It has been suggested, and I actually like this suggestion, to split the 'books' up into three. Have the first and second books together, and then start a new story for the third and fourth, with the fifth one and the Demigod Files coming after. I am planning to do the same thing with the next five and Demigod Diaries. We will see what happens when I get to that point though.

Younger kids with an older self. kids with no younger self. The Seven.

Normal talking, telepathy

Sadly, I do not and probably never will own Percy Jackson and associates. I really, really wish I did, though.

"This just might actually work." She muttered, pleased.

"Good. If Western Civilization is to survive, they need each other. They cannot be divided." Clotho commented.

"We should have done this years ago." Atropos sighed.

"It wouldn't have worked." Lachesis denied. "They needed somebody to bring them together." She watched Percy goof off with his friends.

"Our Champion will be what brings them together, and saves us all."

Three days after the end of the last book, the demigods were gathering in the front courtyard overlooking the city of Olympus. Since they were in the Fates time-bubble, everything outside of it appeared to be standing still. In fact, Piper was eyeing one Satyr in the street who was standing there with his arm raised as if he was in the process of calling out to somebody before being 'frozen'.

During the last few days, the demigods had done nothing but train and goof off, and Chiron was happy to see that they seemed much more settled then they had a few days ago. Poseidon and Hades had both come to him and complimented the training Percy and Nico had received, even though Nico had informed Hades that he didn't stay at Camp and actually received all his training in the Underworld.

"Why are we out here?" Reyna asked, confused. Weren't they supposed to start reading again today?

"According to my father, Zeus refuses to allow me back into the Throne room." Luke said quietly. He and his younger self had vanished along with the Seven (except for Percy) for two days, only coming back out of wherever they'd gone the day before. Luke had been quiet ever since his betrayal had been revealed, and Luke hadn't said a word to anybody except Annabeth, while the demigods from the past seemed unsure of how to interact with him now, knowing that he tried to kill Percy and he tried to help Kronos rise again.

Both boys were also now accompanied almost everywhere (except the bathroom) by a member of the Seven. Nobody trusted Zeus not to try and kill them while they weren't around. During the reading, though, they should be safe enough to stay with the other demigods while the Seven went back to their 'corner' and watched...

"Huh." She muttered, and eyed him warily. "Well, where is everybody else then?" She looked around, annoyed.

"We are here." Poseidon announced, strolling into the courtyard, carrying Percy who was telling him all about the training he'd done with Percy and Nico over the last three days. The rest of the council trailed behind him, some looking more cheerful then others. Zeus, in particular, looked unhappy with being dragged out of his throne room to continue the reading, and his expression darkened when he saw the Luke's.

"Well, let's get this second book started." Hera finally sighed when she saw that everybody was here now. She didn't like having to sit out here, either, but she thought Zeus was being particularly stubborn about Luke, especially since he had the Fates protection right now. He did need to be properly punished, though, she didn't feel like Hermes was right in not letting them give him the punishment he deserved.

"I'll start us off." Grover volunteered, snatching the book before scampering back to his seat near a support column.

Before he could start, though, there was another blinding flash. When everybody could see again, Percy cheered. "Tyson!" He ran towards his brother.

"Brother!" Tyson's eye lit up and he scooped Percy into a rib-cracking hug the moment Percy was within reach. "You are ok!"

Percy laughed. "Yeah, I'm alright big guy. Need to breathe though!" He gasped out, and inhaled when Tyson quickly dropped him onto his feet.

"Percy, you know that's a..." Reyna started, eyeing Tyson warily, hand on her weapon.

"This is Tyson, he's my baby brother." Percy informed her, warning in his eyes as his (rather large) 'baby' brother happily greeted Annabeth and Grover. Everyone who didn't know Tyson watched, stunned. Poseidon grinned happily at seeing Percy so accepting of his Cyclops brother. Not all of his demigod children were so accepting. He hid his wince at the look on Amphitrite's face.

There was a laugh. "Didn't you know most Cyclops are children of Poseidon?" One of the others who appeared asked her, amused. She blinked, shocked.

"Theseus!" Poseidon greeted warmly, getting up to hug his older son.

"Father." Theseus returned the hug while Perseus watched before greeting his own father who merely placed a hand on his shoulder in greeting before he went back to where he'd chosen to sit.

