Everyone laughed at the chapter title as Grover went red.
"Dude, why weren't you wearing your pants anyways?" Connor asked, and Grover bleated, "Pants makes it harder to run!"
"If we are talking about children... wouldn't it make sense to bring Chiron here? Lupa is a definite no, since she prefers to let her pups take care of themselves as long as they have appropriate training... but I'm sure Chiron would like to know what's going on." Amphitrite stated.
The gods all turned to Zeus in silent agreement, and the god sighed, before snapping his fingers.
A few seconds later, Chiron appeared, looking confused, but after getting a brief explanation of what was going on by Hermes, the centaur nodded, and settled down.
Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.
"No surprise there." Thalia snickered.
"That's not very nice." Triton chided, and Percy shrugged, "I'm sure I have my reasons for it."
I know, I know. It was rude.
"Very rude." Grover grumbled.
But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"
"To be fair... I'd probably ditch Grover as well." Calypso sighed, and several other demigods nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. Same." Jason shook his head, "That is just creepy. Sorry, Grover."
"I suppose... that would sound scary to a twelve year old." Grover nodded at his past actions, "Sorry Percy."
"Nah, it's fine. You scared me, I ran home... it kind of evens out." Percy snickered.
Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.
"Good!" Hermes cheered, "Taking advantage of someone's weakness!"
"That's supposed to be a good thing." Athena grumbled, but Annebeth pointed out, "Well... what if he's facing a monster?"
"Then by all means, do it. That would be the wise thing to do." The Wisdom Goddess replied.
Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.
"East One Hundred and Fourth and First Avenue," I told the driver.
Before either of the Stolls, Chris, or Hermes could say anything, Percy interrupted, "That's my old address. You won't find me living there."
"It's no use, cousin." Thalia shook her head, "I'm pretty sure everyone in the camp knows where you live."
A word about my mother, before you meet her.
The gods turned their attention to the book. Most of the demigods seemed to like her, and they were curious as to what mortal had caught Poseidon's fancy.
"A lovely lady... even if she is rather stubborn." Chiron commented in amusement.
"Best mom ever." Thalia grinned, and Artemis turned to her hunter, "You know her?"
"Yep." Thalia nodded, "She let all the hunters stay for dinner once, when the weather was particularly bad and we needed to get patched up after a hard battle. She and Paul cleared out the entire living room for us."
Grover nodded, "Yeah. Some of the other satyrs tell me that they find demigods, and on the way back to camp, they stop by her house for food, bathroom breaks and showers."
"Sounds like a lovely woman." Hera nodded. She may not like that this Sally had a son with a man she never married, but she could always tolerate a good mother who cared about their children.
"Seems like you could learn a thing or two from her, since you're the Goddess of Family." Hephaestus muttered, "At the very least, she doesn't throw her kid off mountains for not looking perfect."
Hera pretended not to hear that statement, but the demigods, as well as some other gods, snickered.
Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.
"Honestly... true." Annabeth sighed, turning to face Percy. Percy was one of the kindest demigods in the world, even trying to save the demigods who worked for Kronos. He had gone on a quest to rescue her from Atlas and Luke, forced the Great Prophecy onto his shoulders so Nico (who he thought hated him with a burning passion) wouldn't have to suffer, and even jumped into Tartarus for her.
Now, even though they didn't have any quests, the memories of Tartarus still haunted them, and Percy was still trying to push through the memories while juggling his school work, being Apollo's chauffer that one time, and defending Camp Half-Blood when it was necessary.
Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five,
Poseidon, as well as some of the demigods, glared at Zeus, and the God of the Sky groaned, "I don't kill every single mortal that takes an airplane! It could be any of the other wind gods!"
"Well, you're the only one who's domain is the sky." Hades pointed out, "So you're just going to have to be the scapegoat, then."
and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her.
Hestia's face fell, and Hera scowled.
She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program.
Artemis and Athena both nodded.
Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.
"That's terrible!" Athena shook her head, "And she even put in all that effort to learn and study!"
"That... seriously sucks, man." Travis commented.
"And somehow, she's still so nice." Thalia sighed, "Percy, your mom is the best."
The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.
Poseidon smiled, before he seemed to remember that Triton and Amphitrite where present, though neither of them seemed to mind too much; so far, Sally seemed like a good lady.
I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile.
"You visited him?" Zeus glared at Poseidon, and the God of the Sea glared back, "Of course I did! He's my son!"
"It's against the rules!" Zeus thundered, and Poseidon scowled, "Well, your rules are stupid!"
Some of the demigods looked slightly jealous that Percy had gotten such a good godly parent, but Aphrodite spoke up, "He's not the only one, you know. We all try to keep track of our children, in some way, shape, or form."
"Yeah." Will nodded, "Dad leaves us presents for our birthday! Sometimes they're late by a day or a week, but we always get something!"
Apollo looked proud of himself, but Zeus just turned his bad temper towards his son, "Apollo!"
"What?" Apollo pouted, "I didn't visit them!"
"You weren't supposed to interfere with their lives!"
