And here it is everybody, the first chapter of the Lightning Thief. After a lot of writing, over half of the work actually being of my own content (6,518 of the 10,223 words being my own commentary, add in a few lines in the book here and there that are my own).
As a warning, this chapter is entirely in Percy's 3rd Person POV, as compared to the first person the last two were in, or the third person omniscient that I'm used to writing. So, it might be a little confusing at times (or maybe a lot of the time). If it is, I'm sorry. I hope that, as I go along, I get better.
Also, so you're all aware of the seating arrangement: For the Olympians, Zeus is in the middle with Hera on his left and Poseidon on his right. From Hera, it goes Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, and then Dionysus. From Poseidon, it goes Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus, and Hermes. For the new gods (as they're going to be referred to), Perlico all sit on one loveseat in the middle, facing the gods. To their right is Annabeth, and to their left is Jasper on a loveseat, Leo, and the Frazel on a love seat,
Disclaimer: Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Heroes of Olympus do not belong to me. The series' are property of Rick Riordan and Disney Hyperion. This work is not meant for profit, simply meant for the enjoyment of myself and others. If you enjoy this work, please support the official release.
—Persephone's Third Person POV—
"I Accidentally Vaporise My Pre-Algebra Teacher"
The Olympians and the new gods that didn't know the story looked at Percy awkwardly.
"Umm… Perce?" Jason said slowly, looking at the black-haired girl awkwardly.
She lifted her eyes up from the book with a 'hmm?'.
"How do you 'accidentally' vaporise a teacher?" Leo finished for him, looking at her from his position next to Jasper (it was what Aphrodite and her children called Jason and Piper's 'ship name', whatever that was). The rest of the confused gods nodded.
The girl just looked at them with a very bland stare—one that, she'd proudly say, she perfected from her father's similar stare when he was extremely annoyed with the 'Birdbrain'—, shaking her head in annoyance.
"You guys will figure out."
The Olympians looked a little annoyed, but grudgingly nodded. The new gods just glared her way. What, she wasn't gonna' give away any spoilers this early in her story!
She rolled her eyes and returned to the book. Maybe I can get through more than one line without any interruptions, she thought.
Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.
"Amen to that, cuz," Jason nodded. Percy's head snapped up and she shot the son of Jupiter one of her more mild 'I'll-kill-you-later' stare. The minor god squeaked, and clutched to Piper.
"Can I please get through one line without being interrupted?" she ground out. She may have been the Goddess of Time, but she was not the most patient of gods. When no one said anything, she looked back at the book.
'Though I do agree with you.'
If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:—
"Oh no, Perce is giving advice!" Thalia shouted mockingly, clutching onto Nico's arm from across Percy. "We need to run!"
The Olympians looked at the two awkwardly, while the new gods (minus said daughter of Poseidon) laughed madly.
Percy glared at the two a little hurt—though she wouldn't dare let the two know that. Kaos knows how much they'd blame themselves if they knew they hurt her even a little bit. "What's so bad about my advice, huh?" Not to mention she didn't even read a full line before being interrupted.
"Well, uh…" Thalia started, shrinking back a little at her girlfriend's glare. "U-Usually your advice gets us into…"
"Into not exactly the best of situations," Nico finished for the daughter of Zeus, not too badly affected by his green eyed girlfriend's glare. He was the God of Fear after all.
Instead of getting angry, the girl just huffed and pouted, drawing a louder round of laughter from the new gods, and even a couple chuckles from the Olympians. Though Zeus and Poseidon began to glare at each other again when Thalia pecked the daughter of the sea's pouting lips, Poseidon's glare switching to his—actually very apathetic—older brother when Nico kissed her forehead. Hades just shrugged.
Oh Kaos, Percy thought. Please keep my overprotective father from killing my uncles and my lovers. She looked back at the book.
—close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.
Everyone shook their heads, clearly saying that it wouldn't work. Thankfully, no one bothered to comment. Good, she wouldn't have to send anyone into the Pit to reform.
Being a half-blood is dangerous.
"Yup."
It's scary.
"Uh-huh."
Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.
"Most definitely."
She decided not to glare anyone, considering she'd do the exact same thing if someone else was reading. Shockingly though, even all the Olympians—obviously besides the Cow Queen, as Percy and Annie dubbed her after the Labyrinth—nodded their heads mournfully.
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.
Nico looked at her a little shocked. "Do you though?" There was a smidgeon of hurt in his voice. The black haired goddess leaned up and pecked his lips.
"I think this may have been 'written' in my point of view a little after my first year at Camp," she explained. "At first, I most definitely did. Still kinda' do, but…" She wrapped her hands around his and Thalia's. "You two make it worth it."
Nico nodded, the hurt vanishing. The other two couples went through the same process—clearly a stressful talking point. Annie and Leo nodded in agreement. Despite still being envious—especially after the two wars (for the Greeks)—they wouldn't change anything about what happened.
The Olympian parents smiled softly, glad that there was always a chance for their children to be happy with their lives as Heroes.
But if you recognise yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside you—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they since it to, and they'll come for you.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
My name is Percy Jackson.
Aphrodite wrinkled her nose. "Such a manly name for such a pretty lady, we must get that fixed at once!"
