The Demigods wandered back into the room and took their seats. The Gods look at Hermes to read. "Oh, dear." He says as he reads the Chapter title out loud causing the demigods to snicker.

(Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.)

"Who didn't see that coming?" Piper asks rhetorically.

(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 be sixth grade?')

"To be fair to Percy, he was acting crazy." Will said, "I would have run away from him too if someone started saying that." The demigods all nodded in agreement.

(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.)

"Seriously?" Annabeth asks the two fondly.

"What? I can't help my bladder." Grover says exasperated, throwing his arms in the air, " Besides, I thought I could trust him to wait but no. He runs and leaves me to run around the city looking for him."

"I'm sorry, man but you were freaking me out." Percy says smiling sheepishly.

('East One Hundred and Fourth and First Avenue,' I told the driver.)

"No." Percy tells the Strolls before they could even open their mouths, "Either way, I don't live there anymore." The Strolls pout at him for taking away their fun.

(A word about my mother, before you meet her.)

"She's amazing." Thalia says, "She even lets the hunters stay the night if she has room."

"She's a true saint." Nico tells them, " I passed out in their home once for a week and she took care of me the entire time."

"Prissy's really lucky to have a mom like her." Clarisse mumbles.

(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)

Everyone glances at Zeus except Poseidon and Percy who glare at him.

(She was raised by an uncle who didn't care much for her.)

Artemis frowns at a maiden not being shown the proper care.

(She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing programme. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school in her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family and no diploma.)

Hermes went quiet after reading that and glanced at Percy along with everyone else. "It's fine. Mom wouldn't like it if you pitied her." Percy tells them, "Sure, it might have sucked but she made it through."

(The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.)

"Aww," The girls except for Athena, Hera, Artemis, Demeter, and Reyna coo. Poseidon just smiled.

(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.)

"You visited him?!" Zeus yelled at Poseidon.

"Of course, I did. He's my son." Poseidon scowls at his brother. The other demigods look at each other thinking how lucky Percy is to have a saint for a mom and a decent god for a dad.

(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.)

All the demigods looked at either the floor or ceiling to avoid looking at their parents.

(Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.)

"That's smart." Hermes praised, "It is neither a lie nor is it the full truth."

(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.)

"No, you are not." Thalia smirked. Percy stuck his tongue out at her.

(Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colours 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 mouldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.)

Aphrodite did throw up this time into a bucket Ares conjured up just in time.

"That's disgusting." Piper says disgusted covering her nose and mouth as if she could actually smell it in real life.

"Try living with it." Percy muttered.

(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 was blaring. Crisps and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.)

That's where you lived before Paul?" Rachel asked horrified.

"It could have been worse." Percy told her.

(Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, 'So, you're home.' 'Where's my mom?' 'Working,' he said. 'You got any cash?')

"You just walked in the door." Hazel said angrily.

"Yeah, that's how it always was." Percy mutters as everyone glares at the book even Hestia.

(That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months? 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.)

Aphrodite made good use of the bucket again while Hestia conjured one for Piper who also need one.

"It most definitely does not make him attractive." Aphrodite snarls.

(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 pay cheques, 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.)

It goes silent in the room before an explosion of noise erupts from almost everyone. All the Demigods and even the Gods who didn't know Percy were threatening Gabe.

"He better not have put his hands on my son!" Poseidon stands snarling looking like he might try to leave and find Gabe.

"Hey! I'm good. He didn't do anything." Percy said standing in front of his dad keeping him from leaving, "He liked to threat me with things but would never actually do them."

Poseidon didn't look any happier that his son was threatened by his stepfather but sat back down. Hermes waited for everyone else to settle down before reading.

('I don't have any cash,' I told him. 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.)

"Oh. That's why she married this deplorable man." Artemis says.

"Yes, It's quite smart for a mortal." Athena compliments.

('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?' Eddie, the superintendant of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. 'Come on, Gabe,' he said. 'The kid just got here.')

"Well, at least one has some kind of conscience." Gwen says frowning.

('Am I right?' Gabe repeated. Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.)

"These males are revolting." Artemis states.

"I wouldn't mind you turning them into jackalopes." Aphrodite says to her queasily.

All the Gods and demigods stare as they know the rivalry those two have.

('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!')

"Oh, Gods. I didn't think.." Annabeth turns to Percy horrified that he could have been taking his nickname badly all this time.