"Well, I'm not interfering! I'm just leaving them a little something that might or might not come in handy someday." Apollo shrugged, "I'm not helping them, or interfering."
Zeus continued to glower at him, and Apollo decided to throw Hermes under the bus, and pointed at the messenger god, "Well, he does it too! He's the God of Roads and Merchants! Sometimes he just routes and reroutes gifts and messages for his kids all over the place before they reach camp! You know, some of them don't get there; we all know how sucking the mortal transport system is, but still!"
"Loopholes!" Hermes cackled, and suddenly, Chris felt guilty that he had joined Kronos, even if it was temporary.
Perhaps Hermes really had been so busy with something that Zeus had made him do that made it hard for him to claim his kids; being the God of Messengers for Zeus didn't seem like an easy job, given how much the King of the Gods liked to bury his head in the sand like ostriches, and wouldn't listen to a thing to matter how many messages he received.
My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.
The sea god sighed. If it weren't for the stupid ancient laws and Zeus' insufferable temper tantrums, he would have visited Sally more.
"Your mother sounds like a lovely person." Amphitrite stated, and Triton gave a small grunt in agreement; Poseidon usually had... questionable taste in woman, but this Sally Jackson didn't seem too bad.
See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important,
"Not a lie!" Connor grinned.
and their relationship was a secret.
The demigods spared a glance at Amphitrite, but she didn't seem too upset at the prospect of Poseidon cheating on her.
Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.
Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.
Hermes nodded, "That's an awesome excuse! And it isn't even a lie!"
She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad.
"She sounds like an awesome woman." Artemis smiled.
"She's working so hard to get her diploma." Athena nodded, "I approve. She will have my blessings."
Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.
"Honestly, we demigods are never easy kids." Silena sighed, and the other children nodded. The gods all looked a little embarrassed, knowing that the dyslexia and ADHD that made life difficult for their children mainly came from them.
Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano,
The name just made Aphrodite faux puke.
Grover and Annabeth cringed at the name, and Percy flinched, though it was so subtle that no one, save for Poseidon, Triton, and Annabeth noticed.
who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk.
"It's in the name." Piper grumbled. She had a feeling that none of them would like this man.
"He sounds absolutely disgusting." Thalia stuck her tongue out, and everyone else nodded in agreement.
When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.
Aphrodite turned green, and everyone cringed at the description.
"And you know that... how?" Jason asked, and Percy grimaced, "You know. Public school gym locker rooms."
All the demigods who had been to mortal schools all nodded in agreement.
Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard.
Annabeth patted Percy's back, "You know, it's not your fault. Young children are one thing, but your former step father probably knew what he was doing."
Chiron nodded, "Your mother knew what she was getting into while raising you."
The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along…well, when I came home is a good example.
"Did he do anything bad?" Frank asked, and Percy shuddered, "Well... it was pretty normal for him."
I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies.
"Urg. Poker. Pinochle is so much better." Dionysus grumbled. He was drinking some more Diet Coke, and had a wine magazine in his lap. He pretended to read his magazine, sipping his Coke and using his powers to flip the pages, and Pollux and Dakota both snickered at their father's antics.
The television was blaring. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.
"That's just... ewww." Silena groaned, "That's disgusting!"
"Does he ever clean up after himself?" Artemis hissed.
Athena growled, "I bet he just makes Sally clean up after him."
Annabeth sent Percy a look that said something like "Did you have to clean up after him?"
Percy glanced at her with a glance that stated, "Yeah? Sometimes my mom works late, or falls asleep the second she gets home, so when that happens, he makes me clean up. And weekends; my mom works on weekends, so I'm also cleaning things up then."
Triton scowled; even if he didn't like Percy too much, he still didn't want someone related to him to be dealing with... that.
Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."
"How rude!" Hera frowned slightly, "That's not how you greet someone! Especially if that someone is a child who spent several month in boarding school!"
For once, everyone agreed with Hera.
"Where's my mom?"
"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"
"Percy's twelve! Why is he asking him for money!? Why do you even need money from him!?" Artemis asked, outraged. Percy was one of the nicest males she had ever met, and this absolutely horrible piece of trash was treating him like this?
"That was it? No Welcome back?" Clarisse raised an eyebrow.
"No Good to see you or something like that?" Piper asked incredulously.
"What about a simple, easy, non-personal question like How has your life been the last six months?" Hazel hissed.
Apollo snickered, and Hermes leant over, trying to see was was written in the book. He started laughing so hard, and Connor and Travis looked up at their father in bewilderment.
Hermes lowered his voice, and whispered something to the Stoll brothers, and they themselves burst into such violent laughter that they tumbled off the couch.
That sobered Hermes up real quick, and he quickly checked the two boys over, let them settle back on the couch, before he glanced back at the book in Apollo's hands.
He stifled his laughter, and let Apollo continue.
That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?
"Oh my gods!" Leo burst into laughter, "You three think like Percy!"
"In this case... those are acceptable thoughts." Athena stated, "Despite them coming from a sea spawn."
Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.
Piper, Silena and Aphrodite all cringed.
