Hello! Me again! So I forgot to do the disclaimer last chapter, so this is for last chapter and this one. I, CelestialTitania does not own the PJO or HOO books, nor anything that could be put in as copyright. So I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Thalia: What a boring disclaimer!
Me: I feel guilty so I purposely made it short!
Thalia: Then why are you arguing with me?
Me:...Good point. Bye. Enjoy the chapter!
Thalia: What a stupid girl. Have fun reading.
"That was the end of the chapter." Theseus said snapping the book shut. Athena took the book from him "I'll read next." She opened up the book and straightening up in her throne began... Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants
Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.
Apollo and Nico's mouth dropped open and they stared at Percy in shock "B-b-but Percy!" The two exclaimed in surprise.
Hercules and Hermes were grinning as they retrieved the drachmas from their respective better.
Zoë and Artemis rolled their eyes and wondered why everyone was so surprised. He was a boy this was to be expected.
Hermes chuckled "I'm going to be rich from this book."
Apollo and Nico looked at Percy with a mixture of shock and hurt and waited for an explanation. Percy shifted uncomfortably "What?" He defended "If you were there, you'd run out on his face!"
"Yeah, but we're us." The two deadpanned. Percy rolled his eyes "Just read and you'll figure out why."
When looks were cast at Athena, she obliged.
I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to he sixth grade?"
"Still blame me?" Percy asked and everyone grimaced while Hermes chuckled. "Why do you think I was against Percy this time?"
Apollo gave Hermes a glare then pouted. "Not fair." He muttered.
Nico gave a sigh and nodded "Okay, I see your point."
Zoë and Artemis were surprised this time around that the boy had admitted he was being rude.
Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.
"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.
When everyone in the room got a evil look which made Percy shudder, he intervened "Before you people come up with brilliant plans to torture me, first of all this is a couple millennium into the future and secondly I don't even live there anymore."
At the end of his words everyone groaned excluding Nico and Thalia. But those two wouldn't do anything because well… It's sort of obvious.
A word about my mother, before you meet her.
Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world,
"Best?" Nico and Thalia scoffed making Percy gape at them. The two gave identical grins "More like perfect, amazing, incredible, fantastic and pure brilliant!" They exclaimed.
The gods were surprised that their future children had come to care for this mortal woman so greatly. Even though they were sure that only Percy was her son.
The Furies were surprised as well since they had figured out who Nico was the son of and they knew for a fact his mortal mother was not this woman.
Hera smiled "Now that is what I call family love." Glancing around at her own family she frowned. Why couldn't her family care for each other like that?
which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her.
She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.
Athena cut herself off "What's a diploma?" She demanded. Thalia answered "Lady Athena, it's a laurels of sort that people earn when they have had a proper education."
Athena frowned "And this woman, Sally is willing to work hard for one? Does she want one?"
Percy nodded "Yes, she does. Mom already working hard for it too."
Athena looked at Poseidon in surprise that this woman was his future choice and stated "Well, when she begins to do so, remind my future self and she has my blessing."
Percy beamed, his mother would love that.
The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.
Now it was Poseidon's turn to smile, though it annoyed Amphitrite. Triton wasn't too particularly affected.
I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.
Orion and Theseus shook their heads and patted Percy's shoulders "They never do."
Percy rose a brow and they shrugged. It had seemed like a brotherly thing to do.
See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.
Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.
"Oh that's a good one!" Hermes commented "You know God of the Sea and all. A lie but not a lie. Nice mother Percy!"
"Um thanks?"
She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.
Hercules and Ares scoffed "Easy?"
Percy looked at them as if they were stupid "I said I wasn't." That made Athena snort and mutter "Dimwits."
Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.
"EW!" Aphrodite shrieked "That is pure disgusting." She said gagging at the thought.
Artemis and Zoë looked repulsed "I knew the male race was bad, but that man sounds like a pig." Artemis murmured.
Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along … well, when I came home is a good example.
I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.
Hestia and Dionysus exchanged worried glances and glared at the book. The two were well aware of the difficulties drunks could cause. It was a pain to deal with them, Dionysus' own followers the Maenads came to mind.
Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."
"Where's my mom?"
"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"
Theseus look appalled "Seriously? He doesn't even ask you how've you been or what life has been like?"
That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?
Percy smiled at Theseus who looked surprised.
Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.
"Not in his dreams." Aphrodite shuddered "Honestly, it would be a waste of time to even attempt it and I'm the goddess of beauty."
Percy laughed "Can't go lower than that."
"You're laughing?" Hercules questioned "But he's your step-dad?"
Percy looked at him quizzically "Who I call Smelly Gabe?"
Hercules shrugged indifferently.
He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.
Thalia and Nico's eyes darkened "Where is he now?" The two grit out furious.
Percy smirked mysteriously "Stone-still."
They gave him confused glances though their fists were still clenched.
"I don't have any cash," I told him.
He raised a greasy eyebrow.
Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.
Athena silently stored that piece of information away as she read, her eyes narrowing at the extensive description of the mortal's stench.
"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change.
"Woah!" Theseus exclaimed "The idiot can do math?"
Percy rolled his eyes "Only cause of his love for poker. That and wasting other people's time made doing basic math learnable."
Orion forced a grin "Learnable? Is that a word?"
Percy nodded "At least according to a daughter of Athena." Eyes went to Athena who shrugged "Words are made all the time, who am I to say what words were invented millennium into the future?"
Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"
Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."
Persephone smiled "Well at least you have someone on your side."
"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.
Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.
The goddesses looked disgusted, Zoë and Artemis muttering about Men, and Aphrodite looking as if she was about to faint.
Ares put an arm around her, making Hephaestus glare.
Fortunately the tension was diffused when Demeter spat looking repulsed "They need to eat more bread!"
That set off a series of groans, particularly from Hades, Persephone and the three Furies. Of course when one god *cough Poseidon and Zeus cough* starts laughing the rest join in.
"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."
Hermes and Dionysus looked at each other and grinned Cheshire cat grins "Consider it done."
"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"
"Wow what a creative nickname!" Thalia gasped in mock amazement.
"Especially when you, yourself don't have a brain whatsoever!" Nico followed up.
I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study."
"Somehow I just know that the word 'study' is being abused in that context." Perseus said with a shake of his head.
He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.
I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.
Nico looked at Percy "And then you wonder why everyone at camp says you have more sarcasm in you than 6 999 999 999 people of the world combined."
Thalia frowned "I thought there were 7 billion people in the world?"
Nico nodded "There are Thals but when you subtract 1 aka Percy from the rest of the population you get 6 999 999 999 people left."
"I know that!" Thalia snapped. "I meant that, that's a lot of sarcasm for one person."
"Oh. Well it's Percy."
"True."
"Hey! I'm right here!"
"We know." The two deadpanned.
Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.
But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic-how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone-something-was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.
Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"
She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.
Hera looked at Percy with a smile which freaked everyone out "You are a very good boy. Always care about your mother as you do now, alright?"
Percy nervously spoke "Alright?"
My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.
"Holy Zeus that woman's got patience!" Apollo, Nico and Orion exclaimed. Although when Apollo realized he said the same thing as Orion his smile turned upside down.
"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"
Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.
"Candy," The three futures went into a daydream.
Hermes stared at Thalia waiting for an explanation. It took her a few minutes to come out of Candyland but when she did and noticed the stared on her, Thalia stammered. "Um candy? Well… I suppose it's like nectar and ambrosia but something that anyone be it mortal, demigod or god can have without blowing up or something like that.
Apollo frowned "Does it taste like nectar and ambrosia?"
Percy spoke up "When we eat nectar and ambrosia we end up comparing it to candy and the likes so I guess… yes?"
