Chapter 7 : I Play Pinochle With A Horse

3rd Person P.O.V.

"I Play Pinochle With a Horse," read Artemis

"He better hope that Chiron never reads or hears about this," joked Leo.

I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.

"I usually don't like demigod dreams, but those don't seem like demigod dreams, they are just plain strange," said Nico.

I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again. I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.

Annabeth was blushing a deep red at this, while the demigods, Gods, and Goddesses, bar Athena, Aphrodite, and Artemis, laughed a little at this.

Aphrodite squealed in delight, angering everyone there, as they had gone deaf for about 15 seconds.

Athena was read with anger, but kept a hard, straight expression, just looking forward.

Artemis, not believing in love, just waited until everyone was done reacting to what was just read, so they could continue reading.

When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"

"You actually thought Prissy knew something?" asked Clarisse disbelievingly.

"I didn't know any better at the time," answered Annabeth.

I managed to croak, "What?"

She looked around, as if afraid someone would over hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

Athena's eyes widened in realization, and she was contemplating telling Zeus, but upon one look from the demigods, she decided to wait until later before she revealed her discovery to Zeus.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."

Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.

"Well that was a good way to shut him up," joked Rachel.

The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.

"Awww, he misses you already!" said Piper and Aphrodite simultaneously, while Leo and Jason were looking at Piper like she just turned into a cyclops.

"Beauty Queen… you- y-… ur mom…. Agree.. what?" was all Leo could say.

Piper just rolled her eyes at him, and hit him in the back of the head because he called her "Beauty Queen."

Aphrodite however was extremely happy that her daughter thought like her, and beamed at Piper in response.

A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them- on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.

"There is a lot more than you think," said Hera.

When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.

Those who knew Percy winced at the description, even though they knew he had suffered through worse.

On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.

Everyone made the connection that the drink was nectar.

My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.

Poseidon paled a little bit, not realizing how much of his son's energy had been lost in his fight with the Minotaur.

"Careful," a familiar voice said.

Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week.

"A few days, but not bad," said Grover.

Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy.

"Oh no, not you to Perce," complained Grover.

"Hey! That's my nickname for Grover, not his," said Thalia.

So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And...

Everyone, even those who knew she was alright, looked down in sadness at what had just happened to Mrs. Jackson.

"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."

Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.

Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.

Poseidon and Annabeth winced at the thought of how much pain Percy must have been in.

"The Minotaur," I said.

Athena visibly face palmed at this, and then sent a worried glance at her daughter, because she did not want her daughter to be even madder at her.

Luckily, Annabeth did not notice her mother's slipup.

"Urn, Percy, it isn't a good idea-"

"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."

"Wow, he actually knew something," mused Travis.

"Buuutt, letting anyone know about it could have gotten him killed," joked Connor as the brothers high fived.

Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"

"My mom. Is she really ..."

Everyone looked down for a moment of silence for Mrs. Jackson, even those who knew she made it out okay, because of what she had to go through all these years.

He looked down.

I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!" yelled Thalia.

My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.

"Oh, sorry," Thalia said while blushing.

Nico chuckled at her, and ended it up with singed eyebrows, and no hair on one of his arms, which shut him up quick.

"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm- I'm the worst satyr in the world."

Thalia glared at Grover, who sighed and said, "I get it already Thalia."

After this, Thalia glared at her father, who was glaring at said satyr, and he removed his glare, though wasn't too happy about it.

He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.

"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.

Everyone shot Grover glances as he blushed.

Thunder rolled across the clear sky.

"Dramatic," sighed Poseidon and Hades at the same time, while Zeus glared at them.

As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.

Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.

Dionysus and Grover both glared at the book and said, "He better not even think about it!"

"Uh, you guys realize he thought about it in the book, so your threat is pointless," said Clarisse, while Ares beamed at her in pride, being as he knew all about good insults and threats.

The two who made the threat, just sighed and ignored the looks and laughs everyone was giving them.

But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.

Poseidon, Annabeth, and Grover winced at this.

I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe?

"Never. I would not allow that to happen," stated Poseidon, who received glares from his brothers.

No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.

"Right, like a 12-year-old Percy could ever pass for 14, let alone 17," said Clarisse, while everyone snickered.

Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid- poor goat, satyr, whatever- looked as if he expected to be hit.

"No, but I knew I was going to be in trouble," said Grover.

I said, "It wasn't your fault."

"What a good friend," said Piper, while everyone else agreed.

"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."

"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"

"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."

"You can say that again goat-boy, but now it's for a way better reason," said Thalia.

Grover, however, was indifferent about this, thinking about how Pan had to fade for that to happen.

"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.

"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.

I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies.

