AN: All rights go to Rick Riordan, I own nothing.

Has a hint of abuse and perhaps rape when they read that Gabe might have been abusive if Percy told that he supply his gambling funds. Though it's only mentioned.

"Who's reading now" Percy asked

"I guess I will" Said Annabeth

"Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants."

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

I know, I know. It was rude.

"At least he knows." Hera said.

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

"Ok, now I see why you ditched him." Thalia said.

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

"Good, always wait for the right moment." Hermes said.

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

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

"Don't even think about going to prank my house you guys." Percy said. Hermes and his sons sheepishly smiled.

A word about my mother, before you meet her.

"The best mother you could ask for." Nico said.

"Amazing." Thalia said.

"Fantastic." Annabeth said.

"The best." Percy said.

"Beautiful." Poseidon said remembering Sally.

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

"Not fair." Katie said. "Nope." Percy said.

Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her.

ZEUS!" Aphrodite threw her lip gloss at him but he dodged.

"Hey missed." Zeus said. Hera smacked his head.

"Ow." Zeus said rubbing his head. Hera smiled sweetly and innocently. Zeus glared as everyone tried to hide their laughter.

She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money fora college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.

"I don't get how she was able to fall for old kelp face here." Athena pointing at Poseidon. The sea god glared as everyone laughed. Apollo laughed.

"That's funny Thena." Athena shrugged.

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

"Aww she still loves you." The two love people cooed.

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

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

"Impressive she lied and told the truth." Hermes said.

"My kind of women." Travis said. Katie looked down feeling jealous.

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

"Not one bit." Percy said. While Nico leaned against him, holding his hand.

Hades' raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't say anything.

Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano,

"Is that the first step father?" Thalia asked. "Yeah." Percy growled while clenching his teeth.

who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick named him Smelly Gabe.

"Did he really smell that bad?" Ares asked.

"Yes, he makes it being in a locked room with twenty guys that worked out for three hours small good." Percy said.

"Eww gross." The goddess said.

I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.

Everyone was a little green but Athena she now looked like she was going to be sick. Hera made a glass of water appear in her hand. She drunk a little bit and smiled at Hera mouthing thank you. Hera nodded.

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

Percy pulled Nico into his lap and hid his face in his shoulder.

Hades and Poseidon glanced at each other, and silently agreed that as long as their sons' were happy, they didn't mind that they were dating.

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

"Sounds like Ares' basement." Hephaestus said. Everyone laughed.

"Hey my basement is clean now thank you!" Ares said.

"Yeah right." Hermes said.

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

"Where's my mom?"

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

"I'm going to blast him." Poseidon growled. Percy got up after putting Nico beside him, who was glaring at the book, making Annabeth flinch. And made a wave that made him go up to his father and whispered something.

"All right fine." Percy went to sat down and put Nico back on his lap.

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

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

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

Percy shielded his tears with Nico's hair, he never wanted any of them to find about his past life.

"D-did he hit you?" Zeus asked.

Percy stayed silent. Olympus started to shack and everyone moved having trouble, but Chiron had the most as he tried to stay up. Nico was still furious, he calmed down a bit, only because Percy's was threading his fingers in his hair.

"Yes," he finally said.

"How long," Percy's dad asked.

Percy didn't answer right away but he did when Nico grabbed his hand. "S-s-since I was five," Percy stuttering slightly.

Poseidon took a deep breath in an effort to calm down before he continued. "Did he ever sexual touch or assault you?"

This gained Nico's attention, if someone did that to his Percy. They were going to pay with some very excruciating pain.

"Percy, did he?" Poseidon repeated.

Percy didn't answer right away, but when he finally did answer, you wished that he never did.

Percy answered a very quiet yes. Sparking anger in his father's, Artemis', his friend's, and Nico's eyes.

Only did their anger subside when they heard him sobbing into Nico's chest and clutching his shirt like it was his remain lifeline. Nico sat there just hugging him as close as they could get, whispering comforting thoughts in his ear and rubbing circles on his back. Just trying to comfort him as best as he could before falling asleep in that position.

It was only then did Artemis decide to continue reading.

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

Poseidon clenched his teeth.

He raised a greasy eyebrow.

"Stupid man." Artemis said in a British accent.

"Ok we know we're in trouble when Artemis goes British on us." Hermes said.

"No that's Athena." Apollo said. "No when she curses were in trouble."

"Oh oops."

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

"The only reason why she married him was to cover up your sent didn't she?" Athena asked.

"Yeah." A weak voice said.

"Smart woman." Hera said.

"Sure is." Nico said lovingly.

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

"Wow he figured out something with Math." Conner said.

Some of the demigods snickered.

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

"At least he has a heart." Hera said.

"Am I right?"Gabe repeated.

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

Again everyone looked a little green.

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

"Done." Hermes and Dionysus said.

"You're being nice?" Demeter said.

"Hey only I can make their life hard."

