A/N: I decided to change the font and correct the errors later AFTER I've uploaded the chapters.


III. They never change

Finishing the first chapter had certainly proven itself as a challenge with all those comments thrown in, but what did one expect in a group that was not known about much patience with things while the other ones were all ADHD. Not that Hestia minded so much, even if there were still some negative feeling going on could he still see that her family was trying to bond together and this made her happy, she missed her brother and the way he had been before things changed.

"Well then, I will start the next chapter." Theseus said enthusiastically, he was curious about his little brother to be honest, but also worried for him and when he saw the title a strange feeling settled in his stomach, but he was not sure why.

THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH

"Uh…am I he only one who has a strange feeling by this title?" Apollo asked nervously while the others nodded that they also had an uneasy feeling.

"WHAT!" yelled the seven from the farthest future as they whipped they heads to they two cousins, they eyes wide with shock.

"Dad certainly didn't tell us about this one, so why didn't you guy." Luke demanded, he knew who those ladies were and he didn't want them near his father, it was already unnerving that they had fun messing around with his life.

"I'm sure mum has also no clue about this…well her older self." Sally said while glancing at the younger version of her mother.

"It was not our place to tell." Henry said as he turned to Theseus. "Please start reading, we are only by the title." the hero nodded, but he was now even more confused and nervous.

I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twentyfour/ seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.

Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.

"No uncle Percy, this is normal occurrence when it comes to you." Ace said grinning with his friends laughing.

"That is reassuring…" Malcolm said while looking at his sister, he will need to hear more if he wants to decide if he and they other siblings should let this guy near Annabeth.

It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.

" Who wants to bet that it was Grover's fault?" Apollo and Hermes asked at the same time.

"Dad, uncle Apollo even we would not be dumb enough to make a bet about that if it is obvious." Travis said calmly which surprised Katie a bit because he sounded dare she say it… mature?

"Fine." Hermes said as he and Apollo leaned back pouting.

"My dad is acting like a kid." Will whispered to Malcolm who patted him on the back while the Romans looked at the two gods in wonder, since the little while they were here had they view of the gods completely been proven wrong, the scripts never told about the gods joking around or act like little children. It was strange for them and it didn't help that only they seemed to be shocked by they behaviour which suggested that the Greeks had already known that they were actually like this.

Almost.

But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.

No one was surprised, but Travis, Connor and Chris were still trying to make secretly an appointment for they friend to learn the noble art of lying without Mr. D finding out about it.

Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum. I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.

The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.

"Wonderful news, more paperwork, traffic jams, complaints and overnighters for everyone." Hades groaned, he felt a headache nearing by the mare thought of telling his already overworked staff that they will have more work to get going. He was truly fortunate that there were no work strikes in the Underworld because his men saw that he was suffering with them and sometimes even more.

"Brother, the poor mortals are not a way to went out your anger." Hestia scolded her youngest sibling with a disapproving look while most of the other gods and legacies glared at him.

"I agree with grandaunt Hestia, have you seen the Underworld after a nature catastrophe made by any of you?" Nathan asked shuddering. "I once visited after such one and believe me it is a wonder that these two and the rest of they family didn't go bonkers already with that chaos going on down there on such days." he finished while pointing with his thumb to Enysswe and Henry who were glaring at Zeus.

"Uh…sorry…?" Zeus asked unsurely while everyone turned away from him huffing and Poseidon gestured to his son to continue.

"Uhm…that was interesting." Dakota whispered to Jason who was staring blinking at his son before turning back to his father.

"Yes, but I agree with them, only because my dad is angry gives him not the right to kill innocent people." Jason whispered back feeling a bit of disappointment in his father for doing such a thing because with that did he not only kill innocent people, but also hurt they families who were stuck wondering why they loved ones needed to die so early.

Zeus had noticed the look on his sons face and heard his grandson's anger, turning to his other demigod children he saw that Hercules was concentrating on the patter on the couch while Perseus was whispering something to his son who looked scared. The guilt he felt only grew stronger, it looked as if he really forgot sometimes how to act when he was angry mostly if mortals will be able in the future to venture into his domain then he needs to stop using them to calm down or it would not be Hades who was the most similar to they father, but Zeus himself. This also reminded him that he would sometime need to try explaining to his oldest brother why they all acted the way around him as they did.

I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.

Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.

Nearly everyone broke out laughing at this while the rest only hid a smile.

"Doest he know now what it means?" Jason asked eagerly, happy that Percy had kind of made his bad mood to lessen.

"Yep, mom told him." Luke said grinning while Annabeth blushed when both her brother and mother were looking at her with raised eyebrows.

The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.

Fine, I told myself. Just fine.

I was homesick.

I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.

"Oh great, we will hear about that thing before grandmum married granddad Paul." Luke said in a disgusted tone, Sally nodding her face looking angry as did that of they friends.

"Don't worry, he still got a lovely personal punishment from granddad." Enysswe said with an evil glint in her eyes.

"Ooohh, you really need to take us visiting him the next time we go to the Underworld." Sally said to her cousin.

"With pleasure." she replied.

"We take it, you don't like that guy." Frank said as he looked at the angry faces of the kids.

"You can bet on that, we hate that guy." Lance said sternly.

"Even if we had heard like only two or three short sentences about him had we all needed to fight the urge to look his soul up and throw that disgusting embodiment into Tartaros to spend some time with our great-grandfather." Misty spat, her hands balled into fists.

"Theseus, please continue with reading." Reyna said sighing, she had a good feeling that they will be stopping a good number of times if the looks of the future children was anything to go by.

And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me. I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.

As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.

"A wise decision, this will help ensure that you survive." this come surprisingly from Amphitrite, well she had decided to try giving the demigods a chance and well, it kind of felt nice when her grandchildren looked at her beaming.

"I'm glad to hear this my love." Poseidon said while taking his wife's hand and kissing it, both surprising her because it was a few hundred years ago since her husband had called her that with such a soft tone or was this affectionate in his gestures. Maybe was this whole trying to tolerate the demigods really a good idea if it would mean that her husband would act like when he was courting her.

The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the lettersdoing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards.

"We know how you feel." said all demigods and the future legacies shivering while the gods, mostly Athena flinched, they did not really know that it was this bad for they children when it come to reading anything that was not in the language they were hardwired for.

"And dad has it worse because he is grandfather Poseidon's son and the sea is not something you can restrain." Luke said, he come also mostly after his dad's side in abilities so was his dyslexia also worse then Sally's.

There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,

"I rally hope for you that this was meant spelling wise and not based on who they are." Hades stated incredulously.

"Oh, don't worry granddad, he will learn the difference first hand near the end of this book." Enysswe said smiling sweetly.

"WHAT!" broke out Poseidon, Theseus, Orion and even Triton, all of them looking pale.

"You will find out if we keep on reading." Ace said while some people exchanged nervous glances with each other.

or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.

"But they are easy to do." Dakota said with Jason nodding beside his friend.

"You are Roman, he is Greek." come it surprisingly from Octavian, his voice making some people jump because they forgot that he was there and seeing that he didn't imitate any type of animal this meant that his comment was not meant as an insult.

"Forgot that." Dakota said blushing before turning fully to the blonde. "It is nice to know that you can give comments that are not insulting those who are also here." he said grinning to the blonde who looked down on at his lap, blonde hair hiding his face.

"Your welcome." he replied while his fellow Romans looked at him with small smiles and with the attention diverted had no one noticed Aphrodite raise a delicate eyebrow when she thought that she felt a kind of spark a few seconds ago.

She certainly needed to keep a good track on all of they visitors feelings and she also needed to figure out from where that other strong feeling come from, she only knew that it was somewhere near the thrones, but nothing more. Ah, sometimes was it so hard to be the Goddess of Love, it was a stressful job to play matchmaker for all of those she come across.

I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.

"How does he know what that is like?" asked Connor while looking at his older brother.

"Uncle Percy had always weird comparisons." piped in Henry as he shook his head fondly at his uncle.

"Ah, now this on the other hand reminds me of Orion." Theseus said grinning, he liked the fact that he could now get back on his brother for that comment by the last chapter about his plans.

I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.

I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.

I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.

Some girls cooed at the sweet thought that he didn't want to disappoint his favourite teacher.

I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.

I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."

I froze.

I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.

"He kind of has a point there." Will stated while some people nodded, they would do the same in such a situation.

I inched closer.

"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"

"You know, I never understood why we are referring to them as Kindly Ones, there is nothing kind about them." stated Malcolm while looking at the gods.