"Okay, that sounds like it might be bad, or might be delicious. I can't decide," said Nico while everyone rolled their eyes at him.

And not just any cookies- my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.

"Awww," all of the Girls, minus Clarisse, and Goddesses cooed.

Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.

"I never really got that," said Leo.

No one had an answer for him, so they just chose to ignore him and read on.

"Was it good?" Grover asked.

I nodded.

"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.

"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."

"Aww! Grover, I wanted to see what would happen if you drank some!" complained, Travis and Connor jokingly. This earned them a slap on the back of the head by Katie, and a glare by Grover, Thalia, Annabeth, and Dionysus.

His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."

"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home made."

He sighed. "And how do you feel?"

"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."

"So, very good," said Chris.

"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"

"What do you mean?"

He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."

"Oh, Hipeee! I'm mentioned," said Dionysus was obvious sarcasm.

The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.

My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.

Everyone winced at the way he got the souvenir, or at least what he lost to get it.

As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.

We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architectureâ€"an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena€"except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.

"I never get tired of that sight," said Annabeth while all of the other demigods nodded, and Dionysus shook his head, obviously disagreeing.

Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.

"Can't get enough of him, can you Annie?" asked Travis.

Annabeth glared daggers at him, and Katie smacked him upside the head in response.

The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels- what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park.

Dionysus' face was contorted with rage while everyone else was trying to hold in their laughs.

He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my step father.

"Hell yes I could!" yelled Dionysus, while everyone else snickered at his reaction.

"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper,

"Just a camper? Nice to know you think so highly of me," joked Annabeth.

"Sorry," said Grover while blushing.

but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron..."

He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.

First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.

"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.

The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.

"I wish all of our teachers did that," complained Connor, Travis, and Leo.

"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."

He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

Zeus glared at Dionysus saying, "you are there to be a positive influence on them."

"Sorry," squeaked Dionysus in response.

"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.

Everyone laughed at that.

"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.

"Still the blond girl, even after Grover said my name," complained Annabeth with a smile on her lips.

She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."

Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."

She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image.

"What's that supposed to mean!" yelled Annabeth and Athena at the same time, while everyone just smiled at them like mother like daughter.

They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.

"Good," said Annabeth and Athena. However, Athena said it because she could take that sea spawn down in a fight, while Annabeth said it for the same reason, and because he said they were pretty.

She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, You killed a minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that.

Everyone snorted at that, and Leo said," you have a better chance getting beauty queen to act girly," which resulted in him being hit in the back of the head by Piper.

Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."

Everyone but Poseidon laughed at that.

Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.

All of the demigods wiggled their eyebrows at Annabeth, while Aphrodite said, "someone had a crush!"

All of this caused Annabeth to blush beet red, and Athena to glare at Aphrodite.

"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"

"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."

"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"

Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."

All of the Gods nodded their heads in agreement.

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."

"Great, well that's where the ego comes in," complained Thalia sarcastically.

"House call?"

"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."

"I wonder what he did to him?" wondered Rachel out load. Everyone shrugged in response.

I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.

"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.

"Egooo," said Thalia.

Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first.

We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."

"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"

"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.

"Because I will incinerate you if you annoy me," said Dionysus, while Poseidon glared at him.

"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.

"I'm afraid not," I said.

"I'm afraid not, sir," he said.

"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.

All of the demigods nodded their heads in agreement, while Dionysus said, "The feeling is mutual."

"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."

"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.

"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Bruner"Chiron"why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"

Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."

The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.

"With good reason," warned Dionysus pointedly at the Stolls.

Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me to have the right answer.

"You and Annabeth," was chorused by the demigods, while Annabeth blushed.

"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'

"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."

All of the Girls and Goddesses cooed.

"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"

Everyone glared at Dionysus, who tried to act as if he couldn't see them, but failed miserably.

"What?" I asked.

He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.

"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."

"He never saw the orientation film!" was chorused by the demigods.

"I guess that's why he was abnormally slow," said Annabeth.

"Well, part of the reason was that he has kelp for brains," joked Thalia.

"True, very true," agreed Nico, while all of the demigods, minus Jason, Leo, and Piper, laughed at the three.

After the laughing died down, the Stolls looked at each other and said simultaneously, "We have to show it to him when he gets back."

"Get's back from where?" asked Poseidon.

This caused all the demigods to stop talking and look down. Annabeth looked like she might cry. Finally, after a few seconds, Thalia said, "It will be in the books."

"Orientation film?" I asked.

"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know-" he pointed to the horn in the shoe box- "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods- the forces you call the Greek gods- are very much alive."

I stared at the others around the table.

I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.

