Percy groaned loudly as Athena read the tittle.
"Great." He said sarcastically, "This will be so much fun!"
Most of the demigods were snickering as most of the Gods cast him either annoyed or curious looks. Annabeth's lips quirked towards a smile as she pat her boyfriends leg in mock sympathy.
Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.
"Really?" Nico asked.
"Yeah, I thought that was how we became one. We asked," Thalia added dryly. Percy could feel his face heat a little as the others smirked.
If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:
"Duck and cover!" Thalia yelled. Thalia, Nico, and Leo all moved to dive under the couches.
"Dad's advice is actually pretty good," Charlie said. He looked a little confused. He knew his dad was a little dense, especially when he was younger, but he couldn't be that bad.
Most of the demigods looked at the children like they still couldn't believe it. Annabeth and Percy had made it to adulthood and had a whooping six kids. It was especially crazy, considering they were fighting in another war and they were two very powerful demigods.
Thalia and Nico all got out from under the couch both looking incredulous. Percy just grinned and stuck his tongue out at his cousins.
close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.
"You know, Seaweed Brain, that wasn't bad advice, though it would only work for awhile." Annabeth said. Her boyfriend grinned at her and she could have cried right there. She had been missing him for months and now he was right here in front of her. She knew know that they would make it out of this, their future kids were proof of that.
Percy saw the pain flash through Annabeth's eyes and reached for her hand as Athena started to read again. He intertwined their fingers and gave her hand a firm squeeze, as if to say that he wasn't going anywhere.
Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.
"Unfortunately those are some of the perks," Jason said.
If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.
"Why would a normal child be reading this?" Hermes asked curiously.
Athena rolled her eyes and just continued to read.
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.
"Who will come for you?" Luke asked.
"Aliens," Silena said, trying to hide her grin.
"Really?" Luke asked, grey eyes lighting up in glee.
"Yes, really!" Zoe joined in.
"They're messing with you, honestly Luke. You should know this by now. Dad's talking about monsters not aliens," Charlie stated looking somewhere between annoyed and amused.
"I knew that!" Luke protested. He shoot his sisters a glare as they laughed.
Thalia watched amused as the siblings bickered. Of course she found it gross how Annabeth had did... that with Percy, but she also couldn't help being happy for them. She had known Annabeth as a little girl and Percy since he was thirteen, and she loved them both like siblings. They deserved to have a happily ever after. She also hoped that she could get at least one of their girls to join the hunt.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
"You didn't warn me!" Leo shouted. The Greeks, minus Percy, rolled their eyes at him.
My name is Percy Jackson.
"I thought it was Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said feigning shock.
"Really I could have sworn it was Kelp Head," Thalia smiled. Percy huffed, sending both of them amused glares.
Zoe looked at her young parents curiously. It was interesting to see how they acted as teenagers, before they had kids. She smiled as she saw their hands. They always did that.
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," everyone who knew Percy said.
Yeah. You could say that.
"And he admits it," Leo laughed. He was really starting to like Percy. He hoped they could get to be friends one day.
I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it,
"Miserable?" Poseidon muttered to himself.
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.
"That sounds like fun," Charlie said. Zoe, Luke, and Grace looked at him like he was psycho as Silena and Bianca nodded in agreement.
"I guess we can see who takes after who," Thalia said looking greatly amused which only grew as both Annabeth and Percy grew a little red.
I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.
Athena looked up over the book at Percy to give him an eyebrow. Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Seaweed Brain." Annabeth muttered affectionately.
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.
"Really Percy?" Annabeth asked looking at him. Percy just gave her a smile and shrugged.
"You shouldn't sleep in school," Athena scolded him. She couldn't believe she let her daughter end up with someone like this! The only conclusion she could fathom was that Percy got smarter with age.
"That's Chiron isn't it?" Poseidon asked, taking the attention off his son for a moment. Percy just grinned and nodded.
I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.
"You just jinxed yourself," Frank informed him.
"Thanks," Percy said dryly.
Boy, was I wrong.
"When is he ever right?" Bianca questioned.