"There is no actual explanation to it, this is what they wished to be referred to." Hades answered to the boy.

"Also uncle Malcolm there are some kind ones out there, they are only rare." Misty sais as she remembered Tyson who was the uncle of her best friend/cousin, Ella, Briers, Mrs O'Leary and even Alecto could be nice she had seen her be that and had even photo as prof.

"She is right I certainly adore the pet hellhound your dad has. That reminds me En, Hanry, do you think that maybe I could get one of the pups when they are there?" Nathan asked curiously, but before he could answer broke all Hades out fro those of the past.

"YOUR FATHER HAS A PET WHAT!" everyone screamed in sock and panic.

"You will met her in the fourth book and Mrs O'Leary is really nothing, but a huge sweet dog who loves to give sloppy dog kisses to those she really adores." Sally said in the defence of they beloved family pet. "As for the pups, I think if En and Henry also agree then you can ask your parents if they give you permission." she said to Nathan, her brother nodding beside her.

"Seeing that I'm often enough in camp with my parents so we even can help you by dog training so it will be fine." Henry said having a good guess that with Mrs O'Leary having helped to defend the camp would neither of Nathan's parents object.

"Ok, I will ask them when we get back home." the blonde said grinning in excitement.

"Excuse me, but what are you talking about beside the obvious." spoke up Zeus looking completely lost.

"Well you know that Mrs O'Leary is our dad1s pet hellhound and dad is pretty close to uncle Nico" at this looked both Poseidon and Hades together, sure they got along a bit better then with Zeus, but they relationship could still not be called close. "Well in such cases had he most of the time her also with him and some months ago we found out that she is expecting pups and the only dog that was most of the time in her presence." Sally trailed of when she saw the realization on the faces of Hades, Persephone and Artemis.

"You mean that you will have soon crossbreed pups between a hellhound and Cerberus." Persephone said with wide eyes, she liked Cerberus, he may look fierce, but he was also such a playful thing.

"I would also like to request one for the Hunt." Artemis said suddenly, shocking everyone. "What, I always thought that uncle had made a good pick with his guardian dog and such a crossbreed would not only help to protect our camp and my girls from danger" at this she shoot a look at her twin who squirmed in his seat", but it would also be a great help tracking down monsters." she finished her explanation.

"Ok, we will put you also on the list for one of the pups." Enysswe said and Artemis nodded gratefully, she could hardly wait for the time when the pups are born.

"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."

At this broke the legacies out into a full out laughter, some of them were even rolling around on the floor, gasping for breath.

"If…if…they would have done that…then I fear the world would have already ended." laughed Enysswe as she leaned against her cousin.

"Uncle Percy and mature are two different things." come it from the Stoll cousins.

"Perseus, continue, they will be gone for a while." Hercules said as he looked at the nine who didn't look like people who would stop laughing anytime soon.

"You know that this sound really reassuring for my marriage." Annabeth muttered to Katie as she looked at her children.

"Well, as it seems I marry one of the Stolls so I can't say all to many reassuring things." Katie replied back to her friend who nodded.

"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— "

At this perked everyone who was not busy with laughing up, what did that mean?

"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."

"Sir, he saw her... ."

"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."

"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."

"Grover, it was not your fault so stop blaming yourself, I would be dead if it would not have been for you!" Annabeth snapped and finally the nine stopped laughing.

"What do you mean daughter." Athena asked worriedly.

"Uhm…"

"It will come later up in the book and some more in the others." Misty said, but give a reassuring smile to Annabeth who paled slightly to signal to her that it will be fine in the end.

"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"

Tension broke out in the throne room and also outside of the main palace as everyone asked themselves why the boy needed to be protected so much, he was still to young and didn't know anything so why would he be seen as a threat by anyone.

The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.

"No! Don't give away your position!" yelled suddenly Hermes, Apollo, the four Stolls, Chris, Jason and Dakota before being smacked over the head by those sitting closest to them.

Mr. Brunner went silent.

My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.

A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.

"And why would have happened if he blew his cover?" asked Annabeth in shock, why was Chiron so careless? What was so special about Percy Jackson, but seeing how he was a child of the Bi…she suddenly halted her thoughts, was it possible that…could he be the child of the prophecy, but then how come that he is still alive. She needed to know more to be sure.

I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.

