"So this is your new dorm," The Principal gestured to the two bed room. "You will be sharing it with another boy."

"I can't believe you're putting him in a boarding school," Athena muttered. "I could have gotten him into -"

"Athena, please." Mom sighed, "Yancy Academy accepted him of his own merits, you cannot be fighting his battles all the time."

"Yes, yes, but he still deserves more than a school for troubled kids." Athena waved her away, "And a boarding school? Sally, please, how are we to tutor him if he's here."

"Don't you kidnap him often enough? You managed to teach him for months before I found out, this will be a good challenge for you." Mom whispered back.

I rolled my eyes as I actually listened to the Principal's orientation. Athena asked for a special private one, on the basis that she wants to see if this school was any good at all, and the Principal agreed to it on the grounds that 1) She is a goddess and 2) He literally cannot say no to her if he wished.

"If you're going to put him in a boarding school, why don't we just have him go to one of the Sea's schools? He'd get a better education and he'd still get in with his own merits."

"Like Tartarus, am I going to let Percy spend a year at Sea! He stays on land, within my reach," Mom hissed angrily.

"Excuse me sir," I said loudly, interrupting their argument. "Is it possible for me not to share a room?"

He frowned, and mom and Athena turned back to listen. "Unfortunately, those rooms are only for those with the necessary accommodations and disabilities, and they're all already full."

I sighed, but nodded. Athena didn't like that answer, "Necessary accommodations and disabilities? He has ADHD and PTSD, what else is necessary?"

"Athena!" I hissed, annoyed. "He means those are wheelchair accessible and everything- I'll be fine in a shared dorm."

The Principal quickly agreed with me, much to Athena's disgruntlement.

"Though, just one thing Mr Jackson; your hair. We only accept natural colors here at Yancy, you will have to remove that dye or change it to a natural hair color dye."

Guess I'll be dyeing it blond tonight- at least my roots were already showing.

This is going to be a long year.

oOo

I was unpacking in my new dorm, careful to place everything in their exact spot.

Hermes had kindly helped me come up with a dozen escape plans for my dorm, including everything from my door, to the window, to the vents. Along with that, I was sent off with no less than thirty bronze, silver, and plain steel knives from Triton; several that I resigned myself on wearing hidden on myself, and several that I hid under mattresses, desks, pillows and other miscellaneous furniture. Although, I will admit, I drew a line when Athena suggested Surveillance Cameras, and quickly reminded her that was illegal. Athena told me the knives were illegal too, but I stood firm.

Mom just laughed at me, and helped rearrange my altar into a shoebox so it wouldn't get noticed.

I quickly scrambled up from my position of kneeling at the foot of my bed, where I was busy duct taping a pair of throwing knives to the underside of my bed frame, when someone knocked on the door. I desperately racked my eyes over the room, luckily not spotting any immediately concerning illegal things just sticking out, and called out for whoever knocked to "Come in!"

Oh shit, the Declaration of Independence!

I quickly kicked the priceless original document that Hermes probably shouldn't have let me borrow under my bed just as the door opened, showing a nervous looking curly haired boy on crutches. Hopefully I can return the national treasure next time Hermes visits without my new roommate ever seeing it.

"Hi! You must be my roommate, right?" I smiled at the newcomer, "I'm Percy Jackson."

"Uh, yeah." He gave me a wobbly smile back, "I'm Grover Underwood."

He stepped forward to shake my hand, and it took all of my princely training not to freeze. I know that gait, I've seen it enough among the Keruke not to. He's a satyr. Shoot.

"Nice to meet you," I said, a diplomatic smile fixed on my cheeks. "I hope you don't mind that I went ahead and made myself comfortable, I left you with the bed along the far wall, I just prefer to sleep under the window, that's all."

"No, no!" Grover replied, looking at me curiously. "That's fine by me."

"Ok, good. Good." I nodded, then gestured back to my clothes still in my trunk. "I'm just gonna continue-"

"Oh! Sure, yeah." Grover blushed, then turned to his own things.

As soon as I had turned away and he couldn't see my face, I groaned silently. Perfect, a satyr was my roommate.

Not that I have anything against satyrs, but this might turn into a problem. Satyrs, unlike monsters, are woodland spirits: Children of Pan, who in turn is the son of Hermes and Dionysus (which is a very long story). Satyrs aren't affected by the protections Triton has placed on me like normal monsters are, though he probably can't quite pin my scent down other than 'Powerful-probably-Big-Three.'

