Chapter 4 : Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants

3rd Person P.O.V.

"Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants," read Annabeth.

Everyone turned to look at the satyr who was blushing to his roots and said, "just read."

Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.

"Seaweed Brain," muttered Annabeth while shaking her head. This however, did not go unnoticed by Athena, who decided to wait until later to talk to her daughter.

I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"

"I can see where he is coming from, but he still shouldn't have done it," reasoned Piper.

Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.

Everyone chuckled at that.

Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.

"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.

A word about my mother, before you meet her.

"Mrs. Jackson is the coolest!" said Nico.

"Mrs. Jackson does make great chocolate-chip cookies!" said Thalia.

"Mrs. Jackson is very nice," said Grover.

"Yeh, Sally is the best," said Annabeth.

"Wait, you've all me her? And Annabeth, how come you call her Sally, you shouldn't be close to the sea spawn?" Questioned Athena.

"I've only met Mrs. Jackson a few times, and she told me to call her Sally," answered Annabeth. Her answered seemed to appease Athena, so she let it go, and Annabeth let out a breath of relief.

Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.

"Huh?" rang out from the demigods who knew her.

Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.

"Why wouldn't you help her Poseidon?" asked Artemis.

"I w-wanted to, but she would never let me. She always refused my gifts and my help," answered Poseidon.

The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.

Aphrodite shrieked and almost deafened everyone, and after a minute or two, when everyone could here again, they continued.

I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.

See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.

Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.

"Huh, not a lie, not just not the whole truth, that's a nice way to tell a kid," said Jason.

She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.

"Understatement of the millennia!" was chorused by the demigods.

Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him,

then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick named him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.

Everyone wrinkled their noses at this.

Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.

I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.

"That is disgusting!" cried Aphrodite.

Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."

"Where's my mom?"

"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"

"WHAT!" was chorused throughout Olympus.

"That's what he asks him, not how are you doing? Yelled Annabeth.

That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?

Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.

"Insult to walrus' everywhere," Nico said.

He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.

"WHAT!" rang throughout Olympus once again.

"If he even lays a finger on him, I will feed him to sharks, alive!" yelled Poseidon.

"I don't have any cash," I told him.

He raised a greasy eyebrow.

Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.

Grover sighed at this, while Athena and Annabeth raised an eyebrow at the statement, and then at Grover's actions.

"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"

"Wrong is what you are!" said Annabeth.

Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."

"Thankyou!" was chorused throughout Olympus.

"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.

Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.

Everyone turned a little bit green at this.

"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."

"He will," Dionysus and Hermes said in harmony.

"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"

I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.

"How could he live in a place like that?" asked Thalia.

I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.

"Is he always this sarcastic?" Jason and Piper asked simultaneously, and then they glanced at each other, blushed, and looked away.

Aphrodite did notice this action, but said nothing as her daughter was involved.

Those who knew Percy all said "Yes."

Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds,or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.

"That bad, eh?" said Nico.

But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.

Everyone tensed at this.

Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"

They all let out a sigh of relief.

She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.

"Awwww," cooed the Goddess and female demigods, except for Clarisse who muttered "Wimp," while the boys and Gods snickered.

My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room.

Poseidon smiled reminiscently at this.

Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad.

I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.

"That woman has got to have more patience than anyone." Commented Artemis.

"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"

Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.

"Lucky!" complained Apollo, Hermes, Nico, Leo, and the Stolls.

"Boys." Complained Artemis and Thalia exasperated. This caused Artemis to smile at her future lieutenant proudly, and Thalia to blush.

We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?

The females, void Clarisse, cooed, and the boys snickered.

I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.

Everyone smiled at this.

From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"

"Why that ungrateful, no-good, piece of sh*t!" yelled Poseidon.

" Brother! Language there are children present!" yelled Zeus.

I gritted my teeth.

Like everyone else who was on Olympus.

My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.

"How about a God?..." Poseidon muttered both sadly, and angrily.

For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself.

I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.

"Wow." Was said throughout Olympus.

Until that trip to the museum ...

"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"

I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.

"She would have known what to do if you had told her son," muttered Poseidon.

However Hermes yelled, "Don't Lie!"

This caused everyone, except Poseidon, to stare at him like he dropped from outerspace.

"Why are you sitting on our father's throne? What did you do to him, because you cannot be our father?" asked the Stolls.

Hermes just rolled his eyes at them and said, " You all know he shouldn't have lied."

She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.

"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."

My eyes widened. "Montauk?"

Poseidon and Annabeth smiled reminiscently.

Athena noticed her daughters reaction and wondered why would she have gone there unless… No that is impossible, she must just be thinking about something else.

"Three nights—same cabin."

"When?"

She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."

I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.

Cue growls being emitted from everyone's throats.

Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"

Louder growls, and add in some teeth being gritted.

I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.

"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."

Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"

"Of course she was you excuse for a walrus!" yelled Piper.

"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."

"He better," said Poseidon through gritted teeth.

"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your step father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."

"Bribery, I like this woman very much Poseidon," said Hermes.

"Thankyou, I like her very much as well," answered Poseidon.

Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"

"WHAATT!" yelled Aphrodite, "She shouldn't even have a budget!"

Everyone moved away from her, and covered their ears in a desperate attempt to not lose their hearing permanently.

"Yes, honey," my mother said.

"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."

"We'll be very careful."

Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."

Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.

"Do It!" everyone chanted, while Athena said, "That is probably the only smart thing the sea-spawn will ever say."

But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.

Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?

"That's what we want to know!" everyone except Poseidon and Grover yelled.

"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."

This caused everyone to chuckle.

Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.

"Brain, he has even less of a brain than Travis and Connor," said Katie.

The twins frowned at this, while everyone else laughed at them, and their expressions.