A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.

The heroes of the past could not shake down the fact that something sounded really familiar here.

A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.

Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."

Everyone exchanged again confused, worried glances with each other. Just what happened in the future.

"Uhm…just a question, if these books are happening one and a half year later in our time then that what happened on the Winter Solstice will be soon happening." said Chris nervously, whatever it was it must have been something bad if it was the ground why the gods were fighting.

"I fear so Son of Hermes." Athena said in a grave tone as she tried to figure out what could have happened.

"I hope that it will not be something hat endangers the campers who will be visiting." Katie said in a worried tone.

"What?" asked the gods, past heroes and the Romans.

"Each time by the Winter Solstice are selected campers allowed to visit Mt. Olympus and see they godly parents and spend a small time with them, this is also the time when the godly parent can decide if they would like to give they child a magical item as a present." Annabeth explained with a little smile.

"You are really lucky." Gwen said feeling a bit jealous, the gods really seemed to love they Greek children not like some of the other Romans said, not only were the Greeks still present they had also a closer bond with they kids.

"In the future is it a mixed visit by both camps and there are some occasions when the gods visit the camps mostly when we have the combined Capture the Flag or War Games going on when either of the camps visit the other." Nathan said as he turned to the Roman demigods who smiled slightly at hearing this while the Greek demigods gave them reassuring smile to show that they will be happy when that time comes.

"I feel also glad that some of such things will get righted out in the future, you should not neglect your children like this." Hestia said softly while the past heroes thought about how lucky the future demigods will be to have more contact with they immortal parents.

"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."

"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."

"Don't remind me."

The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.

I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.

Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.

"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"

I didn't answer.

"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Just... tired."

I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.

"Good plan Perce, but unfortunately you can's shield your emotions." said Travis matter of factly.

"Huh?" Frank asked confused.

"Satyrs or fauns in your case can not only smell out monsters, they can also read emotions." Katie explained.

"I didn't know that." Gwen said feeling sad for the fauns, if they really felt others emotions then it must really hurt them how most people treated them in New Rome and camp.

"You say that they can smell out monsters, that is a good ability to have." Reyna said in a thoughtful tone, she was starting to get an idea why the Greeks use them and this could also be a handy thing for them.

"What are you thinking Reyna?" Jason asked, he felt still strange talking to her after finding out that he will marry her, not that he minded she was a pretty, confident, intelligent and strong girl, a good combination.

"I think we might have found something for the fauns to do around camp." she replied not looking at her fellow praetor in fear that she might blush if directly looking at him. Sure she knew that it was not unusual for two praetors to start a relationship because of the time they spend together, but being faced with the fact so soon that the man beside her will be her husband and the father of her son was different. All this information had come too soon; they weren't even dating at the given time before they were literally thrown into the deep water.

"I'm sure that it will be a great idea." Jason replied to her with a wide grin on his face which made Reyna blush. "She kind of looks really pretty like this." he thought happily, ignoring the love goddess who looked excited by the feelings of love emitting from him, even Gwen could feel it which made her smile for her two praetors, they really made a good fit.

I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.

But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.

"No little brother, they were only discussing the weather." Triton said sarcastically before he turned with a confused look to the laughing children. "Yes?"

"Sorry, but that was the same kind of sarcasm our dad would use." Sally said and Triton's cheeks turned a darker shade of green in embarrassment while his father laughed good naturally and gave his son a smile which made him only blush more, but also happy that his father was paying attention to him.

The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,

"WHAT!" screamed most of those present in horror while Athena and her children beamed.

my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled,

Everyone flinched in sympathy.

Mr. Brunner called me back inside.

For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.

"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."

"Ugh…his social skills are still lacking in some departments!" groaned all those who knew that it was Chiron.

"This sounds pretty familiar, not what his teacher is saying in contents, but in general." Theseus said as he read further ahead.

His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me.

The other past heroes looked again thoughtful, they were sure that they had heard such a speech already at least once in they lives.

Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.

There were many growls to be heard in and around the palace, that girl was annoying.

I mumbled, "Okay, sir."

"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say.

"This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."

"Ugh… he is sooo going to misunderstand that one." groaned Clarisse as she leaned back in her seat, hands on her eyes.

My eyes stung.

Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.

"Right," I said, trembling.