Percy looked up at the goddess. "Umm… Percy is just a nickname, m'lady," she said slowly. "My first name is too long and formal for most situations, so…"
Nico chuckled. "Though I'm pretty sure a certain goddess wouldn't mind knowing that such a powerful lady as her as a namesake." Percy glared at her boyfriend while Poseidon pouted. She supposed it was because he and her mother talked for hours about what her name would be. She rolled her eyes.
'Imagine if I were to use my full name every time I introduced myself in the Mortal world. "Hi! I'm Persephone Jackson! Yes, named after the Goddess of Springtime. No, I don't want any pomegranates".' She shook her head.
I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.
Am I a troubled kid?
All the new gods snorted, many not even trying to fight back chuckles.
"Perce, you're more than 'troubled'," Annie giggled out, looking at her best friend. "You may be a legacy of Athena, but you're still very slow on the uptake sometimes."
Athena snorted. "That'd be the kelp in her brain from Barnacle Beard over here." She jabbed her thumb to her right, earning an indulgent 'Hey!' from the sea god.
Percy pouted. "Not to say you're dumb," Piper said, trying to appease the goddess. Despite only having known the girl for a few months since Gaea's defeat, she quickly grown close to the girl. "You're smart and analytical, but more than half the pieces are there, it takes you a while to put it together." Annie nodded in agreement.
Percy looked at her de facto sister and smiled in appreciation, looking over at Annie and doing the same thing. Hestia smiled over in the hearth, just out of the corner of her eye. Clearly she approved of how the nine interacted with each other, and Percy agreed.
This is how family is supposed to act, she thought whilst gazing up at her father, vehemently glaring at her great-grandmother. Not like the Olympians do right now.
She returned her attention to the book.
Yeah, I guess you could say that.
A few chuckles and a blush spread across her face.
I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, 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
"That sounds awful," Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, Hermes, Nico, Leo, and Aphrodite all groaned out at the same time that Athena, Artemis, Annie, and Piper shouted "That sounds like so much fun!"
Percy giggled when she looked at the next line.
I know—it sounds awesome.
Poseidon looked at his daughter in abstract horror, betrayal, and disbelief, while Athena grinned triumphantly. "That's my great-granddaughter."
Percy blushed at Athena's praise. Even in the future, Athena didn't praise her much.
However, the torture came from the fact that only steady minded adults were there to take care of twenty-eight nearly psychotic kids.
Athena nodded her head in agreement.
Unfortunately, that's how most Yancy field trips were.
But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher—as well as probably the most steady minded teacher at Yancy—was leading this trip, so I had hopes.
Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorised wheelchair.
Leo grinned like it was Christmas. He probably had a new idea for an invention. If only Hephaestus hadn't beaten him to it.
He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelt like coffee.
Annie's eyes widened in realisation. "So that's why you called Chiron 'Mr. Brunner' when you woke up!" Percy nodded, and she frowned. "Though I wonder why he was teaching you Latin and not Greek."
"Yancy is run by a church organisation in New York," she explained. "To the Church, Latin is a much more important language than Greek is. But they wanted more than just the language to be taught, so to make it so a bunch of sixth-graders would pay attention, they threw in the mythology." Annie nodded in understanding. "Of course, when Chiron came, he started teaching the Greek aspects of the myths. But it was a bunch of borderline psychotic sixth-graders. They didn't care or know better."
Annie nodded again, while Athena looked at her with a bit of… pride? Percy blushed again.
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 armour and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't nearly put me to sleep.
The pride in Athena's eyes fainted a little and Poseidon grinned in her direction. "You slept in classes?" she asked.
Percy rolled her eyes. "I clearly said 'nearly put me to sleep'. I never slept, but it got darn close most of the time." When Athena looked at her with disapproval, she huffed. "I still have ADHD! Not even being your legacy can keep me from getting distracted when the topic doesn't interest me!"
Annie nodded and Athena seemed to mull it over, before shrugging in acceptance.
I hoped this trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.
Hermes shook his head in mock sadness. "You just jinxed yourself, cuz." Percy muttered 'Don't I know'. She hoped no one heard her though.
Besides Nico looking at her in confusion, it seems like no one did. Thank the gods. Oh wait, they are the gods.
Boy, was I wrong.
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.
A moment of silence passed. And then another. And then everyone started to laugh, and the green eyed goddess blushed. What was so funny?
"Y-You weren't aiming for the bus?" Thals was able to get out in between laughs. She glared at the daughter of Zeus. "W-What were you even aiming at?"
Percy frowned and tried to recall the memory. "I don't… think I was aiming at anything?" The laughter got louder and more intense. She pouted. "I just wanted to see if it would work!" And louder.
She rolled her eyes and pouted more, waiting for the laughter to die down to continue.
And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour at the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.
The laughter started up again. "Man, Uncle P, your daughter is amazing!" Hermes laughed out, Leo and Apollo both nodding. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she had to be a legacy of mine!"
Athena's response was a very different one. "How do you 'sort of hit the wrong lever'?"
She tried to recall that memory and shrugged. "The tour guide asked me to pull one of the levers for… some reason, I didn't hear her though," she explained. "I was too busy listening to all the conversations the fish were having. The sharks told me to pull the lever on the left, so I did." She blushed in embarrassment. "I mistook her voice for my teacher's."
Annie, Thals, and Nico shook their heads while the last two whispered a simultaneous 'Kelp Head' and kissed her forehead. She blushed a bit more and looked down, hiding a soft smile, glancing up to see Hestia still smiling at them.