"Daddy!" Tyson greeted and accepted the hug he got as well eagerly.

"Are you aware of what has been happening?" Poseidon asked Theseus while Percy and Annabeth dragged Tyson to sit with their group, who all greeted the Cyclops just as warmly as Annabeth had.

"Yes, the Fates informed us, and gave us a summary of the first book." Perseus confirmed, eyeing Percy curiously. He was honored that Sally chose to name her son after him, even though he was a Son of Zeus while Percy was a Son of Poseidon, and he was amazed that the younger boy had accomplished so much in such a short time of being aware of just who he really was. Defeating Medusa, especially while she was awake and fighting back... not even he had been able to do that much and he was hailed as one of the most powerful and accomplished demigods of his time.

Theseus was eyeing his younger brother as well, impressed by how the boy defeated the Minotaur with seeming ease, and without any training whatsoever! He'd struggled greatly against the beast, and that was after years of training.

"Oh, great." Percy muttered, sighing. He was used to looks like that from the other campers, but not from two legends like them!

Annabeth laughed. "Get used to it, Percy. You are an amazing hero." She whispered to him.

"I'm going to start reading if nobody has anything else...?" Grover hinted, eyeing the gathering before he stuck his nose back into the book.

Book Two: The Sea of Monsters.

Chapter one: My Best Friend Shops for a Wedding Dress.

"And which friend would this be?" Leo asked, waggling his eyebrows and looking at Annabeth.

"Not her." Percy said dryly, rolling his eyes while Grover hid his bright red face. He had a feeling he knew where this was going from the chapter title alone.

"So this one involves the Sea of Monsters, huh?" Poseidon hummed, concerned for Percy, but not that worried about it. It may be the most dangerous area of the oceans, but Percy was his son. Most monsters in that area would stay away from him for that fact alone. There was also zero chance of Percy getting lost, not with the perfect bearings all his children had at sea.

(My nightmare started like this.)

All teasing vanished and a few people blinked. "Well... that's not an ominous beginning at all." Jason finally muttered.

"Is this the first one?" Annabeth asked. Percy nodded, knowing what she was asking, even if everybody else was confused.

(I was standing... storm was blowing.)

"Why are there usually storms in the really bad dreams?" Jason wondered out loud.

Percy shrugged. "Adds to the ominous nature?" He suggested.

"Because most of the time it's because somebody is fighting, and most of them do have the ability to control the weather to some degree?" Thalia questioned. The boys looked at each other and agreed it was possible.

(Wind and rain... boarded up.)

"Hurricane, perhaps?" Poseidon muttered, though he didn't know why he would be punishing Florida like this, he actually liked Florida.

"I don't remember hearing anything about one on the news." Percy shook his head. "I think it was just a really bad freak storm." He shot his father a deadpan glare, but Poseidon merely blinked back.

He didn't know why he would be sending storms at this place, or if he even did it at all.

(A block away... been to Florida.)

"A true demigod dream, then, and not just a normal dream." Apollo muttered. After all, most demigod dreams were prophetic in nature. You couldn't go somewhere to do what you needed to do if you didn't even know where the dream was showing you to be.

"Well... I wonder if it wasn't a mix." Percy disagreed. Yes, it probably was a demigod dream, but he wondered if part of it wasn't also Grover trying to establish the connection.

Grover shook his head though. "I didn't start forging the connection until I was in the cave." He denied. Percy frowned, it really was completely a demigod dream, then.

(Then I heard... for his life.)

"Hey! Is this book going to be about your search? But I thought nobody was allowed to interfere." Piper blinked, surprised that Percy was dreaming about Grover.

"They aren't... but I couldn't have done it without Percy. And besides... he didn't go there to rescue me or interfere in the search, he went there to find something else... I just happened to be in the same area." Grover said innocently. That was how they pitched it to the Council, anyway. And since those old goats were well aware of the situation in camp, they had to accept it.

"What are you running from?" Hermes brought their attention back to the most important part of that sentence.

"Ah..." Grover hesitated and glanced at Percy, who shrugged. "I'm sure it'll come up." He hedged. After all, he was kind of an important character, being the one with both the Fleece and Grover on his island.

(Yeah, I said hooves.)

"Why is it..." Somebody wondered out loud.

