Disclaimer:
I DO NOT own this series. That goes to the wonderful Rick Riordan and Hyperion Books. I am just borrowing the story and characters. I will say that the story lines will be written down because it makes it much easier to follow along and know the current placement, especially if it has been a while since reading the book. Also, this is not beta'd so there will most likely be a few mistakes, feel free to let me know. Enjoy!
Oh, this is also only my second story ever so please be gentle. I've been really enjoying getting to share how I would imagine characters would react to their tales and I hope to continue to do so.
Book
'thoughts'
"speech"
I actually got this written out pretty early! These past weeks have been weirdly slow so I've been able to write more often. So enjoy the update!
I Ruin a Perfectly Good Bus
"Well, that's just rude." Will commented scaring everyone into jumping in their seats.
"Why have you been quiet this entire time!? We forgot you were even here!" Annabeth screamed.
"I was enjoying the story, it's not like I heard much about it the first time around." The son of Apollo shrugged.
"Okay fair, but you could've still said something at least during the breaks."
"Well, we were eating, and I was enjoying that. And then there was Mrs. Jackson's cookies, which honestly tell me you would have been talking with a plate of those in front of you."
"You have to give him that, Wise Girl." Percy said. "Mom's cookies are tasty enough to distract anyone."
"Hmph, true, but talk more, please?" she asked the Sun child.
"Sure."
"Can I start now?" Artemis asked.
Annabeth nodded, "Sorry."
It didn't take me long to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur horn in my cabin, which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack Grover had found for me.
The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions—whatever that meant. He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally.
"Is that standard for a quest?" Sally asked.
"Pretty much, unless we know something specific is needed." Chiron answered.
"Yeah, would have been super helpful during the quest." Percy grumbled.
"Son?"
"Just listen, we were unlucky pretty much this entire quest."
"Unfortunately, that's true." Grover sighed.
Before the Huntress could continue reading there was a blinding flash, like when the group first arrived. Blinking to clear their vision Percy broke out a beaming smile once he realized who was brought in.
"Tyson!" he cheered running to hug his little brother.
"Brother!" the jovial cyclops hugged him tightly, as usual.
"How're you doing big guy? You know why you're here?"
"Was in forges, but string ladies came saying I get to hear brother's stories."
"So that Fates brought you?"
"String ladies."
"Right."
"Your brother is a cyclops?" Zeus asked baffled.
"What did you expect another demigod? I don't have any other siblings other than monsters, not that I think Tyson is one."
"Tyson's great, he's helped us out a bunch." Annabeth said.
"Well, why don't we all sit and continue?" Poseidon spoke up which brought Tyson's attention to him.
"Daddy!" the cyclops rushed his father and enveloped him in a bruising hug that the Sea God returned easily.
"Hello, my boy." Poseidon softly said, "I'm glad you found your brother."
"Percy is best brother."
The pair smoothly parted and everybody settled in to listen.
Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector.
"I say again, we really should've let him watch the orientation video." Clarisse said.
"An error on my part, yes." Chiron agreed.
Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.
"Hey!"
"Oh, you agree with me, and you know it, G-man."
"Doesn't mean you have to talk about it."
"You did get better though."
"Hmph, just wait, I'll get you back soon." Grover grouched crossing his arms.
We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus.
"Why do you keep using saying it like that, Kelp Head?" Thalia groaned.
"I have no idea. It is weird. Probably because I didn't really know who you were yet." Percy answered shrugging.
Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer dude I'd seen when I was recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.
Hera actually flashed a smile at the description of Argus. Unfortunately, she was so engrossed in her thoughts she failed to notice her sons' discomfort and anger at her reaction.
"This is Argus," Chiron told me. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."
"Wow, that was bad, Chiron. You know so many better puns." Apollo tsked shaking his head at the centaur who was laughing softly.
I heard footsteps behind us.
Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.
"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you."
Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around.
"Damn it, Seaweed Brain. Why are you so observant?"
"Sorry."
"So, you noticed that, but you were oblivious for years?" Thalia snickered.