She was starting to feel a little better from Tartarus, though… She thought back to the last bit of the note, the bit she didn't read aloud. She knew it wasn't gonna' last, and she feared for how Nico would react when they got to Gabe.
And the time before that… Well, you get the idea.
A few groans from the Hermes, Apollo, Ares, and Leo. Must have wanted to hear more of her antics. She cringed, remembering what got her kicked out of her third-grade school. Hey, the jam all over the ceiling was not her fault!
This trip, I was determined to be good.
Some snorts from all the new gods, and more groans from the three recently named Olympians.
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.
The new gods that knew Grover growled, while Zeus looked pensive.
"Grover…" He looked up at Thals, whose hand gripped the black-haired goddess. "Isn't that the Satyr that caused you to become a tree?"
"It wasn't Grover's fault!" Annie and Percy shouted together, glaring at the King of the Skies, while Thals shouted "I made that decision for myself!" Zeus glared at the three of them, before huffing and pouting. Oh yeah, I forgot, the King of the Gods was a spoilt child on the inside.
Grover was an easy target.
Annie rolled her eyes. "Oh I'm sure he'd love to hear that."
He was scrawny.
Nico mirrored her actions. "Oh definitely."
He cried when he got frustrated.
Thals as well. "Man, that just makes me scared for our descriptions, hun." Nico nodded. Percy just rolled her eyes.
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, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.
The new gods laughed a little. That was definitely one of their friends. Dionysus and Athena both shook their heads, muttering about how he was 'breaking his cover', before looking over at each other and glaring.
Percy frowned. That shouldn't have been how that worked, she thought. They're half-siblings, they should have blushed and laughed at how awkward that was, not glared at each other.
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 headmaster had threatened me with death—
"WHAT!?" Guess which overprotective father.
—by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.
"I'm going to kill her," I growled.
Ares suddenly looked very interested. "Yes PLEASE! This story needs more action!" Dionysus nodded from behind his wine mag. Apollo and Hermes looked like they wanted to agree, though didn't want to be included with the other two Olympians. Artemis rolled her eyes and muttered something about men.
Percy was half-tempted to agree.
Grover tried to calm me down.
Ares pouted. "Damned satyrs and their pa… pa… peaceful natures." And he was almost there. Too bad, war god. Artemis and Athena seemed to agree with her thoughts.
"It's okay. I like peanut butter."
He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.
"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.
The war god whined again.
"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, Thals, and Poseidon frowned in her direction. "Sweetie?" Nico started slowly. "What do you mean?"
Percy glanced at the three aforementioned people and muttered "Alecto." Thankfully, the son of Hades and daughter of Zeus knew what she meant, and their hold on her hands tightened.
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.
"Longer," the Olympians all stated, grinning at the girl's annoyed look. She hadn't known at the time! Give her a break!
He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top,—
Percy and Annie both shuddered at the memory of the Sphinx.
—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 just as interesting as the rest of Latin,—
Poseidon looked at his daughter in mock horror and betrayal, while Athena looked oddly proud again. Percy's father slammed his head against the back of his throne, and she could swear him mutter something about her being a 'mini-Athena'.
She pouted. Excuuuuuse me for wanting to know things, raced through her mind.
—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.
Mrs. Dodds was this little maths teacher form 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 and Nico shuddered a little, while Hades looked down in contemplation. Percy turned to Nico. "He's probably got an inkling that he recognises her."
Nico nodded, putting his fingers against his chin and started to stroke his imaginary beard. Thalia shook her head, while Percy thought it was adorable. "D'you think she has that, ah… verbal tick already?"
Annie glared from her chair at them, as did everyone else, annoyed at the three's whispered conversations.
Percy just got back to reading.
She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last maths teacher had a nervous breakdown.
From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and I figured I was devil spawn.
Nico chuckled loudly and shook his head. "Nah nah nah, Perce. I'm the devil spawn," he said loudly. The new gods laughed a little and nodded.
"Yeah, you're fish spawn," Leo joked, making everyone else laugh. "Just like Thalia and Jason are cloud spawn, Frank is war spawn, Piper is beauty spawn—" Said girl reached over her boyfriend and slapped the back of the child of Hephaestus' head, "—Hazel's—I dunno', earth spawn—, Annabeth is brain spawn, and I'm fire spawn!" The new gods stared at their friend blandly, before shaking their heads while the Olympians were all laughing a little.
"Hey Hephaestus! You sure your kid ain't mine?" Hermes joked, shocked when the God of the Forges chuckled a little.
"Nah, the lad's definitely mine." Leo just smiled at his dad.
She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.
Hades stilled and glanced at his younger brother worriedly, while turning his stare to his niece with a look that clearly said "How are you alive!?"
Percy ignored it, while Poseidon looked at his older brother curiously.
One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old maths workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said "You're absolutely right."
I guess that should have been another clue,—
Annie rolled her eyes. "It really should have," she said jokingly. "Grover is really bad at lying, and if he's speaking to you in a serious voice, he's probably speaking the truth."
Percy looked up at her sister (whom was more like her cousin, grand-aunt, thing) and smiled, laughing a little. Annie gave her a look. She looked back at the book.
—because Grover is a really, really bad liar.