Apollo brightened "Candy sounds amazing! What an amazing mom you have and," suddenly his eyes twinkled "That just gave me a brilliant idea for a poem.
Percy, Thalia and Nico looked at each other in horror and nervously waited for the other gods to stop Apollo. Instead…
Candy you are so very sweet
An amazing delicious treat
Natural flavours you enhance
Drizzling in like a dance
You candy truly cannot be beat
The trio had stopped cringing in horror and now looked on in shock. "H-how?" Percy questioned making Thalia shrug. "Well… haikus and limericks are from Japan right?"
Percy and Thalia nodded unsure of where Nico was going with that. "Then maybe the problem is that Japanese poetry doesn't fit Apollo?"
"Nico you are a genius!" the two exclaimed. Nico mock bowed "Thank you, thank you."
"May I read?" Athena glared and everyone nodded.
We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?
All the gods excluding the Big Three, Persephone, Demeter, Amphitrite, Triton, Hestia and Hera sighed "Why can't you be like that?" They asked Hera.
Hera glared at them in return "If you were as good as Percy, then I'll be just a good a mother!"
I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.
Zoë frowned at Percy and muttered "What a boy. Doesn't even appreciate what he has."
Percy narrowed his eyes. As much as he respected Zoë he wouldn't tolerate anyone saying he didn't care about his mother. "You wanna say that again?" He challenged her.
Zoë's eyes flared "Absolutely."
Thalia cut in "Stop you two! Zoë, Percy cares about his mother more than anyone. If I didn't know better I would say Percy would even fight Lord Hades for her."
Behind her, Percy silently winced and thought one thing 'Thalia is going to KILL me!'
"And Percy, I know how much you must resent that, but Zoë doesn't know you so give it a break okay?" Thalia finished her monologue.
The two glared at each other before nodding.
From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally-how about some bean dip, huh?"
I gritted my teeth.
My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.
"Would a god work?" Hermes teased.
Percy just shook his head "Actually I was being stupid about the millionaire thing too. She deserves someone who would spend time with her and care for her. And there are too many… trust issues with the gods. No offense."
Zoë looked at him in surprise then turned away. Hercules raised a brow "What's wrong with a millionaire?"
It was Percy's turn to be surprised when he looked at Herules but answered nonetheless "I have this friend who is a millionaire, and she's barely able to spend any time with her parents whatsoever. In fact she thinks they don't even care about her. That, and with our crazy life with monsters and gods, famous people would be really tricky to handle."
Nico's eyes widened "Woah. I never thought about that! When did you become smart Percy?"
Percy frowned "Ha ha."
For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.
Thalia stared at Percy in shock and finally said "You are to never ever try to convince yourself about schools being a happy experience. Absolutely not. You become delusional when you do that."
Percy stared at Thalia back "The keyword was almost."
Thalia shook her head "Still no. 'Almost' is to close to 'for certain."
Until that trip to the museum …
"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"
"No, Mom."
I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.
Nico groaned "No, it wouldn't."
Percy stared "Well I know that now! Honestly you do know that you are whining and griping about me when I didn't even know the gods existed?"
Thalia and Nico paused and looked away stammering "Um…er…"
Percy sighed "Forget it."
She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.
"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."
My eyes widened. "Montauk?"
"Three nights-same cabin."
"When?"
She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."
I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.
Everyone's eyes darkened "That pig!" Artemis swore
"I'm sure there wasn't. Because he spent it all on his precious poker." Dionysus growled making Percy wide-eyed and left to gape wordlessly.
When Dionysus noticed he asked "What is it Pedro?"
Percy heaved a sigh of relief "Nothing."
Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"
"Yeah, we did. And we'll take that bean dip and shove it up your—"
"Thalia! Language."
Thalia stared and Nico elaborated "You don't want to hurt the bean dip's feelings."
Thalia smirked "Especially not if Aunt Sally made it," she agreed.
