"I'll read." Apollo grumbled. "Since I didn't get to read last time."

"I Play Dodgeball with Cannibals," Apollo read.

Poseidon face-palmed. "Oh dear Triton."

My day started normal. Or as normal as it ever gets at Meriwether College Prep.

See, it's this "progressive" school in downtown Manhattan, which means we sit on beanbag chairs instead of at desks, and we don't get grades, and the teachers wear jeans and rock concert T-shirts to work.

Many of the demigods seemed in a daze.

"That sounds like a great school..."

"No grades."

"Beanbag chairs."

"Rock concert T-shirts?"

"Ramone!"

"Katie!" She had Connor on the floor in seconds and was about to deliver a punch to his face.

Travis placed his hand on her shoulder. "Woah, wait a minute Katie. Let's calm down a bit."

She stared at him for a while and then reluctantly got off of Connor and into her boyfriend's arms.

"Keep reading Apollo."

That's all cool with me. I mean, I'm ADHD and dyslexic, like most half-bloods, so I'd never done that great in regular schools even before they kicked me out. The only bad thing about Meriwether was that the teachers always looked on the bright side of things, and the kids weren't always ... well, bright.

"Like Apollo."

Apollo grinned, "Exactly...wait, is that an insult?"

"No," Hermes replied. "I literally mean they're not as bright."

"Thanks."

Take my first class today: English. The whole middle school had read this book called Lord of the Flies, where all these kids get marooned on an island and go psycho.

"Huh," Leo contemplated. "That actually doesn't sound like a bad book."

So for our final exam, our teachers sent us into the break yard to spend an hour with no adult supervision

Athena shook her head. "I already know this isn't going to end well."

Percy shrugged. "It wasn't that bad."

to see what would happen. What happened was a massive wedgie contest between the seventh and eighth graders, two pebble fights, and a full-tackle basketball game.

Athena raised a delicate eyebrow at Percy.

"It's usually worse than that."

The school bully, Matt Sloan, led most of those activities.

Sloan wasn't big or strong, but he acted like he was. He had eyes like a pit bull, and shaggy black hair, and he always dressed in expensive but sloppy clothes, like he wanted everybody to see how little he cared about his family's money. One of his front teeth was chipped from the time he'd taken his daddy's Porsche for a joyride and run into a PLEASE SLOW DOWN FOR CHILDREN sign.

Hephaestus and Leo shared a look and burst out laughing.

"How do you run into a 'PLEASE SLOW DOWN FOR CHILDREN' sign?" Leo asked.

"That's just plain stupid." Hephaestus agreed.

"No it isn't." Hermes said. "That happens to Ares all of the time remember?"

They all cracked a smile at each other.

Anyway, Sloan was giving everybody wedgies until he made the mistake of trying it on my friend Tyson.

"Tyson..." Poseidon pondered.

Tyson was the only homeless kid at Meriwether College Prep. As near as my mom and I could figure, he'd been abandoned by his parents when he was very young, probably because he was so ... different.

The godesses frowned.

He was six-foot-three and built like the Abominable Snowman,

"Huh..."

but he cried a lot and was scared of just about everything, including his own reflection.

Poseidon's eyebrows shot up. Tyson!...Percy found Tyson? This is going to be great!...Maybe.

His face was kind of misshapen and brutal-looking. I couldn't tell you what color his eyes were,

Piper knit her eyebrows. Isn't it supposed to be eye?

because I could never make myself look higher than his crooked teeth. His voice was deep, but he talked funny, like a much younger kid—I guess because he'd never gone to school before coming to Meriwether. He wore tattered jeans, grimy size-twenty sneakers, and a plaid flannel shirt with holes in it. He smelled like a New York City alleyway, because that's where he lived, in a cardboard refrigerator box off 72nd Street.

Yup. Poseidon nodded. Definitely Tyson.

Meriwether Prep had adopted him as a community service project so all the students could feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, most of them couldn't stand Tyson. Once they discovered he was a big softie, despite his massive strength and his scary looks, they made themselves feel good by picking on him. I was pretty much his only friend, which meant he was my only friend.

Many of the godesses nodded towards Percy, which was kind of unnerving because Athena gave Percy a good long stare and glanced at his hand intertwined with Annabeth's.

My mom had complained to the school a million times that they weren't doing enough to help him. She'd called social services, but nothing ever seemed to happen. The social workers claimed Tyson didn't exist. They swore up and down that they'd visited the alley we described and couldn't find him, though how you miss a giant kid living in a refrigerator box, I don't know.

Katie sighed and turned to the Stolls. "Don't even try to answer that. Leave the explanations to Nico."

Anyway, Matt Sloan snuck up behind him and tried to give him a wedgie, and Tyson panicked.

Poseidon narrowed his eyes. He didn't want anyone touching his son. As if Percy didn't already get into enough trouble.

He swatted Sloan away a little too hard. Sloan flew fifteen feet and got tangled in the little kids' tire swing.

Poseidon chuckled darkly while everyone sent furtive looks towards him.

"He's as crazy as Hades." Demeter complained.

"Says the serial killer!" Hades snapped.

Percy knit his eyebrows in confusion. "Serial killer?"

"I'll tell you later." Annabeth said.

"You freak!" Sloan yelled. "Why don't you go back to your cardboard box!"

