How Crazy An Alternative Universe Can Be?

by breakout214

Just when everything was getting better, gods find another way to torment Percy. Now he has to fight off his mortal classmates' questions, hear his most embarrassing moments read out and tolerate his secrets being revealed. And he cannot back out. OOC and pointing out the obvious. Reading the book(s).

2. Chapter 1: Meeting the Main Character

Chapter 1: Meeting the Main Character (No, Percy, You Cannot Leave!)

"What's the name of the book?" Lyssa inquired, watching Percy out of the corner of her eye. His reaction didn't fail her expectations (though, Lyssa didn't even know why she had them in the first place); Percy blinked, rounded his fists and glared down at the table, making it impossible for anyone with eyes to miss the fact that Percy Jackson was more than involved in whatever there was going on. Or, at least, aware of it. Naturally, Lyssa was the only one who noticed.

Paul looked at the cover as if only now realizing it should have a name. There was none; it had taken him too much time but he managed to make out the title, Book: Perseus. Nothing more, but telling nonetheless. Paul had only one Percy in his life. "There's no name. Now we're starting."

He purposely ignored a long dirty look his stepson was giving him. For all the troubles Percy had faced, this one was shaping up to be the worst… And he couldn't even tell if he was correct in his presumptions.

I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER Paul read.

He blinked. His eyes found the title again. No, he had not read it incorrectly. That was an actual title of an actual book about an actual person. Paul let out a small laugh. It took him a moment to realize what he had done and two more to put a mental seal on his mouth; otherwise, he would not be able to keep his composure. That was thoroughly unprofessional to find other people's misfortunes amusing.

Several people followed him, equally mortified by the first revelation of the book.

"How someone could vaporize a teacher? Anyone?" a student, Sarah Wilson, who was sitting not far away from Percy, asked, feeling pretty bemused. In her mind, there was no such a thing as vaporizing.

"How could someone give a chapter name like this?" her neighbor, Steven, responded, feeling as lost as his classmate. Surprise was so strong that he had completely forgotten to confront her and point out that wasn't the most important thing to ask about.

"Why should we care?" the question came from another part of the class where Percy's irritation sat. Riley. His name was Riley and he was the most annoying creature in the world. Even worse than Octavian. At least, Octavian tried to destroy the world; Riley simply believed it would crumble if he glared at it. Granted, his wish still lay unfulfilled but that never deterred Riley from making another useless attempt.

"Well, according to the chapter's name it's from the first point of view, so we'll know who this person is," Lyssa said reasonably, half restraining herself from pointing a finger at Percy to accuse him of vaporizing his teacher. She was certain the book was speaking about Percy; she could swear Percy was well-aware of it, too as he stared at the table, clearly intended to ignore voices around him. If Lyssa weren't her usual curious self, she would feel pity. She didn't though.

Only if she were aware of the damage her careless remark caused, she would not have to wait additional ten minutes to confirm her presumption. Frankly, open confrontation now would have saved them plenty of time, for Percy, in this precise moment, was in distress and, potentially, could let a thing or two slip.

But she didn't…

On the other side of the classroom, Percy almost fainted at the prospect of her being right. That would mean... would mean… It would mean a lot of things actually.

"How'd you know?" Riley asked, smirking. He honestly could not imagine the world in which he would be interested in any book that might be read out in this class.

"It's just a thought, but I'm sure I'm right," she said confidently.

"May I continue?" Paul asked. When nobody answered, he started reading.

Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.

Lyssa pointed to the book, to which Riley huffed.

Percy's eyes darted to his stepfather. He was sure he had misheard Paul. Even if he knew he didn't. Leo stopped whirling the bolts and froze, his eyes never leaving the book. Was it just his imagination or he had really just heard what he had heard? One look at Jason's expression, and it was confirmed. Fantastic. Fingers began moving again, thought of potential danger thrown away; whatever it might lead to, Leo was not going to bother himself until further notice.

"Who the hell is a half-blood?" Steven demanded loudly. He looked around as if trying to make a point of, well, getting attention to his question. No one knew what to say, so his inquiries were left without a response. Almost. There was always Peter Rodriguez, an overzealous boy and the biggest support anyone could have in this class. In short, he would always provide some dumb and unnecessary response when no one else could offer one.

"Harry Potter?" Peter suggested with a wide smirk spreading across his face.

"We're not reading Harry Potter series," his neighbor, Lora, rolled her eyes. Constant interruption was getting on her nerves already, and they'd barely gotten through the first line!

…close this book right now.

"That's kind of dramatic," one of the students pointed out. Their neighbors nodded.

…gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.

Several people frowned; others exchanged a quizzical look with their neighbors. The story progressed to the highest levels of creepy already, despite it being the first page.

Jason furrowed his brows and shot a glance toward Leo, but he looked equally as lost, so both were side-eyeing Percy. Percy, however, had fallen completely out of it and was peering at Paul intensely, mumbling something incoherent under his breath.

Boys exchanged looks then spun back to the front of the class and vowed to pretend there was nothing ominous going on. For as long as they could, of course.

…believe that none of this ever happened.

"This person is pretty optimistic," Lyssa commented. No one offered her any sort of response which she took calmly. She had more pressing issues to take care of than to worry about a bunch of bewildered classmates.

…You might be one of us.

"One of whom?" Cassandra Accardi muttered quietly; she desperately tried not to tug her raven black hair which she tended to do when unnerved. Her whole life distressed her severely; Earth distressed her a lot. Now they had a book to stress over. It was seriously getting on her nerves. Seriously. A book should not keep you in suspense so early on! It just should not.

…they'll come for you.

"Who are 'they'?" Lyssa was clearly intended not to let anyone around her breathe freely without hearing her voice in their ears.

"Well, maybe if you stop interrupting we'll finally be able to know," came the voice from someone behind Lyssa. She did not need to search for the source to know she might be speaking to Kylie. She would always recognize that screech of a sound the other girl would produce when she did not like something. Kylie was not eager to share space with her irksome classmate. Unfortunately, she was not allowed to leave the classroom unscathed. She had to remain seated. And, to be able to do that, Kylie required as much peace and quiet as this place could offer. It meant no crazy know-it-alls within a mile radius of her. Know-it-all's fault.

"No one asked you, Myers," Lyssa muttered under her breath but had more sense than raising her voice. Kylie might be an innocuous nuisance most of the time, but at the moment Lyssa did not have time to engage in pointless quarrels with her. Kylie's harmlessness tended to take quite a chunk on everyone's time when she was heated up.