I wanted to punch him,
"DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!" Ares, Thalia, Nico, Artemis, Zoë and some others chanted.
but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.
"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."
Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"
"Why? Shouldn't she be?" Needless to say, that there were many people in the room that wanted Gabe dead.
Well except for Hades, Persephone and the Furies. They didn't want the Underworld to be tainted because of Gabe.
Nico was conflicted. Come to the Underworld and receive the worst punishment ever, and then there was the same reasoning as Hades and the other Underworld dwellers.
"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."
"Try to stop them." Triton muttered. He didn't exactly like Percy or his mother, but he hated people like Gabe.
"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your stepfather is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."
"This is the first and hopefully last time I'm saying this but… Bribery was completely unneeded. The woman is going to spend time with her son, there's no need for that." Hermes said annoyed.
Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip … it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"
"Alright! You're going down!" Aphrodite exclaimed looking horrified.
"Yes, honey," my mother said.
"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."
"We'll be very careful."
Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip … And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."
"Maybe if we punched you to death?"
Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.
The Furies wrote that down furiously. "We'll be sure to use that." Tisiphone told him solemnly.
But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.
Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?
Once again Athena's eyes had narrowed thoughtfully and she stored away that piece of information.
"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."
Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.
"Yeah, whatever," he decided.
Everyone started gagging. "I knew he was stupid," Theseus choked out "but to think anyone could be that stupid…"
He went back to his game.
"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about… whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"
For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes-the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride-as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.
Thalia shivered "if you could sense that, why didn't you just tell her?" She yelled at Percy who shrugged.
"I didn't know anything about this world, back then."
But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.
An hour later we were ready to leave.
Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking-and more important, his '78 Camaro-for the whole weekend.
"Who wants to hunt him down and kill him?" Artemis asked her fists clenched.
A wave of hands rose up.
"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."
Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.
"What? You possessed the seagull?"
"Sure."
Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon. Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.
Stares were thrown at Percy. They all had to admit he was observant, but for a demigod that didn't know anything, he was powerful.
I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.
Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.
"Aren't you a son of Poseidon? Does that really bother you?"
I loved the place.
"Of course." Many rolled their eyes at the statement.
We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.
Athena started choking her eyes wide. "How did you manage to get a woman, that still loves someone like you but is extremely smart and studious?!" She exclaimed in shock.
Poseidon just stared at Athena then turned away.
As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.
Amphitrite definitely didn't like the woman, but she could understand why her husband was attracted to her.
We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.
Zeus pouted "That's my colour! Shouldn't you like green?"
Beside him, Hera rolled her eyes at his childishness.
I guess I should explain the blue food.
"Yes, yes you should." Zeus nodded making everyone think one thing 'Are you really the King of the Gods?!'
See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This-along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano-was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.
"I think we have all established that for you it is more than just a streak." Nico told him.
"Well, it would be." Hestia put in. "After all, he does get it from both sides.
When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.
Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk-my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.
"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."
They all looked at Percy. It was true. Theseus, Triton and Orion resembled Poseidon as well, but Percy was almost the spitting image of him.
Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."
"I am." Poseidon spoke up "And I know that the me that truly knows you is."
Percy gave a half-hearted smile.
I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.
"Well that's average for all demigods, Perce." Thalia and Nico chorused.
"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean … when he left?"
She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."
"But… he knew me as a baby."
"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."
Thalia and Nico kept quiet. They knew it was something Percy had to deal with, since they had seen their parents a couple of times afterwards. Though it was in a different form for Thalia.
I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember … something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.
"You did visit him." Amphitrite stated. Poseidon only shrugged "We have no way of knowing.
I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me …
I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.
Poseidon flinched. He may not have done anything yet, but to be blamed for that sorry excuse of a man's existence in their lives hurt.
"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"
She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.
"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think … I think we'll have to do something."
"Because you don't want me around?"
