Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, or any other franchise in the Riordanverse. I do not own any of the characters from the Riordanverse or Greek Mythology. All bolded text is from the book and I do not own that either. I just own my writing and some of the reactions.

Please don't take down my story.


Honestly I wasn't thinking about what happened with Annabeth and Athena, but people requested it so...

I put it as a small thing that they had an argument in the chapter before, but I didn't really think about what happened so erm, here ya go

(i feel stupid)


Future-Annabeth slid the door to the temple shut behind her with a snap. She turned to see her mother studying her with those calculating grey eyes that were so much like her own.

"A son of Poseidon," Athena observed, her voice had a slight edge to it that made Annabeth's hands curl into fists and her eyes harden.

"A son of Poseidon," Annabeth agreed.

There was an awkward pause.

"Why would you ever want to date him?!" Athena snapped suddenly. She was looking at her daughter with so much anger, so much betrayal, so much confusion that Annabeth had to grit her teeth. "He is a child of Poseidon and he's a slacker, I won't have it! He'll just use you, then throw you away like a toy. I can't believe you would hurt me like this! You are going to break up with him."

"Why should I?" Annabeth retorted. "I love him and he loves me. He's the most amazing, kind, gentle, loving person I've ever and will ever meet! He is my family! You want someone to treat me good, there. You. Go."

Athena looked at her daughter like she had been slapped. "Your family," She repeated with quietly contained fury. "is me, your father, your stepmother, your godly half-brothers, your mortal half-brothers, maybe that son of Hermes and daughter of Zeus, but nothing more-"

"Bullshit!" Annabeth snarled. "Where were you when my 'family'," She sneered the word. "treated me like a freak? Where were you when Thalia died and Luke left? Up on gods-be-damned Olympus. But d'you know who was there. Percy. Fucking. Jackson. So watch your mouth when you talk about my other half like that."

With that, Annabeth spun on her heel and went straight back into the infirmary. The fierce anger on her face melted into a lovesick expression when she looked at Percy, something that made Athena's insides churn.

Athena's lip curled into an ice cold sneer. Perseus Jackson was a horrible influence on her child. Annabeth not only told her she was wrong, but she did it in such a humiliating way that made Athena think that maybe, just maybe, she could be wrong. This must be some ploy of Poseidon's to get one over her. And using her brightest child too. Not even Daedalus had Annabeth's potential when he was her age.

Athena felt her hands curl into fists. Annabeth may not see it yet, but Athena was doing this for her own good.

Perseus Jackson was going to regret ever looking at her child.


"4 - MY MOTHER TEACHES ME BULLFIGHTING" Hades readout.

Apollo huffed a laugh that didn't quite reach the rest of his face.

"I don't even know what to say anymore," Katie muttered.

"We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas."

Everyone tensed remembering what had happened. Luke had woken up once the reading started, looking distinctly uncomfortable and nervous.

"Every time there was a flash of lightning,"

Poseidon tensed, glaring fiercely at his brother. "I did nothing to your daughter!" He snapped. Zeus shifted nervously.

"I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane,"

"You had a demon maths teacher," Hermes said slowly. "and this is what makes you think you've gone insane?"

"That was over quickly like any another of my 'hallucinations', this one I couldn't just ignore," Percy replied.

"or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants."

Travis and Connor broke out into snickers. Beckendorf, Clarisse, and Future-Annabeth were fighting smiles. Chiron let out a small chuckle. Past-Annabeth, Katie, and Silena rolled their eyes. Luke's lips twitched upwards. Hermes and Apollo were shaking with suppressed laughter. Poseidon was too concerned to smile. The rest of the gods shook their heads.

"But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo, lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal."

Silena said. "Technically, it could be still some form of pants made from real animal wool."

"He's a satyr," Dionysus pointed out.

"But this is in the scenario that Grover wasn't a satyr, but wearing shag-carpet-animal-wool pants," Travis countered.

"But he is, so this is a pointless arguement," Athena retorted.

Travis pouted. "Killjoy."

"All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom…know each other?""

"It sounds bad when you put it like that," Demeter sighed.

"You demigods," Dionysus scorned. "Never appreciating a satyr's hard work. Almost as bad as the romans..." His voice got quieter as he continued but he didn't finish quiet enough, judging by Athena's suddenly still stature, the rest of the gods' flickering forms, and making Past-Annabeth look in interest with the rest of the past demigods.

