Disclaimer: I do not own Pjo, please continue.
"Who's reading first?" Artemis asked.
Annabeth smiled a small smile. "I will." She said. She cleared her throat.
I accidentally vaporize my maths teacher.
"How do you 'accidentally' vaporize something?" Leo asked.
"This is Percy we're talking about, anything is possible." Thalia laughed. Jason looked at her and felt a pang of jealousy.
Look I didn't want to be a half-blood.
There were murmured voices of agreement spattered around the demigods.
If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is this:
"Uh oh Perce is giving advice!" Thalia laughed.
"Duck!"
"And cover!" Conner and Travis said.
Close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.
"So not gonna happen." Annabeth muttered.
Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.
"Or get you turned into a tree." Thalia said bitterly. Annabeth gave her a sympathetic look.
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 one of this ever happened.
But if you recognise yourself in these pages – if you feel something stirring deep inside you – 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.
"You didn't-" Conner and Travis started when Annabeth's dagger was suddenly stuck in the bit of sofa between them. They gulped.
My name is Percy Jackson.
"He knows his name, shocking!" Thalia and Nico said at the same time.
"Will you shut up!?" Annabeth growled frustrated. Athena raised an eyebrow, why does she care so much?
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.
Am I a troubled kid?
"Yes!" Almost every demigod shouted, even Annabeth. The ones who didn't were the ones who came from the Argo II except Nico, who shouted the loudest.
Yeah, you could say that.
"At least he doesn't try and deny it." Nico laughed.
I could start at any point in my short miserable
Poseidon winced slightly at that point.
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.
"Torture!" Cried Hermes, Apollo, Conner and Travis.
I know, it sounds like torture.
"Does not!" Athena said Offended.
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 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.
"Why does that sound like Chiron?" Apollo asked.
"Yeah I know right!?" Leo said. "I wish I could have a teacher like that!"
"That's because it is Chiron and Leo you do have a teacher like that!" Piper sadi shaking her head in disbelief.
"Oh!" Leo and Apollo said together.
He also had this awesome collection of Roman armour and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.
"He sleeps in lessons?!" Athena shouted, outraged.
I hoped this trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.
"Banjax!" Thalia, Nico, Conner and Travis shouted.
Boy, was I wrong.
"As per usual." Nico smirked.
See, bad things happen to me on field trips.
"Bad things happen to you anyway Seaweed Brain." Annabeth sighed.
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.
"This kid sounds awesome!" Hermes said gleefully. "Unfair that he got expelled though, never get caught."
"First rule!" Travis and Conner recited. "Never get caught!" Hermes smile down at them proudly.
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.
"Wow! This kid just got cooler!" Apollo said even more gleefully than Hermes."Yours?" He asked Hermes.
"Nope." He said popping the "P."
"How do you sort of hit the wrong lever?" Leo asked.
"When you're Percy that's how." Thalia said and once again Jason felt a stab of jealousy, she knew Percy so well.
And the time before that … Well, you get the idea. This trip I was determined to be good.
"No! Don't do that!" Hermes yelled.
"We want to know more!" Apollo agreed. Artemis rolled her eyes.
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.
"She did what?!" Thalia yelled.
"Why I'm gonna-" Annabeth threatened.
"Don't worry guys!" Grover tried to calm them. "It's fine."
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.
Grover raised an eyebrow. "Nice Percy."
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.
Those who knew Grover laughed at that while he blushed.
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.
"Of course he was." Annabeth sighed. Athena looked at her daughter again, wondering.
The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.
"Haha! I hope something happens!" Hermes and Apollo said thoughtlessly while the demigods all winced knowingly.
"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.
"Yes! Please do!" cried Thalia, Annabeth, Travis, Conner, Hermes, Apollo and Ares. Probably the first time all of them had ever agreed on anything.
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.
"Grover!" Everyone yelled.
"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.
"Probation? Not surprising." Annabeth said.
"He so should've decked her." Conner said.
In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.
"Demigods always get themselves into trouble." Katie sighed.
"Not as much as Percy though." Rachel countered.
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.
"Actually more about-" Athena started when everyone (except Annabeth) groaned.
He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx
"Stupid sphinx," muttered Annabeth.
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, would give me the evil eye.
Mrs. Dodds was this 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.
"Harley's are awesome." Ares said stupidly.
She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown. From her first day, loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was the devil spawn.
