Lonely Beauty: Book One of Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Chapter One: Strange Field Trip
By Liz
~(Author's Note)~ Just to make everything clear. This story may not ever be finished. I don't know where to exactly go with it, but I really wanted to write is since I've been having writer's block issues with my Harry Potter story, Little Black Sheep. This might not be updated for forever and a half or it might be updated everyday. I don't know. But this is my story I'll drop back on when I can't write the other one. Okay? Thank you ^.^
It was a calm night after a busy day at Camp Half-Blood. The stars shimmered in the midnight blue sky and the crickets' chirps and frogs' croaks rung through the refreshing cool air, creating almost a soothing lullaby. Dew glittered on the strawberry fields like diamonds just like every night and the campers slept soundlessly in their cabins, completely unaware to what was happening. Along the shores of Firework's Beach, the navy blue sea gently rolled onto the cooled sand, leaving many treasures behind. Suddenly, a large wave furiously raced to the shore and smashed into it, the sea foam glowing in the moonlight, giving off an eerie atmosphere. As the abnormal wave retreated back to the sea, it left something in the foam, a baby.
It's wailed cried into the night, causing the chirps and the croaks to be drowned out and the calmness of the night to shatter. Lights filtered through the trees as cabin mates flicked on their lights, groaning at the noise. Soon enough, there was chatter coming from the woods, and the abandoned baby continued to bawl into the night. Footsteps, clattering armor, and galloping soon competed with the baby's howling as they arrived.
A centaur was leading the front, his pure white coat gleaming in the light. His face was fierce, his brown hair blowing in the breeze, and was ready for battle, but as soon as he spotted the small child curled up in a rose pink blanket, his features softened and confusion flitted on his face.
"A baby?" Someone cried in puzzlement from the crowd of fully armed demigods behind the centaur.
Whispers soon spread like wild fire, "A baby on the beach, impossible."
"How did it get here?"
"Why didn't it drown in the sea?"
An ear splitting shriek came from the small form once more and the white stallion centaur hushed his campers, "Shhh, you're scaring it."
The group became quiet at once as their leader slowly trotted over to the bundle. He looked down at it with sparkling eyes, immediately feeling protective over the child. He bent down, feeling the smooth, slippery fabric that covered the baby brush his hands as he lifted it into his strong arms.
"Shhhh…it's alright…shhh…" He cooed at her, his brown beard sweeping against the child's skin. The babe soon quieted down and looked up at the man with wide eyes.
He smiled down at it and noticed that its eyes shined an alluring green as thick eye lashes rimmed them. Her expression was of pure curiosity and her small lips were partially parted, thick tears still remaining on her chubby cheeks. Suddenly, she hiccupped and he gave a small chuckle. The campers behind him watched soundlessly, the air between them tense.
His eyes then flickered down to her neck and he noticed that a delicate gold chain was hanging from it. He pulled it up to see it was a golden seashell, bordered with emeralds. He stared in wonder at the jewelry, wondering which god it could be from. A piece of thick paper stuck out of the child's blanket and he gingerly pulled it out, flipping it open.
Dear Chiron,
This is my baby girl, Callista. Please take care of her, for I fear the worse it to come for my mistake. Thank you, I am forever in your debt.
There was no signature at the end of the letter and Chiron worried that this meant this baby would be in grave danger. He glimpsed at her small, innocent face again and felt his chest welling. He couldn't leave her here. He then turned around to his group and said, "We have a new camper!"
"Who's her god?" An Ares child asked, wearily staring at the child.
"I don't know," He told them, "I'll be taking care of her until she is old enough." He started to walk through the crowd, towards the cabins when an Athena's daughter touched his arm.
"This is not wise, Chiron. It is suspicious that such a baby would suddenly appear on our shores without a parent claiming her. Are you sure you want to keep her?" She asked, her eyes worriedly staring up at Chiron.
"Well, what do you propose we do otherwise, Lilliana?" Chiron asked her and she bowed her head.
"The best thing to do is to dispose of it," She whispered and Chiron's fur bristled.
