Disclaimer: Uncle Rick owns all characters in this story aside from my OC.

Cai

Four expulsions in seven different years. If I didn't know my little brother I would swear he was actively trying to get himself expelled just so he could sabotage my school record.

But I knew he wasn't trying to and some of the stuff that happened to him really didn't seem like it was all his fault so I couldn't exactly blame him for it.

Besides, he always got this guilty look on his face right before he was about to spew every form of apology he could think of. It was cute, and I love him to death for it.

Percy just wasn't a bad kid.

So when he walked into the main hallway of the school coming back from his field trip to the museum with the other sixth graders, referral slip in hand, mouthing the word, 'later', when he saw me, all I could do was heave a sigh.

Percy's gotten in trouble for hitting a kid before, but the last time he did that was because some kid started badmouthing our mom in the playground. Percy really didn't like that, so he got physical, and honestly I couldn't blame him. Mom was sort of a reverse scale for us.

Seems like mom was going to have to find another school willing to take us in again.

-BREAK

It was almost nine p.m. and Percy still hadn't been returned to our room. It was a little late for Percy to still be serving whatever punishment he'd gotten for whatever he did on his field trip.

Just when I was about to get up and start asking the staff about whatever it is they had Percy doing, the kid stumbles in through the door to our room on his own.

"You look like a dead man standing, dude," I told him. "What'd you do this time?"

"Shut the fuck up man," Percy said scowling.

I held my hands up in surrender. He was definitely not in a good mood.

"Cool it, man," I said. "And watch your language, you know mom hates it when you cuss."

"Dude! screw that. She's not even here right–"

This kid…

"Percy," I said sternly. "Quit it, calm down, and tell me what happened."

Slowly I could see the anger draining out of him like pee in a flushed toilet.

Bad analogy.

I watched him as he collected himself until finally he gave me a sort of sheepish-wavering grin and said, "Sorry, Cai. It's just been a really long day."

"Don't just sit there grinning like an idiot, I'm up so I can hear your side of the story," I said. "Tell me what happened."

This time I could see a smaller, more genuine smile creep its way up to his face.

"Right!" he said. "First things first though. Do you remember Mrs. Dodds?"

I looked at him questioningly before I said, "Your pre-algebra right?"

A full blown smile filled with glee grew on his face before he shouted "Yes! I knew it! I knew they were lying to me!"

Almost immediately after Percy concluded his joyous celebration of teacher recognition, a series of bangs hit the wall to our left from the dorm room right next to us, probably telling us to shut up. It was getting pretty late after all.

Percy calmed down as he elaborated on his source of happiness.

"I killed her," he said bluntly.

What the fuck?

"Percy, what the fuck?"

"Hey! You said no cussing!" he squawked.

Two more loud thumps rang out from the wall again.

"Anyone would cuss if you suddenly said that shit to them."

"Are you not gonna elaborate on that? Like at all? Or am I supposed to just be happy that my little brother just confessed to a premeditated murder while knowingly making me an accomplice?"

"Well if you just listened for two seconds maybe I would tell you!" Percy hissed.

"Alright! Alright! Let's hear how you somehow only managed to get detention after killing someone." I said.

I sat down next to my desk while he crashed on his bed recounting his criminal misadventure at the museum. By the time he finished, I had no idea what to think.

" So you think that somehow Mrs. Dodds turned into a monster,-" I said in resignation.

" I know what I saw!" He cut in.

" And that gave you his fountain pen so that you could–"

" Pen-sword!"

"Pen-sword, so that you could kill her, because…"

"Because Mr. Brunner knows something!" Percy said while furrowing his brow. "Grover too! Grover definitely knows something!"

" Are you sure your ADHD didn't just supercharge itself today or something?"

"Dude! Just look at this!"

He fished out a blue fountain pen with a resin body, sliver lining the trim, and a trident engraved on the cap.

"Percy, that definitely just looks like a pen to me. A pretty nice one though, Mr. Brunner has taste."

"It's definitely a pen-sword! I just don't know how to make it a sword again, I've tried swinging it, channeling my energy, and all the known activation phrases ever since I got back!" he said while swinging the pen in the dumbest gestures possible.