"Nah! That's Nico!" Thalia laughed.
"Hey! Not true, Pinecone face!" Nico said back.
"Ohhh! Stealing Percy's insults? You've got such a corpse brain you can't think of your own?" Thalia said getting angry.
"Actually Air head I was-"
"Shut both of you!" Annabeth shouted. "I've had enough of you guys fighting! There are way more important things going in without you two slowing things up! Let's just finish these books and get out of here" They both looked down guiltily.
"Sorry Annabeth."
"What's happening now?" Athena asked.
"Can't tell you might affect the future."
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 Grove I didn't think was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."
"Way to go Grover." Katie said.
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?"
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."
"He's only ever polite to Chiron." Rachel sighed.
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?"
"Not pleasant." Hades wrinkled his nose.
Hera shivered delicately.
"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied.
"And he did this because ..."
"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god,
"God!?" Zeus and Hera said outraged.
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. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"
"Eeew!" Said the girls.
"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."
"Did he just sum up the whole war in a few short sentences?" Poseidon said stunned.
"That's Percy." Annabeth said and the others who knew him nodded vigorously.
"I would've gone into more detail." Ares grumbled.
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.'"
"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"
"Ha!" Travis yelled.
"Busted!" Conner finished. Katie hit them both upside the head.
"Busted," Grover muttered.
Travis and Conner shared a weired out look with Grover.
"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.
"Ha!" Demeter cried. "Serves her right!"
At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who every caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.
"Those ears have caused us so much trouble." Conner sighed.
"No they've stopped you from creating trouble." Katie said smugly.
I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."
"Surprise, surprise." Thalia laughed.
"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 him 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?"
"Happy?" Frank muttered.
"Sarcasm probably." Hazel muttered back.
The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.
"When are guys not doofuses?" Artemis asked eyeing her brother as he tried to figure out a Chinese finger trap.
"Here." Frank said. "Look you just..." He said while telling Apollo how to do it.
Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."
I knew what 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.
"They have." Athena sighed.
"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."
"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."
"And he got the best, Percy is the best." Annabeth sighed as the others demigods nodded in agreement.
I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.
"Yeah and it saved your life!" Clarisse said.
I mean, sure it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armour and shouted: "What ho!" and challenged us, sword point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who ever lived, and their mother, and what god the worshipped.But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I have never made above a C- in my life. No―he didn't want 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.
"Ha, no one could do that!" Conner yelled.
"Except maybe Annabeth." Travis finished.
"Doubtful." Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm dyslexic too, brainless."
"You are?!" Conner asked, shocked.
"Yes, we all are." She huffed.
"But you're a genius!" Travis exclaimed. Athena gleamed with pride whereas Annabeth just rolled her eyes.
I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took a long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.
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 large 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. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.
"What are you two fighting about now?" Hera asked exasperated.
They both just shrugged.
Nobody else seemed to notice. Some guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's bag,-
"Yours?" Apollo asked Hermes.
"Gods no!" Hermes seemed appalled by the idea.
and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't noticing anything.
"Of course." Sighed Grover.
Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought 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.
"Why ere in a school like that Grover?" Clarisse asked.
"'Cause schools like that is where we find most half-bloods." Grover replied.
"Hey!" Travis and Conner complained.
"Don't deny it; you two are so loser freaks." Katie laughed. Travis blushed.
"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."
"Ain't that the truth!" Nico laughed and high fived Thalia. Hazel and Jason watched them, Hazel smiling, Jason biting his lip.
Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought-
"He thinks?!" Thalia whispered so Annabeth wouldn't hear.
he was going to say something deep and philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"
"Can I have your apple?!" Piper said incredulously. Suddenly everyone was laughing while Grover blushed. Hazel and Frank who didn't really know Grover tried not to laugh but it was hard. Annabeth was laughing the most along with Thalia so it took a while to get back to the book.
"Haha, Ok, haha, OK, Ok, uh... Ah here we are."
I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.
"Always generous." Thalia sighed and Hazel and Frank nodded; this they did know about Percy. Once again Jason felt a little left out. He and Percy had had a difficult relationship considering they were both leaders, and then to find out he was so close to Jason's long lost sister was hard.
I watched the stream of cabs-
Suddenly Annabeth started laughing again.
"Um... Annabeth? What's so funny?" Thalia asked worried.