"Especially against Mom." Zoe agreed smirking. Annabeth smiled over at them. She had to admit it was pretty unsettling being the same age as her kids; even if they were from the future. But she was also glad they were here. It gave her something to look forward to, to keep fighting for.
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.
Apollo and Hermes fell off their thrones they were laughing so hard. The demigods and some of the Gods were snickering too.
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.
"Oh Gods," Leo laughed.
"Oh, Percy," Hazel said, trying to keep her laughing in check.
"Classic." Apollo said, still on the ground.
Artemis had to resist the urge to slap him upside the head. "Apollo get off the floor," she demanded. Apollo and Hermes both scrambled back to their thrones, not wanting to anger the goddess further.
This trip, I was determined to be good.
Nico snorted, as if, he thought.
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.
Aphrodite scrunched up her nose. "Did you say peanut butter and ketchup?" she demanded.
"That's what the book says." Athena informed her raising an eyebrow. Aphrodite scrunched her face even more.
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.
"Grover," Annabeth groaned.
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.
"Mildly entertaining?" Hades asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Like pulling the wrong lever or 'accidentally' firing a cannon." Apollo said cheerfully.
"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.
"Don't you think that's taking it a little to far?" Hera asked. Percy resisted the urge to scowl as did Annabeth, Piper, Leo, Nico, Thalia, and Jason.
"No." Percy answered. Most of the Gods raised their eyebrows.
Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."
"In your hair?" Aphrodite asked disbelieving.
He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.
"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.
Most of the Gods raised their eyebrows at Percy, which he pointedly ignored.
"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."
"When do you not get blamed?" Annabeth asked. Percy shrugged causing her to roll her eyes.
Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.
Poseidon looked at his son worriedly, but his son seemed to be having a conversation with Athena's daughter. He still wasn't really sure how he felt about that. On one hand it was good to know that his son survived to get married and have kids, but on the other hand it was Athena's daughter. He smiled a little as he saw his son grin at Annabeth as she laughed quietly.
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.
"Longer than that." Athena informed the room before reading again.
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.
"Why was she giving you the evil eye? You were trying to learn." Athena asked.
"Well-" Percy's lips formed words but no sound came out. He frowned and stopped.
"I'm assuming the Fates don't want any spoilers." Artemis said looking thoughtful.
"Well that would make sense. If he told us there would be no point in reading the book." Athena agreed before going back to reading.
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.
Most of the demigods looked at Percy accusingly.
Percy grinned and held his hands up in surrender. "I had nothing to do with that." He said.
"Whatever you say Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said looking amused.
From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.
"No, that's Nico." Thalia said grinning. Both Hades and Nico glared at her as she just grinned wider.
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.
"A month?!" Leo asked horrified. Percy nodded at him.
"That sucks, man." Jason said, Percy just shrugged. He had been through worse.
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."
Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.
"That's not depressing." Piper muttered.
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.
Annabeth shook her head, looking greatly amused. "Of course it did." She said. Percy just grinned at her and pulled her closer to him, wrapping an arm around her. Annabeth sighed as Percy pulled her closer, resting her head on his shoulder.
Grace looked at her parents sadly. She was having a hard time not crying. Her parents didn't remember her. They didn't know who she was. All they knew was that she was one of their kids from the future. Here Daddy didn't make faces at her to make her laugh, or call her Peanut, or kiss her cheek and Mommy didn't stroke her hair or hug her close.
As if sensing her younger sisters thoughts, Zoe pulled Grace to her. Grace was the soft one. She was kind and sweet and the only thing she would ever hurt was a monster. She was a Daddy's girl and Zoe knew it was killing her that she couldn't run over to him and sit in his lap. Of course she probably could, but their parents didn't know them yet. It was hard enough for Grace to be away from their parents even just to go to school. Zoe hoped that they would see their parents soon. But for now at least they had some version of them.
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."
"You used manners?" Nico asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Had to try it sometime." Percy told him grinning.
Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"
Thalia snorted and grinned when Percy glared at her.
I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"
"I hate that one." Poseidon groaned. The six siblings all nodded.
"Why are you nodding? It's not like you got eaten." Hades asked when Zeus nodded.
"That doesn't mean tha-" Zeus started.
" just read and get this over with." Hera said glaring at the three brothers.