" Channeling your energy…? Activation phrases?" I deadpanned. "Let me see that for a second."

Percy reluctantly passed me the pen, and as soon as I felt it in my hand I felt a sort of familiarity with it. Like it belonged with me for some reason. I studied it for a minute before pulling the cap off, and as soon as I did a 3-foot-long blade with a bright bronze sheen, that looked like one of those greek bronze age swords erupted from the pen.

I looked over to Percy to see if he saw what I did. His eyes were probably as wide as mine were as we stared at the sword.

"See!" Percy cried quietly, careful to watch his volume.

My brain was still trying to wrap itself around the situation. Percy hadn't imagined the sword in my hand, which means he probably didn't imagine the monster he killed.

Shit.

My little brother almost got killed by some monster and he's probably only alive because his teacher decided to give him a fucking sword.

What the fuck was I supposed to tell mom?

I promised her I would look out for Percy while we were at school and he almost gets killed by some random monster who thought he owed it something.

"That's proof that it was all real!" Percy said as the situation washed over me.

If that monster thinks Percy took something from them then are they the only ones? Are more going to come? What the hell does Mr. Brunner or even Grover for that matter have to do with any of this?

"Percy, do you know anything at all about what was taken?"

Percy immediately sobered from his glee picking up on the seriousness of the question.

" Nope, she just kept on asking me to give it back," He said.

" Did Mr. Brunner or Grover say anything that might help us figure out what's happening?"

He thought for a moment before he took on an expression reminiscent of and said:

" Everything you learn from me is vitally important Mr. Jackson,"

"That's exactly what Mr. Brunner said a little bit before I killed Mrs. Dodds. And ever since we got back I tried asking people about what happened to but it's like they all really forgot about her. Really weird, man."

"And the one time I tried asking Mr. Brunner and Grover about it they tried to gasfight me–

"Gaslight" I corrected.

"-Gaslight me into believing she wasn't real in the first place."

"I guess that explains the mood you were in."

"Yeah"

" Well, it doesn't seem like they're gonna tell you anything anytime soon so just play it cool for a while," I said.

" What kind of crap advice is that? A monster tries to kill me, my Latin teacher and my best friend know about it and won't tell me, and all you can say is sit tight? Brother of the year" He said scowling.

" Well you heard Mr. Brunner yourself you fucking wise-ass just sit tight and learn as much as you possibly can from him and maybe by the time the next monster comes around you can pull some sick ninja moves on it," I said with a little heat.

" What can a guy in a wheelchair possibly teach me about monster-fighting?" He asked.

That was a fair point but I wasn't letting up on this.

"Dude I've seen , and I know you have too, he's gotta be jacked underneath all those suits he wears."

I could see the gears turning in his head before he said, "That's probably true but this is still a crap idea."

I stared at him unyielding. Better he learns what he can from someone who knows than stay in the dark and get killed by something else down the line.

" Fine," Percy said.

"Great now let's go to sleep, I've got swim practice in the morning," I said.

"Whatever…" I heard.

-BREAK-

As it turned out sitting tight for a while was actually the rest of the school year. Not a single hint of what happened at the museum reared its head. But at least the year passed by quickly.

I'm not sure the same could be said for Percy, though. It seemed like a jarring transition for him to deal with the fact that none of his classmates remembered that there ever existed a , or even acknowledged the fact that suddenly appeared to take her place.

I really didn't envy his position.

Luckily his grades didn't slip all that much from where he was before that field trip happened, he even started getting better grades in 's class.

At some point, I figured it'd probably help that I learned whatever it was that Mr. Brunner was trying to teach Percy.

A lot of it definitely wasn't just Latin.

had a lot to say about greek mythology: the gods, the heroes, their quests, and the monsters they fought and he was pretty adamant for some reason that we go by their titles rather than their names.

I wasn't about to question it. Whatever the reason, it seemed important.

I hadn't thought much of any of his lessons until one night during the weekend we were studying for our finals in our room when Percy pointed me to a picture in Mr. Brunner's copy of Kapodistrian Guide to Greek Mythology, and said, " That's her! That's Mrs. Dodds! That's the one I kill! Me kill! Me murder kill!"