This still isn't good. He's probably going to try to contact Camp Half Blood and then this will turn into a big ol' mess as I try to avoid Olympus' eyes while still obviously being… well… me.

Chaos damn it.

oOo

Three gods. Three gods and none of them had any idea what to do about the Satyr roommate.

Athena suggested copious amounts of perfume, which, sure, and pretending that I have no idea about anything. "The Camp is under the silly idea that once a demigod learns of their heritage, then their scent gets stronger, which is silly. Learning about your heritage just usually coincides with puberty, of course your scent would get far stronger." She told me, an underhanded tactic of using your 'enemies' ignorance against them.

Of course, my studies as 'Ais continued, along with Hermes' teaching me of the ways of the Keruke, so I was often kidnapped in the afternoons and evenings.

I don't think anyone has noticed anything, not even Grover- who was quickly growing to be my best friend, though I was noticed as missing that one night where Hermes and I ended breaking into the National Archives Museum to swap the Real Declaration of Independence I had with the fake copy Hermes had replaced it with while I 'borrowed' the real one. National Treasure who?

Grover let the subject drop about me going missing for a whole night, though I could see him squinting at me from the corner of my eye occasionally.

Right now, though, I was running late for first period Latin.

I'd spent this morning getting ready after my shower things had been ransacked. The other kids- the other delinquents- were not very friendly to the smallest new kid with long blond hair he liked to braid, and wear perfume, and even more recently, wear a skirt. Sexist, rude, entitled little-! Most of the boys had taken to teasing me, calling me a girl, and a lot of the girls had taken up the habit of laughing and whispering about me. Bullies, I don't understand what's wrong with a boy doing things that are traditionally 'feminine.'

In fact, a lot of the gods don't conform to their 'gender.' Apollo is well known for being mistaken as a girl and stealing his sister's dresses- as Hermes and Athena had told me. Dionysus, raised as a girl and now living as an androgynous man. Artemis, neither feminine or masculine, yet unmistakably a maiden. Athena herself, told me that she is actually more masculine than feminine, and simply prefers being a maiden in form. Triton even told me, and I've seen myself, that most Mer don't stick to one gender, as the Sea is constantly changing and so are they- and in some cultures of the Sea it is polite to change your own form to balance the male-female ratio if it is uneven.

So, really, I have no idea why it's considered wrong to not act masculine when I'm a boy- It's like being a guy means that I have to constantly performing a role, it's stupid.

So yeah, the bullies might have trashed my things, but I'm petty, so I went full-out today. Blond hair brushed and braided into a complex crown like I was some sort of Elven prince, a cloud of Vanilla Rose Passion perfume that hovered around me, and a black skater skirt that reached my knees.

Coincidentally, that may be the reason why I'm late to class.

I slid into class, five minutes after the bell rang, with a quick "I'm here!"

Giggling and whispers started, as a man I've never seen before replied with a deadpanned "I see that, Mr Jackson. Please take your seat."

I blushed slightly, confused at the disappearance of Mrs Granada, but did as he said.

I sat down, and leaned over to Grover, raising an eyebrow in confusion, only to be answered with a shrug and a nod towards the board.

"As I was saying, before I got interrupted, I am your replacement teacher. My name is Mr Brunner, and I will be taking over for Mrs Granada as she's on Maternity Leave." Mr Brunner said, and we all nodded along.

I frowned though; Mrs Granada was barely 5 months along, she said she wasn't going on Leave until February, and it's only November now. What's going on?

Mr Brunner started his lesson, saying that we were to start our mythology topic, and it was half-way through the lesson that I realised what he was saying.

"Uh, sir?" I put my hand up, "You're teaching us all the Greek names, this is a Latin class."

"Ah," He looked surprised to be called out. "Yes, well, I suppose it's because the Greek names are more well known, and as such I feel it is more prudent to teach you them in a way you'll use the names more often."

I stared at him, confused at the flimsy logic. "But there's a major difference between Greek and Latin, and the name denotes this? What use is it to being taught about Herakles but his deeds as Hercules? You'll just be confusing us."

"Percy!" Grover hissed, confused as to why I was arguing with a teacher.