"Grover's eyes flitted to the rear-view mirror, though there were no cars behind us."

"That's not what he's worried about," Poseidon muttered, looking nervous.

""Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you.""

"Stalker," Connor mumbled.

""Watching me?"

"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend.""

"Smooth," Hermes snickered. He loved satyrs.

"I suppose that's one of the difficulties of being a protector," Aphrodite thought aloud. "It could seem like you were using the demigod as your job, or you could get too attached to the demigod you were supposed to protect."

Dionysus, Demeter, And Hermes hummed in agreement.

"Finally," Dionysus grouched.

""Um…what are you, exactly?""

"A fashionista," Travis joked.

""That doesn't matter right now."

"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—""

Dionysus and Hermes' eyes got dangerously dark, Percy winced.

"Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!""

"'Blaa-ha-ha'," Travis mimicked. He was hit by his brother, who gestured to their father with a slight ounce of fear on his face. Travis sunk down in his seat.

"I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.

"Goat!" he cried.

"What?"

"I'm a goat from the waist down.""

"He literally just said..." Hephaestus shook his head in annoyance.

""You just said it didn't matter."

"Blaa-ha-ha!"

The Stolls couldn't stop the snigger from escaping them.

"There are satyrs who would trample you under-hoof for such an insult!""

"Coach Hedge," Future-Annabeth laughed.

"Don't. You. Dare." Percy hissed, looking pale.

Clarisse perked up in interest. "Coach?"

Percy gave her a sharp nod, pouting at his girlfriend.

""Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like…Mr. Brunner's myths?""

"Myths," Hera sniffed.

"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"

"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!""

"Not the time," Poseidon groaned.

"Why are you so damn stubborn?" Past-Annabeth questioned rhetorically.

"He gets it from his father," Athena sneered bitterly, obviously still annoyed at Future-Annabeth.

""Of course."

"Then why—"

"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious."

"It is to him," Hestia told Percy.

""We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are.""

"So dramatic," Zeus grumbled.

"Hypocrite," Percy snickered.

""Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"

The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail."

Poseidon tensed.

""Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."

"Safety from what? Who's after me?""

Both Percy and Future-Annabeth outright laughed deliriously at this.

""Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions.""

"Grover!" Most demigods shouted.

Poseidon glared at Hades suspiciously.

""Grover!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?""

"Yes, faster," Poseidon muttered.

"I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination."

Future-Annabeth snickered.

"I could never dream up something this weird."

"You sure?" Future-Annabeth chuckled. Percy pouted at her until she gave him a peck on the lips.

"My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and 'PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES' signs on white picket fences."

"CAMP!" The Stolls yelled excitedly.

"Shut it!" Poseidon snapped.

""Where are we going?" I asked.

"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared."

Artemis sighed sadly. That woman was so strong.

""The place your father wanted to send you."

"The place you didn't want me to go.""

Demeter said, "Don't make it harder!"

"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."

"Because some old ladies cut yarn.""

"Percy," Chiron warned.

""Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to…when someone's about to die.""

"Reassuring," Apollo snorted cynically. Artemis frowned at him, he had been weird since he checked Percy over for injuries.

""Whoa. You said 'you.'"

"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"

"You meant 'you.' As in me." "I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you.""

"Stop it!" Demeter snapped.

"Men," Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Now really isn't the time," Hestia shook her head.

""Boys!" my mom said.

She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm."

Poseidon wrung his hands, his eyes glued to the book in his brother's hands.

""What was that?" I asked.

"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please.""

"Please," Poseidon begged.

"I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.

Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me."

Hestia frowned at Hades disappointedly, Hades' head bowed in guilt.

"Then I thought about Mr. Brunner…and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck."

Poseidon wound his shoulders back tightly.

"There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling 'boom!', and our car exploded."

Poseidon cried out in pain. Hestia moved to go help him relax. After a moment, Hades continued.

"I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time."

Most of the demigods frowned in confusion. Poseidon curled his hands into fists, he hoped Zeus did not do that.

"I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow.""

Future-Annabeth snorted despite her worry.

""Percy!" my mom shouted.

"I'm okay.…"

I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead."

"Clearly," Clarisse sniggered.