I gave him a tired look before I read the description under the picture. 'The Erinyes: Three spirits of vengeance also known as the kindly ones sworn in service to the god Hades, to forever punish those who have taken up false oaths. Alekto, Megaera, and Tisiphone are their names.'

"Kindly ones," I said aloud. "You know if you really did kill one of them, then in hindsight, it seems like Mr. Brunner really was teaching us about all this Greek stuff for a reason."

" Yeah, we reaaally gotta start working on our critical thinking skills," Percy said with a furrowed brow.

"Percy, the world would probably shift into some alternate dimension the moment you figure out how to do anything involved with critical thinking."

"Hey! I'll be happy to let you know that I managed to wrangle a B-minus in Mr. Brunner's class!"

"Yeah only with my help, brainlet"

" But that's your job. You were helping me regardless but I've only got the one good grade, so your argument doesn't really work."

I hid a smile as I turned back to the book. " Whatever," I said. "Aside from your grades, don't you think it's kinda weird?"

"What is?"

"Y'know, the Ancient monsters coming back to ask you specifically for something?"

"Yeah, you'd think there'd be more modern monsters trying to assault sixth-graders."

My face twitched a little. This kid and his fucking mouth…

"I mean, why would they think that you of all people took whatever it is? Do you even think they're still looking for you?"

"I don't know, maybe we should ask Mr. Brunner. It's already been more than half a year. He can't stay quiet about it forever, like, what if something happens during the summer and the devil himself sprouts up from the ground just to get me?"

I looked outside our window because for a good second I expected reality to start shifting because that was undeniably a critical thought coming straight out of my brother's mouth.

"I guess we could ask him tomorrow afternoon or something, the teachers are having their offices stay open later so kids can get last-minute sessions in before finals start," I said.

"Sounds like a plan," he said.

- BREAK-

It was around six in the afternoon the next day when Percy and I decided to try and get whatever we could out of .

We made our way over to the staff offices, trekking a long corridor to get to Mr. Brunner's.

We paused about three meters away from 's office when we heard two hushed voices in conversation coming from the door that had been left slightly open.

"...worried about Percy and Cai, sir."

Percy looked up at me and mouthed 'Grover'.

I put a finger over my lips and motioned Percy to inch closer to the door along with me.

Of course, he exaggerates and starts tiptoeing like some kind of cat burglar, and, naturally, his sneaker hits the floor in a squeak because of it.

Somehow, It didn't seem like they noticed.

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

Okay, so they definitely knew about the monsters. But then who is 'they'? Because if they knew we knew then why hide it?

"We would only make matters worse by rushing them," Mr. Brunner said. " We need them both to mature more before they learn any more than they have now."

"But they may not have time. The summer solstice–"

" Will have to be resolved without them, Grover. The mist over them and the rest of the school will help us preserve their ignorance for a little while longer."

"Sir, he saw her…"

"His imagination."

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

"You haven't failed, Grover. I should have seen her for what she was, but there is little cause for concern now that she is gone. Especially when they know so little about their heritage. . This way we can keep them both alive for another year," Mr. Brunner said kindly.

Our Heritage? How much did these guys know about us?

"Sir, their scent is too strong and I can smell it getting stronger every day!" Grover pleaded. "And with all due respect, perhaps you've forgotten that you gave Percy your pen. If the mist somehow never took hold over him then what happens if sees the blade hidden within the pen?"

Percy and I looked at each other bewildered, a long stretch of silence filling the air before Mr. Brunner responded.

"You bring up an excellent point and an incredible lapse of judgment on my part. Mr. Brunner sighed.

"I'll see what can be done about getting them to camp at the earliest convenience, if one thing is certain then it's the fact that Mrs. Jackson will be most unappreciative of this turn of events."

Mr. Brunner knew mom? Did mom know about the monsters too?

"Forgive me, Grover. It seems neither my nerves nor my wit has been right since the winter solstice."

The conversation seemed like it was coming to an end so I got Percy's attention and gestured for us to head back to our room.

