sadly, my ownership of the Percy Jackson series has not changed. I still do not own it.
It wasn't long before everyone was settled and ready to read, but before they could, two more readers appeared. A boy, and a hellhound.
Everyone went still at the sight of the hellhound, until the silence was broken by Percy shouting, "Mrs. O'Leary! Hey girl, come here!" The dog woofed and bounded towards Percy, which the futures saw and immediately went to work on making sure none of the others in the room, the ones who didn't know Mrs. O'Leary was a tame hellhound and Percy's pet, didn't kill her. That would be bad.
Mrs. O'Leary bounded up to Percy and greeted him very enthusiastically, unfortunately for him though, Hellhound saliva wasn't affected by his water powers. The others stopped trying to get around the futures and watched this greeting with dumbfounded looks on their faces.
The boy who showed up with the hellhound momentarily forgotten by all except Sally, who wasn't concerned with the hellhound, having met her before. And judging by her sons saliva covered state, she was glad the dog hadn't noticed her yet... She decided to explain what was going on to the poor boy while everyone else was distracted by the dog, save time that way. Besides, he looked scared to death.
It was Poseidon who broke the shocked silence first, "Ummm, Percy, care to explain the Hellhound?" Everyone else who didn't know the story nodded mutely.
"Well guys, this is Mrs. O'Leary, my pet hellhound." Percy said, most of them wanted to strangle him for stating something they could clearly see, but Percy rescued himself when he continued, "How I got her is a long story," here he looked sad, as though remembering someone, "I inherited her from a... friend of mine," here he looked at Annabeth, "when he died, she's the world's only friendly hellhound. That I know of anyway." He added on the last part almost as an after-thought, looking at Hades as he said it.
"On that note, we would appreciate it if all of you DID NOT kill her. Please and thank you!" Annabeth piped in, startling the past people, who were a little shocked to realize that all the futures were now greeting the Hellhound as if she were just your regular, everyday dog, and not a monster whose nature was to kill them.
"Sooo, now that my dog is safe from impalement, didn't I see somebody else with her?" Percy reminded.
'Oh yeah,' everyone thought as they turned to where Sally was quietly talking to a very young looking Percy Jackson. Percy took one look at him and cursed softly under his breath. The kid was wearing jeans and a jacket. Which meant he was home from school for break and he just had a "lesson" with Gabe. Great, perfect. That was the last thing he wanted anybody to know about.
Annabeth heard him cursing and looked at him questioningly, what was wrong with his younger self being there? The rest of them all had a younger counterpart, and they were all fine, unless... she remembered what little Percy had told her of his old step-father, Gabe. From what little had been said, Percy hated the guy. For that matter, she hated him too. From what she had seen of him during his TV interviews on the first quest, the guy was a pig and world-class jerk.
Maybe his reaction had something to do with Gabe? She knew there was something about that man that Percy didn't want known, maybe he was scared that whatever it was would come to light with Percy's presence. Wait, what? Ugh, she hated time-travel, it was so confusing!
Sally heard the conversation about Mrs. O'Leary stop and looked up to find everyone watching. She smiled and explained how she had already explained to Percy what was going on. Everybody just needed to introduce themselves. She also added that this Percy was 8.
So everybody introduced themselves, when it was Paul's turn, he introduced himself as Percy's new step-father. The boy looked shocked and yelled, "no more Smelly Gabe?!" really excited. Paul just chuckled and said, "no more Smelly Gabe." He wondered at that reaction though, he knew Sally's ex-husband's name was Gabe and Sally only married him because he smelled bad enough to cover up Percy's demigod scent, but other than that, he knew nothing of the guy. Whenever he asked Sally would just say that it was unimportant.
Both Annabeth's and Athena were the only ones to notice Sally and Percy flinch when Gabe was mentioned. Which of course sent Annabeth's mind racing. She took what little she knew of him, which was all bad, and combined it with the new information that apparently Sally and Percy were still afraid of him years after his death. Her conclusions were not pretty.
Grover knew something had happened with Gabe, besides the obvious that he was a jerk. Whenever he was mentioned, Percy would close off his emotions. He was hard enough to read at any normal time, even with the Empathy link. Must be the sea... anyway, anything that could make Percy close himeself off like that couldn't be good.
The introductions continued, with Poseidon nervously introducing himself as the boys father. Percy took one look at him, and raced to give him a hug. His mother may have explained what was happening, but all he knew was that this man claimed to be his father, and his father could make Smelly Gabe go away. Besides, if this was his future and he got to know his father now, then when he went back he could just go find his father again...
Once the introductions were over, Triton monopolized Percy, saying that he claimed older brother rights in getting to know his little bro first. He had also noticed the older Jackson's reactions to Gabe and went into full big brother mode.
Once everyone settled back down, with Percy and Annabeth leaning against Mrs. O'Leary, Zeus threw the book at Poseidon and told him to read.
Chapter two, Three old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death
He paused, already feeling like something bad was going to happen.
Percy paled and glanced at Annabeth nervously, he never told her about this. Quickly, he leaned over and whispered something in her ear. At first she looked terrified, then worried and confused, then mournful. Percy saw her face, sighed, and pulled her onto his lap, holding her close and whispering something else in her ear.
Percy and Annabeth watched this exchange, looked at each other, and looked away again just as quick, both blushing. Piper, Aphrodite, Athena and Poseidon noticed this.
Aphrodite and Piper were, uh, Aphroditeing out, and Athena and Poseidon looked at each other and realized that they needed to speak with their children about this. While Poseidon had absolutely no problem with those two being together, Athena sure did have a problem with it.
(I was used to... were over quickly.)
"What happened this time?" Percy asked his older self. The others were a little shocked that he was so casual about it, just what had happened to the kid in his 8 years of life?
Percy grinned, and told him all about Mrs. Dodds.
Percy nodded and turned to Sally, saying, "I told you math teachers were evil!"
Everyone chuckled. Yup, this was Percy Jackson alright.
Poseidon had to shake himself out of his shock, he thought he had a pretty good idea of what his son went through. He did watch the boy, guess he didn't watch him as well as he thought he did.
Even Sally was shocked. Just what had Percy not told her? Just how many teachers tried to kill him over the years?
(This twenty-four... some kind of trick on me.)
"Don't even think about it." Percy warned all the Stolls and Leo.
He may have just met Leo, but he knew that look from dealing with the Stolls for so long.
(The students acted... at me like I was psycho.)
Everyone, even Percy just looked at him like, "you are psycho." For that matter, only Sally and Poseidon restrained themselves.
