AND IT BEGINS

"I look like an idiot," Percy proclaimed.

"No you don't," Sally told him from the driver's seat of their small, two-seater car. "I think you look very handsome."

"You're my mom, you have to say that," the teen retorted, slouching into his seat and picking at the plain black tux he'd been forced to rent.

"Whatever you say, dear," Sally hummed, distracted. She wondered if it was really safe enough to let Percy go to the Ball, but Chiron had said that everything was as safe as it could be. If the children were told to stay home on the night of the Ball, they'd get suspicious, and Mr. Deus had been adamant about keeping the kids in the dark about all this.

Ignorance is bliss, he'd said. They don't need to worry themselves with our affairs.

"Mom?" Percy said, trying to snap her out of whatever she thought she'd lost herself in. He leaned over and tapped her on the shoulder, worry on his brow. "Mom? We're here."

"Oh," Sally breathed softly, glancing around. "So we are."

"Are you okay, Mom?" Percy asked as she parked their car on the curb. "You've been a bit weird the past few days…"

"Oh, nothing to worry about, Percy," Sally smiled, hating that she had to keep secrets. She always told her baby boy everything. "That reminds me, I have something for you. It's in the glove compartment."

Percy's hand fumbled with the compartment's clasp as it fell open, dropping a mask on his lap. He picked it up and held it up to the dim street corner light that flitted in through the car's windows. Pale yellow light danced across the blues, greens, and whites that formed waves around the eyes.

"Mom," Percy started, turning the small accessory over in his hands. "What's this for?"

"It's a masquerade ball, sweetie. Masks sort of come with the dress code," she laughed halfheartedly. "Your father wanted me to give it to you…"

Percy turned to his mom, eyes wide. "You met up with Dad?"

"Yes," she replied, taking the mask from him. The material felt soft and sturdy under her fingers as she set it on her son's face, resting on his nose and just above his cheeks. Sally brushed Percy's hair back and sighed, pulling him into a hug. "Have fun, dear."

Percy bit back the questions he wanted to ask. He knew his Mom would tell him what was wrong eventually. So he looked into her sad brown eyes and gave her an encouraging smile. "Thanks, Mom."

Percy waved goodbye as he stood on the sidewalk, trying to shove thoughts of his parents out of his head.

"Peeeeercy!" a familiar voice called. "Is that you?"

The teen smiled, he hadn't been hanging out with good old Grover lately. There'd just been too much drama in his life. "Hey G-man, what's u—WHOA!"

"What?" Grover asked, stopping a few feet away and cocking his head to the side.

"Your, your face!" Percy yelled, pointing frantically at it.

"What about it?"

"Horns! There are HORNS growing out of your FACE!"

"Oh, that's just my mask," Grover informed the poor, petrified teen. "Everyone in the maintenance staff wears a wooden goat mask."

"But…why does it look so real?"

"Mr. D's good with his hands," Grover shrugged, walking towards the school.

Percy snapped himself out of his rather unmanly freak out and followed his friend. "Mr. D carves masks?"

"One for every new employee," the older man told his friend. He scratched his ever-present stubble as they made their way towards the entrance. "Though I hear bad things happen when you lose yours, something about diet-coke and janitorial duty for six months."

"You two," someone called at the door, blocking the way and halting their conversation. The man was tall and looming, dressed in dark colours and a white dragon mask. "Identification?"

"We needed to bring an ID?" Percy blurted out. First he needed a mask, now this? Geez, was no one telling him anything these days?

"Don't worry," Grover said, lifting his mask. He turned to the man and craned his head up. "I'm with maintenance, he's a student here."

The dragon man gave a huff and checked a list he had crumpled in one hand. "Okay, come in."

"Thaaaanks," Grover bleated. Once the two were well out of earshot, he let out a breath. "Gods, those guards make me jumpy."

"Since when did CHB need guards?" Percy asked.

"Since Mr. D said so," the man replied, shrugging. "Trust me; we've tried to figure it out. Maybe he's just feeling extra paranoid. I mean, we normally have people at the door for The Ball, but Peleus Security's top notch. No one knows why they were hired this year."

"Is this Ball really that much of a big deal?" Percy sighed when they reached the gym's double doors.

"It's tradition!" Grover exclaimed, pushing the doors open.

Sound flooded out, washing over the two. Conversations overlapped, music played in the background, and a screaming girl seemed to be catapulting herself towards them.

"Grover!" she yelled gleefully, tackling the man down in what resembled a hug.

"Juniper!" he laughed as they untangled themselves from each other.

Percy stood awkwardly off to the side as the two go to their feet. "Um, hi?"

"Oh, sorry, Perce," Grover apologized, blushing. "This is Juniper, my girlfriend. She's one of the gardeners for the school. She's been away on leave lately though."

"Missed you every time I planted a seedling," Juniper elaborated, lacing her fingers through Grover's and smoothing wrinkles out of her green satin dress. She looked at Percy through a leafy mask that curled around her head like a crown and smiled. "Nice to meet you…?"

"Percy," the teen blurted out, realizing that Juniper was waiting for an answer. Attention elsewhere, his eyes scanned the room; someone was missing, where was—

"You seem distracted, Percy," Grover commented as he adjusted his goat mask.

"Oh, um, I'm just wondering where Annabeth is," Percy told his friend, eyes still on the crowd. "She's the one who made me come to this thing in the first place."

Juniper looked curiously at Percy. "Isn't this a mandatory event?"

Percy huffed, tearing his eyes away from their search for a moment. "That doesn't mean I have to come, does it?"

"Hey Grover!" a blonde bookworm called from halfway across the gym. "Grover!"

"Oh there she is," Grover said, waving. "Over here!"

And there it was again. That tingling feeling that bubbled in Percy's chest every time he thought about his tutor. At first he had thought it was some kind of allergic reaction, maybe her shampoo didn't agree with him. But then he realized he liked the strawberry and spice smell of her shampoo. That made him think: he liked a lot of things about Annabeth. The more he thought, the worse the tingling got. So he stopped thinking about it altogether. It was just too overwhelming to think about her for too long.

He was snapped out of his musing by a playful whack.

"Percy, wipe that dumbstruck look off your face," Annabeth ordered, eyes bright behind a shimmering grey owl mask. "I hate it when you look like an idiot."

"I don't look like an idiot," Percy defended himself. "Someone told me I looked very handsome."

"Well who went and said that, half-blood?" a faintly familiar voice said. Its owner stepped up, golden snake mask covering the distinguishing scar, and both arms wrapped around a blushing Annabeth. "Your mom?"

The tingling intensified until it felt like something was drilling a hole right through him.

An embarrassed Annabeth smiled and broke out of the hug, hooking her arm around the golden snake's. "Percy, meet Luke Castellan, my boyfriend."