Leo frowned-he'd met Tyson right before Tyson had gone searching for Percy with Mrs. O'Leary. "Tyson isn't a freak he's just..."

"A super cool cyclopes kid who's nicer than most, likes peanut butter, makes really cool stuff, and thinks Annabeth is the coolest thing since peanut butter." Connor finished. "But no, not a freak."

"Exactly." Piper agreed-she'd met Tyson too.

Nico knit his eyebrows. "I don't get it. What's Tyson got to do in this story?"

"You mean you don't know?" Apollo asked. When Nico nodded he smiled and said, "Ha! The gods aren't the only ones in the dark!"

Tyson started sobbing. He sat down on the jungle gym so hard he bent the bar, and buried his head in his hands.

Percy narrowed his eyes. He remembered that event too well. He hated it when Tyson cried.

"Take it back, Sloan!" I shouted.

"Exactly."

Sloan just sneered at me. "Why do you even bother, Jackson? You might have friends if you weren't always sticking up for that freak."

Poseidon's frowned increased. Why were his children so mistreated? Oh yeah, cause they have one eye, are big and tall, and have crooked teeth. Stupid humans.

I balled my fists. I hoped my face wasn't as red as it felt. "He's not a freak. He's just..."

"Woah," Leo raised an eyebrow. "Coincidence much?"

"Or you two just think alike." Chris suggested.

Clarisse sighed. "Oh great, another Percy."

Percy decided to ignore that comment and told Apollo to read.

I tried to think of the right thing to say, but Sloan wasn't listening. He and his big ugly friends were too busy laughing. I wondered if it were my imagination, or if Sloan had more goons hanging around him than usual. I was used to seeing him with two or three, but today he had like, half a dozen more, and I was pretty sure I'd never seen them before.

"Just wait till PE, Jackson," Sloan called. "You are so dead."

Poseidon sighed. "Percy, how many death threats do you get a day?"

Percy smiled sheepishly. "Well that depends. There was one from Ares, Echidna, Hades-sort of-,"

"It's going to be a long list." Annabeth cut in.

"The Furies-I think-, two wild boars, Polyphemus-not the best brother-, Anteus-not a good brother either-, a rogue automaton-"

He glanced at Nico hesitantly, "Two wild boars-one bigger than the last-, two very powerful ancient beings-"

"Then it's one of us." Artemis said.

"Um... no. Way more ancient than you guys."

For a second, the room seemed to darken. Then Demeter said, "He must mean Hecate and Aphrodite- they're more ancient than us."

Aphrodite narrowed her eyes. "You know, I'm right here-"

"No offense to you Aphrodite."

To stop any more fights from occuring Hephaestus told Apollo to keep reading.

When first period ended, our English teacher,

"That must have been torture." Annabeth said. "I hate English."

"Same." Almost all of the demigods chorused.

Mr. de Milo, came outside to inspect the carnage. He pronounced that we'd understood Lord of the Flies perfectly. We all passed his course, and we should never, never grow up to be violent people.

Athena gaped at the book. "Is this really what they're teaching our young children today? That makes no sense what-so-ever. If that was me..."

Poseidon sent Apollo a pleading look and the sun god continued to read.

Matt Sloan nodded earnestly, then gave me a chip-toothed grin.

I had to promise to buy Tyson an extra peanut butter sandwich at lunch to get him to stop sobbing.

"Wow," Zeus marveled. "Peanut butter stops him from crying? Really? Of all the things on this planet."

Demeter frowned at him. "Oh stop marveling at his food habits. Why, anyone who eats peanut butter-with bread of course-should be welcomed as a hero..."

Hades sigheed exasperatedly. "For Zeus' sake woman! We get it. Bread-grains. Peanut butter-peanuts. What is that, a vegetable? Are peanuts a vegetable?"

Demeter opened her mouth to answer him but Hades stopped her. "Whatever. Don't answer that. Just understand that we get it. You don't have to go into details about it okay."

Demeter glared at him for a while then huffed and told Apollo to read.

"I ... I am a freak?" he asked me.

"No."

"No," I promised, gritting my teeth. "Matt Sloan is the freak."

"Yup."

Tyson sniffled. "You are a good friend. Miss you next year if ... if I can't ..."

His voice trembled. I realized he didn't know if he'd be invited back next year for the community service project. I wondered if the headmaster had even bothered talking to him about it.

"Don't worry, big guy," I managed. "Everything's going to be fine."

Percy winced. How could he had promised Tyson that anything was going to be fine? Well... it was in the end anyway.

Tyson gave me such a grateful look I felt like a big liar. How could I promise a kid like him that anything would be fine?

Travis pondered seemed to poonder it. "You could go to a store with him and terrorize the cashier until they give you the winning lottery ticket. Then you could use the money you 'won' to buy Tysona house, give him body guards, make him popular, etcetera, etcetera."

Connor nodded. "He could even make his own line of peanut butter you know? Keep the money rolling."

"That makes so much sense." Nico said. "See how helpful monsters would be if they actually helped us. And Percy could get some money too."

"Monster?" The gods chorused.

"What do you mean Nico?" Artemis asked.

Apollo sighed. "Don't ask them they'll just-"

"We get it Apollo." Artemis said. "They won't tell us. Just read."

