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.
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
"Oh, this already isn't starting out very well." Jason muttered, frowning.
"In other words, the monsters finally showed up." Katie deadpanned.
(My day started... College Prep.)
Athena tilted her head, curious about this school, as it didn't ring any mental bells for her. The name sounded promising, though... College prep, it should be more advanced, right?
Annabeth cleared her throat, remembering what she'd seen of that school.
(See, it's this... T-shirts to work.)
All the demigods sounded interested while Athena looked horrified. She knew that students all learned differently, but this didn't sound like her idea of a school. She would wait to hear what the classes themselves were like before passing judgement.
"That sounds like my kind of school!" Leo exclaimed.
"It was pretty good." Percy smirked. He wished his other school's had been even slightly like this one had been, it might have been better for him growing up.
(That's all cool... kicked me out.)
"It was easier to focus at Meriwether... I think that school was made with ADHD and dyslexia in mind." Percy snorted.
"It sounds like it was." Perseus muttered, eyeing the younger demigods. Being full Greek himself (and having never even heard of 'English'), he'd never had any problems with this 'dyslexia', but the Fates had made sure to tell him and Theseus what stuff like that was so they would know what the book was talking about. ADHD, too, he couldn't even imagine. It seemed to him that people were becoming more and more lazy over the centuries, which meant that they had less ways of using all that energy. In his time, they were always moving, always active, always fighting. These problems never existed.
He couldn't imagine living in these younger demigods time, but he was quite interested in them.
(The only bad... well, bright.)
"Which is an utter understatement." Percy deadpanned.
"It's a college prep school, wouldn't the students be a little more intelligent?" Piper questioned, curious.
"You would think so." Annabeth muttered, remembering what she'd seen of the students. Well... most of the students were quite intelligent, she'd seen, but some of them... Especially that Sloan kid.
(Take my first... Lord of the Flies,)
"Good book." Athena said in approval.
"Maybe, but the final exam was... different." Percy shook his head. Honestly, the teachers could count themselves lucky that a little ache some of the students experienced from the wedgies, and bruises were the worst of it. That basketball game was pretty intense.
(where all these... adult supervision)
Athena's jaw dropped in stunned disbelief.
"Oh, this isn't going to end well, is it?" Will groaned, laughing incredulously.
"No it didn't." Percy shook his head.
"That sounds awesome!" The Stolls all said at once, eyes shining with glee.
"That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen." Paul muttered, he taught immature ninth graders, he highly doubted that a bunch of seventh graders were much better.
"Somebody is going to get hurt." Apollo muttered with a sigh.
(to see what... basketball game.)
"I'm pretty sure there isn't tackling in basketball..." Annabeth muttered.
"Clearly you don't play it correctly." Clarisse informed her. Annabeth just gave her a strange look. She didn't remember seeing the Ares cabin playing it that way, either.
(The school bully... those activities.)
"Of course he did." Paul muttered. You could always trust the bully of the school to come up with ideas like these. There was a reason why schools tried to identify them early and keep an eye on them.
Sally narrowed her eyes. She didn't remember hearing about anybody named Matt Sloan.
(Sloan wasn't... like he was.)
"The typical bully." Hermes muttered.
(He had eyes like... FOR CHILDREN sign.)
"Oh, a rich bully." Leo sneered. He had plenty of experience with those, especially when he was on the streets.
"Just how fast was he going when he hit that sign to have chipped a tooth?" Hermes wondered while Piper and Jason glanced at their best friend in concern.
"Apparently very fast, if the tooth was bad enough they couldn't repair it." Apollo muttered.
"If his family is rich, why didn't they fix his tooth?" Reyna wondered, confused.
Piper cleared her throat. "Most families will, but his parents might have decided not to as a reminder to him. He crashed their Porsche, after all." She rubbed shoulders with the rich, she knew how most of them thought.
(Anyway, Sloan was... on my friend Tyson.)
"Oh, this really isn't going to end well." Chris muttered. He'd seen what Tyson did to that bear brother, after all. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what Tyson could do to a mortal.
"Uh-oh." Was the general consensus.
(Tyson was the... he was so... different.)
Poseidon shifted slightly. Most of his Cyclops children were abandoned on the streets until he brought them under the sea to the forges.
He'd tried to change that, but none of them ever learned to fend for themselves that way.
(He was six-foot... Abominable Snowman,)
"Have we mentioned how we love your descriptions?" Clarisse asked Percy, snorting. It was true, though. Tyson's appearance and sheer size was very misleading.
"They're the best." Chris agreed. Percy shrugged and poked Tyson in the ribs before squeezing his arm and grinning at him when the large Cyclops looked down at himself with a frown.
(but he cried a... his own reflection.)
Tyson grumbled wordlessly about that, but didn't say anything. It was kind of true, he was a little scared of almost everything back then, but he'd grown since then! He wasn't scared anymore!
He had his brother, and his dad, and he was a General of the Cyclops Army!
"Not anymore." Percy murmured fondly beside him, slapping him on the arm lightly and grinning.
(His face was kind... his crooked teeth.)
"The Mist, maybe? The effect it has on him is sporadic and unpredictable." Annabeth muttered, realizing why Percy hadn't noticed his best friend was a Cyclops until she had to point it out.
"Perhaps." Poseidon sighed.
"How do you not notice something like that for a year?" Jason asked nobody in particular, shocked and horrified. He would have thought Percy would be more observant then that.
"Annabeth just said it was the Mist." Thalia reminded her brother. Silently warning him not to fall back on his pride.
(His voice was... coming to Meriwether.)
"No... that's because Cyclops develop differently than humans, they're much like Satyrs in that regard. Physically, Tyson may be your age, but mentally he's about seven or eight." Poseidon shrugged. At least, he was at this stage in the book. Privately, he amended that being left on the streets probably did play a part in it, though. Not much of one, but a part. He was due for a growth spurt soon, though, he thought eyeing Tyson critically.
"The lack of education would have still played a part." Athena groused, glaring at nothing in particular. She didn't necessarily like Cyclops, but she hated the thought of anybody being denied a proper education even more.
(He wore tattered... with holes in it.)
"Why didn't anybody get him any new clothes?" Piper asked, wondering what was wrong with this school.
Sally sighed. "I did." She informed the room. Tyson hadn't let her get him much, though, and he refused to sleep on their couch very often, but she'd done what she could.
"Ok... but why didn't the school, then?" Amphitrite muttered, frowning.
"The school... they weren't going to lift a hand and do anymore then they needed to for him as a student." Percy said stiffly. He'd had more then one... discussion with the school guidance counselor about their lack of action regarding Tyson's living arrangements.
(He smelled like a... box off 72nd Street.)
Everyone frowned, not knowing quite what to make of that.
"I told you, my couch was always available." Sally looked at Tyson sternly. He hadn't slept over nearly enough for her liking. She'd hated leaving him out there. Sure, at first she'd worried about her son having a Cyclops for a best friend, but... spend just a little bit of time with him, and you would know that he was a big softie.
Tyson blushed. "Yes, Aunt Sally." He mumbled.
(Meriwether Prep had... good about themselves.)
"If he's a community service project, then why couldn't they have gotten him some clothes, and got him off the streets?" Clarisse demanded while Chris scowled.
Percy bit his lip. "I'm... actually not sure how much of that was true, and how much of that was dad and the Mist." He admitted. He knew, from what Tyson said, that his dad had to have manipulated things somewhat so the two of them would meet, but he didn't know how much Poseidon could have been involved.
"They still could have done more for him!" Leo grumbled. Every foster home or court-ordered boarding school he'd ever been in at least bought or otherwise provided new clothes when he first arrived.
(Unfortunately, most... picking on him.)
"Typical." Paul grumbled, annoyed.
Everyone else grumbled and made threats that they knew they would never be able to follow through with, while Poseidon growled darkly.
He knew that there was nothing he would be able to do about it, though.
(I was pretty much... to help him.)
"They weren't." Sally reiterated.
"They really should have made sure he had somewhere to sleep at least, even if it was somewhere in the school building." Hestia agreed, frowning.
(She'd called social... seemed to happen.)
"Did they even know he existed? He is a Cyclops." Leo questioned. He knew of a few kids on the streets, the social system didn't even know they existed and nothing was ever done no matter who called about the kids on the street.
"No... I don't imagine they would." Sally muttered after a moment of thought. She hadn't even considered that one, even though she knew he was a Cyclops.
(The social workers... I don't know.)