"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?!" All the Olympians exclaimed.
Percy held his hands u in surrender. "I was only twelve." He defended himself.
"That doesn't excuse ignorance." Athena said, glaring at Percy before continuing to read.
"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 one of the girls behind me.
"I agree." Aphrodite said, looking slightly green. Hephaestus pitted her and gave her a bucket, which she looked grateful for.
"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."
"You just summed up the biggest war in history, in a few sentences." Ares said, looking as if a great injustice had been done.
"It's a gift." Percy said.
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.'"
"Mortals." Zeus grumbled.
"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.
"Or horse ears." Luke suggested. Silena rolled her eyes at her twin, resisting the urge to smack him upside the head.
I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."
"I do now." Percy said.
"I would hope so." Annabeth told him, raising an eyebrow.
"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's a happy thought." Leo said.
"Our father being in Tartarus is a happy thought." Zeus agreed, either not catching Leo's sarcasm or not caring.
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.
Athena raised an eyebrow at Percy. "That was observant." She allowed before reading again.
"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."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Seaweed Brain." She mummered.
"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."
I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.
"It's for your own good." Poseidon said, frowning a little.
"I know." Percy told him.
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.
"That's awful!" Athena exclaimed.
"Don't worry, Mom. He gets better grades now." Annabeth said, trying to calm Athena.
"He better." Was all Athena said before reading again.
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.
"He probably had been." Demeter agreed.
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. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.
Zeus and Poseidon looked at eachother questiongly.
"Why are you two fighting?" Hermes asked.
"It's probably because I found out about his son." Zeus said, glaring at his brother.
"Oh, like you don't?" Poseidon scoffed.
"Enough of this." Hera said, glaring at the two.
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,
"One of yours?" Apollo asked Hermes.
"Of course not. My children may be thieves but they aren't mean." Hermes scoffed. Some demigods raised their eyebrows at that but didn't argue.
and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.
Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.
"You aren't a loser freak." Annabeth mummered into Percy's ear. She hated how low his self-esteem was. Percy just smiled at her gratefully.
"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."
"No truer words have ever been spoken." Thalia agreed, smirking at her cousin.
"Dad is plenty smart. He just chooses not to act like it and fool us all." Charlie said. He smiled back when he saw his teenage father smiling at him.
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?"
The demigods laughed.
"That was very deep." Leo agreed.
I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.
"Were you feeling okay?" Annabeth asked mock serious.
"I was fine. I think I just knew something was about to happen." Percy told her, Annabeth nodded in understanding.
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.
"Awe." Aphrodite crooned.
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.
"That is how a son should treat his mother." Hera said, looking pointedly at Ares and Hephaestus. Both scowled at her.
"You threw me off a mountain, I owe you nothing woman." Hephaestus said before going back to tinkering. Hera frowned but knew she probably shouldn't say anymore.
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.
"That's a good idea." Leo mumbled to himself looking lost in thought.
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.
Aphrodite shuddered. "That girl is despicable." She said.
"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.
"You have an odd way of explaining things." Hazel informed her new friend looking amused.
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.
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!"
Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.
Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"
"—the water—"
"—like it grabbed her—"
Poseidon raised his eyebrows impressed. Normally it took his children at least a year or two to be able to control their powers, much less when they were twelve. Percy was very powerful.
"Oh yeah. I remember Dad telling me this story one time." Luke said, a grin on his face.
"You just now realized that?" Bianca asked, giving her brother a clear 'you are an idiot' look. Luke just nodded and shrugged.
I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.
"Surprise, surprise." Annabeth said, looking highly amused. Of course Percy had told her this story but she still found it funny.
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."
Hermes grimaced.
"That might not have been the smartest thing to say." He informed Percy.
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.
"Awe. What a good friend." Aphrodite crooned.
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.
"I'm sure that's a terrifying look." Ares said.
"It is." Nico informed the war god.
"Fine let me see it." Ares commanded looking at Percy. Percy shrugged and glared at him. Ares had to admit, even if he would never say it out loud, that the kids glare was slightly terrifying.
"Okay." Ares conceded, glad when Percy's gaze turned back to normal. Athena rolled her eyes and continued reading.