Annie looked horrified, and clutched at her blonde locks. "Oh no!" she cried. "I think like a Seaweed brain!" Percy pouted, and the new gods, with the typical Olympians—though Athena instead of Poseidon—laughing. Poseidon, like his daughter, pouted.
Thalia reached over to her friend, laughing, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I-I'm so s-sorry for you A-Annie!" Percy rolled her eyes, again hiding the small bit of hurt, and waited for the laughter die down.
She briefly saw Hestia look at her with a bit of sadness in her eyes, and nodded.
Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.
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 it meant to.
Jason chuckled. "When does it never?" The new gods and Hermes nodded in agreement.
The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.
"Ms. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"
My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."
Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"
I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because it was one I knew. "That's Sat—Kronos eating his kids, right?"
Athena looked at her whilst the six children of Kronos cringed. "Your great-grandfather's presence in your genealogy was making itself known as early as twelve?"
Percy looked up and frowned a little. "Maybe earlier?" she said slowly. "I've never been bad with dealing with plants, and while that's generally a Demeter thing,—" she glanced at her cringing aunt, "—agriculture was also one of Saturn's domains."
"There's also your little 'rebellious streak'," Annie snickered out, though 'streak' probably wasn't the best word for it. Percy glared at the child of Athena.
"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because…"
"Well… Kronos was the king Titan, right?" He nodded. "And… his mother, Terra—"
"Terra?" Mr. Brunner asked, curiosity on his face. Oh, right.
"Gaea," I corrected myself. "She gave him a prophecy that they were going to do what he and his siblings did to their father. So… Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. 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.
"Eeew is right!" Aphrodite gagged, with Piper, and the rest of the female Olympians. Percy giggled.
Eeew was right.
"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods one."
Some snickers from the group, as well as a few mumbles of "nerd!"
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, Ms. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"
"Busted!" most of the gods (and Thalia) shouted out. Percy grinned.
"Busted," Grover muttered.
The goddesses and Hephaestus laughed a little at the others that shouted.
"Oh no!" Nico and Thalia wailed simultaneously. Percy shook her head, knowing what was coming. "We think like a goat!" The laughter got louder as more people got into it, and Percy gave both of them kisses on their heads.
"There there, you to two," she giggled. "Grover is very smart. At least you're not thinking like Hedge." Nico and Thalia both looked horrified at the thought, and clung to their girlfriend in worry.
The new gods looked at the three and smiled softly, Aphrodite cooed, and Poseidon and Zeus both glared at each other again. Percy glanced up and even saw a soft smile on the faces of Athena and Artemis. She looked at the two next to her and smiled softly as well, the memories and feeling of Tartarus fading from her for the moment.
"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.
"Or, y'know, horse ears!" Leo said loudly. Percy, still tight in the grips of her two lovers, settled to just glare in the elfish boy's general direction. She didn't know at the time!
I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir." He looked disappointed. "I mean, unless you wanted to try out for this job, or planned to be a mythologist to grow up." I grinned crookedly, "Or unless you happened to be a demigod," I joked blandly.
"I… I see." Mr. Brunner looked less disappointed, and a little surprised. "Full credit, Ms. 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 buck outside?"
Everyone chuckled a little. "And there's the absolute inability to smoothly change subjects that we all know and love about Chiron," Apollo joked, grinning his million-watt smile.
The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomach, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.
Artemis rolled her eyes and snarked, "When aren't boys doofuses."
All the gods shouted out a "Hey!", Apollo and Ares' easily being the loudest. Personally, even Percy was tempted to agree at times. Thalia nodded her head, which was currently resting on top of Percy's with Nico's. The dark-haired goddess continued to smile a little.
Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Ms. Jackson."
I was a little surprised.
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.
Athena chuckled. "Older, and they've seen about almost as much as we have." Percy nodded, remembering her teacher's comment to her when she first arrived at Camp.
"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.
"What?"
"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."
"O-Oh." Was the answer I gave him not what he was looking for? I thought I'd answered it pretty well.
Annie giggled. "I think the answer he was looking for was your joke at the end of your answer." Everyone nodded.
"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."
I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.
Annie rolled her eyes in her friend's direction. "For good reason, Seaweed Brain." She just grinned when Percy looked at her annoyed.
"How many times do I have to say this?" she groaned. "I. Didn't. Know!"
The new gods just laughed at their friend, as well as some of the Olympians, while Thalia and Nico both nuzzled their girlfriend. Annie grinned. "I know, it's just a lot of fun riling you up."
Percy just glared slightly, hoping to hide the little flash of hurt before looking back at the book.
I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armour and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.
Athena arched her brow. "That does sound fun, but… Why Roman armour, if he's teaching this for a Greek demigoddess?" She looked in Percy's direction, Annie and Artemis doing the same.
The black-haired goddess pouted as she tried to remember. "It might have been Greek armour?" she finally said quietly, golden ichor rushing to her face in embarrassment. "I might have just thought it was Roman armour, 'cause I didn't really see many images of the armour differentials? Y'know, mother knowing I was a half-blood and all, so not really letting me use the internet."
Thalia shook her head at her girlfriend and chuckled. "Your head's full of kelp, Seaweed Brain." She then leaned down and kissed her pouting lips quickly.
But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, though despite having dyslexia and attention disorder, I'd never made below a B— in my life.
Poseidon shook his head again, once again muttering about his little girl being a 'mini-Athena'. Annie rolled her eyes while her mother grinned in triumph, obviously pleased that her great-granddaughter had inherited the Athena smarts.