"The Mist is covering him up?" Paul questioned, still not entirely sure how this Mist worked, even though he'd gotten the full explanation of the Greeks when he learned his step-son was the son of a literal, real life god.
"Probably was..." He was a Cyclops, after all.
(Anyway, Matt Sloan... little too hard.)
Annabeth laughed. "I may not have been thrilled with Tyson being there, but that was satisfying." She admitted. She'd been ready to gut the pig after seeing how he treated a few girls in his class, not to mention the weaker kids. Then a few of his comments to Percy...
"You weren't in the way, were you?" Percy asked, frowning. He'd never thought about how long she'd been following him around, or how much she may have seen during the day.
She shook her head. "Nah, I was sitting on top of the jungle gym." She waved off. She'd figured it was the safest place for her to be in an effort to not get run into.
(Sloan flew fifteen... kids' tire swing.)
"Go Tyson!" The older demigods cheered.
Just the little they'd heard about Matt Sloan made them dislike him.
("You freak!" Sloan... cardboard box!")
There was a cry of outrage from all the demigods from the future. Poseidon narrowed his eyes and growled while tightening his grip on his trident.
"That little-"
"How dare he!"
"Where does this punk live?"
"I'll show him a freak!" They were all heard muttering darkly while clutching at weapons and glaring at the book menacingly.
The Romans and past demigods looked at them in shock while Poseidon smiled slowly, proud that one of his Cyclops children was so readily accepted by demigods. They didn't usually take to Cyclops readily, often seeing them only as monsters to be killed.
(Tyson started sobbing... bent the bar,)
A few people whistled, amazed and impressed.
Damage just from sitting down? They didn't think they could manage that one. Maybe bend it on purpose, but...
Otherwise, they wanted a piece of Matt Sloan for making Tyson cry.
(and buried his... for that freak.")
Percy snorted. "Nobody in that place would have anything to do with me even before Tyson came." He rolled his eyes. Part of it was because he was the new kid, part of it was because he was poor. It happened.
"Yeah... kids like us usually aren't the popular crowd type. Too many idiots in that crowd." Clarisse shrugged. Percy snorted.
(I balled my fists... red as it felt.)
"It was." Annabeth whispered to him, and laughed when he grunted in annoyance.
He looked like a baby seal with that expression on his face.
("He's not a... thing to say,)
Percy got a few strange looks from the others, and Tyson looked confused. He hadn't really been paying much attention to what Percy was saying to Sloan at the time.
"He was my best friend, but I wasn't blind to the fact that he was different, even if I was apparently blind to just how different." Percy shrugged, uncomfortable. "I was trying to defend him, I just wasn't sure how without making things worse." He glanced at Tyson, hoping he understood, and was relieved when the big guy beamed at him.
(but Sloan wasn't listening... around him than usual.)
"Didn't like them." Tyson proclaimed. He really hadn't liked Sloan's new friends. Not only did they smell funny, but they tried to hurt Percy!
Percy laughed softly. "Yeah, I didn't like them much, either." He assured his brother, shaking his head at the looks he got.
Percy laughed suddenly. Maybe now Frank wouldn't get offended every time he called these monsters 'Canadians'. He could turn his annoyance on Annabeth instead!
(I was used to... a dozen more,)
"That's odd." Paul frowned. People like Sloan did tend to gather 'followers', but it didn't usually happen overnight like this seemed to be.
"Not really, when you think about it." Percy muttered. They were monsters, after all.
(and I was pretty... them before.)
"New kids on the last day of school?" Chris questioned, grimacing.
"Monsters." Nearly all the demigods said at the same time.
"Hey, now. It's been known to happen if they happened to have just moved there. The parents or the school probably wanted them to be there to learn their way around, and to learn what to expect in the fall." Paul cut in, not liking that their first assumption was that it was monsters.
"You know it was probably monsters." Sally murmured to him, and he sighed.
Yeah, he knew.
("Just wait till... "You are so dead.")
"Oooo, scary." Will rolled his eyes at the taunt. Please, nothing that any of them hadn't heard before.
"Can't they come up with something more original?" Travis whined, looking put out.
"Like what?" Connor asked, amused.
"I don't know! Just... something!" He sank down in his seat, disgruntled.
"What's this guy expecting to be able to do, anyway?" Katie asked, shaking her head.
Percy shrugged. Sloan may not have been able to carry through with his threat, but his new friends certainly did their best to do it for him.
(When first period... the Flies perfectly.)
"Seriously? How does uncontrolled chaos mean that you understood the reading?" Athena demanded. She made a mental note of the man's name, she would have his teaching certifications inspected if this was his idea of a final exam.
Nearly everybody shrugged, not wanting to get into it with her right now.
(We all passed his... be violent people.)
Everybody scoffed.
He just passed them for being violent, practically rewarded them for it, and now he's just going to tell them not to be violent? In what world was he living in?
(Matt Sloan nodded... to stop sobbing.)
Poseidon snorted while Triton and Amphitrite looked amused.
Cyclops and their peanut butter.
("I... I am a freak?" he asked me.)
"Never!"
"Don't call yourself that!" The older demigods scolded Tyson, who grinned at them.
"I know I am not." He assured his friends, who grinned back, relieved that he hadn't taken the bullies words to heart.
("No," I promised... is the freak.")
"Hear, hear!" Travis and Connor agreed, loudly, to the approval of everybody else who knew and liked Tyson.
The Romans couldn't believe the amount of support a Cyclops was getting from a group of demigods. Just what was with these Greeks? Although they did agree that Matt Sloan was a disgusting individual. They could only hope that he'd eventually grown up.
(Tyson sniffled. "You... if I can't...")
"Wait... he doesn't even know if he can come back next year?" Amphitrite asked slowly.
"I thought this was a community service program." Aphrodite burst out, looking furious. "First they don't even ensure he has proper housing or attire, they probably didn't even bother to get him supplies, then they don't stop the other kids from picking on him, and now they haven't even spoken to him about the next year!" This was ridiculous.
And not only that, but shouldn't community service programs involve more then one person? How was it a community service program if Tyson was the only one involved?
"It was a crappy community service program." Percy informed her.
(His voice trembled... him about it.)
"No, he did not." Tyson informed the room, frowning.
"Hey, everything worked out." Percy reminded him, relieved. Tyson grinned.
Yes, he was very pleased with how everything had worked out, now if only Percy wasn't missing right now... technically, anyway.
("Don't worry, big... like a big liar.)
While everyone else winced, Tyson was confused. "When did you lie? Everything did work out." He informed Percy. Percy just reminded him of that, even.
Percy blinked at him, surprised, then laughed. "Yeah, I guess I didn't lie about anything, did I? But I didn't think they actually would." He shrugged.
(How could I promise... exam was science.)
Athena sat back, hoping that this one would actually be a typical exam, nothing strange like the English exam was.
What educator in their right minds would turn students loose with no supervision? That was just...
(Mrs. Tesla told us... something explode.)
Her jaw dropped in disbelief.
"Awesome!" The Stolls all claimed, sitting up and with literal stars in their eyes.
"No!" Chiron immediately cut in, glaring around at his more... troublesome students. No explosions during science lessons, absolutely not. He liked the Big House to stay standing, thank you very much. They caused enough explosions without doing it on purpose, too.
Sally grimaced. "That explains so much." She muttered.
"Did you at least have safety gear for this?" Katie asked, worried.
"Nope!" Percy said cheerfully, popping the 'p' with a grin.
"Safety gear?" Tyson asked, curious.
"Don't worry about it, big guy." Percy patted him on the arm. If Tyson could survive a Civil War IronClad exploding around him, a chem lab explosion wasn't going to do anything.
"What kind of school is this?!" Athena demanded. This was another teacher that was going to be investigated by the Education Department. In fact, she just might report the entire school!
"An awesome one, apparently." Clarisse answered. Honestly, this place sounded perfect for an ADHD and dyslexic demigod like them.
(Tyson was my lab... cloud in the trashcan.)
"Just what kind of chemicals were you working with?" Athena demanded, shocked. She couldn't think of any chemicals deemed safe for middle schoolers that would have that kind of reaction to each other, no matter how they were mixed. A minor explosion, maybe, but nothing like that.
"You know, nothing was even labeled?" Percy mused, just what were they messing with? That was probably on purpose, of course, to keep kids from getting ideas.
Of course, he knew how to make explosives now, you know, the demigod version with Greek fire and everything, but still.