Her attention got drawn back to the back of the class, as something inexplicable, some pestering feeling of foreboding pushed her to act. Any moment now.

…My name is Percy Jackson.

"What?!"

The chorus of voices rang through the room. It would be highly unbelievable to miss the noise, therefore demigods had to provide an appropriate in this situation amount of attention to the disturbance. Percy started, took a deep breath, and glared at the ceiling as though contemplating whether to go up on Olympus and shove this book up Zeus'… never mind. Jason and Leo stared at Percy in horror (false or not, was hard to tell). Horror they felt as the realization the story about Percy might contain far more than him being his usual self was slowly dawning on them. There was only one place worthy of a book. Or one story. Whatever. In fact they merely confirmed something they had been thinking before the big reveal courtesy of Percy's evident discomfort.

"Cheers!" Leo's attempt at being enthusiastic failed miserably, but nobody noticed his exclamation, as they all were concentrated on Percy, who presented quite a vivid picture of how exactly people in Pompeii must have felt when Vesuvius decided to kill them all. Nothing to laugh about but definitely worth a further investigation.

"Sir, it was the reason behind your decision to read the book, wasn't it?" one of the students had broken through the clamor, Jenna. Unlike the rest of the class that peered at Percy, she only threw a couple of short glances his way. That, however, was enough for her. Her classmate wanted to vanish, but all he could do was sit here and mimic a statue that had faced its worst fear and lost.

"Do you have anything to say?" Percy groaned softly but ignored Lora's voice. A hard task but he managed. Well, partially, considering he did respond to her, even if involuntarily. However, the slip-up did not deter him from a fine task of pretending he was anywhere but in this classroom at the moment. In short, Percy put on a mask of indifference and stared stubbornly at the wall before him (or whatever he found, Percy barely saw when he tried to kill with his look).

Ten long seconds later, Lora heaved a sigh of resignation. If she were to tell the outcome of this confrontation, she would admit the defeat. Whatever Percy endeavored to keep hidden, must be important to him; otherwise, they would not have to suffer through the mess someone might call a conversation. It was anything but.

Lora turned to her other classmates, namely Lyssa, as though asking her to proceed from here, for she, Lora, did everything she could. Lyssa caught on at once. Within seconds, she faced Percy, acquired her best tell-me-everything expression and peered at the three. Instantly, Jason and Leo mirrored her, for it was a much safer thing to do. Percy would not appreciate such cowardice. Later. He would not appreciate it later. For now, he was kind of agreeing with his friends (oh, the horror!).

That was the exact moment for Lyssa to seize the opportunity.

"What does it mean? Half-blood?" the question came out more urgent than intended due to Lyssa's overwhelming curiosity. Though, barely anyone felt fazed by it, equally eager to hear his explanation.

Some more than others. Leo and Jason regarded their friend with the mixture of interest and uneasiness. The second prevailed thanks to the subject of the discussion and general atmosphere, created by a bunch of mortals. Percy mentally zapped both with Zeus' beloved weapon then turned to Lyssa, his eyebrows shot up as he awaited another meaningless confrontation from this terrifying girl.

"Jackson!" came in an exclamation. Percy shrugged in response.

"I cannot help you with your problem," he stated. At perplexity, displayed by Jason and Leo, he only rolled his eyes. Needless to say, it was easy to guess his next step.

"But you can!" Lyssa objected.

"I do not."

"This is the book about you. You wanna tell me you don't know what you talk about in the text?" Percy's next answer made Lyssa want to groan. Or pull out her hair. Preferably, both. Instead, she turned to Paul who suddenly found himself enjoying the darkest corner of his classroom; all while wearing the most sheepish of expressions. Not suspicious at all. "Mr. Blofis, what are your opinions on the subject at hand?"

Ha! She thought! Either due to Percy's slightly shifting look or the man's sudden realization of the disturbance his actions had caused, Paul cleared his throat and stared at the book. Literally held it in front of him, mimicking thoughtfulness. A very loud and quite explicit answer.

Unfortunately, Lyssa's tenacious nature hindered her to see the point of his performance. It was simple: Percy did not want the truth out and he would do everything for it to remain hidden, even if it included threatening his stepfather (which he would get to in a couple of seconds). Especially, if the said stepfather pretended to be both dumb and blind and continuously pushing the story to the forefront (he did hold up the damned book!).

"So we're gonna read about Jackson, aren't we?" Riley butted in when it became obvious no one would provide Lyssa with information.

Several people instantly glared at him. Percy twitched. Riley shrugged.

"It seems so," Jenna agreed. Her eyes immediately went dull as another pretty exciting detail came up. "At least we finally would learn something about him. Isn't it great?"

For years she––and everyone––had been hearing wild rumors regarding the boy. They had barely communicated with him before and, frankly speaking, Percy had never seemed to mind. He still played along but refused to be involved in anything that required full investment from him. Having worked with him a few times, she could confidently state that Percy had been at school physically but not mentally; he must have had lots of things on his mind if he never really made an effort.

That, however, did not help him avoid the rumor mill. Oh, what sort of rumors he would hear about himself! Some appeared so crazy that even Riley, the person most defiant toward him, preferred to generally stay away. After all, some of those rumors included him, Percy, destroying a music room even before he was accepted in the school. The rumor no one managed to either confirm or refute, further sending the school into the state of permanent dissatisfaction.

Percywas about to argue the statement. Both of them, for he would find their lack of knowledge a blessing. Unfortunately for him and luckily for the rest, he didn't manage to dispute the claim as his contemplation strayed away from the problem at hand and in the beatific world of fantasies, most of which revolved around the way he could dispose of the damn book. What could allow him to destroy the book and not be suspended—or sentenced to a jail time if he burned the school? Frankly, not many possibilities came up, leaving Percy disappointed in this world.

I'm twelve years old.

"It's from the past?"

"Obviously. He doesn't look twelve."

Both boys that participated in the exchange glanced at Percy to confirm that he, indeed, did not look twelve (hint, he didn't).

…a private school for troubled kids...

"You were in a troubled kids' school?" Lyssa turned to him, having forgiven him for being so obstinate.

"I changed a lot of schools," Percy murmured. Whoever heard him, which weren't many, made sure to pass the statement along so everyone would be aware.

