Nico laughed as he thought he knew what the chapter was about. Will smiled at the sight of his boyfriend laughing.
Annabeth giggled "How do you vaporize somebody accidentally Seaweed Brain?"
"When you have no idea about what is going on" was the reply she got
"Only Percy" sniggered Thalia
Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.
"None of us did at start Perce" Chris said gently
If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:
"Hide! Kelp head is giving advice" yelled Thalia
"The world is ending"
"I never thought this day would come"
Percy did the mature thing and stuck his tongue out at them
...close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.
Not bad Perce" said Thalia
"Unfortunately that wouldn't work Percy" said Annabeth
"I know now Wise Girl" replied Percy
Being a half-blood is dangerous.
"Yep" said Leo
It's scary
"Check" said Thalia
Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.
"All correct" said Luke
The gods exchanged uneasy glances. Was it that bad?
If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.
Don't we all" sighed Reyna
But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.
"You make it sound like we are some sort of cult" laughed Beckendorf
Don't say I didn't warn you.
"But you didn't warn me" whined Leo
"Nor us" said Travis and Connor together
Chiron chuckled at his students' antics
My name is Percy Jackson.
"No it is Peter Johnson" said Dionysus from behind his magazine
The gods looked at him because they did not know that he was listening but the demigods burst out laughing
"Nah I'm pretty sure its Perry Johnson" choked out Percy from between his laughter.
The gods were confused
"What are you talking about?" asked Poseidon
"It will come up in the books Lord Poseidon and we can explain more" said Annabeth
"Just Poseidon is fine Annabeth. After all you are my son's girlfriend" said Poseidon with a wink and smile toward Annabeth.
Percy and Annabeth started blushing, Athena was glaring at Poseidon and Percy. The demigods and Hermes and Apollo started laughing.
I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at YancyAcademy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.
Am I a troubled kid?
Yes" chorused the demigods
Percy stuck his tongue out at everybody… again
Yeah. You could say that.
"See even you agree" said Nico
Percy stuck his tongue out for the 3rd time
I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it,
"Short and miserable?" asked Poseidon in a slightly higher pitch
"At that time I had the weight of the first prophecy and well I had to go through a lot by even that point of time" said Percy
That didn't do much to make Poseidon feel better and he slung his arm around Percy's shoulders.
but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.
"Sounds great" said Annabeth and Athena with a dreamy look in their eyes. Athena turned to smile at Annabeth but she would still not look at her.
Hermes, Apollo and Poseidon snorted "It sounds like torture"
Percy snickered as he remembered what he thought last night
I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.
The four of them grinned at each other, while the others were sniggering which turned to laughter when Travis said "Oh no! You all think like Percy"
Every demigod along with the four gods started laughing
A few of them just looked amused
But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.
"That's Chiron isn't it" came from Luke
Everybody looked at him
Percy said "Just a sec, I think you'll figure it out"
Luke blinked and then nodded
Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.
Yep, definitely Chiron" said Luke
"See I told you you'd figure it out" smiled Percy
Chiron gave a small smile to Percy and he grinned back
"YOU SLEPT IN CLASS?!" screeched Athena
"We have dyslexia and ADHD which makes it harder for us to focus in class" retorted Percy
All the demigods nodded vigorously in agreement with Percy
The Romans and gods were shocked that Percy just retorted at Athena
Before an argument could break out, Hestia continued reading
I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.
"Not possible Prissy" snorted Clarisse
Boy, was I wrong.
"See even you know that Seaweed Brain" came from Annabeth
Percy just smiled sheepishly
See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that. . . Well, you get the idea.
"No we want more!" yelled the Stolls, Leo, Hermes and Apollo
"Maybe some other time guys" said Percy
The 4 grinned
This trip, I was determined to be good.
All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.
"I'm going to kill her" growled Thalia, Luke, Annabeth and Percy
Grover smiled at them gratefully
Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him,
"Gee thanks Perce" said Grover sarcastically
"You're welcome"
but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.
All the Greek demigods burst out laughing while Grover blushed
Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation.
The four growled again
The headmaster had threatened me with death
"WHAT!" yelled Poseidon and all the demigods except Octavian
"Guys chill. Please continue reading Aunt Hestia" replied Percy
by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.
"Oh okay"
"Man that sucks" said Hermes and his kids, Leo and Apollo
"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.
Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter. "
"But in your hair?" asked Piper and Silena
While Aphrodite looked a little sick
"I did not want Percy to get in trouble"
"That's it. " I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.
"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens. "
Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.
Nico snickered while Percy and Grover groaned
Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.
He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.
It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.
"Maybe more" said Hermes
He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting,
Annabeth, Thalia's and Athena's mouths fell open
"You were listening?" sputtered the three
"Hey I can listen when I want" said Percy with a slight glare but there was no heat behind it
but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.
"Monster" breathed everybody
Everybody thought that Percy defeated the Minotaur and that too without training but to know that he defeated one before too… their respect for Percy grew even more
Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.
Ares smiled at the Harley part
Hades groaned when he figured who the monster could be
"Nephew is that who I think it is?" asked Hades
"Yes Uncle"
"Then she probably gave the teacher a mental breakdown"
Percy snickered
"You're not wrong dad" said Nico
Hades gave a small smile
One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight,
"Harsh" said the Hermes gang
I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right. "
Grover" groaned Thalia
Grover smiled sheepishly "I thought he would take it as a joke and he did"
From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.
"Nah, that's Nico" said Thalia and Percy at the same time
"Hey!" said Nico and Hades
The gods looked a little surprised at how well those three got along, while a few looked happy.
Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"
It came out louder than I meant it to.
"It always does" said the Stolls
The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.
"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"
My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir. "
"Yeah, you looked like Apollo's sacred cows" sniggered Grover
Everybody started laughing and Percy joined in
It took good 5 mins for them to stop
Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"
"10 drachmas he doesn't know" said Clarisse
"30 he does" replied Annabeth
"You're on Wise Girl"
Percy smiled at Annabeth who smiled back
I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"
"Pay up Clarisse"
Clarisse begrudgingly handed the drachmas
"Always that one" groaned the kids of Kronos
"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied "And he did this because . . . "
"Well. . . " I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"
"GOD" thundered Zeus
"I'm sure Chiron corrected him brother" sighed Poseidon
"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.
"Titan," I corrected myself
"See" said Percy and Poseidon at the same time rolling their eyes at Zeus
The two grinned at each other while Zeus glared at them
The Romans looked horrified at seeing the demigod talk to Jup- Zeus that way
"And . . . he didn't trust his kids who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.
The six gods smiled at the mention of their mother and scowled at the mention of their father
And later, when Zeus grew up he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"
"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.
"Try living it mortal' said Hera
"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won. "
There was silence and then all the demigods burst into laughter. Chiron shook his head fondly
"Kelp Head, did you just summarize one of the biggest wars in a few sentences?"
"There's Seaweed Brain for you" laughed Annabeth
Percy grinned at his cousin
Some snickers from the group.
"Why, he got it right?" frowned Travis
Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids. '"
"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"
"Busted" said the Stolls and Chris
"I couldn't have answered at that time but if you ask me now, it is to learn from the mistakes that the other heroes made and to not make the same errors and to not become like a few heroes" said Percy with a glance at Zoe and Artemis
Chiron and Poseidon smiled proudly at him
"He's intelligent for a sea spawn" thought Athena but didn't dare say it out loud
"Busted," Grover muttered.
"Oh no we think like a goat" groaned the Stolls and Chris
Everybody started snickering
Hestia was glad to see the demigods laughing together and she wished that her family would get together too after the readings
"Shut up," Nancy hissed her face even brighter red than her hair.
At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.
"Horse ears actually" said Beckendorf
"But his top half is a human" said Annabeth
"Either way, he has great ears. Ruins so many pranks" whined the Stoll brothers
Chiron smiled at them
I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir. "
"I see. " Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. 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 defeated their father, sliced him to 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 lead us back outside?"
"Happy note?!" the children of Kronos asked at Chiron incredulously
"Well the destruction of Kronos is a happy note" said Chiron
The class drifted off the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.
"Boys are doofuses" said Thalia, Artemis and Zoe
"Except a few" Zoe added looking at Percy
"I'm not a boy Zoe" he replied
When she looked at him with a questioning look
"It'll come up in the books" he said
Artemis gave him a smile
A few other boys namely the Stolls, Leo were trying to protest but stopped soon
Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson. "
I knew that was coming.
I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"
Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.