Wait, she thought, if Athena and Saturn are my great-grandparents, how did mom not have to worry about monsters before me? She shook her head. Maybe she'd ask the Goddess of Wisdom in between chapters.
Suddenly Ares started to growl, breaking Percy out of her thoughts. "Can we please stop interrupting the brat!?" he snapped, his flaming eyes visible even behind his shades. "I really need to witness some action soon, and interrupting her isn't getting us there quickly!" It seems all the gods, minus Hades, agreed with the war god, as they all nodded. The goddesses shook their heads and murmured a simultaneous "Boys."
No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I had to work really hard to learn all those names and fact, as well as all the correct spellings, to the point I knew them now.
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 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 darker than I'd ever seen over the city.
The Olympians all glanced at Zeus, whom did his best to look everywhere but in their direction.
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,—
Now the Olympians (sans Zeus) turned to stare at Percy's father, whom pulled Zeus' earlier tactic.
—flooding,—
The stares became even more pronounced.
—wildfires from lightning strikes.
And the stares began to split between Poseidon and Zeus, whom continue to avoid their stares.
I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.
"Okay," Athena broke the silence, "what is up with you Barnacle Beard, father?"
Poseidon looked affronted, but calmed down before he did anything—thank the gods. "I do not know, Bird Brain," Athena turned to glare softly at the sea god, "but obviously Zeus is pissed at me about something, and my pride is probably keeping me from logically proving to him how whatever he's pissed at me about isn't my fault."
Athena just sort of stared at her uncle. Honestly, Percy was as well. She knew her father could be logical, but… She blushed. She was definitely spending too much time with Wise Girl and her mother.
Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers.
Artemis scrunched her face up. Boys and them doing something dumb tends to make the moon goddess do that. Though, Percy is often tempted to agree with her great-aunt/cousin.
She blinked. Perce, she thought, stop thinking about your family tree.
Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.
Hera sighed and shook her head. "Of course, people like that never do." She looked up to stares from everyone in the room. She glared. "What?"
Percy fidgeted a bit under her aunt's glare, suddenly shrinking in on herself a little. She noticed Annie do it a little as well. "I-It's just…" she stuttered out, "we weren't really expecting you to pay much attention to a book about a half-blood."
The Queen of the Gods rolled her eyes. "The Fates deem it to be important, and if all of your titles are to be believed," she eyed Jason the most, "then obviously they were not mistaken."
The room sat in silence for a bit, before Hermes shouted "Damn it Apollo! Not everybody that steals is my child!" and leaned back in his throne, sending a glare towards the sun god.
She giggled a little, before shrinking back again from Hera's glare. Why was she even maintaining that!? Nico glared at the Queen while Percy returned her attention to the book.
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.
Demeter looked at her. "Did that work?" she asked. Percy shook her head. In fact, people looked at them even weirder than they did their classmates, thinking "Well, if those two were alone from the rest of the outcasts, they must be worse."
Suddenly the feelings from Tartarus returned to her with a vengeance. Kaos damned Pit.
"Detention?" Grover asked.
"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not perfect."
A scoff from the new gods.
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?"
The new gods all broke into laughter, Annie recovering from Hera's earlier glare. "That sounds like the goatboy!" Thalia cried out, letting go of Percy for once since they sat down to clutch at her sides.
I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.
Nico rolled his eyes. "You never have an appetite Perce," he pointed out. "You're always less hungry than I am when I come home from father's palace," he gave his girlfriend a meaningful stare, "and it's gotten worse since you and Annabeth came back." Percy averted her eyes from everyone. What was she supposed to say? Sorry, my step-father was an abusive prick and one of his favourite punishments was to deprive me of food?
She suddenly stilled. What was she gonna' do when Gabe was introduced!? What was she gonna' say when he was introduced!? She started to shake a little, feeling the onset of the (recently) commonplace panic attacks.
She turned her attention back to the book. Maybe the book would distract her.
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.
All the new gods and Poseidon smiled, thinking about Sally. Percy's shaking calmed slightly at the thought of her mom.
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—it always happens. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.
Percy's body had calmed itself completely, before she heard the war god sneer, "Wow brat, for such a great hero, you're such a momma's girl!"
Percy balled her hands into fists, Nico and Thals' hands having left them in favour of her hair a bit ago. She did all she could to restrain her anger, knowing that her anger outbursts had been more destructive since she'd become a goddess.
Count to ten, she thought. But a high pitched squeak interrupted her. When she glanced up, various weapons had been implanted into the throne of the war god—her father's trident, a silver arrow from Artemis, even Athena's spear and Nico's stygian iron sword. Accompanying the weapons were multiple impact marks—marks left from lightning blasts and fire balls.
"Don't call my daughter a momma's boy," Poseidon growled, "until you stop running to Hera for help whenever you screw something up!"
Even Hera was looking at her son with a disapproving look. "Young Percy is merely behaving the way one should about one's own mother, Ares," she said softly, though her disapproving look reminded Percy of when her own mother was upset, and the mere thought tugged on her heart strings.
"Sally was the only person Perce had for twelve years, brother," Thals snarled, her electric blue eyes crackling with energy. Percy personally thought the image was rather attractive on her girlfriend, turning to look at her boyfriend and the shadows that were rapidly covering his form, as well as the fire of pure hatred that she was used to seeing recently.