"And anger the parents of this child? They have asked me to take care of this baby, Callista, and I shall honor this request." He told the camper, his voice unintentionally cooler that he wanted.
She backed away, "I'm sorry, Chiron, for suggesting such an offer."
"It's ok, child. It is wise to think of the risks of keeping this baby, but I think it's worth it. Come on, back to your cabins." Chiron nodded to her and the rest of the group started walking through the trees.
The centaur glanced at the baby that remained in his arms and grinned as he saw it blowing bubbles with its mouth.
"Oh, Little Callista. Who dropped you off here?" He asked her with affectionate eyes, knowing he wouldn't get an answer.
As he approached the Big House, Dionysus, the God of Wine, lumbered out of the front door, rubbing his eyes.
"What's with all the racket?" He asked irritably.
"Mr. D, it seems we have a new recruit." Chiron slightly held the baby out to him and Mr. D grimaced.
"Oh great! Another one and it's a baby! When will those guys in Olympus just stop having kids!" He shouted, throwing his arms above his head in annoyance.
"Mr. D, I have a feeling that you'll like this Callista," Chiron tried to show the god the baby fully, but Mr. D just waved his hand as if dismissing him.
"I don't want to see that poop flinging rat, just do whatever you want with it. I don't care," And then he stumbled back inside, grumbling about 'stupid babies.'
Chiron just shook his head and followed Mr. D into the building.
"How about you get some sleep, Callista?" He asked the child, playing with her chin with his fingertips.
She giggled, a beautiful toothless smile spreading across her face as she gripped his large finger with her tiny hands. He grinned down at her, gathering another blanket and a box for her to sleep in for tonight.
"Sweet dreams, Callista." He whispered to her and walked over to his own bed, falling asleep for the next day.
Twelve Years Later, May, 2005:
I sighed as I stared out the window of the smelly, yellow bus I was riding. It was cramped with tons of other kids as I tried not to look disgusted as one of the boys in the seat behind me was picking his nose and eating it. There was a girl next to me, who was just babbling away how she liked Jerry Gronger, a boy in my class.
"He's so smart and just absolutely cute! Don't you think so, Calli?" She turned to me expectantly and I shook my head to get out of my daze.
"Sorry, Mandy, what were you saying?" I asked, still feeling a little distant, brushing back a lock of my chocolate brown hair.
"Calli! Were you listening to even one word I was saying?" She pouted.
"Yes, you were talking about Jerry," I smiled at her, but I absolutely detested this girl.
I knew I had to do it for my dad, Chiron. Actually he's not my dad, but he raised me when I was abandoned by the border of the camp. You're probably wondering what I mean by 'camp'. Well, I'm a demigod, which is an offspring of both a mortal and a god. Problem was, I didn't know who were either of my parents and Chiron would always stare worriedly at me whenever I mentioned it. He seemed to be more relieved when we found this Percy Jackson. When I asked why we were tracking this guy, he just said he was probably a demigod. I didn't push him further, knowing that he wouldn't reveal anymore. So, all I knew is that if my dad's suspicions were confirmed, he would bring this boy back to Camp Half Blood and train him to be a warrior.
Camp Half Blood is a place where demigods can go where monsters can't find them and they can learn about their heritage. My father had sent some people to go get demigods and some were purposely sent here by their parents. We've had many run-aways come to the border, too, being chased by monsters. You see, they follow the smell of a demigod and the stronger the smell, the stronger the demigod's god parent must have been. My father asked me to come along since I've been trained to fight monsters for my whole life, seeing as I never lived anywhere else besides Camp Half Blood. He also gathered Grover to come with him to Yancy Academy to help retrieve Percy Jackson. I was extremely excited when my dad offered for me to come, but now that I was here on this stupid, crowded bus, listening to Bratty Mandy jabber about boys, I somewhat wished I was back at camp, training with a sword. What made it even worse is that Grover got to be Percy's best friend, not me.