"Definitely nowhere near handsome." Leo stuck his tongue out, fiddling with some gears he had procured from his belt.
He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before.
"I don't know either." Apollo scowled, "That doesn't make any logical sense. It's not like he could do his job at home or something."
He just kept on collecting pay cheques, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous,
Grover bleated, "Cigars are terrible! They pollute the air, and humans just litter everywhere! And sometimes, they start fires!"
and on beer, of course. Always beer.
Thalia cringed at the mention of alcohol; he reminded her too much of her mother, who had always been drunk, especially after meeting Jupitar and losing Jason.
Dionysus frowned slightly. Wine was so much better than beer.
Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds.
"So that's why you had to get a summer job?" Hermes asked. Percy looked at the floor, and nodded slowly.
He called that our "guy secret."
"Your mom didn't know?" Nico asked.
"She's busy with her jobs, and trying to get her diploma on her own." Percy quietly admitted, "I didn't really want to bother her with something so trivial."
Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.
Apollo nearly tore the book apart, "He would do what!?"
"You call this trivial!?" Amphitrite hissed. She didn't know Percy will, but he seemed like a nice kid, especially compared to Poseidon's more... monstrous children. And even if she didn't like Percy, as a mother herself, there was no way she could tolerate a child getting abused.
Zoe and Artemis looked downright murderous; both of them had grown quite fond of this male, especially after the entire Atlas fight.
"Has he ever hit you before?" Triton asked. Percy stayed silent, trying to stare at the floor, and Poseidon said, "Percy, look at me."
The demigod looked up at his father, who had an unreadable expression on his face.
"Perseus. Answer Triton's question." Poseidon looked down at Percy, and the boy sighed, "Maybe a little?"
Annabeth wasn't impressed with her boyfriend, "Really? "Maybe a little" as in, "I swam in the Styx "maybe a little""?"
"Hold up, who swam in a what now?" Leo asked, confused, but no one else heard what Annabeth had said. Everyone's attention was still focused on Percy. Percy tried to make himself even smaller, and squeaked, "I'm fine!"
"Your definition of "I'm fine" is questionable, Kelp Head." Thalia sighed. After a complete minute of absolute silence, Percy sighed, "Really! It's all good! He just threw a beer bottle at me a couple of times, and maybe pushed me down the stairs once?"
Poseidon was seething, "When did this happen?"
"When I was younger?" Percy muttered, "I mean... I learnt how to avoid him. Plus, I had school, so I wasn't home anways."
"Percy, that makes it even worse." Thalia growled.
"Where is this human? I'd like to hit him. A nice, big whack on the head." Triton grumbled. Poseidon and Amphitrite looked at him, surprised; they knew Triton wasn't too fond of Percy, especially given the circumstances they had first met under, so they didn't really know why he was so upset.
"I still don't like Percy. But he still has royal blood, and my half-brother. This scum-" Triton spat, "-has been abusing him. I won't stand for that, whether I like Perseus or not!"
Annabeth frowned. Percy had a habit of apologizing for literally everything that went wrong, and she had a feeling that this "Smelly Gabe" was a major contributing factor to that.
If it weren't for the fact that she knew that he was already dead, and out of Percy's life, she would want to go and murder this man herself, and she was pretty sure everyone in Camp Half-Blood would happily follow along.
Chiron glanced at Percy was a slightly confused expression on his face; perhaps he didn't know the boy was well as he hoped.
"That's enough. Don't pressure him and stress him out." Hestia frowned, and Percy immediately sent the goddess of the hearth a thankful nod.
"Fine." Apollo sighed and continued reading, still seething. Percy was one of his favorite demigods that wasn't his kid, and he hated the idea that the boy had been hurt.
"I don't have any cash," I told him.
He raised a greasy eyebrow.
Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.
"I... see now..." Athena shook her head, "That's why she married him."
"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change.
"Wow, the piece of crap has a brain." Connor jeered, and Katie didn't bother stopping him this time.
"I should curse him." Athena grumbled.
Silently, Annabeth prayed that her mother would do something sensible and not turn him into a monster that would come back to literally bite her children's later, and was immensely relieved when Persephone interrupted her mother's line of thought, "Athena, Percy has a new stepfather. If we want to curse him, we should also ask for Percy's input, as well as Sally's."
Thalia frowned, "Well.. if Aunt Sally's with Paul now... and assuming she doesn't have the money for a proper divorce, since, you know, that asshole wouldn't leave her with any... does that mean that this asshole is dead? So is he in the Fields of Punishment, right?""
Everyone looked at Hades hopefully, and the god tried to wrack his brain, "The name... it does sound familiar. I might have handled that case personally..."
The god shrugged, and disappeared for a second, before he reappeared, "Yes. He is there."
Nico grinned sadistically, "So... can we make his punishment worse?"
A small smile appeared on Hades' face, "Sure. I don't see why not. But we should discuss this later; Zeus is going to explode if we delay the reading any more."
Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"
"He was twelve! What kind of person expects a twelve year old to be "carrying his own weight"?" Jason protested.
Eddie, the superintendant of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."