She leaned up and kissed her boyfriend softly. "Calm, hun," she whispered, "Ares was just reacting in his typical meathead fashion." She said the last part more audibly, glancing at the war god as he glared at her.
She nuzzled her boy and girlfriend, before looking at her six other companions and the Olympians that were tied to her, giving them all looks with one command; "Sit."
They grudgingly nodded, returning to their respective seats. She smiled softly. Despite having a completely dysfunctional family that generally did nothing but argue and fight with each other, they had proved time and time again that they can work with each other at times. She sighed. Now if only they could work together all the time.
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 motorised café table.
Leo chuckled, trying to break the tension. "Man, Perce. The things you notice."
Everyone chuckled a little.
After glaring off another group of boys that came by to flirt with me,—
Poseidon, Artemis, Nico, and Thals growled and glared. Percy rolled her eyes at her overprotective family.
—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 Grover's lap.
More growls, though only from the new gods.
"That little bitch," Thals spat.
"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.
That drew some chuckles from both groups, while Aphrodite and Piper both looked horrified. "Percy Jackson," Hermes said over his chuckles, "you have the strangest way of describing things." The green-eyed goddess blushed golden again, noticing Piper slap Leo across the back of his head again.
I tried to stay cool. The school counsellor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank.
Thals and Nico both stilled. The Olympians looked at them oddly, so Annie explained. "Perce is absolutely terrifying when she gets mad. Even when she were mortal, her eyes always had those specks she has now. And whenever she got angry, they'd glow—the green and gold glowing the brightest over the silver and grey."
Frank picked up after Annie, remembering back to when she fought back in Alaska. "Apparently as she got older, the Earth would start to rumble whenever she got angry. The wind would start to kick up, and storm clouds would begin to form overhead." He warily glanced at Zeus. It was common knowledge that, despite her father being the "Stormbringer", her uncle didn't particularly like his domain being touched by children of his brothers. "And she gets this really terrifying stare."
"The Wolf Stare," Jason said. The Greek born gods looked at him frowning. "The Wolf Stare is a stare that Lupa, our trainer before she sends us off to Camp Jupiter, generally teaches us. It's a look that just says "No matter how bad you think you are, I'm worse"."
Frank nodded. "Though from what I've heard, she used to give a bone-chilling glare before the Prophecy of Seven." He turned to the Greeks and they nodded. The Olympians looked at the daughter of Poseidon, probably trying to picture her in a mini-typhoon.
Percy's eyes trailed downwards and she grinned softly. "You guys might actually see that glare soon."
A wave roared in my ears.
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!"
Mrs. Dodds materialised next to us.
Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"
"—the water—"
"—like it grabbed her—"
The Olympians looked impressed. "Hydrokinesis to a level like that at twelve?" Apollo praised, grinning at her. "You're definitely a true blooded Big Three child!" What was he, appraising her?
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,—
Leo grinned her direction. "Developing your overwhelming snark already, m'lady?" he dramatically bowed, making Percy giggle a little.
"But of course," she played along, "I am a daughter of Poseidon after all." She remembered back to the defeat of Kronos, when her father had goaded Zeus into full on thanking him. Athena sighed and shook her head.
"Unfortunately, the girl speaks the truth," she grumbled. "The Barnacle Brain is well known for his smartass remarks." He just grinned at her.
—promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, ect., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester.
Hades sighed, looking at her in remorse. "With who she is, you probably did." He sounded remorseful, despite not having done this for six more years. Poseidon stared at him in curiosity.
"Now, honey—"
"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."
"No!" Hermes shouted out, jumping out of his throne, pulling a book out of nowhere. The Olympians all rolled their eyes in exasperation as he flipped through a few pages. "Rule 12: Never guess your punishment!" Percy grinned at the god.
Damn. Remember girl, rule twelve.
Hermes blushed, the Olympians and Greek born gods laughing at him good-naturedly. The Romans looked at the messenger god in a bit of shock. Percy recalled Mercury being much more attuned with all of his other domains, outside of thievery.
That wasn't the right thing to say.
"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.
Dionysus yawned from behind his wine mag. "He may be a scaredy goat, but that satyr still knows what his job is." She would have glared at the wine god, if she weren't so stunned that he was actually paying attention.
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.
"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."
Thals rolled her eyes, her petting of Percy's hair having increased over the time. "Oh my gods, Kelp Head," she groaned, "why don't you ever let someone else do the dangerous stuff?"
Percy looked at the daughter of Zeus, and mumbled "Mount Othrys." Thals stilled and nodded, remembering.
"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."
Nancy Bobofit smirked.
I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.
Ares rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, as if—" She interrupted him before he could finish, giving him the very stare. The God of War flinched and squeaked, quivering a little underneath the look.
Percy grinned proudly, snuggling back into her lovers. Her mind went back to the last couple of lines on the note. Oh great.
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?
"Monster," everyone groaned, mockingly on Percy's part.
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 counsellor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.
Apollo tutted and shook his head. "Nah, that not the ADHD beautiful." Artemis, Poseidon, Nico, and Thals glared at the sun god. "That's a mix of the ADHD medication the school is no doubt providing your family, and your brain still allowing the Mist to semi-effect it."
