Disclaimer: This amazing series belongs to Rick Riordan.

Arrrrgh, I was supposed to update tomorrow, but my scumbag boss was powertripping all day. Soooo...

Read on!

Chapter 3: Thalia Turns into a Lightning Rod

You might think I'm rude, but I ditched my friends once we reached the bus terminal. I was freaking out so much because of Grover's expressions, looking at me like I was a dead man. He kept muttering things like "Why does this have to happen to me?" and "I don't want to learn tap dancing."

Grover's bladder acted up when he was terribly upset, so I was already kind of expecting him to run to the restroom. He did, but not before making me promise to wait for him. Nico ended up following him. That left Thalia and me.

"You okay?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "Those weird freaky ladies won't ever leave anyone feeling okay, I think."

Thalia gave me a long look. "I have to pee." Oh. I thought she was going to say something to cheer me up.

So I did the only reasonable thing that I can think of once I was left alone in the middle of the bus station. I grabbed my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi headed uptown. I gave my address to the driver and told him to hurry. Something was telling me that I had to go home immediately – that being out on the streets was very, very bad.

I was excited to see my mom again.

Her name, by the way, is Sally Jackson, and she's the best mom – and person in the world. I guess that proves my theory that the best people in the world have th worst possible lock ever. She was orphaned at the age of five when her parents died in a plane crash, leaving her to be raised by this uncle who didn't really care about her at all. She dreamed of being a novelist so she spent her high school years working hard and saving enough money to go into a college that had a great program for creative writing. Everything was fine until her uncle got cancer and she had to quit school during her senior year to take care of him. When he died, she was left with nothing.

One of the few great things that happened to her would be meeting my dad. To be honest, I don't remember him at all – except for this warm glow and the barest trace of his loving smile. My mom doesn't want to talk about him much because it makes her sad and because she had no pictures of him. This is because they weren't married. He was rich and important, so they had to keep their relationship a secret. So one day, he had to set sail across the Atlantic on a business trip and never came back. He was lost at sea, mom told me. He wasn't dead, just lost at sea.

My mom worked odd jobs and took night classes to earn her high school diploma, all while raising me as a single mom. She never complained or got mad even once, though I know that I wasn't an easy kid to take care of.

She finally married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice only for the first thirty seconds we knew him. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this man is a world-class jerk of epic proportions. I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe when I was younger because – forgive me – it's the truth. He smelled like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts all day. The two of us put together made my mom's life harder than it already is. Smelly Gabe treated her horribly and we never exactly got along.

When I arrived in our little apartment, I hoped that my mom was already home from work. Bad luck, it was only Smelly Gabe in our living room, playing poker with his buddies as usual while ESPN blared from the television. I cringed at the chips and beer cans littering the carpet. He barely looked up when he spoke around his cigar. "So, you're home."

"Where's my mom?"

"Working. Got any cash?" That's Gabe for you. Not even civil enough to welcome me back or ask about my six months in Yancy Academy.

He put on weight and it made him look like this tuskless walrus that was wearing thrift-store clothes. I count three or so hairs on his head that are combed over his bald scalp – as if that made him look handsome.

Bleh.

He managed the Electronics Mega-mart in Queens though he stayed at home most of the time and made me wonder why he wasn't fired long, long before. He kept on collecting his paychecks and spent his money on nauseous-smelling cigarettes and naturally, beer. It's always beer with this guy. Whenever I was home, he expected me to fund his gambling addiction and called it our "guy secret." That meant that he would probably beat the life out of me if I told my mom.

"Uh, I haven't got any cash," I muttered.

He raised a greasy eyebrow. He has this special skill that lets him sniff out money like a bloodhound even if his horrible smell should have overpowered everything else. "You took a taxi from the bus station, lad. You most likely paid with a twenty and now have six or seven bucks in change. Somebody wants to live under this roof then he has to carry his own weight. Right, Eddie?"

Eddie was the super of the apartment building. He gave me a sympathetic look before turning back to the game. "C'mon, Gabe. He just got here."