"At least one of his friends seem decent enough." Michael grumbled.
"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.
Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.
Michael stuck his tongue out, "I take that back. They're all disgusting."
Zoe and Artemis growled, "Males."
"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."
Dionysus snapped his fingers, "I could make that happen, if you really want that, Praire."
"Is "Praire" even a name?" Percy asked, and Dionysus shrugged, "Anything can be a name, Peter."
"You were listening?" Ares raised an eyebrow, and the wine god glared at him, "Of course I'm not. Since he's dead, we can just make him have an eternal poker game where he'll never win."
"Sounds good." Hades nodded. He created a notebook, and started to jot things down.
"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"
Everyone glowered.
I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines,
Athena snorted, "That doesn't even studying."
"Hey, you think he could even read the words in the magazine?" Jake asked mockingly, and Grover snorted, "He could probably just understand how pricy the cars, knowing that he'll never be able to afford them."
but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill,
Aphrodite cringed, "That's absolutely disgusting! Clean your boots and leave them somewhere else to dry!"
and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.
Even Hestia seemed slightly upset at this point.
I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.
"Gotta love that sarcasm, man." Leo joked, but Calypso smacked him lightly for being insensitive.
Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.
Everyone snickered at the comparison.
But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him.
"Dang, you could feel that even then?" Grover grimaced, and Percy shrugged, "I don't know if it was that monster, or just the general unease from not knowing what was going on."
A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.
"That feeling just sucks." Jason shuddered, "All that suspense, tension, and you have no idea how to deal with it."
Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"
She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.
"Yes! Aunt Sally!" Thalia and Rachel cheered, and Amphitrite looked intrigued, interested to learn more about the mortal that had captured her husband's heart.
My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt.
"Great. Now I want a quilt." Connor sighed, and Hermes snapped his fingers, teleporting a blanket over to his son.
She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair,
Annabeth leaned over and whispered to Percy, "At least she didn't have to hold the sky up."
Percy paled, "I hope she'd never have to do that."
but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad.
Frank shook his head, "That's exactly like you, Percy."
Percy frowned, "What?"
"Ya know... seeing all the good things in people."
Percy tilted his head, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Little Tiber? The gorgons?" Frank tried not to give anything away, but Percy just looked confused.
Annabeth let out a squeak, "More gorgons!?"
I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.
Hades was starting to see why so many demigods were fond of this woman; Poseidon really was lucky with her.
"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"
"So... Prissy, what were you like during that Christmas?" Clarisse smirked, "You were already so small and scrawny. And apparently you've grown."
Everyone else started giggling, and even Percy let out a small bark of laughter.
Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.
"I don't think working in a candy shop would be enough to get a proper degree." Athena muttered, "Perhaps I should intervene..."
"Don't worry, Lady Athena. My mom's got it all sorted out now." Percy looked up at the goddess. He still resented Athena for sending her kids (especially Annabeth) on a death quest for the Athena Parthenos, but she seemed to like his mom, so he would hold his tongue... for now.
We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings,
"That sounds delicious." Hermes sighed, before he seemed to remember he was a god, and snapped his fingers. A few packs of sour strings, and he grabbed a pack for himself, and passed the other packs around to gods or demigods who might want some snacks as well.
she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters.
She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled.
"To be fair, you only insulted a teacher." Reyna shrugged, "That's pretty minor compared to... I don't know... exploding a school bus and dunking your classmates in a tank of sharks."
"Or exploding a band room." Rachel added.
Annabeth snickered, "Or setting an entire gymnasium on fire."
Posiedon paled, "Percy... didn't do that... right?"
"Nah." Rachel waved her hands, "Monsters."
She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?
Annabeth sighed. A lot of kids who lived in abusive households turned into big bullies themselves, just so that they could pretend that they had power and control over their lives. Honestly, she was glad that Percy had such a nice mother to counteract his terrible former stepfather.
I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.
"That's a good mother-son relationship right there." Hera glowered at her sons, and Jake grumbled, "Well, maybe my dad would like you more if you... I don't know... didn't throw him off a mountain!?"
Beckendorf and Leo both snickered in agreement, and Hephaestus puffed his chest up at Hera, proud that his children were standing up for him.
From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"
Demeter scowled, "That man should eat more high-fiber cereal instead! And see how he likes it when it all comes out!"
I gritted my teeth.
Everyone else also gritted their teeth, upset that such a touching moment between mother and son had been destroyed by a complete monster of a human being.
My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.
Poseidon nodded, "Well, Paul is good for her. Not a millionaire, but he's great."
"You've seen Paul?" Hermes asked, and Poseidon nodded, "Once. I visited during Percy's fifteenth birthday to give him a sand dollar."
The demigods had a pang of jealously that Poseidon had visited on Percy's birthday, but then reminded themselves that the Sea God could probably get away with any serious consequences since he was on the same level as Zeus.
The others, like Apollo and Hermes, couldn't break the rules outright, but they did their best to find loopholes, and that cheered them up instantly.
For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion.
"Honestly, who would?" Triton grumbled, "That place sounds terrible."