"Huh?" Percy turned to her confused.
"Thanks for proving my point, Perce."
"Huh?" Thalia just waved him off much to the delight of the rest of the group. They were starting to get a good understanding of these kids.
"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me. "And I thought…um, maybe you could use these."
He handed me the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal.
Luke said, "Maia!"
"Damn it!" Hermes yelled his feet started jerking about. "I knew I should've taken these off!"
He struggled about while the shoes fluttered, but finally managed to unlace them when they stopped.
He let out a relieved breath once done and turned to the group. Unfortunately for him they lost in their fight to hold in their laughter. The kids all seemed to drop back into their seats or rolled onto the floor clutching their stomachs. The gods weren't fairing much better but had managed to keep themselves upright.
Hermes just pouted, good-naturedly it felt pretty fantastic to get his family laughing. They argued so much and this was a nice change of pace.
Hestia had managed to catch her breath and was beaming, basking in the aura of the room. These children were already proving to have a great impact on her family.
"Oh gods, I hurt. That was amazing." Nico gasped in pain.
"I wish I had a camera for that. I would've re-watched that over and over." Rachel managed to say.
"It wasn't that funny." The Messenger God muttered.
"Sorry Dad, it was-"
"-hilarious." The Stolls agreed.
"Traitors, my own sons!" Hermes clutched his heart joking.
It took a while, but finally everyone managed to catch their breath and relax while Artemis continued.
White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling me so much, I dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.
"Awesome!" Grover said.
Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days.…" His expression turned sad.
Hermes frowns some, Luke's quest had put a damper on their relationship. How little it was anyways… those laws were such a pain.
I didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that Luke had come to say good-bye. I'd been afraid he might resent me for getting so much attention the last few days. But here he was giving me a magic gift.…It made me blush almost as much as Annabeth.
"Oh ho, really now?" Thalia smiled.
"Uhhh, yes – no. Shut up!" Percy stuttered.
His reaction caused the demigods to raise eyebrows, surprised. That was interesting.
Sally just huffed with a smirk; her boy had never been good at hiding attraction. It was rather surprising the other campers hadn't noticed. Although, if it had only been Luke, it did make some sense.
Percy, red-faced, was motioning his hand frantically at the Huntress to continue.
"Hey, man," I said. "Thanks."
"Listen, Percy…" Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just…kill some monsters for me, okay?"
We shook hands. Luke patted Grover's head between his horns, then gave a good-bye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out.
After Luke was gone, I told her, "You're hyperventilating."
"Am not."
"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"
"Oh…why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?"
"And the flirting begins!" Grover laughed.
"Quiet, goat-boy!" the couple shout while the rest snicker in agreement.
She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.
I picked up the flying shoes and had a sudden bad feeling. I looked at Chiron. "I won't be able to use these, will I?"
"Ooh, forgot about that." Thalia said, "That's really inconvenient for you huh?"
"Not like I liked flying much anyways. Only time I do is on Blackjack."
"Blackjack?" Poseidon asked.
"My Pegasus, He's the best."
"You've flown?" Nico asked. "I'd never even tried to."
"Once, it was horrible."
"We had to literally drag him in." Grover added.
"He was hyperventilating the entire time." Annabeth interjected.
"Well pardon me for knowing my uncle wouldn't hesitate to zap me out of the sky!"
He shook his head. "Luke meant well, Percy. But taking to the air…that would not be wise for you."
I nodded, disappointed, but then I got an idea. "Hey, Grover. You want a magic item?"
"Hate those shoes." Grover mumbled. Thankfully nobody heard him.
His eyes lit up. "Me?"
Pretty soon we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.
"Woohoo, flying goat boy!"
"Maia!" he shouted.
He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.
"Ah right, they do take some practice." Hermes grimaced.
"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"
"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.
"Possessed lawn mower? Man, your descriptions are perfection!" Will chuckles.
Before I could follow, Chiron caught my arm. "I should have trained you better, Percy," he said. "If only I had more time. Hercules, Jason—they all got more training."