(After Mrs. Tesla... removal squad,)
"They get called to Meriwether a lot, by the way." Percy chimed in. He didn't think a week went by without an explosion of some kind from the science labs.
Athena growled something, but nobody could make out just what she said.
(she praised Tyson... natural chemists.)
"So... one of you was clumsy, and you are natural chemists?" Clarisse deadpanned.
Percy shrugged. "Yup." And patted Tyson on the arm. It wasn't Tyson's fault those things were so tiny in his hands, after all.
"This school is certainly different." Clarisse muttered. She highly doubted that such a thing would happen anywhere else, if anything they might have gotten chewed out or suspended for almost blowing up the lab.
Athena looked like she was just done.
(We were the... under thirty seconds.)
"Which is surprising considering what the exam consists of." Athena deadpanned with a growl.
"Yeah... it kind of was, wasn't it?" Percy agreed thoughtfully. He hadn't even considered that before, but then he'd had other things to worry about that day.
"Fastest exam ever." Travis muttered, eyeing Percy with respect.
"Probably in the history of exams." Connor added, awed. Percy just rolled his eyes.
(I was glad the... be wrong at camp.)
The rest of the Greeks murmured in agreement, while those that were there that summer scowled.
Camp that summer just... it wasn't Camp. Not only was Chiron gone, but that creep Tantalus was there instead, and monsters were attacking constantly... If they could have, all of them would have gone on the quest with Clarisse, or snuck out with Percy to find that Fleece. They didn't like it when people messed with their home.
Luke shrank back at the renewed glares he was getting from his old friends.
(Even worse, I... was in danger.)
"Good instincts." Grover said dryly. "What gave it away?"
"Oh, probably you running from an unidentified creature." Percy deadpanned.
"That is a pretty good indicator." Annabeth nodded.
(In social studies... longitude maps,)
Athena perked up, finally a normal looking curriculum! The rest of this school was getting a major overhaul, though.
"That's what you were talking about." Clarisse commented. It had been a random show of intelligence after all. She'd had no clue what Percy was talking about or how he realized what those numbers were.
"Yup... I think I sent that teacher a thank-you card." Percy commented cheerfully.
(I opened my... Washington D.C.)
Annabeth turned bright red among the wolf-whistles, but was also pleased. She hadn't known Percy had done this when she sent him that, but she couldn't deny being pleased about it when she saw it.
"Oh?" Thalia asked, a large grin spreading across her face.
"Oh, shut up." Percy groaned, face as red as Annabeth's.
(She was wearing... designed the place.)
"No, but one of her sisters did." Athena nodded once, looking proud of her older daughter. Many of the architectural marvels in America or the Old Lands were designed by her or her children.
Percy grinned momentarily. "Why am I not surprised?" He muttered to Annabeth, who stifled her laugh.
(See, Annabeth... weird that way.)
"Hey!" She protested, shoving his shoulder. Her slight grin gave her away, though.
"What?" He asked, grinning playfully. "You're the one who wants to visit old buildings!" He pulled her closer again, ignoring Aphrodite in the background.
(She'd e-mailed me... been my imagination.)
"Understandable after the first summer." Chiron acknowledged.
Many of his students had come to him and said that they were glad to be back, glad it hadn't been a dream.
(I wished Annabeth... smarter than me,)
There were some snickers while Percy turned red and Annabeth grinned.
"Too late. I know." She kissed his cheek while he grumbled. "But there are different kinds of smarts, you know." She assured him, knowing how he sometimes thought. She may be book smart, but he was more street smart then she was.
(even if she was annoying sometimes.)
"Hey!" Annabeth protested, and punched him on the arm.
"Ow! Sorry?" He questioned, giving her the baby-seal look, begging silently for forgiveness.
She huffed, and rolled her eyes, but leaned back against him again. He grinned happily.
(I was about to... out of the rings.)
"Enter the bully." Paul muttered, rolling his eyes. He hoped there was an extra copy of that picture somewhere, because it was about to be destroyed.
"Is that why you asked me to find that email and reprint the picture?" Sally asked, understanding what happened now. Her Percy had come home from Camp that fall and asked her to find it, that was all she knew.
"Yup." Percy nodded.
("Hey!" I protested... She is not your-")
"Not yet, anyway." Travis snickered quietly, glad that he hadn't bet on when they got together, he would have lost spectacularly with the way those two constantly danced around each other without doing anything about it for years. It was one of the few bets he didn't take.
"Give it a few years." Connor advised Sloan.
"You know you're talking to a book?" Katie asked dryly. They looked at each other and shrugged.
("Give it back!"... make spit wads.)
"Oh, lovely." Annabeth deadpanned, scowling. Well, at least she had a copy, and she's seen a copy in Percy's room, so obviously he was able to get a new one made, but still.
"Jerks." A few people muttered.
(They were new... and JOE BOB.)
"I don't think those are supposed to be jokes." Will muttered, frowning. If those were their real names, then... not good.
"I hope they are." Jason shook his head. It was a very disturbing sense of humor at any rate.
(No human beings... to scare me.)
"You know, if it weren't the last day, and you haven't been expelled, I would say who cared what those new students did. But you might actually be able to start there in the fall!" Leo said cheerfully, grinning.
"Unless something happens sometime during this moment and the end of the school day." Piper pointed out.
Which, knowing Percy, it probably would.
Percy just sighed.
("I bet they can... retard friend.")
Poseidon growled and made a mental note to visit the Records Room later and find out everything he could on Matt Sloan.
"That little..."
"I'll show him retarded..." The demigods started grumbling again while Tyson shrank down on himself.
"Hey, he's not right." Percy told his brother firmly.
"Where's the teacher?" Paul asked, concerned. If they were supposed to be doing something, then shouldn't the teacher be stepping in and getting them back on task? He didn't think they were being very quiet right now, after all.
Percy shrugged. He had no idea, actually.
("He's not retarded."... in the face.)
"Now, why can't you have such good self-control when speaking with the gods?" Annabeth demanded, glaring at him. The amount of trouble his mouth had gotten them into!
Percy glanced at her, confused. "Uh, because I can usually get away with it. Not even Meriwether lets students beat on each other... usually." Percy shrugged. His final English exam and P.E. notwithstanding...
"Usually?" Sally asked suspiciously.
"English exam." Percy said simply. Truthfully, though, he had a feeling that if it all progressed past what it had, the teachers would have actually stepped in... maybe. He was pretty sure. Then again, he couldn't be sure if the teachers were watching at all.
("You're such a... obnoxious they were.)
"Wow, you actually followed orders?" Clarisse asked, shocked.
"Shut up, I can do it, you know." Percy grumbled, scowling.
Poseidon laughed. "Yes, but it does not come easy, does it?" He asked, amused. Perseus rolled his eyes while Theseus sighed and shook his head. While Perseus would never quite understand, Theseus did. He understood all too well.
(I had to save my fighting for monsters.)
"I have a feeling you just might get that fight." Chris commented, frowning. He was still amazed that Percy had gone the year without incident.
Percy nodded. "Yup."
(Still, part of... I really was...)
"Oh, he would be falling all over himself with apologies." Annabeth said with relish.
"Wouldn't that be a sight to see?" Clarisse grinned just imagining it. Percy rolled his eyes at the girls and put a stop to it when the Stolls started plotting to let Sloan find out.
He did not need that.
(The bell rang... calling my name.)
Clarisse scoffed. "As if any of them are worth your time, anyway." If they were going to have that kind of attitude, then they weren't worth it.
"Eh." Percy shrugged. Some of them were pretty enough, but none of them were Annabeth, even if he would have been interested in them.
(Before I had... along with them.)
"Favorite class?" Hermes asked, although he knew which class he would prefer if it was a choice between sitting in a classroom, or moving around and playing, he would choose moving around.
"Mostly. But we were promised dodgeball." Percy smirked.
"Yes!" The Stoll's cheered, they didn't get to play dodgeball often, Chiron preferred to keep injuries to a minimum. Injuries during capture-the-flag was one thing, that was a battle simulation. Injuries from getting hit by a ball... yeah, no.
(It was time for... promised to kill me.)
"That's not a good combination." Luke muttered, frowning.
"Well, he can't throw it hard enough to actually kill with it..." Clarisse frowned. Or do real damage beyond maybe a few bruises if hit in the right spot and hard enough.
"He can still make it hurt." Percy shot back.
"Dodgeball is bad." Tyson deadpanned. He didn't like dodgeball, even when the game wasn't interrupted by monsters.