Jason had been starting to warm up to Percy, having not slept that well the night before and having a lot of time to think about everything he'd heard yesterday before, and started to worry after he heard Percy call himself psycho.
Percy looked at Percy and grumbled something about traitors that only Annabeth heard, she laughed and kissed him on the nose, causing the younger pair to blush and look away. All while wondering how this happened.
For Annabeth, she was trying to figure out how she could be acting this way around the son of her mothers rival, Percy was just trying to figure out how a guy like him got a girl like that.
Athena once again tried to ignore them, still hoping it's a bad dream, while still resolving to talk to them later, while Poseidon smiled and decided that he didn't care. As long as she didn't hurt his son. It sounded to him like his son had enough problems in his life.
(It got so I... never existed.)
At the almost, all the futures and even some of those from the past turned to stare at both Grover's, having a pretty good idea of why Percy didn't believe them.
(Almost.)
At this one, everyone now turned to stare at the poor goats.
(But Grover couldn't... But I knew he was lying.)
At this, Clarisse chimed in, saying that it must be a goat thing, 'cause Hedge was the same way.
"Gleeson Hedge? The crazy guy?" Percy asked.
Jason, Leo, Piper, and Clarisse all agreed very loudly and empathetically. He was crazy alright.
(Something was... the museum.)
Many looks of, "really? Ya think?" Were thrown Percy's way, which he dutifully ignored.
(I didn't have much... wake me up in a cold sweat.)
All the demigods shuddered. Even Percy and Rachel.
All the gods looked on in interest, with only Apollo being unsurprised by their reactions.
Were demigod dreams really this bad?
(The freak weather... in my dorm room.)
Poseidon glared at Zeus. Percy noticed this, sighed, and said, "So dad, I know you don't like it, but Uncle had a good reason for being angry. Not that I'm ok with, uh, how he went about things, but, uh... you weren't entirely blameless either, but... Look, just, don't blow up everytime Zeus or Hades do something, uh, to me that you don't like, ok?"
The futures nodded, they knew what happened after all.
Luke just looked worried, he had a feeling he knew what Zeus's good reasons were. It sounds like they blamed Percy, which meant that Percy would have gone to investigate or something, which meant... he was going to be found out. CRAP.
The gods also looked worried. What could have possibly happened for this big a reaction from Zeus?
(A few days later... in the Atlantic that year.)
Artemis slowly stated that it sounded like Zeus and Poseidon were fighting about something.
All the futures looked at her, then at each other almost like they were asking how much to reveal, before Percy looked back up and nodded.
All the gods paled at this. It sounded like they were really going at it. And when Zeus and Poseidon started going at it, EVERYONE needed to duck and cover.
(I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time.)
Sally just sighed, while all the Sea people looked at each other. This kid had a very strong connection with the ocean if it could affect his moods like that.
Maybe they should bring him undersea for some special training, if there was really a war brewing he would need it.
(My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.)
Athena would have opened her mouth, probably to go on a long rant on stupid sea-spawn demigods but Poseidon hurriedly and loudly kept reading.
(I got into more... almost every class.)
All the demigods looked sympathetic. They had all had to deal with that one person in their schools. Well, back when they went to school in the mortal world.
(Finally, when our... I called him an old sot.)
Giggling started to erupt from those who knew what it meant, as well as glances in Mr. D's direction
(I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.)
The giggling turned into full blown laughter as everybody joined in. It got even harder to stop when Annabeth finally caved to Percy's pleading look and told him what it meant.
Now everybody was looking to Mr. D. And he was glaring right back.
(The headmaster sent... to Yancy Academy.)
All three of the Jackson's glanced at each other and shrugged. Wasn't the first time, wouldn't be (in Percy's case), and wasn't (Sally and Percy) the last.
The other mother's in the room were a little shocked at Sally's reaction. Was this really that common? She couldn't really be ok with her son getting kicked out of school, or maybe she was just resigned to the fact that a demigod like Percy couldn't last long in school.
Oh well, guess she knows her son better than they do, they figured.
(Fine, I told myself. Just fine.
I was homesick.)
Those who knew Sally smiled, of course. Even those who just met her were already jealous of Percy for having her.
(I wanted to be... his stupid poker parties.)
Nico looked confused, "You throw poker parties, Paul? And I don't think you're obnoxious."
While all those from the past stared at him like he was nuts, all the future Greeks looked at him gratefully, they had all seen the Jacksons flinch at hearing about Gabe. They didn't know what happened with him, but they didn't want attention called to it until it had to be.
Sure, they wanted to know, but they also knew that discussing it would be the last thing Percy wanted to do right now.
Triton really wanted to help his little brother, both of them, but he didn't even know exactly what the problem was yet.
Nico's dumb comment just took the attention off them for a while longer.
Paul smiled, he knew what Nico was trying to do, and he went along with it, explaining as quickly as possible that this was Sally's ex.
(And yet... there... the smell of pine trees.)
Thalia aww'd, making the futures who knew laugh, and everybody else kind of confused. That sounded like an inside joke more than just simple teasing.
Percy, however, went several shades of red, and dove into Annabeth's hair, muttering, "nope, nope, nope."
(I'd miss Grover,... next year without me.)
"Well, ignore the strange part and I'll go with it." Grover said and grinned. He knew what Percy meant.
(I'd miss Latin class... that I could do well.)
Chiron smiled, happy that Percy liked his class despite his obvious classroom problems.
Then again, he did try to make it as ADHD and demigod friendly as possible knowing there was a demigod in there.
(As exam week got... but I'd started to believe him.)
All the demigods nodded in approval. 'Always listen the centaur, you might live longer,' was a common saying at CHB.
(The evening before... across my dorm room.)
Poseidon started to read faster hoping to cut Athena off. Even both Annabeth's were glaring at Percy. Not that he really blamed them, Athena wouldn't shut up about it for weeks when her daughter wrote that book.
(Words had started... were riding skateboards.)
At this, the Annabeth's stopped glaring and instead made various sounds of understanding.
Meanwhile, the other dyslexic demigods looked shocked that he had managed to put that into words.
(There was no way... Chiron and Charon,)
Annabeth and Grover started laughing while Percy pouted beside them.
At first Nico looked very confused, but then a look of understanding passed his face as he asked, "he didn't? Tell me he didn't." And then all the Underworld people understood.
Although when he had to go to the Underworld and why was beyond them.
Annabeth couldn't speak for laughing too hard, so she just nodded.