"Yeah, whatever," he decided.

He went back to his game.

"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"

For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.

But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.

An hour later we were ready to leave.

Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.

"He deserves the worst punishments in the Underworld, not a single good thing that Mrs. Jackson does for her!" yelled Rachel. Everyone agreed with this.

"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."

"He won't even be driving though?" asked / stated Jason and Leo simultaneously

Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.

Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair case as if he'd been shot from a cannon. Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.

Through everyone's fits over laughter, Leo asked, "How did he do that?" However, his only answer was barely visible shrugs from people clutching their stomachs fro laughing so hard.

I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.

"Please do," was the response from everyone on Olympus.

Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets,

Annabeth and Athena shuddered at this.

However, Thalia raised an eyebrow at Annabeth silently asking and you still went there with the spiders?

Annabeth answered her with a look that read He checks over the entire place before I go anywhere near it.

Thalia nodded in understanding.

and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.

"And that bothers him why?" asked Katie. Everyone shrugged.

I loved the place.

"Oh," she said with a blush.

We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.

"Awwww!" yelled from Aphrodite's mouth, and was said loud enough, that everyone was forced to cover their ears, or not be able to hear the rest of the story.

As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.

"Sally always did love the sea, and it only deepened after we met," said Poseidon wistfully, like he wanted to go back and relive those times with her.

We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.

"Blue, but Poseidon's color is green, why would they be blue?" asked Hephaestus.

Annabeth smirked as she read…

I guess I should explain the blue food.

This caused Leo, Hermes, Apollo, and the Stolls to snicker at Hephaestus and he blushed, or at least did what looked like a blush.

See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.

"No, he is mostly rebellious, with a streak of obedience, and only because Gods say to him "Do what I say, or I will incinerate you," and even that doesn't always make him do what other people say," said Nico.

When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.

Athena still couldn't wrap her mind around how this woman fell for Poseidon.

Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.

Poseidon and the demigods smiled at this.

"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."

"Ah, I always wondered what he looked like," Said Jason as he looked at Poseidon.

"Me too," said Leo, while Piper said, " I saw a picture."

The Gods looked at Poseidon as they tried to envision his son, who was so famous, apparently extremely powerful, and could be their enemy in the future.

Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag.

"Really, fished?" said Leo.

"I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."

"I am," said Poseidon, which caused Annabeth to smile, which did not go unnoticed by Athena.

However, at hearing these words, the other demigods became jealous of Percy, because they didn't know if their parents were proud of them or not.

I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.

Athena scowled, while Annabeth smiled, because that was the boy she loved.

When this happened, Aphrodite perked up because she could feel love being emitted from someone. However, it quickly went away before she could pinpoint who it came from.

"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"

She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."

"But... he knew me as a baby."

"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."

I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.

"I visited you once, when Sally was at work," said Poseidon with a smile.

This caused the other Gods to glare at him, and the demigods to become a little more jealous of Percy, because they were sure their parents never visited them.

I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me...

I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.

Poseidon frowned at this.

"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"

She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.

"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."

"Because you don't want me around?"

"I know he did not say that!" yelled Hera.

I regretted the words as soon as they were out.

"You better demigod," muttered Hera.

My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."

Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.

"Because I'm not normal," I said.

"Not even close Seaweed Brain," muttered Annabeth, and added in her mind and that's why I love you.

Aphrodite once again perked up, feeling the same wave of love, whom she now assumed was someone who was either dating, or had a crush on Percy.

"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."

"Safe from what?"

"A lot, Kelp Head," said Thalia.

She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.

During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.

"I sent him to check up on Percy, probably," answered Poseidon, before anyone could ask the question, he was sure they were going to ask.

Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.

"Just like Hercules…" said Demeter.

In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.

I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.

"Risk your lives just to talk about Daddy." Mused Athena

The demigods didn't say anything, because they might have done the same thing as well.

"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."

"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"

"Camp," was chorused by the demigods.

"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."

My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?

"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."

"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."

She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.

"So he better keep his mouth shut!" said Hera.

That night I had a vivid dream.

"When doesn't he," sighed Annabeth.

It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.

Everyone turned to look at Zeus and Poseidon who just shrugged at them and then looked away.

The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.

While the demigods' faces all darkened, except Jason, Leo, and Piper, the Gods were looking pointedly at Hades who just shrugged.

I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No!

"Ha! I win!" yelled Zeus at Poseidon, which caused Poseidon to say, "God of Theatre."

I woke with a start.

Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.

With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."

"Wow, Poseidon, you are really mad," noted Hestia.

"He's just a sore loser," said Ares who was properly drenched.

I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten.

"Uncle, come on now, you shouldn't forget such things," joked Apollo, while everyone rolled their eyes at him.

Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.

Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.

My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.

Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.

"Then what was he?" asked Leo, the Stolls, and Nico.

"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"

"I get it, he never thinks sorry for asking," said Grover before any of the demigods who knew Percy could say anything.

My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.

"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"

I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.

"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"

I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—

"Ewwww!" came from all of the Goddess and girls mouths, bar Clarisse, while Grover just shrugged and said, "I needed to run faster.

and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...

"Were what Peter?" asked Dionysus, while everyone was shocked he was even paying attention.

My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"

I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.

She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"

Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.

Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.

"That's the end of the chapter, who would like to read?" said Annabeth

"I would," answered Poseidon.

Annabeth handed him the book, and he read, "My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting."

That's it! I hoped you enjoyed, sorry for a little longer wait (I think), but I didn't feel like writing the story until last night. I only write when I feel like it, not because I feel compelled to, which is why the dates of updates vary. Well, review and that other good stuff, and the next chapter should be in the next few days, and just an FYI, a new character will be added at the end of each book.

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