Grover was satyr, you know, the things that are half goat and half human? You're probably wondering how he could go to Percy's school and not have people scream when they saw him. Grover had a cover of course. Grover was a new student and wore extremely baggy jeans to cover his hair legs and Kleenex stuffed sneakers to hide his hooves. He also had a 'doctor's' note saying that he was crippled for life from some muscle disease and couldn't participate in gym. With Grover's goat legs, he also walked a little funny in his human shoes and I could see how everyone believed he was a cripple.
Getting me in was easy. They just told the people I had dyslexia and ADHD, which most demigods were told they had by humans. My name at this school was Callista Johnson, which was half true. Actually, I didn't have a last name, which didn't really bother me much. I mean it was better to have no last name than a boring on like 'Smith'. No offense to anyone who has that last name. Anyways, my cover said that I was some new student from Austin, Texas and that my parents were business people who were always away. So, that pretty much covered everything, because I found I could persuade people easily, especially men. I knew that I was considered pretty with my long chocolate brown hair and ever changing eyes, so I don't know whether they were perverts or something, but it seemed that it was easy to manipulate them. Chiron didn't know what to make of it, so I just told him I was practicing it. Ya, so I lied to him, whatever. I didn't want to worry him with anything that he didn't need to worry about. Another 'power' that I found out I had was that my eye color always changed. Chiron always told me mine was this green that reminded him of this one woman he liked. Others would tell me they were some brown or blue or something and that it would remind them of who they loved. At school, no one really noticed that my eyes changed because no one really went up and announced "OH MY GOD! YOUR EYES ARE BLUE! MY FRIEND SAID THEY WERE BROWN!" Things like that just don't happen. To me my eyes were a sky blue and I couldn't understand why.
My father, Chiron, was a Latin teacher called Mr. Brunner. To cover up his horse half of his body, he had a wheelchair that somehow made his behind smaller and concealed it. He had fake jelly legs that he had for show and completely nailed his old, poor crippled guy appearance. With a little persuasion from me, he got a job at Yancy Academy. He was probably the best teacher the school ever had and ever will have.
So, that's how I got here, staring over at Percy's and Grover's seat, wondering. Grover was getting a sandwich pelted at the back of his brown curly hair by this girl even more annoying than Mandy. Her name was Nancy Bobofit and had bright, red hair and almost fake tan colored freckles. She loved to tease Grover and Percy and at this moment, it looked like it took everything Percy had to not sock her in the face. But everyone knew that Percy could do nothing, seeing as he was on school probation. My dad told me that the principal of the school had threatened Percy that if anything fishy happened during the trip, he would have in-school suspension. To me, that didn't seem like a bad punishment, not what I've been through at camp, but I could tell that Percy loved his mortal mother and couldn't bear to hurt her.
Ok, I have to admit. I was just a little jealous that Percy knew at least one of his parents, even if it was just the mortal one. I mean, it was way better than being stranded by them, like I was. I just popped on a beach, out of nowhere, and Chiron found me crying. He said that he found a letter and a necklace with me. The letter had no signature, so I never knew who dropped me off.
I grabbed my shell pendent and started to rub it between my thumb and forefinger.
"Oh…that's such a pretty necklace, is that real gold?" Mandy's eyes zoomed in onto what I was holding my hand.
"No, it's fake," I quickly told her and slipped it back into my shirt.
She pouted, crossing her arms, "Fine." And turned away.
I sighed, looking back at Percy. He had coal black hair and sea-green eyes that were such an exotic color, they stood out dramatically against his black hair. His eye brows were furrowed and I could tell he was so close to exploding in anger, which he did at times. I didn't blame him, I mean, if I was told I had ADHD and dyslexia and I failed at every subject, I wouldn't be too happy either. This school wasn't really helping things either. The teachers always seemed to look down on Percy, but there was this one teacher that really bugged Percy and whenever she smiled at me, I would shudder. There was something odd about her and she didn't really warm up to me, despite the fact that everyone else seemed to want to be my friend.
In Percy's school, I was considered to be a popular, giggly girl brat, a cover that I despised, but it worked. I heard rumors about Percy and everything and I told Chiron anything that was useful. Still, I wished to be his friend instead. It seemed that Grover fit the roll perfectly though, since he was considered a loser at this school. He overreacted to many things and since he had a small beard, the kids thought he was probably held back and dumb. So, Percy warmed up to him since they were both considered 'freaks.'
