AN 5/13/15: Hey there, so I am so happy to see people enjoying this enough to follow and even favorite it. It is really a great joy to see that, and a great motivator. I had to actually stop myself from posting another chapter a bit earlier because I want to have a relatively set posting schedule but my excitement has gotten the best of me. Thank you for the support, it really means a lot. This is kind of like the official start of the book sequence and where the story really starts to pick up, so I am pretty hyped. I did a last minute triple check on any spelling, writing, or story changes for this chapter, so hopefully any typos or things of that nature were weeded out but if you catch something please tell me and I will fix it asap. Thanks again and I hope you all had a good weekend! -TashaMoon
Note: I would say thank you to each and every one of you personally but I don't know if you would want your username listed specifically, so as note to everybody so far: Thank you very much! I hope you enjoy the rest of this. Feel free to send me any comments or pms if you wish to, but I won't bug you.
The storm finally started to break in May. For Latin class, Chiron was taking us to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to see the Greek and Roman exhibits. The museum was only a few blocks away from our apartment, it was so tempting to just go home and hug Sally. Sadly though, Percy and I couldn't sneak away from the group without being expelled. We were already on the "Do not let anything happen whatsoever on this trip or risk figurative death" list.
On the ride into the city Percy, Grover and I all shared a seat. I rushed in before them so I could sit next to the window and they had filed in after me. Of course we couldn't just have a peaceful ride in though, which was an unrealistic hope on my part. What, with twenty-nine other "mental case" students onboard a tightly packed bus going into the city, something was bound to happen. Guess who it was too? Yup, Nancy Bobofit. She insisted on throwing pieces of her peanut butter and ketchup sandwich into Grover's hair.
"I'm going to kill her." Percy grumbled after what felt like the tenth piece of sandwich. He tried to stand up but Grover and I pulled him back down.
"No you won't, Percy. You heard Mr. Miller, nothing can happen on this trip." I warned him.
"It isn't worth it Percy. It's okay though, I like peanut butter." Grover said as he picked out pieces of sandwich from his curly hair. How that satyr put up with all this I will never know. A few seats behind us I heard Nancy snickering with her friends.
Chiron, or should I say Mr. Brunner, led the museum tour around the MET with Mrs. Dodds taking up the back of the group. We passed a statue of Apollo in all his "glory", which made me shudder a bit - that was not something I wanted to see. I also saw a similar statue of Hercules holding his club, the Nemean Lion's pelt draped over his shoulder. I scowled a bit, that guy just seemed like a jerk to me, killing his own family? Even if he was influenced into doing it, he still should be held accountable. Especially given how he got all of that so called glory that immortalized his name, made him a god, and eventually got him into the history books from his tasks of redemption, that just felt wrong in my book.
All the while as we were touring Chiron was giving us a running commentary about the different items, pottery, and statues we passed. I found this one particular statue of Lady Artemis to be very pretty when we passed it though, contrary to some of the other statues we saw. She was posed with her bow out and stag at her side. I caught Mrs. Dodds glaring at it too - someone was not a fan of the huntress.
Soon we came to a thirteen-foot-tall stele, a grave marker. It could instantly tell that it was for a girl about our age, she had been a half-blood, a daughter of Apollo if I was not mistaken. I got a bit annoyed at the museum for moving her grave marker, the dead had to be respected. How would you like it if your grave memorial was uprooted and put on display? By the way Chiron was looking at it I could tell she had been one of his students. That thought made me a bit sad, he must have seen so many of his young students, just children really, die at the hands of the Greek world. With a slight wince I realized that I fit that description myself. Vaguely I noticed him telling us about the carvings on the side, but my mind was drifting elsewhere.
I snapped back to the present when I heard Chiron quizzing Percy on the carvings that told the story of Kronos and the gods' rise to power. Then Nancy, of course, couldn't keep her mouth shut and not so discreetly said to one of her group,
"Like we are going to use this in real life. Like on our job descriptions they will ask us any of these useless questions. What idiot would believe in that type of thing?" Busted. I hid a bit of a satisfied grin. With that attitude she would be lucky to live to adulthood had she been a demigod, which she clearly was not. A kleptomaniac yes, but not a demigod, thank the gods. If I had to put up with her at camp.. well it wouldn't end well for her to say the least.
