The gods turned to Dionysus; Chiron only really played pinochle with Dionysus, and it was pretty likely that they had ended up dragging Percy into a game, if the title was accurate.
"Get reading, Noah." Dionysus grumbled, and Nico turned back to the book.
I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals.
There was silence for a few seconds, before everyone burst out into uncontrollable laughter.
"Barnyard... animals... Oh my gods." Thalia nearly choked, "This is hilarious!"
Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.
"Ah, the good old times when my dreams were harmless." Percy just shook his head, "I wish my dreams remained this weird... instead, I get all the prophetic, world-destroying ones."
"Yeah." Jason nodded, "I remember once I had a dream where there was a food fight in Camp Jupiter, and I had all sorts of food stuck in my hair. Best dream since like... forever."
I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again.
"Boys." Artemis shook her head fondly, the usual bite in her tone when talking about the male population being oddly absent.
I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding.
"That sounds delicious." Leo grinned, "And I'm getting hungry."
"I'm sure we can stop for dinner later." Hestia smiled warmly at the fire user.
The girl with curly blonde hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.
Aphrodite grinned at Annabeth, as Travis and Connor let out wolf-whistles.
"You did what?" Athena turned to her daughter, but Annabeth frowned at her mother, "I do help out the Apollo campers, you know?"
Will nodded, "Yeah. We needed all the help we could get."
When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"
Zeus grumbled under his breath about his missing bolt.
"What made you think he knew something?" Thalia asked.
Annabeth shook her head, "I'm not sure... I think I assumed he knew something since he managed to defeat the Minotaur. Figured he'd at least know some basics, or have some idea of what he was involved with."
I managed to croak, "What?"
"Best answer ever." Connor snickered.
She looked around, as if afraid someone would overhear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"
"He just had a concussion." Apollo sighed, "And I thought the satyr... Grover, right? And Chiron would have mentioned that Percy doesn't know anything."
"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't…"
Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.
Silena and Aphrodite snickered, and Piper sighed at her mother and half-sister.
"That's one way to silence him." Will snickered, "I think I was checking on him."
The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.
"Aww." Silena looked at Annabeth teasingly, "He missed you!"
A husky blonde dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes—at least a dozen of them—on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.
"Argus!" Hera smiled, looking happy for the second time.
"Okay, that just sounds like... a blonde sleep paralysis demon." Katie shuddered, "No offence to Argus; he's great."
When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to.
"Yeah... I suppose anything is nicer than living in that dump." Triton grumbled, still upset at how his half-brother had been treated.
I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries.
Demeter, Pollux and Katie smiled.
There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest.
"I really hope that was your imagination, and you didn't have first hand experience with that." Frank cringed.
Annabeth shuddered, remembering just how close Percy had come to dying that very summer from a pit scorpion.
My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.
Jason grimaced, "Yep. That sensation... never feels good."
On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.
"Why would you give him apple juice?" Hermes asked, and Will sighed, "It's nectar."
"Oh." The god muttered, "That does make much more sense."
My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.
Annabeth winced, "I didn't know it wore you out so much. You seemed fine later, though you were pretty much out for two days."
"The nectar did help." Percy admitted, "Plus, you know. Pudding isn't exactly the most hydrating kind of food."
"Careful," a familiar voice said.
Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week. Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box.
"Shoe box?" Hazel asked, "What was in it?"
"Probably the horn. It's a spoil of war. Like Piper's cornucopia." Jason stated. He turned to Grover, and the satyr nodded, "Yeah. He kind of dropped it outside camp when he dragged me in. I thought he might want to keep it."
He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover. Not the goat boy.
"So, you prefer me as a human, and not a satyr?" Grover laughed, and Percy sighed, "Still took me some time to wrap my head around everything."
So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And…
Hestia and Hera looked at Percy sympathetically. They both represented different aspects of family, but they couldn't help but feel bad at twelve year old Percy's denial at the loss of his only known living family.
"You saved my life," Grover said. "I… well, the least I could do… I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."
Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.
Reyna cringed slightly, "Perhaps that wasn't the best time to remind him of that. He had literally just woken up."
"I think I just wanted him to know the truth instead of living in denial." Grover sighed, "Even if it was for a few minutes."
"Still, you could have broken the news in a nicer way." Apollo shook his head, "You and Chiron both need lessons on tact."
Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.
"The Minotaur," I said.
"And Percy promptly forgot about names having power." Annabeth groaned, "For like... the rest of his life."
"Um, Percy, it isn't a good idea—"
"That's what they call it in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."