How did Percy become a freak? I wondered that myself, but when I heard his history, I soon realized why. Percy had accidently shot a cannon ball at the school's bus in fifth grade on a Saratoga field trip. He got expelled, of course. In fourth grade, he had dunked everyone in a shark infested pool because he pushed a lever at Marine World. Another school he got kicked out of. Then he did something in third grade and so on. It seemed that whatever school Percy went to, he always got kicked out. I didn't think this one would be an exception.
This time, we were on a field trip to Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. Soon enough, the bus slowed down and I sighed, knowing that this trip would probably be a drag. At the time, I didn't know how much of a drag it really would be when I exited the bus's folding doors. I raised my head slightly up and breathed in the fresh air, happy to be out of the stale air of the bus.
My father was the one who was our guide for the tutor and Mrs. Dodds stood behind us, grinning deviously. He pushed the lever on his wheelchair and moved forward, passing many glass cases filled with ancient pots and other artifacts that I fully knew Chiron may have seen be created. I smiled at the thought and stood next to Nancy Bobofit. Her giggling was like nails on a chalkboard and I could hardly stand it, but I laughed with her.
I then glanced at Percy and Grover and say that Percy was looking at everything with awe. Well, I guess it wasn't everyday you saw ancient stuff, if you lived a mortal life. We suddenly stopped at a marble column, which was at least twice my height, where a prowling sphinx laid on the top. It was a stele, something like a grave stone. I could barely hear him as the girls next to me chatted about what was Mandy going to do about Jerry. I struggled to not roll my eyes as I gave a few comments. I caught of few snippets of what he said and I realized that it was for a girl my age. I gulped and held back tears. There were many demigods who were just like her, dead before they even grew up.
"Something wrong, Calli?" Mandy asked me with concern and I shook my head.
"No, why would there be something wrong?" I asked and they started gossiping again.
Chiron was now pointing towards the two carvings on each side of the statue, but I couldn't hear what he said. Not like I needed to anyways. Chiron had already taught me everything he did in that Latin class he was doing here. I, by no means, have learned everything about mythology, but I knew a pretty good chunk.
"So, what do you think?" I heard Mandy and I turned to her.
"Oh, um, I think it's great." I hurriedly told her and she smiled, giggling.
"Shut up." I heard a familiar voice whisper.
"Who you telling that to, Jackson?" I hissed, knowing I had to keep my act up.
He glared at me, "You, Jonhson."
I then watched Percy recoil and I turned around to see Mrs. Dodds giving him her sickly sweet smile and I could already hear her say, "Now, honey…" I felt bad for being so mean to Percy, but I had to. If I wasn't, I would blow my cover. If I blew my cover, my dad wouldn't be too happy.
There was always something strange about Mrs. Dodds. There was something so… unnatural about her. There would always be a tug in my stomach whenever she got close to me and I didn't know why. I always just shook it off. Mrs. Dodds was a pre algebra teacher from Georgia and would always, always where this black, leather biker jacket, which just added to her sharp appearance. She just popped out of nowhere in the middle of this year and I've always been a little suspicious about her. She seemed to have this grudge on Percy and he would always get these terrible punishments like erasing answers out of math books for forever and a half. Grover told me.
I saw that my dad was still pointing to the carving and was probably describing how intricate they were.
"Look, there's a naked guy on the side, ewww." Nancy snickered, pointing over at it.
That's when Percy finally snapped. He looked furiously into Nancy's eyes and sneered, "Will you shut up?"
Suddenly, everyone was laughing and my father looked over at Percy. I felt bad for him, he always got in trouble.
"Mr. Jackson," Chiron said in his deep voice, "did you have a comment?"
Percy's face turned so red, I could have mistaken it for a seriously overgrown cherry, "No, sir."