I'd lasted almost the whole year this time.
Rachel snickered, "Yeah. This time, you weren't kicked out before the school semester even started."
"Well, they still accepted me." Percy pouted, and Rachel grinned, "Only because Paul pulled some strings for you."
I'd made some new friends.
"Well... you made one friend." Grover snickered, "Not some."
"And now, I have tons!" Percy grinned, before a pang of pain shot through his chest. Would his friends still accept him, despite knowing that he had nearly snapped and lost sight of himself in Tartarus?
I'd done pretty well in Latin.
"That's because you actually tried, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth leaned against Percy.
And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said.
"Did you actually get into fights, punk?" Ares asked, and Percy shook his head, "Nope. Mostly verbal arguments."
"Pity." The War God scoffed, "Sounds boring."
I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself.
"Percy, you're probably the only one would could live through all that, and still find tons of good things to pick out." Will sighed, "This Yancy Academy sounds like absolute trash."
I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr Brunner.
"Fair enough. Meeting them seemed like the only good things that happened in Yancy." Katie stated, and Chiron and Grover both smiled, happy that they could make things slightly better for the son of the Sea God.
Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.
Grover grimaced, "Perce... I honestly have no idea how you could convince yourself that she "didn't seem so bad"."
Until that trip to the museum…
"Which isn't really your fault, Kelp Head." Thalia added, "For once."
Percy, Annabeth and Grover proceeded to glare at Ares.
"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"
Frank paused. He remembered how easy it was to just talk to Percy about the death of his mother, before he had made his way to Camp Jupitar.
Perhaps he had inherited that trait from his mother.
"No, Mom."
"No! The one time I do not condone lying!" Hermes shrieked, "No lying to your mother!"
I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.
Rachel stated, "Honestly, true. It would sound dumb, especially if you didn't know your mom could see through the Mist.""
"Yeah." Percy nodded, "What was I supposed to say? "Hi mom! My old lady turned into a bat thing and tried to kill me! And I used a pen that transformed into a sword to kill her, and I got that from my favorite Latin teacher, who also, by the way, told me that I was destined to get kicked out again! Also, I saw some old ladies cutting the yarn to a huge pair of socks on the bus today!""
"Now that just sounds like a complete fever dream." Thalia sighed.
She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.
"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."
My eyes widened. "Montauk?"
Poseidon lit up at the mention of the place where he had met Sally.
"Three nights—same cabin."
"When?" She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."
"Awesome. Now get out of there as soon as possible." Juniper nodded.
I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.
"Probably because he gambled it all away." Chris grumbled, "Such a jerk."
Suddenly, he felt really bad for being jealous of Percy. Sure... Hermes might have been busy and couldn't visit, but he really preferred an absent father rather than one who could, and probably would, beat him up every single day.
Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"
"Go to Hades!" Michael yelled, and Hades jokingly rolled his eyes, "Even we don't want a person like that."
I wanted to punch him,
"Do it!" Ares, Clarisse, and pretty much all the other demigods yelled.
but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.
Leo asked, "How on earth do you get such a long message from just a glance?"
"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."
Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"
"Why are you so surprised?" Thalia jeered, "Any ideas about getting away from you would definitely be serious."
"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."
"Ah, very nice thoughts, Mr Optimism." Jason snickered, as Percy stuck his tongue out at the currently dead Son of Jupiter.
"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your stepfather is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."
Hermes frowned, "She has to bribe him to go on a trip? That's just... not right... as much as I like bribery..."
"Such a disgrace!" Hera snapped, "You cannot treat your wife like that!"
Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip…it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"
"Duck and cover!" Piper and Silena both yelled. The demigods were barely able to cover their ears in time before Aphrodite let out an ear-piercing shriek, "A clothes budget!?"
"Yes, honey," my mother said.
Aphrodite turned to Percy, "The second we're done with these books, you are taking me to meet you mother! We'll go clothes shopping!"
"Yes, Lady Aphrodite." Percy sighed. He really hoped the goddess would forget after reading ten whole books. He didn't want his mother to be anywhere near a god that wasn't his father, or Apollo, or Artemis. At the very least, he knew they wouldn't really do anything to hurt her.
And a shopping trip with Aphrodite sounded like a complete nightmare.
"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."
"We'll be very careful."
"Accidents can still happen." Nico grumbled.
"Yeah... accidents." Percy nodded, "We were very, very careful."
Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip… And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."
Artemis snarled, "Percy funded the game, you ungrateful pig!"
"Careful, Arty." Apollo snickered, "The pig didn't deserve the insult."
Artemis glared heatedly at Apollo, "Don't call me Arty!"
Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.
Clarisse cracked her knuckles, "If you ain't going to do it, Prissy, I'd do it for you!"
"Me too." Triton nodded.
"Clarisse, stop." Percy stated, "You can't do anything to him. He's already dead."
"But we can make his suffering worse." Hades grinning sadistically, and Persephone nodded with an equally evil glint in her eyes, "Maybe we can do that every single time he loses a poker game."
But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.