"Am I right?" Gabe repeated with a growl – the normal type, mind you, not the one that Mrs. Dodds did when she turned into the evil hag. I wouldn't put it past him to turn into a monster though.

Eddie gave him a very impressive scowl and stared angrily at his pretzels as the other two guys passed gas in harmony.

"Fine," I muttered angrily. I dug out a wad of my money out of my pocket and threw it on the table. "Hope you lose."

"Your report card came earlier, brain boy. I wouldn't act like a brat if I were you."

I slammed the door right behind me as I got into my room which wasn't actually mine. It was Gabe's "study" during my school months, meaning that it was covered in old car magazines. He even shoves my stuff in the closet and leaves his muddy boots on my windowsill. He loves making it smell as nasty as him – a mixture of stinky cologne, cigarettes and stale beer. Home sweet home, huh?

I dumped my stuff on the bed with a huff. I hated Gabe so much. His smell was almost worse than my nightmares about Mrs. Dodds and the sound of those ancient fruit ladies' shears when they snipped the yarn. As soon as that crossed my mind though, my knees began to shake. I could still clearly visualize Grover's panicked face – and making us promise that none of us should go home without him. I wondered if he was still with Nico and Thalia. My insides felt chilled, and it felt like someone – or something – was looking for me, clambering up the stairs while swishing its horrid talons.

I heard my mom's voice say my name. She opened the door and all of my fears went out with a poof. That's my mom for you. She can make me feel good, make things seem better just by walking into the room. She had these sparkling eyes that changed color in the light and made her warm smile even better. Even if her long brown hair had some gray streaks already, I never thought of her as old. She's the kind of person who sees every good thing about me without any of the bad, and has never raised her voice or said any unkind word to anyone, not even to those who deserved it.

"Percy," she said with a smile. She gave me a tight hug. "I can't believe that you've grown since Christmas!"

She was still wearing her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform that smelled like my favorite things in the world like chocolate, licorice and every other candies she sold in that shop in Grand Central. As usual, she was bringing me this huge bag of "free samples" like she always did when I came home. So we sat together on the bed and I attacked my favorite blueberry sour strings. She ran her hand through my hair while she asked me about everything that I didn't put in my letters. She didn't even mention anything about my expulsion since she didn't care about that. All she cared about was if her son was okay, if he was doing alright. Even if I groaned and complained that she was smothering me, I was really glad to see her.

"Hey, Sally! How about some of that bean dip, huh?" Gabe hollered outside. I had to grit my teeth to prevent myself from getting up and decking him.

My mom is, like, the nicest and most loving lady in the world. She deserved to marry a millionaire, or at least someone that loved and appreciated her. Jerks like Gabe don't deserve her one bit.

I didn't want to upset her so I tried to sound happy about my last days in Yancy and assured her that I wasn't upset about the expulsion especially since I lasted almost the whole year. I had great friends and did okat in Latin. The fights weren't as bad as the headmaster said. I really did like Yancy, I said. I almost convinced myself about it and started to choke up. I remembered Grover, Thalia and Nico. I thought of Mr. Brunner. Nancy Bobofit wasn't so horrible anymore – well, until that trip to the museum.

Mom gave me a piercing look with her eyes, as if trying to dig out my secrets. "Did something scare you?"

"Of course not," I told her. I hated lying to my mom. Really. I wish I could tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the old fruit ladies but I thought it sounded too ridiculous.

Of course, she knew I was holding back something but she was too nice and didn't push me. She smiled and scooted closer. "I have a surprise for you. We're going to the beach."

My eyes widened. "Montauk?" I asked, hoping against hope…

"Three nights, same cabin!"

"When?"

Mom smiled. "As soon as I get changed." I can't believe it. We haven't been to Montauk for the last two summers. Gabe told her that we didn't have enough money for it.

As if summoned by my thoughts, my vile stepfather appeare in the doorway. "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"

I wanted to punch his lights out and scream. My mom caught my eye though, and I understood what she meant. She was offering me a deal: behave, be nice to Gabe for the meantime. Let her get ready to leave Montauk. Then we would get out of this hole. "I was on my way already, honey," she told him in her nicest tone. "We just discussed the trip."