Am I a troubled kid?

"Are you?" one more student, Mike, hopped onto this bandwagon. His response consisted of that elf-looking guy smirking and the blond next to him huffing. Well, neither affirmation nor rebuttal. Just like this whole experience.

You could say that.

Well, at least, Percy was generous enough to give straight answers. Both Percys as the real one grumbled something under his breath and attempted to smack the elf-guy.

I could start at any point in my short miserable life

Several people raised their eyebrows, while Jenna squinted at the book pensively. He indeed must have had too much on his plate back then; it did appear that he had a lot on his plate still.

…was leading this trip, so I had hopes.

"For what? Good excursion?" one of the students marveled.

"It wasn't a bad one," Percy suddenly said. What exactly prompted him to engage in this pretty pointless conversation, he didn't know. Heck, he couldn't say why he even heard the random comment! He just did and had the need to share his point of view with the world.

Both Jason and Leo glanced at him, unsure what to think but immediately returned to their own affairs. It shouldn't be a surprise Percy might respect a bit of wisdom once in a while; he wasn't dating Annabeth for nothing. Percy simply preferred to play dumb for whatever reason.

…always smelled like coffee.

At that both boys looked up from their respective occupations and simultaneously frowned at the new information.

"Is it..?" Leo pointed to the book then made a circle with his finger. The moment Percy nodded, he grimaced a little and turned back to a pencil he had been mesmerizing for the past minute in his endeavor to decide how to utilize it in his soon-to-be-he-didn't-know-what project.

Needless to say that the most curious part of the class (read, everyone) groaned in indignation when it became evident no one would provide them with any sort of an actual response.

…class didn't put me to sleep.

"You sleep in class?" Lyssa's evident outrage drew attention of the classmate. There was no other way for them to handle the situation, for Lyssa's voice broke through several natural layers of protection and did manage to sneak in the deepest parts of their heads to cause chaos.

Several people started. Others hissed at the girl like a bunch of disturbed snakes, while covering their ears. Lyssa was loud. So loud it seemed illegal.

Percy shrugged.

…I got expelled anyway.

The class erupted into fits of delighted giggles and laughs as Percy slowly slid on his seat, covering his forehead.

That was going to be a long day… Where was Annabeth when he needed her?

The thought made Percy jump. Fortunately, by this moment everyone was already fully into the book so no one caught it.

…our class took an unplanned swim.

They all started laughing again. Even Paul failed to restrain himself from chuckling. Percy, meanwhile, was looking around sternly in search of Annabeth, still wondering where the Hades she was and why the thought she never made it to the class hadn't occurred to him earlier.

…This trip, I was determined to be good.

The laughter faltered instantly as everyone stared at the real Percy with the mixture of disbelief and irritation. Percy, suddenly aware of being watched, turned toward the source of disturbance and offered them an equally struck look. But he was genuinely lost; he had been too fixated on Annabeth's weird absence to care about the rest.

"You just jinxed it, didn't you?" someone marveled, only deepening the frown on Percy's face.

…hitting my best friend Grover

Jason and Leo exchanged a look then turned to Percy. He didn't even acknowledge their presence, prompting Leo to throw a paper ball at his head. It never worked.

…with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.

"Ugh! That's awful!" Kylie gagged, wrinkling her nose as if she could smell the odor.

"Was he all right?" Lyssa asked, wondering who this Grover character was. It was clear this particular boy would be mentioned a lot more or he wouldn't be called a friend.

She never received any answer.

Grover…cried when he got frustrated.

"What a wimp," Riley muttered, instantly receiving two glowers, including Leo who seemed not to follow the story at all (how did they catch his words?).

Not that he noticed, being too bored out of his mind and too busy anticipating all the dirty laundry he was going to procure in the next hour. Absolutely no time to waste.

He must've been held back several grades...

Mike shot a glance toward Lyssa, who was hovering above her desk, clearly in the process of writing down whatever she felt important (her shoulder's position was a dead give-away). Oh boy, was she on a roll already. Mike's attention shifted to the strange group, the one that had brought this madness—not literally or voluntarily, though—to this class. He pitied them for a sole reason of Lyssa being on their case. It meant she would not get off them no matter what.

Maybe he needed to tell them…

…enchilada day in the cafeteria.

Several people stared at Paul in silent wonder. Others frowned.

"Is he that bad?" Paul marveled despite himself. A belated thought that, yes, he was, visited to him the second Percy confirmed it; though, begrudgingly.

"You have no idea," Percy let an involuntary shudder as innumerable amount of images of Grover being unconventionally enthusiastic flashed before his eyes. As much as he loved Grover, there were things he would never understand. Like, enchiladas—even if he liked them. It was necessary to find something to do besides lying on the desk.

He found. For better or worse but he reminded himself of the most important task he would ever have in his life: the book. He must get rid of it! It was not fair they were reading about him from his point of view. Didn't Paul love him just a little? Percy thought they were getting along pretty amazingly, so how come they appeared on the opposite sides of the barricade? How?!

Giving quite a spectacular performance, instigated by his own mind, Percy dropped on the desk with a loud thud, so Paul had to raise his voice to win the attention back.

Anyway…I was already on probation.

All eyes immediately found their main target. Percy, however, showed no signs of life, leaving the rest guessing which of his escapades had gotten him on probation.

…'It's okay. I like peanut butter.'

"This boy is weird," someone uttered.

Due to an extremely tensed atmosphere, everyone immediately turned toward the source of disruption. Cassandra only raised her eyebrows as though asking them to fight her on that one.

"You're right," Lora said. Her first urge was to ask Percy about that but he still seemed to mimick the dead, making it virtually impossible for the others to involve him in their debates. His friends appeared unavailable as he; though, they did show some sort of activity.

Lora stared more when she caught a glimpse of something shiny. Could it be..? The whirl back was as fast as it possibly could, for Lora so did not want to know why they seemed to carry a razor blade with them and how they even managed to sneak it on the school grounds.

…Grover pulled me back to my seat…

A loud bang represented the sound that followed Percy's returned to the flat surface. Everyone, including Percy himself, jumped up and began looking around in attempt to detect the violator. With how quick Jason's escape from their desk was, the culprit was found.

Silence lasted roughly ten seconds as everyone took in the scene before their eyes: Leo, all dusted from, presumably, cinder, sat with his head in hand as he regarded the pile in front of him.