(The gym uniform... tie-dyed T-shirts.)
"Ugh!" Aphrodite made a disgusted face. "And you had to wear that?"
"Yup." Percy made a face. He hadn't been too pleased with it, either. Thankfully they didn't go outside much.
"Ew." Piper muttered. They probably looked like a bunch of hippie children.
"I'm surprised they have a gym uniform considering how laid back the place is." Athena muttered. A school like this would most likely let the students wear what they wanted, instead of having uniforms.
(Fortunately, we did... hippie children.)
Piper snickered quietly when her thoughts echoed Percy's.
"There are just some things you do not go into public in." Aphrodite agreed, still looking disgusted. Although she had to admit that the gym uniform fit with the rest of this school.
(I changed as quickly... deal with Sloan.)
Percy made a face at the thought, if Sloan was a nightmare when everyone was fully clothed, he was even worse in the locker room when people were changing. He didn't touch, but that was the only reprieve they had from him.
"Don't blame you." Leo muttered, making a face of his own. He hated bullies like that.
(I was about to... "Yeah, sure, man.")
"Percy?" Tyson asked, a little confused.
"Hm? Don't worry about it, I was just thinking about things is all." He assured Tyson. Honestly, he didn't mind standing guard while Tyson changed, if only so that the locker room didn't get destroyed. Well, that and the fact it was almost every day.
(Tyson ducked... while he changed.)
Poseidon and his sons nodded in understanding. A Cyclops living on the streets would have all kinds of scars from being attacked by other monsters.
A gentle kid like Tyson wouldn't like other seeing them, especially in a school like that where the mortal children liked to pick on him.
(I felt kind of... to ask him about.)
"Sphinx." Tyson said shortly, not wanting to talk about it further. Poseidon bit his lip, remembering that incident. He'd happened to have been looking in on his sons, both Percy and Tyson, at the time, and remembered finding Tyson badly injured.
It had taken every ounce of self control he had to not take him to Atlantis then and there. But, if he wanted Tyson to learn and grow into a strong Cyclops, he couldn't do that, especially not if he wanted Tyson and Percy to meet someday. Clearly they had, so he was happy about that.
The rest of the demigods winced. Those were nasty to deal with, especially if you happened to get the answer to the riddle wrong.
(Anyway, I'd learned... doors off lockers.)
"I thought you said most of the students at this place were somewhat intelligent?" Thalia asked Annabeth dryly.
"They seemed like it." Annabeth frowned.
"Obviously not if they hadn't realized that teasing somebody like Tyson only resulted in injuries or property damage." Luke muttered, rolling his eyes. You would think that after the first incident of something like that happening, that the bullies would leave the person in question alone. Honestly.
Percy snorted. "Tell me about it." He muttered. That hadn't been the first time Matt Sloan was thrown through the air like that when he did something to upset Tyson. But he kept at it for some reason, even knowing that Tyson was strong and could seriously hurt him without trying.
(When we got... greasy wave of gray hair.)
"How is he supposed to keep up with students?" Apollo asked. He sounded like he was far past retirement age, not to mention he didn't sound like he was able to properly supervise students in a physical class.
"He didn't." Percy shrugged. He didn't even try. Most of the time he told them what they were doing that day, set them to it, and went back to his magazines. Sports Illustrated was his favorite.
(He reminded me... green smoke.)
"How does a living person move less then a mummy?" Leo asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.
Percy and Thalia glanced at each other, and shivered. "The old Oracle... if she had something to tell you, she would come find you." Thalia finally said after a moment. Everybody else who'd been there that day shivered. That was something they never wanted to see again.
"How?" Piper asked slowly, suddenly terrified.
"We never asked how. We just know she did it." Percy rubbed his arm, trying to wipe imaginary dirt off himself from when he had to carry her back to the attic.
"And it was creepy as..." Connor cut himself off and glanced at Hades, choosing not to finish that sentence with the Lord of the Underworld right there. He could be very testy about them using his name like that.
(Well, at least... can I be captain?")
"No, you don't deserve to be team captain." Jason muttered at once with a scowl.
"You know this already happened?" Piper asked her boyfriend. He shrugged.
His statement stood.
("Eh?" Coach Nunley... "Mm-hmm.")
Athena gave up. That was it. This whole school was being shut down if it was the last thing she did. She'd hoped that at least P.E would be a well taught class, but this... this person should have retired ages ago! He didn't even care!
"You gotta be kidding me." Clarisse muttered. If the coach was this inattentive, then this wasn't going to end well.
(Sloan grinned and... group of visitors.)
"I don't think that's how picking the teams is supposed to work." Chris deadpanned.
"Nope." Most of the group muttered. That wasn't how it worked at all.
"Aren't you supposed to be able to pick at least some of your team?" Demeter asked, not quite sure how this worked.
"Yup. The team isn't supposed to pick which team they want." Percy shook his head. At first he minded, but after the attack started... well, there were no teams.
(On my side I... Sloan and his gang.)
"In other words," Paul sighed. "It's a game of 'jocks' versus 'nerds'." He shook his head. As a teacher, he hated those stereotypes, just because some of his students were better academically then they were physically...
"Yeah... pretty much." Percy confirmed.
(Normally I would've... all by himself-)
The older Greeks cheered while Tyson turned red, pleased.
"Yeah, Tyson!"
Percy grinned and patted the big guy on the shoulder, knowing how true it was.
Poseidon grinned just as widely at how much support they continued to show his Cyclops son.
(but the visitors... were six of them.)
"That is a good point." Clarisse muttered, analyzing this game as if it were a battle. Essentially, Percy and Tyson were outnumbered and outgunned.
"They'll figure something out." Chris assured his girlfriend. She grunted and shrugged, frowning.
(Matt Sloan spilled... "Smell funny.")
All joking and teasing on the older Greeks side was gone. The Romans were confused about it was that got them concerned, but didn't say anything.
Years of exposure to Tyson, though, had taught them that a Cyclops' senses were just as good as a Satyr's when it came to other monsters. Considering that they saw the Satyr's as their protectors... they learned quick to listen to the Satyrs. And then when Tyson came, they learned quick to listen to a Cyclops.
"Monsters." Poseidon muttered. Theseus and Triton nodded in agreement.
It had been joked about, but now it was confirmed.
The Romans and younger Greeks were still confused, but they decided to wait and see what happened.
(I looked at him... "Smell funny.")
"Careful." Poseidon warns, worried. He didn't know what these monsters were yet, so he didn't know what his sons would be facing.
"We were." Percy grimaced. As careful as an unarmed demigod could be when faced with six man-eating giants, anyway.
(The visitors were... slaughter time.)
"It is." Annabeth said grimly. She'd actually settled in against the wall near the Coach, somewhere she'd figured she would have been safe from getting hit, and watched Tyson warily. She'd not known what to think of those 'new' kids hanging around the school bully.
She just remembered the horror when they started throwing balls faster and harder then they should have been able to, and then when they finally revealed themselves... at first she hadn't been sure how to help without getting in the way, then when she realized Percy didn't have Riptide on him...
(I couldn't help... them with sticks.)
"That's... surprisingly accurate." Annabeth muttered. She wouldn't be surprised in the least if that was how they were really raised.
"Probably true." Percy huffed, agreeing with his younger self's guesses.
(Sloan blew the coach's whistle)
"Seriously? He can't even pay enough attention to do that much?" Paul deadpanned. No wonder he never heard of this place during teacher conferences.
This place could barely be called a school if they didn't even pay enough attention to the students to start a game.
Athena growled.
(and the game... for the exit.)
"Are you kidding me?" Clarisse demanded. As far as this kid knew, this was just a game, and he was running away?!
"He's the typical nerd, Clarisse. He's not athletic, and he was Sloan's main target outside of me and Tyson." Percy sighed, explaining. He didn't blame Raj at all for trying to run.
If only the kid had been able to get away before the doors slammed.
(Corey Bailer... wall mat and hide.)
"Did your entire team run away?" Clarisse deadpanned.
"No... a few people tried to get a ball and play." Percy said, shrugging.
"The mat might be good cover, though." Athena mused.
"Maybe." Ares muttered, this game was going to be interesting, he thought. Hopefully they got to the fight quickly.
(The rest of my... look like targets.)
"I thought you said some of them went for a ball." Clarisse said accusingly.
"A couple of them did." Percy defended himself.
Annabeth laughed. "They did." She backed him up.