The nine looked at the sun god, most likely not actually having known exactly what it was. The Olympians looked shocked that the sun god actually knew that. He is also the god of medicine. Percy nodded, smiling slightly up at Apollo.
I wasn't so sure.
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.
"I swear to Kronos, Chiron," her father growled, "if my daughter gets hurt because of your inattentiveness." Percy meanwhile was wondering if she did get hurt in her first monster encounter.
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.
"Oh, if only," everyone sighed, shaking their heads at her. She blushed golden again. She just thought she was a teacher! She didn't know any better!
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.
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. With the noise, I was on edge, eyes darting about to look for a quick exit if I needed to make one.
Athena looked surprised, and proud again. "Even as an unaware twelve year old, your battle instincts were phenomenal," she praised her great-granddaughter. "I can only imagine what they'd be like once you're aware."
Wait, no. Why would I need to? I mean, it's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds, but she is still a teacher. However… Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverise it…
"She probably did," Hades muttered, but no one else paid any attention.
"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.
I did the safe thing.
Percy rolled her eyes when her friends all gasped dramatically. Drama queens. Then she sat for a quick moment. No, that's Zeus.
I said, "Yes, ma'am."
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. It's not like she's going to hurt me.
I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."
Thunder shook the building.
Poseidon turned and glared heavily at his younger brother. "Now is not the time to be dramatic, brother!" he shouted, his sea-green eyes glowing with anger and fear and worry.
"Daddy…" Percy whispered to herself, tears forming in her eyes. She wasn't used to seeing her father show that he cared this much. He was much like the sea in how it hid its most dangerous self deep beneath its surface. Thals' and Nico's strokes in her hair increased in frequency.
"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."
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.
Laughter resounded throughout the Hall. Annie shook her head at her best-friend. "Really, Perce?" She blushed a hotter gold.
I'd been saving the cash all year so I could buy my mom I birthday nice birthday gift this year, instead of just those dumb little "coupons".
The goddesses all cooed at Percy, though Thals' was a little more mocking. She grinned and kissed the Time Goddess' forehead. "Your mom loves those "coupons", sweetie." She knew that now, after explaining it to her mom the year she found out who she was.
"Such a nice daughter," Demeter, Hera, and Hestia all cooed, looking at her with glittering eyes. She smiled hesitantly at them.
Or maybe they'd realised that I'd written in my checked-out copy of Tom Sawyer,—
"WHAT!?" Go ahead and guess which goddesses shouted that.
—writing over the words I couldn't read in their Greek or Latin translations—both languages came much more natural to me than English, for some reason—,—
"Oh," those two goddesses muttered, blushing a deep gold when everyone started to laugh a little—even Hephaestus. Percy smiled softly.
—and were going to make me purchase a new copy.
"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 barbeque coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings.
The warm and homey atmosphere that had been present froze over instantly, Poseidon's eyes snapping over to his older brother.
"YOU SENT A FURY AFTER MY DAUGHTER!" he shouted in anger, the ground beginning to rumble beneath their feet as he jumped out of his throne, his trident appearing in his hands. Hades began to back up as Poseidon approached him.
"Daddy!" Percy called out, using the title she knew would have her father wrapped around her finger in an instant. She held little love for her uncle Hades outside of the most basic of familial, but that alone was enough for her to not wish any harm come to him. She jumped up and landed in front of her uncle.
Poseidon looked at his daughter in confusion. "Why would you defend him, Persephone," he growled, causing her to flinch. "He sent a Fury after you!"
She nodded solemnly. "And he has paid for that in our time, daddy," she glanced back at her uncle, "but we are not in my time. He has not sent Alecto after me yet." Her body was starting to shake a little, looking at her father's angry form and all the people that were staring at her. "I'm not even out of second grade in this time, daddy. So please," she looked at him with her tear filled eyes, "please sit back down and put your trident away. You're scaring your nieces, nephews, and your siblings. And who knows what sort of damage you're doing to the people on the surface."
Poseidon looked at his daughter, before nodding solemnly and banishing his trident, returning to his throne next to Zeus. Percy looked at her father in thanks, before moving back to her spot in the middle of her loveseat, Thals and Nico instantly bringing her into a tight grip of a hug. She breathed heavily and looked back at the book.
She wasn't human. She was a shrivelled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.
Then things got even stranger.
Mr. Brunner, who'd ben 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.
Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.
With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear.
A small giggle came out of the Time Goddess. Everyone looked at her oddly. "Uh, sorry," she blushed golden, "I was just, uhh… remembering how much the sensation tickled." Even to herself, the excuse sounded weak.
I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.
Everyone (outside of Ares, Dionysus, and Zeus) all released breathes they didn't know they were holding in. Percy grinned wearily. As long as she had Ανακλυσμος, she'd be fine.
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.
Ares sneered at her, but didn't say anything.
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.
"Naturally?" many of the Olympians questioned, looking at her. "Even among half-bloods, swinging a sword as a natural reaction is not common," Athena explained. "Even amongst Poseidon's brood, despite many of them being almost natural swordsmen." The sea god nodded, not even bothering to glare at Athena for the insult.
Percy blushed again, which seemed to be a common occurrence for her these days. "I-It might've been because I had both you and daddy in my genealogy?" she questioned, shrugging gently. "I've just always been good with a sword, not quite…" she got quiet. "Not quite to Luke's level," she whispered, just barely loud enough for everyone to be able to hear.