"Observant eh Perce?" asked Jason
Percy grinned at him
Poseidon and Annabeth looked proud and Chiron was glad
"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.
"About the Titans?"
"About real life. And how your studies apply to it. "
"Oh. "
"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. "
"He wouldn't know that yet Chiron" pointed out Thalia
"I know but I just wanted to start getting him slightly ready" he said
I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.
Before anybody could say anything, Percy said "I know you wanted to ready me but I did not know at that time". "Now I'm glad you did" he added with a smile which Chiron returned.
Luke, Grover, Thalia, Annabeth and Poseidon smiled too at Percy's comments
I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C– in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.
"He got way better Seaweed Brain" said Annabeth
Percy grinned
"The tournament days sound cool" said Leo
"They were"
"Why can't we have Chiron as our teacher" whined Leo, Stolls, Chris and Beckendorf
Chiron shook his head fondly
I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.
"He probably was" said Reyna and Nico at the same time
They smiled at each other
"I was" said Chiron sadly
He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.
The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.
Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.
"So all that freak weather was because of the theft?" asked Rachel
Percy nodded
Nobody else seemed to notice .Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.
Before any of the gods could say anything, Hermes said with a proud smile "Not mine, my kids would have already done it."
The children of Hermes puffed out their chests
"Though it is very hard to steal from Percy" said the Stolls
"That's what makes it fun" grinned Chris and Luke
Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.
You are not a loser freak!" exclaimed Thalia and Poseidon
"I know that now" Percy said with a smile. He was touched by the concern
They nodded
"Detention?" Grover asked.
"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius. "
"You are" said Annabeth
'You make most of your plans on time which means you are good in handling pressure" said Luke with a smiled
Percy gave them both a warm smile
Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?''
Everybody burst out laughing
Grover turned bright red
I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.
Every demigod stared at Percy while he grinned sheepishly
"You don't have much of an appetite?!" said Reyna with a laugh
"If Kelp Head isn't eating, then something is wrong with him" said Thalia
All the demigods nodded in agreement except Octavian who didn't care about anything except the fact that they were with the Greeks
I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again.
"That's Sally for you" said Annabeth
Percy grinned
The Greek demigods were nodding with smiles on their faces
I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.
"True words" said Nico
"Mama's boy" said Ares
"And very proud of it" said Percy with a smile
Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.
The Hephaestus kids looked up in interest and huddled up and started to compare notes
Hephaestus looked at his kids fondly
I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grovers lap.
Percy, Thalis, Annabeth, Luke, Hermes and Dionysus growled
"Oops. " She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.
"Dude, you ruined Cheetos for me" whined the Stolls, Chris, Leo and Beckendorf
Percy just grinned
Aphrodite and her kids turned pale
"She needs a heavy makeover" said Aphrodite and Silena
I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper. " But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.
Poseidon smirked though for some reason he thought that he felt Percy's anger and so did Percy
I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"
Poseidon's smirk grew wider at the part of Nancy sitting in the fountain but the thought he had before still worried
Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.
Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"
"—the water—"
"—like it grabbed her—"
By now Percy had started smirking along with his dad
Both of them had identical smirks which made everybody see again as to how similar they looked
I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.
As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc. , etc.
"Poor little" Thalia and Nico snickered
Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if Id done something shed been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"
"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."
"NO! NEVER GUESS YOUR PUNISHMENT!" exclaimed Hermes and his kids
"Its rule number 20" said Travis and Connor in a sing-song voice
That wasn't the right thing to say.
"Told you so" said the Hermes gang in a sing-song voice
"Guys, this happened years ago" said Percy
"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.
"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her. "
I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.
She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.
"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.
"But—"
"You—will—stay—here. "
Grover looked at me desperately.
"Its okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying. "
"Yeah, thanks for trying" Percy agreed with his book self
"You are very brave" said Reyna
She was thinking how different satyrs were from fauns
"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now. "
Nancy Bobofit smirked.
I gave her my deluxe Ill-kill-you-later stare.
Percy smirked and the demigods shivered theatrically
"Come on, how bad can the punk's stare be" asked Ares
Percy got up, walked over to Ares, took out his sword and gave him the glare
His eyes widened and turned fiery. It reflected that don't say that again or mess with the sea.
Ares shuffled in his throne and shrunk a little
Percy stopped glaring at him, turned the sword back into a pen and smirked.