"Really? He just told you not to say it!" Athena grumbled.
"Oh, leave him be." Amphitrite sighed, "The boy just realized that he lost his mother for real! Give him some time!"
The two goddesses glared at each other, and the other gods looked on warily, unsure of how to break the tension.
"Well... at least he knew what it was." Piper added, breaking the awkward silence, "That's good."
Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"
Hazel glanced at Percy, "That really took a lot out of you."
"Yeah. The rain water helped, but while it did boost me, once the water source is gone, I think my body has to make up for it. I don't just get energy out of nowhere." Percy admitted.
"My mom. Is she really…"
He looked down.
Frank and Leo tensed up; they knew exactly how it felt to lose a mother they loved.
I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.
"Thank you." Thalia smirked, but Percy waved her off, "The tree is more beautiful than you."
"Hey!"
"That is a very accurate description of you camp." Reyna nodded, "Your observation skills are pretty good, despite having just woken up."
My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.
Poseidon looked down sadly at his son, upset that he wasn't able to help.
Nico winced. That was exactly how he felt when he found out that Bianca had died.
"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm—I'm the worst satyr in the world."
"Hey, you know it wasn't your fault." Percy sighed, "It's Lord Zeus' fault."
"I agree." Triton nodded, as Zeus glared at the half-brothers, as his two brothers nodded in agreement.
He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off.
"Uh... what?" Katie looked slightly disgusted at the thought of a whole hoof falling off.
"He probably meant the shoes." Zoe rolled her eyes, "Silly boy."
I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.
"That makes more sense." Rachel muttered.
"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.
Thunder rolled across the clear sky.
"Well, someone's angry." Hades chuckled at the expense of his youngest brother.
"Of course I was angry!" Zeus growled, "How would you feel if someone took your symbol of power?!"
Hades gave Zeus a pointed look that stated, "Seriously? You're asking me that question?", before Zeus realized that Hades had, in fact, had his Helm of Darkness stolen.
The Lord of the Sky sighed in defeat, and sank back into his chair.
As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.
Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.
"Yeah. That's what the hat is for." Grover grinned, "And there's no way you're shaving my hair. I won't trample you for the "donkey" comment, but shaving my hair? Even I would probably get mad at you for that."
But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even Minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.
Amphitrite gently patted Percy's shoulder. She didn't like to think about her husband's cheating, but that wasn't Percy's fault in the slightest, and she had grown rather fond of how the boy cared about his family.
I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with… Smelly Gabe?
"No." Everyone, including the gods, stated firmly.
"I'd rather go to Tartarus than let you go back to live with that filth." Poseidon growled.
The three demigods flinched at the mention of Tartarus, though no one really noticed in their rage of the reminder that Gabe was still alive, and hadn't died yet.
No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army.
Everyone burst into laughter.
"Yeah... that ain't ever gonna happen, Prissy." Clarisse grinned, "I don't know how long you would live on the streets, but there's no way you could pass for seventeen at any age without eating as much as you do. You barely passed for twelve."
Will laughed, "In all honesty, yeah. You were scrawny. I thought you were my age at that time."
"Ten years old?" Nico asked, and Will nodded, "Yeah, ten or eleven."
I'd do something.
Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid—poor goat, satyr, whatever— looked as if he expected to be hit.
Everyone glanced at Dionysus, wondering if he would ever hit a satyr, but Grover spoke up, "Mr D would never hit me. I thought that Percy might be so upset at losing his mom that he would take it out on the nearest person."
"You know I wouldn't do that." Percy looked slightly hurt, but Grover sighed, "I know. Just... grief does that to people. Bullies are one thing. But losing you mom? Plus, I was expecting you to yell at me. Not hit me. I think you thinking that I'd get hit was because of your ex-stepfather."
Poseidon just looked downright murderous at the mention of the now dead man.
I said, "It wasn't your fault."
"Have to agree with Percy on this one." Thalia nodded, "I'm not putting blame on Sally, but I think she could have worked out a better arrangement with Chiron, rather than letting you live with that thing. And if anyone's to blame, it's my father. If he hadn't struck the car with lightning, you could have made it to Camp on time."
"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."
"To be fair... Grover did try warn them of the monster." Pollux noted, "That allowed Percy to at least get close enough to camp so Percy's adrenaline-high could get them to safety. If Grover didn't warn them, they might have had to fight the Minotaur without being able to get any medical help in time."
"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"
"Honestly, even if Chiron hadn't assigned me to keep an eye on you, I would probably still try to protect you." Grover admitted, "You were the only kid who was nice to me in that school."