-BREAK-

We sat in silence for a few seconds after we got back to our room.

"What the fuck?" Percy blurted out.

"Percy, quit cussing" I scolded.

" Oh, come on! We were both thinking it!"

"Doesn't matter, quit it."

"Whatever."

"Let's just try and go over everything we heard, alright?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Alright, so we know for sure that Grover is involved with Mr. Brunner somehow-"

"Like I've been saying this whole time."

"And we definitely know that they both remember Mrs. Dodds."

"Said that too."

" And now we know that Mr. Brunner and Grover are the reason everyone forgot about in the first place using something called the mist."

"That sounds like Star War,"

I looked him dead in the eye. I hoped my rising annoyance with him was obvious, but I knew that even if he noticed, it wouldn't mean a thing.

"You know what I'm talking about, the weird mind tricks those guys did so they could do whatever they want." He said.

"Percy, shut up"

He made a serious face, waved his right hand in a small arc, and said with exaggerated mysticism, " You want me to keep talking."

"I want you to keep talking"

"Whoa! For real?!" he said while looking at his palm in awe at his newfound power.

"No, you idiot! Shut up!" I snapped. " Be serious, for like, five minutes!"

"Alright! Calm down, it was just a joke dude."

" Just stay quiet while I list everything we heard earlier,"

"Fine," Percy muttered.

" Alright so, Grover and Mr. Brunner are working together and they're behind the whole Mrs. Dodds cover-up."

"Yup," Percy said.

"And something happened on the winter solstice that's got them on the edge and the summer solstice is the deadline they have to meet before things get worse."

"Well I didn't reaaally catch that part but maybe it has something to do with all the bad weather that's been happening since Christmas. It always looks like the world is about to end or something."

" At this point, it's starting to feel like a real possibility. Putting that aside, though, somehow Mr. Brunner and Mom know each other, and probably not just so Mr. Brunner can update her on our grades in class."

"Uh, I didn't hear that part either, but if you say so."

" Were you even trying to listen to what they were saying, Percy?"

"I was listening! They just kept talking weird. It was really hard trying to figure out what they were saying."

"What are you talking about? It's not like they were whispering or anything."

"I know they weren't! But It was almost like they were speaking another language or something," He said.

I quirked an eyebrow at that.

" You didn't hear the way they were talking? It was like they were empasizing? Empathizing? Emphasize…? Emphasizing!" he said as he snapped his fingers. "It's like they were emphasizing all the wrong parts of every word they were saying. The way the tonal languages do, y'know?"

I mean I got what he was trying to say, but it didn't really make sense that they would somehow be speaking a different language Percy and I could understand even though English was the only language we knew well enough conversationally.

It did seem like Grover and 's talk got clearer towards the end of it though.

"I guess this just means we have another question to add to our list of questions to ask mom when we get home," I said.

"And the questions are…?" Percy asked.

" Who are Mr. Brunner and Grover, why are we so important, and what else don't we know."

"Right, well while you were listing all of those things I wasn't paying attention to I figured everything out on my own."

I highly doubted that.

"Oh yeah? What've you come up with then?" I asked.

"Alright so get this: The devil is trying to rise up and start the apocalypse, but he can't because someone stole the keys to the gates of hell and he thinks one of us stole it because either of us could be the chosen one…"

"Percy, what on earth-"

"-So God sent Mr. Brunner, his super angel who's pretending to be a Latin teacher in a wheelchair so that he can train and protect us for when I eventually fight the Devil with you as my sidekick." he continued.

"...That was definitely an attempt, I'll give you that," I said.

"Or! What if our dad is literally god. What if he needs us to make sure the devil doesn't rise up and that's why we're so important?"

"I doubt that. I doubt that a lot."

"That's all you do, it's like you were built to doubt. Do you have an x button hidden on you somewhere too?"

"...Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up," I said. " It's about time we went to sleep anyway, we can ask Mom about all this stuff when we get home," I said.

"Yeah yeah," Percy said. " …I miss her," I heard him mumble.

" Me too," I whispered.

The weekend couldn't come any faster. The anxiousness this whole monster business caused seemed so far away when I thought about seeing Mom again.