Gabe narrowed his eyes. His nostrils flared as he gazed at me. "The trip? You really were serious about that?"

"Knew it. He won't let us," I said.

Luckily, my mom stayed calm. She smiled at Gabe. "Of course he will. Gabriel's just worried about money, that's all. Besides, he doesn't have to settle for plain old bean dip while we're gone. I'll make enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend! Guacamole, sour cream, the works."

Gabe softened a bit. He crossed his arms. "The money for this trip comes only from your clothes budget, right?" When my mom agreed, he gave me a pointed look. "You won't take my car anywhere but there and back."

"We'll be very careful," my mom agreed.

Gabe scratched his ugly double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip – and maybe if your brat apologizes for interrupting my poker game."

I wanted to kick him in his soft spot and make him sing sopranop for a week, but my mom gave me another warning look. I can't make him mad. It made me mad though – mad at Gabe, that is. Why did my mom have to put up with a guy like this? Why would she care about him?

"I'm sorry," I finally said. "I'm really sorry about interrupting your incredibly important and necessary poker game. Please go back to it right now."

I was lucky that Gabe's brain was incredibly tiny. It couldn't even detect the sarcasm in my statement. Nope. Nadda. Zilch. "Yeah, whatever," he muttered before going back to his incredibly important and necessary poker game.

"Percy, thank you so much," my mom told me. "We'll talk more about, uhm, what you've forgotten to tell me when we reach Montauk, okay?" I could see a brief flash of anxiety in her eyes – something similar to Grover's panicky fear during our bus ride. Maybe my mom felt the odd chill in the air too. Then she smiled again. She ruffled my hair before leaving to make Gabe's seven-layer dip.

We were ready to leave an hour later. Thank goodness. Gabe even took a miraculous break from his poker game, though he used the time just to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He complained nonstop about losing his cooking – and his beloved '78 Camaro – for an entire weekend.

"Not even a tiny scratch on my car, brain boy," he growled as I finished loading the bags.

Huh. As if I was going to be driving. I was only twelve, turning thirteen on August. That didn't matter to Gabe though. If a seagull pooped on his paint job, I'll still be the one to blame.

I felt so mad as I watched him return to the apartment building. I can't explain what I did next. I just made the hand gesture that I saw Grover make back on the bus – it felt like something that warded off evil – as Gabe reached the doorway. It was a clawed hand over my heart, followed by a shoving movement pointed toward Gabe. The screen door shut so hard that it smashed against his butt and threw him up the staircase. I snickered – it looked like someone shot him from a cannon. I don't know if it's just the wind or something weird in the hinges, but I didn't want to find out. I got into the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.

During the drive, my mind drifted to Thalia. I know that she didn't get along well with her mom, drank a lot and sometimes made a scene that she often ended up in tabloids with headlines like "Former Starlet Barfs on Popular Actor's Porch" or something like that. I kind of felt bad for her. Even if my stepfather was horrible, my mom was so nice and sweet to me. Then I remembered Nico, who had no parents. He couldn't even remember his mom. It made me feel doubly worse. I wish we had enough money to invite them on this trip too.

We eventually reached our rental cabin on the south shore. You can find this little pastel box with faded curtains at the tip of Long Island, half-sunken into the dunes. That's why the sheets always had a little sand in them. You could even find spiders in the cabinets, which I used to catch and turn into pets during the duration of our stay. The sea was too cold to swim in too, but I really loved the place.

We've been going there since I was a baby, though I knew that my mom was going even longer. She never exactly told me about it but I was sure that I had an idea why the beach was a special place to her. It was where she met my dad. I even saw her seem to grow younger as we got closer. The years of worry, work and Gabe disappeared from her face as her eyes began to reflect the color of the sea.

It was sunset by the time we arrived. The first thing we did was to open all of the cabin windows before cleaning the place. We decided to just unpack the next day and went for a walk on the beach. We fed blue corn chips to the seagulls while we munched on blue jelly beans, saltwater taffy and the rest of the free samples.