"Thanks, G-man." Percy grinned at the satyr.
"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least… I was."
Grover and Percy grinned at each other. He wasn't a keeper anymore; now, he was something much better.
"But why…" I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.
"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here."
"Yeah, the nectar should help with the dizziness, and would tide thee off until thy next proper meal." Zoe nodded approvingly.
He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.
I recoiled at the taste,
"But it's nectar!" Apollo protested, and Percy glanced at Nico, silently urging him to continue reading. Nico glanced at the page, and realized that the next statement would answer the god's question, and complied.
because I was expecting apple juice.
"Oh." Apollo grunted.
It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies. And not just any cookies—my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting.
"Gods, Percy." Thalia sighed, "Your mom's cookies are heavenly."
Apollo nodded approvingly, "Definitely worthy of comfort food."
The gods glanced at Apollo curiously, before they remembered that Apollo had been made mortal and cast down from Olympus, and since Sally's place was considered a safe house, Percy might have helped him out.
Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy.
"That's good." Grover nodded, "You'd need all the energy you could get for this quest."
My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.
All the goddess who were mothers felt a lump lodge in their throats, and were on the verge of tears.
"Yeah..." Nico nodded, being reminded of the death of his mother by Zeus' hands, "Aunt Sally's cookies are the best."
Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.
Rachel whistled, "That's a nice drink, alright. Too bad I'm mortal. I'd die."
"I don't know. You host the Oracle now. Maybe you can drink it?" Piper asked.
"Not going to risk it." Rachel stuck her tongue out, "I have no intentions of dying yet."
"She has inherited the power of Oracle of Delphi, but her body is still very much mortal." Apollo explained, "The Oracle just speaks through her, in simple terms. It wasn't like her DNA was altered to be more demigod-ly or something."
"Was it good?" Grover asked.
I nodded.
"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.
"Why were you feeling guilty?" Demeter asked, "You didn't do anything wrong."
"Sorry," I said.
"Why are you apologizing?" Thalia asked, "Like Lady Demeter stated... you did nothing wrong."
"I should've let you taste."
"Were you trying to kill him?" Athena hissed at Percy, as Piper and Leo both looked confused, and Annabeth sighed, "He didn't know nectar and ambrosia can kill satyrs, mother."
"But seriously, dude." Chris turned to Percy, "You felt guilty because you didn't share you drink with him?"
"It tasted good." Percy shrugged, "Seemed kind of selfish of me to drink everything and not shared something taste with my best friend. Although I'm glad I didn't do that, though; I still want Grover alive."
"Thou gets guilty over the weirdest things." Zoe sighed, shaking her head endearingly; there was a reason why Percy was different from all the males she's encountered so far.
His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just… wondered."
"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Homemade."
He sighed. "And how do you feel?"
"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred metres."
"That's great." Thalia cracked her knuckles, "Let's do it!"
"Great for us, or for Nancy?" Connor asked.
"Obviously, good for us. For Nancy, not so good." Travis snickered.
"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff."
"What do you mean?"
"It's not pretty." Apollo shuddered; a long time ago, one of his demigod children thought he would be able to take more nectar than other demigods, since Apollo was the god of healing, and nectar was supposed to heal them. Nevertheless to say, he didn't make it out alive.
He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite,
"Yeah..." Jason nodded, "Nectar and ambrosia are pretty much lit dynamite to satyrs and fauns."
and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr D are waiting."
"Jeez... Grover, you couldn't have told him that he could burn up or something?" Annabeth asked, and Percy snorted, "It wasn't like you or Chiron were any better."
"Well, yeah. But Grover's known you for like, what, a year?" Annabeth rebutted.
The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.
My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.
"I wish I didn't have that souvenir anyways." Percy grumbled, "I'd rather have my mom, thank you gods very much."
As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.
We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to Long Island Sound, which glittered about a mile in the distance.
Leo, Piper and Jason nodded, and the daughter of Aphrodite stated, "Yeah. It was pretty amazing the first time we saw it. Completely breathtaking."
Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing.
The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture—
"It is." The Greeks stated proudly.
an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena—except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school–age kids and satyrs played volleyball.
Apollo grinned, and turned to Will, "Who won?"
Will shrugged, "We usually win against the satyrs."
Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range.
"Note: Never bring Percy there. Unless he's the target." Michael sighed, shaking his head cheekily.
Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.
Annabeth laughed, "You definitely weren't hallucinating."