"I think we should bring Aunt Sally on all of our quests." Annabeth joked, "Percy has all his restraint when it comes to insulting people in the face when she's around."
Percy glared at his girlfriend, and all the demigods who had seen Percy mouth-off at gods right in front of him nodded in agreement.
Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?
Grover and Percy shared a look, which was caught by Athena. That pretty much confirmed her suspicious as to why Sally would marry such a... she couldn't even find a word that would properly describe just how disgusting and utterly despicable be was.
"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."
"All hail, Captain Sarcasm!" Leo cheered.
Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.
"The man has a brain?" Athena scoffed.
"Calling him a "man" in an insult to all the males in this room." Artemis grumbled.
"Yeah, whatever," he decided.
He went back to his game.
"Apparently, his brain is only enough to count money." Will grumbled.
"It's probably only a molecule big." Dakota snorted, and took another swig of ghostly Kool-Aid.
"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about… whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"
"Mothers can always tell when something is wrong." Hera huffed.
Thalia rolled her eyes, "Well... ours clearly didn't."
For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.
"Perceptive Percy strikes again." Thalia added.
But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken.
"You really should stop second guessing yourself. Your instincts are good, trust them." Annabeth hugged Percy.
She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.
An hour later we were ready to leave.
"Yes, please, just get out of there." Reyna nodded.
Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car.
"Now he's just contradicting himself." Travis frowned, "He wants you to be careful with his car... so he lets a scrawny twelve year old lug the bags into the trunk? That's literally asking for an accident to happen."
"He'll probably blame Percy, use it as an excuse to cancel the trip, and then abuse Percy some more." Triton scowled. Percy shuddered at the thought, and Triton's heart melted slightly,
"Apologies for the harshness of my words. I should have said that better."
He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.
Hera scoffed, "He cares more about his car, rather than his wife. This is a terrible marriage!"
"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."
"Like he'd be the one driving. Percy's twelve!" Michael grumbled.
Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve.
Michael snorted, and turned to face Percy, about to make a joke like all the other times someone had said something similar to Percy, but the second their eyes made contact, a pained expression crept onto Percy's face, and the son of the Sea God turned away.
Sensing Percy's feelings, Grover piped up, "I'm pretty sure that even at twelve, Percy still drives better than Thalia."
"Shut up, Satyr!" Thalia yelled, "That was one time!"
Nico nodded, "Honestly, Thalia. I think you set some cities on fire!"
"That she did. I saw!" Percy grinned, eternally grateful that Grover had distracted everyone.
"I blame Apollo!" Thalia pointed at said god, "He was the one that made me drive the Sun Chariot!"
Zeus glared at Apollo, "You did what?"
Apollo tried to defend himself, "Well, she's your daughter! I figured it would be okay! I thought most kids would be okay with driving, even if they don't have a license."
Before his father could utter another word, Apollo turned his attention back to the book and continued reading.
But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.
"Urg." Grover shook his head, "If he wouldn't pin everything on you, I'd ask every single seagull I meet to poop on his car."
Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain.
"Go angry Percy!" The Stoll Brothers cheered, "Whoop his butt!"
As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe.
"It better work." Zoe scowled, "He's just... plain evil. The worst of the worst!"
The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon.
Everyone cackled evilly, glad that Percy had managed to get a tiny bit of revenge.
Maybe it was just the wind,
"Or maybe Lord Zeus hates him as well." Pollux let out a small laugh.
Zeus rolled his eyes. As if he'd care about some female mortal that his brother chased. But he did agree; he really didn't like this human.
or some freak accident with the hinges,
Hephaestus, Leo and Beckendorf all whistled innocently, eliciting laughter from everyone else.
but I didn't stay long enough to find out.
"Or you know..." Hermes mused, "I suppose that if he could control a water fountain... maybe he's also controlling the water vapour in the air?"
I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.
"Yeah, just get out of there!" Poseidon nodded.
Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets,
Malcolm and Athena both cringed; at this point, Annabeth had just about enough of spiders for the rest of her life.
and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.
"So Percy loves it." Grover grinned.
I loved the place.
"That I do." Percy nodded in agreement.
We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.
Poseidon sighed, remembering the first time he had met Sally. Amphitrite was surprised; she had a feeling that Sally knew Poseidon's real identity, and yet, tried to live her own life, without relying on the god. She seemed like a really good human.
As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.
"I mean... catching a break from an abusive relationship can do that to you." Aphrodite nodded.
We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine.
"Yeah! Get all the spiders out of there!" Malcolm cheered.
We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.
"I still never understood all the blue food you eat on the Argo II." Piper shook her head.
I guess I should explain the blue food.
"Yes please." Piper laughed.
See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue.
Everyone snickered.
She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop.
"Go Aunt Sally!" Half the demigods cheered.
This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe.
"Even if he wasn't that bad... that surname is just terrible." Rachel shook her head, "Sally Ugliano and Percy Ugliano just doesn't have that ring to it. Jackson is much better."
The horrified expression on Percy's face at the mere thought of having his ex-stepfather's surname was more than enough to crack everyone else up.