Gabe once told my mom that there was no such thing as blue food, which is kind of silly if you ask me since the evidence was already laid out right in front of him. They had a fight which seemed kind of ridiculous at the time, but my mom went out of her way to eat blue ever since. We had blue birthday cakes, blueberry smoothies, blue-corn tortilla chips and blue candy. This was evidence, along with keeping her maiden name of Jackson instead of being Mrs. Ugliano, that she wasn't suckered completely by Gabe. I bet I inherited my rebellious streak from her.

We made a dark when it got dark and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. I listened to mom's stories about her childhood – before she lost her parents to that plane crash. She told me all about these wonderful books that she wanted to write someday, once she saved enough to quit the candy shop. I even managed to be brave enough to ask her the thing I always wanted to whenever we went to Montauk – my dad.

Mom's eyes went all misty so I figured that she would tell me the very same things that she always did when I asked about him. I never got tired of hearing them, though. "He was kind," she would always say. "He's very tall and handsome. He's a powerful man who is also very gentle. You got his black hair and his sea-green eyes. His eyes, yes, they remind me of the sea, like yours."

Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag this time. She gave me this very loving look and smiled. "I wish he could see you right now. He would be so proud."

Excuse me, but what? How could she say something like that? There was nothing so great about me. I was dyslexic, hyperactive and could barely scrape a D+ on my report card. I got kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years. "How old was I when he left?" I asked, trying to hide my discomfort.

Mom watched the flames with misty eyes. "He stayed with me only for one summer right here at this beach. This cabin."

Weird. "But he knew me as a baby."

"No, Percy honey, he knew that I was expecting you, but he never got around to seeing you. He had to leave right before you were born."

But I knew that I seemed to remember something about my father. I remember a warm glow and a smile, which is why I assumed that he knew me as a baby. My mom never said it to my face but it still felt true. Being told that he never even went to see me made me hate my father, whoever he was. It might sound stupid but I resented him a lot – for going on that ocean voyage, for being a ninny and not marrying my mom. He left us to put up with Smelly Gabe. "Will you send me away again?" I asked, voice choked. "Will I be going to another boarding school?"

Mom pulled her a marshmallow from the fire and tasted it. "I don't know honey, but we have to do something, I think." Her voice sounded heavy.

"You don't want me around?" I asked in a small voice.

Mom teared up. She took my hand and squeezed it. "No, percy. I have to. It's for your own good, sending you away." She kind of reminded me of Mr. Brunner's last words to me – that it would be better if I left Yancy.

"Is it because I'm not normal?"

"It's not a bad thing not to be normal, Percy, but you don't know how important you are. Yancy Academy seemed far enough away for me, so I thought you'd finally be safe."

"From what?"

Mom's eyes were wide and scared when she gazed at me, and I remembered the weird, scary things that kept happening to me. I tried to forget these. There was this man in a black trench coat and cowboy hat that stalked me during third grade and he had one eye right in the middle of his head. He only left when teachers threatened the police, but nobody believed me when I told them about his eyes. Back in preschool, a teacher put me down for a nap in some cot with a snake by accident. Mom was so angry and scared when she picked me up and found me playing with a dead snake – that I somehow managed to strangle.

Something creepy and unsafe kept happening in every single school, and I had to leave. It was kind of similar to Thalia and Nico's stories so it didn't matter to me much before, but now I felt the urge to tell her about the old ladies in the fruit stand, and slicing Mrs. Dodds to dust with a sword and erasing everyone else's memories of her. I couldn't tell her though, because I kind of sensed that it would end our stay here and that would be bad.

She had a worried look as she kept on talking. "I wanted to keep you as close to me as I could even if they kept saying that it was a mistake. The only other option was to send you to the place that your father wanted me to send you, but I can't do it. I just can't."

"Er, my father wanted you to send me to some special school?" I asked slowly.

"It's not a school, it's a summer camp."

Um, what? Why exactly would my dad talk to my mom about a summer camp if he didn't even stay around long enough to see me when I was born? My brain began to circle around that thought. Besides, for all of its importance, my mom never mentioned it before.