Reyna sighed at the memory of Scipio, and Hazel asked, "So the Romans got unicorns, and the Greeks got pegasi?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Hermes nodded.
Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blonde-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.
Aphrodite squealed, and Zeus and Athena both glared at her to shut up.
"What were you doing there, anyways?" Will asked.
"I believe I was talking to her about something relating to the... problem at hand." Chiron stated.
The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple.
The Greeks nodded; that seemed pretty accurate; though Dionysus looked a little offended.
He looked like those paintings of baby angels—what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park.
Everyone started snickering, and Dionysus glared at Percy, though the son of the Sea God could tell that there was no malice behind the wine god's gaze; after all, he wasn't allowed to have any wine, and he chose such a form just to spite Zeus.
He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my stepfather.
"Hmph!" Dionysus snorted, "As if he could ever be compared to me!"
"That's Mr D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper,
"Really?" Annabeth snorted, "Just a camper?"
"Compared to a god and a centaur... I suppose so?" Apollo added, while Grover turned red.
but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron.…"
He pointed at the guy whose back was to me. First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.
"Mr Brunner!" I cried.
Athena nearly facepalmed, "The satyr just told you his name."
"Well, I was more familiar with Mr Brunner!" Percy groaned. He really hoped that the gods would stop berating him for every single thing he did. Some he didn't mind, like Hermes and Apollo, since they were just joking around, but Athena was really getting on his nerves.
"Honestly, I don't mind Mr Brunner too much." Chiron chuckled, "That name has started to grow on me."
The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.
"I hate it when teachers do that. They make you second guess all your answers, and the dyslexia doesn't help at all." Piper grumbled, and Leo and Percy both nodded in agreement.
Athena nodded approvingly; it was a good tactic to keep students on their toes.
"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."
Poseidon glowered at Dionysus, "You wanted my twelve year old son to play pinochle?"
He offered me a chair to the right of Mr D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."
The gods all raised an eyebrow at Dionysus's statement.
"To be fair." Percy spoke up, "Why would he be happy to see another camper, when that camper could possibly end up as another casualty?"
"What do you mean?" Pollux frowned slightly, curious about Percy's insight, and the son of the Sea God sighed, "I don't know... I've just been thinking about it. Lord Zeus doesn't let the gods interfere directly with our lives... and then dumps Mr D in the middle of our camp. If we get attacked, Mr D would literally have to watch us die, and do nothing about it."
The demigods thought about it for a while, and Percy continued, "Even he didn't know us... I don't think anyone would be happy watching a bunch of teenagers die and not being able to do anything about it."
"Hmph! Shut up with your nonsense, Perry. I don't think like that." Dionysus grumbled sadly, being reminded of the loss of Castor, "I'm just unhappy that I have to babysit you brats all the time."
"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice.
Dionysus winced painfully at being compared to that human, and Grover nodded, the odd behavior now making sense to him.
If Mr D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.
"I'm the wine god that can't drink wine." Dionysus rolled his eyes, and Zeus rolled his eyes, "You know why you aren't allowed to have it."
"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blonde girl.
She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in Cabin Eleven for now."
"That's my cabin!" Hermes smiled, and turned to his sons, "Is is more spacious now?"
"Yep! Everyone actually has beds! No more sleeping on the floor!" Chris grinned.
"Yeah! The cabin has a lot less people now, after you know... that happened." Connor smiled, and Travis added, "Yep! At most, people only stay for a day or two! And we have spare beds on the rare occasions that it happens."
Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."
"Ah... it was just fated..."
Piper rolled her eyes at her mother, and Silena shot Piper a kind smile.
She was probably my age, maybe a couple of centimetres taller, and a whole lot more athletic-looking.
"That's why you could never pass as a seventeen year old and join the army, Prissy." Clarisse mocked light-heartedly, and everyone laughed.
With her deep tan and her curly blonde hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image.
"Ruined?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow, but Percy grinned at her.
They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.
Annabeth nodded in approval. That was very good description, and she liked it.
She glanced at the Minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, You killed a Minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that.
Thalia cackled, "Yeah, Annabeth's not gonna say that."
"Ego much?" Jason asked teasingly, knowing that Percy's ego was pretty much non-existent, but the son of Poseidon sighed, "Not really. I just lost my mom, and the god in charge of the camp hated me. I just wanted to hear something positive at the point in time."
"Ah... sorry." Annabeth grimaced, "I should have been more understanding."
Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."
Everyone burst into laughter.
Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blonde hair flying behind her.
"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr Brunner?"
