~0~

Snakes On A 'Merica

~0~

Percy refused Mr. Brunner's offer.

Imagining things wasn't too uncommon for him. He didn't know if the cause was his ADHD or dyslexia, but he kept seeing weird things almost daily. People with animal legs, wings, or horns, giant dogs- you know, small things. Since nobody around him reacted to those small things, he just shrugged it off as his mind playing tricks on him.

But this felt a bit too complicated for a mind trick.

"Are you sure you've never heard of Mrs. Grelod before?" Percy asked.

"I'm sure, man." His classmate rolled his eyes. "Seriously, what is up with you?"

"I... nevermind."

After the classmate returned to his seat, shaking his head, Percy crashed to his own seat, tired and confused. It had been a few minutes since the trip to the museum ended, and before they left, he asked every single person from Yancy in the museum if they knew Mrs. Grelod.

How on Earth did nobody remember her? Everyone shuddered in fear whenever that name was mentioned in any way, shape, or form, but now everyone stared at him like he was crazy just by claiming a teacher named Grelod existed.

Was his sickness so bad he had imagined Mrs. Grelod since Christmas? But, then how did Mr. Brunner and the others reacted to Grelod if it was his imagination?

They were trapped in a rain and a traffic, with barely a few minutes ride from the museum. Cars and trucks honked all around them. The bus ride back to Yancy was noisy with kids' chatters, but it wasn't the most important thing right now.

The most important thing at the moment was the woman sitting in the front row seat of the bus, happily humming to herself.

Mrs. Kerr, a perky middle-aged woman who entered the bus like everybody else at the end of the tour, with nobody finding it strange. According to everyone, she was their biology teacher since christmas.

The pen in his pocket felt heavier. Was it his imagination too, or did it actually turn into a sword? Was this the reason why Ray gave him this? Did he know this would happen?

As weird as it is, he didn't think that all of this was only his imagination. Other than the fact that he didn't have the creativity needed to imagine freaking weird stuff like this, again, everything was far too complicated for it to be a hallucination.

And Grover was just a plainly bad liar.

When they reached Yancy, Percy would drag his best friend back to their dormroom and interrogate him.

~0~

Whenever something needed to be done, Ray was the one who decides what operation must be taken. Percival was the one that decides who goes, then where, when, and how the operation must be done.

Both of them acted with their mind. He knew Ray would hardly call him impulsive, and vice versa. However, he also knew Ray would hurl logic and reason out of the window at high speed if one name was to be mentioned in missions and quests.

Which was the reason why he refrained from actually saying Percy's name and instead using the word 'him'. Ray would immediately forgot what situation he was in, and demand his brother's location. And then any threat he was already facing would take advantage of his sudden panic and most definitely kill him.

Not saying Percival himself was immune from recklesness, of course. Sometimes, he ended up doing something he regretted later, like, say, acidentally killing the monster they were supposed to capture in for interrogation (in his defense, he didn't expect a telekhine to have a heart condition. Who would?).

In a way of support, Alexa assured him one of them would execute the monster after the interrogation anyways, but still, their search for a rumored hidden automaton workshop was delayed for weeks.

Now, when his emotions got the better of him, he stopped thinking with his head, and shifted gear to his gut. His instincts acted as a guide, and most of the time, they never failed in their job.

Thus, he started trusting his instincts more- after all, they could detect things his mind failed to process first.

Sitting in the Mist-cloaked sedan Alexa stole from some Brooklyn rich man, trapped in the rain, Percival's gut was telling him something was coming. The thing about instincts was that they never specified about whatever it was they detected. Be it an event, machine, immortal or mortal creature, the signs were all the same. Didn't matter it was good, bad, or in-between.

He simply told Alexa, and their newest recruit one Sophia James, to be on their guards.

"SL-four-seven-five-nine." Alexa lowered her binoculars. "That's the bus' license plate, right?"

"Correct." Percival crossed his arms. "It's right in front of us?"

"Yup."

The fact that they were stalking Ray's little brother wasn't lost on Percival, but he shrugged it off. "James, can you tell me where Chiron is?"