"He watched the stream of cabs." Annabeth giggled.
"Oh! Haha." And then all the demigods were laughing while the gods looked at them confused.
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.
"Aww, little momma's boy!" Ares snarled.
Hera gave him a sharp look. "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing!" He said sliding down in his seat.
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.
Poseidon winced ever so slightly at that.
Piper raised her eyebrows; she thought she had a record but in comparison to Percy...
And I was probably going to get kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand the sad look she'd give me.
"What a-" Ares started.
"A what?" Hera said glaring at him.
"Nothing!" Ares he said hurriedly.
"That's right." Hera said smugly. And as much as the demigods hated her, they hated Ares just as much so they laughed. Well, except for Clarisse.
Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery-
A spattering of laughter ensued but Annabeth ploughed on.
While he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorised cafe table.
"Awesome!" Leo exclaimed. "Like Buford except Buford isn't a cafe table. Maybe if I made a few adjustments..." He trailed off and Annabeth continued reading.
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 tourists – and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.
"Deck her now!" Thalia yelled with a cry of agreement from the others.
"Guys, cool it!" Grover sighed.
"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth.
"Eeew." Aphrodite wrinkled her nose.
Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.
"Double eeew!" Aphrodite said again.
"What a weird way to describe somebody." Jason frowned while Leo laughed at the image.
"Well little bro, Percy is a really, really weird person." Thalia laughed and Jason's frown deepened.
"Tell me about it!" Nico agreed. Annabeth cleared her throat and they quietened down.
I tried to stay cool.
"When has he ever kept his cool?" Thalia whispered.
"When was he ever cool?" Clarisse whispered back.
The school counsellor had told me a million times. "Count to ten, get control of your temper."
But I was so mad my mind went blank.
"His mind is always blank." Clarisse muttered to Thalia and Nico and they laughed silently.
A wave roared in my ears.
Annabeth laughed again.
"Really, a wave?" Rachel laughed.
The gods frowned, what was with all the water jokes?
I don't remember touching her.
"Who would want to touch her?" Aphrodite shuddered.
But the next thing I knew Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming "Percy pushed me!"
Everyone laughed at the mental image.
Mrs. Dodds materialised next to us.
"Monster for sure." Leo said bitterly.
Some kids were whispering-
Annabeth stopped.
"Some kids were whispering what?" Artemis asked.
"Uh- nothing. Some kids were whispering." Annabeth said. She knew they'd find out soon enough that Percy was the Son of Poseidon but she wanted to postpone it until they knew Percy better.
"It sounded like there was more." Athena said.
"Yeah I read it wrong." Annabeth quickly covered.
"But you don't get things wrong." Conner said.
Annabeth glared at him. "I'm dyslexic too." The she sighed and turned back to the book.
I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.
"Isn't he always?" Annabeth sighed.
As soon as Mrs. Dodds made sure poor little Nancy was okay,
"I thought he didn't like Nancy?" Apollo asked, confused.
"He was being sarcastic." Artemis sighed. "Why couldn't it be a boy?"
"Oh... Hey! Remember I was born first! I'm older! Why couldn't you be a boy?" Apollo replied.
"Because I got the brains whereas you got the... never mind, I don't know what you got." Artemis countered.
"Stop it you two." Zeus sighed, he was used to this.
Promising to get her a new shirt from 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 textbooks."
"No, Percy, No!" Travis moaned.
"Haven't we taught you anything?" Conner added.
"You never guess your punishment!" Hermes finished.
That wasn't the right thing to say.
"Ya think!" The three yelled.
"Come with me." Mrs Dodds said.
"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me! I pushed her."
"Aww! Grover!" Katie and Rachel squealed.
I stared at him stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me.
"Thanks Perce." Grover muttered under his breath.
Mrs. Dodds scared him to death.
"Aww, Grover!" Katie and Rachel squealed again.
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."
"S'OK Percy." Grover whispered sadly.
"Honey," Mrs. Dodds Barked at me. "Now."
"This woman is freaking me out." Frank muttered uneasily, Ares looked at him. How can he be a Son of mine? He gets freaked by some namby- pamby old woman.
"I know right!" Leo agreed. "With all the 'Honey'ing." Leo and Frank didn't always get on but they agreed on this.
Nancy Bobofit smirked.
Thalia growled.
Jason frowned.
I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.