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

"You're no better and even worse!" Clarisse shouted.

I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study."

"I doubt that." both Annabeth and Athena said.

He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.

"Anyone else thinking of a garbage can?" Chris asked. Everyone raised their hands.

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

"I rather stay here Hestia makes it more homey." Percy said, waking up and showing his face a little bit, while still hugging Nico.

Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds,

or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.

"It's almost as bad as Gabe." Percy said softly looking down.

"If anyone I should be sorry." Poseidon said and Percy hugged Nico closer. Who then blushed.

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

"I'm must have been really made over something." Hades thought.

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

She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.

"Aw." The goddesses cooed. Percy blushed and poked his head out then stock his tongue out and hide like a little shy boy.

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

"Wish it was like that here." Hera thought sadly. Hephaestus looked at his mother and started on a gizmo for her.

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

"I need to say hi to her one day, She did a good job raising my son." Poseidon said.

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

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

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

"Now I want some candy too, anyone else?" Apollo asked.

"Blue candy." Percy said. Travis and Conner raised they're hands. Candy appeared in bags for them.

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

"Hey are you boys ok?" Hermes asked his sons.

His sons nodded.

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

"Boys." The girls said.

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

"Get your own bean dip." Ares growled.

"I don't like this guy one bit."

"For once I agree with him." Hephaestus said not looking up from his work.

"What are you working on now?" Beckendorf asked.

"A surprises."

"For who?"

"A surprises."

"You're not going to tell me more are you?"

"Later I will, but not now that ok?"

"Yeah Dad."

I gritted my teeth.

Many people did the same thing.

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

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

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

Until that trip to the museum

um ...

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

"No, Mom."

"No lying!" Hermes said. Everyone was shocked.

"Never lie to your mother, others lie to."

"Okay you scared me for a minute there." Apollo said.

"Yeah." The others agreed.

"Sorry." Hermes said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

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

'It wouldn't to Sally." Annabeth said.

"And I was support to know that how?" Percy asked.

"Good point."

"You told a mortal?" Zeus asked.

"No clear-sighted she figured it out." Poseidon said.

Zeus nodded.

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

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

"Now I want to go to the beach." Poseidon and Percy said.

"Well maybe on the next break you two can go." Hades suggested.

"Sweet."

My eyes widened. "Montauk?"

"That one place where I will actually get in the water" Nico said dreamily.

"Why would you be there" Poseidon asked

"Percy took me there one summer" Nico said, blushing very bright red.

"Three nights—same cabin."

"When?"

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

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

"Yeah because that sad accuse for a mortal is to lazy getting his ass kicked." Silena said.

"Language." Aphrodite said.

"Sorry but true."

"It may be true, but language."

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

"I'll give you bean dip right up your ass." Athena, Nico and Annabeth said.

"Oh were in bigger trouble when both of the wise girls cursed." Apollo said.

"Language Nico, Annabeth." Athena and Chiron said.

"Sorry." Nico and Annabeth said, not sounding sorry at all.

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

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

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

"He better let you go." Poseidon and Nico growled.

"Did he?" Nico asked.

"Yeah." Percy said.

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

"He let us go, so please read Annabeth." Percy said.

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

"Nice she would bribe me to let her go easily." Hermes said.

"But I still like May better."

"More like Iris." Apollo sung. Hermes blushed red and hit Apollo upside the head. Everyone laughed.

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

"What!" Aphrodite and Silena yelled.

"OW that was my ear!" Hephaestus and Beckendorf yelled rubbing their ears.

"Sorry." The two kissed their cheeks. They all blushed and Annabeth continued after everyone but Ares laughed.

"Yes, honey," my mother said.

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

"We'll be very careful."

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

"He paid for it!" Clarisse yelled.

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

"DO IT!" Everyone yelled even Hestia yelled it.

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

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

"She did it for me." Percy mumbled. Nico then rubbed his back, while avoiding his Achilles Spot.

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

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

"Yeah, whatever," he decided.

He went back to his game

"Good." Hestia said.

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

"I wonder how she found that out." Percy looked at Chiron.

"How am I suppose to know." Chiron said shrugging his shoulders.

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

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

"Wish I was there." Travis said.

"Why?" Demeter asked.

"To put some hot sauce in the dip."

"Nice." Hermes said proudly.

An hour later we were ready to leave.

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

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

"Like he'll be the one driving." Hades and Nico said.

"Now whose father like son?" Poseidon asked.

Like I'd be the one driving.

"Hades and Nico think like the boy." Hades and Nico laughed with the others.

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

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

"Sweet, how did you do that?" Thalia asked.

"I still don't know." Percy said.

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

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

Athena and Annabeth shuddered.

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

"I drought that would stop you." Artemis said.

"It didn't." Percy said.

I loved the place.

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

"How romantic." The goddess of love cooed.

"And yet that was where we had our first date," Nico whispered wistfully to Percy.

Percy smiled and kissed Nico's cheek.