Now all the Underworlders were cracking up, even Hades, to many people's confusion.
When they finally calmed down, Hades looked at Percy and said, "nephew, you have a death wish."
To which Percy grinned and leaned over to Hazel and Frank, whispering something in their ears that clearly amused them. In fact, all the Romans looked amused by Hades choice of words. The future Greeks just looked like, "yeah, what else is new?"
(or Polydictes and... Forget it.)
"But you were doing just fine with them yesterday." Hazel said, slightly confused. Percy just shrugged, while the gods looked on. A Greek demigod should not be just fine with Latin.
(I paced the room... inside my shirt.)
"And how do you know what that one feels like?" Chiron asked, wondering if he really wanted to know the answer to that.
In answer, all the futures just pointed to the Stolls, who had the decency to look scared for their lives that the others clearly weren't over THAT fiasco.
Everyone else just simply understood that if the demigods weren't telling, they didn't want to know.
(I remembered... you, Percy Jackson.)
"Hey, Perce, on the bright side, if he didn't push you so hard, we would all be dead." Nico said cheerfully.
Needless to say, some people slowly and carefully shifted away from him. They loved him, but that kid was just creepy sometimes.
Others in the room just looked at Percy in awe, making him shift uncomfortably.
(I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.)
Sally, Paul, and Annabeth froze. Was he...?
(I'd never asked... I hadn't tried.)
The jaws of Paul, Sally, and Annabeth hit the floor. As did Athena's and Thalia's.
The Hermes kids and Leo were all lamenting Percy's turn to the 'darkside'.
(I walked downstairs... stretching across the hallway floor.)
Grover groaned, he had wondered just how much of this conversation Percy heard.
Everyone near him looked at him curiously, what was wrong?
(I was three steps"...worried about Percy, sir.")
"Ugh, you would hear the whole conversation except for five words!" Grover groaned out. He sighed, "No wonder you were so curious on the bus."
Everyone now understood what the problem was. This would have been one conversation Percy wasn't supposed to hear, and he did.
(I froze.)
Sally and many of the other mothers in the room looked reprimanding.
The Percy's saw this and gulped. Luckily for Percy, he had Annabeth to hide behind, although she wasn't exactly the best shield, she kept moving. Percy ended up diving behind Triton.
Poseidon finally took pity on his sons and kept reading.
(I'm not usually... about you to an adult.)
All the demigods nodded in agreement. They've all been there, done that.
The mothers looked at each other in exasperation. Kids. What was worse is that it looked like it would be useless to lecture them, especially when they all had to admit that eavesdropping may have saved their lives at some point.
(I inched closer... and they know too-")
"They?" asked Percy.
"Monsters, gods, other enemies." Annabeth said casually.
"Annabeth!" Sally reprimanded.
Annabeth looked up, "Huh?" then she realized that it had been Percy to ask that, not her Seaweed Brain. Woops. She was so used to answering Percy's dumb questions without thinking too much about it that it hadn't occurred to her to check which Percy was asking the question.
She was saved by Triton being a big brother and whispering something in his ear that calmed him down.
Poseidon looked very proud at that scene.
("We would only... to mature more.")
The futures couldn't help it, the thought of a mature Percy was just too funny.
While Percy just sat there and sulked, muttering something about traitors under his breath, it took them a good twenty minutes to calm down, and that was with the ever patient Zeus firing lightning bolts over their heads to get their attention. He did not appreciate not having their undivided attention.
Even the Romans were too far gone to notice him, and they had a thing about showing gods the utmost respect.
("But he may... solstice deadline-")
"Ok, first we have something happening on the winter solstice, which was yesterday before all of you showed up, then we have Zeus and Poseidon fighting since Christmas, and now we have a summer solstice deadline. WOULD ONE OF YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Athena did not like not knowing what was going on. Although if she would have just remembered the title of the book she would know...
Percy, for some reason, glanced at Luke, before telling her that they would just have to read and find out, if they just up and spoiled everything then that would defeat the purpose of them being there.
Everyone was silent, until, "I suppose that makes sense, but I still want to know what's going on here." She grumbled that last part so that nobody else heard her.
Everyone stared at Percy. Did a sea-spawn really just get Athena to see sense about something? He just grinned, happy that he had finally been able to one-up Athena.
Annabeth was just amused. He had finally done it, that had been one of his main goals for several years now.
("Will have to be... while he still can.")
Percy spluttered for a bit before he could remember how to make words come out of his mouth, "IGNORANCE?! ENJOY IT?! Chiron you're crazy if you think I was enjoying thinking I had gone nuts!" He finally got it out.
Meantime, people were laughing at the sight of the Hero of Olympus literally speechless.
("Sir, he saw her..." to convince him of that.")
Percy settled for glaring at the centaur this time, who had the decency to look ashamed.
("Sir, I... I can't fail in my duties again.")
Thalia growled, Zeus glared.
(Grover's voice... would mean.")
Thalia couldn't take it anymore, neither could Annabeth for that matter, Thalia was just Thalia. "YOU DIDN'T FAIL YOU STUPID GOAT! You got Luke and Annabeth to safety, it was MY. CHOICE!"
Both Grover's flinched. They had made Thalia angry, you did not make Thalia angry.
But then, Thalia did the unexpected, she pulled the both of them into a bear hug. Muttering something under her breath as she did so that only the Grover's could hear. Whatever it was, it cheered them up.
("You haven't failed, Grover,")
Thalia pointedly looked at them, they both looked sheepish
(Mr. Brunner said... alive until next fall-")
Grover and Annabeth sighed, they, better than most, knew just how big a job that was. Despite his skill and strength, he got into more deadly situations than they had ever thought possible.
Grover looked over at Frank and Hazel and told them, "Good luck."
They paled, wondering just what they were being thrown into. Frank had been ordered this quest, and he had been ordered to take Percy along. It had been a no-brainer for him to bring Hazel along too, now they were starting to wonder if they were going to survive being thrown into Percy's life.
Because if his best friend was wishing them luck on keeping him alive... and Grover didn't even know where they were going! It could just be down the road for a massive shopping expedition for all he knew!
(The mythology book... floor with a thud.)
"NO!" All the Hermes crew screamed (that includes Apollo and Leo), making everybody not used to their antics jump a few feet in the air.
"Rule number 100, never give yourself away!" Luke said. Hey, he may be angry, and a traitor, but when it comes to mischief and trickery, he is still a son of Hermes.
Hazel was confused enough about the 'rule number 100' thing to ask Luke what he was talking about.