The girl fumbled with the device somewhere behind them, in the back seat. "Uh, the front row seat, sir."

"Anticipating an attack?" Percival mused out loud. "And where is Grover?"

"He's on the third row from the front, on the right."

"Probably waiting for another attack," Alexa agreed.

"Perhaps. Do you see anything wrong?"

"None at the moment."

The traffic was a surprisingly good method of protection from any wandering monster, though Percival was under no illusion that monsters wouldn't simply crush any mortal standing in their way. However, due to the large amount of mortals in one place, and not to mention the smoke from the vehicles, a half-blood's smell could be significantly reduced, until the traffic ends.

"Sir?" Sophia piped up.

"Yes?" Percival glanced to the rearview mirror, catching the new recruit's eyes. She looked back down to Marcus' device on her lap, which was the size of a laptop. The silent son of Hephaestus explained that it was an 'identifier', whatever it was.

"I think this might interest you, sir. I found something... odd."

"Explain."

"Well, I ran the entire bus through with the identifier, and there was only one person that didn't fit with the document on who should've gone on this field trip. Her name is Amanda Kerr, thirty years-old, from New Zealand, and it said she's a... jazz singer?"

Alexa perked up eagerly. "A monster?"

"I don't think so, ma'am." He didn't miss the upwards twitch on Alexa's lips. "Her Facebook account is filled with status updates and pictures of her. She's a mortal, but she's not supposed to be in that bus."

Interesting. "Is there someone supposed to be in that bus that isn't?"

Sophia nodded. "There's one. Her name is Pauling Grelod, fifty-years old, from Germany. She's a biology teacher in Yancy, and is supposed to be one of the chaperone teachers aside from one Edward Brunn- er, I mean Chiron."

Grelod. Pauling Grelod. Ray told him (well, more like complained, really) about an old teacher named Grelod who seemed to hate his younger brother. Could this be the same one?

"Any information on how she disappeared?"

"No, sir. And, weirdly enough, I don't think either the students or the faculty seem to realize this. They look so... calm. Well, bored and tired, mostly, but none of them looked worried or alarmed."

"Could she be the monster?" Alexa glanced at him.

"Possibly. How is Percy looking right now?"

"Uh... sorry sir, but which one is Percy?"

Oh right, Ray didn't have the time to corner Sophia and bombard her with stories and baby pictures of his brother yet. Marcus and Alexa were the ones who had the unfortunate experience.

"He's..." It had been awhile since he had seen the kid. "Somewhat short. He has black hair, and green eyes. Simply put, imagine a green-eyed, younger version of Ray Jackson."

Sophia nodded. It only took exactly three seconds for her to find him.

"He's sitting right next to Grover. He looks... scared and confused... oh, poor kid..."

If scared and confused wasn't the feeling someone had after fighting their first monster, Percival didn't know what was.

"She's the monster~" Alexa said in a sing-song tone.

"We can safely assume so." Percival nodded. "What was Chiron planning on doing with him? That is not the direction of camp."

"Probably something like 'let him enjoy his normal life for a moment' or some other crap." Alexa rolled her eyes, putting the binoculars on her eyes again. "The kid's probably thinkin' he's crazy after seeing his teacher change into... whatever the hell she was. If I were him, I'd doubt I'm in any way normal."

"Are you under the assumption that you're normal?" Percival asked.

"Oh, shut up," she said, smacking his shoulder with her free hand. "Jeez, sometimes you got a gods-know-how-long stick shoved up in your arse and sometimes... shit."

The alarm on her voice made him reach for his blade. He let the insult and curse go, for now."You see an enemy?"

"Yeah, but I don't know what that is. He... looks like a really big snake, but... he's got no tail, only heads on both ends. He got chicken legs too. Oh wow he's pretty fast."

Percival looked ahead, and saw a long, green creature running in the traffic. Cars honked as the creature ran past them, and he assumed the mortal drivers only saw a wild animal. With the rain, the sight was probably blurred even more.

"An amphisbaena." Percival frowned. His gut was doing three-sixties. "What is it doing in New York?"

"Don't know, don't care," Alexa said happily, opening the door and stepping out. She put on her hood, and turned on her cloaking device. "Hey, chicken noodle! I want your scales!"