He hypnotized the remains of whatever it was for good ten seconds; his eyes glued to it. The rest, namely, Percy and Jason, seemed divided between curiosity and a strong desire to gut him. Neither, though, acted on the urge, preferring to regard Leo with disdain (he honestly deserved that one).

"Guess it was the wrong sampler," he finally stated. "Hey, everyone, does any of you have a spare pencil? I'll give it back, promise!"

Needless to say, hardly anyone reacted to his plea forcing Leo to grumble under his breath. With a heavy sigh he scratched the back of his head then turned to Percy as a brilliant idea came to him.

"No!" a huge smile disappeared from his face as Leo took in his friend's response.

"Oh, c'mon! I won't damage it!"

"You said the same thing about the last five pencils," Jason noted. Another paper ball promptly missed its target (Peter would argue the point, however).

"What is going on?" Cassandra finally butted in. The two stared at her questioningly and alarmed; they sure had forgotten they had an audience. Within seconds, Jason returned to his place, Leo pushed the pile of ashes on his lap and Percy glued himself to his desk. "Thanks…"

Paul, who watched the scene with concern but no desire to interfere, cleared his throat and put the book up, reminding his students why they were here in the first place.

…the mess I was about to get myself into.

"What happened?" a very loud voice outside his little bubble came through fiercely, snapping Percy out of his daze and drawing his attention to the issue at hand. The moment it came to the forefront, Percy mentally groaned. Damn this stupid book, may it burn in the eternal fires of hell.

Percy examined the classroom. His eyes found a presumed intruder, his mind running through the statement. "Um, what?"

"What mess did you get yourself into?" the same person repeated.

Percy's heart instantly dropped.

"I guess you'll know in a bit. We cannot just drop it," Percy's wave of exasperation shot through the room but missed its main aim, for Paul was too curious to take notice of his stepson's evident discomfort.

Several students groaned feeling genuinely hooked on the story. Percy's disinclination to participate in their one-sided debates only fueled to their interest, for Percy seemed like the last person to garner importance enough for a book. Of course, they were more than eager to see the reasoning behind his weirdness.

…a stele, for a girl about our age.

"Again, how old were you?" Mike wondered.

"Twelve," came in Percy's response. Several people stared at him, surprised he even answered; though, the boy himself hardly took notice of that. He was too busy mesmerizing the ceiling, his head so high up, it threatened to snap the neck in half. He was basically sprawling on his seat, seemingly, unconscious. The only other thing that proved he was still alive and breathing would be his response. And a little finger fidgeting.

Otherwise, no sign that he listened.

Apparently, the thought came not only to his mortal classmates but Jason and Leo as well, for both tore away from their respective tasks for a second to fully dedicate it to staring at Percy as though he was Mars in a tutu.

…Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.

"She doesn't like you," Lyssa noted. A burning question why? didn't hesitate to pop up in her head. Then again, it might be not that serious of an issue; Percy did seem like the type of a person to cause trouble and be any teacher's worst nightmare whether it was on purpose or not. Perhaps, he had just done something in the past.

A nagging feeling that it was not that simple was shoved away in the depths of her mind.

"Hates," Percy corrected but didn't elaborate. If his gut feeling was right, they would find out the reason of their mutual distaste.

Mrs. Dodds…was fifty years old.

"It's not a normal math teacher," Lora said frowning.

"Everyone's allowed to have their own quirks," Peter noted. Maybe she was a very free-spirited woman. Who knew?

…ride a Harley right into your locker.

"Quirks, you say?"

Peter shrugged. He still did not see anything out of ordinary in the way she conducted herself.

…when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.

"What did you do?"

Lyssa's level of astonishment certainly infected the rest of the class, for her question was met with varying degrees of agreement. Mostly, people felt her question. Some especially astounded supported their alliance with Lyssa by nodding slowly.

Such a coalition should have intimidated Percy. It should have made him talk. He was one against them all!

Percy didn't as much as glance at Lyssa, offending her profoundly and sending a wave of discouragement and outright despondency through the class.

Only Paul let out a soft chuckle and proceeded with the reading, instantly luring his students into the Percy Jackson's world and making them forget real Percy's crime against their curiosity.

…figured I was devil spawn.

"She's a very… nice lady," Cassandra noted with a strain.

"Oh yeah, I can absolutely see just how much she adores children!"

…'You're absolutely right.'

"It's not like she's a monster," Riley snorted.

Instantly, Jason and Leo perked up upon hearing the magic word. To gain response from Percy, Leo utilized another set of paper balls, the amount of which was growing rapidly, courtesy of a very bored Jason. Surprisingly to all present, Percy reacted at once by jumping on the spot and straightening up in a second, his eyes wildly traveling around the room in search of the thing that disrupted his peace.

Unfortunately to him, Leo already returned to his affairs and the rest pretended they saw nothing.

…'Will you shut up?'

"Why do I have feeling it will only cause trouble?" Cassandra asked, turning to Percy. He jerked again and stared at her. His expression clearly suggested that he struggled to understand why she addressed him. "With Mr. Brunner."

Percy's frown deepened as he wondered why his classmates suddenly found interest in asking about Chiron. Then it hit him that she asked about Mr. Bunner a.k.a. the person Chiron had disguised himself as when Percy had still been young and blissfully ignorant of all the horrors of life. Right, the book!

"Er, with C-Brunner? Nope," if there presented a slightest trouble regarding Chiron, he was unaware of it.

"How can you be sure of it?" Cassandra inquired again, seeing that Percy was actually talking to her. Of course, she would seize the opportunity. Percy didn't let her down with this once.

"It's Brunner, he's cool."

Unlike his response which made little sense. Cassandra, though, chose to overlook such a inconsequential issue in favor of preserving her sanity. For some reason, she considered talking about Percy's old teacher pretty damaging.

It came out louder than I meant it to.

"Right, it couldn't have happened any other way," Peter muttered. His levels of stress had just beaten the record from last year when he had had to face both exams and a State Competition, all the same week. Somehow reading about his classmate's life seemed on par with not sleeping, not eating, and constantly running through all the worst scenarios of both events that your future depended on. Somehow…

…'did you have a comment?'

"God job, man!" Mike cheered sarcastically. Of course, he must have gotten in trouble.

Percy's head shot up. Thoroughly confused, he started to look around in attempt to find the source of noise; his eyes rested on Mike who grinned at him. His smile didn't fool Percy, though. The boy held back a bit of dispirit. But why?