Mom saw the look in my eyes. "I'm so sorry, honey. I can't talk about it. If I send you to that place then it might mean that we'll be saying goodbye to each other for good."

"For good? It's just a summer camp.

Mom turned toward the fire sadly. I could see her expression and I couldn't push her too much by asking more questions. She would start crying.

That night, I dreamed that a storm raged on the beach while two animals tried to kill each other at the very edge of the surf. One of them was a beautiful white stallion and the other was this big golden eagle. The eagle used its talons, while the horse used his hooves. The ground began to rumble as they fought as a monster chuckled beneath them, goading them to fight even more.

I began to panic and ran toward them because I knew that it was up to me to stop them from killing each other. I was running too slowly though, and I saw the eagle dive down, beak aimed at the horse's eyes.

"No!" I yelled, waking up with a start.

There really was a storm – the bad type that cracks trees and blows houses down. Of course there was no horse and eagle on the beach, but the lightning was horrible enough to make false daylight and the pounding waves must have been twenty feet high.

Mom woke up with the next thunderclap. Her eyes were wide as she sat up. "Hurricane," she told me breathlessly.

"That's crazy," I told her. Hurricanes never came to Long Island this early in the summer. The ocean must have forgotten about that. The wind roared outside and I heard something bellow – it sounded angry and torturous. My hair stood on end.

I heard a closer noise that sounded like mallets in the sound. I heard a desperate voice yell out to us. This someone pounded on our cabin door. My mom jumped out of the bed, still in her nightgown and opened the door. Grover stood outside in the pouring rain, with Thalia and Nico who were shivering badly and looked absolutely terrified. He wasn't exactly like he usually did, though. "Been searching all night when you gave us the slip! We were being chased by Hades-knows-what from the bus station! What were you thinking?"

Thunder rumbled overhead as my mom gave me a terrified look. She wasn't scared of Grover. She was scared of why he came. "Percy," she shoutedover the rain. "What didn't you tell me about what happened at school?"

I couldn't reply. I was frozen, eyes stuck on Grover. I really just can't understand what I was seeing.

"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled, and I didn't register his Ancient Greek curse that I perfectly understood. Too much shock. "It's right behind us – been that way all day! Didn't you tell her?"

"Grover, what's going on?" Nico asked, teeth chattering. "We've found Percy. Can we go home now? And please explain to us why you're half donkey."

I was still staring at Grover, wondering how he led the others here alone, right in the middle of the night. He didn't have his pants on, and where his legs should be…

Mom gave me a stern look and demanded me to tell her everything, so I told her about the ladies in the fruit stand and Mrs. Dodds. My mom went white and stared at me with wide eyes ,which flickered to Nico and Thalia. She grabbed her purse and my rain jacket before thinking twice and tossing my backpack to me. "Get to the car, you four. Now."

Grover led the way to the Camaro – no, not running. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters. His muscular disorder story made sense all of a sudden. He could run so fast and limp while walking because he didn't have any feet. He had cloven hooves.

I caught Thalia's eye. She looked as bewildered as me. "When you disappeared, Grover asked us to help him look for you, so I called my mom and told her that I won't make it tonight. Reached her voicemail so I guess she's having another drinking session. Nico's lawyer uncle got angry and told him to come home immediately but Nico said that he'll deal with that once we found you. Grover took off his pants once we reached her and… that."

She was wedged between Nico and Grover, while I rode shotgun with my mom. We drove like madmen through the stormy night, winding along the dark country roads. Angry wind slammed against my stepfather's Camaro while rain washed over like waterfalls on the windshield. It made me wonder how much my mom could see anything but she kept up our insane speed.

Whenever lightning flashed, I glanced at Grover, who sat on the backseat. I wondered if I went crazy or if he was wearing some weird shag-carpet pants. I remembered the smell of lanolin from my childhood zoo field trips, though, and I think that my other friends could also see it clearly too. It's not like we could hallucinate together, right?

"Do you guys, um, know each other?" I asked.