"Sure thing 'sis."

"Don't call me 'sis."

Our next exam was science.

Dionysus scoffed. "Science? Science? They still teach that primitive mumbo jumbo in schools? Oh and I suppose that in a couple of years the word science won't exist and instead they'll have a completely different word for the same concept? Well?"

No one bothered to answer him out of fear that he would go into another tirade. His entire face was flushed purple.

"Read Apollo!"

Mrs. Tesla told us that we had to mix chemicals until we succeeded in making something explode,

Chris knit his eyebrows. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"Aren't our lives extremely dangerous?" Annabeth questioned.

"Touche."

Tyson was my lab partner. His hands were way too big for the tiny vials we were supposed to use. He accidentally knocked a tray of chemicals off the counter and made an orange mushroom cloud in the trash can.

"Woah."

After Mrs. Tesla evacuated the lab and called the hazardous waste removal squad, she praised Tyson and me for being natural chemists.

"What?" Athena yelled outraged. "I completely agree with Dionysus. The school systems these days are an outrage. I have half a mind to..."

Poseidon gaped at Athena. "Well, isn't this a first? The godess of wisdom agrees with the god of wine. The world truly is ending."

We were the first ones who'd ever aced her exam in under thirty seconds.

Dionysus' eye twitched.

I was glad the morning went fast, because it kept me from thinking too much about my problems.

"That's not necessarily good." Jason said.

Percy nodded. "It probably would've been better if I had left right then."

"What?" Poseidon asked alarmed. "Why?"

"Um..."

...

"Read Apollo."

I couldn't stand the idea that something might be wrong at camp. Even worse, I couldn't shake the memory of my bad dream. I had a terrible feeling that Grover was in danger.

"No, really."

"Jeez Thals. Don't have to use so much sarcasm."

"Well it's obvious you have to leave Percy. So many clues, so many obvious clues..."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Well no one ever takes the clues until it's too late."

"You got that right." Thalia said. She took a good look at Percy and Annabeth's intertwined hands.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing. Read Apollo."

In social studies, while we were drawing latitude/longitude maps,

Oh, Annabeth thought. So that's where he learned about longitude and latitude. Of course he would pay attention to that.

I opened my notebook and stared at the photo inside—my friend Annabeth

Aphrodite nearly shrieked for joy while Percy's face flushed.

on vacation in Washington, D.C. She was wearing jeans and a denim jacket over her orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Her blond hair was pulled back in a bandanna. She was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial with her arms crossed, looking extremely pleased with herself, like she'd personally designed the place.

See, Annabeth wants to be an architect when she grows up, so she's always visiting famous monuments and stuff. She's weird that way.

"Weird?"

"Um..."

Connor chuckled. "Way to go Percy. Called your girlfriend weird and you've only been dating for two months. Priceless."

Aphrodite thought over this. "Two months huh?"

"Anyways," Percy said, because he was afraid of the look Aphrodite was giving him and Annabeth. "Why don't we keep reading-"

"Keep reading?" Apollo asked sweetly. "Well maybe I COULD IF YOU GUYS WOULD STOP TALKING!"

"Well..."

She'd e-mailed me the picture after spring break, and every once in a while I'd look at it just to remind myself she was real and Camp Half-Blood hadn't just been my imagination.

"Sure... that's why." Travis smiled. "It isn't because you have some extreme crush on her that everyone could see through but you. Which makes no sense if you ask me."

Connor shook his head. "But of course, only because you need to remind yourself that the place is real. Read Apollo-"

"If one more person even utters the first syllabe in 'read' to me I'm going to take you to the sun personally and watch you burn and melt!"

Everyone just gaped at him until Percy said, "You know that word only has one syllable in it right?"

Apollo just stared at him momentarily and then continued reading.

I wished Annabeth were here. She'd know what to make of my dream. I'd never admit it to her, but she was smarter than me,

"Well you have now."

even if she was annoying sometimes.

Annabeth knit her eyebrows. "Annoying?"

I was about to close my notebook when Matt Sloan reached over and ripped the photo out of the rings.

"Hey!" I protested.

Sloan checked out the picture

Connor started chuckling. "Checking out... Annabeth, Sloan's checking you-... you know what? I'll shut up now."

and his eyes got wide. "No way, Jackson. Who is that? She is not your—"

"Yes."

"Give it back!" My ears felt hot.

"Like they are now." Nico snickered.

Sloan handed the photo to his ugly buddies, who snickered and started ripping it up to make spit wads.

Nico sighed. "And there goes Annabeth. Ripped up to shreds and destined to be stuck to other kids' necks and braces."

"Nico?"

"Yeah Thals?"

"You're putting everyone in a bad mood and Apollo looks like he wants to rip your head off."

"Oh."

They were new kids who must've been visiting, because they were all wearing those stupid HI! MY NAME IS: tags from the admissions office. They must've had a weird sense of humor, too, because they'd all filled in strange names like: MARROW SUCKER, SKULL EATER, and JOE BOB. No human beings had names like that.

Thalia sighed. "And yet another clue that you'll probably ignore."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "You say it like you wouldn't ignore it to."

"I probably would. But until a book comes in my point-of-view I'm going to suck up almost every ounce of criticism on you that I can. Oh, and Nico's going to help."

