Okay,I have just reached 10 reviews and I will address to 3 People in the following:
readergirl13: Thank you very much, I really appreciate it. I will admit, I have come to realize that not many boys in particular, around my age can write well, but of course nothing against the ones out there who can.
Scarlet O'Awesome: I will admit, I was tired when writing and that was a typo. I just kept typing furies, when I was meaning to type fates, but I will thank you for letting me know.
greekfreak101: Sorry I couldn't update sooner, but I am quite busy, with divorced parents, switching houses,admin of a facebook page,and begging my mom for the Demigod Diaries. [Which I may make a story of the characters reading, this weekend, if some people want me to.
Note: Sorry for not updating more quickly, but I was true to my word, that I wanted 10 total reviews.
Edit:Note#2: [I have been reported, any idea on sites to post at?]
Question: What good does it do to report me? Trying to ruin something people enjoy?
Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO Series or Characters or the HoO Characters
Jason's POV[Switch it up a bit!]
"Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal."
"What a Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said.
"I still don't understand how the hero of Olympus has a lack of brains."I said.
"I honestly didn't, I mean could a stupid person really save such a big thing?"I thought.
"He can be really smart, when he wants to."Annabeth said.
"That cleared it up, Annabeth and Thalia must just call him a seaweed brain, from a joke."
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?"
"He does have a point."Leo said.
"Wow,at that point, Percy didn't know anything about the world of the gods, yet Grover was still mumbling all these hints. He must have gotten smarter over the years, maybe being the "Lord of the Wild" helps."
"Grover doesn't seem to make it comfortable for the demigods he protects." I said.
"Not at all."Annabeth said, with a bit of a frown on her face.
"I wondered what he had done to Annabeth, but after my experiences of Annabeth, I have come to understand to let her stay with her own thoughts."
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.
"Explains why Grover failed once." Thalia mumbled.
"So he failed, but he is the king of the wild?"I asked.
"He had more than one chance."I said.
"Oh",I said.
"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.
A word about my mother, before you meet her.
"She is awesome!" Thalia said.
"His mom is still living?" I asked.
"Yes, and she is the best mom, that a demigod could have." Annabeth said.
"Not many people get complements from Annabeth, so she must be great."
Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, 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.
"Wow, that must be hard." Piper said.
"She has a hard life, but she always gets through it." Thalia said.
The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.
"The normal." Annabeth said.
"What do you mean?" Leo asked.
"Most of the time, when mortals have demigods with a god, the mortal always believes the god was the best thing that ever happened to them." Annabeth explained.
"And how would you know this?" I asked.
"JASON." Thalia yelled.
I ignored her and listened for Annabeth's answer.
She said, I have to teach a lot of the new demigods, as I have the most experience of anyone at camp,now."
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.
"Wow, he remembered something, about his father."Thalia said.
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.
"Makes perfect sense, as his dad is the sea god." I said.
"Lost at sea was probably a clue, for the future."Annabeth said.
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.
"Very hard working mom."Piper said.
"She always has tried her best."Annabeth said.
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.
"That has got to smell."I said.
"He was disgusting, but he did do his job."Annabeth said.
"Job?" I asked.
"Just read on." Annabeth said, pointing to Thalia.
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.
"Okay, that is seriously disgusting."Piper said.
Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."
"What a welcoming." Leo said sarcastically.
Everyone glared, at Leo.
"Don't demigods joke?" Leo asked.
"Yes we do." Nico said.
"NICO, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Thalia demanded.
"I have been here the whole time." Nico said.
"Where's my mom?"
"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"
That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?
"Seems like a mean guy."Piper said.
"You should hear Percy's description." Annabeth said.
"Percy makes him sound as bad as Kronos." Nico joked.
"I have never heard Percy mention Smelly Gabe." Thalia said.
"Wow, you have missed a lot of entertainment." Nico said.
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.
"I can imagine." Leo said.
