I write these for my entertainment, and for yours. I hope you liked it, and hopefully there weren't too many mistakes.
I will update my other stories soon, don't worry I'm not giving up on them. Well not giving up on most of them. Maybe Going Under…
Anyways, until Wednesday.
Bye.