Chapter 5:

Zack POV-

I studied Percy out of the corner of my eye. He fidgeted uneasily and kept looking back and forth, like he was expecting another monster to pop out of nowhere, and, maybe he was. I knew there was no way he had somehow "passed out" on the deck, especially when he had been the one leading the charge out there, but that left the question: 'What had he been doing?'

There is no possible way Percy could have handled the sea monsters all by himself, and, quite honestly, why would he?

What normal person decides that they are going to fight off some sea monsters?

But, then again, the more time I spent around Percy, the more I realized that there was no way that he could actually be a normal person. But that spurred another question: 'if he's not normal…what exactly is he?'

'And,' I realized, 'Why am I the only one who has actually noticed that there's something off about him? Isn't that usually Cody's job?'

At that moment, Percy looked over, and noticed me scrutinizing him, and he returned my gaze with an equally suspicious one.

The seven of us: Me, Cody, Woody, Addison, Maya, Bailey and Percy, were currently on our way back to the sky deck, now that our class had been dismissed.

Mr. Mosby, being Mr. Mosby, was now buzzing around like a bee, trying to accommodate frightened guests (who, for some reason thought that the attack had been from a killer shark) and was fretting about a puddle of dark blue goo on the wooden deck. He glanced over at us, although I noticed that his stare hung longer on Percy than anyone else.

'That's funny,' I thought, 'Usually I'm the one getting that look from Mosby…maybe he suspects something off about Percy too…'

I shook my head, even if that was true, what am I going to do? Go to Mosby and say 'Hey, something's weird about Percy. I don't know what it is, but I think you know it too.'

Yeah, something tells me that wouldn't work.

'Maybe I should ask Cody if he's noticed anything,' I considered.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you guys later, I need to go call my mom," Percy announced, walking off towards our room after everyone replied with their various forms of "goodbye."

Now was my opportunity to ask Cody about what he might have noticed about Percy.

"Doesn't it seem a little weird to you how he just kind of 'disappeared' while the monster was attacking," I said in a low voice so that only Cody, and Bailey who was right next to him, could hear me.

"He passed out, that doesn't exactly qualify as 'disappearing,'" Bailey replied, raising an eyebrow at me.

"That's just it. I don't think he passed out, especially because he was the one leading us all out there. And then when he comes back the monsters are suddenly gone. That just seems like too much of a coincidence to me!" I exclaimed quietly. Cody said nothing, but his eyebrows furrowed together in thought.

Finally he spoke up.

"Zack, are you sure that you're not just finding any reason to dislike Percy because you have to share your room with him?" he asked.

"No!" I hissed, "Seriously, I think there's something…off about him."

Cody and Bailey shared a look.

"Well, we can keep an eye out, but maybe you should just try to keep an open mind, Zack," Cody said.

"Yeah, maybe he's not as bad as you think he is," Bailey added.

Neither of them were getting it. They think I am the problem, which, I suppose, in many cases, I am, but this time I'm actually being serious.

"Fine," I stated. If they're not going to believe me, I'm going to have to get proof myself. And, with that, I stalked off towards my room to find where Percy had gone.

Percy POV-

I didn't like the look Zack was giving me. It's the look I usually get before I inevitably have to change schools, and it usually means that someone knows more about me than they should.

So, the first opportunity I could, I left the rest of my class, with the excuse that I had to call my mom.

Which, I actually did. I forgot to call her last night and earlier this morning, so gods knew how panicked she probably was by now.

But I also had to Iris Message Annabeth.

I picked up my cell phone, dialing my mom's number. I really hated using cellphones because they make it really easy for monsters to track demigods, but, my mom hates when I "pop in" on an Iris Message (I accidentally sent her an Iris Message while she was at the grocery store once and scared a while aisle of people), so this was the best I could do.

She picked up after the first ring.

"Percy!" she exclaimed; "You were supposed to call me last night!" she scolded.

"Sorry mom," I muttered sheepishly, "I was just so focused on getting settled in."

"Okay, Percy, I understand," her tone softened, "So how is everything?"

"It's fine, my roommate is kind of a pain, but the other kids are nice," I replied.

"Oh, that's nice, Percy," I could practically see her smile, "Well, I should probably let you get back to things. Call me tonight, okay?"

"Okay, mom. Talk to you later," I told her.

"Talk to you later honey, love you," she told me.

"Love you too," I replied before hanging up.

Then I went into the bathroom to Iris Message Annabeth.

I knew she wouldn't be returning to Californian to live with her dad for at least a month, so there was no harm in me Iris Messaging her.

I turned on the sink, and make the water turn into a light mist over the small room, before opening the port hole, allowing sunlight to stream in and create rainbows as it reflected over the scattered droplets of water. I said the chant to the goddess Iris, before tossing a drachma into the mist, where it instantly vanished. I asked for Annabeth Chase, and her face suddenly appeared. She hadn't noticed me yet, she was too busy bossing around some younger campers, some of the few that had decided to stay through the school year.

I smiled a little as the younger kids strode of, grumbling at having to do their chores.

I cleared my throat, and Annabeth immediately whipped around. When she saw me, the annoyed scowl on her face instantly lightened and she smiled at me.

"Hey, I miss you. How's the S.S. Tipton?" she asked, sitting on a nearby bench.

"I miss you too. The ship's good, I guess. Good food, nice pool, ocean 24/7, and if you take away a gross and rude roommate, and random monster attacks, it's a wonderful vacation," I told her sarcastically.

"You got attacked? Already? By who?" she asked.

"Charybdis and Scylla," I replied. She nodded and seemed to be deep in thought. She does that a lot; I think it's a 'Daughter of Athena' thing. I heard someone call her name, and she turned to face them, giving them the "one minute" motion, before turning back to me.

"Do you think you may have figured out who the demigods are?" she questioned.

"I have my suspicions, but it's not like I can really ask them," I told her. She nodded again, and I heard her named called, with more urgency this time.

"Hey Seaweed Brain, I've got to go," she sighed, "Don't sink the ship, okay?"

"You've got it Wise Girl. And, hey, we dock in Boston in a week, maybe you can meet up with me there," I told her.

"I'll see what I can do," she smiled, "Message me later, okay?"

"Okay, bye," I answered.

"Bye," she said, before closing the Iris Message.

I cleared the mist in the bathroom and closed the porthole before going back into the room, only to practically run into Zack who had been standing right outside the door.

"Is there someone else in there?" he asked, trying to get a look behind me.

"No, why?" I asked trying to feign confusion.

"Then who were you talking to?" he asked.

"Um…my girlfriend," I told him, "Although it really isn't any of your business who I was talking to."

He glanced at the dresser, which, I had, stupidly left my cellphone sitting out on, and then looked back to me, his eyebrow raised, in a way that said that he totally wasn't buying it.

"Wow, dinner time already," I mimed looking at a watch, "We should probably head down before all the tourists take the good food," I joked nervously, sliding around him and out the door.