"Why are you so friendly to me?" he blurted out. A moment later, his hand covered his mouth as Percy cursed himself for inability to keep it shut. Considering he had gotten by before this very moment quite well, it was a tremendous disappointment.

"What?" Mike's evident confusion did not lead Percy astray. He was still as persistent as he seemed curious to know why someone who had not as much as given a side-glance in the whole of their two-year school history would talk to him. "What d'you mean?"

Now everyone was watching their exchange almost wondering the same thing. Most of the class could see what might have forced Mike to acknowledge the guy. Mike maybe wasn't on Riley's level of meanness but he wasn't all sweet and kind either. Usually he preferred to ignore those whom he considered not worthy of his attention which was almost everyone outside of his own circle of friends. Apparently, Percy's past-book-self must have been that turning point which altered Mike's opinion on the boy.

"Since when do you talk to me?" Percy asked back. "You usually ignore me––which I'm completely fine with, by the way––but when you talk to me, you don't sound so… friendly."

Mike's eyes widened slightly when the truth dawned on him. His mind, as a sort of joke, brought all the instances of him being nothing short of kind to Percy during this lesson alone. To make thing worse, it also started a comparison between this class all the last three years they might have known each other… Well, he had a point.

"Did I?" words came out involuntarily; however, when he heard his own voice all he could do was agree with it. "Well, sorry?"

Percy chuckled. "Do it more often."

…I said, 'No, sir.'

Some people laughed, which in the complete silence of the room seemed almost sinister.

…'That's Kronos eating his kids, right?'

"What?" someone cried out. Instantly, majority of the class stared at the disturber as though the person was insane.

"Are you all being serious right now?" Lyssa gasped, her eye twitched promptly the moment she received a response. Countless of comments ran through her head, none of them appropriate for an English class. "How come you've never heard of it? I thought everyone had this lesson in middle school, or did you? Am I the only person who covered Greek mythology in school?" her outrage turned to fear as Lyssa whirled back on the seat, her head low as she muttered to herself that it was fine; they were fine. "How can someone be so careless with their studies? Don't you have any tinge of desire to self-improve or what? This is ridiculous and…"

"Can it, McKeenley," Kylie cut her. Lyssa's quite an overdramatic performance was getting on her nerves. If Lyssa went into hysterics, they might as well go and blow up the school; at least, this way they would save countless of people outside. "What's this?"

No one uttered a word. They were simply too busy watching Lyssa freeze upon hearing Kylie. In slow motion as though she auditioned for a role in another sci-fi movie, the girl turned on her seat; her swirl continued up until her eyes found the source of her current irritation. Kylie raised her eyebrows, awaiting explanations. Lyssa threw a look around the class; apart from the Three, the rest seemed genuinely curious, which deepened this feeling of disdain that she had.

"Well," she breathed out, not sounding much calmer. "Once Kronos has seized the power from his father Uranus, whom he had cut––"

"McKeenley," Kylie groaned, "be not as annoying!"

Lyssa huffed but swallowed the insult. Between her pride, of which she was certain, and an opportunity to enlighten the poor creatures she called her classmates, Lyssa would always choose the latter.

"After Kronos seized the power, he received the prophecy which stated he would be overthrown by his own son. In fear of it coming true, he swallowed each of his children the moments after they were born. His wife, Rhea managed to save the youngest, Zeus, by hiding him away on the island of Crete, and fed Kronos a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. Later––"

"All right, that's enough!" Kylie exclaimed. Her expression turned slightly green as she envisioned––quite vividly––a flash-eating man throwing a whole human right into his throat.

Lyssa, despite feeling offended at such disrespect, turned back to Paul. She would have continued if it weren't for the man who resumed the reading before she got a chance to do anything.

…Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters––'

"Gross!" a collective echo ran though the class.

"You didn't tell this part!" Kylie accused Lyssa who rolled her eyes.

…'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.''

Some students laughed. Lyssa, on the other hand, frowned. Why was it even mentioned? She knew it might be something Percy had overheard, but along with several other things she had gathered from just this first chapter… No, she was simply over-thinking things.

…completely undigested in the Titan's stomach.

"Why is it so disgusting?" Kylie shuddered.

"It was really disgusting," Lyssa admitted. "Fortunately, it's only myths and we could think that Ancient Greeks were all insane."

Sometimes she would wonder what those ancient people had been thinking when they brought such stories to life. Could they go without turning someone into a cannibal? She was certain they could; they just did not want to.

"What good father could eat his children?" Lora marveled in puzzlement. Her hazel eyes seemed to defocus a little as the girl attempted to picture a truly appalling scene in her head.

"Who said Kronos was a good father?" Percy muttered. Perhaps, he should have put less repulsion and distaste in his voice or been quieter, for all the eyes in the room suddenly found him. "What?"

"How do you know he was a bad father?" Lora retorted instantly. A moment later, she mentally frowned at her own remark, wondering why she felt the need to engage herself in this pointless conversation. It was a myth for crying out loud!

Percy shrugged, having no idea how to explain it without making further damage to his life. He couldn't just say 'I know it because he ate my father as well' because she would never be able to understand that. On the second thought, however, Percy realized that they would be getting into the details of this mess if they continued in the same way. Wonderful.

…the darkest part of the Underworld.

"Oh, they weren't good children either!" Steven exclaimed.

"He ate them! I don't think you would be grateful if your father ate you!" Lyssa snapped.

"Take it easy, it's a myth! You said it yourself," Kylie cut in, not all that opposed to the idea of engaging herself in a pointless fight about a piece of fiction.

Being too engrossed in the dispute of theirs, no one noticed the shudder that went through the three demigods at the mention of the bottomless pit of evil (which only compounded the situation).

Paul continued reading to prevent a fight from breaking out.

On that happy note,

"Happy?"

…You must learn the answer to my question,'

"About a creepy myth? Why?" Peter asked. His own river of curiosity threatened to overflow as it got continuously fed by Percy and the book without a chance to empty.

But thanks the gods for his classmates! They always knew how to humble him.

"That's his subject, duh!"

'About the Titans?'

'About real life.

Several people frowned, wondering what exactly had it to do with real life. Lyssa was the worst. She knew there was a reason for constant mention of different creepy bits of history she would not give much thought to in other circumstances. She felt it might be important. Granted, the idea was still in the process of forming but it was an idea indeed. A pretty convincing one if they proceeded in the same manner.