He went and sat down
Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.
How'd she get there so fast?
I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.
"Not this time" said the demigods
"I know" Percy sighed
"Does that happen frequently to you like the ADHD part?" asked Hestia
The demigods nodded
I wasn't so sure.
"You've got good instincts" said Athena
I went after Mrs. Dodds.
Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.
Poseidon frowned at Chiron
"Don't worry, I knew what was happening, I just didn't want to make anybody suspicious" Chiron assured him
I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.
Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.
"You wish" said Nico
Percy nodded
"If only it was that easy" said Chris
All the demigods agreed
But apparently that wasn't the plan.
I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.
Except for us, the gallery was empty.
"Oh great" groaned Poseidon and the demigods
Ares was interested because he thought finally there was going to be action
Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.
Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. Its weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it. . .
"Number 1 she does make the growling noise and number 2 she probably wanted to pulverize it" muttered Nico to Percy
Percy chuckled
"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.
I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."
The Greek demigods looked at Percy and blinked
"Percy did the safe thing?" asked Thalia
"I never thought this day would come" said Travis
Percy stuck his tongue at them
She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"
The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.
She's a teacher, I thought nervously. Its not like she's going to hurt me.
I said, I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."
Percy and Poseidon started feeling nervous.
The demigods looked at Percy who stuck his tongue out again
I didn't know what she was talking about
All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.
"Nice" grinned the Hermes gang, Beckendorf and Leo and Apollo
Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.
They grinned even more widely while Athena looked horrified
"I read it now, Annabeth got me the Greek version" grumbled Percy
"Absolute torture" he groaned
Annabeth gave him a grin
"Well?" she demanded.
"Ma'am, I don't. . . "
"Your time is up," she hissed.
Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.
"YOU SENT A FURY AFTER MY SON!" roared Poseidon at Hades
"Now brother" he started
"Dad calm down, I'm alive and Uncle Hades had a good reason to do so" said Percy
Poseidon was not completely convinced but still sat down
Hades gave Percy a grateful look which caught Percy by surprise and he had to double – check
While the demigods looked at Percy in awe that he defeated a Fury and a Minotaur without any training
Then things got even stranger.
Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.
"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.
"Anaklusmos?" asked Artemis
Percy nodded
Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.
"Dodge" yelped the demigods, Poseidon, Hermes sand Apollo
"Guys I'm still here" Percy told them calmly
With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasnt a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.
Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.
My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.
"Wimp" said Ares
Everybody glared at him
Percy just looked at him and said "First I did not know what was going on and second do I need to remind you what happened at the end of this quest?" but he could actually feel his hands shaking and knees turning into jelly and so did his dad
Ares closed his mouth
She snarled, "Die, honey!"
And she flew straight at me.
Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.
The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!
Everybody looked at Percy incredulously
"You killed Alecto with one hit?" Hades asked his nephew
Percy just shrugged
Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan.
Leo and the Stolls burst out laughing "Man we love being in your head"
She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.
Percy and Poseidon shivered very slightly so nobody noticed
"Man I hate when that happens" said Thalia
I was alone
There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.
Mr. Brunner wasnt there. Nobody was there but me.
My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.
"Magic Mushrooms?" asked Athena incredulously
Percy and Poseidon's hands were trembling but not because of Athena
"I did not know what was going on so that is how I felt" retorted Percy
Athena glared at him but he ignored it
The Romans looked horrified while the gods looked surprised
The Greek demigods were shaking their heads fondly
Had I imagined the whole thing?
"No' said Travis in a sing – song voice
I went back outside.
It had started to rain.
Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, " I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."
Percy and Poseidon felt Percy's confusion
"Who?" asked Leo
I said, "Who?"
Percy and Leo grinned at each other
"Our teacher. Duh!"
I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.
She just rolled her eyes and turned away.
I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.
"He paused right?" asked Thalia
Grover turned red
He said, "Who?"
But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.
"Yep"
"Not funny, man," I told him "This is serious. "
Thunder boomed overhead.
I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.
I went over to him.
He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson. "
I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.
"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"
He stared at me blankly. "Who?"
"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher. "
He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"
"Now that's how you lie" Hermes grinned at Chiron
"Chapter's over" said Hestia in her soft voice
"I'll read next sister" said Hades
Hestia handed the book with a warm smile which Hades returned