"Is it going to have a recap?" Katie asked in disbelief. "Please tell me it's not about to give a recap." She groaned. She hated it when sequel books gave a recap of the previous book. If you were reading a sequel, then wouldn't you have read the first one, too?

Grover read ahead briefly. "Not a complete recap, just a reminder of who and what I am." He informed her before she could continue her rant.

(Grover is a satyr... I don't recommend),)

"Hey!" Grover protested while everyone else laughed. "My fur is clean."

"I still don't want to see you taking your pants off." Percy deadpanned.

(you'd never... about him.)

"Why, thank you." Grover took it as a compliment for his skills to blend into the mortal world. Not all Satyr's were so successful.

(Baggy jeans and... returned from.)

"No reason to worry, none at all." Hermes muttered. He'd tried several times over the centuries to call off the search for his son, knowing that Pan would not appreciate his subjects getting killed because they were looking for him, but they refused to stop. In the end, the only thing he could do was try to make sure all Satyr's were prepared and could defend themselves during the search. So far, his efforts had been unsuccessful.

"I was worried sick." Annabeth admitted. This was a case where 'no news' was not necessarily 'good news'.

"Same." Percy agreed.

(Anyway, in my... to move fast.)

"Does anybody else not have a good feeling about this?" Theseus asked, tilting his head.

"I don't think anybody has a good feeling about whatever is chasing him." Perseus muttered. Theseus shrugged.

(He clopped past... to the ground.)

"That's a bad storm, alright." Poseidon wondered. Just what was going on? Was this even him, or was Zeus throwing a fit over something else?

"Try sailing through that." Grover deadpanned. He'd barely made it to shore, and then of course he'd been caught and taken straight back.

"That wouldn't have been too bad." Percy shook his head.

"Of course it wouldn't be for you. Or you." Grover pointed at Theseus before he could add anything. "The ocean is your territory. You could probably stop the storm entirely while you sailed." He huffed and went back to reading.

(Grover was... from... something.)

"Just what did you find?" Piper asked, amazed and concerned.

"The reason no satyr has ever come back from a search." Grover shuddered in remembered fear before he shrugged off Annabeth's concerned hand and kept reading.

Hermes stared at him, stunned. Because of the nature of these searches, he wasn't allowed to watch, so he honestly didn't know what happened to his sons' people. That rule was something he'd been unable to get past so far, as Apollo always found ways to keep him busy during searches.

(A bone-rattling... through the storm.)

"That's not good." Jason muttered, while everyone tensed up at the knowledge that Grover was being chased, whatever he was running from was still following.

"Who knows what that is." Katie groaned.

(Behind Grover... shower of sparks.)

"Whatever it is, it's strong." Athena muttered.

"That doesn't narrow it down very much. Most monsters are stronger than most." Theseus pointed out, getting a hum. Percy blinked when he noticed that he didn't get a sneer or dirty look from her like any of his other siblings or his father would.

(Grover stumbled... to warn them!)

"Warn who about what?" Reyna asked, concerned.

"Probably the other Satyrs, considering this is a Search for Pan." Hermes thought out loud, frowning. "Maybe even Camp." He shrugged. He wasn't sure, and wanted to read more.

"Warn them about what?" Jason asked.

"Whatever it is that's killing the Satyr's."

(I couldn't see... and cursing.)

"He had a very creative vocabulary." Percy informed the crowd with a snort.

"Seems to be a theme." Annabeth muttered. Percy could get creative with his curses and insults, after all. The few of his half-siblings that she'd met were the same way.

(The ground shook... full of shops.)

"Oh, that's not good." Katie muttered, breathing deep and sitting up straight.

Tension in the courtyard rose as everybody sat forward, wanting to hear what happened next.

(No time to back... wedding dresses.)

"Oh... the chapter title makes perfect sense now." Leo muttered to himself.

"They seem to be really random, until you get most of the way through the chapter, then they suddenly make perfect sense." Hera rolled her eyes.

(The monster's... of the shop.)

"Keep walking... just keep walking." Thalia muttered desperately, even thought she'd heard enough about this summer to know that didn't happen.

Grover paused a moment, shuddered, and hurried to keep reading, causing Percy and Annabeth to look at him in concern.

(I could smell... wet sheep wool)

"Sheep wool?" Poseidon muttered in dread. This involved the Sea of Monsters, and now apparently a shepherd of some kind. The only shepherd he could think of in the Sea of Monsters...