And how your studies apply to it.'

"It wasn't about real life," Peter said, still thoroughly confused.

"The last question!" Lyssa reminded him. Now he looked even more befuddled than before which was quite a feat, for the whole chapter puzzled him a lot with its little remarks. Lyssa signed and shook her head. "Doesn't matter."

…I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.'

"He's not pressuring you at all," Peter snorted.

Some people nodded in assent. Lyssa's frown deepened at hearing this.

…this guy pushed me so hard.

"You can't get angry with a teacher," Lyssa gasped, all concerns forgotten. "It's a teacher!"

It took Lyssa a couple of moments to realize that her comment received no response, which prompted her to examine the situation. She threw a glance at Percy. He was swinging on his chair, giving feeble pushes with his legs. He appeared to be in some sort of daze as he continued moving. In fact, his movements were the signal to worry; they felt robotic, as though he did it automatically without realizing he did it. The only thing that pointed to him listening were his tensed shoulders. Percy despised every second of this class; he simply preferred not to show his distaste.

…global warming or something,

"No global warming could do that," Kylie commented. Her classmates, as one, turned to her, absolutely mystified as to why Kylie would say something of that sort. Of course, Kylie took notice of their looks; it was virtually impossible not to. "What? I read too, you know."

To emphasize her point, she glared at them. Slowly everyone around Kylie returned their attention to Paul, still mulling over the fact Kylie, of all people, read.

…since Christmas.

"Weird?" Steven repeated. "It was uncanny and freaky, not just weird!"

Steven's voice grew louder by the end of his exclamation, forcing the closest to him ones lean away and grip their ears. Otherwise, they would have suffered something more appalling and less curable than temporary deafness. More fortunate ones (read, the rest of the class), glued their eyes to Steven, silently marveling what had happened to him again and why they had to be the ones listening to it. In all, resignation remained a prevailing emotion.

Demigods, too, did not go against the majority and peered at Steven. Their states, however, varied from plenty annoyed (Leo, whose project was as well as destroyed cause he had been distracted) to perplexed (Jason really didn't get the problem) and alerted (Percy had dozed off when Steven decided to yell). All three, being backed-up by their classmates, regarded him for several more seconds until Steven drew attention away by inquiring––loudly––why Percy was rubbing his shoulder.

Oh the heavens, thank you for Paul!

…a hurricane blowing in.

"Somebody's really pissed off."

Class was so quiet that there would be no way to miss the comment. Everyone turned toward Jason, simultaneously creating a blow of wind that might rival the one described in the book.

"What do you mean?"

The voice seemed closer than Jason would like to admit. Closer and more intimidating than he would ever like them to be. With a start, he glanced at the disturber. "What?"

"You said someone's pissed off. What did you mean by that?"

It took Jason all of five seconds to understand her. All five seconds which they spent in silence as no one wanted to let the boy off the hook now when he clearly slipped up and might even be a better help than Percy (who, again, was lying on the desk wishing for the day to be over). Jason, meanwhile, rewound the last two minutes until he was certain he'd found the point of interest.

"Nothing!" he exclaimed instantly (receiving a nudge from quite dissatisfied Leo; he would have to restart again). "Absolutely nothing."

"Somebody's a Drama Queen," Leo grumbled helpfully, his eyes on the razor blade carefully stacked in his hand while his mind somewhere far from the damned class. His aid only further disoriented those who had heard him, which was saying a lot as they presented in that state of mind where you couldn't get any deeper anymore. "Please, don't follow in his footsteps," the complaint worked and Jason cracked a smile.

He was never going to turn into his father––hopefully––but it didn't mean he felt generous enough to confirm it.

"At least now I understand what's going on," Percy muttered under his breath. Unfortunately, the lament he had just thrown into the world, did gain attention of those most inquisitive (about two-thirds of the class).

"What do you mean you understand now?" he asked.

Percy pretended he was not in the room at the moment and it was actually his evil spirit doing all the talking. Mike regarded Percy for a few seconds then returned his gaze back on Paul as if having come to some kind of conclusion in his head. He did, in fact; it wasn't just a kind of solution Percy would be happy about. After all, if you keep silent about something, there is a 100% chance you are somehow connected to the issue you try your best to keep out of your mouth.

"Wait, there was awful weather?" Leo suddenly looked up as this little fact dawned on him.

"Where have you been? On Mars?" someone wondered with annoyance (their name starts with 'Ri' and ends with 'ley').

"I was… pretty busy," Leo muttered without even trying to see whom he addressed.

…make it elsewhere.

"I'm not sure it would work," Mike stated. Truth to be told, he was certain it would anything but work. Percy did seem the type of person whose plans blew up in his face.

To his eternal surprise, Percy instantly perked up, feeling the greatest need to respond. So he did. He couldn't even count how many times he had attempted to pretend he wasn't one of those children, that he wasn't as bad as everyone considered him to be, that he could hope for other, brighter life… could his life be considered lighter now?

…sixth school in six years

"Wow. You really did change a few schools."

"How did you do it? Teach me!" Steven bellowed, causing several people to wince at his loud voice. When he noticed everybody's looks, he did the best thing he could, "What?" he asked.

Nobody answered him and Percy made a mental note not to teach him anything or give him any ideas. Just in case this over-hyper version of every single Hermes child decided to put his advice to use.

…Nancy Bobofit…dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.

"That's rude!" Cassandra said.

…'Count to ten, get control of your temper.'

"Never works," someone muttered.

The recount of Percy envisioning the tumult that, indeed, rampaged inside him made Lyssa wondrous of many things, including his unusual obsession with water. Even this very part of Percy hearing the wave roaring in his ears or realizing this Nancy girl was soaked wet now, sitting in the fountain. Too much water if you ask her.

…'Percy pushed me!'

"Um… what?" Sarah frowned. She threw a glance at Lyssa as she was always the one with all the answers but her expression clearly reflected the one Sarah herself wore. "Mr. Blofis, could you, please, repeat the last part?"

"Does it really matter?" Kylie snarled, annoyed. Peter gave her an evil eye, making her huff. Those people had trouble differentiating between important pieces of information and redundant ones.

"Yes, it does! It said that Percy pushed her, but he didn't even move! If you don't want to know what's going it doesn't mean nobody wants!" Lyssa snapped out of her little stupor and decided to get herself engaged in the fight with Lewis right off the bat.