"Not like your any better." Piper joked.
"HEY, I look at least a little better! Leo said.
"Not by much." I joked.
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
"Maybe he is lying?" Nico asked.
"I wouldn't doubt it." Annabeth said.
"He is lying for sure!" Thalia exclaimed.
, 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.
"Not much of a benefit."Leo said sarcastically.
"It isn't like such a mean guy could help him out." Annabeth said.
"At least he didn't kill him." Nico said, as if it was the best thing in the world.
"Why such thoughts Nico?" Thalia asked.
"I am the son of the lord of the dead." Nico countered.
"I guess, but still!"
Thalia whispered out of Annabeth's earshot to Nico to not mention Percy and death in the same sentence.
"How I understood it? I don't know."
"I don't have any cash," I told him.
"LIER",Leo yelled.
Everyone stared at Leo, like what are you thinking?
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.
"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"
"Such a nice stepfather." Nico mumbled.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Annabeth asked.
"Uh, nothing."Nico stuttered.
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."
"Wow, a sensible friend, it is a new record!" Leo said.
"Really Leo?" Piper asked.
"Hey, at least I'm not like Smelly Gabe." Leo said.
"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.
Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.
"Gross!" Piper exclaimed.
"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."
"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"
"He actually uses that for an excuse?"Annabeth asked.
"I thought grades were important?" I asked.
"Not when your a demigod."Annabeth said.
I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." 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.
"Isn't it great?" Leo asked, sarcastically.
"What?"I asked.
"He gets to come home to things just as bad as dying, so it is almost like he is trying to survive every second."Leo said.
"That was very smart, in a dumb way Leo."Piper said,sarcastically.
"At least it was smart!"Leo countered.
"It was." Annabeth said.
"You know Percy wasn't really dying with Smelly Gabe, right?" Nico asked.
"Of course, but he still probably couldn't breathe, well."Annabeth said.
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.
"Okay, that is really bad."I said.
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.
"How could he sense that?" I asked.
"I guess it is a thing, only Greek demigods of the big three can do."Annabeth said.
"But he didn't even know about the world of the gods." I complained.
"Nothing you can do about it."Piper said.
Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"
She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.
"Always a good breather, for him." Annabeth said.
"It really does refresh him." Thalia said.
"It does seem like it." Nico said.
"Couldn't you know for sure, with your awesome powers?" Leo asked.
"No, only if people die." Nico said.
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.
"That must be hard."I said.
"Not for her, she just isn't that type of person." Thalia said.
"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"
"What a Momma's boy."Leo said.
Everyone glared.
Leo Immediately said, "Of course, not in a bad way."
"His mom does make everything better."Thalia said, to break the silence, in a good way.
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.
"How sweet!" Piper squealed.
"I'm starting to sound like my sisters."Piper said, annoyed."
"At least it is good candy." Nico said, randomly.
"I'll make sure to ask his mom for some, when I meet her." Leo said.
"LEO, that isn't the point of this."Piper said."
"Calm down, beauty queen."Leo said.
"DO NOT CALL ME BEAUTY QUEEN." Piper yelled,to the point of almost making people deaf.
"Wow, that is the closest to one of Annabeth's temper tantrums, that I have ever seen." Thalia said,
"It is that bad?" Annabeth asked.
"Worse." Thalia said.
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?
"I will admit, that is sweet."Thalia said.
"Thalia,say something is sweet?" Nico said, not believing a single word.
"That is one more time, then you have!"Thalia said.
I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.
"Of course."Annabeth said.
From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"
"How nice of him."Piper said.
"Not even saying please, disrespect for woman."Thalia mumbled.
I gritted my teeth.
"Hopefully, Percy doesn't get mad."Annabeth said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Bad,bad things. Don't get him mad."Annabeth said.
My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.
"At least he does realize it." Piper said.
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.
"He must really be choking up." I said, remembering Nancy Bobofit.
