Hola! I'm back again! Are you surprised by my Uber Fast update? I am making up for the slow update because I am busy tomorrow! And there was a comment that really motivated me, yes I can't wait for the Greek Camp to be discovered too! Percy is scheduled to arrive after the chapter of Capture the Flag. So he will be there to confirm their worst nightmares. ;) Someone also commented that they like Percy more because we know him more. I bet that is most of the reason I like him too. But I think that I like Percy more in general anyway.Another quick thing: I couldn't find the roman form of Atlas anywhere and I get the feeling he only has a Greek form. Please play pretend with me and ignore it.

The first chapter ended five minutes ago and we were still discussing the first chapter. We each had a different opinion on Percy Jackson.

I thought he was mysterious, mostly because I don't understand him. He had no training whatsoever and yet he single handedly defeated a dirae without even knowing he was a demi god! This is unbelievable. He had more action in the first chapter of his life story than I had in all my quests put together. I am proud to say I have the most quests than everyone in camp.

Well Jason and I tied, we both have five. Four of which we have led together.

But there was one thing that we all agreed on, and that was that Percy Jackson had power.

He had more power than some of the campers who have been training here for three years.

We snapped back to action when we heard the groaning.

It came from behind the closest tree to the gathering.

"Ahrrrrahhhhhggghhh! …."

We all sat tense with horrified anticipation.

"…mmmmmhhhh… Kkkoool Aidddd…."

All our eyes widened in shock. We hadn't even noticed Dakota missing! Immediately I felt terrible.

"Dakota!" I cried " I am so sorry! I had completely forgotten about you! What part did you go to sleep at?"

Dakota slowly crawled out from behind his hiding place.

" I fell asleep at the part where a mystery dude was warning us."

"So you didn't make it three words in? Congrats dude it is a new record!" Frank snorted sarcastically.

"It was further than three words…"

"So seven then was it?" Octavian joined in.

"No."

"Oops I've forgotten the word "I" does not count. Make it six." Octavian guessed again. This made the other campers smile. They all started laughing when Dakota didn't respond.

Of course Dakota didn't notice, he was too busy ordering cherry Kool Aid from the nymphs.

Reyna checked her watch and realized they missed supper. That meant that they were missing the evening activity to.

" Hey guys, how about we order dinner and skip Deathball to read the book?" I suggested I hope they wouldn't mind because I was very interested in what was going to happen to Percy.

Everyone seemed to agree but Octavian seemed hesitant.

Octavian POV

We were still reading Percy's book. I didn't want to be the one everyone hates because I try to persuade them not to read the book.

But I saw the future, I stabbed a panda bear. A pillow pet I mean.

In the future I saw Percy Jackson. It was very vague but I could tell.

Everyone was obsessed. Especially Reyna. It looked like she was trying to sneak in a reading session every hour.

I also know that there are five books and it will take a total of two months to read them.

I can't see anything in the books or anyone's reactions. Like I said it was vague.

There was another thing that was bothering me. It was my position as praetor. I couldn't see the future that concerned me for my own benefits which was the sad thing about having the gift of prophecy.

And Reyna she was some one that I couldn't see the future to either.

I don't understand! She's the only woman I know that could resist my witty charm and my handsome good looks.

It doesn't make sense, I even winked at her.

Next time I'll try a bit more. She was just playing hard to get.

I have a feeling that she would dislike me even more if I objected to reading the book.

Reyna read again.

"Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death," She said.

I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly.

There were many things wrong with that statement. He said occasional, which meant more than one. And the second thing wrong with that statement was that he talked about it so casually and he was still as ignorant as a mortal. Does not even know he is a half blood yet! That fact made me want to laugh. This guy is so random! Atlas could drop the sky and he wouldn't care.

This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me.

Dakota smirked. "From what I've learned—"

"We don't want to hear your life story, Dakota! WE ARE READING PERCY'S!" Hazel shouted at him.

"As I was saying," he continued "you'd be conceited to think people care about you that much."

Even I gave him a sad look.

He was talking from experience.

I laughed.

The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.

Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.

"Well he could have been more subtle about it."

It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.

Almost.

"Grover!" Reyna laughed.

But Grover couldn't fool me.

When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate,

We all shook our heads.

I don't know anyone who could lie worse!

and then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.

Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.

"Well Percy is a demi-god so the mist can't completely fool him." Reyna supplied.

I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.

The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room.