"I might win," said Dionysus happily. All of the demigods shook their heads knowing that he didn't, because if he did, he would have bragged about it to the entire camp.

"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"

"Eh? Oh, all right."

Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.

"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as god."

"Gods," was chorused throughout Olympus.

"Well, now," Chiron said. "God- capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."

"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-"

"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."

All of the Gods and Goddesses raised an eyebrow at this.

"Smaller?"

"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."

"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."

And there it was againâ€"distant thunder on a cloud less day.

"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."

"But they're stories," I said. "They're- myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."

Dionysus' eyes filled with rage, and everyone sighed, knowing Dionysus was going to go on a rant about science.

"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"-I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody- "what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals- they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."

I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't. It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.

'I doubt him figuring it out would make him act any different," mused Grover, while all of the demigods had reminiscent looks on their faces.

"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"

"Not his kind of life," Thalia said so only the demigods could hear, and everyone who knew what she was talking about smiled at Annabeth.

I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.

"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.

"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that some day people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"

Everyone winced at that and Leo said," Jeez Chiron! Low blow!"

My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."

"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."

All of the demigods and Poseidon glared at Dionysus.

Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."

"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"

He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.

Zeus raised an eyebrow at Dionysus.

My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.

"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."

Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.

"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"

"Oh I'm suuurrrre that's what it was," grumbled Zeus while glaring at Dionysus.

More thunder.

Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.

Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."

All of the Goddesses rolled their eyes or glared at the Gods, while the Gods had a dreamy expression on their face.

"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.

"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time- well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away- the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."

"Unfair that you can't act anywhere near your age, and I have to deal with you," said Zeus while still glaring at Dionysus.

Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.

"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."

"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."

"Somehow!" was chorused throughout Olympus.

I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.

"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."

Dionysus smiled happily at this.

Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"

"Y-yes, Mr. D."

"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"

Aphrodite shrieked in disgust, while everyone else covered their ears in an attempt to keep at least a little bit of their hearing.

"You're a god."

"Yes, child."

"A god. You."

"We are all just as surprised as you," joked Ares while Dionysus huffed at him, and everyone else on Olympus laughed at him.

He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.

Poseidon glared at Dionysus, but knew Percy really shouldn't have said that.

"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.

"No. No, sir."

The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."

"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."

"Blasted Centaur always wins, I have to figure out his secret..." muttered Dionysus.

I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.

"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."

Thalia and Annabeth glared at Dionysus.

Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."

Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."

He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.

"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.

Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."

"You have no idea…" grumbled Dionysus.

Zeus said to him, "It is your own fault, so stop complaining," which made Dionysus shut up.

"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"

"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."

"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in America?"

"NO! They're in Bangcock!" yelled Travis, which caused Katie to hit him numerous times, all the Gods and Boys to crack up laughing, and the Girls and Goddesses to either roll their eyes or glare at him.

"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."

"The what?"

"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know- or as I hope you know, since you passed my course- the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps- Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on- but the same forces, the same gods."

"And then they died."

"He must be the slowest demigod ever, and that's saying something, seeing as Poseidon has had a lot of kids before," said Athena, while Poseidon glared at her and everyone else chuckled.

"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture.

Annabeth smiled at this, while all of the other demigods rolled their eyes at her, knowing how much she loves architecture.

People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not- and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either- America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."

It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club.

"Oh, he is special all right," joked Thalia.

"Special needs," added Nico and the pair started laughing at their absent cousin, then stopping, remembering that he wasn't here with them.

"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"

"Seriously, he doesn't even know who he is," said Leo, but then regretted it the second the words came out of his mouth.

Piper smacked him a few times, Annabeth's face darkened, everyone else either glared at him, or gave Annabeth a sympathetic look.

While this was happening, the Gods were looking at the demigods curiously, Athena was looking at Annabeth worriedly, and Poseidon was worried about why his son wouldn't know who he was.

Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.

Everyone sighed at how slow Percy was.

"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to 'meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be smores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."

More like an obsession everyone thought.

And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.

I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.

"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."

"That's the end, who wants to read next?" asked Artemis.

"I will," said Demeter and Artemis handed her the book.

"I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom."

Well that's it. Sorry about the long wait, I was really into doing these a couple of days ago and I got chapter 5 and 6 out the same day, and did half of this chapter, but I went to bed and never really felt like doing this a lot. I was working on about a page every day, so sorry for the delay, but I will not leae this story unfinished. I hate leaving things unfinished and even if I hate doing it (which I won't) I will finish it. Well, until next time, review and that stuff. Also, Percy, Frank, Hazel, and Reyna are the people who will join them, but the order is still up for debate, let me know when you think they should come in, and know only 1 per book!

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