"Family reunion?" Theseus asked Triton quietly.

"Perhaps." Triton curled his lip slightly. He'd never liked that Polyphemus... there were several half-siblings that he didn't care for, actually.

(and rotten meat... off Mexican food.)

"Why do you have to be so descriptive?" Piper asked, disgusted.

"Again, I did not actually write this." Percy felt the need to point out again.

"No, but they are your thoughts and impressions on what was going on around you." Annabeth reminded him.

"That is fairly accurate, though." Clarisse shrugged.

"How would you even know what that smells like enough to be able to describe it?" Paul asked, just as disgusted as everyone else. Percy shrugged.

(Grover trembled... shadow passed on.)

Almost everybody relaxed, thinking that Grover was in the clear.

"That was too easy." Hermes muttered, narrowing his eyes. If it had tracked him over the ocean or from wherever Grover had escaped from, then it shouldn't be fooled that easily by him going into a store.

(Silence except... in my bed.)

"What a way to wake up." Will mumbled, having jumped when Grover got Tyson to imitate Polyphemus perfectly.

"Yup, that's him alright." Triton muttered with a grimace, recognizing the voice Tyson imitated.

(There was no... a humanlike shape.)

Annabeth hummed. "That's what you were muttering about." She realized. She hadn't known at first quite what he was stammering about.

Clarisse glanced between the two of them before blinking in realization. "Seriously? Were you stalking him?" She asked, incredulous.

"I was not! I just needed his attention so we could get to camp." Annabeth defended herself.

"Wait... that was you?" Leo demanded, surprised.

She sighed. "Yes. Unfortunately, the hat doesn't help with casting shadows." She rolled her eyes. Which was quite annoying, really. Luckily she was good with manipulating the Mist when she needed to, it helped to mask her presence when it was sunny out. Percy, of course, couldn't be affected by the Mist like a normal person,

(But then there... my imagination.)

"Don't dismiss such things, you never know what it could be or what it's intentions for you are!" Ares warned, slightly annoyed. Honestly, the boy had amazing instincts, but he ignored them half the time! He glanced at his father warily after speaking, surprised that Zeus hadn't thought up some kind of punishment for him yet for his part in the Bolt being stolen and remaining stolen. He'd expected to be called up during the last few days, but it hadn't happened.

Percy shuddered. "Believe me, I know." He muttered.

(A fifth-story... fire escape...)

Annabeth scoffed. "You're telling me, that thing was a death trap! I must have been insane to climb up there!" She started muttering to herself under her breath.

Percy grimaced. "Sorry... it's an older building. Although that really should have been inspected and fixed a while ago... I'm pretty sure it's against all kinds of safety codes." It was really rickety, he wasn't sure it would hold up if there were an actual emergency and it needed to be used for a building evacuation.

"That's actually been fixed." Paul offered. "Our building got a new manager roughly a month after you were kidnapped. He made sure that the building was up to code." He hadn't spared any expense for it, either, even though he was sure the building's owner couldn't have been too thrilled about it at the time.

(there couldn't have... almost made it!")

"You haven't been expelled yet?" Will asked, surprised.

"You don't have to sound so shocked." Percy grumbled.

"I'm sure that not being attacked by monsters helped with that." Annabeth murmured to him, he shrugged and smirked.

("Coming," I managed... for so long...)

"You haven't been training?" Clarisse demanded, shocked.

"You weren't attacked?" Reyna asked, surprised.

"Ah... no. There is a reason why I wasn't attacked, by the way. But, no I didn't practice that year. Believe me, I never did that again." He mumbled the last part, He could barely even wield Riptide during the bull attack... and that could have gotten people killed.

"Why would you not have been attacked, you are a child of the Big Three..." Will trailed off when his eyes landed on Tyson. "Oh... that might have deterred them alright." He muttered.

(Besides, my mom... her china cabinet.)

Sally sighed and bemoaned the loss of her china again while everyone else laughed and Percy turned a deep red.

"What were you doing swinging a javelin around inside the apartment, anyway?" Will laughed while Nico rolled his eyes, thinking how typical that sounded for Percy.

Percy shrugged. "I wasn't actually swinging it around, it had just been delivered and I was looking at it... I just misjudged how big the room was compared to how long it was." He peeked at his mother, who just shook her head.