"Not Mr Brunner," the ex–Mr Brunner said.
Travis and Connor both snickered, "Your brain is awesome, Percy. Ex-Mr Brunner."
"I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."
"Okay." Totally confused,
"When are you not totally confused?" Thalia laughed, and Percy pouted, "I don't know, I might actually know stuff if people would stop dancing around my questions and not answering everything."
"You do have a good point." Jason snickered, "For once."
"Hey!"
I looked at the director. "And Mr D… does that stand for something?"
Triton sighed, "At least you're not that dumb."
Mr D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."
"Oh. Right. Sorry."
"I don't think Percy's ever going to be sorry about that." Grover laughed, "He just calls out names left, right, and center!"
"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."
"Was that statement necessary?" Poseidon asked, but Amphitrite shushed him, "It's not like you're not any better."
"House call?"
"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to… ah, take a leave of absence."
"So... is things like this common?" Reyna asked, "Like... monsters as teachers... satyrs as students..."
Hazel replied, "Well, something like that is a pretty easy trick with the Mist. I think all they had to do was just alter some names and photos; minor stuff, really, since all the humans hate paperwork. But let's say... Percy blowing up a school bus from a monster attack? Something like that really attracts attention, so it would take a lot more magic and effort to cover it up."
Reyna nodded, "Hazel, you've been studying?"
Hazel shrugged, "Well, Hecate kind of made me start learning how to use the mist. But her children, and some old books have been really helpful, especially since we're trying to follow the Greeks and have the fauns do something."
Annabeth, Percy and Grover snickered, remembering how they blew up a bus on this quest.
Thalia turned to Chiron, but the centaur shook his head, "I know how to manipulate the Mist. But as to why and how it happens... I cannot explain it in a way that would be easy for you to understand."
I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy.
"There was." Grover nodded, "He... was pretty bad. He was on the same level as the non-math teachers we had."
Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr Brunner had taken the class.
"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.
"Er... that's what a house call means, Prissy." Clarisse stated, "Except teacher, and not doctor."
Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."
"A very important first test." Poseidon muttered, "And I'm very glad he passed."
"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"
"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.
"You should be." Dionysus muttered, and Percy smiled at the wine god, "Of course, Mr D, the great Dionysus. We all fear you!"
Hazel, Piper and Annabeth all started snickering, while the gods and other demigods looked on in confusion.
"The great... Dionysus?" Hermes asked, while Dionysus looked equally surprised and stuped.
"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.
"I'm afraid not," I said.
"I'm afraid not, sir," he said.
"Wow, Percy's being polite." Nico snickered, "For once."
"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.
"Well, the feeling's mutual. I don't like you either, Pointy." Dionysus grumbled, and Pollux just laughed at how laid back his father was, compared to how he usually was at camp.
"Okay, Pointy isn't even a name." Percy sighed, "You can butcher my name however you like, but please, at least call me something that sounds remotely like a name."
"How about Pizza?"
"I think he's hungry too." Leo stated.
"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."
"Well... I do like Pac-Man." Percy nodded, "But I hate gladiator fighting."
"Agreed." Hazel nodded. Clarisse and Ares frowned, "No way. Gladiator fighting is awesome!"
"Not if you have to fight a stupid giant who heals as long as he stands on the ground." Annabeth grumbled, though no one else heard her.
"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.
"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr Brun— Chiron—why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"
"Big three kid." Thalia snapped her fingers, "Join the club."
Mr D snorted. "I asked the same question."
"Rude." Hermes laughed at his brother, and Dionysus rolled his eyes, "You try taking care of these brats for a century with no wine."
The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.
Chris whistled, "That must be a lot of flinching."
Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student.
"He gives that look to pretty much everyone." Annabeth sighed, "But I think that being a star student just means staying alive."
"That is fairly accurate." Chiron let out a sad smile, "You are all wonderful children."
He expected me to have the right answer.
"Percy would never have the right answer. Unless he were fighting." Thalia shook her head, "Or in a life or death situation. Then he has all the right answers."
"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?"
"She said…" I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."
"But Camp Half-Blood is a summer camp... right?" Piper asked, "Or at least... I think it was..."
"Child of the Big Three." Jason explained, "It would probably be safer for them inside the camp boundaries, since they would attract more monsters."
"They didn't teach you that at camp?" Artemis asked, and Piper shook her head, "Not really, Lady Artemis. We had more important things to focus on at the time."
Apollo nodded; he remembered the entire thing about Tristan McLean and the Triumvirate Holdings.
"Typical," Mr D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"
"What?" I asked.