My father then turned to the stele and pointed to one of the carvings, the group pretty quiet now, "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"
I could feel the relief come off of Percy, which at that moment, I thought was pretty weird. I shook my head and watched as Percy slightly smiled and started to explain, "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"
I gulped, and looked over at my father for a reaction. I knew that this was a touchy subject for him, Kronos being his father and all.
"Yes," Chiron said with a straight face and moved his as if trying to make Percy say more, "And he did this because…"
"Well…" Percy looked up out of the corner of his eyes to the ceiling, as if he was trying to think.
Come on, you know this! I silently pleaded that he would answer.
"Kronos was the king god, and-" Percy started to explain.
"God?" Chiron asked him, a small grin on his lips.
"Titan," Percy corrected his mistake, "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. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sister-"
"Ewwww!" The girls around me chorused and I joined them reluctantly.
"-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans, and the gods won." Percy finished, looking hopeful at my father.
I had to admit, Percy knew his mythology, despite living with his mortal mother.
A few people snickered in the crowd at how, probably thinking Percy was a loser for knowing this. I wanted to scowl at them and say that all of this was real, but I knew I couldn't. I bit my tongue and swallowed my words.
I then heard Nancy whisper into my ear, "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.'"
I was furious and it was hard to control my emotions. I felt suddenly unstable and I was going to yell at her about how that Kronos actually did eat his kids when my father spoke.
"And why, Mr. Jackson," My father asked, saving me, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's question excellent question, does this matter in real life?"
I felt a little dazed, but otherwise, things were back to normal. I could hear Grover whisper in front of me.
"Busted."
"Shut up," Nancy snapped at him and I would have laughed if I could. She looked ridiculous.
Percy took a second to think and then shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, sir."
"I see," My father sagged slightly in disappointment, "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 Tatarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds would you lead us back outside?"
I followed the group, the girls moaning about that they were going to puke and the guys were laughing about how it must have been, living in a stomach. I grimaced and sneakily looked back at Grover and Percy. They were slowly coming when my father spoke.
"Mr. Jackson."
I knew that my father wasn't going to punish him, but Percy sighed and seemed to be thinking 'Oh great, I knew it.' He then turned to Grover and told him to come out with us, and that he'll be out in a sec. I turned back to Nancy and said, "I'll see you later." She barely seemed to have noticed.
I slide by the wall and waited for Grover to come. He knew that I was waiting for him, but he barely glanced over when I jumped by his side.
"Hey, Grover." I greeted him with a smiling face, happy to be able to talk to him.
"Hey, Calli. Sorry about uh, leaving you with Nancy," he smiled sheepishly (goatishly?) at me.
"Oh, don't worry. I won't have to deal with her for long," I told him, feeling relief flow through me, "Then it's back to camp."
"Yep, camp," Grover said dreamily and I knew he longed to be back there instead of here.
He was really best friends with Percy though. I could just feel the bond they had. I vaguely wished that he was that close to me. I sighed, knowing Percy probably hated me.
"He doesn't hate you," Grover told me, as if reading my mind.
"Really?" I asked, puzzled. After all the times I aided Nancy in pranking Percy, I would suspect he would have wanted to kill me by now.
"He just hates your cover," He said and I punched him in the shoulder.
"Sure," I mumbled and he looked at me worriedly.
"Have you felt those emotions again?" He asked and I almost regretted telling him about it.
"Yes," I whispered, "It was Percy again."
"Man, that has been the third time this week, are you ok?" He put a hand on my shoulder and I straightened up.
"I'm fine. Just don't tell Chiron." I straightened up and he nodded to me.
I gave him a nod back and strode over to Nancy's group, feeling annoyed before I even got there. Everyone was eating lunch on the steps of the Museum's entrance, right in front of Fifth Avenue. Streams of yellow passed down the road, people whistling for taxis. It was much different from Camp Half Blood, but sometimes I longed for the sweet strawberry fields and clanging of swords. I watched Nancy leave the group, holding a finger to her lips and the girls stifled their laughter as she got closer to a lady who had her back turned. I rolled my eyes and knew Nancy was going to try to pickpocket her.