"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"

"Chiron!" the four heroes of the past exclaimed in union as they looked at the future demigods for confirmation.

"Yes, it is him." Annabeth said while shaking her head, feeling sorry for her future husband, one could only misunderstand this speech if one did not know what they were.

"Lupa would have never made such a speech." Jason said.

"Yes, she would have made it sound like a threat to either take it or be eaten." Dakota said which earned them many raised eyebrows from those who have never met Lupa.

"True, this is I think one of the grounds why Kelly and the rest of the Aphrodite cabin are busy conspirating with they half-siblings in Camp Jupiter." Misty said in a thoughtful tone.

"What are my children up to?" Aphrodite asked curiously.

"Easy, they want to set Chiron up with Lupa." Sally replied giggling while the two camper groups looked a bit strange or more like creeped out while the oldest gods hid a snicker about the thought that Aphrodite's children want to set they brother up with someone.

"Theseus, please continue." Poseidon said to his son, amusement still clearly in his tone, to bad that he could not go teasing his half-brother about his future without freaking the poor centaur out.

"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.

"Percy—"

But I was already gone.

On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.

The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities.

"My dad is still needing to be an ambassador for grandfather even though aunt Hazel is at Camp Jupiter, he hates being forced to wear a toga for the senate meetings." Enysswe said bitterly.

"Just like you do when one of the camps visits the other." Nathan said grinning, but backed behind Henry when she glared at him.

"Well, seeing that it was made clear that your formal outfit needs to represent your whole parentage no matter that you are legacy I would not comment Grace. I'm the one needing to go through the annoyance of representing three gods at the same time." Enysswe growled, if getting those damned cloths around herself in which you could hardly move was not torture enough then was the jewellery on her, wrists, ears, neck, the circlet and those things in her hair enough to make one hate dressing formal.

"En, look at the bright side, even if you need to dress up the most, at least you don't fall on your nose by any second step you take, really Nathan is the best training for my reflexes with all the times I needed to catch him. It makes me forget that I look as if I have robbed a jewellery store." Henry said while his co-praetor pouted and Enysswe nodded, her cousin's mom got the powers representing they grandfather being also lord of the riches of the earth so his formal gowns were always full of precious stones and metals which were woven into his outfit.

"I also hate to dress up, those clothes are icky and daddy says the same when mom and grandma don't look." said Perses which made everyone chuckle or to smile at the little boy while Andromeda was glaring at her blushing husband who tried to not meet her eyes.

I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.

"We take offense to that." stated everyone present inside the throne room.

They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.

What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.

"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."

They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.

Some people huffed indignantly.

The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.

Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.

I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"

"That will give him a heart attack." Annabeth said while some of the others snickered.

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"

I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.

"NO! You never confess to a crime!" cried all the trublemakers, but keept silent when being faced by the glares they got.

"Great, I'm giving birth to a second Travis Stoll." Katie said huffing as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Katie darling, our son's name is Lance." Travis said helpfully.

"I know that and don't call me darling!" Katie snapped while Demeter massaged her forehead.

"At least did he not kidnap her and dragged her down into that dreadful place without any cereal." Demeter said in dismay.

"Mother, leave my husband alone." Persephone snapped as she leaned over to her husband so that only he would hear her. "The lack of cereal is one of the main grounds I prefer to live in the Underworld then with her." at this Hades chuckled.

"And what would be the other main reasons, beside being free from her smothering and rants about cereal?" he asked in amusement.

"I would say you." she answered with a mischievous smile on her lips when her husband took her hand into his own and started rubbing her wrist. Hades's hands and skin in general were always a bit colder then that of a normal person, but she never minded this because he made her feel protected.

Neither of them noticed the glare Demeter was giving them, the annoyed looks from Zeus and Poseidon as they wives glared at them which clearly said why-can't-you-act-like-this-with-us-without-a-reason-like-a-birthday-or-anyvesary, the shuddering looks from some of the kids who could live without the lovely looks between the two gods, Aphrodite's beaming or the little look of jealousy from Apollo.

"Theseus." Hercules said to his cousin who nodded.

Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Not much, only the whole thing." Come it from everyone both inside and outside the palace.

"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"

He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."

"Grover—"

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."

"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."

His ears turned pink.

"We are soo giving him lessons in lying no matter what Mr. D threatens us with because of it." whispered Connor to his brothers while the others only shook they heads at Grover.