In response, he pulled out, 'Hermes rules for trickery and mischief' and threw it at her, telling her to read it.
It was pretty thick and heavy, so Percy took pity on her and intercepted it. When he handed it to her, she was shocked at how heavy it seemed. It hadn't seemed like it would be this heavy when Percy caught it so easily. And here she thought she was strong from all her Roman training.
The futures laughed when they saw her face after feeling how heavy it was and designated Clarisse to explaining.
"We get those books thrown at us a lot, that and we have our own, ah, special, weight training." She said. All the Greeks grinned evilly about the special training bit, but refused to elaborate, which kind of scared Chiron, he knew nothing about any special training. He was the activities director, he had to approve all training activities!
Suddenly, Clarisse grinned evilly. She turned to Percy and just said, "Prissy..."
He looked up and grinned too. "Tonight?" She nodded. The other futures looked excited, the Stolls started silently taking bets.
Not even Leo, Piper, or Jason knew what she was talking about, and they'd been at camp for a few months now. In fact, nobody had any clue what was going on except for those who were at CHB during the war.
Hazel was curious, so she looked in the back to see how many rules they had. Over 1000! And here she thought the Mercury kids were bad, at least they had Roman discipline.
(Mr. Brunner went silent... backed down the hall.)
"Good! Rule number-" Luke was cut off by all the Greeks yelling, "We know! Rule number 101!"
To say they had the rule book memorized just through the sheer number of times a Hermes camper quoted it to them was an understatement, they could probably quote it in their sleep by now.
The Hermes crew were proud that the rest of the Greeks had it memorized, while the rest of the throne room were terrified.
(A shadow slid... an archer's bow.)
Athena was miffed that Chiron of all people was out in the open like that, seemingly not caring about the need for secrecy. There was only so much the Mist could hide after all, and the last thing they needed if they were already dealing with Zeus and Poseidon, was a bunch of mortals panicking. "Chiron, why were you in the open like that?"
Chiron didn't know, this was the future for him, so he looked to Grover to answer.
Grover shrugged and said, "His legs were falling asleep, besides, all the students were supposed to either be asleep or studying." He turned to glare at Percy, who just shrugged innocently.
(I opened the... glass, then moved on.)
"Woah, woah, woah! Are you seriously telling me that with your nose, you didn't smell him?!" To say Leo was a little mad about this was an understatement. The number of times Chiron stopped a prank or something just by smelling him nearby when he had said he would be in the Bunker...
Chiron looked thoughtful, "I believe that due to him living there for so long, his scent was all over the place, that and the fact that he had not been around his step-father for so long, that stench was wearing off, so he no longer smelled so, awful."
Leo still looked a little annoyed, but he accepted the explanation. Although he did have to wonder just how bad this Gabe guy smelled.
Again, only the futures, Annabeth, Athena, and Triton noticed the Jackson's reaction to hearing about Gabe.
Just what had that man done to them? Now they really wanted to know, they couldn't help if they didn't know the problem.
Triton also started to notice that whenever he touched Percy on the back, he flinched. Just barely, almost like he was trying not to, but it was there.
Mrs. O'Leary was also showing concern for her human, she nuzzled him when she felt him flinch that time. He was usually so strong, what was wrong with her human?
(A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.)
Everyone waited for the moment where Percy was caught and everything was finally explained, thinking that Chiron and Grover would tell him what was going on, all of it.
(Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing,")
Everybody groaned, he was so close to being caught and them getting their answers!
(he murmured... the winter solstice.")
Athena grumbled about not getting the answers she wanted but thought it best not to say anything. They weren't going to tell her anyway, so why bother wasting time. She figured the quicker they read, the quicker she got her answers.
("Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn...")
Grover sighed and finished his statement, "I felt Percy's messed up emotions."
Percy grinned. He liked it that he wasn't easy to read. Let him keep some secrets.
Grover nodded, Percy's emotions were crazy. He almost missed when Grover muttered that not even having an empathy link with the guy made it any easier.
He paled slightly. Those things were dangerous, and if Percy was really in as much danger all the time as everyone kept implying...
("Go back to... of exams tomorrow.")
All the demigods groaned. Athena refrained herself from reprimanding them on the importance of exams by reminding herself of their ADHD and dyslexia. Those couldn't have made exams anything but a headache, especially if it really felt like the letters were doing 180's on skateboards.
She started going over and revising her plans from last night to make schooling easier for demigods. Although, maybe she should extend that to all ADHD and/or dyslexic children, afterall, not all of them were demigods.
("Don't remind me."... seemed like forever.)
Percy muttered about stupid ADHD. All those who heard him that had ADHD agreed. In battle, it was very useful. In everyday life, not so much.
(Finally, I... he'd been there all night.)
Percy muttered something unflattering about goats and sudden abilities to lie.
Grover just grinned, thank goodness he had been able to pull that lie off. Otherwise Percy would have found an opening to question him. Since Percy didn't want him knowing he had eavesdropped, he couldn't have asked ANYTHING unless Grover had made it obvious he had been up to something earlier.
("Hey," he... for this test?")
"Ummm, when is anybody ever ready for a test?" Nico asked.
Everyone just nodded in agreement, even the Annabeth's. And her mother was Athena. She was naturally smart.
(I didn't answer... started getting ready for bed.)
Athena couldn't take it anymore. "Please tell me that you now know that satyrs can read emotions."
Percy grinned, she finally realized that at this point in the book, he hadn't known any of this was real. He hadn't missed the looks she sent him whenever his "stupidity" was evident.
It was Grover that answered though, "Actually, Lady Athena, Percy's emotions are such a jumbled, crazy whirlwind that I can't read them. Even with an empathy link. In fact, no satyr can read him. Nobody knows why either."
Athena was trying to wrap her head around this concept, someone who couldn't be read?
Poseidon cleared his throat and said, "Actually, Grover, that might be my fault. The sea, you know. Doesn't like to contained, and it's always changing."
Suddenly so much of how Percy acted sometimes made so much more sense to everybody. And Grover was just glad that some of the mystery was cleared up.
It took a while for some of them to remember that Grover had also mentioned an empathy link, but before they could ask, Poseidon continued reading.
(I didn't understand... the whole thing.)
Clarisse snorted, "Please, as much as I don't want to admit it, even you're not that crazy." Everyone who knew how their relationship worked was shocked.
But they also didn't know about the Chariot incident. And if either of them had any say in it, they never will. Which meant that the Fates were probably going to have it brought up at some point.
(But one thing was... some kind of danger.)