Thals rolled her eyes. "Perce, you're much better than he was with a sword." Percy blushed a deeper gold, and just returned to the book.
The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!
Everyone, outside of Annie, Thals, and Nico, looked at her in shock. "Y-You killed her," Hermes whispered, "without any prior training or knowledge, you killed a Fury." Suddenly every one of the Olympians began to appraise her, even Ares and Dionysus. She started to fidget.
Nico glared at them. "Please stop appraising her as if she were a piece of meat," he growled, "it makes her uncomfortable and sets her off." Most of them then averted their intention, though still sneaking glances, while Poseidon, Athena, and Artemis continued to stare at her.
Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporised on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulphur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.
It happened again. I was alone.
There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.
"The Mist is still effecting you?" Athena questioned. "It should've started fading by the time you first saw Alecto for what she was."
Percy frowned. "I had taken my medication that day," she explained, "hadn't gone a day since fourth-grade—after the shark pool incident—without taking it, so it was still clouding my brain." Athena nodded in acceptance.
Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.
My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.
"The lunch you didn't have?" Nico questioned blandly while Thals snickered "Magic mushrooms!" Percy blushed again.
Had I imagined the whole thing?
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."
"Who?" Leo questioned.
I said, "Who?"
Thals shrieked. "Nico! It's spreading!" she cried out, petting Percy's hair 'solemnly'. "First our Wise Girl, now our Fire Boy. Next it could be Beauty Queen—" "Hey!" "—or you, or… or me!"
Jason, Hazel, and Frank all looked at her in confusion. "Why not us?"
Nico scoffed. "Percyitis only effects Greeks," if people could sweatdrop, many of the inhabitants of the Hall would be, "so you guys are safe."
Percy rolled her eyes, though she wasn't hurt by that. They all joked about everyone thinking like another person, it's what siblings and lovers did. They weren't insulting her intelligence this time.
"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 said, "Who?"
The new gods sighed. "It's Grover, he won't fool you."
But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.
"Rule four!" Hermes called out, pointing back to the rule book.
Rule four.
He blushed again, before smiling at Percy. She smiled back—she'd found a copy of the rule book at the New York Public Library when she was ten, and had memorised it, thinking it might've been useful. She was never more glad that she had.
"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."
Thunder boomed overhead. Apparently Jupiter, or Zeus, or whatever thought so as well.
A few people chuckled. "I still find it interesting that you think their Roman names first," Athena muttered in a bit of disgust, her form flickering to Minerva for a split second. Percy shrugged.
I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.
I went to him.
He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Ms. Jackson."
"Now Chiron," Hermes smiled, "Chiron can lie."
Percy rolled her eyes. "Though he ended up breaking rule nine." He smiled even wider at her.
Rule nine; if lying about a situation, never leave plot holes, no matter the circumstance. Something did happen.
I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realised I was still holding it. It had just felt… right in my hand.
"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?"
"Aaaaaaaaaand, done!" Percy said, picking the book up out of her lap and slamming it shut.
Hera stood up. "This Council will now break for thirty minutes for a break!" she announced. All the Olympians stood, as did the new gods—after a bit of disentanglement on the threesome's end—, and they all walked out of the Hall.
Phew, that's all finally over. So, what did you guys think?
Yes, Percy is displayed as rather OP, which fits for who she is as a character. In canon, Percy is always referred to as the strongest demigod someone has ever seen, Hazel even saying that she used to think Nico was the strongest, and then she met Percy. Percy, in both canon and fanon is not someone you want to fuck with. And that thing about the Wolf Stare is from Son of Neptune. It just isn't actually a major or important thing, besides character development to show how Percy's character changed after Hera removed his memories.
How were all the things that I tossed into the books? I know, not really any huge details besides showing Percy to be smarter than in canon, so as to fit with this universe of being a legacy of Athena. And before anyone asks, next chapter will have a conversation between Perce and Athena about how Sally never had to worry about monsters until Perce came around. I have an idea I might end up using, but if anyone has an idea, please share. I'm interested, and might use it (of course giving credit where credit is due).
Now, a brief comment on how the story is going to be structured. Chapters from the books will be every other chapter, the chapters in between being a summarisation of the readings from either Hestia of Percy's POV (whichever POV wasn't present in the last chapter), followed by a brief 3rd Person Omniscient of the breaks, so as to flush out the changes that were present in the universe, as well as to develop the personalities of the new gods in my universe. Of course, with a bit of fluff from Perlico.
If anyone wishes for Percy to bring other characters to the time they're in, please either review or send me a PM on who, why, and when (as in, when in the readings, and when in the timeline). If I like the idea, I'll do it, leave the character there for a couple book chapters, and then send them back.
Now one last thing, thank you to all the people that have reviewed, followed, and/or favourited this story. There hasn't been all too much, but it still means a lot, as it means people are liking what I'm doing. If I can ask you to do something: if you like this story, please suggest it to other readers and/or communities so that this can get out there. It's not anything original, but it would mean a lot. I want as many people that want to read it as possible, so that I can get feedback on it and hopefully get better.
Now, it's 2:00 in the morning, I kind of want to get some sleep (that probably won't happen anyways). See ya' in the next update of... well, one of my stories. I might work on Child of Greece and Rome (since the people seem to want that more than Daughter of Jupiter).
さようなら！