From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.

The card was in fancy script,

"I always wondered why the cards were written like that, it is murderer for dyslexia." Chris exclaimed while looking at the other demigods.

"Why do I have the feeling that Mr. D loves to see us suffer while trying to read it." Will said huffing as the others nodded.

"And who is this person?" Zeus asked.

"Someone you have sent into our lives Lord Zeus." replied all Greek demigods not wanting to reveal who it was just now.

"I see." Zeus replied.

which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

"So, this is where you are." Reyna said as she looked over at the Greeks.

"Yes, where is your camp located?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"San Francisco." Reyna replied not feeling bad about giving the location away no matter how Octavian was scowling at her currently, only because he was keeping mostly silent didn't mean that he trusted the Greeks.

"What's Half—"

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."

There were a few snickers at that comment.

My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.

"I think aunt Rachel would take offense to that." Sally said giggling as she imagined her aunt backing her dad into the wall.

"Who?" some people asked.

"She will appear around the third book, but surely be in the fourth with one of the most epic moves in all history." Lance said laughing as he looked over at Michael that he should tape everyone's reactions when they read about how a mortal pinned the King of Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.

"Aha…"

"You guys will love her." Michael reassured as he also imagined the scene when she attacked they great-grandfather.

"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."

He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."

"Why would I need you?"

It came out harsher than I meant it to.

"At least is he sorry." Hera said with Amphitrite nodding.

Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."

I stared at him.

All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.

"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"

"Things you would be happy to never meet in your life and mad relatives who want to have you either killed by your parents or they will do it themselves." said all demigods and the nine legacies, they were the ones adding in the relatives part. The gods meanwhile looked everywhere then at they children and grandchildren.

"What do you mean by the last part?" Reyna asked in confusion while the other demigods also stared wide eyed at they future children.

"Don't worry mom, those involved know what we mean." Nathan said in a tight voice as he tried to not glare at his grandfather who at least looked guilty while Hades glared at him with venom in his eyes.

There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.

We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.

"Just a question En, were they there just to have fun or did they wish for him to see it?" Nathan whispered to the granddaughter of dead/riches, sleep and sun.

"Usually I would tip on they strange humour, my whole family has that on mum's side, but I think they wanted uncle Percy to witness, but not many outside of the family know that each life thread has they own colour." Enysswe explained to the young praetor who nodded before asking.

"And what is my colour?" he asked her.

"You will have to either ask them yourself or figure out on your own, the colour is always based on your parentage, personality and deeds in life." and with that she turned back only to caught the love goddess turning away from them with a smile on her lips which unnerved her greatly.

I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.

All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

Everyone started looking thoughtful; there was something bothersome about these three old ladies, but they were not sure what it was.

The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.

I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.

"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"

"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"

"Why is he so freaked out?" Connor asked confused, but no one was sure, but then Athena, Annabeth and Malcolm gasped in horror while Hades only looked over at his grandchildren who nodded, they calmness signalling to him that this was one of they usual games and nothing bad would befall the young hero at this moment.

"What is it?" Zeus demanded to know while outside were all minor gods and nature spirits gapping in horror or looking remorseful for they had already figured out who they were that the young demigod was seeing.

"Only some relatives of mine." Enysswe said smirking which didn't help the others to calm down in the least.

"They are surely not from my side." Apollo stated as he looked over at his granddaughter. "Or from uncle Hades's side for that matter so that only leaves…" he suddenly paled.

"From the side of her second mother." Artemis said.

"But it could be any of them, Lady Nyx had a few triplets, though neither of those triplets is nice to be faced with if you wish to live."

"Hermes, you are not helping uncle Poseidon fight down his heart attack." Hephaestus pointed out to his half-brother as they both looked over to the pale Sea God, not that either of his three present sons looked any better then they father.

"Sorry, uncle P." Hermes said carefully.

"Thi…this…" Triton was at loss for words sure he rarely liked any of his half-siblings and he mostly detested the demigods and didn't shed a tear when they passed, but still with only twelve meeting those three.

"HOW COME THAT YOU TWO WERE BORN?!" yelled suddenly everyone as they looked at Luke and Sally.