Nico looked at Percy, and innocently asked when he wasn't. Nobody bought the innocent routine.
Percy knew he was asking in hopes that he could later convince Hazel to not go on this quest with him. He didn't really trust Percy with his sisters. Not that Percy blamed him, of course...
He pretended to think about it, then he answered, "When I'm with people I trust." He sounded casual enough, but Nico got the message, drop it.
(The next...-hour Latin exam,)
"WHAT?!" All the demigods started glaring at Chiron mutinously.
(my eyes swimming... called me back inside.)
"Oh this can't end well." Came from most of the demigods. They figured they knew what Chiron was up to, and it wouldn't end well.
Chiron wasn't exactly the best at cheering people up.
Chiron was just confused, what was wrong with him wanting to talk to Percy about leaving? For he was pretty sure that's what he wanted.
(For a moment,... It's... it's for the best.")
Everybody groaned.
"Oh boy."
"This is not going to end well."
"Chiron, we gotta teach you how to cheer somebody up, when's free Trav?"
"Put him down for Monday at 7 O'clock, Connor."
"You got it Bro."
All this and more was heard from the demigods, even the Romans.
Meanwhile, Mrs. O'Leary was growling at Chiron, she did not appreciate her human being talked down to like that. Percy smiled and scratched her head
Chiron was confused, (and a little worried, lessons with the Stolls were not going to end well, that and he just got on the bad side of a tame hellhound, those things were fiercely loyal) what was so bad about him wanting to cheer up a student?
Annabeth cleared up his confusion by pointing out that nobody wanted to hear that they weren't good enough for some place, that and if the room wasn't empty, the other students were going to make it even worse.
(His tone was kind... with her lips.)
Annabeth gave Chiron a look, like "see?"
He looked away and muttered about having these conversations in private in the future.
(I mumbled, "Okay, sir... It was only a matter of time.")
Now everybody was starting to glare at the old horse.
Triton was holding Percy about as close as the kid would let him while staring at Chiron, almost as if to protect him from Chiron's pep talk.
Poseidon noticed Triton's being a big brother and smiled. He loved it when his children all got along.
(My eyes stung... destined to get kicked out.)
By this point, Sally started shaking in anger, she didn't move though, she could control herself. Besides, it wouldn't do much good considering for her this has already happened and for them it hasn't happened yet. Ugh, she hated time travel!
Chiron was feeling proud that Percy considered him to be his favorite teacher.
("Right," I said... That's nothing to be-")
"While it is a good thing that Percy is not normal, nobody likes hearing about it Chiron." Annabeth groaned.
Clarisse, Grover, and Percy snickered at her use of the word 'nobody', much to everybodies confusion.
("Thanks," I blurted... was already gone.)
By about the middle of that whole exchange, Paul had to put his hand on Sally's shoulder, she was so angry he was scared she might fly at Chiron and attack.
She refrained herself only by reminding herself that Percy was capable of taking care of himself and didn't like her fighting his battles.
(On the last day... my suitcase.)
Sally muttered, "and out comes the ironing board."
Which both Percy's heard and both scratched the backs of their heads sheepishly, which everyone was amused by.
(The other guys were... juvenile delinquents.)
Sally sighed, she had always wanted to take Percy to those places, do those things with him, but... There was just never enough money, and the fact that they couldn't fly there, which only left a special favor from Poseidon, which could have drawn attention and only put Percy in more danger.
That and Gabe would have never let them go even if there was money. Oh, how she regretted marrying that man. She had to keep reminding herself that Percy was safe with him around. She was the only one being hit. At least, that's what she thought anyway.
(Their daddies were... of nobodies.)
Annabeth smirked. "Nobody."
That alone was enough to send Clarisse, Grover, and Percy over the edge. They took a good 10 to 20 minutes to calm down, because every so often one of them would choke out something else like; mango chutney, or sheep meat, or some other such nonsense that none of them understood.
They were all starting to wonder just what these demigods got up to for them to have inside jokes this... strange. Although, if Clarisse was in on it... the other Futures had a feeling that it had something to do with how they got their hands on the Fleece.
Finally Percy leaned over to Annabeth and whispered something in her ear that made her blush and kiss him on the cheek.
Ok, Athena really needed to have a talk with her daughter.
While Clarisse and Grover didn't know what was said, they had a feeling they knew what it was.
(They asked me what I'd be doing this summer)
'That was nice, for a bunch of boys.' Artemis and Zoe thought.
(and I told them... to school in the fall.)
'Is that really what he did while I was work?' Sally thought. 'But I thought he said he hung out in the park or his room most of the time.' Out loud, she said, "Percy, you didn't have to do all that, we were never that bad off you know."
The Percy's just looked at each other and silently agreed to tell her later if the books didn't bring it up. If they did, then they would tell her sooner.
Percy was just tired of lying about it, while Percy was just at the point of having to get
creative in how he covered it all up. How Percy had hid it for so long, he would never know.
Sally didn't miss the exchange, and wondered if she was really so blind that she had missed something that was obviously very large and she clearly had no clue.
("Oh," one of the... I'd never existed.)
'Nevermind,' Both Artemis and Zoe were a little disgusted that these boys could be so dismissive, at least to another boy.
(The only person... into the city.)
"Stalker alert!" Nico yelled! Everyone laughed, for two reasons.
One, because it was funny and very random.
Two, because now both Grover's were being held back from killing Nico.
(During the whole... something bad to happen.)
"And now?" Percy asked innocently. Which, of course, everyone knows he's not.
"I no longer expect stuff to happen. I KNOW stuff will happen."
Nobody noticed Frank and Hazel paling, or the other Romans looking at them in sympathy. They felt like they had been thrown on the roller coaster that was Percy's life without being asked if it was ok with them, or telling them what the ride would entail.
Percy, meanwhile, patted Grover on the head and said, "Good boy. You are now ready for life."
It took a while for those not used to their antics to calm down. The futures just looked on, bored, this wasn't anything new.
(Before, I'd always... him on the Greyhound.)
"Except for the person sitting beside him." Nico suggested innocently. The snickers only got louder when Percy answered him.
"Yeah, I guess except for the per- NICO! I was the one sitting by him!"
Snickers got louder when Percy starting chasing Nico around the room, a bucket of water in his hand. At least, they thought it was in a bucket, until they got a closer look at it and realized that it was a water blob shaped like a bucket, with no actual bucket.
When Percy finally caught up to him, he got soaked. With a whole lot more water than Percy originally had in his "bucket."