"How do you know?" Chris asked, suspicious. She just smiled at him.
("Tyson," I said... the gym floor.)
Somebody whistled, surprised. "That's... how hard did they have to throw it for that to happen?"
"Pretty hard, especially for it to be a demigod that's hit." Apollo said, concerned. If they hit any of the normal kids like that...
(The other team exploded in laughter.)
"Oh, yeah, how about you guys get hit with a shot like that, see how well you stay on your feet." Katie shot, annoyed.
"Internal bruising, at the least." Apollo frowned.
(My eyesight was... from a gorilla.)
Apollo and Will's concerned looks made Percy sigh and roll his eyes.
"I was fine, I just needed a minute." He assured the room with a grimace. And a quick dip in the water, but he didn't say that part.
"Talk about a hard throw." Chris muttered, frowning.
(I couldn't... that hard.)
"Nobody human could." Clarisse said grimly. That meant monsters for sure.
Anybody from Camp could throw that hard, easily. As demigods, they were naturally stronger then the average human, and they had extensive training. But they weren't human, either.
"Percy, you might want to get out of there. They should leave the rest of your team alone once you leave, but you need to go." Thalia said, worried. The way these monsters threw those balls, somebody was going to get killed. If it had been any of the other kids hit, they wouldn't have just been winded, they would have been seriously hurt with possible internal damage, a head shot or somewhere else would be deadly for them.
Percy sighed. "Remember, this already happened." He reminded the room. And he was sure Will and Apollo had been mentally picking the chances for injury apart the entire time.
(Tyson yelled, "Percy... the speed of sound.)
The tension had rocketed when Tyson yelled for Percy to duck, and now released with sighs of relief and slumped shoulders.
"Thank you, Tyson." The older Greeks said all at once, grateful the Cyclops was there.
"I help Percy." Tyson said firmly, face red at the gratitude. Percy slapped him on the arm, as high up as he could reach, which wasn't as high as he used to, Tyson had seemingly hit a growth spurt in the last six months.
(Whooom!"
It hit the... kill somebody!")
"I think that's the point." Ares said, head tilted to the side, eyes gleaming in anticipation of the fight he could almost smell coming.
"Which makes this more difficult." Clarisse muttered, fully agreeing with her father, and frowning as she tried to analyze the situation.
(The visitor named... I hope so!")
"Oh, so that's what clued you in." Annabeth realized.
Even she'd realized that, and she'd been standing near the teacher, in an area she'd deemed safe from being hit by dodgeballs. She hadn't known at the time that Percy was unarmed, hadn't realized it until she saw him diving (desperately) for a pair of jeans near the middle of the room. If she had, she wouldn't have waited so long to step in and help.
But, she'd noticed that over the years, only monsters and unfriendly gods or goddesses would call him by his full name. Well, Sally and Chiron would too, if he were in enough trouble with them, but that wasn't often.
(The way he said... my true identity.)
"That makes you sound like some kind of comic book superhero." Leo snorted.
Percy huffed. "Might as well be." He muttered. The amount of times he saved the world? Most of the time he even felt like he lived a double life, his normal one as a student, and the one as a demigod. "The only difference is that the world doesn't know about me, or the rest of us." He shrugged.
"You know, that is very true." Annabeth said after a moment, blinking. She'd never really thought of that comparison before, then again she wasn't a teenage boy.
(Friends... and enemies... smell funny.
Monsters.)
"And after that little epiphany, it still never occurred to you that Tyson might not be human?" Annabeth deadpanned, staring at Percy. It had taken almost being killed by giant mechanical bulls and her having to give Tyson permission to enter camp, and then she still had to tell him that Tyson wasn't human, let alone a Cyclops.
Percy turned red. "I was a little busy right after that 'little epiphany'." He grumbled. "You know, flaming balls of death flying everywhere?" He reminded her.
Everyone gave him a strange look, wondering just what happened in that gym, and how much they weren't going to like it.
(All around Matt... growing in size.)
"Ah... so it's not the Mist they're hiding behind." Artemis muttered, her mind going through all the monsters she knew that could change their size or general appearance. None of them were good.
"That can't be good." Poseidon muttered, thoughts rolling with the same thoughts.
(They were no... Valentine hearts.)
There were some grimaces and scowls at that.
"Really? Of all the things for monsters to ink themselves up with?" Leo muttered. He'd seen better tattoo's among the homeless population of Texas.
(Matt Sloan dropped... Detroit! Who...")
"Well spotted." A few people muttered, still very sour over how he'd treated Tyson.
"Actually, they might be." Artemis shrugged. "Detroit is a haven for monsters, especially with all the abandoned car factories and the like." Especially Cyclops and other kinds of monsters that were good with their hands.
"That's a long way to go just to kill one person."
"They might have been sent." Hades reminded the group, and they went silent before turning to face Luke, all at the same time.
"Well?" Athena demanded of the boy, angry that she once thought he could ever be good enough for her daughter.
He blinked. "I didn't send them, and he never mentioned it, we had other plans that didn't involve Percy getting killed during dodgeball." He said after a few moments.
"What other plans?" Zeus growled.
"It will be in the book." Percy cut in, glaring around at the gods. That was right, Luke needed him to retrieve the Fleece for him. So he couldn't have sent these monsters after him.
(The other kids... named Marrow Sucker)
Nearly everybody grimaced. "I hope that name is just that." Piper muttered with a shudder.
But then, you never knew with monsters.
(threw a ball... shut like magic.)
"That's not good."
"Please tell us there's another exit."
"Just to the locker rooms." Percy grimaced. It hadn't taken long before that door was closed, too, though.
"That's really not good." Poseidon muttered, leaning forward in worry.
(Raj and some... at the giants.)
"You really thought that would work?" Zoe scoffed, rolling her eyes.
Percy shrugged sheepishly. "I had to try, I couldn't think of what else to do."
"Do you not carry a sword?" She asked dryly.
Percy made a face. "The gym shorts provided by the school didn't have pockets." He deadpanned. Meaning, whether he wanted to or not, he'd had no choice but to leave Riptide in the locker room.
The courtyard was silent at this new revelation. "We need to fix that." Beckendorf immediately decided. Percy couldn't be caught without Riptide just because he didn't have pockets, that was not the way anybody wanted to go out, unarmed because he didn't have pockets.
(The one called... We want lunch!")
"That's not good." Artemis muttered. Of all the options for it to be, this was perhaps the worst, especially with the mortals there.
"These guys again?" Frank questioned, almost whining. These were the things that destroyed his home, killed (probably) his grandmother.
"What's wrong?" Sally asked Artemis, glancing at Frank in concern.
"Laistrygonians are one of the few monster families out there that don't ignore mortals. I'm afraid that even if Percy were to find a way out, not all would follow." Zoe was the one to handle the explanation. She couldn't call him by his full name, not with his namesake there, that would get confusing fast.
"And they eat people. The chapter title is rather apt in this case." Artemis finished.
"You gotta get into that locker room." Jason summed the situation up pretty well after a moment of silence.
(He waved his... out the holes.)
"Flaming balls of death." Chris said in realization.
"I don't think it's going to end well if those hit anybody." Will muttered.
"You think?" Katie asked, rolling her eyes.
(They must've... their bare hands.)
"Most monsters in the giant family are immune to fire." Artemis informed with a shrug, not willing to admit that she was somewhat worried for the boy.
"The giant family?" Annabeth asked, confused. She didn't remember hearing that term before, not even in their monster class.
Chiron looked at her in surprise before remembering that she'd been in the Infirmary tent during that week of lessons. Somebody was supposed to have given her their notes, but evidently they hadn't. "Monsters like Laistrygonians, Cyclops and a few others are all part of what we call the giant family, mostly on account of the size they can grow to.
"How did you not know this?" Clarisse asked, surprised.
"She was in the Infirmary tent during that week." Chiron shook his head.
("Coach!" I yelled... he didn't let on.)
"That would be the Mist." Hades pointed out, frowning.
"Or it could be his own blindness." Apollo pointed out, the guy was clearly far beyond the age of retirement, and shouldn't be working, especially not in a gym full of teenagers that could hurt each other or themselves.
(That's the problem... kids like usual.)
"So... this is a typical P.E hour for you?" Apollo deadpanned, not impressed.
"More or less. All coach did was tell us what game we were playing that day, or how far we were running." Percy shrugged. Otherwise they were left to their own devices.
(Maybe the other... the first time.))