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?"
"I bet he says nothing did." Annabeth said.
"Annie wants to make a bet?" Thalia joked.
"DO NOT CALL ME ANNIE." Annabeth Yelled, just a bit louder then Piper had earlier.
"But, you do want to make a bet?"Thalia asked, completing ignoring Annabeth's yelling.
"Yes, because I am so sure."Annabeth said.
"Problem is that not a person wants to bet, with you."Thalia said.
"No, Mom."
"Only if I could have found someone."Annabeth grumbled.
"We all know that you are always right, especially about Percy, so who would bet?" Thalia asked.
"I guess you got a point."Annabeth said.
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.
"Not at all." Annabeth said.
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?"
"Montauk?" Everyone questioned.
"I guess we got to read to find out, what was so special."Annabeth said.
"Three nights—same cabin."
"When?"
She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."
"He seems excited."I said.
"Must be something special." Annabeth said.
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.
"That little."Annabeth said, but got cut off by Thalia.
"We understand Annie, you don't want anyone annoying your seaweed brain."
Annabeth blushed and said,"Of course."
Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"
"Very cruel guy."Thalia said.
I wanted to punch him, 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?"
"Wow, he isn't that smart." Leo said, as if he had just figure it out.
"You didn't just figure it out, did you Leo?" Piper asked.
"Of course I just figured it out, when before could I have?"He asked.
"Maybe, earlier in the chapter?"
"Percy and Leo seem like they will be friends."Annabeth said.
"Really water and fire friends?" I questioned.
"Percy can make friends with just about anyone."Annabeth said.
"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."
"He better." Annabeth said, threateningly.
"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."
"Maybe that will interest his little mind." Thalia said.
"It should."Annabeth said.
Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"
"Wow a clothes budget, that is ridiculous." Piper said.
"We don't get all of our clothes, free."Annabeth said.
"Oh yes, of course."Piper said.
"Yes, honey," my mother said.
"She is so nice."Thalia 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."
"Apologizes?" He asked him for the money." I said.
"God, this kid has the worst luck." I thought.
Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.
"Wouldn't be the worst idea."Annabeth said.
"Of course you would say that."Thalia said.
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?
"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.
"Wow, he didn't detect any? Must have a really small brain."Leo said.
"It would have to be tiny, because if you can detect sarcasm, then anyone should be able to."Piper said.
"I'm not that stupid." Leo countered.
"I guess you are repair boy, but is there anywhere else you specialize on?"Piper asked.
"No." Leo said, sadly.
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?"
"Not likely."Annabeth said.
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.
"That isn't good."Annabeth said.
"Nothing is, when Percy has something unusual happen around him."Nico said.
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.
"Finally!"Leo said.
"He gets to leave Smelly Gabe!" I said.
"That probably was one of the greatest moments of his life, at that point." Annabeth said.
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.
"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.
"That is Gabe for you."Annabeth said.
"That is so unfair." Piper said.
"Percy's life is about unfair times and bad luck."Annabeth said.
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.
"It could be, because Poseidon is an earthshaker."Annabeth reasoned.
"Of course." Thalia said, just now figuring it out.
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.
I loved the place.
"Of course. It is near the sea."Annabeth said.
"The sea does make him stronger, so it makes sense." Thalia said.
"So, Percy has a lot of awesome powers too?" Leo asked.
"Certainly."Annabeth said.
"That made me interested on what powers he has, could he be more powerful, then me?" I wondered.
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.
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.
"Wow, what memories can do for you."Piper said.
"Good memories, that is."Annabeth said.
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.
I guess I should explain the blue food.
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.
"That is good, is blue birthday cake, better than others?"Leo asked.
"It all tastes the same." Annabeth said.
"Wasn't it obvious that she wasn't suckered by Gabe?"I asked.
"Not to Percy."Annabeth said.
She did have a rebellious streak, like me.