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?
"She's a monster." Athena said.
Poseidon groaned casting a worried glance at his son. At least he knew he would be fine. He was here after all.
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 wouldn't be so sure." Annabeth said, a knowing glint in her eyes.
I wasn't so sure.
I went after Mrs. Dodds.
Poseidon groaned.
"Of course you did." He said. Percy just gave his father a grin.
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.
"He should be watching you." Poseidon said frowning.
"Don't worry, Dad. He was." Percy told him, trying to get his father to relax. It seemed to work a little as Poseidon quit frowning.
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.
"It never is." Thalia sighed.
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.
Poseidon looked at his son worriedly again, having to remind himself that Percy was safe.
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...
"She probably did." Nico muttered.
"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.
I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."
"Smart." Hermes agreed.
She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"
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.
"If only she were just a teacher." Percy sighed.
I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."
Thunder shook the building.
Poseidon cast a glance over a Zeus, wondering if he had sent a monster after Percy.
"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.
"Nice." Hermes said, grinning approvingly.
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.
Athena looked up from the book looking mortified.
"Dyslexia." Percy said simply. Athena still looked taken aback but decided to let it pass.
"Well?" she demanded.
"Ma'am, I don't..."
"Your time is up," she hissed.
"She didn't give you very much time." Frank said, frowning. Percy just shrugged.
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.
"You sent a Fury after my son?" Poseidon nearly growled at his brother. Before Hades could say anything though, Percy spoke up.
"Dad please. He had a reason and I didn't get hurt." Percy said, staring at his father. Poseidon wanted to argue but decided that Percy knew what he was talking about.
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.
"What ho, Percy!"
"What ho?" Leo snickered.
he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.
"What's a pen going to do?" Piper asked curious.
"That pen has saved our lives more times than I can count." Thalia said grinning.
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.
"That's so cool." Jason said.
"Dad's sword is really cool." Silena agreed.
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!"
And she flew straight at me.
Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.
"Yes, because swinging a sword is natural." Nico said sarcastically.
"It is for me." Percy shrugged.
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.
Most of the gods and the demigods that didn't know Percy very well looked impressed.
"Nice job, kid." Ares said, though he was disappointed that the action was over so soon. It would probably be a while until there was more of it now.
I was alone.
There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.
Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.
My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.
The demigods, Apollo, Hermes, and Poseidon laughed.
"Yes, that must have been it. Magic mushrooms." Apollo laughed.
"If you all are quiet done, I would like to continue." Athena said, it was getting annoying to be interrupted every five seconds.
Had I imagined the whole thing?
"Unfortunately not." Piper informed him.
"Thank's." Percy said dryly, amusement written on his face.
I went back outside.
It had started to rain.
"Drama Queen." Poseidon muttered, grinning when his brother glared at 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, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."
"Who?" Zoe, and Luke asked.
I said, "Who?"
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Thalia said, laughing along with some of the other demigods. Percy rolled his eyes but smiled at his future son and daughter, both grinned back.
"Our teacher. Duh!"
"The mist." Athena informed the room.
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.
Hermes made a tsk tsk sound.
"Satyrs are terrible liars," he said looking sad.
"I would rather them not be liars at all," Dionysus commented before going back to reading a wine magazine.
"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."
Thunder boomed overhead.
"Drama Queen," Poseidon coughed. Zeus glared at his brother as Hades snorted.
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."
Leo burst out laughing which caused everyone to look at him strangely.
"It's just- He- and then-" Leo tried to explain before laughing again.
"You should just read," Piper told Athena. Though she looked highly amused. Athena didn't look very happy about being bossed around by a demigod but she complied.
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?"
"Now that is a good liar," Hermes said. He looked proud, as if he was personally responsible for Chiron being a good lair.
"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 YancyAcademy. Are you feeling all right?"
As Athena shut the book she had to hold herself back from groaning. Reading with a bunch of Demigods interrupting you every five minutes was not fun.
"Who would like to read next?" Athena asked.
"I'll do it," Zeus declared.
As Athena passed him the book Thalia said, "Well this should be fun."
"Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death..." Zeus read.