Nearly all the older Greeks burst out laughing at the reminder.
Chiron looked at them, blinking slowly. "Do I want to know?" He asked slowly, wondering if he really did.
Percy was still laughing when he shook his head. "No." He gasped after a moment, sighing. "No, you probably don't." He chuckled a bit more. Who knew a brief field-trip to gather supplies could go so wrong?
"That guy was crazy." Travis commented, chuckling himself.
"Who wanders into the middle of a fight like that?" Clarisse wondered out loud.
"And those monsters..." Connor rubbed his arm in phantom pains, even though he was still laughing just as hard.
Now Chiron was really concerned.
(At any rate, I... bloodthirsty monsters.)
"Probably not." Jason deadpanned, eyeing the still chuckling Greeks warily.
"That's probably a good thing, they would probably panic even worse if they did." Artemis pointed out, having experience with panicked mortals when the Mist was ripped away. It was a favorite tactic of some of the older, more intelligent monsters she'd fought, to cause more chaos and confusion to distract her during the fight.
("Yeah. Mm-hmm," Coach muttered. "Play nice.")
"He's useless." A few people deadpanned.
"Why is he still working?"
"What's he supposed to do if a student gets hurt?"
Everybody looked up in surprise at Athena's scream of frustration, teeth gritted. It didn't take much before she was scribbling rapidly in a notebook. The first thing she did when she got out of here was shutting that place down.
The teachers didn't even care about their students safety!
(And he went...
"Corey!" I screamed.)
"Uh-oh."
"That mat may hold up against a normal dodgeball..."
"It's not going to hold up against a flaming bronze sphere." Luke finished quietly, listening carefully.
(Tyson pulled him... to smoking shreds.)
"Whoa."
"Is it just me, or are they putting more power behind their throws?" Leo asked, frowning.
"It's the different balls. The bronze spheres have more weight to them then the rubber ones, so they go faster and harder." Beckendorf reasoned.
("Run!" I told... also slammed shut.)
"No!"
"So close."
"You gotta kill 'em. That's the only way to get out of this." Clarisse spoke up, for the first time in a while.
"Yeah... I was planning on it, but I was also trying to get the kids out of the way." Percy sighed. That had been his first priority.
"Good priorities." Hermes muttered.
("No one leaves... we eat you!")
"Well that's... that's a little extreme for a game."
"They're cannibalistic giants. This is rather tame." Artemis shrugged, frowning.
(He launched his... wearing gym shorts.)
Somehow, the tension levels increased even more at the reminder that Percy was unarmed, virtually defenseless against cannibalistic giants. Not only that, but he was trapped in the room with them.
And even if he could leave, he wouldn't be able to, not with all the mortals there who might get hurt or killed.
(I had no pockets... completely defenseless.)
"As long as you are on your feet, and capable of thought, you are never defenseless." Chiron instructed. It was something he tried to teach his students. A blade was useless if they didn't have the knowledge of how to fight. As long as they were mentally capable, they still had a way out.
(Another fireball... down at me.)
"Uh-oh, no room to get out."
"No time." Athena muttered, analyzing the fight. They were too close.
("Flesh!" they... both took aim.)
"Oh, no."
"Duck!"
"Get out of there!" The Greeks called, worried.
"Guys, I'm right here." Percy sighed.
("Percy needs help!"... threw their balls.)
"Tyson!" People called, worried.
"I am fine." He said, pleased and confused. Of course he was alright, he was right here, too.
("Tyson!" I screamed... he'd caught them.)
There was shocked silence for a moment before the courtyard burst into cheers for the now blushing Cyclops, who looked down while Percy nudged him on the arm with a grin.
"I never thanked you for that, did I?" He asked quietly.
"I don't need thanks." Tyson said firmly. "Save my brother." If possible, Percy's grin widened.
"Right back at ya, big guy." He muttered.
"But... aren't those things on fire?" Piper asked, concerned.
"Cyclops are just as immune to fire as I am." Leo informed her with a shrug. Well, he should say all children of Hephaestus shared some level of immunity to fire, but they could still get burned. As a fire-user, he was just completely immune as opposed to their partial. Cyclops shared that immunity with him.
(Somehow Tyson... miles an hour.)
"I think those mortal items are too delicate for a Cyclops strength." Poseidon said seriously, amusement in his eyes.
"Just a bit." Percy's mouth ticked up into a smile.
(He sent them... their chests.)
The cheers were even louder then before, Theseus had to wait awhile before he could continue reading with a grin on his face.
"Go Tyson!" They all cheered while Tyson's flush turned even darker.
(The giants... monsters, all right.)
"Ok, everybody, EVERYBODY!" Theseus had to yell after a few minutes of cheering and celebrating from the demigods. From what the Fates told him, they hadn't been quite this loud during the first book.
"We're never going to finish this chapter if I don't get to read it." He informed the younger demigods, amused.
(Monsters don't die... up after a fight.)
"You got that right." Most demigods grumbled. That was the one saving grace they had about fighting for their lives all the time, they didn't have to figure out what to do with all the bodies.
("My brothers!" Joe... for their destruction!")
"Don't want them destroyed, then don't try to eat me." Percy shrugged. It was really that simple.
Annabeth laughed. "You didn't have quite the same... reputation back then as you do now." There had been a few monsters who ran when they realized it was Percy they faced, they weren't the arrogant ones with no sense of self-preservation.
"I don't think that would have stopped these guys." Percy said after a moment.
("Tyson!" I said... huge KA-BOOM! )
"I was standing right there, you know." Annabeth scowled.
"Sorry." Tyson apologized, shrinking in on himself a bit in shame.
She sighed. "You didn't know I was there." She shook her head, unable to stay mad at him, not that she had been mad in the first place.
(Kids were running... craters in the floor.)
"And in general making a nuisance of themselves and getting in the way." Clarisse grumbled. They always got in the way.
"It is annoying." Most of the demigods agreed.
(Others were banging... flew around him.)
There were some laughs. "Serves him right." Somebody muttered. It was clear the bully had no idea what was going on, they were pleased with his confusion and fear.
"He didn't get hit, though? I know he's a bully, but..." Paul trailed off, concerned for the students safety.
"No, none of them got hit. The giants focused on me and Tyson for the most part." Percy assured his stepfather, who nodded and sat back with an arm around Sally. She was silent, biting her lip and looking between Percy and Tyson as if making sure they were really alright.
(Coach Nunley still... him interference,)
"Oh, I bet they gave him interference." Will muttered, rolling his eyes.
"He may have an older model." Apollo said dryly.
(but he kept his... come help us.)
"And the first thing they're going to do is try to arrest you for blowing up your school gym." Nico pointed out, that was about how it went for a demigod, after all, especially somebody like Percy.
"That's why I will be long gone." Percy promised. The last thing he'd wanted was to be caught by the police. He was lucky enough that Chiron had managed to smooth things over for him with them.
("Victory will be... on your bones!")
"How about we don't?" Percy suggested dryly. "I like my bones where they are, in the condition they're in, thanks." He said sarcastically.
"So do we." Thalia assured him. Annabeth nodded beside him, in complete agreement. She much preferred her Percy to be in the shape he was in, and not feasted upon.
(I wanted to... too seriously,)
"You need to focus." Clarisse said seriously, shaking her head. Percy's mind apparently went down interesting paths when he was in a fight.
"Percy, your mind is an interesting place." Nico shook his head. Percy raised an eyebrow.
(but before I could... balls at once.)
"You might be surprised." Theseus informed the room. Cyclops could be fast when they wanted to be.
"I still thought he was mortal." Percy defended himself.
(His hands had... had a crazy idea.)
"Oh, this is going to be good." Clarisse muttered, leaning forward with the rest of the demigods, looking forward to hearing about this one.
His crazy idea's usually worked out somehow, and they were always interesting.
"I'm not that bad." Percy grumbled.
"Yes, you are." Most of the crowd said at once. They'd been here long enough, they'd read enough about Percy, and they'd interacted with him enough to know what he was like.
(I ran toward the locker room.)
Now everybody was confused. "What are you doing?"
"Doing some damage." Percy grinned minutely. That school could have used some real excitement, anyway.
Annabeth snorted. "That was on purpose?" She asked. She'd wondered if the explosion was planned or not.
("Move!" I told... them to ashes.)
"Yeah, Tyson!" Everybody cheered or whistled.
(That left two giants still standing.)
"You better get moving, Percy, or there won't be any left for you." Clarisse teased, grinning.