"The boy just got there, admitted he didn't know how to play, and you expected him to know how to bid?" Athena raised her eyebrow at her half-brother.
He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.
"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."
"Oh gods..." Annabeth shook her head, "I'm sorry."
"About what?" Percy asked, and Annabeth sighed, "I assumed you had already watched the film. I'm sorry for being so harsh on you."
"Oh... it's okay." Percy let out a nervous laugh as he glanced at Apollo, before he whispered to Annabeth, "But you were with us when we watched it?"
"Yeah, but at the time, when you first arrived."
"Orientation film?" I asked.
"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know—" he pointed to the horn in the shoe box—"that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad.
"Definitely not a small feat." Michael grinned, "Especially with no training."
He was hoping that Percy would at laugh, or something, but Percy just glanced at him with some sort of sadness in his eyes.
What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods—the forces you call the Greek gods—are very much alive."
I stared at the others around the table.
"Yeah... that would take some time to process." Rachel nodded, "Especially after what happened to his mother."
I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.
"Mr D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"
"Eh? Oh, all right."
Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.
"Great. Now I feel hungry." Grover bleated, and Hestia nodded, "Just finish this chapter. And then you can eat."
"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."
"Well, now," Chiron said. "God—capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."
"Uh... what?" Leo asked, "Metaphysical?"
"Yes. Metaphysical." Chiron nodded.
"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about—"
"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."
"Smaller?" Zeus thundered, but one glance from Hestia shut him up.
"Smaller?"
"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."
"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."
Apollo grinned, "Hey, he mentioned me!"
"Yeah, he did." Will nodded, and Apollo smiled brightly.
"Why were you using Greek names in Latin class?" Dakota asked, and Chiron sighed, "Percy's Greek. He's more hardwired to the Greek names, and when you cannot talk about Roman gods without touching upon their Greek roots."
And there it was again—distant thunder on a cloudless day.
"Someone sure is cranky." Hades stage-whispered to Poseidon, who snickered. Zeus just gave up with his siblings antics, and rubbed his forehead.
"Young man," said Mr D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."
"But they're stories," I said. "They're—myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."
"Oh dear." Annabeth cringed, and Percy shook his head, "Yeah. Bad call."
"Here we go again." Demeter rubbed her head, "Really, Dionysus?"
The wine god just shrugged, and tightened his grip slightly on his two kids.
"Science!" Mr D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson-"
I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody.
"So... how did Mr D know?" Piper asked, and Travis shrugged, "God stuff, I suppose. I don't know either."
"What I want to know is... why do all the monsters seem to know my name!?" Percy asked, "Monsters are just "Perseus Jackson" this and "Perseus Jackson" that, and I know for a fact that neither I, nor my friends have used my full name outside of camp."
No one, not even the gods, had an answer to that.
"-what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals—they have absolutely no sense of perspective.
"Hey!" Rachel pouted, "I'm offended!"
"You don't have to be so mean about it." Hermes sighed, "It's honestly pretty funny to see what kind of theories mortals come up with to explain everything!"
They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."
I wasn't liking Mr D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if… he wasn't.
"He is certainly not mortal." Nico nodded.
It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.
"You should be more like Grover." Thalia stated, and Percy glared at her.
"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"
I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal,
The Greek demigods looked at Percy, surprised; they never could imagine that Percy would think immortality was a good thing, especially after he declined godhood after the Titan War.
but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.
"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.
"Well... at least you understood that much. Your head isn't that thick." Dionysus muttered; he really hoped the boy would just move along, and he would stop being mentioned in the stupid books.
And he hoped that everyone would forget what Percy had said about him watching the kids in camp dying; there was no way in Tartarus he was going to admit that the boy was correct.
"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning?
Zeus grumbled under his breath.
What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"
Everyone, including some of the gods, just winced.
"That's harsh." Hades admitted, "Even by my standards."
"You just had to rub more salt in the wound." Triton grumbled.
"Low blow, man." Leo shook his head, and Katie shuddered, "Yeah. Chiron... you get straight to the point... but sometimes that really isn't the right call."
Even Chiron grimaced, "I'm sorry, Percy."
My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him.
"Good." Poseidon nodded. At least, the boy could tell when his emotions were being manipulated; he knew that Percy had encountered Ares at some point on his first quest, and hopefully, his son could control himself despite the influence of the War God's aura.
I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."
The gods sighed.
"Well, it's your first day." Hestia nodded understandingly, "It would take some time to process everything."