As Alexa ran after the snake, Percival picked the binoculars from her seat. The road was full of vehicles and cursing drivers in said vehicles, and to his dismay, he could spot several other amphisbaenae charging at the bus, the rain and the lighting making their scales glow a bit.

These monsters were desert dwellers; the fact that they were in a metropolitan city was a clue enough that something was wrong. These snakes were deadly, and they could spit venom from both of their heads. Someone wanted Percy dead fast, it seemed.

He lowered the binoculars. "Sophia, wear your ear piece. I want you to direct Alexa and I on what directions are these monsters approaching. Can you do this?"

Sophia nodded. "Yes, sir."

Without further discussion, he stepped out of the car, readying his adamantine sword Einblick on one side, and his handgun Irrsin on the other. He put on a hood- Ray made every member of the Keepers had a hood in their clothes- and pressed a button on his belt (MarcusBryantTM). A blast of cold air hit him, and the Mist shrouded his entire body, making him invisible to the mortal eye.

And he charged.

The first snake-monster didn't see him coming, so with a fluid twirl of Einblick, both of its heads dropped to the ground, followed closely by its body. He didn't wait for the corpse to disintegrate, and set his sight on another amphisbaena crawling atop a truck's cargo.

It jumped from the vehicle, but Percival was waiting for it, so it landed right atop his blade. The disintegrating corpse slid down to the hilt, but with a flourish, it flopped on the road. He ran further to the school bus, shooting and slashing any snake he came across on his was there.

Thankfully because of the traffic and the rain, no cars were moving, so it was somewhat safe to run around on the road. Though he could only imagine the look on the mortals' faces as they saw an invisible thing butchering wild animals on the road.

"Sir, some are climbing down the building on your left," Sophia informed him.

Percival glanced up, seeing the snake-chicken hybrid scaling down the wall of a nearby building the moment a lightning struck. "Alexa?"

"You shouldn't have asked!" the girl laughed through the device.

As he ran further to the bus, he glanced at the building. The monsters fell down like flies, crossbow bolts sprouting from their necks and/or heads. They turned to dust before they could crush the mortals' vehicles on the road below.

He turned around, slicing another amphisbaena in a half like it was butter. A quick three-sixty glance revealed that the rest of the amphisbaenae had realized the two of them, and started scurrying faster to the bus. Some mortals had bewildered looks at the sight in front of them. One even pulled out his phone and started recording them slaughtering monsters.

Percival was about to order Alexa to shoot the phone, but then he realized the Celestial Bronze crossbow bolt would be wedged in the phone and leaving such material to mortals was a massive disaster waiting to happen. The idea itself would give Ray aneurysm. So, he dashed to the mortal's car and thrusted Einblick, the blade easily stabbing through the glass and cut the phone in a half.

Instantly, he pulled his sword back and turned around, ignoring the man's scared yelp as he dropped both halves of his phone. He aimed his gun Irrsin at an amphisbaena snapping its jaws at the school bus' front right tire, and pulled the trigger. The head on the right exploded in a cloud of monster dust, and the one on the left screeched in pain.

The remaining head caught sight of him- glowing red eyes filled with pain and contempt- and spat a ball of green liquid moving as fast as a baseball.

If Percival had the time, he would've scoffed. Instead, he ducked and shot the head in one move. A scream made him glance behind him, and he saw the poison melting the front window of a car. The mortals inside, a woman and someone who was probably her toddler daughter, screamed. The former in fear and the latter in excitement.

He sighed, and quickly moved to the driver's side and opened the door. Well, tried to. The door was locked. He had no time for distractions, so he shattered the glass with the hilt of his sword, and unlocked the door from the inside.

If the mother had any some sort of common sense, she would pull herself and her baby out of the car. If they didn't found any shelter from the rain then it was none of his concern. Leaving them, Percival continued on his journey to the bus.

But first, he pressed a button on the side of his ear device. "Alexa, can you try to prevent their venom spit? The mortals might not be so lucky to be trapped inside a melting car."

"Woah, what? They can spit- oh shit they can."

"Language."