The Sea-folk were impressed. The boy had quite the control over his water powers. They didn't say anything though because then Zeus would just get his paranoid self all worked up, and then Hestia would have to make him sit back down and shut up, and that would just be too much to have to sit through.
Besides, Zeus was already looking at Percy suspiciously.
Nico looked to the Sea people to dry him off, but none of them would. They had a standing rule when it came to other people's work, see. Never undo somebodies rather impressive handiwork.
(Finally I couldn't... for Kindly Ones?")
Grover looked indignant, "You gave me a heart attack!"
Percy just grinned innocently.
(Grover nearly... night before the exam.)
All the Hermes crew groaned, "Rule number-"
"WE KNOW!"
(Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?")
Grover remembered what Percy had told him, "Oh not much, yeah right." He was grumbling for a while.
("Oh... not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?")
"Not much, just all of it." Clarisse said sarcastically.
(He winced. "Look... demon math teachers...")
"Seriously, man? You were still trying that?" This time it was Jason. He was starting to see why everybody liked Percy so much. It was just taking a lot of time to sink in. That, and Thalia spoke to him last night after Sally chased them off to bed. Something about their fatal flaw being pride and power. She said to get a hold on it, because they don't call them "fatal" for nothing.
Annabeth and Nico looked thoughtful. Annabeth wondered out loud that that was where he got it from... leaving everybody else to either look concerned or confused.
("Grover-" "And I... person as Mrs. Dodds, and...")
"Aww, come on, man! Just give it up, your covers been blown sky high!" Said the ever hyper Leo.
Both Grover's just turned very, very pink.
("Grover, you're a really, really bad liar.")
Everybody nodded. Grover starting going to a very dark pink. Just a little more and he would be a strawberry red.
(His ears turned pink.)
Grover now bypassed strawberries and threatened to become a color that not even Aphrodite could name. And she knew her colors, being the love goddess and all who obsessed over clothes.
(From his shirt... out something like:)
"Dionysus." Zeus warned. He seemed to remember having a discussion with him about making the campers lives harder.
He looked up innocently. "What? Just because they can't read it doesn't mean anything, besides, it's funny watching them try reading it."
Piper, Leo, and the Romans were confused. What did Dionysus have to do with camp business cards.
When Piper mentioned it to Percy though, he looked at her like she was crazy. Finally, he looked to Annabeth as if asking, "Did I miss something here?"
She laughed and explained to the 'newbies' that Dionysus was the camp director, when he wasn't recalled to Olympus because Zeus had a bout of extreme paranoia.
The Romans were a little envious that the Greeks were being run by a god, and very confused when Percy told them that they were lucky to have Praetors.
Grover Underwood
Keeper
Half-Blood Hill
Long Island, New York
(800) 009-0009
"Huh, what would happen if the wrong person got a hold of those cards? That so conveniently have your address right there?" Reyna asked. It was a fair question in her mind, those cards seemed like a security risk to her.
Chiron smiled. "If any but a half-blood or a satyr were to touch them, they disappear, that is part of their magic."
That got Reyna's attention, maybe they could get something like that for Camp Jupiter...
("What's Half-"... summer address.")
"Grover! Did you or did you not just spend the entire school year surrounded by rich kids and one kid struggling with money." Annabeth demanded.
Grover just looked at her like he hadn't thought of that. Percy just looked amused.
(My heart sank... the others at Yancy.)
Everyone else sighed and shook their heads at Grover. They didn't even bother to point out to Percy that it wasn't like that, he hadn't known any better at this point in the books.
("Okay," I said... your mansion.")
Everybody face-palmed, both at Grover for not realizing how his friend would take that, and at Percy for jumping to conclusions like that
(He nodded. "Or... or if you need me.")
Everybody now started repeatedly smacking their foreheads, either that or glaring at Grover for not cutting Percy off, instead he encouraged it!
("Why would I need you?")
Both Sally and Paul looked at Percy reproachfully. He gulped and jumped behind Mrs. O'Leary to get away from them.
(It came out harsher than I meant it to.)
Paul and Sally's reproachful looks softened slightly, at least he knows when he's being mean.
(Grover blushed right... defended me.)
Grover looked touched that Percy had lost sleep over him. Percy grinned over at him from around the dog and said, "any time, man. Any time."
("Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?")
Percy decided that it was safe to come out from behind Mrs. O'Leary, grumbling as he did so about why he couldn't have a normal life.
Grover and Annabeth sighed, they were also starting to wonder what a normal life was, especially years of hanging out with Percy.
For them, normal was hanging at camp, helping him sort out whatever fiasco the Stolls started that time, or watching Blackjack come get him to sort some issue out with the sea creatures in the lake, or leaving camp and fighting for their lives all the time, or being blamed for stealing something and/or racing to make sure nobody else stole something... oh to be a normal teenager again.
(There was a huge... side of the highway.)
Immediately, the light mood in the throne room vanished. Percy, Grover, and Annabeth tensed up. They knew what was coming.
Percy and Grover because they had never told anybody about this, well, except for when Percy told Annabeth at the beginning of the chapter. They knew Sally would be mad at them for not telling her, Poseidon would be freaking out... Percy and Triton would probably have to cocoon him again... they really didn't want to die by overprotective parent.
Annabeth was tense because, while she may know what was about to happen, with everything going on back in their time with Percy being gone and about to go on another quest, without her this time, she really didn't want to hear about him meeting the Fates and watching them cut a string, even if it was Luke's.
Everyone else just knew that something had to have happened on that highway. For one thing, they saw the Trio tense up, for another, just face it, nothing ever good happens to demigods stranded on the side of the highway.
(After a few minutes... old-fashioned fruit stand.)
Several of the gods froze. An old fruit stand in the middle of nowhere that just happens to be near one of the most powerful demigods ever? Not good. It couldn't be...Them... could it?
(The stuff on sale... of socks I'd ever seen.)
All the gods unfroze and turned to stare at Percy. How was this kid still alive?
The demigods, especially Percy were starting to get really nervous now. Anything that could make the gods worry like this was not good. The only thing keeping them semi-calm was the fact that Percy was still sitting right here. But still, those three old ladies didn't sound good at all.
Percy was just drooling at the sound of the food. He hadn't really had much to eat this morning, just what little of the cookies the others let him have. Add that to the chase, then he had to fight them off, which really wasn't fair. Sure, he's the best fighter in century's, but not even he can fight off 11 cookie crazed demigods, one mortal with a plastic hairbrush (and she knows how to use that thing!), and a satyr playing really bad reed-pipes.