I saw Chiron, taking advantage of his superior hearing, turn a bit toward Nancy and a ask, "And why, Mr. Jackson, to paraphrase Miss. Bobofit's wonderful question, does this mater in real life?" Are you trying to get him killed sooner, Chiron? I silently cursed at him in my head. Nancy's face was beet red but I didn't bother to relish in the moment. Could he be more obvious? In the back of the group Mrs. Dodds turned her full attention on Percy, trying to hide the satisfied look on her face. I narrowed my eyes at her but she was too busy looking at Percy to notice.
"I.. I don't know, sir." He finally replied.
"Well, Mr. Jackson, half credit." Then he looked to me. Damn centaur. "Ah, Miss. Cooper, what about you? Do you have an answer to the question Miss. Bobofit so generously posed?" I did my best to not make eye contact with him, ignoring Nancy trying to shuffle behind one of her group and pulled my eyes away from Mrs. Dodds as she turned to look at me.
"Well, sir, it is always useful to know your history. We wouldn't want part of the world's history to die out and be forgotten. We could also become curators or teachers, like yourself, and teach it for future generations of people to know and carry on." I said slowly, not wanting to give anything away. Chiron wore a slight disappointed frown, as if he expected a better answer from me. As if I would give one with a monster less than twenty feet away. How could he not notice who Mrs. Dodds really was? Either that centaur was losing it or he was deliberately trying to do something.
"A reasonable answer, but yes. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods and allies defeated their father, sliced him into pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you care to lead us back outside?" I had suddenly got a sharp piercing pain in my stomach at the mention of that my grandfather, but it faded as quickly as it had come. Nobody seemed to notice my reaction aside from Chrion, who sent me a slightly concerned glance. What does that mean?
The class convened on the exits, the students acting like typical young middle school kids. Then, from behind us Chiron called out.
"Mr. Jackson, Miss. Cooper, would you please come here for a moment?" We parted ways with Grover and made our way back to his wheelchair.
"Sir?" I asked. I had an idea about what he might say, but you never really know with Chiron. The old horse acted very mysteriously at times. He had that intense look in his eyes that held you in your spot.
"You two must learn the answer to my question," he started.
"The one about the Titans?" Percy asked, clearly confused as Chiron had already given the answer.
"About real life, and how your studies apply to it."
"Oh."
"What you learn from me, it is vitally important. I expect you two to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you." Chiron, why do you want him to know so soon? Let him enjoy his life while he can. I resisted the urge to shoot Chiron a glare as I saw Percy trying to hide his discouraged look, but he couldn't hide it from me, I could read him very well after living with him for so long, not much got past me.
"We will try harder, sir. Come on Percy, let's eat." I pulled him away and out to the seats Grover found for us at the fountain.
"Detention?" Grover asked us once we sat down and started unpacking out lunches.
"Naw, not from Brunner. I just wish he would lay off me more, I'm not a genius." I looked over at Percy and put down my juice in favor of whacking him on the shoulder.
"Ow! What was that for, Ally?" He complained, holding his hand to where I hit him, acting like a little kid again.
"Percy, you are not stupid. You are smart in your own right. Don't ever let me hear you say that again or I will hit you harder." I said with a stern look. I hated it when he got down on himself for what mortals labeled disabilities or disorders. They even had terms for them now: ADHD and dyslexia. Those are just natural demigod traits, nothing to be ashamed of. They are what help demigods live and do so much more than a mortal can. They had gotten me out of many tough situations in the past.
"Okay, okay. Fine!" I saw Grover trying to hide a laugh, and not very successfully might I add. His mouth was in a tight grin as he suppressed his laughter. I smiled a bit too, but it quickly disappeared as Nancy came up to us and decided to dump her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.
"Oops." She smirked, her bright orange freckles making her face look like she was sprayed with some of that fake canned cheese. Percy stood abruptly, probably to push her or something but I shot up and grabbed his shoulder, trying to make him sit back down and stepped between them. His eyes were screwed shut, his hands in fists, and the next thing I knew the bottoms of my legs were wet and Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, crying out about how Percy pushed her.
Mrs. Dodds somehow turned up right behind me once I turned to look back to Percy. She had this look in her eyes that said 'I have you now!' The kids around us were muttering stuff about how the water had pushed her or something. Water deity for sure. After she made sure Nancy was alright, she turned to us.
"Now, honey."
"I know," Percy grumbled. "a month erasing workbooks." Bad answer. I stepped protectively in further in front of Percy.
"Jackson, follow me." Grover suddenly shot up and tried to intervene.
"Wait! It was me! I pushed Nancy!" He cried.
"I don't think so Mr. Underwood. Sit down."
"Mrs. Dodds-" I started to warn, shooting her a hard, protective look, hand on my wrist. What I would do right now for any of my weapons.