"Please, I told you that uncle Percy meet three of my relatives, did I say more?" Enysswe asked in annoyance, her eyes slowly starting to turn golden. "Could we please continue?" she asked as everyone started to suddenly feel a bit tired, but the feeling suddenly disappeared when Theseus cleared his throat to start reading again.

"I think she had used her powers inherited from Hypnos's son." whispered Hera to Demeter who nodded, he gaze on the adopted granddaughter of her daughter.

"She certainly is powerful, but seeing how she is a product from the combined power of three demigods one of them being the son of a first generation god is it no wonder." Demeter whispered back to her sister.

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"

"That is no joking matter!" yelled the demigods and gods in panic.

"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."

"We agree!"

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.

"Grand-aunt Atropos" Enysswe said smiling brightly, she loved all her relatives from her grandfather Hypnos's side, they were always nice to her, it was also a rare thing that a child of Nyx would fight against they sibling unlike by other deities. "You know, she still finds it funny that the name of her Roman counterpart is Morta meaning 'death' because the name of her older brother Thanatos is Mors, not that either of them minds." she said smiling before her eyes flashed angrily as they rested on Hercules who shuddered. "Grand-uncle Thanatos only minds foolish beings who don't understand the concept that when one thing is destined to die then he has a right to claim they soul." she hissed at the hero who perfectly knew what she meant.

"I know what you mean granddaughter, but most people think they know better then they do." Hades said remembering that particular incident a few months ago, Lady Nyx was not pleased with the way her son gets treated nowadays.

"Theseus, please continue." Hercules whispered to his cousin nervously, his eyes never leaving neither Hades nor his granddaughter.

"You certainly pissed them off." Theseus whispered back to the other not wishing to be in his place right now.

"No need to tell me, and I thought that only Lady Artemis would be ready to blast me into pieces when I say the wrong thing."

"So this is why you have been so quiet?" this would certainly explain some things.

"What did you think? Now please continue reading."

"Fine, fine."

"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."

"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."

"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.

Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.

Everyone who didn't know what the Fates had wanted were still pale.

Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.

There were a few weak snickers, but people were still nervous.

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.

"I'm now even more sure that they wanted uncle Percy to witness the cutting of the yarn." Nathan whispered to his cousins.

The passengers cheered.

"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"

Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.

Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

"Grover?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you not telling me?"

"How about everything?" Clarisse asked sarcastically.

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"

His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."

"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."

He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.

"The sign to ward of evil." Annabeth whispered.

He said, "You saw her snip the cord."

"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.

"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."

"What last time?"

"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."

"That will reassure him alright." Will said while rolling his eyes, before looking over at his daughter, he certainly freaked out when she had switched from amused to icy when she talked to Hercules. Not that he minded that she was protective about her family, that was a good trait, but it was still scary, it might come from the fact that she was the granddaughter of Hades and this brought him back to the fact that he really needed to know more about her dad.

"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"

"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."

This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.

"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.

No answer.

"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"

He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.

"This was the end of the chapter." Theseus said feeling a bit nauseous to the stomach as he handed the book over to Hercules who accepted ready to start reading so that he could continue avoiding the dark haired girl who was still glaring at him.

To be continued…

A/N: and so, as I promised here is the list of our demigods and legacies:

Demigods:

Children of Zeus/Jupiter: Perseus, Hercules and Jason

Children of Poseidon: Theseus, Orion

Children of Athena: Annabeth, Malcolm

Children of Hermes: Travis, Connor, Chris

Children of Ares/Mars: Clarisse, Frank

Others: Katie – Demeter, Will – Apollo, Reyna – Enyo/Bellona, Dakota – Dionysus/Bacchus, Gwen – Aphrodite/Venus,

Legacies:

Octavian: - L.: Apollo

Perses: Perseus/Andromeda – L.: Zeus

Nathan: Jason/Reyna – L.: Jupiter/Bellona

Luke and Sally Jackson: Percy/Annabeth – L.: Poseidon/Athena

Ace: Chris/Clarisse – L.: Hermes/Ares

Lance: Travis/Katie – L.: Hermes/Demeter

Misty: Connor/Lou Ellen – L.: Hermes/Hecate

Michael: Leo/Piper – L.: Hephaestus/Aphrodite

Henry: Frank/Hazel – L.: Mars(+Neptune)/Pluto

Not fully callable a demigod or legacy:

Enysswe: Nico/Will/Clovis – L.: Hades/Apollo/Hypnos