"That's okay. I just wish—"
I stopped myself because I was about to sound like a brat. I was wishing my dad had given me a cool magic item to help on the quest, something as good as Luke's flying shoes, or Annabeth's invisible cap.
"Do you ever get Anaklusmos?" Poseidon interrogates.
"He is now."
"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you get away without this."
He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap.
Probably cost thirty cents.
"Gee," I said. "Thanks."
"Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one."
I remembered the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when I'd vaporized Mrs. Dodds. Chiron had thrown me a pen that turned into a sword. Could this be…?
I took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, I held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand.
"Love that sword." Percy sighs.
"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told me. "Its name is Anaklusmos."
Artemis had to pause at the reminder of her Lieutenant.
Noticing her stop Percy gently started talking, "We know the story now ma'am."
That caused her to straighten up in shock to find the warm eyes of the boy and his peers. There seemed to be a hint of something else in the eyes of the satyr and the two female demigods as well. What did it mean?
"Yeah, Zoe's great." Thalia said, careful to not indicate anything.
"Even said she was honored I held the sword." Percy smiled small.
The Huntress relaxed some, that was interesting. She'd have to wait and see apparently.
"'Riptide,'" I translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.
"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."
"Yeah, Percy. Emergencies only." Rachel joked.
"You're never gonna let that go, are you?"
"Nope."
I looked at the wickedly sharp blade. "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals? How could it not?"
"The sword is celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They simply are not important enough for the blade to kill. And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."
"I don't know whether to be insulted or not." Rachel deadpanned.
"Eh, could go either way." Annabeth shrugged.
"Good to know."
"Now recap the pen."
I touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. I tucked it in my pocket, a little nervous, because I was famous for losing pens at school.
"Don't think you can go through school without that."
"Too true."
"You can't," Chiron said.
"Can't what?"
"Lose the pen," he said. "It is enchanted. It will always reappear in your pocket. Try it."
"Wait really?" Chris asked. "I thought it was just special because of the pen thing."
"Nope, super handy ability it has. Definitely saved me a few times." Percy smiled.
"That's awesome."
I was wary, but I threw the pen as far as I could down the hill and watched it disappear in the grass.
"It may take a few moments," Chiron told me. "Now check your pocket."
Sure enough, the pen was there.
"Okay, that's extremely cool," I admitted. "But what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"
Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Percy."
"Mist?"
"Yes. Read The Iliad. It's full of references to the stuff. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans. You will see things just as they are, being a half-blood, but humans will interpret things quite differently. Remarkable, really, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality."
"You didn't teach him how to control it?" Aphrodite asked surprising everyone, she'd been strangely quiet so far.
"There wasn't any time." Chiron said, discomfort clear.
"Wouldn't have mattered much either way. The Mist and I seem to have a love-hate relationship." Percy shrugged.
The gods turned to him with looks of confusion.
"Just wait, you'll see."
I put Riptide back in my pocket.
For the first time, the quest felt real. I was actually leaving Half-Blood Hill. I was heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone. (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one, it would be worse than sending up a flare.) I had no weapon stronger than a sword to fight off monsters and reach the Land of the Dead.
"Chiron…" I said. "When you say the gods are immortal…I mean, there was a time before them, right?"
"Why are you unnaturally good at choosing questions to ask?" Thalia grumbled.
Percy just shrugged; he didn't know either.
"It is a bit of a coincident that only once you entered our world, we began to notice things." Chiron begrudgingly agreed.
"True, I mean even his dreams can be slightly prophetic or from the past." Grover added.
"Wait, really?" Apollo jumped in.
"Yeah, I had some dreams from a past person or hero's quest from their perspective a few times. Ended up being really informative." Percy explained.
"Oh! Like when we were in…?" Annabeth asked, eyes lighting up with understanding getting a nod from her boyfriend.
"That shouldn't be possible though, at least not for a son of Poseidon." Apollo muttered. He turned to Sally and asked, "Are you by chance a legacy of another god? It's the only logical explanation I can really think of."