"Ha, ha. Tyson was doing just fine, besides, I'm still unarmed, remember?" He asked.
"Then you better get armed." Chris snorted.
"What do you think I'm doing?" He shrugged, grinning.
"Uh, running towards the locker room?"
"The magically closed locker room?" The Stolls asked slowly. Then their faces lit up in realization at what Percy was doing.
"Uh-huh." Percy grinned at them, knowing they would have figured it out.
"This is going to be good." They said in unison, grinning wildly.
(A third ball... locker room door.)
"And BOOM! Goes the locker room!" The Stolls grinned, thrilled.
Chiron groaned. He was going to have to deal with an increased number of explosions from those two in the near future, wasn't he? "Keep the Palace intact." Was all he said. After all, those two weren't his Stolls, and while they were here, their father could deal with them.
Hmm... he might enjoy this little vacation.
(Now, I figured... wall blew apart.)
"That. Is. Disgusting." Piper deadpanned. She was never going in a men's locker room.
Ever.
"Remind me to avoid male locker rooms." Clarisse muttered, equally disgusted.
"Oh, come on, I doubt girls locker rooms are much better." Percy complained. They might smell nicer from all the perfume some girls used, actually that might make them smell worse... but it was still a girl's locker room.
"Of course they're better." Most of the girls said at the same time. Privately, they knew it probably wasn't by too much, but they weren't going to admit that. A single male might be neat and tidy, but men in general were slobs, after all.
(Locker doors, socks... all over the gym.)
"Disgusting." The girls all deadpanned again. Aphrodite was green, and was clearly trying not to be sick.
"Do I want to know what those 'various belongings' were?" Katie asked, wrinkling her nose.
"No." Annabeth deadpanned. She'd been shocked by how large the explosion was, and was glad she was so far away, she'd seen a few of the kids get covered by some of that stuff.
(I turned just... in the face.)
More cheers for Tyson.
"You're not going to get a single one, are you?" Clarisse asked Percy, grinning. So far Tyson was doing all the work.
Percy sighed. "No, I didn't." Tyson got them except one, and Annabeth got the last one. He again cursed the fact that his gym shorts didn't have pockets.
(The giant crumpled... for an opportunity.)
"Ugh, there's always one smart one in the group." Will grunted.
"That's so annoying." Most of the demigods whined. Because just when you started thinking the entire group was stupid, the smart one turned up.
"That is why you must never underestimate your opponent." Chiron said, eyeing his students sternly, even the Romans got it.
"Yes, Chiron." They chorused, some with grins on their faces, others seriously. He just snorted fondly.
(He threw just as... in the chest.)
"Tyson!" Most of the crowd gasped, either concerned for their Cyclops friend or shocked that this happened after the way he'd been mowing down the crowd of giants.
"I was alright." Tyson assured them. He'd just had a massive headache for a while, which wasn't helped by the taxi ride to Camp.
"You sure?" Percy asked, concerned as he realized he'd never really stopped and asked, sure he'd checked Tyson's hands, but he hadn't asked if he was alright after being blown through the wall.
"Yes." Tyson said, nodding his head.
(He slid the length... on top of him,)
Everybody flinched. "Ouch. You sure you were alright, Tyson?" Grover asked.
"Yes, I was alright." He assured them again.
"If he weren't a Cyclops..." Artemis muttered, shaking her head.
"His head's gotta be hard as a diamond." Hazel muttered, shaking her head.
(making a hole... onto Church Street.)
"Well, at least now you have a way out." Rachel said weakly, thinking how familiar this situation was.
"What's with you and blowing holes in the side of school buildings?" Paul asked, amused.
"Hey, neither of these were me, it was the monster both times!" Percy protested. Paul just chuckled.
(I didn't see how... of cinder blocks.)
"Ow." Tyson muttered, rubbing his head.
"That sounds like it hurt." Frank shook his head.
"You weren't there to hear it." Percy informed him. If it weren't for the situation he was in, he might have lost his lunch just hearing that impact.
"It didn't sound pretty." Annabeth agreed, getting a few strange looks as everybody wondered how she could know.
("Well!" Joe Bob... Babycakes a doggie bag!")
"Wasn't he just swearing revenge for his companions?" Katie asked, confused.
"They're monsters." Was the deadpan answer. They doubted that he'd really been that broken up over the defeat of his companions.
"And he's not the last one standing, Percy is right there." Clarisse scoffed, thinking that this giant didn't know how to play the game very well.
(He picked up... "It's me you want!")
"Percy!" A few people yelped.
"I wasn't going to let Tyson get hit." Percy said stubbornly, especially when for all he knew, that hit would be fatal. "And was I lying?" He asked. He was the main target of this attack, after all.
(The giant grinned... around here somewhere.)
"Better search fast..." Thalia muttered, concerned for her cousin.
"I was working on it, there was a lot of debris from the locker room." Percy shrugged. Not to mention, he'd spotted at least three pairs of jeans that could have been his except for the fact the bottom of the pant legs weren't as worn as his were.
Sally groaned. "I should have sewn a pocket into those shorts or something." She complained. She'd thought about it when he told her how the enchantments around it worked, but there hadn't been any incident, so it never happened.
(Then I spotted... the giant's feet.)
"Of all the places for them to land." Hermes groaned, unable to believe this kids luck. Nemesis and Tyche must have a blast with this kid.
"It's almost like Nemesis and Tyche are fighting over him." Apollo commented.
Percy snorted. "It would not surprise me." He said dryly.
"Percy, don't you dare do anything stupid." Sally warned, knowing how her son worked.
(If I could only... but I charged.)
"Of all the stupid, idiotic..." Annabeth muttered. She'd almost had a heart-attack when he did that, especially when she failed to see a sword in his hand.
"That's Percy for ya." Thalia grunted with a scowl.
"He never thinks, reckless." Nico muttered.
Percy frowned. "I am not." He grumbled, knowing that nobody would agree with him.
(The giant laughed... body went rigid.)
"What?"
"Oh, what now?"
A slow smile spread across Percy's face. "Wait for it." He said, surprising everybody.
(His expression changed... of a blade.)
"But, who-" They weren't getting their hopes up about this being a friendly until they saw who it was. Especially the older Greeks, too many betrayals during the war when Demigods changed sides.
Theseus had read ahead slightly, and now glanced up at Annabeth with a raised eyebrow, wondering where she'd come from. He could have sworn she hadn't been in the chapter before this, or anywhere in the building or Percy would have noticed her.
(The ball dropped... cloud of green flame,)
"Flame?" A few questioned. The rest cheered that the monster was gone, Percy and Tyson were safe now.
"I thought it was just Empousai that could do that." Will said in confusion.
"The more powerful ones, yes. There have been cases of other monsters doing the same thing if they're older, it's rare though. Considering how he made those balls appear, and then magically shut the doors, I'm not surprised this one is one of them." Artemis answered.
"He actually said 'ow' before dying?" Travis whispered to his brother, who shrugged.
(which I figured... pretty upset.)
"Is now the time to be thinking about that?" Clarisse asked, amused.
"Maybe, maybe not." Percy shrugged, a little red while everyone else snickered.
His mind truly was unique.
(Standing in the... friend Annabeth.)
"What the- when did you get there?" Jason asked, shocked. Everyone relaxed, though, when they realized it was a friend who killed the giant.
She shrugged, grinning smugly. "I'd been there all day."
"Wha- your hat." Will realized. "You were following him under your hat."
"The shadows Percy saw that morning, outside his bedroom window and again outside the apartment building." Piper concluded. They'd been described as human shaped...
Annabeth turned slightly red. "Yeah." It was a good thing Percy slept with clothes on, some of her siblings slept in minimal amount of fabric (she actually had to make a rule about that), to everybody else's embarrassment sometimes. She'd heard that Hermes and Ares cabins were worse in that respect. Percy was just as red.
(Her face was... miles by ghosts.)
"Whoa, what happened to you?" Thalia asked, concerned. Last they read about Annabeth, she'd been with her father. That picture Percy had of her in D.C was supposedly taken during Spring Break, so she hadn't skipped out early like she said she did the first time she went back...
Annabeth sighed. "Percy isn't the only one who'd been having dreams, or the only one Chiron called and said to stay home that summer." She explained.
"Dang, just what is going on this summer?" Travis asked, concerned for his home. This time, everybody caught the glares aimed at Luke, and his wince followed by holding his head in his hands in shame.