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

"They trait you get when you hook up with Brother." Hades and Zeus said before glaring at each other.

"Would that mean Nico's eyes turn the color of the sea?" Connor asked.

"Yeah, though it stays brown with a tint of green around it," Percy answered.

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

"Ok what's with the blue food that's my color?" Zeus asked.

I guess I should explain the blue food.

"That would be nice."

"Honey you're talking to a book." Hera said. Zeus glared at Hera then smiled as he pulled her into his lap. Hera snuggled closer to him and Hermes took a photo and send it to Athena knowing she'll most likely paint a picture of it. Athena took out her iPhone and saved the photo and sent a thank you text to Hermes before Annabeth continued.

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

"And there's the streak." Athena said.

"What streak?" Chris asked.

"Every God has a streak that attracts them to a mortal well not Artemis and Hestia, Poseidon's is rebellious."

"Oh cool."

When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash.

Cue glares at Zeus. "Sorry." Zeus mumbled.

She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.

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

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

"You know now that you mention it Thalia is the only child with my features." Zeus said.

"Nico is the same." Hades said. "I think the Fates did that on purposes." Hestia said.

Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."

"Oh I'm very proud," Poseidon said.

"I'm also proud," Athena said. Annabeth looked happy.

"Me too." Hermes said with everyone else.

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

"I don't care about that."

"I know Dad." And he pulled Nico closer to him.

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

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

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

"Yep." Poseidon said.

"You visited didn't you?" Zeus asked.

"Yep and you can't stop me, not even Father could."

"I'm not planning on stopping you, or anyone anymore. Visit all you want just no over boarding."

"Deal." Everyone said.

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

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

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

I felt angry at my father.

Poseidon looked at the floor, guilty.

"I don't anymore Dad." Percy said.

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

"Worst fate imaginable," Percy mumbled so only Nico heard.

"Sorry."

"Not your fault."

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

She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.

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

"Because you don't want me around?"

"Ouch, man that hurts!" Hera glared.

"I'm sorry!" Percy yelled.

I regretted the words as soon as they were out.

"Good!"

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

"CAMP HALF BLOOD!" The demigods yelled.

"All right kids calm down." Chiron said.

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

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

"Good demigods rule, mortals drool but Rachael." Nico said. And gave Percy a peck on the lips.

"And our families." Thalia said.

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

"Safe from what?"

"My idiot brothers maybe." Poseidon growled. Hades and Zeus glared at their older/younger brother.

"Hey he's right, but not at the idiot part." Percy said.

"At least he appreciates us." Hades and Zeus said before glaring at each other.

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

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

"Why?" Hermes asked. "Checking up." Poseidon said.

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

"Hera." Poseidon growled.

"Don't look at me." Hera said hands in the air.

"Well did you?"

"NO!"

"Good."

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

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

"That will put her in danger." Demeter said.

"I know it was stupid and I hated it." Percy said while intertwining his fingers with Nico's.

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

"And she's also loyal how sweet." Demeter cooed.

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

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

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

"Good question."

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

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

"She was confusing me very badly." Percy said.

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

That night I had a vivid dream.

The demigods groaned. "I hate those dreams." They said.

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

"Now what?" Hestia asked her younger brothers. The two brothers glared at each as Athena read.

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

"Hades." Zeus and Poseidon growled. The three brothers glared.

"Not Dad." Nico thought.

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

"Ha I win." Zeus said. Poseidon splashed him, getting Hera wet as well and everyone was shocked. Poseidon smirked knowing Zeus wouldn't do anything, since Athena was talking to him and hadn't gone back to her throne.

"You win this round only because you have Athena."

I woke with a start.

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

"Now what's got you into you?" Athena asked.

"Well I did just poke him in the eye." Zeus smirked before getting elbowed by Hera.

"OW."

"Don't make him splash you again, I don't want to get wet again." Hera warned.

"Fine."

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

I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.

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

"Monster?" Travis asked.

"I hope not." Nico said worried, he didn't want Percy to face another monster yet.

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

Grover stood framed in the doorway

"MONSTER RAN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Travis and Conner yelled running away.

"GET BACK HERE TRAVIS AND CONNER!" Grover yelled. Chiron grabbed Grover by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up , as if he a feather.

"All right that's enough boys."

"They started it." Grover mumbled. Everyone laughed.

"Grover, when did you get here," Annabeth asked.

"I just got here," was his answer.

against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.

"Oh I see." Annabeth said.

"Yeah me too."Artemis said.

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

"I was thinking you scared me." Percy said.

"Sorry." Grover said.

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

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

"Oh about everything." Percy said sheepishly.

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

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

"Nope only because I didn't know she knew of any of this." Percy said.

"A lot of demigods don't know that." Chiron said.

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

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

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

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

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

Grover smiled. "Grover rocks." The demigods said. Grover blushed.

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

That's the end of the chapter whose next?" Annabeth asked.