She did have a rebellious streak, like me.
"Percy, your mom might have a rebellious streak." Thalia laughed, "But you'd be lucky to even find a hint of obedience in a sea of rebelliousness."
"What is that even supposed to mean!?" Percy whined, "And is "rebelliousness" even a real word!?"
When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.
"I wish your mother the best of luck when she publishes her books." Athena stated.
Percy looked up at Athena, surprised, "Thank you, Lady Athena. I'm sure my mom would appreciate it."
Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.
Poseidon sighed. He really wished he could spent more time with Sally and Percy.
"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."
Apollo paused. He took a good, long look at Percy, then turned his attention to Poseidon.
"Yeah... you two look really similar." Apollo nodded, before he turned his attention back to the book.
Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."
"I'm sure I would be." Poseidon stared blankly at Zeus, who was glaring back at him for blatantly stating that he was proud of his kid.
"What? He helped save Olympus twice." Poseidon scowled, "Get that through your thick skull."
"Yeah." Hades stage-whispered, "His skull is as thick as a rock."
Everyone snickered, reminded of the first argument between the Big Three over how hard-headed and dense Zeus was.
I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.
Leo whistled, "Woah! Six schools!"
"And I only got kicked out of two. And I was literally trying to cause trouble to get my dad's attention." Piper nodded, "Wow."
"Honestly, I don't think the gods would care too much about your grades." Reyna stated, and Percy turned to her, "I don't know... Lady Athena probably cares about that."
Hermes and Apollo burst into laughter, while Poseidon snickered, and Athena just glared at him. She did care about her children's studies; after all, she was the Goddess of Wisdom, but yet, she didn't want to agree outright with the son of Poseidon.
"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean…when he left?"
She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."
"But…he knew me as a baby."
Poseidon nodded sadly. He had visited Percy briefly, but he couldn't say that he knew Percy, at least, not until the very first time they met on Olympus, as Percy was returning Zeus' master bolt.
"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."
I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember…something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.
Percy looked up at Poseidon, and the god just smiled back at Percy and patted his shoulder gently.
I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me…
Percy sucked in a breath, "Err... Dad? I might have some negative thoughts here."
I felt angry at my father.
Poseidon winced, and Triton glared at Percy, "You were angry at him?!"
Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom.
"I'm sorry, Percy." Poseidon sighed, but Percy just smiled, "It's fine. I know you tried you best with all the ancient laws and Lord Zeus' rules and stuff."
Triton glanced at his mother, expecting her to get upset that Poseidon was practically admitting the he wanted to see Percy and Sally, but oddly enough, Amphitrite didn't seem to bothered by it.
He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.
"Okay, even if your father wasn't a god, anyone would get upset over that." Chris winced.
"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"
She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.
"Great. Now I want marshmallows." Leo sighed.
Hestia smiled, and waved her hands, a pack of marshmallows dropping onto Leo's lap.
"Awesome!" Leo's eyes lit up, "Thank you!"
He ripped open the packet, and grabbed a marshmallow, before passing the bag along to other demigods and gods who also suddenly felt like having a snack.
"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think… I think we'll have to do something."
"Because you don't want me around?"
"Percy!" Thalia groaned, "Sometimes you're as bad as Chiron!"
"I was twelve!" Percy argued, as Silena grabbed a marshmallow from the packet, and Chiron looked abashed at the comparison.
I regretted the words as soon as they were out.
"At least you knew how bad it sounded." Annabeth sighed, as Piper passed the marshmallow packet over to Frank.
My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."
Her words reminded me of what Mr Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.
Chiron winced, "I'm sorry, Percy. That wasn't what I meant."
"I know that now." Percy smiled at the centaur.
"Because I'm not normal," I said.
"You're the literal definition of "not normal"." Nico stated.
"Says you, Zombie Dude!" Percy countered, and Clarisse groaned, "Prissy, your insults completely suck! Get some new ones!"
"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."
"Safe from what?"
"Everything. Literally everything." Annabeth shook her head, "Everything and anything!"
She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.
During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground.
Grover sucked in a breath, "Not him, right?"
"Definitely not." Percy shook his head; he knew that Grover had met Morpheus once, and Percy was insanely glad it was just a cyclopes instead of the God of Dreams.
When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.
Poseidon cringed, "I'm so sorry about that, Percy."
"You had a Cyclops stalk me?" Percy raised an eyebrow, and Poseidon shook his head, "Not intentionally. If I remember correctly, a monster was lurking around that area, so I sent someone to keep an eye on you."
The Stoll brothers snickered at the accidental pun.
Before that—a really early memory. I was in pre school, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into.
Leo remembered the snake that Hera wanted him to attack. Maybe she had also been testing Percy?
My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.
"Great. Like Hercules." Travis laughed, as a disgusted expression crept onto Percy's face, "Don't compare me to that asshole!"
Zeus growled, ready to defend his son, but one look from Artemis and Zoe shut up him.
In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.
"That's pretty normal for demigods." Chiron sighed.
I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword.
"That would be one weird conversation if she couldn't see through the Mist." Connor snickered.