"Whatever."

Percival shook his head. His adamantine bullet made a hole on the neck of a nearby monster, so he waited for it to magically reload. "Sophia, are there any incoming monsters?"

"No sir. At least, not yet. Though some snake-chicken monsters are climbing the other side of the building on your right as we speak."

"Nothing we can do at the moment." He agreed, then turned off the comm. Irrsin had reloaded.

After tearing through three other amphisbaenae, Percival was pleased to see the number of monsters had dwindled significantly, and the remaining one was retreating out of the traffic. Not a few mortals had now climbed out of their vehicles and stood gaping at them, but thankfully they hadn't pulled out their phones yet.

"They're here, sir," Sophia informed him.

"Alexa."

"I see them."

Alexa dashed in front of him, readied her crossbow, and shot them down when they started climbing down the walls. Knowing she could handle it all alone, Percival walked leisurely to the bus. He heard a warning from Sophia, and swung in an arc behind him, slicing through a monster easily. He turned around, and looked at the bus.

And saw Percy staring straight at him, jaw agape.

He idly remembered Marcus explaining that the cloaking device were specifically created to be useless to anyone with even a drop of immortal blood in them.

Ray found out that some gods were paranoid about them, ever since the Fylakés were made known to the immortal public. To earn their trust, he asked Marcus to do something about their cloaking device.

Not quite knowing what to do, Percival just nodded at him, and continued forward.

~0~

It was three in the afternoon, so he had no idea why mom was at the apartment. Her candy store didn't exactly have holidays. Then again, if she was hurt or captured, their home was a logical location for her to be in. Still, Stalker led him here, and that weird bird was never wrong when guiding him, so she must be here.

By the time Ray reached the apartment, he was wheezing and panting. And his stomach was throbbing and hurting, though the rain lessened his suffering. Compared to the others in his crew, his endurance was laughable. Stalker flew down, landing on his shoulder and continued to preen his feathers.

He wanted to tell the bird to fly into the apartment first, but held his tongue. Stalker was just as tired, if not more, than himself, so forcing him to fly at the moment was technically animal cruelty. Still, animals weren't allowed in the lobby and in his tired state he wouldn't be able to properly manipulate the Mist.

Sighing, Ray pointed upwards. Stalker didn't have any facial expressions, but his beady black eyes clearly showed he was disgusted as he flew.

When the bird disappeared completely, Ray took a deep breath. He brushed off dirt and blood from his clothes, trying his best not to look like he just got smashed into a fountain. The rain had healed most of his wounds- though most importantly the cut on his chest and the wound behind his head- so it would be easy to simply hide most of his ruined clothes.

He stepped into the lobby, smiling at the receptionist. "Good evening."

She smiled back. "Good evening to you too."

Swiftly, he entered the elevator and punched in mom's floor, and only when the doors had fully closed did he let himself slump on its wall. Gods have mercy, he really shouldn't have run all the way to the apartment.

As the elevator climbed up, his worry started growing again. Was his mom okay? Hades was not above playing underhanded tactics- she could be hurt in more ways than one. What would he want with her anyway? As leverage? Why would he need leverage in the first place? Just what exactly was Hades searching for?

And what about Percy? Was Percy okay too? Did Hades sent a Fury after him? Percival said that he used the pen, so he must be able to defend himself, right? Right?

Ray took a deep breath. His mind was going haywire again. He trusted his friends, he really did, but he just couldn't stop worrying about his family. They were his family, dammit. Of course he wouldn't stop worrying.

The doors opened with a ding. Abandoning the idea of calmness entirely, he scrambled out of the elevator. The apartment door was closed, but Stalker was nowhere in sight.

Ray scowled. He pulled out his revolver, checking if he had enough ammo. Six bronze bullets materialized in the chamber of the weapon right before his eyes, then he put it back inside the weapon. He gathered water from the rain outside, and formed a frozen sword, hovering by his side.

He reached the door handle, and he frowned when he found out it wasn't locked. Where was Stalker anyway? Steeling himself, he opened the door.