"Um, I wouldn't know for sure. I didn't know my parents long enough to learn." Sally softly replied.
"Hmm, okay then. So maybe…" the Prophetic God trailed off.
Seeing her twin lean back lost in thought Artemis decided to continue reading.
"Four ages before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age, which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age."
"So what was it like…before the gods?"
"Dark."
"Creepy."
"Definitely not Golden."
Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived innocent and free of all knowledge. But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment. It was only in the early reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan brought fire to mankind, that your species began to progress, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you may recall. Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western civilization was born."
"But the gods can't die now, right? I mean, as long as Western civilization is alive, they're alive. So…even if I failed, nothing could happen so bad it would mess up everything, right?"
Chiron gave me a melancholy smile. "No one knows how long the Age of the West will last, Percy. The gods are immortal, yes. But then, so were the Titans. They still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment, reduced in power, but still very much alive. May the Fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chaos of the past. All we can do, child, is follow our destiny."
"Our destiny…assuming we know what that is."
"Relax," Chiron told me. "Keep a clear head. And remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history."
"That's not helpful at all, C." Hermes sniggered.
"Ah, yes, not my best change of focus." Chiron flinched.
"Relax," I said. "I'm very relaxed." When I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.
"That full title is gonna get annoying real quick, Kelp Head."
"Yeah, I have no idea why I apparently keep doing that."
Argus drove us out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a highway again, Annabeth and Grover sitting next to me as if we were normal carpoolers. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy. I found myself staring at every McDonald's, every kid in the back of his parents' car, every billboard and shopping mall.
"So far so good," I told Annabeth. "Ten miles and not a single monster."
"Bad luck there, Perce."
"Never say that!"
She gave me an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."
"Don't think it would have changed much given my luck, Wise Girl." Percy joked.
"Oh, look the beginning of the beloved nicknames!" Connor cheered causing the couple to blush.
"Remind me again—why do you hate me so much?"
"I don't hate you."
"Could've fooled me."
She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look…we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."
"That's no reason why you should follow their beliefs." Aphrodite stated crossing her arms. This couple was already proving to be a favorite of hers.
"Ah, yeah, I was a little too into the rivalry in the beginning." Annabeth cringed.
"You got over it pretty fast though." Percy said wrapping her in a hug.
"Why?" She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful.
"I keep telling her I didn't voluntarily go in, I was drugged. Does she listen, of course not!" Poseidon spat.
"Why would I ever believe that! Such a convenient explanation, is what it is." The Wisdom Goddess snarls back.
"Um, that one actually is true, dear niece. It took days to get his system cleared." Hades stated causing her to startle.
"But no one ever said…"
"Because you wouldn't let us. After a while we just stopped trying." Hera cut in; this had been one instance she had actually been reasonably upset for her brother rather than at him.
Athena just sat back taking in the information.
Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."
"You know the spring also makes more sense to keep. Of course, back then the Greeks weren't smart enough to think of other ways to use it." Annabeth reluctantly said.
"Why would you say that?" Nico asked.
It was Percy who answered, "A spring could be used for power generators; they could have figured out how to remove the salt and could have freshwater for drinking and watering as well as the salt for other purposes."
He managed to stop himself from carrying on in his explanation, but he could see the pride in the eyes of Annabeth and his parents. The others seemed to look surprised or have clarity at the information.
"Good job, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth whispered kissing his cheek. She loved it when he showed his smarts.
He smiled at her sweetly and waved at Artemis to continue. Meanwhile, Athena absorbed the additional information and was trying to understand what was going on.
"They must really like olives."
"Oh, forget it."
"Now, if she'd invented pizza—that I could understand."
"It would be my favorite place if it was." Travis sighed envisioning the food.
"We'll wrap up for the day in a few chapters, how about that?" Hestia offered smiling getting nods from the rest.
"I said, forget it!" In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at me.
"I swear, everyone saw it, but you two!" Clarisse laughed.
"Try being there for basically all of it." Grover moaned.
Traffic slowed us down in Queens. By the time we got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.