"The car hadn't really exploded."

"Oh thank the gods," Poseidon breathed.

"Why aren't you more freaked out about this?" Beckendorf asked Future-Annabeth.

Future-Annabeth shrugged. "I already know most of it, 'sides we've been through worse now."

Both Poseidon and Athena frowned at that.

"We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.

Lightning."

"ZEUS!" Poseidon bellowed.

"That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"

He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, 'No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!'"

That did a poor job of deflating the tension.

"Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope."

Past-Annabeth and Luke snickered despite themselves. Classic Grover.

""Percy," my mother said, "we have to…" Her voice faltered.

I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns."

Poseidon's head shot up in horror. Percy winced and shuffled down in his seat.

"I swallowed hard. "Who is—"

"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."

My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking."

Poseidon was shaking with barely supressed anger. Zeus looked at his brother nervously.

""Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?""

"And there's Thalia," Percy joked. Future-Annabeth shot him a reproachful look. Just because she knew what was going to happen didn't mean she had to like it. She also didn't get much from the vague recollection that Grover had and the bits and pieces from the nymphs.

""What?"

Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree–sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.

"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."

"Mom, you're coming too.""

"She can't," Demeter realised. The demigods sent Percy pitying looks that he ignored like he ignored his father's worried glances.

Aphrodite let out a broken sob, her heart going out to the radiation of pain coming from Poseidon.

"Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.

"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover.""

"You are a good person," Hestia observed.

""Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.

The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head…was his head. And the points that looked like horns…"

"The minotaur," Apollo realised. If this was what happened to Percy when he was twelve, Apollo could see why he had all his injuries on his examination,

""He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."

"But…"

"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please.""

"Fatal flaw," Future-Annabeth warned softly. Percy made a face and kissed her forehead.

Athena frowned. A demigod with a fatal flaw of loyalty. With such a powerful demigod, irrationality was dangerous, love was dangerous.

"I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull."

"I don't know how everyone always underestimates you," Future-Annabeth thought aloud, ignoring her mother's gaze. "I mean, I did it too. You're so much smarter than you giver yourself credit for, Seaweed Brain."

Percy flushed red and looked bashful.

"I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."

"I told you—"

"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."

I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid."

"I can't tell if you're calling him heavy or light," Luke observed.

"I'm afraid that's my fault," Poseidon replied, his eyes not leaving the book. "The sea is forever changing. Now if we could move on to where my son and love aren't in mortal danger, that would be great."

"Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass."

Demeter frowned.

"Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear — I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms — which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders."

His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns, enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener."

The rest of the demigods - who hadn't realised what the monster was - gasped in shock and shivered at the mental image. Chiron looked sorrowful.

"How did you survive?" Past-Annabeth asked timidly, her poker face hiding her inner turmoil.

"I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us."

"'One of the first'," Future-Annabeth repeated thoughtfully. Another example of 'People being prophetic before things happen™'.

"But he couldn't be real.

I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"

"Pasiphae's son,""

"She knew not to say the name," Athena noted. Maybe the mother was smart, that didn't make the son a match for her daughter.

"my mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."

"But he's the Min—"

"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power.""

"She's...smart," Hades joked in mock-surprise. "Didn't know you had it in you."

Poseidon glared at him, making it perfectly clear that he was not over what Hades did.

"The pine tree was still way too far, a hundred yards uphill at least."

Poseidon turned his attention back to the book quickly.

"I glanced behind me again.

The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows, or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away."

"His sight is terrible," Artemis murmured.

Athena added "And hearing."

""Food?" Grover moaned.

"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"

"His sight and hearing are terrible,""

Artemis grinned slightly. It was always nice to see a smart, capable woman. Though it pained her how unappreciated she was.

Athena's smiled despite herself. It was a pity she had not met this woman before Poseidon. Now that Sally and Poseidon had sex, Athena could not bear the thought of blessing the mortal with Poseidon's gloating face over her shoulder. This mortal was nothing like Medusa.

"she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."

As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded."

The throne room cheered. It was a nice small victory against the pig of a mortal.

The Stolls were catcalling and Luke (surprisingly) joined in. Although, he stopped when his father added to the whooping

"Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying."

Travis and Connor looked at Percy, their mouths hanging open slightly.

"Oops."