"You couldn't have found a place to practice on the roof or something?" Clarisse deadpanned, wondering how he could go all year without training and still be one of best swordfighters in camp. Percy blinked at her.

He hadn't even thought of that... but then, it would have been way too cold in the winter. And... "Our building doesn't have roof access." He shrugged.

(I put Anaklusmos... had Grover meant?)

"I don't think it's that hard to figure out. He had to warn somebody about something." Paul pointed out.

Percy shrugged. "I wasn't sure what exactly was going on, or what he was running from." He pointed out.

(I made a three... have been real.)

"Seriously?" Annabeth deadpanned.

"I was trying to stay optimistic that my best friend was still alright." Percy informed the room, even though he knew that didn't make his willful ignorance any better.

Grover snorted. "Believe me, I wish his dream had been just that, a regular old dream." He muttered.

(Last day of... getting expelled.)

The courtyard burst into cheers as the demigods celebrated Percy's success.

"I think he made up for that at Goode's orientation." Paul muttered to Sally with a grin. She shoved him lightly, but she was trying to hide her own smirk. But they both knew that wasn't Percy's fault, he was being attacked. And Paul had managed to talk the school out of expelling him before the school year even began, which would have been a new record... and not just for Percy, either.

(No weird accidents... cafeteria food)

"I don't think the cafeteria needs a teacher's help to serve poisoned food." Travis muttered, gagging.

Percy shrugged. "Depends on the school." He said. Then again, most of the school's he went to before Goode were private boarding schools. The food there tended to be a bit better quality then the public school food.

"Why did they stay away?" Katie muttered, having not put the pieces together like Will did yet.

"I think I know." Nico muttered, eyeing Tyson.

(or exploding homework.)

"Did that one actually happen once?" Thalia asked, blinking.

"No, actually, it didn't." Percy shrugged. "I'm sure it happened to somebody at some point, though." They were demigods, who knew what was about to happen to them next.

Weird stuff happened to them all the time.

(Tomorrow, I'd... Camp Half-Blood.)

The Greeks cheered loudly, proving their agreement with Percy's statement.

It was their favorite place, too. Their home away from home for some, and their only home for others.

(Only one more... mess that up.)

There were groans from nearly everybody.

Annabeth punched Percy on the arm. "You just jinxed yourself!" She scolded.

"Ow!" He protested, rubbing his arm where she punched it and pouting. "Sorry." He grumbled.

(As usual, I... eggs for breakfast.)

"Instead of green eggs and ham?" Will asked.

"More blue food?" Reyna questioned. She would have thought that would have stopped or something with Gabe out of the picture.

"Of course." Percy looked at her like he couldn't believe she was questioning it. Although, his mom had limited it to special occasions after Gabe was taken care of.

"You guys must go through a lot of blue food dye." Clarisse muttered, rolling her eyes.

(She's funny that... miracles like that.)

"Finishing out a school year should not be considered a miracle." Athena deadpanned, shooting Percy a dirty look.

He snorted. "It is when unexplainable things keep happening and the mortals finally have enough of it." He shot back. If it weren't for monsters showing up, or other things happening that generally related to being a demigod (although not all of the incidents could be explained away as being demigod related... the school bus and the cannon incident, for example), he wouldn't have been expelled so often.

(I ate at the... Sweet on America.)

"Still?" Somebody questioned, having thought she would have gotten a new job with Gabe being gone, or at least since she started classes.

Sally blinked. "Of course. It was a good job, it paid the bills, and helped me pay for going back to school." She shrugged. Truthfully, that was mostly the money she'd stored away after paying tuition for herself and Percy. But her job at the candy store certainly helped.

"Were you still not getting the money I sent?" Poseidon asked, disturbed. He sent child-support, he knew he did. Every Friday, he sent a good sized check to help her in the financial aspect of raising their son. Before, they suspected Gabe of intercepting those checks, but Gabe wasn't there anymore.

"No." Sally shook her head.

"I'll get my lawyer on it." Paul reminded them. He didn't have much need for his lawyer usually, being a teacher and all that, but he still had one.

"I'll be there when you meet with them." Poseidon assured. He only hoped that when the Fates ended this, that they all remembered it so he could keep an eye out.

(Her long brown... I usually did.)