"Why would you say that?" Thalia and Nico looked shocked. Percy could well be the only demigod with a mortal parent who truly loved them.
Percy didn't answer.
I regretted the words as soon as they were out.
My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I-I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."
Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said-that it was best for me to leave Yancy.
"Because I'm not normal," I said.
Apollo grinned trying to diffuse the tension "But that's good! If you were normal you wouldn't be the best Cuz ever, right Hermes?"
He gave Hermes a nudge who nodded "Absoloutely!"
"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."
"Safe from what?"
"A bunch of blood-thirsty nasties that want to kill you." Came the unasked nonchalant response,
She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me-all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.
During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.
"A Cyclops?" Eyes went to Poseidon "Who sends one kid to spy on another kid of your own?" Poseidon looked uncomfortable "Future activity remember?"
Before that-a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.
"Hey, just like Hercules isn't it?" Perseus asked.
At that Zoë looked at Percy and Hercules carefully who both shuddered at even the thought of being compared to the other.
In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.
I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.
"You honestly care more about a stupid trip over thou and thy mother's life? Zoë asked. "You have once again proved how idiotic boys are."
"Hey!" Percy protested. "I got a chance to be around my mother without Gabe, which was a chance I rarely got! So I took it, and besides I didn't know anything about being a demigod okay?!"
"Just like a boy to blame circumstances or something like that than admitting his own faults."
Percy glared at her "Look, you don't know anything about me, so why don't you just give it a rest!"
Zoë glared at him but didn't say a word.
"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy-the place your father wanted to send you. And I just… I just can't stand to do it."
"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"
"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."
"Camp Half-Blood!" Thalia cheered.
My head was spinning. Why would my dad-who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born- talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?
"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I-I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."
Percy scoffed "As if. She should have known better than to think I would stay year-round."
Nico nodded "With a mother like her? Definitely."
"For good? But if it's only a summer camp …"
She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.
That night I had a vivid dream.
It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.
"Zeus and Poseidon." Hestia realized first. Percy nodded "I'm pretty sure, yeah.
The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.
"My lord?" Persephone questioned.
I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion.
Eyes widened and Hades muttered "Please be me, please be me."
I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No!
"Ha. I win." Zeus boasted.
Glares were thrown his way "Not the time." Hera hissed.
I woke with a start.
Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.
With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."
I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.
Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice-someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.
My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.
Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't… he wasn't exactly Grover.
Stares were thrown at Percy. "What do you mean?" Orion asked.
Percy just gestured towards the book, making many groan.
"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"
My mother looked at me in terror-not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.
"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"
I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.
"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!"
"By Zeus and all the other gods!" Athena translated.
he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"
I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on-and where his legs should be … where his legs should be …
My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"
I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.
She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"
Grover ran for the Camaro-but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.
Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.
Hermes laughed "You just found out that he's a satyr. Hop you didn't call him a donkey."
At Percy's expression, he began to laugh harder.
"Well that was the end of the chapter," Athena told them. "Who wants to read next?"
Before anyone could step up there was a golden flash, and in place of Percy there was a note. Orion picked it up and read:
Dear Gods and Demigods,
Sorry about Percy. A very important goddess needed his assistance so we had to give him back. We'll bring Percy back soon enough however from a different timeline. Please continue to read until then!"
Sincerely,
The Fates, Amazing Apollo and Heroic Hermes
P.S. It was completely okay with you Hera so don't worry about it!
"Well than, looks like we won't be seeing Percy for a bit." Hercules said.
"Yeah." Nico nodded "Let's keep going."
Amphitrite extended a hand and the book flew into it. "I shall read… My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting.
Well this chapter took forever! I'm sorry it took so long! On the bright side summer break quickly approaches which means updates will be much quicker! Hopefully. I was going to post this chapter tomorrow on my birthday, but then I thought that you had all waited long enough so I posted it today. Hope you all enjoy, please review!
~Sakuya~