Nico smiled at Thalia and the two high-fived each other.

"You guys are so mean."

"It's our job."

"These guys are moving here next year," Sloan bragged, like that was supposed to scare me. "I bet they can pay the tuition, too, unlike your retard friend."

"He's not retarded." I had to try really, really hard not to punch Sloan in the face.

Clarisse looked at Percy. "Why resist at all? Why not just let it loose? It won't hurt you."

Hermes stared at her for a brief moment. "Now you sound like Ares."

"I'm his daughter."

"What's your point?"

"You're such a loser, Jackson. Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period."

Leo smirked. "How's he gonna do that? All he has is money and sloppy clothes. That doesn't mean that he has athletic skill."

"But he has all of those other kids remember?" Rachel asked.

"Oh yeah."

His huge buddies chewed up my photo. I wanted to pulverize them,

"Of course you did." Rachel smirked. "That's Annabeth's photo."

"You guys are going to keep this going for a long time aren't you?" Percy asked.

"Yup." Almost all of the demigods chorused.

"We haven't seen you for like eight months Jackson." Clarisse said. "You owe me a couple losses in capture the flag and your hide in my cabin more than you can count on your hands."

"You owe us," Travis gestured to his brother and him. "Like, six pranks because we can't keep pranking Katie forever."

"Yeah," Connor nodded. "Especially since you two are a thing now."

"Wait, you're dating Katie?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, funny thing about that." Travis glanced furtively at Demeter. "Anyways. Apollo?"

but I was under strict orders from Chiron never to take my anger out on regular mortals, no matter how obnoxious they were. I had to save my fighting for monsters.

Leo sighed. "Do you know how much that rule sucks?"

Clarisse scoffed. "Don't even get me started on that."

Still, part of me thought, if Sloan only knew who I really was …

The bell rang.

As Tyson and I were leaving class, a girl's voice whispered, "Percy!"

I looked around the locker area, but nobody was paying me any attention. Like any girl at Meriwether would ever be caught dead calling my name.

Annabeth shot Percy a look and shook her head slightly. In response he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Before I had time to consider whether or not I'd been imagining things,

"You weren't." Annabeth whispered.

a crowd of kids rushed for the gym, carrying Tyson and me along with them. It was time for PE. Our coach had promised us a free-for-all dodgeball game, and Matt Sloan had promised to kill me.

The gym uniform at Meriwether is sky blue shorts and tie-dyed T-shirts. Fortunately, we did most of our athletic stuff inside, so we didn't have to jog through Tribeca looking like a bunch of boot-camp hippie children.

Nico giggled uncontrollably. "Boot-camp hippie children... priceless."

I changed as quickly as I could in the locker room because I didn't want to deal with Sloan. I was about to leave when Tyson called, "Percy?"

He hadn't changed yet. He was standing by the weight room door, clutching his gym clothes. "Will you ... uh ..."

"Oh. Yeah." I tried not to sound aggravated about it.

"You probably did."

"Yeah, sure, man."

Tyson ducked inside the weight room. I stood guard outside the door while he changed. I felt kind of awkward doing this, but he asked me to most days. I think it's because he's completely hairy and he's got weird scars on his back that I've never had the courage to ask him about.

Percy flinched. He remembered why the scars were there, which made Tyson even more brave when he went up against that sphinx in the labyrinth.

Anyway, I'd learned the hard way that if people teased Tyson while he was dressing out, he'd get upset and start ripping the doors off lockers.

Several people gaped at the book. Leo was the first to break the silence. "Oh, that is so cool! Where'd Tyson get all that strength? He'd have to bench press-what five hundred, six?"

"More like seven hundred." Travis muttered. "He lifted me up one day when I asked him to help me with a prank. Strong guy. Really."

Hermes cocked his head. "How do you know Tyson?... Never mind."

When we got into the gym, Coach Nunley was sitting at his little desk reading Sports Illustrated. Nunley was about a million years old,

Apollo whistled. "He's older than us. We should go praise him, he's like an ancient and powerful being compared to out terms. Way more ancient and powerful."

"Apollo?"

"Yeah 'sis."

"Don't call me that. Do I have to tell you to continue?"

"No."

"Wait." Demeter said. "That's probably the ancient and powerful being Percy was talking about in the first place. His stupid, million years old coach. Well, one of the beings anyways."

"Oh."

"Sure..."

with bifocals and no teeth and a greasy wave of gray hair. He reminded me of the Oracle at Camp Half-Blood—which was a shriveled-up mummy—

"Then how's Rachel here? You know, you guys get really aggravating when you don't answer us."

except Coach Nunley moved a lot less and he never billowed green smoke.

"Moved less?" Chris asked incredulously.

"Yup." Percy said. "Way less."

Well, at least not that I'd observed.

Matt Sloan said, "Coach, can I be captain?"

"Eh?" Coach Nunley looked up from his magazine. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Mm-hmm."

Sloan grinned and took charge of the picking. He made me the other team's captain, but it didn't matter who I picked, because all the jocks and the popular kids moved over to Sloan's side. So did the big group of visitors.

On my side I had Tyson,

"Woo!"

Corey Bailer the computer geek,

"Boo!"

Hermes frowned. "Don't hate on the computer geek."

Raj Mandali the calculus whiz,

"Boo!"