"Oh, you'd better," Mr D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."
"You wouldn't." Poseidon growled, and Dionysus turned his attention to the ceiling of the throne room, whistling.
Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."
"A lucky thing, too," Mr D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe!"
"The boy just lost his mother! Give him a bit more time." Demeter reprimanded, "You need to eat more cereal and calm down!"
"Mother!" Persephone groaned, "Enough with the cereal!"
He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.
Zeus glared at Dionysus, but the wine god sighed in resignation.
My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.
"Mr D," he warned, "your restrictions."
"Yes." Zeus growled, "You aren't allowed to have wine in Camp?"
Mr D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.
"Even the boy could tell you did that on purpose." Zeus grumbled.
"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"
More thunder.
"Honestly... that isn't really a lie." Apollo sighed, "Being able to summon wine anytime he liked, and suddenly not being able to drink it?"
"Yeah. And he was in the middle of a card game." Hermes sighed, "We all know how invested old D is when it comes to pinochle."
Mr D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.
Chiron winked at me. "Mr D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."
"And why was this nymph declared off-limits?" Hades raised an eyebrow, but Zeus just glared at his brother.
"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.
"Yes," Mr D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years!
"Ha!" Apollo pouted, "You try being turned mortal and having to work for demigods. Three times!"
The second time—well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away—
"You're married." Hera huffed, "You should stay away!"
the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me.
"Yeah... that would never happen." Apollo stated resolutely.
'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.'
"So... your definitely of "working with youths" is incinerating them when they are confused and have no idea what's going on." Poseidon asked dryly.
Ha! Absolutely unfair."
Mr D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.
Artemis snickered, "Well, that's accurate."
"And…" I stammered, "your father is…"
"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."
"Well, he just learnt that you guys are real. Cut him a bit of slack." Thalia groaned, "Really! He was awake for like... I don't know... twenty minutes?"
I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr D were his master.
"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."
"Nice job, Seaweed Brain. You got it on the first try!" Annabeth grinned, and Percy smiled back at her.
Mr D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"
"Y-yes, Mr D."
"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"
"No way!" Aphrodite looked horrified at being compared to the pudgy form that Dionysus preferred to take while working with the demigods.
"You're a god."
"Sadly, he is." Artemis sighed.
"Yes, child."
"A god. You."
"Percy." Poseidon looked down at his son, but Percy waved his hands in defense, "Well, he didn't seem like a god! I was expecting like, "regal", or "glowing with power" kinda god. Not a guy that drinks Diet Coke and plays cards."
Dionysus shrugged.
He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts.
Everyone fell silent at the description of the horrifying sight, before Annabeth stated, "Oh, no! Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin."
Frank got the joke, and turned red, while the three girls and Percy burst out into laughter.
"Dude, what's up with them?" Connor asked, and Annabeth smirked, "The one time Percy has a smart plan that goes right, and it doesn't put him in any immediately danger."
Athena raised her eyebrow; she was curious about this supposed plan that had her daughter impressed. Annebeth turned to Percy, "I'm surprised you remembered that, especially under all those conditions. It was quite some time ago."
Percy shrugged, "ADHD. I don't know what my brain remembers... but at least it's helpful... sometimes."
I knew that if I pushed him, Mr D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a straitjacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.
Triton, Amphitrite and Poseidon looked at Dionysus questioningly.
"As if I would do that." Dionysus snorted, "I waste my energy, and I have to write reports to Father."
"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.
"No. No, sir."
"Okay, at least he still has some self preservation." Thalia sighed.
The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."
"No way." Travis gasped, and Connor nodded, "Chiron always wins."
"Not quite, Mr D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."
I thought Mr D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair,
"Well... he's not a sore loser like a certain someone." Annabeth muttered under her breath.
but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher.
"That too." Grover added.
He got up, and Grover rose, too.
"I'm tired," Mr D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."
"But it wasn't his fault!" Thalia threw her hands in the air, "Both times, it wasn't his fault!"
"Well... Mr D didn't have access to the information we currently have now due to the reading." Chiron calmed Thalia down, "I'm sure that had he known what had really happened, Grover would be fine."
Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."
Mr D turned to me. "Cabin Eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."
"Woah." Pollux grinned, "He used the correct name!"
Dionysus just scowled, as the Greek demigods laughed.
He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.
"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.
Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job.
"Who wouldn't?" Dionysus grumbled.
He's been…ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."
"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"
"Well... given how many times you've been there..." Annabeth grinned at Percy, "Yes."
"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."
"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like…in America?"
"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."