Sally snorted. "No, you weren't. You also had a look on your face." She informed her son wryly. He always had a look when he was bothered by something. Besides that, she was his mother.

She always knew.

Percy blinked. "Oh." He tilted his head before shrugging it off as unimportant.

(My mom looked...

"Yeah... fine.")

"That was probably the most unconvincing 'fine' I'd ever heard." Annabeth deadpanned, rolling her eyes.

"I had a lot on my mind." Percy defended himself.

(But she could... bothering me.)

"Of course. I'm your mother." She repeated. Percy just grinned at her.

Hera grinned smugly at their interactions. Ares and Hephaestus noticed and rolled their eyes after glancing at each other.

She never knew when something was wrong with them, it was always Hestia who pulled them aside or called them on it. Hestia was more their mother then Hera was...

(She dried her...part of my life.)

"Why not?" Dakota asked, confused. He hadn't spoken in a while, surprising some people.

Sally shrugged while Percy shook his head. "I don't like to think of my son being in so much danger." She said simply. And being a demigod meant he was in constant danger. She knew the danger existed, but she tried not to acknowledge it, which she knew probably wasn't the most healthy of responses, but... It was a moot point, anyway. It was impossible to separate the two parts of Percy's life, especially after she opened her apartment as a safe-house. She suspected that it was only so easy to do that year because Tyson kept other monsters away.

Plus, she'd been terrified for years that she would lose Percy to the life of a demigod, the life of a hero. She hadn't wanted to talk about it more then necessary, for fear of it actually happening.

"The danger is always there." Gwen pointed out quietly.

She sighed. "I know it is."

(We tried to live... big satyr now.)

Grover turned red at how she referred to him. Usually that was how mothers talked about their younger children, 'he's a big boy now'.

(If there were... from camp...")

"Not necessarily." Grover corrected. "Nobody knew where I was, what I was doing, nothing."

"What, you can't even contact camp and tell them that you're alright?" Gwen scoffed in disbelief.

"They can... but most don't. They're just declared dead after about a year or two of no contact." Hermes informed the room grimly.

"The Search was... it was everything to us." Grover said quietly before he started reading again. It was something the Satyrs took very, very seriously, and outside interference was not tolerated, not even from Hermes. Most Satyrs were too engrossed in the search to even think about calling anybody, not even to say that they were still alive.

(Her shoulders... word camp.)

"Either something's wrong, or she really doesn't want to think about camp." Piper muttered, narrowing her eyes.

"Or both?" Jason suggested, shrugging. She hummed in reply.

("What is it?"... shop you like.")

"Bribery!" Hermes grinned.

"Celebration." Sally corrected. Just like she'd told Percy.

"Maybe..." Hermes admitted. "But you can't deny the potential for being bribery, either." He pointed out. Especially since she clearly wanted to stop talking about this.

(Oh, man, that... with money.)

Poseidon made a noise of protest, but didn't say anything else on the matter. A plan had already been made to deal with it, so he was content for now.

(Between my mom's... camp tonight.")

"You can do both, can't you?" Leo asked, shrugging. He supposed he didn't really know how long it took normal people to pack for a while, he'd never had very much to pack.

"Eh... yeah, probably could've." Percy shook his head while making a face. He'd never gotten to pack at all, which meant it was very lucky that the Camp was used to kids showing up with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and sometimes they barely even had that much.

(She twisted her... Chiron last night.")

Chiron tilted his head, confused and concerned.

He had no reason to contact parents before the summer even began, and often not even during the summer, unless it was to make death notifications. They hadn't had many deaths since Luke's failed quest, though.

Just what was wrong that he was contacting Sally Jackson?

(My heart sank... to camp just yet.)

"What?" The past demigods burst out, confused and angry. What could have possibly happened to make Camp 'not safe'? Was somebody messing with their home?

"Just what has happened?" Chiron asked, disturbed.

The futures glanced at each other, but none of them answered, and none of them looked at Luke, who had his eyes closed and his head bowed.

Poisoning Thalia's tree was... that was one of the hardest things he'd ever done. The only reason he went along with it was because he was so positive that the Fleece would heal the damage caused afterwards. Thalia coming back had been a very welcome bonus, even if they were on opposite sides of the war.

(We might have... earth for me!")

"Not the only safe place." Reyna muttered.

"The only safe place that I knew of." Percy shrugged.

