I'm hoping to make one of these for every book so lets see how this goes. Also reviews equal faster posting so please review. Lastly if you have any ideas for me or suggestions for me I'm open for pretty much anything. Hope you like it. J
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson. L
Time: Right after The titans curse, but before The battle of the Labyrinth
Demigods and Olympians Reading: The lighting theft
It was a normal day at camp half-blood. As normal as a day at camp half-blood could be anyway. Everyone was eating breakfast at the dinning pavilion, when Chiron made and announcement.
"Would all the head counselors please come to the big house for an emergency meeting now." Chiron said in a calm, yet urgent voice.
Everyone looked worried, well everyone was worried. This couldn't have been good. Percy Jackson, Katie Gardener, Clarissa La Rue, Annabeth Chase, Michael Yew, Charles Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, Connor and Travis Stoll, and Castor and Pollux all got up out of their seats and headed away from the pavilion towards the Big House. They all had one thing in common, which was the confused and nervous look they all carried. They all walked up to the Big House into the game room and sat around the ping pong table like usual meetings, but this wasn't a usual meeting and everyone could sense it.
"Well lets get started, shall we?" Chiron said directing it at the Stoll twins who were seeing how long they could keep a burning pencil up there nose till they got burned. As soon as Chiron said that the twins quickly took the pencils out of their noses and put out the fire.
"Know down to business. The gods have received a mysterious package filled with five books, three from the past and two from the future."
"What kind of books?" Travis interrupted.
"These books are the story of Percy Jackson." Chiron announced. Everyone looked stunned and confused.
"Where did these books come from?" Clarissa asked.
"That's what the gods don't know. They have also asked me to bring all of the head counselors to Olympus to read the books with them." He said. Now everyone just looked plain scared. Most demigods have never met their Godly parent and a lot usually don't. So this was a big deal. "Argus will be driving all of us to New York in about ten minutes. So grab what ever you need and we will be on our way." Chiron finished.
Everyone went to their cabins to grab coats, and to tell their siblings where they were going. They all waited near Thalia's tree till everyone got there, then they all started there decent to the van at the bottom of the hill. They all got loaded into the van, with Chiron and his "wheel chair" in the front seat. Then the camp melted into the distance as the van sped toward Manhattan. It was a quite ride everyone was thinking to themselves, probably fantasizing about meeting their mom or dad.
A while later the van was unloaded and they all headed for the front desk of the Empire State Building. Everyone looked even more nervous than before.
"The 600th floor, please." Chiron asked the front desk man. He waved toward an open elevator to the right. Obviously this man knew who he was or at least about Olympus.
"Thank you" Chiron directed at the front desk man, but he was gone.
The group loaded into the fairly small elevator, while Chiron pressed a button on the elevator that looked like the Greek Omega sign. Suddenly the elevator jolted upwards so fast people had to hold onto the sides of the elevator.
DING, sounded the elevator and the doors slid slowly to the sides revealing Olympus. They all stepped out of the elevator, looking up in amazement at the city in the sky. Chiron started forward up the steps and headed toward the building at the top that held the thrones of the gods.
The group entered the throne room through huge gold doors that could have easily reached twenty feet. As the demigods walked in the gods all gave half-hearted waves and smiles to their children.
"You are invited here to accompany us while reading these books. For now you all can stay on Olympus till we finish. We thought that these booked could benefit us all sooner or later. Let's start by introducing ourselves." Said Hera, who stood and announced to the group of nervous demigods. The only people that looked calm were Chiron, Percy and Annabeth.
"Castor and Pollux, sons of Dionysus." The twins echoed.
"Michael Yew, son of Apollo."
"Charles Beckendorf, son of Hephesteaus."
"Silena Beauregard, Daughter of Aphrodite."
"Clarissa La Rue, Daughter of Ares."
"Travis and Conner Stoll, sons of Hermes." They both said with a grin, like they pulled off the greatest prank ever.
"Katie Gardener, Daughter of Demeter."
"Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena." She said with a small half smile to her mom.
"Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon."
"I'm sure you know who we all are. So lets get started. Percy you can read first since this book is about you." Hera walked the book over to Percy. Then he opened it up to the first chapter.
Percy's POV
This would be fun, reading a story about myself.
"I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher," I read.
"This sounds exciting, I have never vaporized any of my teachers." Apollo interjected.
"You've never had a teacher." Athena said.
"Hey Percy, I never knew you could read?" Travis interjected.
"I have never seen you pick up a book." Connor said with an amazed voice.
Percy was glaring at the Stoll twins as their faces stretched revealing a huge grin. Then Percy continued to read.
Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.
If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:
close this book right now. Believe what ever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.
"That's not going to work." Hera stated.
"It will help hide their smell for awhile though." Athena said.
None of the half-bloods were talking. They were to nervous and scared to say anything at the moment.
Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.
