"Is your parent home?" Grover asked once we were at an abandoned Do-It-Yourself carwash.

I cringed at the fact that he knew that I had no mother. My shock morphed into red-hot anger at the fact that he knew one of my most guarded secrets; the only way to figure that out is if anyone asked, or even worse, read my diary.

Grover noticed my face and covered his mouth in shame. "I can explain," he whimpered, his voice muffled. "The reason why I know this is…is kind of important."

"Important how?" I growled, readying my backpack. The fact that he knew about my mother shook me. It almost felt like he knew more about her than I did, the way he nonchalantly brought up that I was lacking a parent.

Whenever my dad wasn't drunk I would take advantage of this time to ask him about my mom.

But while he was sober, he was cranky and foul because of hangovers, so all I've gotten were bitter explanations.

"Your mother was a mistake," he spat angrily, like the words disgusted him. "I was a fool. I got swept away by her seduction and she forced me to raise you!" At this, he would jab a trembling finger in my general direction. "The reason why I'm like this is because of her!" Then his gaze would soften. "She had the darkest eyes, yet the warmest face." Then his expression would harden again and he would mutter, "But it was all fake...all fake."

I could only get scraps of information, whether bitter and angry or longing and sad. Supposedly it was my mother's orders to sign me up in self defense classes and archery lessons. But these requests confused me; why on Earth would she care about self defense and archery?

"Important how?" I repeated when Grover fell silent.

"Well," Grover swallowed. "I…think I…might…know your mother?" He nervously backed away and held his hands up as if surrendering.

I felt like I was falling to the ground while the world was spinning, yet my feet remained rooted on the ground. It took me several moments to remember how to breathe. My eyes slowly widened as I processed what Grover had just said. Within moments, I had grown from barely knowing him to hating him.

Still…I had to get control of my emotions. I took a deep steadying breath, and the ferocious roaring in my head faded. I looked Grover in the eye and said in my coldest voice, "Tell me, Grover. Is she well?"

Grover flinched, sensing the iciness in my words. "Look, Robyn," he said slowly. "I'm actually not sure if I met her personally…but I definitely know of her."

I relaxed a bit, although I was still angry. I folded my arms and mumbled, "So what're we doing at a car wash? Are we hiding from Ms. Deena?"

I was joking, but Grover actually nodded, who was beginning to sweat bullets again. "You see, she's not…a teacher. She's a Fur—a Kindly One. Except I don't know—"

"Did you just call her a Kindly One?" I interrupted. "Right. She's totally the caregiver. Awesome." The idea of a kind Ms. Deena actually made me resist the urge to smile. Ugh, what was wrong with me?

"Yes, a Kindly One," Grover said, his voice rushed. "We don't have a lot of time, but everything will be explained later, I promise. Now, I'm going to do something that might confuse you…" He began to dig through his bag.

"Right," I muttered under my breath. "You totally haven't weirded me out at all yet." Despite how I felt about Grover, I couldn't help but be curious about what the heck he was doing.

Grover pulled out a giant golden coin and ran inside one of the car washes. I had a sudden urge to turn it on while he was still inside, but I only watched as he flipped some switches until a fine mist gushed out.

As he walked back to where I was, I said, "Why do I get the feeling that you've done that before?

Grover blushed. "No comment," he muttered, though he was grinning; for a moment, I almost forgave him. Grover and I took a step back as the mist billowed into the sunlight, resulting into a large glittering strip of rainbow.

My curiosity melted into impatience. "What are you doing?" I demanded. "This went from weird to downright bizarre. I'll…just head home, okay?"

Grover's sheepish smile went back to panic. "You can't!" he exclaimed. "Just wait! I'm almost done!" He held out his golden coin and said, "O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering."

Just when I was about to abandon Grover to his shenanigans, he threw the coin into the rainbow and it disappeared. "Show me Annabeth at Camp Half-Blood!" he exclaimed, sounding strangely sure of himself.

Suddenly an image shimmered in the rainbow: a girl maybe a year or two younger than me was talking to a black-haired boy her age. She didn't notice us until the boy tapped her on the shoulder and pointed us out.

Both grinned, and it occurred to me that these two people obviously knew Grover. The looks that they gave each other were all too familiar: the nostalgic grin, the warm excited smiles, and the way they spoke. It was all something I have always wanted to experience.

"Grover!" Annabeth exclaimed.

The black-haired teen grinned again and said, "Hey G-Man."

"Annabeth! Perrrrcy!" Grover bleated. "I found another one, in southern Utah. She's with me right now!" He turned towards me and gestured me towards the rainbow message thingie.

I did, though as I stepped towards them, I punched Grover in the shoulder and snapped, "Another one? What am I, a dog?"

Grover flinched again, and I was pleased to see Annabeth and Percy trying to resist laughter.

But before anyone could say anything, there was a screech in the air, and Grover whimpered again. "Oh…oh Gaea…she's here."

I turned and saw Ms. Deena flying towards us from a distance. She had huge leathery wings and was carrying a fiery whip, her expression murderous. Yet other than those minor details, she looked completely the same with her nasty leather jacket and boots and her greasy grey hair and wrinkled pouchy face.

"Robyn Stirling!" she cackled. "You haven't finished your detention!" She flicked her whip, and I could feel its heat even though she was fifty feet in the air, a hundred feet away.

"Holy Poseidon," Percy breathed. "Is that Mrs. Dodds?" Grover nodded. "This time she's going by Ms. Deena."

"Mrs. to Ms., huh?" Percy asked. "No wonder she's single now." If the situation wasn't so terrifying, I would have laughed out loud.

Annabeth punched Percy on the shoulder and snapped, "Shut up, Seaweed Brain! They need help! Get Silena! She'll send them some pegasi!"

Percy disappeared from the image, and Annabeth said, "Grover! How's your pipe playing? Do you know any defensive songs?"

Grover shook his head, looking to be on the verge of passing out.

Annabeth cursed in—was that Greek? And said, "Hang in there, guys! Help is on the way."

Right when those words left her mouth, the mist shut off and the rainbow faded, the image of Annabeth and Percy vanishing.