The sky was a terrible grey and was swirling, as if it was angry, which it probably was. I heard snips and bits about what had been happening on Olympus. Apparently, Zeus and Poseidon weren't on good terms, but I didn't know why. I didn't ask my father, knowing that I wouldn't get an answer. We had gotten awful blizzards this winter, flooding this spring, and there have been multiple wildfires from some lightning storms. This all told me it was something big, not just a small grudge. I was almost to Nancy's group when I spotted that Percy was already done with his meeting with my dad and was passing an apple to Grover. I then plopped down next to the girls, a fake smile on my face.
"What is Nancy doing?" I asked and they snickered.
"She's getting some money from that woman's purse," A blonde girl next to me giggled.
"That old woman is so clueless! Look!" Mandy pointed over at them.
I saw that the woman looked fairly wealthy and her large bag sat next to her as she talked on a cell phone. Nancy was crawling up to it, and unzipped the purse and smiled at us. The girls next to me broke out into laughter and I followed suite, feeling like I haven't had a bath in weeks. I could feel a stare bore into my back and I knew it was Percy glowering at me. It felt wrong to have someone hate me, when everyone liked me. I couldn't stand it and Grover knew it to.
These emotion things weren't helping either. Quite a few times this year I could feel emotions from Percy. I didn't know why it was just him or why it happened, it just did. Sometimes, I would feel his resentment towards me and I would feel sad. It just wasn't right having someone think that way of me.
I glanced over at my father out of the corner of my eye. He was contently reading a human novel, which I occasionally tried to read, but failed because of my 'dyslexia.' A stalk of celery was in his hand as he munched on it. I smiled. He loved celery, but he much preferred carrots instead. A scarlet umbrella was over his head and I looked at it weirdly. It wasn't raining, why did he have an umbrella?
Mandy suddenly tugged on my hand, "Calli, I have to go to the bathroom. Come with me."
The bathroom was just inside the side entrance, which gave me full view of Percy's fountain. Grover and he were just talking and I sighed. I needed a friend like that. It's not like I don't have friends at camp, I mean, everyone loved me. It's just, I felt like I wanted him as my friend. He would probably know me better, seeing as he didn't know his god parent. It fascinated me about what Chiron told me about Mrs. Jackson. I've seen her a few times and I loved how she acted. It made me wonder more about Percy's past.
Suddenly, I spotted Nancy sauntering over to Grover and Percy. She was smiling, all done with the poor woman tourist. Her pack was right with her and they towered over the two boys. I watched as she tipped her lunch all over Grover and she smiled innocently.
"Oops," I knew she was smiling her crooked tooth smile.
I started to feel anger that wasn't my own build in the pit of my stomach. I clutched it and watched worriedly as the tug grew larger, until I found myself screaming on the ground, the burning of the power and anger filling my whole body. The sensation was painful to me, but I could see that Percy was fine, and that a large wave poured right over Nancy. It snatched her right up and she was in the fountain, untouched by Percy. I was still on the ground, feeling Percy's emotions drain away. He was staring at me, with a wondrous look on his face. Without meaning to, I could feel that I was sending him a look that said 'I'm in pain.' His confusion mounted when I heard Nancy.
"Percy pushed me!" She cried and no one seemed to have noticed my scream.
It seemed impossible, it was awfully loud. Suddenly, Mrs. Dodds was right next to Percy, her creepy smile on her face.
Whispers spread through the crowding group like wild fire.
"Did you see-"
"-the water-"
"-like it grabbed her-"
The power that I felt was so large and I stared puzzled at Percy. Who was his dad? I scrambled to get up as I heard Mandy coming out of the bathroom.
"What happened?" She cried, spotting Mrs. Dodd's helping Nancy out of the fountain.
"Jackson pushed Nancy into the fountain!" I pretended to look worried for her.
"Oh, poor Nancy!" Mandy rushed over to them and didn't even notice I wasn't following her.
There was a weird tugging sensation in my stomach as Mrs. Dodds got closer to Percy after helping Nancy and promising to get her a new shirt from the gift shop. I could see the triumph in her eyes, even from where I was at. Something was wrong.