"It's fine, Annabeth." Percy soothes her, "I know in the beginning it was a way to keep your distance but now you say it fondly and I can tell the difference, you know. The same can be said for the other nicknames I may have picked up along the way." He smirks looking at the other demigods.

(he shouted after me. 'I wouldn't act so snooty!' 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.)

Aphrodite and Piper once again throw up, it's a wonder they have anything left to throw up. Everyone else grimaces at the description while Poseidon looks like he plotting Gabe's death.

(I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home. 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.)

Poseidon stops plotting murder to look towards his son to make sure he was still there and not taken by The Fates.

(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.)

"We all get that feeling." Will says to Percy to make sure he knew that he wasn't the only one who gets those feelings.

All the demigod's nod in agreement with Will. The Gods frowned wondering what horrible things their kids have been through in their short lives.

(Then I heard my mom's voice. 'Percy?' She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.)

"That's called the Sally Jackson effect." Thalia said out loud.

"What do you mean?" Hazel asks.

"She's able to put us at ease. She makes us feel safe. Even though we are usually being hunted depending on Godly parent." Nico tells his sister, "That's the Sally Jackson effect."

(My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change colour in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few grey 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.)

Percy smiles thinking of his mother and all she'd done for him.

('Oh, Percy.' She hugged me tight. 'I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!' 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.)

"Ooh, Do you think.." Travis began.

"Your mom could get us a free sample?" Conner finished.

"She doesn't work there anymore." Percy shrugs, "You're out of luck."

The Strolls pout.

(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?)

"Yeah, I noticed they always do that." Frank remarked. "Even if you're gone for a week, you're questioned as if you noticed if you've grown or not, or if you got a haircut."

All the demigods were now looking at Frank wondering if he was ok as he went on with his rant. Hermes just continued over him.

(I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her. From the other room, Gabe yelled, 'Hey, Sally – how about some bean dip, huh?' I gritted my teeth.)

Percy was gritting his teeth in real life as well remembering this moment. Poseidon and the demigods glared at the book.

(My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.)

"She deserves everything good in the world for having to put up with our crap." Thalia says smirking looking around at her fellow demigods, who were nodding.

(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 had. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself.)

"You must have yourself fully convinced that what you say is true or you could be caught in your lie." Hermes advises Percy who just nods as if he understands.

(I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofitt suddenly didn't seem so bad.)

"Oh, that's bad. When that girl seems good." Piper says grimacing as her mother nods in agreement with her daughter.

(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?' 'No, Mom.' 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.)

"No! Tell her!" Grover says to the book, "Seriously? We might have been able to avoid what happened later if you said something."

"To be fair, I don't think anything could have stopped what happened from happening." Percy says musingly.

Grover slumps in his seat and groans.

(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?')

"You both still go there?" Poseidon asks Percy in wonder.

"Yeah, It's a great place to relax and get away." Percy says smiling back.

('Three nights – same cabin.' 'When?' She smiled. 'As soon as I get changed.' 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.)

"Now we can go anytime we want." Percy grins.

(Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, 'Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?')

Poseidon growled at hearing this despicable man order a woman like Sally around.

(I wanted to punch him.)

"Do it!" Clarisse and Ares yell.

"For once, I agree with them." Annabeth says to Percy.

(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.')

"Wow. You can hold back." Grover said surprised at Percy not backtalking.

"I can be good." Percy grumbles.

All the Roman demigods who were there when Mars appeared shared looks that spoke of how they thought about that statement.

(Gabe's eyes got small. 'The trip? You mean you were serious about that?' 'I knew it,' I muttered. 'He won't let us go.')

"Oh. He'll let you go." Poseidon says as his face grows stormy.

('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.')

Leo started drooling as he pictured the food before Piper slapped him upside his head, snapping him out of his daze.

"Males." Artemis says rolling her eyes.

(Gabe softened a bit. 'So this money for your trip… it comes out of your clothes budget, right?')

"Clothes Budget?!" Aphrodite screeched making everyone cover their ears.

('Yes, honey,' my mother 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.')

"Are you serious." Rachel said to Percy, "I hope you didn't cause he doesn't deserve one."

"I had to or we wouldn't have been able to leave." Percy replied shrugging.

(Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.)

"Do It." Clarisse states. "He would have deserved it."