"Travis..." Connor breathed.

"I know Con," Travis' face lit up brightly. "I think we just found a new-

"PRANKING PARTNER!" Connor cheered.

Percy grinned at them. "Now all we need is Leo," He shrugged off their questioning glances.

""Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way—directly sideways."

Athena sat up straighter. Of course, she could think of a better one, but this was brilliant for a mortal.

"He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"

"How do you know all this?"

"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me.""

"A mother's love is never selfish unless she is the pain-giver," Aphrodite whispered.

"It is not selfish to keep a child at the hearth, where they are strongest," Hestia agreed.

"A mother will and should do everything for a child, even if it results to self-harm," Demeter sighed.

"A mother should do what is best for her family, even if it means sending one away," Hera sniffed. The other women, Hephaestus, Percy, and Poseidon glared at her strongly.

"And what would you know about love?" Hephaestus snapped. "You abused all of us in one way or another."

The rest of the gods and demigods looked between them like a tennis match, until Chiron cleared his throat and they kept reading.

""Keeping me near you? But—"

Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill."

Poseidon whimpered, turning his attention from Hera to the book in the god of the underworld's hands.

"He'd smelled us."

"Oh gods, oh gods," Poseidon chanted. Future-Annabeth turned pale and gripped Percy tightly.

"The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter."

Poseidon couldn't help but curse the satyr. He knew Grover was a friend of his son's, but Percy should've never been protecting his protector. They should've sent a more experienced satyr to a demigod who Chiron had made a house call for, not one with a history of failing. Poseidon currently wanted nothing more than to squeeze the life out of his son, but he tried to restrain himself.

"The bull-man closed in."

Well, the sea doesn't like to be restrained.

"Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us."

Poseidon seemed to make his decision, shrinking himself down to human form and racing across the throne room. He ignored Luke and Past-Annabeth's stares, Zeus' murderous glare, the demigods' dumbfound glances, and Hermes' longing looks. He concentrated in sliding between Past-Annabeth and Percy to hold him tightly. Percy flushed lightly but didn't protest, letting his father and his girlfriend take reassurance in the fact that he was right between them and wasn't going to leave.

"My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."

I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat."

Silena let out a small mewl. Beckendorf squeezed her waist softly, adjusting her to lean on him.

"He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest."

Poseidon and Future-Annabeth gripped Percy tighter, the small group taking in the warmth of the others'. The other demigods huddled closer together. The gods either looked grave or shocked that the demigod survived.

"The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.

The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother,"

Poseidon's eyes widened in horror.

"who was setting Grover down in the grass.

We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain."

Some of the demigods smiled uneasily at the thought of camp. They were so close.

"But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it."

The smiles dropped swiftly. Poseidon was clutching Percy like a lifeline. Future-Annabeth was struggling to shrug this off as other adventure. She had never heard it so graphic before. Athena looked at the sea spawn with light interest, confused on how he managed to escape.

"The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.

"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"

But I just stood there,"

Artemis let out a small growl of annoyance. Apollo ran his fingers over hers reassuringly.

"frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummelling the air."

Poseidon moaned, praying to everything and anything that Sally would miraculously get out of this.

""Mom!"

She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"

Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply…gone."

Poseidon cried out a loud sob, his throat voice refusing to get past the big metaphorical lump.

The rest of the gods had their heads bowed in respect. They hadn't known the mortal for long but she seemed well above the others of her status.

Percy looked to his hands, downcast. Hearing it for a second time did not make it any easier.

Hades paused, frowning softly at the book. Why would he kidnap the boy's mother? For leverage over him? Over Poseidon? What could he possibly want that he had to kidnap a mortal with the minotaur to do so?

Athena was thinking along the same lines of Hades. It made sense to have something over either of the men of the sea, but Hades was much more timid than most would expect. Kidnapping was more her or Hermes' style. Hades preferred to sit on his problems or ignore them. Only if something drastic happened, most likely to his pride, would he ever make a move like kidnapping for leverage. He only went after the Grace girl because Zeus killed one of his flings back in the 1900s. Poseidon had to have done something or have been accused of something terrible for Hades to go beserk. The question is: What?

""No!"

Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs, the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons."

"Adrenaline," Ares muttered appreciatively.

"The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too."