She cut me off, "You two will stay here." She had a fierce look in her eye. I reluctantly stepped aside, but I already had a plan forming in my head.
"Thanks for trying guys." Percy whispered to us as he left, stopping to stare down at Nancy on his way. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared and was now at the top of the museum steps. Once they were both out of sight Grover turned to me and said,
"Allison, you have to stay here. I'm going to get Mr. Brunner. Just don't move, promise me." He rushed.
"Sure," I said, sitting down and picking up my juice. He breathed out a sigh of relief and started trotting over to Chiron, anxiously muttering about how this was really, really bad. Once his back was turned I took advantage of the darkness the clouds were casting down on us and pulled some shadows around me, making it harder to be seen. I sprinted up the museum steps, sliding my knife out of my boot. I tore through the museum, looking for any signs of the two but came up with nothing. The Greek and Roman section! I rushed over to the exhibits and found Percy with Mrs. Dodds standing before a big marble frieze of the gods. Mrs. Dodds was growling lowly at the frieze, as if she wanted to destroy it, which in retrospect, she probably did.
"You have been giving us problems, honey." She was saying.
Percy visibly gulped and went with what he probably thought was the safe thing to say. "Yes ma'am."
"Did you really think you would get away with it?" Mrs. Dodds yelled angrily, tugging on the cuffs of her leather jacket. I slid along the wall, behind some displays. I made sure to keep the shadows pulled tight around me as I made my way closer to Percy, nervously turning my blade around in my hand.
Mrs. Dodds had that evil monster look in her eye that I had seen on countless monsters before, and the one she reserved for Percy whenever he was in trouble, but this time it was amplified, more feral. I absently tugged at one of the bracelets Amy had made me on my wrist, old battle habits coming back into play. I really needed an actual weapon right about now. I darted from one of the displays and dove behind a podium displaying a large pot, gradually getting in closer. I didn't let anything happen to Nick and I sure as heck wouldn't let anything happen to Percy at the hands of a monster if I could help it. Images of my last battle flashed through my head. Where the heck was Chiron anyways? He should be here by now if Grover went to get him, centaurs are fast. He had better have a weapon too, otherwise I would beat the heck out of him if we made it through this, Chiron or not.
"I'll.. I'll try harder, ma'am." Percy said with a small voice. A clap of thunder boomed outside, my uncle was not happy.
"We are not fools!" Mrs. Dodds voice was increasing in volume. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess and you will suffer less pain." Confess? What the heck did they think he do? By now I was hiding behind the interior most display, the display of Artemis from before that was slightly behind Mrs. Dodds. Percy stayed silent, not knowing what to say. I got ready to jump into action, preparing my grip on my knife and letting out a deep breath. Steel may not work on monsters but my plan just might buy us some time until Chiron got here.
"Well?" Mrs. Dodds demanded.
"Ma'am, I don't.."
"Your time is up." She hissed. Her eyes glowed like lit coals, her fingers stretching out into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She looked like a shriveled up hag with bat wings and pointy yellow fangs. Alecto, just my freaking luck. No wonder her aura felt familiar, Underworld. My chances of getting us out of here un-scathed just diminished drastically.
"Hey Ugly!" I yelled as I dove from my hiding spot. "Percy run! Get Mr. Brunner!" I yelled as I threw my knife. Mrs. Dodds whirled around to face me as I expected and got nailed in the face with my knife. It may have not cut into her but the weight alone could distract her and focus her attention onto me. She let out a slightly shocked and angry sound when it hit too, it was kind of satisfying.
"RUN!" I yelled again. He jolted out of his shock as I tackled Alecto. My focus was entirely on not being skewered or shredded by Alecto's talons as I snatched my knife and started beating her with the hilt, scrambling away whenever she tried to get a hold on me.
"Despicable child! An escaped soul, eh? I will enjoy this. I don't know how I didn't realize it sooner." She rasped out. Oh crud. She somehow twisted my arm behind my back, pushing me face first into the floor and knocked my knife away, then grabbed me by my neck. She stood up to her full height and held me just far enough away so I couldn't kick her easily.
My hands grasped at hers, trying to free myself. I couldn't get any air. I flailed around desperately trying to land a kick or stun her somehow. I tried to swing my legs up to knock her arm or wrap around it but she jerked me sideways. Nothing was working. I played one of my most desperate cards: I called on the shadows to try to solidify and cut her hands to release me. The only thing that happened though was the room getting darker and some of my energy draining. I hadn't even managed to master that in my first life, and I didn't have enough practice yet to make it work now. I had only gotten it to work a select few times, and that was with luck. I couldn't shadow travel away from her if she was an Underworld creature of her magnitude with me in her grasp.