"I don't think he can control the weather cause' he wouldn't do that to himself. And the only person who has that much power over weather is Jupiter. So there must be something wrong" We all looked at Gwen surprised personally I didn't think that she had enough knowledge to think that deep into something.

Great now were clueless to who Percy's parent is.

That made me resent him more.

A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy.

One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.

I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.

Reyna sighed. I knew what she was thinking wisdom is power, and he was letting that go.

And that just proved how close I was to her.

I am so smart!

I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.

Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.

" It does sound good! Now I know what to call Lupa when she makes me go to archery training!" shouted Dakota.

Bobby and Dakota argued over who would get to use the line and the both looked at Frank like he was the Ref.

"Sorry guys! I love Archery!

The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.

Fine, I told myself. Just fine.

I was homesick.

I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.

Both Gwen and Naomi cooed in adoration, Reyna rolled her eyes at them both, Bobby was laughing at Percy for his lack of masculinity, Hazel and Frank were whispering about what would happen when they came to camp, and Dakota was drinking Kool Aid.

I was watching it all. Mostly Dakota, his obliviousness was funny.

And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange.

"Yeah that's right, and what are you going to do about it? Teach him to be normal?" Bobby laughed at his own joke and went ignored by the rest.

I worried how he'd survive next year without me.

I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.

As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.

"At least he studies for the subject that matters!" Hazel input.

Reyna glared "all the subjects matter! What would you do without them? Drop your sword because it's to heavy? That's math!"

I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.

The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room.

Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,

Someone giggled. "There's a HUGE difference, Percy."

or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.

"What is he going do every Thursday when we only speak Latin?" Frank worried.

I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.

I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.

I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.

I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F

"Now is a good time to start." Hazel smiled.

Someone whispered "You mean then?"

I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.

I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.

I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices

inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said,

"... worried about Percy, sir."

"What would Grover be doing with Mr. Brunner?" Dakota asked excitedly. Everyone in the group glared at him.

I froze.

I'm not usually an eavesdropper,

but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.

I inched closer.

As did everyone in the group.

"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"

"A Kindly One: Dirae. They know what?" Everyone stared at the book waiting for answers.

"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."

Everyone shot questioning glances at eachother. Percy was already very mature. How much more can a person get after they defeat a Dirae?

"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead line— "

"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."

"Sir, he saw her... ."

"Grover has a point, Percy can't be that ignorant anymore."

"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."

"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."

"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"

"What does he mean again? Why would a Faun be worried about keeping a demi god alive? They are supposed to be experienced!" Reyna said her worries outloud.

The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.

Mr. Brunner went silent.

"He heard it!"

My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.

A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.

I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.

"Now wouldn't that be funny if the class was full of students in detention?" The joke didn't ease the tension.

A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on.

A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.

Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."

"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."

"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."

"Don't remind me."

"Poor Faun! Humans age twice as fast so the Fauns that are looking for demi gods have to take twice the amount of them."

I didn't think that was so sad could you just make up an excuse?

Or just put "A" down on all the answers? Its not like Fauns needed to go to college.

The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.

I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.

Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.

Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.

"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"

I didn't answer.

"Yeah I just spent the whole night studying in the detention classroom! How about you? Did you have any suspicious conversations with our Latin teacher or how about Science that guy is nice and old to!" Bobby babbled cheerfully.

"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Just... tired."

"Right…."

I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.

I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.

But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.

The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,

"Ouch. And that's just for Latin!" I said. I had an ancestry with the gods. You might not understand what I mean by that but let me put this way: all my cousins are children of Bacchus. So I never had to go to school. I just lived here my whole life.

my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.

For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.

"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best.

His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.

"Why does she even pretend she will get a first kiss?" Naomi shuddered.

I mumbled, "Okay, sir."

"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."

"Yeah it's only a matter of time! He should be here already!" Hazel said. Maybe she thought it was unfair that she had to be here since she six, and Percy would come when he was twelve.

My eyes stung.

"Embarrassing!"

Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.

"Right," I said, trembling.

"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"

"He could have told him he was a demi god first, then Percy would not be so sad about it."

"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."

"Percy—"

But I was already gone.

" could have stopped him!"

"He could not have in front of all this kids how embarrassing would that be!"

On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.

The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland.

Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.

"Right, except for the fact you have more power in your whole being than the president has in his whole life time!" Hazel cracked.

I just raised my eyebrows and waited for Reyna to continue.

They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.

What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.

"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."

They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.

"They probably thought that was a bad thing and didn't want to talk to him, Morons!"

The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had,

"That's such a coincidence!"

so there we were, together again, heading into the city.