("Usually, dear... they're having-")

"Problems?"

"What problems, and just how bad are they that Percy is being told to stay away?" The younger group muttered among themselves.

Chiron sat forward anxiously. If something had happened at camp... He was in charge of the training and safety of every half-blood there. If camp was somehow not safe anymore... but he couldn't just call every demigod and tell them not to come back to camp for the summer, that wouldn't really be safe for them, either. He was having a hard time understanding his older self's reasoning for telling Percy to stay away... out of all the students he had right now, Percy was perhaps the one who needed the safety of camp the most, even if he'd had a quiet school year.

("What problems?"... sure Chiron can.)

"If not even Chiron knows what is really going on..." Rachel trailed off with a frown. She knew some of what happened this summer, but she suspected that she hadn't been told even half of the details.

"You're not going to have that afternoon talk, are you?" Thalia asked quietly.

"Nope." Percy muttered.

(Everything happened... not go to camp?)

The rest of the demigods chimed in with their agreement. To not go to camp was... it was unthinkable. Camp was their second home (for most, the only home for some others).

"You wouldn't close camp, would you, Chiron?" Chris asked quietly.

"Of course not." He assured him. He was having a hard time figuring out why he would want Percy to stay away, he couldn't imagine something being so wrong as to need to close.

(I wanted to ask... will be waiting.")

"Huh? Waiting for school?" Reyna demanded, confused about why a Cyclops would be going to a mortal school.

"Yup." Percy grinned at Tyson and clapped his back happily. Tyson being there made it all worth it, even if he was partly the cause behind everybody else avoiding Percy.

"What is a Cyclops doing in school?" Jason deadpanned.

"Meeting Percy!" Tyson said happily.

("But-"

"Percy, we'll... start to cry.)

Annabeth and Sally chuckled, knowing how easy it was to get Percy to do what they wanted when they did that.

He was such a sucker for tears. He was putty in their hands with just a glimpse of them.

(Besides, she was... underground alone.)

Tyson shuddered. "Smells strange. Too many monsters underground." He said simply. Not to mention the bad experiences he'd had underground, mostly getting attacked by other monsters.

"Amen to that." Grover muttered before he kept reading. He hated the underground just as much, which of course made it the perfect hiding place for Pan, he'd known that no satyr would ever think of looking down there. He used that to his advantage.

(I gathered up... dream about Grover?")

"The timing is too good for it to be a coincidence." Apollo claimed, frowning.

Hermes hummed, and studied the Empathy Link between Grover and Percy. "Everything is connected, somehow." He murmured.

(She wouldn't meet... much as I can.")

"I'm going to guess that conversation never happened." Piper deadpanned. That seemed to be the way Percy's luck ran. Something probably happened at school.

Percy sighed. "No, it didn't." And another building destroyed. Now everybody was confused, especially when Sally sighed.

(Reluctantly, I told... our afternoon talk.)

"No... instead I got a phone call from the school, followed by a call from Chiron." Sally deadpanned.

"Sorry, mom." Percy mumbled, he knew she would have worried, but he hadn't really thought that far. She waved him off.

"It will be nice to hear just what happened, though. The principle wasn't able to tell me much." She admitted. And Chiron hadn't known much, either. All he'd been able to tell her was that he'd managed to smooth things over with the police, and that Percy was at camp, safe.

(In fact, I... long time.)

"That's not ominous at all." Will deadpanned.

"That seems to be a theme." Katie rolled her eyes.

(As I stepped... morning sunlight-)

Everyone tensed up, wondering what that was and if Percy was about to be attacked.

"Could it be the same silhouette that was on the fire escape?" Jason asked quietly, curious.

(a human silhouette... to no one.)

"Creepy." Katie sing-songed.

"Stalkerish." Jason muttered, blinking.

Nobody saw Annabeth turn a bright red. She wasn't stalking him, she was trying to talk to him!

Thalia, though, glanced at Annabeth, eyes narrowed in thought.

(Then it rippled and vanished.)

Grover closed the book. "That's it." He held it up in silent invitation for somebody else to take it.

"That was a short one." Theseus muttered before he snatched it.

"Wonder what that silhouette was..." Will questioned before Theseus could start reading.

"I'm sure we'll find out." He said and opened it.

Chapter two: I Play Dodgeball With Cannibals