"I never knew."Thalia said.
"Don't think we will ever see it."Annabeth said.
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.
"It is great to have a life dream, and a life to live for that matter."Annabeth said.
"What do you mean?" Piper asked.
"We have our life on the line all the time ,while Percy's mom has a dream and can try to make it come true, without the worry of dying everyday."Annabeth said.
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."
"Wow, I wonder if any of the mortals think differently? I asked.
"Yes, they do, not a person is the same."Annabeth said.
Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."
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.
"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."
"So, that is why it is special to them."Annabeth said.
"Now it all makes sense."Thalia said.
"It would be great if my dad had a place where he remembered my mom."Piper said.
"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."
"Wow, that is terrible."Piper said.
"The gods ordered him to."Annabeth said.
"That is just cruel."Piper said.
I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.
"Maybe Sally is wrong?"Annabeth asked.
"Could be."Thalia said.
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.
"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"
"Bad question."Annabeth said.
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?" I regretted the words as soon as they were out.
"That is good he regretted it." Piper said.
"He didn't mean that, he just had a lot on his mind." Annabeth said.
"Protecting your boyfriend now."Nico said.
"Of course, how could you win an argument against me, if you can't prove better points."Annabeth said.
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.
"He is starting to see a connection."I said.
"So, this is how the hero's life all started."Piper said.
"Because I'm not normal," I said.
"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?"
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.
"Some funny stories coming!" Thalia said.
"He is always so embarrassed."Annabeth said.
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.
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.
"Those are just horrible, Thalia, not funny."Piper said.
We all looked and Thalia was turned over in hysterics.
"Hopefully this ends, soon."I said.
In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.
"Percy and his bad luck."Annabeth said.
"I do believe you about that bad luck, now." I said.
"Happy you realized." Thalia said.
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.
"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."
"That must be Camp Half Blood."Annabeth said.
"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"
"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."
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."
"Not for good, you don't have to be a year rounder."I said.
"Poseidon probably told Sally that he would have to stay the year."Annabeth said.
"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."
"Same point."I said.
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. 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.
I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. 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!
"Zeus against Poseidon, what a weird dream." Annabeth said.
"It seems everything that happens to Percy, isn't normal." I said.
"That sums it up, pretty well." Nico said.
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.
"Same thing, just in Percy's dream it was animals." Annabeth said.
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.
"Once again, the gods make Percy's life difficult."Annabeth said.
"He seems to be the center of attention, of the gods." I said.
"He was, and he still is."Annabeth said.
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.
"How did he freak him out, this time?" Thalia asked.
"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?"
"This won't be good." Annabeth said.
I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.
"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" 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 ...
"So, that is what freaked him out."Thalia said.
"Maybe there is a reason, that he showed his satyr self, there."Annabeth said.
My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"
"Wow, she actually yelled."Thalia said.
"It was a desperate situation."Annabeth said.
"Everyone needs to yell sometimes." Nico said.
"Not now, Leo." I said.
"WHAT?" He yelled.
"It is no use." Piper said.
I ended up hitting him with a lightning bolt. It wasn't exactly a peace offering, but it worked.
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!"
"This should be fun!" Leo said.
"No it won't be." Annabeth said.
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.
"Back to smart seaweed brain."Annabeth said.
Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.
"We never knew." Leo said sarcastically.
"Can't you stay calm for even a second,Leo?"Piper asked.
"No." He said.
"Want a lightning bolt to the head?" I asked.
"No, I'll act normal." He said.
"That is the end of the chapter." Thalia said.
"Who wants" Thalia said, but Leo interrupted.
"I will read!"
Okay, I am quite tired, I did this all in one night for you guys and gals. Let me know about any spelling errors, or just tips. I always like to get better. I will be writing more, but I won't publish until I reach 5 Reviews for the Chapter, or [15] Reviews in all. Just need to know that people are still interested.
Anyways, Thanks for Reading!