Argus dropped us at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from my mom and Gabe's apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with my picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?
I ripped it down before Annabeth and Grover could notice.
"We noticed."
"I figured."
Argus unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.
I thought about how close I was to my old apartment. On a normal day, my mom would be home from the candy store by now. Smelly Gabe was probably up there right now, playing poker, not even missing her.
Artemis had to pause a minute and breathe. That man was the prime example of what she detested about males. Thankfully there were those who were much more tolerable, like those of the group with them.
Grover shouldered his backpack. He gazed down the street in the direction I was looking. "You want to know why she married him, Percy?"
I stared at him. "Were you reading my mind or something?"
"Just your emotions." He shrugged. "Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that. You were thinking about your mom and your stepdad, right?"
I nodded, wondering what else Grover might've forgotten to tell me.
"Your mom married Gabe for you," Grover told me. "You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura.…Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a week."
"Oh, that's uncomfortable to think about." Rachel shuddered.
"Definitely."
"Thanks," I said. "Where's the nearest shower?"
Light snorts at the comment ring out.
"You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better."
"Bet it doesn't." Travis muttered.
"Mhmm."
"Sorry, Perce." Grover winced, he never thought of that.
"It's fine, man."
It didn't, but I forced myself not to show it. I'll see her again, I thought. She isn't gone.
Sally let out a breath. There was no stopping her son once he put his mind on something.
I wondered if Grover could still read my emotions, mixed up as they were. I was glad he and Annabeth were with me, but I felt guilty that I hadn't been straight with them. I hadn't told them the real reason I'd said yes to this crazy quest.
"It was pretty obvious, Seaweed Brain."
"I know that now. I was only twelve you know." Percy rolled his eyes.
"You're always like that. It was the same when we went on our quest." Thalia interjected.
"This is also true." Grover nodded.
Percy just shrugged at his girlfriend's confusion. Annabeth turned to the daughter of Zeus hoping for an explanation.
"He wouldn't accept not being chosen to go on the quest. He didn't go to fulfill it, he just followed us to get you back." Thalia explained.
Annabeth turned back to Percy with eyes soft and she couldn't stop herself from kissing him in thanks.
Thankfully her mother was still too lost in thought to notice.
Artemis decided to stop the break and carry on reading.
The truth was, I didn't care about retrieving Zeus's lightning bolt, or saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble. The more I thought about it, I resented Poseidon for never visiting me, never helping my mom, never even sending a lousy child-support check. He'd only claimed me because he needed a job done.
Poseidon flinched hard at that thought. His son's claiming was rather inopportune. He didn't regret it of course, but the timing could have been better.
"I don't think that anymore, Dad. It took a while, but I did come to understand." Percy patted his father's arm.
All I cared about was my mom. Hades had taken her unfairly, and Hades was going to give her back.
You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, the Oracle whispered in my mind. You will fail to save what matters most in the end.
Shut up, I told it.
The rain kept coming down.
We got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable. She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. I wasn't too bad myself.
"Ego much, Prissy?" joked Clarisse.
"Gotta give myself some credit, I knew Wise Girl here was great." Percy smirked.
The game ended when I tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared— core, stem, and all.
"And there was the mistake, you used an apple." Hermes laughed.
Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but Annabeth and I were too busy cracking up.
As were the rest of the campers and some of the gods. Grover just flushed once more, but had a small smile on his face.
Finally the bus came. As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy —enchiladas.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."
"Trust your nose, Grant." Dionysus said from behind his magazine.
"Got to be confident in what you sense." Hermes nodded agreeing with the Wine God.
"G-man got a lot more confident from this quest. Couldn't have asked for a better satyr with us." Percy beamed ruffling his friend's curls.
But I could tell it wasn't nothing. I started looking over my shoulder, too.
"Good instincts." Ares commented. It seemed like he had started paying attention again, probably realized there would be some action.
I was relieved when we finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. We stowed our backpacks. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.
"Why would you stow your bags?!" Thalia yelled.
"I can't remember." Percy strained.