"You've got that right Percy." Apollo said, while pointing in his direction.
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.
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.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
My name is Percy Jackson.
"Well no duh Percy. The books named after you." Clarissa said in a mock tone. This was the usual way that her and Percy interacted, my insulting, and fighting.
Percy just ignored this comment and continued reading.
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.
"Troubled child?" The Stoll's said while laughing.
Am I a troubled kid?
Yeah. You could say that.
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, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.
"I hated going on field trips" Said Percy.
I know—it sounds like torture.
Most Yancy field trips were.
But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.
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.
Everyone turned to look at Chiron in the back corner of the room seeing if there suspicions would be answered. Chiron nodded, knowing why everyone in the room was staring at him.
I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.
Boy, was I wrong.
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. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.
Every one in the room burst into laughter.
"That sounds like something we'd do." Said Connor.
"Is there going to be any action in this. If there isn't I'm leaving." Whined Ares.
"Chill out." Said Apollo.
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. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.
This trip, I was determined to be good.
The laughing started all over again.
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.
"Gross!" Squealed Aphrodite and Silena at the same time touching their hair.
Aphrodite smiled at her daughter thinking about how much they were alike. How much she loved Silena.
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.
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.
"Enchilada's are gross." Said Artemis.
"I second that notion." Hermes said with a weird mischievous smile on his face. It was the same look the Stoll's got after they've pulled a prank.
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.
"Since he told you that you should do something bad, embarrassing or mildly entertaining." Hermes said.
"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.
"Yes! Please do." Ares said.
Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."
He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.
"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.
"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.
"Me too." Ares whined.
In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.
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.
It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.
"Its older than that." Athena stated.
He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, 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, 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.
"That's disrespectful." Said Hera. "They should listen to Chiron, they have no idea who they are disrespecting."
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.
"Know that's my kind of math teacher." Said Ares.
From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. 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.
One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."
"Well that doesn't sound good." Said Poseidon.
Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.
Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"
"Yes, please do." Said Hermes
"She does sound very annoying." Aphrodite said.
"Congratulations, I didn't know you knew such a big word." Apollo retorted, chuckling at his own joke.
Silena's face fell she knew how it felt to have people think she was stupid just because she was a daughter of Aphrodite. And it didn't make you feel good.
It came out louder than I meant it to.
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."
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?"
Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia all cringed at the mention of them being eaten by their father. It still brought back bad memories for them apparently.
"I'm surprised, your son is not totally stupid." Athena said to Poseidon.
"Hey!" Percy said, feeling wronged.
"Mother." Annabeth said. She was embarrassed her mother had said that.
All of a sudden everyone burst out in laughter.
"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—"
"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.
"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.
"Rocks don't taste very good." Travis said.
"Have you eaten a rock?" Beckendorf said, asking the question they all wanted to know.
"It's a long story but, yeah I guess I did." Travis replied.
"Of course he did. That's such a Stoll thing to do." Katie said under her breathe but, everyone heard her anyway. She was usually very quiet, so everyone was shocked to hear her speak.
After they got past the shock they all started laughing. The gods faces just looked confused. Obviously they missed the conversation and felt out of the loop. But nobody filled them in, all the demigods including Chiron were to busy laughing.
And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"
"You bet I did." Zeus said.
"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."
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.'"
"This girl is very annoying." Said Athena.
"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"
"Busted," Grover muttered.
"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.
At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.
I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."
"You should." Athena said.
"Will you stop insulting my son." Poseidon said, with a stern look.
"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, 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?"
"That would suck, getting eaten by your father." Said Castor.
"Really?" Said Pollux, stating the obvious.
"Dad can you promise you won't eat us." The Stoll twins said, speaking to their father.
"Do you really think I would eat you?" Hermes said with a confused voice. While the rest of the Olympians burst out laughing. Hermes still looked confused. "I promise I won't eat you boys." He finished. The twins were laughing still and so was everyone else.
The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.
Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."
I knew that was coming.
I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"
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.
"That's because his eyes are over a thousand years old." Athena stated.
"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."
"Man Chiron you were hard on him. I don't even know that." Apollo said.
"Seriously, Apollo." Artemis said in a stern voice, staring at her twin brother in disbelief. She couldn't believe he was her brother.
"Oh, come on sis, you ruin all the fun!" Apollo continued.
"Oh."
"That's a smart response." Said Athena.
"Will you please stop ripping on my son?" Poseidon said.
"What about ripping?" Ares said. Obviously he wasn't paying attention.
"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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
"There is no excuse you couldn't have made above a C." Said Athena.
"Athena." Poseidon said in a warning tone.
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.
Everyone turned to look at Zeus an Poseidon, who they all knew were responsible for the weather in New York.
"What? I was mad." Zeus said. All the gods started laughing. At that moment they all realized this was the first time they were all together having a good time with their children, even though they were on the other side of the room looking confused and out of it. All the gods were happy, that their children were all there with them. They hadn't seen their children in a long time. Some looked like they were going to pass out.