Hephaestus rolled his eyes. (Mechanics and engineering do deal with math.)

and a half dozen other kids who always got harassed by Sloan and his gang. Normally I would've been okay with just Tyson—he was worth half a team all by himself—

"True."

but the visitors on Sloan's team were almost as tall and strong-looking as Tyson, and there were six of them.

"So," Jason said. "Bad?"

"Very bad." Percy agreed.

Hephaestus shook his head. "And now we're being degraded to one-syllable questions and answers."

Dionysus sent him a look. "Well didn't you listen when I told you about the primitive mumbo jumbo they call 'science'? It'll only be a matter of time until every other subject becomes primitive also... except for wine making. That'll never become primitive."

"Of course."

Matt Sloan spilled a cage full of balls in the middle of the gym.

"Scared," Tyson mumbled. "Smell funny."

I looked at him. "What smells funny?" Because I didn't figure he was talking about himself.

"Them." Tyson pointed at Sloan's new friends. "Smell funny."

"Smell funny?" Leo asked.

"Monsters."

The visitors were cracking their knuckles, eyeing us like it was slaughter time.

"'Cause it is-for them." Nico said.

I couldn't help wondering where they were from. Someplace where they fed kids raw meat and beat them with sticks.

Hermes whistled. "You have some imagination Jackson."

"Thanks, I think."

Sloan blew the coach's whistle and the game began. Sloan's team ran for the center line. On my side, Raj Mandali yelled something in Urdu,

"Urdu." Nico mused. "I like that word too."

probably "I have to go potty!" and ran for the exit.

"There goes the calculus whiz." Piper said.

Corey Bailer tried to crawl behind the wall mat and hide.

"And the computer geek." Percy added.

The rest of my team did their best to cower in fear and not look like targets.

Clarisse frowned. "That's not going to work."

"Tyson," I said. "Let's g—"

Thalia sighed. "About time."

A ball slammed into my gut.

"Oh great." Thalia said.

I sat down hard in the middle of the gym floor. The other team exploded in laughter.

My eyesight was fuzzy. I felt like I'd just gotten the Heimlich maneuver from a gorilla.

"Interesting." Hades seemed to ponder that idea. "Nico, we should put that on my bucket list."

Nico smirked. "Put it on mines too."

Demeter merely shook her head at the two.

I couldn't believe anybody could throw that hard.

Tyson yelled, "Percy, duck!"

"How are you going to duck if you're already on the floor?" Hermes asked.

"I don't know. It's just a figure of speech." Percy said.

Nico shrugged. "You could alway fall through a crack."

"No, thanks."

I rolled as another dodgeball whistled past my ear at the speed of sound.

"What does the speed of sound even sound like?" Piper asked.

Whooom!

"That's how." Apollo answered.

It hit the wall mat, and Corey Bailer yelped.

Hermes grimaced. "I hope I protect him. Bless his soul, he faithfully dodged behind the mat like a good computer geek should."

"Okay," Leo said a little weirded out at Hermes' change of mood. "You know what I never got? How Hermes is the god of athletics and sports but he's also the god of innovation which means he had a lot to do with the invention of the computer and the internet."

"I don't get it." Nico said.

"Well there are computer nerds who don't excercise at all. Computers go under Hermes' domain so shouldn't computer nerds exercise too? Instead of going on the computer all of the time?" Leo asked.

All of the occupants in the room turned to the person staring at the computer screen, reading this fanfic.

...

"Anyways." Leo said. "Apollo, if you would."

"Hey!" I yelled at Sloan's team. "You could kill some body!"

"That's the whole point."

The visitor named Joe Bob grinned at me evilly. Somehow, he looked a lot bigger now ... even taller than Tyson. His biceps bulged beneath his T-shirt. "I hope so, Perseus Jackson! I hope so!"

"Finally!" Thalia said. "Now we just have to wait for Percy to sort it all out and put the clues together."

Poseidon sighed a little. Maybe now he wouldn't have to worry about Percy dying so much.

The way he said my name sent a chill down my back. Nobody called me Perseus except those who knew my true identity.

Nico cocked his head. "You make it sound like you're a super hero."

"In a sense, I am." Percy said.

"That's where authors got the ideas for super heroes-from myths. Don't you guys know that?" Hermes asked.

"No."

"Wow. You really need to brush up on your comic book history. Well, some of them anyways. Not the crappy ones. See, the idea for Superman's invulnerability came froom the curse of Achilles-"

Percy and Annabeth shared a look.

"Except Superman's Achille's heal is kryptonite. Not a weak spot on his body." Hermes continued. "The Green Arrow's arrows that have boxing gloves on them-that idea came from the Party Ponies. The Human Torch-came from Hephaestus' children who were fire users-"

Piper and Jason sent a look to Leo.

"Spiderman came from one of my kids, Gus-gods I'm proud of that kid-he rigged a rope with a graphling hook and took one of my winged sandals-he flew around New York city all day long with the mask that he made that became the basis for the Spiderman mask and costume. Then there was-"

"Alright Hermes." Hades interrupted. "This isn't Comic Con. Apollo?"

Friends ... and enemies.

"And now the clues began to click."

What had Tyson said? They smell funny.

Monsters.

A relieved sigh echoed around the room.