Past-Annabeth and Luke went as white as sheets. Zeus smirked lightly to himself, the fates retribution for failing his daughter.

"I couldn't allow that."

Zeus deflated. Most of the goddesses looked at Percy approvingly.

"I stripped off my red rain jacket.

"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!""

Clarisse snickered, despite the tension. "That's a good one," She decided, fist bumping Percy.

""Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists."

"I'm all for a good pun," Hermes laughed. He frowned slightly at Apollo, who just smiled weakly. The god had been acting strange since the medical exam.

""I had an idea, a stupid idea,"

"It's going to work then," Future-Annabeth sighed, rubbing her nose warily.

Beckendorf frowned. "Wait, what?"

"Why?" Katie exclaimed.

"Percy's good ideas go to shit, his bad ideas go to shit, only his stupid ones work," Future-Annabeth grumbled.

"Aren't bad and stupid the same?" Connor asked, slightly confused.

"Nah. The bad ones are weak, the stupid ones are the ones I get when I work up my nerve," Percy grinned.

"but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket"

Athena's mouth formed a small 'o', knowing what the demigod was thinking. A stupid idea, she agreed.

"in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment."

"'Thinking'?" Poseidon repeated worriedly.

"But it didn't happen like that.

The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.

Time slowed down."

Future-Annabeth jerked involuntarily. Percy rubbed her shoulder, muttering reassurances. Everyone else frowned at her.

"My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck."

The demigods looked at Percy in awe. Some of the gods relaxed. The more uptight ones worried how strong the child was, even without training.

"How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.

The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain"

Athena's eyes lit up. Poseidon grinned slightly, despite his inner pain of loosing Sally.

"was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.

The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.

Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off."

Percy buried his face in Future-Annabeth's hair, wincing at the memory.

""Food!" Grover moaned.

The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light,"

Poseidon growled deeply.

"and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might."

Ares frowned. Would that work? The kid had the rain fuelling him But the shear force...

"The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap!"

The demigods' mouths fell open. Chiron beamed proudly. The gods regarded Percy with different expressions, ranging from appraising to wary.

"Wow," Travis whispered.

"Percy you just broke a strong bone with shear force, the pound-force it would take-" Apollo got cut off.

"Cow horns are typically a bit longer than a thigh bone, and it takes 900 lbf to break your femur." Clarisse grunted. Other demigods looked at her in shock.

"The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air."

Past-Annabeth winced softly.

"I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.

The monster charged."

Poseidon made an unsuccessfully-stifled wail.

"Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barrelled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage."

"You stabbed a minotaur with his own horn?" Ares asked excitedly. Percy muffled his chuckles in his girlfriend's hair and nodded.

"The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.

The monster was gone."

The throne room cheered, united against the horror that was the minotaur.

"The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief. I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry,"

Most people in the throne threw pitying glances to the trio huddled together, Poseidon on the left, Percy in the middle, Future-Annabeth on the right.

"but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover, I wasn't going to let him go."

"You're a good friend," Hestia smiled.

"I love brotherly love," Aphrodite sighed dreamily.

"The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man"

The demigods cheered for Chiron, who blushed lightly.

"and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's."

Both Annabeths made faces of undisguised horror. Past-Annabeth glared daggers at Percy but Future-Annabeth had succumbed to Percy's weird but loving imagination, merely kissing his cheek chastely.

"They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be.""

"What do you mean by that, eh Annie?" Travis sniggered. A knife was thrown at him, aiming straight for the throat. Whilst he did his best to dodge, Luke had to hold Past-Annabeth back.

Future-Annabeth huffed a laugh and leaned into her boyfriend. "He is the one," She agreed. Percy colored but grinned stupidly at his girlfriend, kissing her gently on the lips.

""Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside.""

"Meet him inside, meet him inside," The Stolls chanted.

"Last time I let you watch Hamilton either," Chiron sighed.

Dionysus perked up. "We could ban movie-nights all together."

"Hey!"

"No fair!"

"Please no!"

"No way!"

"Back to the book," Hades cut in, death-glaring at anyone who tried to saw anymore. "who will read the next chapter?"

Demeter raised her hands. "I will," She decided. "brother." Hades looked at her shocked but passed the book. She frowned at the book before Demeter readout:

"5 - I PLAY PINOCHLE WITH A HORSE"