"Bet it's not as good as mine." Ares boasted.
"No, it's better." Nico shivered.
"I've had nightmares about that stare." Travis shuddered.
"Oh the horror of it all!" Conner just had to take it a step further.
"Yeah, right." Ares gave them his best I'll-kill-you-later stare.
"Yeah... Sorry dad but Percy's is way better." Clarisse shrugged.
"It's terrifying." Thalia agreed. "Wait, did you just compliment Percy?"
"Over your dad?" Annabeth added.
"Shut up and read."
"Well that's an oxymoron if ever I heard one." Annabeth smiled.
"What's an oxymoron?" Conner asked like a child would ask where babies came from.
"An oxymoron is two opposites put together, here are some you might know: clearly confused, seriously funny-"Athena explained.
"Tragic comedy" Annabeth added. Athena smiled down at her.
"So how is 'shut up and read' one?" Travis asked.
"Because Clarisse said to shut up but how can she read if she is quiet? Two opposites, duh." Katie said hitting them both.
"Ugh! Too much learning going on, please continue Annabeth." Leo rubbed his head as if it hurt. Annabeth rolled her eyes but continued.
I then 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.
How did she get there so fast?
"Because she's a monster!" Hazel said.
"Don't follow her!" Said Frank.
"You guys do know you're talking to a book?" Piper frowned at them worriedly. They blushed and Annabeth continued.
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.
"That kind of makes sense but what a weird analogy." Jason said.
"Once again Percy and Weird are like best friends." Thalia smiled.
The counsellor told me this was part of my ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.
"No, you're just hard wired for battle, smack! Wapow!" Leo demonstrated.
I wasn't so sure.
"Yay!" a general cheer went up.
"At least his instincts seem in check." Frank Smiled.
I went after Mrs. Dodds.
"No!" A groan went around the room.
"You were saying?" Hazel laughed.
"Maybe, but then again some people's instincts are to face their fears." Clarisse reasoned. Everyone stared at her.
"What? I'm not defending Prissy but some people's instincts are to face their fears instead of run away." Clarisse defended herself.
Half way up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his Novel.
"Chiron!" Katie half laughed half groaned.
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.
No one said anything; everyone was on the edge of their seats, knowing it was a monster.
She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.
"Not quite." Grover murmured quietly.
But apparently that wasn't the plan.
"Knew it." Travis whispered.
I followed her deeper into the museum.
"Why?" Nico sighed.
When I finally caught up with her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.
"How ironic, about to face first ancient Greek monster in the ancient Greek section." Conner tried to joke. It fell flat.
Except for us, the gallery was empty.
"Clever, no wittiness's." Jason said in an undertone but everyone heard.
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.
"Monster." Rachel muttered.
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 pulverise it...
"Wonder why." Piper grumbled.
"You've been giving us problems, honey." She said.
"That's Prissy." Clarisse mumbled.
I did the safest thing.
Everyone sighed in relief.
I said, "Yes ma'am."
"Ugh, can't even do the safest thing right!" Katie muttered.
She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket.
"Leather jackets are awesome." Ares said in the same childish way as before.
"Did you really think you could get away with it?"
The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.
"Hello, MONSTER!" Leo jittered.
She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's gonna hurt me.
Everybody winced.
I said, "I'll- I'll try harder ma'am."
Thunder shook the building.
Everyone glanced at Zeus.
"We're 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."
"Less pain?" Rachel asked weakly.
"Is it just me or is that kinda stalkerish?" Conner said meekly.
I didn't know what she was talking about.
All I could think of was that the teachers had found my illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.
"Loving this kid more and more." Hermes laughed.
Or maybe they'd realised I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the internet without ever reading the book and now they were gonna take away my grade.
"Me too!" Apollo agreed with Hermes.
"He has never read Tom Sawyer?" Athena frowned.
"He has now." Annabeth assured her mother. Athena slid a glance at her, how could she be so sure unless...
Or worse they were gonna make me read the book.
"They didn't but Annabeth did." Thalia smiled.
"Well?" She demanded.
"Ma'am I don't..."
"Your time is up." She hissed.
A small intake of breath echoed around the room.
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.
"No duh!" Clarisse rolled her eyes but hid her face from the others.
"Is it... A fury?" Poseidon growled.
Hades knew it was but said nothing.
She was a shrivelled hag with bat wings and claws, and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me into ribbons.
