12:37 P.M.

Percy's worst fears were confirmed.

He couldn't breathe. His vision blurred. They were like wild dogs, taking down their pray. He was surrounded and helpless against the relentless mob. Screams rang out all around, and echoed in his ears. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't bare it any longer.

"Alright, calm down! Jeez!" Percy laughed and dislodged several howling children from his person. "Thank you, but you're gonna wrinkle the pictures!"

The gaggle of teenagers herded back to their desks, save for a few stragglers who wanted every detail. He shooed them away. Casey never left her desk, but she was grinning ear to ear. He smiled at her with wordless gratitude for keeping their secret. She gave a thumbs up.

He set the pictures on his desk and cleared his throat. "So, yeah, I'm excited. Got a lot of work to do, too."

"But I digress!" Percy clasped his hands together. "On with the lesson!"

He ignored the persistent groans and begs from his pupils.

3:42 P.M.

"Yeah, mom!" He was holding up one picture, staring while he spoke. "I have them right here. Oh, my gods, you gotta see them! I'm gonna take a picture and send them to you as soon as I get off the phone! No, we don't know, yet. We won't for a little while longer. What? Uh, about eleven weeks now. I know, right? I can't wait!"

He set the pictures down on the kitchen counter. More voices cut into the converstation.

"Ooh, is that Estelle? Could you put her on please? I love you, too! Hey, Estelle! I'm real good, how are you? Wow, you're already getting better grades than I ever did! Aw, I miss you, too. I got something to tell you. Yeah, get ready. Penny, you're an aunt! That means I'm gonna have a baby!"

Percy winced and turned away from the phone. Even the speaker couldn't handle the noises that came out. He waited until it was safe, and put the phone back to his ear. Annabeth looked over with concern, and he waved it off to let her know that everything was fine.

"Yeah! Yeah, remember Annabeth? That's right! Well, we don't know. No, we'll have to wait and see, but we'll tell you! Oh, you gotta leave now? Okay, I'll talk to you later! Yeah, we will! We'll come back for Christmas, I promise! I love you, Estelle! Bye! Oh, okay, I'll hang up first. Bye bye!"

He hung up the phone and turned to Annabeth.

"Paul was out, but mom and Penny say hi."

4:53 P.M.

"Huh? She already told you? Oh, okay. Well, it was nice talking to you! Is Jason awake? When he wakes up, could you tell Jason I said hi?"

6:20 P.M.

"How did you know? Seriously? Wow, whatever happened to doctor-patient confidentiality? I'm gonna have a long talk with him. Oh, he's right there? Is he LAUGHING? WILL!"

7:15 P.M.

"Yeah, money's gonna be a little tight for a while, but that's alright. No, we don't need help, thanks anyway. What have they done about that elephant, by the way? Oh, they didn't? Ooh, hi, Frank! H-oh, is he busy? Okay, some other time, maybe."

8:28 P.M.

The phone was snatched out of his hands.

"That's ENOUGH!"

Percy winced. "I'm sorry, I'm just so excited!"