All around Matt Sloan, the visitors were growing in size. They were no longer kids. They were eight-foot-tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms

"Woah," Leo said. "They're more manly than Butch."

Jason rolled his eyes at Leo.

"Who?"

"Iris' son."

Hermes smirked. "Don't let Iris hear you say that."

tattooed with snakes and hula women and Valentine hearts.

"Ugh. Never mind."

Matt Sloan dropped his ball. "Whoa! You're not from Detroit! Who …"

"That's all he can say? You're not from Detroit?" Katie questioned.

"It's alright sweetie." Travis said. "It's just mortals. They're weird like that."

"They're Laistrygonians." Athena said.

"Wow Percy." Nico said. "How'd you get yourself out of that?"

The other kids on his team started screaming and backing toward the exit, but the giant named Marrow Sucker threw a ball with deadly accuracy. It streaked past Raj Mandali

"Go calculus whiz!"

Everyone turned to Apollo.

"What? I don't have anyone mentioned that I could root for so I'll settle for the calculus whiz since Hephaestus obviously won't cheer him on."

just as he was about to leave and hit the door, slamming it shut like magic.

"It is magic Perce."

"Jeez. You weren't kidding about that sarcasm Thals."

Raj and some of the other kids banged on it desperately but it wouldn't budge.

"Let them go!" I yelled at the giants.

The one called Joe Bob growled at me. He had a tattoo on his biceps that said: JB luvs Babycakes.

Nico almost fell off his chair. "Who's 'Babycakes'? What kind of name is-"

Dionysus snapped his fingers and a giant Laistrygonian with matted hair, wild eyes, and sagging cheeks appeared. She had crooked teeth, clothes that smelled of the sewer and a distinct tatto on one of her biceps that said: Babycakes luvs JB.

Nico yelped and jumped into Rachel's arms. "M-m-monster!"

ROAR!

"Eeep! Protect me!"

Then Dionysus looked at the big picture and saw Leo holding on to Thalia-he had a dreamy look on his face, Chris in Clarisse's arms, Percy hiding behind Annabeth-clutching her for dear life, and Travis under Katie's chair holding onto Connor tightly, Jason in Piper's arms.

Dionysus chuckled at Nico because he was sure that he was the first person to jump into someone's arms. "Relax Nero. It's just a hologram. You don't think I'd actually bring a real monster here do you?"

All of the demigods said, "Yes."

Then, at the accusing looks they got from the godesses-and a good glare at Leo from Thalia, and the approving looks from the gods, the boys stood up and after a moment of confusion, found their seats.

"And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch!"

Nico shrugged. "At least they're being reasonable."

He waved his hand and a new batch of dodgeballs appeared on the center line—but these balls weren't made of red rubber. They were bronze, the size of cannon balls, perforated like riffle balls with fire bubbling out the holes.

Hephaestus' eyes widened. I should try making that.

They must've been searing hot, but the giants picked them up with their bare hands.

"Coach!" I yelled.

"How's he going to help?" Artemis asked.

"I don't know." Percy answered. "He's sort of a last minute reserve."

"I forgot he was still there." Jason said. "How come he didn't get eaten already? He's not even protected. Just sitting right there."

"Maybe the Laistrygonians don't like old meat?" Nico suggested.

"Maybe."

Nunley looked up sleepily, but if he saw anything abnormal about the dodgeball game, he didn't let on. That's the problem with mortals. A magical force called the Mist obscures the true appearance of monsters and gods from their vision, so mortals tend to see only what they can understand. Maybe the coach saw a few eighth graders pounding the younger kids like usual. Maybe the other kids saw Matt Sloan's thugs getting ready to toss Molotov cock tails around. (It wouldn't have been the first time.)

"What?"

"Long story."

At any rate, I was pretty sure nobody else realized we were dealing with genuine man-eating bloodthirsty monsters.

"But they still see something." Zeus said.

"Yeah. Mm-hmm," Coach muttered. "Play nice."

Rachel shook her head. "Messed up."

Piper scoffed. "At least it wasn't Coach Hedge. He would've had a baseball bat to swing at your heads."

"Who's Coach Hedge?"

"Our crazy caffeinated satyr protector." Jason said.

"Oh."

Zeus frowned. Aren't all satyrs crazy?

And he went back to his magazine.

The giant named Skull Eater threw his ball. I dove aside as the fiery bronze comet sailed past my shoulder.

Poseidon's voice hitched. "I'm taking you out of English and Language Arts Percy."

"Why?"

"'Cause you're too descriptive. You'll give me a coronary."

"Actually." Hades said. "I wouldn't mind seeing that-"

He was silenced by the look Poseidon gave him.

"Corey!" I screamed.

Tyson pulled him out from behind the exercise mat just as the ball exploded against it, blasting the mat to smoking shreds.

"Whoo!" Hermes screamed. "I did protect him! Go computer geek!"

"Run!" I told my teammates. "The other exit!"

"Why would you shout it out loud?" Katie asked.

"Reflexes?"

They ran for the locker room, but with another wave of Joe Bob's hand, that door also slammed shut.

"That's just not your day Percy." Thalia said.

"When is any day ever my day? Don't answer that Nico."

"Aw."

"No one leaves unless you're out!" Joe Bob roared. "And you're not out until we eat you!"

"Those are some very precise rules."