Perhaps, next time she needed to think first.

"You can't talk to me like that!" Kylie replied, leaping to her feet in attempt to approach Lyssa and give her piece of her mind. Echoing pain in her thigh only steeled Kylie's determination to teach this stupid McKeenley a thing or two.

Fortunately, she barely managed to pass her own desk as Peter intercepted her right in front of his own––three desks from Lyssa's––and now was in the process of holding her down, preferably back on her seat. Instantly, Mike leaped to his feet to aid. Paul did not hesitate to call the class to order; alas, to no avail as a quite agitated pair slowly proceeded with their quarrel. The rest of the class, except the demigods in the corner, watched the soon-to-be battlefield. Some felt excitement surging up, for it was hands down the most entertaining lesson in years. It was a wonder they still had not run out of time…

What put an end to the chaos was a loud thud. Everyone turned to Paul. A very––extremely––infuriated Paul. Seeing him standing there nonchalantly, everyone, firstly, froze on the spot, then, as if a bunch of cockroaches caught by light, dispersed along the class, everyone hurrying to take their seats.

The only unfazed people stayed the three demigods; people, who had gotten used to constant noise and mayhem.

Paul crouched down to pick up the book he had dropped. With the same expression, he found the right page and, in complete silence, continued with the reading.

The next part was being read in defeating, absolutely uncomfortable silence as everyone was afraid as much as to twitch, let alone interrupt again. Not that there was anything worth of a comment. Except Grover's unusual jumpiness and desire to take the blame for the accident so Percy might be spared. As the excerpt was being put into the world, more and more people began sending glances to Percy who still appeared petrified. His friends, on the other hand, were actively involved in some serious creative process. The process no one dared to disrupt, for the razor blade was still an integral part of whatever they constructed. It was easier to get mad over the word 'honey'.

It was too peaceful and quite for far too long. It must be. This class seemed too energetic to relinquish so fast. It was bound to get broken at some point.

I have moments like that a lot, wh ––

"What are you doing?" Mike's voice rang through the room, scaring everyone who was the closest to him and causing Paul to choke on his own words. The man glared at the boy. To his relief, Mike took no notice of the disruption he had cause, too focused on the trio to care. He so wanted to know what the deal was and what part the razor blade had in it all.

Instantly, all three twitched. Percy froze, his hand reached his pocket right in the moment when Leo let out a high-pitched yelp and dropped everything he was holding. Scattering, squeaking, and a couple of angry curses did the trick and withdrew Percy from his trance. He blinked. A couple of moments of looking around and he finally realized where he was.

Unlike Leo who was full-on ready to kick the ass of those who destroyed his project again. He was seriously out of razors blades now.

"Never do that again!" Leo he bawled, simultaneously trying to pick up the parts from the floor. He could kiss the project goodbye now, that's for sure. Everything––every single detail––was in shatters and unfitting to the adjustment. Screw this boy and screw this school! "You could scare someone to death!"

Leo straightened up and poured all the things on the desk. Jason did not hesitate to scatter away, just in case. Mike looked unimpressed.

"You mean I could scare you to death," he corrected, almost smirking at the effect his words produced on this elf-looking scrawny kid.

Leo's eyes narrowed as he examined the other boy.

"It doesn't matter. Never—do—this—ever—again!" he snapped and took a deep breath in attempt to calm his throbbing heart. How come he had gotten caught by surprise by a mortal kid in a school? Was there something in the air? Or was it water? He did drink the water in this school! Could it be contaminated by something? Could it?

Leo's pretty spectacular return to his seat was interrupted by equally struck, but not anymore mad, Paul. At least, he had time to find the part that they stopped reading at. And the class seemed more eager to finish with it than participate in pointless fights.

…between me and Mr. Brunner,

"And what Brunner could do? Show her kung fu?" Peter broke silence with quite a valid question. That was the only reason no one barked at him yet. That and their finally getting over the previous five minutes.

"He's a teacher!" Lyssa reminded him.

"So it means he must help?"

"Duh!"

…in his novel.

"Really helpful," Peter muttered sarcastically but did not raise his voice to escape Lyssa's wrath.

…at the end of the entrance hall.

Speaking of Lyssa…

"How does she do it?" Lyssa's eyes widened while her mind raced in search of any plausible explanation of such behavior. She, indeed, had figured out this teacher was not a person one would believe to be a teacher but her behavior exceeded even this… So what was going on?

"I think you'll understand by the end of this chapter," Paul assured her and continued. He was looking forward to knowing what had taken place that day.

…ike growling.

"What?!" Jenna exclaimed, her eyes wide open. Maybe Percy had just misheard… whatever it was. Yeah, that's what had happened, she decided.

…honey,' she said.

"Stop saying 'honey'!" Sarah ordered.

"You're talking to a book. It can't take orders from you," Lora reminded her, marveling what was wrong with her and since when Sarah was this overdramatic.

"I just can't hear this! This word is driving me insane!"

…get away with it?'

"With what? What is she talking about?" Steven furrowed his brows, completely lost. He had figured people tended to blame Percy for everything––God, rumor has it he had been in the epicenter of a big explosion of this very school a couple of years ago!––but he clearly underestimated the extent of it.

"You'll see."

…It was evil.

"She's evil," Peter said confidently.

"She's a monster," Percy grumbled. His friends instantly threw questioning looks toward his way to which he responded with a small nod.

"You know, your not liking her does not give you permission to call her a monster," Lyssa reprimanded Percy, who backed away, having not expected her to leash out on him for stating a fact. A nervous chuckle escaped him and she glared at him. "Jackson, it's not funny! She's a teacher, not a monster!"

"If you say so."

Paul raised his voice to prevent a clearly exasperated Lyssa from blowing up.

… Thunder shook the building.

"What's wrong with the weather?"

"I'm more concerned about a weird accusation this woman throws at a child."

…less pain.'

"What a generous offer," Lora scoffed, but trembling of her voice gave her tension away.

I didn't know what she was talking about.

"Neither do we and you're not helping at all!" Lyssa accused Percy who choked on his own laughter and started coughing. That was such a lucky circumstance that he did not hold any of Leo's valuable details or there would be a literal bloodbath.

…my dorm room.

"You did what?"