"Now honey-" She said in her sickly sweet voice.
Percy slumped, "I know," he mumbled, "A month erasing workbooks."
It seemed like Percy spoke the wrong words.
"Come with me," she said, curling her finger towards herself.
"Wait!" Grover yelled, "It was me. I pushed her."
At that instant I knew something was absolutely wrong. Grover was afraid of a lot of things, but he feared Mrs. Dodds the most. At first, I didn't know why. Then I started to have a suspicion that Grover knew something I didn't. That's when it hit me, Mrs. Dodds probably wasn't human after all.
I watched her gaze flicker over to Grover and the glare she trained onto Grover's face could have melted him into a puddle of goop.
"I don't think so Mr. Underwood." She smiled at him and I shuddered.
She was a monster.
"But-" Grover tried to argue.
"You-will-stay-here." She said in a final tone.
Grover looked helpless and wanted to help Percy so much. Percy just gave Grover a weird look.
"It's okay, man. Thanks for trying," He gave him a small smile and turned to Mrs. Dodds.
"Honey," Mrs. Dodd growled, "Now."
I watched Nancy smirk and I wanted to tear her apart right then and there. Screw what the gods said about mortals! I saw Percy give her a glare of his own and I saw that Mrs. Dodds had zoomed up to the top of the steps. Percy looked behind himself and gawked at how Mrs. Dodds could be already up there. I had an idea how.
I saw Mrs. Dodd smiled down at Percy as he caught up with her and they both walked into the building. I looked to see if anyone was looking and I met Grover's gaze.
"Go." He mouthed and I nodded, slipping in through the side doors of the museum. It looked like the entire building was empty and that all of this was fitting into Mrs. Dodds plan exactly.
I passed by the crystal cases and finally I could hear Percy's footsteps. Mrs. Dodds just appeared right at the end of the hall and I had to hold in a gasp. I stood stock still, worried that she would find me. Percy walked up to her and she led him into the left hall, towards the Greek and Roman section. I followed them soundlessly, my hand hovering over one of the swords I borrowed from the camp.
Suddenly she stopped and the whole place was deserted. I felt slightly panicky, but I remembered my training. She crossed her arms in front a bunch of statues of the gods and goddesses. She grimaced at a statue, a weird growling noise coming from her throat. I knew it wouldn't be long before she did something to Percy, but I also knew that I had to have the right timing.
It seemed weird that she was growling at the statues, but then I realized that monsters hated the gods. Heroes, or demigods, would always be sent to kill them, one way or another, so they despised the gods. I had a feeling this was connected to why she hated Percy and never acted exactly warmly to me. She looked like she wanted to rip the statue from its stand and throw it on the floor, which I fully knew she could.
"You've been giving us problems, honey," Mrs. Dodds hissed from where she stood.
Percy still seemed to think she was a usual teacher, "Yes, ma'am."
She then turned around, pulling at her jacket cuffs. I started to feel a little nervous. What was she talking about?
"Did you really think you would get away with it?" She asked, sneering.
The look in her eyes were dangerous. Malice filled her irises and I could feel my heart beat rising.
Percy looked freaked out, but I could tell he was trying to convince himself she was just a normal person. How wrong he was. I saw him gulp.
"I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am." He stuttered and I could see he was really getting scared.
I clutched the hilt of my sword and got ready to strike. I could feel the thunder rumble throughout the building.
"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds growled at him, "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain.
I could tell that Percy was confused. He was probably running through his thoughts in his head, wondering what they had found out. I knew that this wasn't some school matter. It was something much more important.
"Well?" She leaned closer to Percy, angry.
"Ma'am, I don't…" Percy started to say when she glared him
"Your time is up," She harshly whispered and backed slightly up.
She started to morph into her real form. I watched as her eyes turned a fiery orange, glowing like a fire. Her bony fingers stretched to an impossible length, her nails growing into menacing claws. That ridiculous biker jacket that she always wore started to sink into her skin and grow into oily black wings. It was unbelievable. She looked like an evil old woman, with glowing eyes and vampire wings. She smiled at Percy, her mouth full of vicious yellow canines.