We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.
Hera looked at both Zeus and Poseidon as if they should be ashamed. Which they found funny and chuckled together.
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.
"Even though that girl is annoying, she sure does know how to pickpocket." Hermes said.
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.
"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."
"I kind of happy you went to hard on me. I actually might have learned something useful in your class Mr. Brunner." Percy said jokingly with a smile.
"Glad I was in your service, Mr. Jackson." Chiron retorted back.
"Woe did Percy just say that he learned something. What is wrong with this world." Annabeth said.
"Yeah I did say that Wise Girl." Percy said.
"Seaweed Brain." Annabeth retorted.
Athena frowned she did not like that her daughter was hanging out with Poseidon's spawn. She didn't like it all. But if it made Annabeth happy then I guess it was okay. Then she shot Percy a look that said be-careful-or-I-will-kill-you-slowly-and-painfully.
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?"
"Satyr's." Dionysus said. He hated working at that camp with all the little half-blood brats. The only good thing was that he could spend time with his two sons Castor and Pollux.
I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.
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.
"Aww what a nice kid you have Poseidon." Aphrodite said as Hestia nodded at her comment. Percy could feel the blood rushing up to his face. He was embarrassed, that the goddess of love had that in front of all his friends and kind of family.
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.
"Typical Chiron." Artemis 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.
"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.
"I've tried that before, and it doesn't work very well." Said Travis.
"Of course you guys have, just like seeing how many fire lit pencils you could stick up you nose before your nose would start to burn?" Silena said in a confused, yet playful tone.
"Yeah, pretty much." Said the twins in unison.
"That's my boys." Hermes said. Travis and Connor blushed slightly after having their dad speak to them directly, which was a first.
"Truly two sons of Hermes." Demeter said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermes asked her.
Demeter nodded to Percy to keep on reading to cut Hermes off so she didn't have to respond to the messenger god.
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.
"Water powers dun dedun dun." Apollo said.
"Water powers?" Percy and Poseidon said at the same time.
"Powers you get from the water, duhh." Apollo stated.
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!"
"There's my boy." Poseidon said.
Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.
"Well that's not good." Said Demeter.
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. "Now, honey—"
"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."
"You should never guess your punishment. It always gets you in more trouble, I should know." Apollo said.
That wasn't the right thing to say.
"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.
"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."
I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.
"She's definitely not human." Said Athena.
She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.
"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.
"But—"
"You—will—stay—here."
Grover looked at me desperately.
"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."
"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."
Nancy Bobofit smirked.
I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.
"That girl is really getting on my nerves. Can I turn her into a Dolphin." Said Dionysus.
"No?" We all yelled at him. Then he gave this look that seemed to say your loss, I was just trying to help.
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?
"Yeah, that's not human." Said Athena.
"Where's the action." Said Ares, like he was delusional.
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 wasn't so sure.
I went after Mrs. Dodd's.
"Runaway!" Hera said.
"You know your talking to a book. Right?" Zeus said.
"Keep reading." Hera said.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.
I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."
She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"
"This is not good!" Poseidon said.
Percy was happy that is dad was worried about him. He had never seen his dad worry about him. He thought maybe it was the I am a god so I have to be strong thing, but he just didn't know. It made him feel good.
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.
I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."
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."
I didn't know what she was talking about.
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.
"Oh this makes sense now." Athena said thinking out loud. "Never mind me." She finished.
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.
"That would be just like you Percy." Annabeth said as Percy smiled at her.
"Well?" she demanded.
"Ma'am, I don't..."
"Your time is up," she hissed.
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.
Then things got even stranger.
"A FURY! Hades sent a fury after my son." Poseidon said astonished that his brother would do that to him.
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.
"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.
"Really why did it have to be a fury?" Poseidon said, looking kind of put off.
Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.
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—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.
She snarled, "Die, honey!"
"Who say's honey before they kill someone?" Said Apollo. The thing was no one was paying attention to him. Poseidon was putting finger marks in his thrown while everyone else was staring at the book in astonishment.
And she flew straight at me.
Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.
The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!
Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. 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.
There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.
"I love Riptide." Percy said.
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.
"No magic mushrooms. Your half god duh." Hermes said, stating the obvious.
Had I imagined the whole thing?
I went back outside.
It had started to rain.
Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. 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."
I said, "Who?"
"Our teacher. Duh!"
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.
I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.
He said, "Who?"
"Satyr's are awful liars no wonder Percy didn't believe him." Said Dionysus. The rest of the gods nodded in agreement.
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."
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."
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?"
"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?"
"That's the end. Who wants to read next?" Percy asked.
"Oh thank the gods no more danger." Said Poseidon, relieved his son was alive.
" I'll read." Said Aphrodite as she got up to get the book from Percy.