The class groaned. Literally every single person, excluding Paul and demigods, let out an injured animal's last plea to murder them fast type of sound. Lyssa huffed at the amount of disrespect they were showing her, which was a lot if you considered a teeny-tiny fact that Lyssa believed she did the right thing in calling him out. Naturally, she was the only one.

…my grade.

"That's the right decision," Lyssa grumbled under her breath, still thoroughly unhappy with the way Percy had been living.

…read the book.

Lyssa didn't know she had the capacity to feel even more disgruntled than she did. Turned out, there was plenty of room inside her mind to cherish and nurture the despondency she felt.

"Your time is up," she hissed.

"She didn't even listen to you!"

Then the weirdest thing happened.

"She turned out to be a monster?" Peter suggested.

…She wasn't human.

"I didn't mean literally!" Peter exclaimed, looking stunned just as the whole class stared at him, equally struck.

…yellow fangs,

Everyone peered intensely at the book, struggling to comprehend its content. All but one.

"It sounds like a fury," Lyssa said thoughtfully.

At once, three demigods started looking around as if waiting for Alecto or her sisters to appear. Fortunately, she was really busy at the moment, probably torturing some innocent soul, so it didn't happen. Which, however, didn't ease anyone up and spoiled the creative process. They could as well listen to Percy getting himself killed.

With a loud sigh, Leo dropped piece of steel, which left a scattering sound in the room and effectively snapped the mortals out of their stupor. Paul cleared his throat, spent a moment on the search of the right passage then continued.

…to ribbons.

As one, the whole class sucked in a deep breath. Lyssa's frown deepened.

Then things got even stranger.

"Brunner turned out to be a superhero with a magical weapon?" Peter marveled, his eyes never leaving the book. He couldn't be right twice, could he? One seemed more than enough.

Mr. Brunner,

Peter paled. Several people threw him concerned looks. A couple shared suspicious ones, for Peter's comments appeared... off. Jason and Leo glanced at Percy who shrugged and bent forward to ask Leo to lend him something.

…holding a pen in his hand.

"A pen?" someone muttered, absolutely lost. A pen? What could a pen possibly do to aid him with this... this... thing?

…through the air.

"Reeeally helpful."

…out of the air,

"And he eagerly accepts it!" the same voice said.

…It was a sword

For a moment there was complete silence in the room. And then...

"What?"

"How?"

"Is it real?"

A round of voices rang across the room as their owners turned toward the corner where the narrator of this pretty fascinating story was sitting. Percy, despite wearing a very pained expression, kept calm, preferring to whirl a piece of wire he had gotten from Leo with his fingers. He did not once flinched when several people called him. He remained nonchalant when same ones asked about the sword. However, he could not ignore Mike a.k.a. the second most irritating human being in this class after Lyssa (the two could compete and you would still have a problem deciding who was the worst).

"Are you serious?!" instantly the noise quieted down as everyone peered at Mike. He was watching Percy with a mixture of excitement and longing as though his life depended on Percy's response. "About the sword?"

"Err, Paul?"

Although Poercy could not ignore him, there was nothing about him giving straight answers.

…"Die, honey!"

Someone groaned.

…straight at me.

"Run!" Steven yelled. In his state he didn't even notice his own actions, so a perturbed yelp came as a surprise. Steven was leaning too close to his neighbor.

"Steve!"

"I'm nervous!"

Paul was left no choice but to raise his voice.

…came naturally:

"Run?" someone suggested.

I swung the sword.

Again, everyone was perplexed at the revelation.

"How could it be natural?" Lora marveled.

She received no response courtesy of Percy's glare.

...a power fan.

For a moment there remained nothing but silence, and they everybody started talking at the same time, eager to express their concerns.

"She was turned to sand?"

"Who was what?"

"How did you do this?"

It was all that Percy understood. Everything else was more of a hum.

"Percy, you did it without knowing what it was?" Jason asked. Percy nodded, making his friend raise his eyebrow in astonishment. Jason was impressed. It took him quite some time to accustom himself to a sword, and he had been raised by both Lupa and Fifth Cohort!

"Children! Quiet!" Paul ordered and continued reading to prevent any further disturbance. Of course, the very first words of the book did the trick and shut them all up.

…magic mushrooms or something.

"Dude, that's creepy," Leo noted. Jason nodded.

Apparently, Leo's comment did not sit well with his classmates.

"He defeated a… whatever it was and you say that his last thought is creepy?" Lora asked, absolutely appalled at the lack of compassion this boy showed.

"Yeah," Leo shrugged. Fury? Pfftt, it was simple and old; magic mushrooms however, in Percy's hands could turn both in a very dangerous weapon and a source of great laugh, both of which scared him to death.

…your butt."

"Who?" someone asked.

I said, "Who?"

In an instance, tension dissolved in a whirl of the said sand blown up by the fan.

…I asked Nancy what she was talking about.

"They thought you were a psycho, didn't they?"

Percy wisely chose not to respond to the dismay of those who wanted to know his thoughts on the subject at hand.

…messing with me.

Grover should learn how to lie, Percy thought and made a mental note to teach him. To the limit of his abilities, of course, as satyrs were terrible liars in general. Oh… maybe that's why he failed such a simple task.

Thunder boomed overhead.

"What's wrong with the thunder?"

"Someone's a bit pushy," Percy said cryptically.

Naturally, now more than one person wanted to know what, in the name of all gods possible, he meant.

…where's Mrs. Dodds?"

"You didn't!"

"Deal with it, he did."

…"are you feeling all right?"

"That's it," Paul announced. His eyes found the clock; with astonishment, Paul realized they had somehow managed to fit in one lesson. "We have about two minutes left. If you have any questions, you can ask them right now. No, Percy, not you." With a grumble Percy lowered his hand. He saw why Paul hesitated to confront him, Paul felt embarrassed for involving children in something potentially dangerous for other children. It would take him at least a couple more hours to come to terms with his actions and talk with Percy. "Class dismissed."

To support the claim, the bell rang. Quite dazed, students began getting to their feet to pack bags and head to the next class. Everyone but Lyssa who remained seated, her hand raised.

"Yes, Ms. McKeenley."

"What about our homework?" the class groaned.

Paul allowed a miniscule smile on his lips, "I could assign you to write an essay or perform an interview, but I don't think Paul will thank me."

Some people laughed and Percy grumbled that he was already less than impressed and would reconsider criteria of being a great stepfather. Gods know, Paul had just coerced him to be this mean.

"Oh…"