But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.
"That's a stupid decision." Athena snorted.
"Given everything that's happened, I'm not surprised that Percy would want to spend some time with his mother." Hestia stated, "Apollo, please continue."
"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just… I just can't stand to do it."
"Every mother wants to keep her children close." Hera sighed.
Hephaestus groaned, "So... why did you toss me off Olympus?"
"Just drop it already!" Hera glared at Hephaestus, and Leo off-handedly commented, "Oh, like how you dropped my dad off a mountain?"
Hermes, Connor, Travis and Percy immediately burst into laughter at the scandalized expression on Hera's face, and it wasn't long before everyone was also laughing.
Hera looked like she couldn't decide whether to smite Leo or make a witty comment back, and even Zeus was doing his best to school his amused expression back into something more stoic.
It took a long time for the laughter to subside, but eventually, Apollo managed to compose himself to continued reading.
"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"
"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."
"Camp Half-Blood!" The Greeks all chorused.
My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born—talk to my mom about a summer camp?
"Okay. Fair enough." Annabeth nodded.
And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?
"I think your mom just explained why she wouldn't even talk about it." Rachel stated dryly.
"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."
"I mean... at least you weren't a tree for a good chunk of years." Thalia laughed.
"For good? But if it's only a summer camp…"
She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.
"Please don't make you mom cry." Annabeth stated, and Percy nodded.
That night I had a vivid dream.
"Oh, demigod dreams are the worst!" Hazel groaned.
It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.
The gods glanced between Zeus and Poseidon. They all know roughly what had happened, but they were curious about the exact details of the matter.
The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons.
"Ha!" Zeus puffed his chest out.
The horse reared up and kicked at the eagle's wings.
Poseidon stuck his tongue out at his younger brother.
As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.
"As much as I'd like to join your immature fight," Hades let out a dry laugh, "That definitely wasn't me."
I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion.
The Greek demigods grimaced.
I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No!
"Ha! I win!" Zeus glared at Poseidon, but Athena sighed, "Even so, what's the point? No one wins anything if he were awakened."
I woke with a start.
Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and five-metre-high waves pounding the dunes like artillery.
"Yeah... Poseidon was definitely pissed at the accusation that he had stolen something..." Hermes winced, knowing very well that his son was the one who had stolen the master bolt.
With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."
I knew that was crazy. Long Island never saw hurricanes this early in the summer.
Piper nodded, "Yeah. I saw on the news. Super freak weather."
But the ocean seemed to have forgotten.
"Uncle P, you shouldn't forget about things like that!" Apollo grinned.
Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.
"Is it... that monster?" Annabeth asked, and Grover frowned, "I think so. I'm not too sure though; I was trying to find Percy and get him to camp."
Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice— someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.
"You know... that could be a trap..." Reyna muttered.
My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.
Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't…he wasn't exactly Grover.
Grover frowned, "Hey! What do you mean I wasn't exactly me!?"
"Err... pants?" Percy offered, and Grover turned red, "Oh... yeah..."
"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that you were looking kinda crazy." Percy admitted, and Grover sighed.
My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.
"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"
"A lot." Annabeth shook her head, "He doesn't tell Sally a lot of things."
I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.
"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"
"What did he say? I think something about Lord Zeus?" Frank frowned, still not really getting the hang of Greek, but Katie translated it for him, "Grover said "Zeus and other gods"."
"Also... you cast the Mist on him... and you expected him to know enough of what was going on to tell his mom?" Annabeth asked in confusion, "Even if he wasn't Seaweed Head... anyone would be confused."
"Thank you!" Percy grinned.
I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night.
"Water Boy's so shocked that he had to mention it twice." Leo snickered, and Travis and Connor both burst into laughter.
Because Grover didn't have his trousers on—and where his legs should be… where his legs should be…
"Goat legs." Thalia shook her head.
My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"
I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.
"I suppose learning that your son had seen the Fates..." Poseidon sighed, "And a Fury..."
"I thought she was going to have a heart attack." Grover admitted, "And he didn't even described it in detail."
"What did he say? Because we all know that Percy's ability to condense and summarize things is... really great." Thalia stated sarcastically.
"Well..." Grover thought for a second, "Something like, "My teacher was a weird bat lady that turned to dust when I hit her with a pen, and there were three ladies by the side of the road and they cut the string on a huge sock." I don't remember exactly..."
Knowing that Percy had gotten past whatever was chasing him, everyone started snickering.
She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"
Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting,
"Is trotting the right word?" Percy asked, and Grover nodded, "Yep."
shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.
Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.
"Understatement of the century." Dionysus rolled his eyes, breaking the silence.
"I have a perfect Haiku for his situation," Apollo grinned, but before he could say anything, the gods yelled, "No!"
Pouting, the god put the book down, "Fine. No Haikus. So... who's reading next?"
Will reached his hand out, "I can read, Dad."
"Of course!" Apollo smiled brightly at his son, and gently passed the book over to Will as he patted his son on the shoulder. Will made himself comfortable with Nico, and he flipped the page to the correct chapter.