Rachel nodded, trying to absorb as much information as she could; this was really interesting, things that they never taught in school.
"The what?"
"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece.
Athena nodded; this was a decent history lesson. Chiron was explaining this pretty well, and it was a simple enough explanation that even a twelve year old could understand it.
Then, as you well know—or as I hope you know, since you passed my course—the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps— Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on—but the same forces, the same gods."
Poseidon paused, "Wait... Chiron told you about our Roman forms?"
"Well... he taught me Latin. So I suppose the Roman gods kind of came as a package deal." Percy shrugged, "Plus, it's kinda history. I didn't know you guys still had Roman forms. I thought you guys were Greek, became Roman... and then turned Greek again."
"And then they died."
Everyone just stared, stunned at the blunt response, before they all burst out into laughter.
"Oh my gods, Kelp Head... you just..." Thalia choked, laughing so hard, and even Poseidon was trying to stifle his laughter.
"That just came out of nowhere." Hera grunted, before glaring at Hermes and Apollo, who were both snickering like idiots.
"And then they died." Apollo stated, trying to keep a straight face, before he started laughing again.
"Do we look dead to you, son?" Poseidon asked, amused, and Percy grinned, "Uncle Hades does!"
"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England.
"Huh... really?" Dakota wondered, "England?"
All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings.
"And in museums." Beckendorf added, "That you happen to fight a Kindly One in."
"Why are they called Kindly Ones? They aren't kind in the slightest." Leo asked, and everyone turned to Hades.
"I don't know. Why are my brothers called Zeus and Poseidon? People probably just came up with it, and it stuck."
And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center,
Zeus scowled at the mention of his former best friend.
Percy shuddered, "I hate that guy."
"Yeah, like we didn't have enough to worry about at that point in time." Thalia scowled, "But no, he just had to give Percy an even bigger burden."
The gods, and some of the demigods, looked confused, as Hestia smiled kindly at Percy.
Rachel and Annabeth shared a guilty looked; they knew that things were tough on Percy, being the Prophecy child and stuff, but they knew that their "friendship" had made things harder for Percy, especially when he needed the support.
the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not—and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either
"Don't worry." The Romans grinned cheekily at the Greek demigods, "We aren't fond of you guys either."
The was silence, before the demigods all burst out into laughter.
—America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."
It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club.
"So... welcome to the club." Grover patted Percy on the back, "We have gods, demigods, dryads, and satyrs."
"Who are you, Chiron? Who… who am I?"
Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.
"Paralyzed?" Zoe muttered in confusion, but Percy stated, "I think that was the explanation for the wheelchair that he gave us on his first day teaching me."
"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in Cabin Eleven. There will be new friends to meet.
"Yeah. New friends." Percy grumbled, remembering the prophecy he had been issued.
And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be marshmallows at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."
"Marshmallows with chocolate are awesome." Will grinned, "We should have a campfire when we get back to camp."
"You can use the hearth, before you sleep." Hestia offered kindly, and Hades smiled at his sister, glad that she was so happy, since she so often referred to herself as the least of the gods, "That's kind of you, sister."
"Yeah." Annabeth nodded, "A campfire with everyone... that sounds like a dream."
The mood promptly fell, as everyone remembered why it was a dream; some of their friends were dead.
And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear,
"Long... velvet underwear..." Triton gaped at his half-brother, as Leo tumbled to the floor, laughing, "Holy Hephaestus! Percy, I love you, man!"
Snickers broke out from the other demigods, and Travis and Connor also fell to the ground, laughing, as Katie tried to scold them.
"Only you, Percy." Annabeth shook her head, trying to stifle her own laughter.
but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him.
"Definitely magic." Apollo nodded, before he started snickering to himself again at the "long, white velvet underwear" comment.
A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.
I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.
"I bet he's happy to not have to use the wheelchair anymore." Thalia sighed, "He doesn't like getting cooped up in there."
"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."
"And that's it." Nico shut the book. Zeus waved the kids away, "Okay, okay. Go find something to eat or something."
"After dinner, another chapter or two, and then we can have a campfire!" Apollo offered. He, Hermes and Hestia stood up, and ushered the children out of the Throne Room.
The remaining gods just looked at each other, and Hades stood up, "Well, if you have nothing to talk about, I'd like to go find my children."
"Go do whatever." Zeus just sighed; everything had just happened to suddenly, and while gods couldn't get headaches, it still took him some time to sort everything out, especially since he had to listen to adventures of a son of his brother who apparently didn't even believe in gods.