"Did you think you could escape so easily?" She taunted.
"Go to Tartarus Alecto!" I hissed out. Not a wise way to conserve breath but it felt good. Then I heard a familiar: "What ho, Percy!" from somewhere I couldn't see. The next thing I knew a blade ripped through Alecto, making her let out one last dying screech. She then exploded like sand in an industrial fan. I fell to the floor, coughing and swatting away monster dust from my face.
"Allison!" I heard Percy say frantically as he knelt down beside me, helping brush the monster dust off. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thanks for the save. Where did you get that sword?" I asked, sitting up. There was the glowing blade of the celestial bronze sword on the ground next to me.
"I don't know, Mr. Brunner just came in and threw me a pen, then it was this." He shrugged helplessly. "What was that anyways? Mrs. Dodds just like, went rabid! She was some kind of monster or something. You were here though and you had a knife and attacked her. I always knew she wasn't human..." Then with a moment of realization he asked, "Wait a minute Ally, where did you get this knife?" He asked as he picked it up from where it had fallen. He gave me a stern look, like he was trying to be the responsible "older sibling".
"I don't- I just- Okay, look," My mind was frantically trying to come up with a liable reason, I couldn't just tell the truth as to why I've been carrying around a big hunting knife for years now. He saw everything though, so I couldn't just hide it anymore. "Um, I got it to have in case something happened? You never know when something will happen in the city, I had it to protect myself." I said nervously.
Percy gave me a skeptical look, "How did you even get this into a museum, or school? Wait, does mom know?"
My eyes widened, thinking of what Sally might do if she knew I had been carrying around that thing for so long right under her nose.
"No.." I cautioned. Percy sighed a bit but then his face broke out into a grin.
"This thing is awesome though." He said, admiring the knife. "It came in handy at least.. for whatever today was.." He frowned and handed me back my knife. I slipped it back into my boot as Percy stood, collecting the sword-now-pen. He held out his hand and I took it, pulling myself up out of the monster dust, brushing off any remains from my person.
"That was the sword Mr. Brunner has on tournament days. Was I just imagining that?" He asked, examining the pen.
"I don't know, let's go back outside though, this place is giving me the creeps." The room had grown colder and the sound of the rain hitting the museum roof echoed through the room. I pulled his arm a bit for him to follow as I started making my way back to the main doors.
Once we got outside and down the steps we headed over to Grover through the onslaught of water. Someone's grumpy, I thought sarcastically as I glanced at the sky. Grover saw us coming his way and a relieved but nervous look passed over his face, but he quickly covered it. I sat down by my abandoned lunch, elbows on knees and head resting in my hands and I ran a hand through my hair, letting out a long breath. Percy lingered a little ways away, looking at Chiron as if debating going over there. My neck was a bit sore from Alecto, but I acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, at least for now.
"Allison, you're back!" Grover said relieved but still trying to act normal.
"Grover, I just went to the bathroom." I replied coolly. Two can play at that game.
"Oh, yeah. Of course." He said, but I still picked up on his undertone of anxiousness, only aided by the fact that he was playing with his hands a bit. We sat in silence until Percy made his way over to us, but before he could even talk Nancy came up with two of her friends, sneering.
"I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."
"Wait, who?" Percy questioned. And that my friend would be the Mist.
"Our teacher. Duh!" Percy had a beyond confused look on his face. Nancy just huffed and turned away, her friends flanking her as she went back to wherever she came from, still dripping wet. The rain did her no favors, some mascara was smudged by her eyes a bit from the water but I refrained from laughing. I don't know why anybody would want to, or feel the need to wear make-up at this age. She probably stole it anyway from one of the older girls in the school as this was something new.
Percy turned back around and asked about Mrs. Dodds but Grover just put on a blank face.
"Who?" He paused first though, and couldn't meet our eyes. That was his key mistake. Percy was not amused in the least. He just fingered the pen and with a bit of a huff went over to Chiron.
"You know, you are a terrible liar Grover. You have to work on that." I said as I picked up the remains of my juice and took a sip nonchalantly. Grover flinched, eyes wide. I looked to where Percy and Chiron were. I could see them having a brief conversation, then Chiron gestured to the pen and Percy handed it over, albeit reluctantly. Well, there goes my one advantage.
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