He launched his own fireball. My teammates scattered as it blasted a crater in the gym floor.

Hephaestus whistled. "Those are some bombs."

"It'd be good if we had those." Leo muttered.

I reached for Riptide, which I always kept in my pocket, but then I realized I was wearing gym shorts.

"Epic fail."

I had no pockets. Riptide was tucked in my jeans inside my gym locker. And the locker room door was sealed. I was completely defenseless.

Demeter shook her head. "And yet you sleep with the pen."

Another fireball came streaking toward me. Tyson pushed me out of the way, but the explosion still blew me head over heels. I found myself sprawled on the gym floor, dazed from smoke, my tie-dyed T-shirt peppered with sizzling holes. Just across the center line, two hungry giants were glaring down at me.

"Flesh!" they bellowed. "Hero flesh for lunch!" They both took aim.

"Percy needs help!" Tyson yelled, and he jumped in front of me just as they threw their balls.

"Tyson!" I screamed, but it was too late.

Both balls slammed into him ... but no ... he'd caught them. Somehow Tyson, who was so clumsy he knocked over lab equipment and broke playground structures on a regular basis, had caught two fiery metal balls speeding toward him at a zillion miles an hour.

He sent them hurtling back toward their surprised owners, who screamed, "BAAAAAD!" as the bronze spheres exploded against their chests.

Hephaestus gaped and turned to Poseidon who had a look of relief on his face. "Tyson is your son isn't he? A cyclopes right?"

Poseidon smiled and nodded. "Oh." The gods chorused. "So that's what Nico met by monster." Artemis said.

"Yup."

The giants disintegrated in twin columns of flame—a sure sign they were monsters, all right. Monsters don't die. They just dissipate into smoke and dust, which saves heroes a lot of trouble cleaning up after a fight.

"One of the only things we like about them." Clarisse muttered.

"My brothers!" Joe Bob the Cannibal wailed. He flexed his muscles and his Babycakes tattoo rippled.

"Eww."

"You will pay for their destruction!"

"Tyson!" I said. "Look out!"

Another comet hurtled toward us. Tyson just had time to swat it aside. It flew straight over Coach Nunley's head and landed in the bleachers with a huge KA-BOOM!

Everyone gaped at the book.

Kids were running around screaming, trying to avoid the sizzling craters in the floor. Others were banging on the door, calling for help. Sloan himself stood petrified in the middle of the court, watching in disbelief as balls of death flew around him.

"Idiot." Rachel muttered.

Coach Nunley still wasn't seeing anything. He tapped his hearing aid like the explosions were giving him interference, but he kept his eyes on his magazine.

"Another full-blown idiot."

Surely the whole school could hear the noise. The head master, the police, somebody would come help us.

"Or get you in trouble." Piper said. She could somehow relate to this scenario.

"Victory will be ours!" roared Joe Bob the Cannibal. "We will feast on your bones!"

Aphrodite wrinkled her nose. "Wouldn't that give them indigestion?"

"Probably." Hephaestus shrugged.

I wanted to tell him he was taking the dodgeball game way too seriously,

"Ah, sarcasm." Hermes sighed.

but before I could, he hefted another ball. The other three giants followed his lead.

I knew we were dead.

"Way to deadpan the whole situation Percy." Rachel said. "You just might give Poseidon and Annabeth a coronary."

Everyone turned to see Percy cowering under Annabeth's glare.

Tyson couldn't deflect all those balls at once. His hands had to be seriously burned from blocking the first volley. Without my sword ...

I had a crazy idea.

"Oh no."

Poseidon considered taking his blanket out but then he thought against it. He had to look good in front of his son.

I ran toward the locker room."Move!" I told my teammates. "Away from the door."

Explosions behind me. Tyson had batted two of the balls back toward their owners and blasted them to ashes. That left two giants still standing.

A third ball hurtled straight at me. I forced myself to wait—one Mississippi, two Mississippi—then dove aside as the fiery sphere demolished the locker room door.

Now, I figured that the built-up gas in most boys' locker rooms

Everyone wrinkled their noses.

was enough to cause an explosion, so I wasn't surprised when the flaming dodgeball ignited a huge WHOOOOOOOM!

Thalia grimaced. "That must've smelled horrible."

"You don't know the half of it." Percy nodded.

The wall blew apart. Locker doors, socks, athletic supporters, and other various nasty personal belongings rained all over the gym.

"Ew."

I turned just in time to see Tyson punch Skull Eater in the face. The giant crumpled. But the last giant, Joe Bob, had wisely held on to his own ball, waiting for an opportunity. He threw just as Tyson was turning to face him.

"No!"

"No!" I yelled.

The ball caught Tyson square in the chest. He slid the length of the court and slammed into the back wall, which cracked and partially crumbled on top of him, making a hole right onto Church Street. I didn't see how Tyson could still be alive, but he only looked dazed. The bronze ball was smoking at his feet. Tyson tried to pick it up, but he fell back, stunned, into a pile of cinder blocks.

"Well!" Joe Bob gloated. "I'm the last one standing! I'll have enough meat to bring Babycakes a doggie bag!"

Nico shivered at the name Babycakes.

He picked up another ball and aimed it at Tyson.

"Stop!" I yelled. "It's me you want!"