Grover's eyes drifted to the rearview mirror even if ours was the only car on the street. "Not exactly. We never met in person though she knew that I was watching you. Same goes for Thalia."

"What?" Thalia asked as I said, "Watching me?"

"Keeping tabs and making sure that you're okay. Then we met Nico, and I watched over him too even if I don't know his relatives. But the friend part is real. I'm your friend."

"Um. We get that part but what exactly are you?" Nico asked.

"Does it matter right now?"

"Doesn't it?" I frowned. "My best friend is half-donkey."

"Blaa-ha-haha!" Grover yelled. I used to think that it was a nervous laugh. Wrong. It was an irritated bleat. "Goat! I'm a goat from the waist down!"

"Didn't you just say that it didn't matter?" Nico said.

Grover bleated again. "Other satyrs would trample you underhoof if they hear you insult them like that!"

"Satyrs?" Thalia flinched as lightning struck a nearby tree. "You don't mean like in Mr. Brunner's myths, right?"

"Those fruit stand ladies weren't a myth. So was Mrs. Dodd's."

"So you admit that she exists!"

"Of course."

Nico glared. "Why were you acting weird then?"

"You won't attract too much monsters if you knew less." Grover stated it like it was so obvious and we were being dense. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes and hoped that you imagined the Kindly One but it wasn't any good. You were starting to realize your heritage."

"What?"

There was this weird bellowing noise behind us again, and it was closer than ever. Whatever chased my friends from the bus station up to Montauk was still on our trail. My mom turned to us. "Kids, there's too much to explain, and we've got no time for that. We need to get you somewhere safe."

"Ms. Jackson?" Thalia said. "Who's after us?"

"Nobody much." Grover was still a little irritated about my donkey comment. Yeah, I totally understood that. "It's just the Lord of the Dead and some of his blood-thirsty minions."

"Grover!" my mom said.

"Sorry, Ms. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"

I still didn't understand what was happening, but I knew that it was all real. We veered hard to the left, and my friends' heads bumped together. We entered a narrow road, past dark farmhouses, wooded hills and white picket fences holding signs telling us to pick our own strawberries.

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked.

Mom's voice sounded tight – like she was trying so hard not to be scared not just for my sake but for that of my friends'. "We're headed for the summer camp I told you about – where your father wanted to send you."

"You didn't want me to go there!"

"Please. This is hard enough, honey. Try to understand that you and your friends are in danger."

"Because… old ladies cut some yarn?" Nico asked.

"Those weren't old ladies," explained Grover. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means, them appearing in front of you? They only do that when you – er, when someone's about to die."

"You said 'you.'" I said.

"No, I said 'someone.'"

"You meant 'you.' As in me."

"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."

"Please!" my mom said. She swerved hard to the right and Nico's head knocked against Thalia's. I saw what she was avoiding- a dark fluttering shape that quickly vanished in the storm.

"What was that?" screamed Thalia. "Why is she following us? I thought Percy was the only one it's trying to look for!"

"Not with a scent as strong as you three put together! He'll be after all of you," wailed Grover.

"We're almost there," mom moaned, ignoring my question. "Please. Just one more mile."

We fell quiet, anticipating what was going to happen next. I wanted to arrive and leaned forward in the car nervously. There was nothing but rain and darkness outside. The countryside was empty as we neared the tip of Long Island. My mind drifted to Mrs. Dodds and the day she turned into that – that hag thing. She meant to kill us, and Mr. Brunner saved us by throwing that sword to me.

Before I could ask about him, Thalia shrieked and rolled down the windows. She held out her hand with a terrified look. I felt the hair rise at the back of my neck. Thalia yelled again and there was a blinding flash. I thought I was going to die, until a tree exploded and we went on our merry way.

"What…" Thalia said, as if just realizing what she did.

One of my friends redirected the lightning that was supposed to hit our car. Thalia acted like a lightning rod.

Hope you guys like it... so far. :D We're basically following Percy's adventures from the original stuff with two other Big Three kids added. Will it end well?

Read and review, as always! 3