Hestia noticed him drooling and figured it was the food description, she looked at her watch and announced that they can take a food break after the next chapter.
The biggest cheer came from Percy. He had almost forgotten that he might get death by concerned mother soon.
(I mean these... electric-blue yarn.)
Now everybody realizes who they are. "The Fates." Clarisse breathed.
Frank and Hazel stared at Percy in horror. He saw the Fates when he was younger, and yet he still went on dangerous quests all the time?! He was fine going on this one to ALASKA?! Granted he hadn't remembered meeting the Fates, but still.
He noticed the looks he was getting and nervously looked over towards his mother. She looked furious, and worried. Oh boy, did she look worried. But she wasn't at the 'Percy Jackson you kept secrets from me you are dead meat' stage. Yet. Funny thing about Sally Jackson, she only got mad and yelled when she was very, very worried.
(All three women... bleached cotton dresses.)
Nearly everyone except the Underworlders shivered at the description. It made them sound like they looked dead.
(The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.)
If you looked at the complexion of Sally, and then Poseidon, you would notice that they looked like ghosts. However, everyone else was too busy worrying about the future state of their well-being, because, well, you just didn't do what they did and get away with it.
Sally, Poseidon, and Percy all muttered some very unflattering things about the Fates that resulted in them being buried alive under piles of books.
Needless to say, it took a while to dig them out, even with Mrs. O'Leary helping. When they were finally dug out, a note from the old ladies themselves appeared.
Dear Jackson's and Poseidon,
Continue to speak like that about us and we will not send you our surprise at the end of this chapter. You may not like it at first, but it will make for good... anger management. Give you something to take your frustrations out on without worrying about breaking the throne room.
The Fates
P.S. Its never a good idea to say such things about the beings that control whether you live or die.
They were all confused, surprise?
Percy and Poseidon were just happy, they could finally vent their frustrations on something!
They had both been holding back in order to avoid causing the throne room to collapse by earthquake, or flood, Percy had to hold back a hurricane a couple of times when Gabe was mentioned... he was just glad nobody noticed.
Poseidon decided to keep reading. The sooner the finished this chapter, the sooner he could vent in a way that didn't endanger everyone's lives.
As he did, the tension that had disappeared with the three getting buried under books came back.
(I looked over at... His nose was twitching.)
At this point, Percy had to use his control over water to make sure everyone was still breathing. They were.
He also had to get Triton to loosen his grip on Percy. The kid was starting to turn blue, not that the kid complained, he had always wanted an older brother.
Percy was just a little jealous, his younger self was getting the brothering he never got.
The farther along this went, the more and more tense everybody became.
("Grover?" I said... Not funny at all.")
Although, it did get a few tense chuckles out of the listening crowd.
(The old lady in... Grover catch his breath.)
Everyone else did the same. Percy was starting to get really uncomfortable from all the glances he was getting, but he figured that them reminding themselves that he was still there was all that was keeping them in their seats and somewhat calm.
He did have to help a few of them out when they started hyperventilating though.
Just don't ask him how he managed it, he had no idea. It wasn't until later that Poseidon realized what Percy had done, and the two of them were going to have a little chat about his powers. They were impressive, but it was clear that while Percy had an amazing amount of control over them, it wasn't enough to be safe.
For now, though, nobody noticed anything odd about how any of them were still breathing normally. They were too tense and focused on the book.
("We're getting on... but I stayed back.)
Everybody broke out of their 'stupors' just to groan and complain about how Percy never listens when his safety is involved.
Mrs. O'Leary growled in agreement with them. Her human had no thought for his own safety.
(Across the road... four lanes of traffic.)
Now Percy was freaking out a little. He's pretty sure several people stopped breathing. He had to triple check that they were, thankfully, the only one to have stopped breathing was his father, but that was easily solved. He just made another salt-water cocoon around him around until his breathing was back. The others... he didn't know what to do if they stopped breathing from shock.
He's just glad that they're all too absorbed in the book to start ranting about why he never told them (the futures Greeks), why he kept doing dangerous things when he saw the Fates (the Romans and futures), or trying to wrap him in a bubble for the rest of his life to keep him safe (Poseidon, Amphitrite surprisingly enough, and Mrs. O'Leary).
(Her two friends...- Sasquatch or Godzilla.)
That didn't get a chuckle this time. Instead it got glares, although a few of the futures looked more fond then actually mad.
Trust Percy to come out of a potentially life threatening situation joking about it.
(A the rear of... roared back to life.)
Now that the ladies were gone, the tension started to leave the room, much to Percy's relief, he considered himself a pretty laid back guy, and when things get too tense he tends to do what he can to lighten things up again. He did it all the time during the Titan War, when things got too tense, or when the campers started tensing up too much, he's crack a joke, make them smile. Keep things as light as possible in serious situations. In his opinion, if you went into a battle a nervous, tense wreck, you stood more of a chance of loosing.
However, in this situation, he had felt that it would be bad for his health to start cracking jokes to lighten things up. Even the Stolls, who usually helped him to lighten stuff up, hadn't looked to be in the mood to deal with his tension relieving methods.
Leo snorted, "Naturally, the bus just happened to start again right then... hold on." He suddenly turned to Percy, "Do you remember what that metal the driver pulled out of the engine looked like?"
Percy looked thoughtful as he slowly described how he remembered it to look. Everyone watched in amazement as Beckendorf, Leo, and their father turned an angry shade of red. They refused to say what that part had been, all Leo would do was ask his father through gritted teeth if it had been magic that made the bus start again. Turns out, that piece of metal, whatever it was, was one of the parts that made the engine an engine and not a useless piece of metal. (a/n, I know cars, I swear, just not that well)
(The passengers cheered... I'd caught the flu.)
Everybody now started looking at Percy like he was suddenly going to die right in front of them.
Percy sighed as he realized that he would probably have to tell people that it wasn't his. He had been hoping to avoid this because he knew that the futures would probably figure it out, and while he knew that they all knew better than to say anything in the hopes that it wasn't too late for this Luke, he knew that it would bring up bad memories, and no matter how he phrased this, the younger kids would just get depressed at the thought of people they might know dying.
Sure, they were demigods, and the life of a demigod is tough, but really, at this point only Annabeth and Luke knew what it was to lose somebody like that. None of these past kids had lived in a war yet.
Quietly, he told the room at large that the string wasn't his, that it belonged to a... a friends. Yeah, a friends.
At first, the future Greeks were confused, but then they realized that Percy and Luke had actually been really close, Luke had acted like a mentor to Percy before trying to kill him and leaving camp. And the Fates themselves had carried Luke's body out of the throne room.