"People were already looking at the three of us weird. I think we decided to move with the other passengers, and it would've looked weird if we hadn't." Grover rambled.
As the last passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand onto my knee. "Percy."
An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and my heart skipped a beat.
It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face.
"Wow, your luck sucks." Will scoffed.
"It's either fantastic when he's desperate or terrible when he's not." Annabeth said.
I scrunched down in my seat.
Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds — same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers.
Many let out snorts of laughter.
"I love your mind, cousin." Nico giggles.
"Triplet demon grandmothers. Can't say I've ever heard my Kindly Ones described quite like that before." Hades chuckles.
"It's a gift." Percy smiles.
They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.
The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."
"I said if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not."
"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortales!"
"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."
"This bus was such a disappointment." Annabeth scowls confusing everyone other than Grover and Percy.
"They don't open," Grover moaned.
"That sucks." Travis commented.
"It gets worse." Grover moaned covering his face.
"A back exit?" she suggested.
There wasn't one.
"What kind of a crappy bus is that?" Poseidon complained.
"Talk about bad designing. That's not even mentioning the safety hazards." Hephaestus added not looking up from his tinkering. Strangely enough his wife, Aphrodite, was becoming interested in what he was doing. It looked like rather delicate work, something she had never seen him do.
Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.
"They won't attack us with witnesses around," I said. "Will they?"
"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded me. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."
"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"
"Not if you're Percy." Thalia huffed.
"The Mist does seem to hate me more often than not." Percy nodded.
She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof…?"
We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.
Mrs. Dodds got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."
"So do I," said the second sister.
"So do I," said the third sister.
"Well, that wasn't creepy at all." Will quipped.
"No kidding."
They all started coming down the aisle.
"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat."
"What?"
"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."
"But you guys—"
"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."
"Yeah, Kelp Head, you stink!" Nico laughed.
"You're one to talk Death Breath."
"Oi, that's my nickname for him!" Thalia said giving Nico a noogie.
Stop it, Sparky!" the son of Hades whined.
The other gods couldn't help but smile at the interaction between the three. They were so much like their fathers yet seemed to gravitate to one another rather than fight; it was refreshing to witness.
"I can't just leave you."
"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"
My hands trembled. I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees cap and put it on.
When I looked down, my body wasn't there anymore.
"You had to check if it worked?" Annabeth asked a little hurt.
"Wasn't sure if it would work for a non-Athena kid. It's also a little strange to not see your own body." Percy explained.
"Fair enough."
I started creeping up the aisle. I managed to get up ten rows, then duck into an empty seat just as the Furies walked past.
Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked straight at me. My heart was pounding.
Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.
I was free. I made it to the front of the bus. We were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. I was about to press the emergency stop button when I heard hideous wailing from the back row.
The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same—I guess those couldn't get any uglier—but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.
"Oh, how lovely." Chris deadpanned. Some of the group couldn't help but snicker.
The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"
The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw something, all right.
"Hmm it would be cool to know what they saw. Some of what I've had mortals see have been ridiculous." Percy said.
"You mean like how your poodle followed you to school?" Grover guffawed.
"Poodle?" Aphrodite asked already imagining the cute dog.
"Um, no Mrs. O'Leary, my hellhound." Percy rubbed his neck sighing.
"Your hellhound?" Ares grilled getting excited at the thought.
"She was left to me by someone." The son of the Sea explained vaguely.
He was met with varying looks of confusion. He just waved them off, "It'll be explained in a later book. Might as well wait for the full story."
"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!"
The Furies raised their whips.
Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.
"Nice weapon of choice, goat boy." Connor chuffed.
"It was all I had!"
"Maybe we should get you a club, G-man. You did pretty well at the emporium." Percy brainstormed.
"Ooh, that's a pretty good idea." Annabeth agreed.
"Emporium?" Poseidon had to question.
"Oh! Um it's after this chapter I'm pretty sure." His son winced at the memories of Aunty Em.
What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should've been named ADHD poster child of the year.
The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was going on in his rearview mirror.