I jumped into the hallway, when a hand grabbed onto the back of my shirt, yanking me back. Percy looked my way and his eyes grew wide in confusion as he cowered away from Mrs. Dodds revolting form.
"What ho, Percy!" My father shouted, throwing his pen that was actually his sword, into the air.
Mrs. Dodds pounced towards Percy as he jumped out of the way. I wrestled against my father's grip, but he just clutched onto my shirt tighter.
"He has to do this himself," He order me and I stopped struggling, knowing that I wouldn't make it through.
I looked back at Percy to see that the pen was now its rightful form, a sword. He brought it out in front of himself, watching Mrs. Dodd turn to look at him. She glowered at Percy, her tongue flitting along her lips. Percy's hands were trembling and his sword quivered in his hands. I wondered how he was going to ever stand a chance against that.
"Die, honey!" She shrieked into the air and was suddenly speeding right for Percy.
I wanted to jump in and save him. I really wanted to, I didn't want to see him die, put my father threw his arm out, "We must leave."
He started to zoom me out of the hall and I looked behind me, just in time to see Percy swing the sword at the monster. It slid right through her mid section without a problem and she suddenly vaporized into sand. Falling into a pile on the floor. We had just turned the corner when he finally looked up.
"Dad, that was a Furie wasn't it?" I asked, my voice slightly wobbling. I cleared my throat.
"Yes, Calli." He answered gravelly, "Now, we must act like nothing happened."
We had exited through the door now and Grover was looking anxiously at us.
"Is he ok?" He asked worriedly.
"Yes," I answered and the other kids were looking at us like we were crazy.
"You may not speak of this to Percy, Grover," Chiron told him.
"But-"
"No, Grover," He said in his final voice and then he turned to the group of kids.
A blonde woman was walking up the steps of the museum and had walked over to us, looking at the kids worriedly
"What's going on?" She asked, looking with concern at Chiron.
My father then snapped his fingers and a breezed washed over us. The eyes of the kids and the blonde lady turned glossy.
"You're our new pre algebra teacher that came here last Christmas, Mrs. Kerr. You have just punished Percy Jackson for pushing Nancy Bobofit into a fountain. Now finish your lunch." He told them and the breeze disappeared.
Everyone blinked and returned to their normal things, acting as if nothing had happened. My father was manipulating the Mist. Mist is what the human mind conjures up to cover up something unusual and tries to make it something it can easily understand.
Ran drops splattered on my clothes and I looked up to the sky. The dark clouds were swirling and I was getting worried. What was happening up there?
"Hey, Calli, come on!" Mandy pulled me over to where Nancy was and I looked over at Grover, giving him a knowing look as he covered his head with a museum map.
"I can't believe Percy did that! That jerk!" Nancy complained, trying to wring the water out of the bottom of her shirt.
Her eyes then flickered up and glared. I turned around to see a shocked Percy was walking towards Grover.
"I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt." She sneered at him and I remembered I had to act like nothing happened.
I glared at him too.
"Who?" He asked, puzzled.
"Our teacher. Duh!" I told him, rolling my eyes and immediately feeling bad.
He looked at me, confused, "You were there."
"I was where? I was right here with Mandy and Nancy, you freak!" I shouted at him and then laughed.
Nancy and Mandy laughed with me, but just before Percy turned away, I casted him a sad glance. I don't know whether he caught it or not, but I felt exhausted, as if I was carrying the world on my shoulders.
I watched out of the corner of my eye as Percy asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.
"Who?" Grover asked, but the look on his face gave it all away. He looked guilty and his eyes looked anywhere but him.
"Not funny, man," Percy told him in a stern voice, "This is serious."
I heard the rumble of thunder again and I turned over to the girls in front of me. I knew that Percy was going to ask my father about it and then he'll just give him some lie. I felt absolutely wretched for doing this, but I couldn't disobey my father's orders.
"Let's go and ask Mrs. Kerr is she'll buy me a new t-shirt," Nancy said and I followed her up to the building.
I'm sorry Percy Jackson.