Mrs. O'Leary sensed his sadness and nudged him before licking him on the head. He chuckled softly and reached up to scratch her head.
The past kids were, just as Percy predicted, sad at the thought of somebody they knew dying. Percy saw Annabeth hugging Luke like she would never let go, like she was scared of losing him. The sight broke his heart, partly seeing his WiseGirl like that, albeit a younger WiseGirl, and partly because he knew that it was Luke.
(Grover didn't look... were chattering.)
Zeus raised his eyebrows at this. While he was still mad at the satyr for letting his daughter die, she had made it quite clear that she didn't blame him for that, so he knew it would be unwise to say anything about the goat's cowardice. Besides, his daughter was clearly alive and not a tree in the future, so no permanent harm done. But how his nephew was still alive with a satyr like this assigned as his protector was beyond him.
And that's another thing, he needs to speak with his brothers about that. Although he supposes that it's not really that surprising for Hades to have been the one to keep the oath, despite the fact that it was forced on him. He has an infuriating habit of keeping ALL his promises, so many good pranks ruined because he couldn't get Hades to help...
("Grover?"... telling me?")
"EVERYTHING!" is what basically everybody yelled at the same time.
Percy hadn't been paying any attention whatsoever to what was going on as he was busy playing with Annabeth's hair, so he jumped a few feet in the air at the sudden noise.
Athena had noticed him playing with her daughter's hair and growled. She was going to have a little chat with her daughter next break.
It took everyone a few minutes to calm down so they could finish reading this chapter, for Poseidon had informed them that it was almost done.
(He dabbed his... the fruit stand?")
Everyone started to wonder where Grover was going with this, even Grover couldn't remember, until he remembered that he hadn't seen what happened since he was already on the bus.
("You mean the... Mrs. Dodds, are they?")
People started to wonder if Percy was really observant, or just starting to freak out right now.
(His expression was... worse than Mrs. Dodds.)
'Well, if he wasn't freaking out before, he'll start now. And he is very observant.' Ran through several heads.
(He said, "Just tell... and she cut the yarn.")
"Well, when you put it like that, I can see how you're confused as to why this is such a big deal." Dionysus drawled. People jumped, they thought he was asleep.
(He closed his eyes... something almost- older.)
"You better watch out, you never know when he'll be watching," Poseidon quipped.
People started laughing as they realized that Percy had just compared to Santa Clause, in Poseidon's own unique way.
Why they wondered for years where Percy got his attitude is a mystery.
(He said, "You... it was a big deal.)
Everybody nodded seriously, then Hades informed the room that you should never take death lightly. The futures nodded grimly in agreement. They'd seen enough of their friends die. Several of their eyes found those from the past who wouldn't be there in the coming years.
Thankfully, none of those from the past noticed their looks. Percy silently told them to knock it off, they were going to scare some people. The Romans saw his silent 'commands' and wondered.
("This is not happening," Grover mumbled.)
Thalia groaned, "He's going to start going on about 'last time', isn't he?" When Percy nodded, she started banging her head on the couch and muttering something nobody could catch, but they had a feeling it was unflattering towards satyr's and pity parties.
(He started chewing... the last time.")
Thalia didn't even bother saying anything. She started banging her head harder, to the point where Apollo got concerned enough to stop her and start checking her for a head injury.
Well, he tried anyway. She sent him scrambling back to his throne yelping in a hail of arrows.
Zoe and Artemis looked distinctly proud at the future lieutenant.
("What last time?"... get past sixth.")
"Grover, now your just going to scare him. He doesn't know what's going on and your acting like he's about to die!" Katie exclaimed, finally having enough and feeling like she had to say something. Everyone jumped, they'd forgotten she was in the room. In fact, they looked around and there were several people they'd forgotten were there because they were so quiet.
Sally just looked disappointed that all this had happened and her son said nothing about it, then again, it sounds like there was a lot he never told her.
Grover looked down in shame and embarrassment.
("Grover," I said... to scare me.)
Katie looked pointedly at Grover which he tried to ignore.
("What are you... Promise me.")
The futures groaned, even the Romans. They all knew that Percy wasn't going to do that. Grover was just acting way too weird.
(This seemed like... he could.)
People sighed, Mrs. O'Leary whimpered. Yeah, that was one promise he probably hadn't kept.
Percy just grinned and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly while sending an apologetic look towards Grover.
Several people just wondered how this guy was still alive, while Percy was thinking that the next chapter would probably have HIM in it.
("Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.)
'Again, how is he so observant?'
(No answer.)
"Grover!" Grover turned red at this. He knew he could have handled that better, but he hadn't thought he was this bad.
("Grover- that... is going to die?")
"Yes, depends on whose string it is." Percy said matter-of-factly.
"Or, it could just be a warning for the one whose string it actually is, or a warning for someone else if it is somebody else's," Annabeth countered.
The futures groaned and cut wildly signaled Poseidon to keep reading. They did not want to sit through a Percy/Annabeth debate.
(He looked at me... best on my coffin.)
"So, what did you pick?" Percy asked Grover.
He thought about it, "You know, I was thinking some nice water-lily's, or even-"
Annabeth cut him off and asked in her best innocent voice, "How about some moon-lace?"
Percy froze, and his face went blank, which told the futures that he was wildly trying to come up with a response that would let him keep his head. "Ah, moon-lace? What made you think of that?" Everyone who didn't know wondered idly why he looked so nervous that the topic of moon-lace had come up.
Chiron knew though. Oh, how many demigods had he seen come back from Ogygia with moon-lace in their pockets. He hid a snicker, this should be fun to watch, but at the same time, he wanted to know what the surprise would be. The other immortals also knew that Ogygia was the only place that moon-lace grew naturally.
Before Annabeth could respond, Poseidon decided to take pity on his son and announce that the chapter was done, although he did remind Annabeth that Percy had come back, he hadn't stayed there, so let it go.
Poseidon tossed the book to Hades, and smirked when Hades glared between him and the thing in his hands. He sighed and opened it up to get this over with.
Before he could start though, 2 more people appeared. One mortal bound and gagged that made the Jackson's squeak in fear and hide behind someone, and a demigod with a scar on his face.
Ok. That's done. I would have had this up sooner, but the internet was weird in my dorms all night, I'd get some done, go to save it, and then the internet would crash. Get the internet back, rewrite what I lost, and then the internet would crash again next time I went to save and the cycle continued. Anyway, there it is.