"Normally, I wouldn't say this but you should have kicked him." Frank leans over and tells Percy.

(But my mom's eyes warned not to make him mad.)

"If only we could bring your mom on our quests." Annabeth says, "You listen to her a hundred percent of the time and me only fifty percent while you listen to zero percent for everyone else."

"She's my mom. Of course, I'm gonna listen to her." Percy says to her.

Hera nods at the boy listening to his mother. Now if only her own children would listen to her.

(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.')

"The sarcasm is strong with this one." Apollo says grins.

(Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement)

"I could see the hamster trying to work." Percy said to his friends who burst out laughing.

(Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement. 'Yeah, whatever,' he decided. 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?')

"She even gave you an out." Grover groans at Percy throwing his arms out.

"I didn't know she knew about any of this." Percy said, "I didn't even know what this was."

(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)

Percy and the other demigods shiver thinking they could all feel it.

(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.)

"You definitely didn't imagine it." Grover said.

"Yes. Thank you, I know that now." Percy grumbles.

(An hour later we were ready to leave. 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.')

"He's twelve." Athena states blankly, "He doesn't know how to drive."

(Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve.)

Athena just shakes her head while the others started laughing.

(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's true." Percy said thinking back to all that happened on the mortal side of the Quest.

(Watching him lumber back towards 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 towards 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.)

"How did you do that?" Dionysus asks sitting up.

"I don't know. I just copied Grover." Percy said to the God, "I didn't even remember that till now."

"Its protection magic. Satyrs use it for warding against monsters and evil." Grover explains to Percy.

Reyna wondered if the fauns back at camp could do magic like that and wondered if so why they don't use it.

The Gods shared a look wondering how strong this demigod was. Dionysus leans back deciding to think on it later and nods for Hermes to start reading again.

(Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out. I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.)

"Wasn't the wind. Though it might have seemed like it." Grover says.

(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.)

"It's so quiet and peaceful." Annabeth says leaning back against Percy.

"Oh, He took you to a total abandoned beach." The Strolls said wiggling their eyebrows.

Athena glared at Percy.

"No! Not like that! Mom was there, we weren't alone with each other." Percy says fast hoping Athena doesn't turn him into an animal.

(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.)

Poseidon smiled as he listened to how Percy connected him to a safe place.

(As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the colour of the sea)

"Are we sure she doesn't have some sort of water nymph or nereid blood somewhere in her family line?" Apollo asks curiously, "It can't be a coincidence."

"I don't know." Poseidon says thoughtfully, "I mean, it is possible. We would have to see if it's marked down somewhere."

(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.)

"Yes. Please explain, We've wondered since he got to camp." Frank says.

(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. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.)

"Ha. Rebellious. You don't have a rebellious streak, you have a disobedience streak." Thalia smirks, "You don't listen to a single thing or do anything unless they have your respect or they force you."

All the demigods even the Romans nod at that little tidbit.

Poseidon starts to worry about the trouble he will get into if it's as bad as she says.

(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.)

"Awww.." all the girls cooed except a few.

"I'm so glad she got the life she deserves now." Rachel says.

(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.)

Poseidon smiles at his son, happy that Percy still wanted to hear about him even though he was angry at him for not being there.

('He was kind, Percy,' she said. 'Tall, handsome and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes.')

Everyone looks between Poseidon and Percy.

"Wow, if Percy was older and had a beard, he could be Uncle's twin." Hermes says shocked cause demigods usually looked like their mortal parents because the Gods do not have DNA.

(Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. 'I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud.')

"I am. I am proud." Poseidon says to Percy, "I may not know what you have done or gone through but to still be here. I am proud."

Percy grins back at his dad.

While the demigods smile softly. They may be jealous of Percy having a relationship with his father but Percy deserved some good in his life.

(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)

"I'll say it again. I mean it. I'm proud of you." Poseidon says firmly to Percy who blushes.

(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.' '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.' I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember… something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.)

"I probably visited when your mother was busy." Poseidon said thoughtfully.

(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.)

Poseidon frowns at this.

"It's okay, Dad. I understand now." Percy says to his father who smiles back.

(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.)

Percy winced at that, "Sorry Dad."

Poseidon frowns but nods understanding where his son is coming from.

('Are you going to send me away again?' I asked her. 'To another boarding school?' 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?')

"Why would you ask that?" Katie asked Percy.