"It's a FURY!" Shouted Artemis. "His first monster is a Fury?"
Poseidon didn't say anything but became very pale.
Even Apollo had a serious face; no way could this kid battle a fury first time especially not 'accidentally.'
Then things got even stranger.
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.
"Good old Chiron!" Travis and Conner yelled.
"What ho, Percy!" He shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.
"What ho?" Katie asked.
"A pen?" Athena questioned.
Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.
Everyone sucked in a breath.
With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear.
"Good instincts." Ares approved.
I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen any more. It was a sword- Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.
Mrs. Dodds spun towards me with a murderous look in her eyes.
Travis gulped.
Conner groaned.
Me knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.
Ares leaned back, annoyed.
She snarled. "Die honey!"
And she flew straight at me.
Absolute terror ran through my body. I did what came naturally: I swung the sword.
"Naturally." Nico agreed in a sarcastically reasonable tone.
The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!
"Made of water huh?" Thalia smiled.
Annabeth managed a weak laugh as did the other demigods.
"And that is how you 'accidentally' vaporize someone." Nico laughed and everyone joined in.
Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan.
"Huh?" Leo frowned, confused.
"I guess that's how it looks." Jason mused.
"People make sand castles on beaches, you know by the ocean." Nico smiled. People gave him a small, pity, smile.
What is with this? The gods wondered.
She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulphur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those glowing red eyes were still watching me.
"Eeew." Aphrodite shuddered.
I was alone.
There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.
Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.
"Yeah we get the point Perce." Thalia rolled her eyes.
My hands were still trembling.
Ares, who had just started leaning forward with new found respect for the kid, leaned back in disgust, though he couldn't entirely blame him.
My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.
"Oh Percy." Rachel sighed, rolling her eyes.
Had I imagined the whole thing?
"No!" Chorused the demigods.
I went back outside.
It had started to rain.
"Ugh, why is it when things go bad it always starts to rain?" Conner asked. Everyone ignored him.
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,
A few giggles.
grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."
"Who?" Nico asked.
I said. "Who?"
"No! I'm thinking like the Seaweed brain!" Nico moaned.
"We're here for you cuz." Thalia patted him on the back.
"Be warned, he will take over all of you!" Nico said, taking the drama one step further.
"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?"
But he paused first and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.
"Grover!" Moaned Conner.
"Have we taught you nothing?" Travis groaned.
"I should hope not." Grover muttered.
"Boys, make it that he is a supreme liar!" Hermes cried. "I know you can do it." He smiled at them.
"Yes dad!" They shouted together, pleased.
"Not funny, man." I told him. "This is serious."
"Why didn't you guys tell him? He'd seen and fought Mrs – a fury!" Rachel asked.
"We wanted to wait a while. He was so young." Grover answered.
"Was." Annabeth sighed.
"I didn't mean it as if he were dead! I meant- As in- He's older now! And... If he were dead- um- Nico would know!" Grover yelped.
"Yeah, don't worry, he's fine." Nico confirmed.
"One, I know what you meant. Two, just because he's not dead doesn't mean he fine. He could be kidnapped and being tor... well, not treated nicely." No one said anything so she carried in reading.
Thunder boomed overhead.
"We get it, you're angry." Thalia whispered to herself.
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."
"See Grover, Chiron can lie!" Conner smirked.
"Chiron is over a thousand years older than me; he's had more time to practise." Grover retorted.
"And to think, we mastered the lying game at such young ripe ages." Travis sighed to his brother, who grinned back at him.
I handed it over. I hadn't even realised I was still holding it. "Sir." I said. "Where's Mrs. Dodds?"
He stared at me blankly. "Who?"
"The other chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, The maths teacher."
He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned.
"You should be taking notes Grover!" Travis smiled evilly.
"Why?" He moaned.
"For the test." Conner said mirroring his brother's smile.
"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?"
"Okay! Finished." Annabeth sighed in relief. "Why couldn't the books be in Greek? So much easier to read." She complained.
"Aww is little Annie had problems?" Conner said. She glared at him.
"Just remember I am smarter and deadlier than you." He gulped and she smiled sweetly as she walked towards him. "Oh and Never. Call. Me. Annie." She tugged her dagger out of the sofa and twirled it in her hand. "Okay?"
"Okay." He said sinking in his chair.