And saw mom feeding Stalker crackers on the living room couch. Gabe sat beside her, staring intently at several pieces of papers on the coffee table as if it had personally offended him. The tv blared about the news, explaining yet another plane that had fallen into the sea this morning.

Ray sighed, the blade melting away. The sound of his sigh made mom turn around, and her face lit up when she saw him standing in the doorway.

"Ray!" mom laughed, standing up. Stalker crowed in annoyance. "This is a pleasant surprise! I didn't think you'd be home for at least a week!"

Gabe also looked at him, surprised. Then his face morphed into a smile. "Well, well, well. Look who's here. How's work, kiddo?"

"Pleasant enough," Ray replied, making an illusion of him shrugging while in reality he was discreetly holstering his revolver. Mom didn't like firearms, no matter the fact that it couldn't harm her since it only had Celestial Bronze bullets anyway. "We've almost had one week free of explosions, and that's a nice change."

Gabe chuckled, then returned to reviewing the documents strewned on the table. A quick glance revealed that it was a list of complaints, so nothing important.

There was nothing inside the room that could imply that a monster had infiltrated their household, but Ray was not going to take any chances. He had enforced the windows and doors with shards of divine metal when his family was asleep, so any monster who would burst through said objects would die on contact.

"...Ray?" mom asked, sounding worried. "What happened?"

He looked at her, and realized that she was staring at his leg. Where his pants were torn open by a burning whip. Thankfully, the fountain's water had healed the wound, but mom's look might as well suggested that his leg was mangled.

"I'm fine." Ray shot her his most energetic smile. It would work on most people, but unfortunately, his mother was immune to his fake expressions. "I just tripped over some wires."

"It's charred." Mom pointed out, frowning. "Do you want me to bring you salt water?"

"It already healed." He sighed, giving up. "There's no need."

Mom wanted to protest, he could tell, but she hugged him instead. He gladly returned it, too relieved to think about anything else. That was a lie, he sincerely hoped the blood on the back of his head was gone. "Oh, Ray, I'm just... I'm just glad you're home safe. Are you tired? Do you want a bath?"

"Nah." A bath sounded very enticing at the moment, but that was a not a pleasure he could do at the moment. "I'm just going to go to my room and take a nap."

He need to get the traps in his room and spread it around the entire apartment. He also had several of Marcus' energy grenades- those that deal damage only to living creatures and nothing else.

"Okay, honey." Mom smiled, but the worry crept into her eyes. "I'll wake you up for dinner, alright?"

"Sure, mom." He smiled back, hugging her one more time. His anxiety aside, he really was glad to be home at last. "Oh, uh, is Percy home?"

"No, not yet." Mom shook her head. "You know he should be home before Christmas."

Christmas? Freaking Christmas? He better set his traps quick, and ask for coordinates from Percival. He was getting extremely paranoid, though he believed it to be justified. And more than that, he needed his pills for his stomach.

~0~

"Grover, are you seeing this?" Percy turned to him.

Grover was trying his best to merge with the seat, dodging any incoming projectile sent by the kids on the back of the bus. "See what?"

"Look outside, man!"

He seemed confused, but he still relented. When Grover took a peek outside the window, he paled. His breathing became faster, and his fingers kept twitching. He didn't even budge when a ball of spit landed on his cheek. The hooded guy sliced another snake thing in a half, then jumped on the roof of the bus.

Well, it was obvious Grover could see it.

"Dude!" Percy shook his friend's shoulder. "Are you okay? Do you know what's going on?"

"Uhh... uh..."

Percy cursed internally. He got out of the seat and made his way to the front of the bus, where Mr. Brunner sat, reading his novel from before. He ducked as a paper airplane sailed above his head, and jumped over a bag on the middle of the bus.

What was Percival doing here? And why the heck was he killing these weird chicken-snake things? Were they another monster like- like Mrs. Grelod? Then was Mrs. Grelod real?

He clenched his pen- now he was sure it could turn into a sword for real- and trudged forward. Mr. Brunner really should answer his questions honestly this time.

"Sir!" He whispered as loud as he could. "Mr. Brunner!"

Mr. Brunner looked up, distracted. "Yes, Percy?"

"Are you seeing what's going on right now?" Seriously. Was everybody suddenly blind or something?