Mr Brunner's eyebrows seem to be disappearing into his hairline. "Well put Mr Jackson. Very well, I shall be switching over to the Latin names from now on."

I nodded and leaned back against my chair. Wonder what that's about?

And ugh, why is this classroom so stuffy? The windows are open, but it feels like a whole cloud is in … the room… Oh. Oh dear.

I eyed up my new teacher, and saw how there was a slight blur to his wheelchair. The Mist. Mr Brunner isn't Mr Brunner.

I frowned, mentally running through a tally of all the creatures that might have their bottom half needing the Mist. Satyr? No, grover does well enough with his crutches and Brunner has no horns. Minotaur? No, monster. Mer? Triton would me if he sent me a … teacher.

Teacher. Centaur, teacher of heroes. Chiron. What is he doing pretending to be my Latin teacher?

Great. This year just keeps getting better and better.

oOo

The Christmas Holidays meant that I could go home and spend Heliogenna and Saturnalia/Kronia with my gods and mom. Except, for one problem.

The gods hadn't shown.

We always celebrate the day after the solstice because the gods are away for their Counsel Meeting, but they didn't show. Not Triton, not Athena, not even Hermes. Mom and I were left to flounder and celebrate on our own, confused at the sudden Hurricane and Thunderstorms that started that night.

And the gods continued not to show, even as the weather worsened.

Mom dropped me off at Yancy with a word of warning, and a promise from me to be careful and as diplomatic as possible. We both eyed the clouds warily, and she pressed a kiss on my cheek. We both knew that the sudden happenings only meant one thing; a war between the gods.

Eventually, I was finally told the news.

Hermes found me sitting in bed, chewing nervously on Hermione, staring out the window to the storm.

"Percy," He whispered, and then quickly pressed a finger against his lips before I could reply. "Listen carefully, I don't have much time."

He wasn't in the youthful form he'd taken to wearing since mom adopted him- in fact, he was wearing the sports clothes and grey hair that I'd come to recognise signalled high stress.

"Father's Master Bolt is missing and he thinks your father has taken it. He doesn't know you exist yet, but he's looking closely at the Sea; Triton has had to remove his protection from you in case anyone looks close enough to see his power on Land. Athena and I are running interference, but this will very likely come to war. You're on your own, Percy, you understand? If worst comes to worst, we need you to pretend you never met us: Ma told you of our world but you never truly encountered it. Triton is preparing to claim you as his son, so that's your lie. If Father finds out you exist, then he might accuse you of being the one to steal the bolt." He told me seriously, eyes hard.

I nodded frantically, fear seeping into my bones. This isn't good.

He pressed a kiss to my forehead, "Good luck kiddo. I love you."

He was gone before I could reply.

It occurred to me much later that I never even got to ask him about the weird pressure headaches I was getting more and more often, the ones that started a week before the solstice.

Instead, I just lay awake at night, staring up into the dark ceiling, wondering what is going to happen next.

oOo

The next morning, I had a new pre-Algebra teacher.

A shiver ran through me as I suffered under her yellow glare, and got my first Dress Code for my skirt. She's not human.

A/N

Yay, update! So, we've started canon era, and as you can tell, Percy is far more observant than in canon because of his familiarity with the mythical.

On multiple points: 1) Don't complain about the gender thing, that's literally how it is the myths/religion. All the gods named are gender non-conforming or trans in real life, I literally didn't make the rules for this. 2) Percy is blond and wearing a skirt. Why? I'm the author. Also, cause this will come into play later but still, I'm the author. 3) Pan is the son of Hermes, but the Dionysus thing? Yeah, so, Pan's appearance and myths closely follow Dionysus', like,,, Pan and Hermes used to be one god once upon a time, and Pan-Hermes is theorised to be an offspring/aspect of Dionysus, who is probably the oldest god of the pantheon historically. 4) Yeah, yeah, I had fun with the Declaration of Independence gag, but I think my Gov Agent watching thinks I might be planning a National Treasure Heist, oops.

I want to say one thing in particular: To everyone commenting 'please update' - I fucking hate that. Stop it, It doesn't make me update faster. Also, to everyone asking about the ship- shhh, he's twelve, don't ask cause I don't have an answer. Stop it.

Lore/Translations:
'Ais= Prince
Keruke=Messengers
Heliogenna= Ancient Greek Solstice Festival
Kronia= Greek Harvest Festival