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers.

It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen.

Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.

"Oh! He's afraid there are monsters on the Greyhound!" Gwen was happy to make such a revelation.

No duh!

Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.

I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"

Great that is going to scare him more than if they were actually there! Reyna voiced that opinion too.

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"

I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.

Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"

Bobby snorted "You mean the whole thing?"

He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers …"

"And Percy is supposed to believe that?"

That was exactly what I was thinking: NOW Grover can lie?

"Grover—"

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."

"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."

"It is too late for lying!"

His ears turned pink.

From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.

The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

We only have one hill! It's the one separating two cohorts. The one with the most Mars children, and one with the most Minerva children. We don't even call it half blood hill! We call it 'The Hill That is the Only Reason the Camp is Not at War!'

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

"What's Half—"

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."

"I get it! The Fauns with those jobs only stay at Camp in the summer! I always wondered where Old George went!" Naomi cried.

She is so stupid.

"Umm, Naomi…. George is died." I explained.

My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.

"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."

He nodded. "Or...or if you need me."

"Why would I need you?"

It came out harsher than I meant it to.

Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."

"From what? He is going to ask."

I stared at him.

"What's punch line?"

All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.

"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"

"We all knew that was coming!" Frank admitted.

There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs.

"Someone cut the cheese?"

Okay, that had to be the worst joke I have heard in a while.

The driver cursed and steered the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off.

Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.

We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars.

"We should he a Faun here. I love to watch them babble about the earth when no one is paying attention." Sighed Dakota.

On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice.

"Lunch!"

There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.

"Kay' that is random!"

But Reyna looked like she was thinking. I remember now! The Fates were retired and stayed in our city since the Big three gods took the oath not to have children, and then all of a sudden they disappeared. The oath never mattered to us because Jason had always been here, and the son of Pluto, Nico stopped in every once in a while.

That is kinda funny! The one we all expected to break the oath didn't!

I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.

"The Fates." Reyna told everyone who didn't already know. Then they realized what Reyna and I had just a few moments ago.

All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

"With Percy's luck, They'll be looking at him." I flinched as I said it. Being a seer of the future, the fates were my rivals because they are the only ones who can change what I can see.

The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.

"How soon do you think he'll die? I put twenty bucks' that on the next page he'll die in a bus crash." Bobby took out the money and layed it In the center of our circle.

"Bobby, what would we do with mortal money. And more importantly, where did you get it?" I asked.

Reyna shot Bobby a look that clearly said 'we'll talk about this later.'

And I want to be there to watch that entertaining argument!

I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.

"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"

"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"

I rolled my eyes, only a fool would joke about something like that.

"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.

We all paled. Here I bet Percy is still laughing and smiling like it was funny. At least the Faun knew the significance behind the scissors.

"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."

"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."

"Getting in the bus isn't going to save him now!" Hazel shouted. It looked like she might cry.

This getting worse than I thought. Who knows how long these guy will be in depression if he dies.

"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.

Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.

Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.

Gods this kid is SO stupid!

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.

The passengers cheered.

"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"

Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.

"Great, nobody would notice if I kid suddenly died on the bus." Dakota probably thought all that panic would be funny. I always wondered if Dakota was a sadist. His father was good enough one already!

Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

"Grover?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you not telling me?"

"That he is most likely going to die in twenty four hours."

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"

"No, they're much harder to kill, and they can kill you with the snip of a scissors."

His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."

"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."

He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.

"It wards off the evil!" Gwen laughed.

He said, "You saw her snip the cord."

"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.

"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."

"What last time?"

"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."

"Yep, that isn't going to scare Percy."

"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"

"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."

This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.

"Can't wait to hear how Grover reacts when Percy ditches him at the first chance." Bobby laughed. For some reason he was the only one who wasn't wrapped head to toe for Percy.

"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.

No answer.

"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"

This kid catches up fast!

He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.

We all stared at each other. Naomi and Gwen were crying hysterically into each other's arms. Dakota, Hazel, and Frank were staring at the book in shock. And they would take a while to unfreeze I thought, last time we had to use the microwave.

But Reyna was no where to be found. That's when I heard her retching behind a tree. She didn't want anyone to see or hear that she was taking it all the worst.

They'll all be in for a surprise when Percy makes it to camp.

Authors Note

Sooo….. what do you think? Tell me if you liked Octavian's POV. I don't know how often I'll be doing it. I think I will be doing it mostly in Reyna's view and Percy's when he comes to camp. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and Favorited and Alerted this story!

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…Review!