Mr. Brunner's eyebrows furrowed. "Is something going on right now?"

"Look outside!"

The teacher raised an eyebrow, but he turned around. Right the moment the hooded guy dropped down from the bus, one of the snake creature's corpse falling down right next to him, then he shot another snake-thing approaching the bus. It slumped to against the side of the bus, dust instead of blood splattered on the asphalt. Then he looked up.

Percy's eyes widened. It was Percival.

Mr. Brunner stared blankly at him. Percival raised an eyebrow, and pointed at the door.

"Sir, just what is going on?" Percy was getting really frustrated. Nobody was giving him straight answers today, and this was getting ridiculous.

Mr. Brunner sat still for a few moments. Then he took a deep breath, and turned his gaze to the bus driver, pointedly ignoring him. "Can you please open the door, Mr. Scott?"

Percy's eye twitched. "Mr. Brunner!"

The driver blinked. He looked at Mr. Brunner. "What?"

"The door, Mr. Scott. Please open it."

"Uh... sure?" Mr. Scott pressed a button on the side of the steering wheel, and the door slid open.

Percival, clad in a black coat, entered the bus with weapons concealed and hood down, then snapped his fingers. A breeze of cold air went through the bus, making Percy shiver. Instantly, the sounds from the bus died out. He turned around, and saw that all the kids had sat down on their seats, eyes glazed over.

Percival turned to Mr. Brunner, displeased. "Jackson will not be happy if he knows about this."

Mr. Brunner sighed. "I'm aware, Percival."

Percival's frown became lower, and his older brother's friend turned to him. "Percy, are you hurt?"

"I- no, why would I be hurt?" Now he was getting confused and frustated. That was not a good combination.

"Good. Grover!"

A yelp, and Grover scrambled over to the front of the bus, wiping his cheek. "S-sir."

"Get ready to leave. You too, Percy."

His eyebrows shot up. "Me?"

"Yes, you're in danger." Percival explained, scowling as he looked outside. One of the monsters dropped to the ground as both of its heads were shot by... an arrow? "We'll have to bring you to someplace safe."

Percy just stared at him, speechless. He was almost killed by his teacher- that no one believed existed- who turned into a demon, then his brother's friend suddenly appeared in the middle of a traffic slaughtering snake-chicken monsters.

And now Percival did something weird to his entire class, told him to bail out of school, and claimed that his life was in danger. Then again, considering Mrs. Grelod, that last part was actually the most reasonable thing he heard today.

"Get ready to run, you two," Percival ordered. He glanced at Mr. Brunner. "You're coming?"

"Somebody needs to explain their disappearance, lad."

"Very well." Percival nodded. He whirled around to face the door, scanning the area outside. Some people were screaming, and most, if not all of traffic had stopped. The drivers who were still inside their vehicles kept spamming their horns. "On the count of three."

Percy blinked. "Wait, right now?"

"One," Percival growled, shooting something outside and putting his hood up again.

"Grover, just what the heck is going on? You know Percival?"

"Two." Percival holstered his gun and pulled out his silver sword.

"We'll explain later, Percy," Grover said, nervously shuffling his feet. "It's not that safe here."

Why was Grover nervous? Then it struck him. "Wait! Grover can't-"

"Three!"

With a metal-like grip, Percival's free hand caught his wrist and pulled him with surprising strength. His own legs had trouble catching up with Percival's speed. Percy glanced back, extremely worried that Grover couldn't follow them, and was surprised to see that somehow, Grover ran his signature weird run after them quickly.

And he was even more surprised to see Grover had ditched his shoes, and there were hooves where Grover's legs should be. His weird run wasn't a run at all- it was a quick trot.

Percy shuddered, thinking he was seeing stuff, and focused back on following Percival. Grover could run, and that was the most important thing.

They danced around cars, the rain barely slowing them down. Nobody seemed to notice two kids being pulled away by a hooded stranger, or they just felt it was too much of a bother to get out in the rain.

Percival cut down any... monsters (because he had nothing better to explain them) standing in their way. One monster almost took a bite of his face, jumping from the roof of a car, but an arrow struck its neck, sending it flopping away.