Still invisible, I grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I hoped was the sound of three Furies smashing against the windows.
"Percy! That was so dangerous!" Sally screamed.
"I know Mom. There weren't many other options though."
"It wasn't just the Kindly Ones, ya know?" Grover said rubbing his arms at the phantom pain.
"Sorry…"
"Doesn't really matter anyway. We would've struggled a lot worse if you hadn't done what you did." Annabeth relieved his worry.
"No, the worse part came after." Percy scoffed.
"What happened after?" his mother asked concerned.
Percy just motioned for Artemis to start again.
"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey—whoa!"
We wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind us.
We careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.
Somehow the driver found an exit. We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to our left, the Hudson River to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.
Another great idea: I hit the emergency brake.
"Was definitely an improvement to getting thrown around." Annabeth huffed.
The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.
"He didn't even wait for the passengers?!" Athena yelled, finally tuning into the story once again.
"Poor guy probably thought the bus was possessed." Percy chuckled.
The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans.
The campers cheered while the satyr flushed.
"Good going, Grant." Dionysus said much to Grover's surprise.
"Th-thank you sir." He stuttered.
I looked at the open doorway. I was free to go, but I couldn't leave my friends. I took off the invisible cap. "Hey!"
"Of course, you did." Sally pinched the bridge of her nose. Her son was doing to scare her to death.
The Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at me, and the exit suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. Mrs. Dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, about to deliver my F– math test. Every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather.
Her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled toward me like huge nasty lizards.
Hades frowned 'That's a little rude. Although I did make them terrifying for a reason.'
"Perseus Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."
"What an unoriginal line" Travis mocked, "Talk about every villain from almost every movie ever."
"Monsters never seem to be very original."
"I liked you better as a math teacher," I told her.
"Well, that's just gonna irritate her more." Nico grinned.
She growled.
Annabeth and Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening.
I took the ballpoint pen out of my pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.
The Furies hesitated.
Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again.
"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."
"Nice try," I told her.
"Percy, look out!" Annabeth cried.
Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around my sword hand while the Furies on the either side lunged at me.
My hand felt like it was wrapped in molten lead, but I managed not to drop Riptide. I stuck the Fury on the left with its hilt, sending her toppling backward into a seat. I turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands.
"That's one." Connor counted.
"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"
The Fury I'd hilt-slammed came at me again, talons ready, but I swung Riptide and she broke open like a piñata.
"That's two!" Travis cheered.
Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.
"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised. "Hades will have your soul!"
"Braccas meas vescimini!" I yelled.
"Latin? You struggle with Greek still, but you remember Latin in a time of crisis?!" Annabeth cried.
"Latin does come to Percy strangely easy. Conjugation and rules aside, he was my highest student." Chiron wondered aloud.
"Weird."
"What did you say?" Nico bounced in his seat interested.
"I'm sure the book translates." Percy muttered, his head bowed to avoid the looks he was receiving.
I wasn't sure where the Latin came from. I think it meant "Eat my pants!"
"That it does." Chiron smiled.
That caused laughter to ring out.
"Only you Percy, only you." Rachel giggled.
Thunder shook the bus. The hair rose on the back of my neck.
"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at me. "Now!" I didn't need any encouragement.
We rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian shirted tourist with a camera snapped my photograph before I could recap my sword.
"Oh boy, that'll look interesting to the mortals."
"It did."
"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our—"
BOOOOOM!
The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.
Many turned to glare at Zeus, who sat defiant at the looks.
"What? It's not like I've done this yet!" he refuted.
"Knowing you, you easily would." Hades grumbled under his breath.
Zeus just ignored his brother.
"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"
We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, and nothing but darkness ahead.
"Well, that was exciting!" Ares cheered causing everyone to jump.
"Who wants to read next?" the Huntress asked.
"I will, since I apparently haven't talked enough." Will offered taking the book.
AN: And that's the chapter! Hope you enjoyed. I'm crossing my fingers for another easy few weeks, but we'll see.
As always feel free to review/comment on what you think. See y'all next time!