The giant grinned. "You wish to die first, young hero?"

I had to do something. Riptide had to be around here somewhere.

Then I spotted my jeans in a smoking heap of clothes right by the giant's feet.

"You're going to do something stupid aren't you?" Thalia asked.

"...Yeah."

If I could only get there... I knew it was hopeless, but I charged.

"Of all the impulsive things you do Percy..." Annabeth said.

"This doesn't even top the list." Rachel muttered.

"What?" Poseidon nearly shrieked.

The giant laughed. "My lunch approaches." He raised his arm to throw. I braced myself to die.

Annabeth's glare deepened. "I'm sorry. I can't help it." When she continued to glare at him he kissed her on the cheek.

Suddenly the giant's body went rigid. His expression changed from gloating to surprise. Right where his belly button should've been, his T-shirt ripped open and he grew something like a horn—no, not a horn—the glowing tip of a blade.

"What?"

The ball dropped out of his hand. The monster stared down at the knife that had just run him through from behind.

He muttered, "Ow," and burst into a cloud of green flame, which I figured was going to make Babycakes pretty upset.

"Y-yup." Nico stuttered.

Standing in the smoke was my friend Annabeth. Her face was grimy and scratched. She had a ragged backpack slung over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, a bronze knife in her hand, and a wild look in her storm-gray eyes, like she'd just been chased a thousand miles by ghosts.

"Oh."

"Not ghosts." Annabeth whispered to Percy. "Just past memories."

He seemed to understand what she meant. Going out in the world without anyone to help just like when she was seven. Surviving on her own. He squeezed her hand reassuringly and they tuned back in to the reading. No one had noticed them-except for Aphrodite who was glowing with glee.

Matt Sloan, who'd been standing there dumbfounded the whole time, finally came to his senses. He blinked at Annabeth, as if he dimly recognized her from my notebook picture. "That's the girl ... That's the girl—"

Annabeth punched him in the nose and knocked him flat.

"Yes!"

"Awesome Annabeth." Travis said.

"I'll give you thumbs up for that." Connor agreed.

"Wow." Clarisse said. "You completely disregarded Chiron's rule... Nice."

"Well yes, yes." Dionysus said. "Bravo for Anniebell-"

"Annabeth!"

"-but you forget that I'm the one who gave her all of her hero training."

"What hero training?" Annabeth asked incredulously.

"Well, where do you think you learned how to be so sarcastic? Not Chiron."

Chris shrugged. "That kind of makes sense, I guess."

"And you,"she told him, "lay off my friend."

The gym was in flames. Kids were still running around screaming. I heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom.

"It's the po-po. You gotta go Jackson, GO!" Hermes was dressed in an orange jump-suit and had a wild look in his eyes. "Go before they catch the both of us!"

Artemis shook her head and brought out a notepad. "Hermes, I'm adding you to the list of people that need to go to that mental instiute."

"Okay... Hey!"

Through the glass windows of the exit doors, I could see the headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.

"Annabeth ..." I stammered. "How did you ... how long have you ..."

"Pretty much all morning." She sheathed her bronze knife. "I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."

"The shadow I saw this morning—that was—" My face felt hot. "Oh my gods, you were looking in my bed room window?"

Laughter erupted from the demigods on the floor.

"There's no time to explain!" she snapped, though she looked a little red-faced herself. "I just didn't want to—"

"There!" a woman screamed. The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in.

"Meet me outside," Annabeth told me. "And him." She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. Annabeth gave him a look of distaste that I didn't quite understand.

Thalia glanced at Annabeth with a questioning look. When Annabeth nodded Thalia frowned.

Jason furrowed his eyebrows. "What's with the look?"

Annabeth sighed. "You'll find out soon."

"You'd better bring him."

"What?"

"No time!" she said. "Hurry!"

She put on her Yankees baseball cap, which was a magic gift from her mom, and instantly vanished.

"Oh sure." Percy grumbled. "Easy for you to get away."

In return she smirked at him.

That left me standing alone in the middle of the burning gymnasium when the headmaster came charging in with half the faculty and a couple of police officers.

"Percy Jackson?" Mr. Bonsai said. "What ... how ..."

"And of course you get blamed." Thalia sighed.

"Don't we all?" Percy asked.

"...Yeah. Yeah we do."

Over by the broken wall, Tyson groaned and stood up from the pile of cinder blocks. "Head hurts."

Matt Sloan was coming around, too. He focused on me with a look of terror. "Percy did it, Mr. Bonsai! He set the whole building on fire. Coach Nunley will tell you! He saw it all!"

Coach Nunley had been dutifully reading his magazine, but just my luck—

Everyone groaned.

he chose that moment to look up when Sloan said his name. "Eh? Yeah. Mm-hmm."

The other adults turned toward me. I knew they would never believe me, even if I could tell them the truth.

Poseidon sighed.

I grabbed Riptide out of my ruined jeans, told Tyson, "Come on!" and jumped through the gaping hole in the side of the building.

Demeter sighed. "Always dramatic..."

For some reason, I keep on forgetting to put this but... wamakima5004 made this website for Greek gods and godesses. The address is

g o . i s h w e b . n l / g r e e k

I don't know why it doesn't come up when I type it regularly. If you have any questions about the site you can pm wamakima5004. Until next weekend.

Erudite19