"I don't know. I was twelve. I was angst-ridden." Percy blurts out, "Even still, I regretted what I said as soon as I said it."

(I regretted the words as soon as they were out.)

"See." Percy says waving his arms at the book.

(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.)

"She didn't mean it like that." Annabeth says smacking Percy.

"I know. I know now what she meant." Percy said rubbing his arm.

('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?')

"Would you like the list chronological or alphabetical?" Nico asks.

Poseidon pales.

"What does that mean?" He asks the demigods.

"Percy has fought a lot of things." Nico says, "We keep a record of who and how many times he's fought them."

Poseidon leans back in his seat and wonders what kind of luck his son has.

(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.)

"I wonder which memories were picked." Percy said leaning forward.

(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)

"That might have been one of mine from the forges." Poseidon says, "But it could have been a wild one."

Percy shrugs.

(Before that – a really early memory. I was in pre school, 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)

"I feel like we should make of list of all the things Percy has done that Hercules has." Thalia says to Nico who nods; and pulls out a notebook, making a new list.

(In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.)

The Greek demigod's nod at that having been forced to move because of monsters.

The Gods frowned at them nodding.

The Romans thought of how much more secure they were than the Greeks from the monsters.

(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 maths 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.)

"You should have told her." Grover muttered to Percy.

"Yeah, I should have but I didn't." Percy shrugs, "I just wanted some time with her and I didn't want her to think I was crazy."

('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.')

"She did a good job of keeping you safe but at some point, you would have had to come to camp." Hestia told Percy.

"Yeah she did and I think she knew that but wanted to keep me with her." Percy tells Hestia.

('My father wanted me to go to a special school?' 'Not a school,' she said softly. 'A summer camp.')

"Camp Half-Blood!" the Greek demigods yelled out.

(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 goodbye to you for good.')

"I didn't understand why she would be saying goodbye forever." Percy said shaking his head.

('For good? But if it's only a summer camp…' She turned towards the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.)

"I was so confused. I had never heard of a year-round summer camp before." Percy said chuckling.

(That night I had a vivid dream.)

"Oh Gods, another one." groaned Gwen.

(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.)

"Definitely you two." Demeter said.

"The horse for Poseidon and eagle for Zeus." Apollo muttered loud enough for all the Gods to hear.

(The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagle's wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.)

Zeus and Poseidon both turned to look at their brother who was frowning at the book.

"What do you think of that, Hades?" Zeus questions his brother.

"I don't know. It's the future. Why would I want you two to fight and make my job harder?" Hades snaps at Zeus.

"Hey, guys! How bout we leave accusations toward the end of the book so we don't start any fights." Percy says breaking up the brothers up.

Poseidon nods and sits back down. Zeus stares at Hades with suspicion but sits back down. While Hades looks away from them. Percy rolls his eyes as he turns his back to take a seat and signals Hermes to finish.

(I ran towards 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!)

"You wouldn't have been able to stop them anyway, punk." Ares says.

(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 five-metre-high waves pounding the dunes like artillery. With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, 'Hurricane.')

"Wow, Uncle P must be really mad. If he's caused a hurricane." Apollo whistles impressed.

(I knew that was crazy. Long Island never saw 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.)

"Oh no." Hazel gasps, "What was that?"

"We will find out the next chapter I assume. This one is almost over." Hermes says to Hazel.

(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.)

"What does that mean?" Clarisse asks.

(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?')

"Everything." Annabeth states causing Percy to groan.

(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?')

"No, and why would I?" Percy says irritated, "I thought she think I was nuts."

(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 got here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his trousers on – and where his legs should be… where his legs should be…)

"What? What's wrong with his legs?" Leo pipes in to ask.

(My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before:'Percy. Tell me now!' 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.)

"I was terrified. I had no idea was going on." Percy says shaking his head.

(She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, 'Get to the car. Both of you. Go!' 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. Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves)

"Really. I thought there was something wrong with them." Leo pouts.

"There was. He had hooves. As I obviously still had no idea about any of this." Percy tells Leo.

"Well, that was the end of the chapter. I think the next chapter has a fight, probably if you want to read it, Ares." Hermes said as he hands the book to Ares.

"Why not? At least, I won't have to read the boring parts later." Ares says as he opens the book and reads the chapter title before chuckling. "I like your mom, punk."