"You live in Virginia, couldn't you have caught a train, or a bus? What'd you do, walk to New York?" Will asked.
Annabeth shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time." She muttered. And her dad wasn't going to let her go, Chiron had already requested she stay away from Camp for the summer, so he was going to do just that.
Thalia frowned. "The first time, you weren't alone." She pointed out, concerned. Annabeth shrugged again.
(Matt Sloan, who'd... That's the girl...")
"Of course he would choose now to return to reality." Chris rolled his eyes.
"And the first thing he saw was Annabeth... at least he didn't know her name, and the picture was destroyed." Travis pointed out.
"He won't be able to tell the police anything about her, unlike what they can tell about Percy." Connor continued.
Sally sighed. "That was not a fun afternoon." She muttered. First the phone call from the school, then the visit from police asking where her son was, then the phone call from Chiron saying everything with the police had been taken care of and Percy was no longer in any legal trouble...
Percy winced. "Sorry, mom."
She waved him off. "It wasn't your fault, sweetheart."
(Annabeth punched... off my friend.")
There were more cheers. "Go Annabeth!" Thalia simply clapped her on the back and grinned while everyone else cheered or laughed.
Chiron sighed and frowned in disapproval, but didn't actually say anything.
Athena scowled in disapproval at her daughter claiming the sea-spawn as her friend, but didn't say anything else. Triton had already spoken to her about Percy, and she didn't want her real father-figure to be anymore disappointed in her then she knew he already was for this.
(The gym was in... over the intercom.)
"I think it was saying something about evacuating..." Percy shrugged.
"Oh, so somebody did hear the commotion?" Chris asked sarcastically. Once again, where were the adults? Not that the teachers would have been able to do much without getting in the way, not in a fight against a monster who saw them as dinner.
"At least nobody got hurt." Will pointed out. He just hoped some of those sirens belonged to the fire department.
(Through the glass... up behind him.)
"And the first thing they're going to do when they get in is blame Percy." Nico shrugged.
"Actually, it wasn't them." Percy informed the room. Of course, him running off right afterward probably hadn't helped, but it wasn't like they would have believed him in the first place, was it?
"Really?" Rachel asked, surprised. When Kelly blew up the band room, Percy was the one blamed even though she stuck around afterward telling them that it wasn't Percy's fault.
("Annabeth..." I... much all morning.")
"Stalker." The future Greeks called out, grinning.
She flushed even redder. "Am not. I just couldn't find a good time to speak with him." She denied hotly. Percy coughed.
"Ah... what about when I was walking to catch the train?" He asked. The streets had been fairly clear that morning, if he remembered correctly. She blinked at him, the red deepening while everyone else laughed.
Truthfully, she'd wanted to see his school. That, and she'd overheard that today was his last day, and she'd known that if she mentioned her worries, he would have tried to skip and rush straight to camp, so...
(She sheathed her... were never alone.")
Percy coughed again, silently reminding her that she'd had plenty of time before he met up with Tyson at the train.
She rolled her eyes, still red.
("The shadow I... bedroom window?")
"Ooo! Are you sure you didn't start dating sooner?" Travis asked slyly, grinning like a loon.
Percy rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow at him. Travis blinked and suddenly went straight-faced and silent, followed closely by Connor.
"Um, what-?" Luke asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.
"You don't want to know." Annabeth muttered with a sigh. Thankfully, the Stolls behavior right now was distracting everybody from teasing her and Percy about this.
("There's no time... just didn't want to-")
"'Didn't want to-' What?" Thalia asked, concerned.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I knew how much of an accomplishment it was for him to finish out a school year without getting expelled or with the option of going back the next year. I didn't want to disrupt the last day." She revealed.
"Seriously?" Percy deadpanned.
"Yes. If I'd told you that morning about my dreams, what would you have done?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Rushed off straight to camp." He muttered sullenly.
"Hm-mm. As far as I was aware, whatever the situation was could hold for another day while you finished school." She shrugged.
"That's right, we didn't need you to come screaming in to help." Clarisse muttered darkly, glaring at Percy.
He winced. "I said I was sorry for that." He muttered.
("There!" a woman... came pouring in.)
"And here comes the cavalry!" Travis cried, getting over whatever it was between him, his brother, and Percy.
"Fashionably late, of course." Connor added.
"What else is new?" Nico asked, tilting his head.
("Meet me outside,"... better bring him.")
"Whoa! I know he's a Cyclops and all, but what's with the attitude?" Nico asked, surprised by the way Annabeth was acting towards Tyson.
Annabeth shifted uncomfortably while Luke and Thalia glanced at each other in concern. "Don't worry about it, Neeks. It happened before we went to camp." Thalia finally said, having an idea of where this was coming from.
"It will probably come up in the book." Percy muttered quietly to Annabeth, who stiffened before sighing in resignation. She couldn't be mad, either, it wasn't Percy's choice to have these books written and everything ever said to him in confidence thrown out there for all to hear. And his privacy was perhaps being violated the most.
Tyson looked uncertain. He hadn't really noticed this before, but he thought Annabeth liked him.
"Don't worry about it, big guy. Bad experience with some cousins of yours." Percy assured him quietly.
("What?"
"No time!" she said... of police officers.)
"Of course it did." Sally sighed.
"And the first thing out of the bullies mouth is..." Paul started to say, and trailed off to wait for said bully to actually say it.
"And of course the police are there, now Percy has to talk his way out." Thalia muttered, familiar with this routine.
("Percy Jackson?"... "Head hurts.")
Will and Apollo snorted. "If that's all it's doing, I think you're going to be just fine, there." Will informed the young Cyclops. A hit like that would have killed anybody else.
"You have a very hard head, young man. That's a good thing, sometimes." Apollo nodded.
Percy snorted. "Tell me about it." He muttered. He was rather protective of his 'baby' brother after the who 'killed in an explosion' incident, after all.
(Matt Sloan was... it, Mr. Bonsai!)
"Bingo!" Paul snapped his fingers and sighed, shaking his head.
"Did he even see half of what happened, or was he too frozen in terror?" Piper asked, disgusted by the blame-game being played right now.
"He was too frozen, but he'll take any chance he has to get me in trouble." Percy shrugged. He hadn't been surprised at all when Sloan spoke up.
"Should have hit him harder." Annabeth scowled, to Percy's amusement.
(He set the whole... He saw it all!")
"What?"
"That little liar."
"Shouldn't the other teachers know better? They should know what Nunley is like, right?"
"Taking advantage of the elderly like that, how dare he!"
The group grumbled and complained at Sloan turning to the elderly half-deaf and half-blind teacher as his witness in getting Percy in trouble with both the school and the law.
"And it wasn't the whole building, just the gymnasium." Clarisse finished off the complaints before Theseus could start reading again.
(Coach Nunley had... Yeah. Mm-hmm.")
"It's official, Tyche and Nemesis are fighting over you." Apollo muttered. Of all the luck...
"He has bad timing."
"That's an understatement." Rachel said dryly.
(The other adults... them the truth.)
"Yeah... I don't think telling them the gym was destroyed by giants who wanted to eat everybody would have gone down very well." Artemis said dryly.
"It would have been quite amusing, though." Dionysus said, eyes gleaming as he looked at Percy over his magazine. Percy just grimaced at the sight. Mr. D was one that Percy tried not to anger unnecessarily, not after what he'd seen him do while they'd been trying to rescue Annabeth and Artemis.
"Let's not get Percy admitted to a psych ward, that would be great." Annabeth said slowly.
"Agreed." Percy and Sally both said at once. They'd rather not go through with that, either.
(I grabbed Riptide... of the building.)
"And... done." Theseus announced, eyeing his younger half-brother curiously.
"I'll read next." Perseus claimed, and grabbed the book from his cousin. Theseus rolled his eyes but gave it up without fuss. It wasn't worth it to start a 'fight' over.
"You guys are going to camp, now, right?" Clarisse practically demanded. She knew they turned up at camp just in time to help with the fight (get in her way), but she didn't know how they got there, or even what time it was. She was kind of busy at the time with the giant mechanical bulls that weren't being stopped by the Camp Boundary line like they should have been.
"Yup." Percy grinned before it dimmed at the memory of the taxi ride.
"Yay! Camp!" Tyson cheered, thrilled. He loved the camp, he tried to spend as much time there as he could when he wasn't needed in the forges or helping to search for Percy, which he'd actually been given the last two months off work to do.
Chapter three: We Hail the Taxi of Eternal Torment