Soon, they got out of the main road and into an alleyway. Grover and him were panting, but Percival didn't look winded at all. The guy waited for them to catch their breaths, and then guided them to an empty corner of the alleyway.

Percy looked around. His clothes were drenched in sweat and rain water. "What are we doing?"

Percival merely snapped his fingers, and fancy black sedan materialized right in front of their eyes.

Percy's eyes widened. "What? How?"

"You two, sit in the back." Percival ordered, manuveuring his way around to the driver's side. "Alexa?"

Silence for a few seconds. Grover pushed him to the car. The clop-clop-clop sound his foot made when he walked was a hint that something was not as it seemed, but with all the weirdness happening today, Percy was afraid that if he looked down, he'd lose his mind.

"Very well," Percival suddenly said. Percy noticed he was speaking to an earpiece. "Meet us at the- what is that?"

The last part was said in such a way that Percy tensed. He could tell it was trouble.

Percival scowled. "Are you sure?"

"Percy!" Grover said. "What are you waiting for?"

He turned around, and saw that the door was open. He climbed inside, sitting down on the seats that looked really, really expensive.

"How did Percival get a car like this?" Grover wondered out loud, staring at gold-plated cup-holders.

"We stole it."

She spoke so suddenly both of them jumped.

The teenage girl sitting right next to Grover smiled. Her long blonde hair was sprawled freely on her back, and there was a laptop on her lap. "Hi. Are you two okay? I can do some first aid stuff if you're hurt."

Grover and him shared a look. "Uh... I don't think so, but thanks anyway."

The girl laughed, blushing a bit. "Sorry, sorry. It's just, this is my first rescue mission and I'm just glad you two are safe. I'm Sophia."

Percy had to think about those sentences. "Rescue mission?"

"Sophia, tell me of the coordinates Alexa sent us," Percival suddenly said, sitting on the driver's seat and starting the car. "It's the place where Alexa last seen a rampaging boar."

Sophia immediately began to type some things on the laptop. As she worked, Percival pulled the sedan back from the corner as the snake monsters started entering the alleyway. Percy thought the guy was going to turn around, but they kept going backwards until he heard the sound of traffic behind them.

And then suddenly he was slammed to the door, Grover himself slammed to him. The car turned around without losing speed, the tires letting out loud squeals, and Percival immediately stomped on the gas.

Percy pulled his throbbing forehead back from the glass. "Ow."

"Ow." Grover agreed.

"Got it." Sophia announced. "It's at the East Seventy-eighth street, near Bloomberg Philantropies, sir."

"Not that far," Percival muttered. "Sophia, kill as many as you can."

Sophia nodded, and closed her laptop as she pulled out a bronze handgun. She turned around in her seat, and fired several rounds of bullets through the rear window. Percy looked back, and saw the snake things turning to dust one by one.

"Okay," Percy said, fed up of all this stuff without knowing a single clue on what the heck was going on. "Can anyone please start explaining what's happening?"

"You remember about that time when your mother drove us away in a taxi from a monster?" Percival asked without missing a beat.

He was surprised. "That was real, too? I thought I was dreaming..."

"No, that was very real. And this time, it's your turn to be chased by a deadly monster."

"Great." Percy sighed. He idly remembered about a creature the size of a bus that could spit fire chasing them across a bridge, but that was all that he remembered. He guessed he was still too young at the time for the memory to be tattoed in his brain. "Did Ray gave me the pen because he knew this would happen?"

"He was expecting something like this to happen. You used the pen?"

"Er... yeah." So, in a way, Ray knew something like this was going to happen. "Where is Ray?"

"Jackson..." Percival trailed off. "He's missing at the moment. He was on his way back to your home, but he got ambushed by some monsters."

Fear took hold of him. Ray was what? "W-what did you say?"

Sophia patted his shoulder before firing again. "He's missing, but we do know he's alive, so don't worry."

"Yes," Percival agreed. "And knowing him, he either went to your house, or searching for you."

"Why?" Percy was getting worried again. "Is mom in danger too?"

Percival opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it again, thinking about it. "I... don't think so," he finally said, slowly. "But the possibility is still there. We're here."

The car stopped right as thunder boomed. Percy looked through the window and saw overturned cars- some were even scorched black. Hooveprints were left on the asphalt, meaning the pig was so heavy it made prints on asphalt, and the size was way larger than any pig he's ever seen. People took pictures, and one was calling the police. But the giant pig itself was nowhere in sight (and that was a good thing, of course).

"That pig is trouble?" Grover asked, worried.

"Might be. By Alexa's explanation, it's possible that the pig is the Calydonian boar."

Silence. Even Sophia didn't seem to understand. Grover asked what Percy was thinking. "And that's a problem... why?"

Percival glanced at him through the rear view mirror. "It's a giant boar. It has near-impenetrable hide. It has tusks the size of Indian elephants' tusks. And it breathes lightning."

"Oh."

"And," Percival added, turning the car to where the hooveprints were heading. "By its tracks, it's heading straight towards your apartment, Percy."

~0~

"Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Jackson?" a teenage girl opened the door to her apartment. "Are you home?"

The girl was around Ray's age, Sally noticed, with long black hair- though one had a blue streak on her left side, wearing a dripping wet black hooded coat. What alarmed her the most, other than the fact that she just easily bypassed her lock, was that she held a metallic crossbow on her right hand.

"Er... yes?" Sally stood up from the couch. Gabriel was snoring on the couch in front of her. "Anything I can help you with?"

"Oh great." The girl groaned. "You are here. This isn't good."

"Are you a friend of my son?" Ray told her that monsters, even in disguise, would just skip the pleasantries and take the first opportunity to tear you to pieces, but since she didn't do anything of the kind Sally assumed she wasn't a monster. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, we gotta get you outta here." She checked her weapon. "Do you have any car we can use?"

"Alexa," Ray said as he entered the living room, his crow on his shoulder. "Can't you explain things to her first? And why must she leave?"

"Holy crap, you're alive?!" the girl gasped. "This is great! I thought I was gonna have to explain to your momma that you died on the way here."

Sally froze. "What?"

"She's joking." Ray sighed. Stalker flew away from his perch and stood on the coffee table, snacking on his cookie. "Now, explain."

"Okay, okay." The girl, Alexa, took a deep breath. "A giant thunder-breathing boar is heading straight this way."

"Godsdammit!" Ray cursed, storming into the his room. When he returned, he had several bottles of water attached to his belt and he was wearing the same coat as Alexa. "Ugliano!"

"Huh- wha?" Gabriel immediately sat up, face still sleepy.

"Start the car, we're leaving this place now!"

As the man scrambled into his room for his car keys, her oldest son turned to her. "Mom, go with Gabe and Alexa."

Alexa's eyes widened. "What?"

Ray shot his friend a look before returning his attention back to her. "There's a chance that whoever sent that pig is coming for you, so I want you to be safe. I'll divert its attention to a less populated area, and when you're at a safe place, Alexa, you and the rest regroup with me and we'll take care of it."

Sally couldn't believe she was hearing this. "Ray, that's dangerous!"

"But necessary," Ray replied grimly. "I was ambushed by two Kindly Ones on my way here, and they claim I had stolen something and they want it back. It's possible that this pig coming for you. I will not have any of that. Now go."

"Wait! Ray-"

"Gabriel." Ray turned to Gabriel just as the man returned. "There's something rampaging through town, and I'm afraid I'm its target. It's a classified government project. I want to escort my mom to a safe place- Alexa will guide you."

All things aside, Sally was scared and amazed that Ray could say outrageous lies like that with a straight face, much less making it sound believable. Gabriel would've doubted, years ago, but the fact that Ray was rarely home (and sometimes returned home wounded) and had a firearm in his possession convinced him.

Gabriel nodded, eyes burning determination. "I will."

"If my mom is hurt, I swear to God I will have your hide."

"And I swear to God that she will not be harmed by anything."

"That's what I want to hear." Ray smirked, then he turned serious again, facing her. "Good luck."

And then her eldest son, one of her greatest pride and joy, had the nerve to throw sleeping dust right at her face.