AN: I don't own any of this, all belongs to Rick Riordan.

By this point the gods and demigods couldn't even imagine how it could get any worse. Percy's friends couldn't help but wonder why he never talked to them. Immediately they felt guilty. For years they had been dumping their own problems on him and not once did they ever consider that his life may not have been as perfect as they had believed. They felt that they had seen enough, but apparently the Fates didn't agree and they were warped into yet another memory. This time Percy was older, maybe 10 years old and he was sitting on his bed, squinting at the book in his hands. "Well what do you know," Annabeth said, holding back her laughter. "Seaweed brain does try". Nico couldn't help but chuckle at that. He knew all too well about his boyfriend's tendency to avoid all kinds of reading. But, he also knew that it was because his Dyslexia was worse than that of most demigods. The door creaked open but Percy didn't look up, choosing instead to keep his focus on the words in front of him. Gabe walked in and sneered at the boy. "How stupid do you have to be," he began. Percy jumped at the sound of his voice and shut his book. "To not know how to read". Percy turned crimson. "I'm not stupid," he muttered. Gabe walked forward. "What'd you say?" Percy looked him in the eye and said, "I'm not stupid". Gabe let out a harsh laugh. "Yeah, you're a fucking genius. That's why you've already been kicked out of four schools in the last four years". Percy winced at those harsh, yet truthful words. Nico's eyes softened. He was the only one who knew how much it bothered Percy when people insulted his intelligence. He just never knew why until now. Thalia and Clarisse felt horrible. They've been teasing Percy and calling him stupid for years. He never said anything, always laughed it off, but now, they were starting to wonder how much their words truly hurt him. Gabe walked closer. "You're so fucking smart that you can't make anything above a C-. For fuck's sake, you can't even READ!" Percy's eyes were starting to water at this point but he refused to let those tears fall. Crying was a sign of weakness. He just glared at his step-father, daring him to say more although praying he wouldn't, lest his walls finally come crumbling down. Gabe just laughed at walked back out the door. "Real fucking genius," he said.

Another whole light appeared and they were back in the throne room. The Olympians were seated in their throne while the demigods were piled on the floor. It took a moment to register that they were indeed back in the throne room. Percy was lying on the floor shaking as if he were in a nightmare. Nico were there in an instant and proped Percy's head into his lap, combing his fingers through his hair. Which always worked when he woke from his nightmares that you usually get as a demigod. Percy slowly opened his eyes and leaned into the warmth that Nico provided for him and slowly looked into his boyfriend's black as night eyes before asking. "The fates are starting to have you visit my memories, aren't they?"

"I'm sorry Perce," Nico said before leaning in to kiss him.

"It's not your fault, you at least deserve to know. Lets continue reading, okay?" Percy said knowing that everyone was paying attention to them talking.

"Who wants to read?" Annabeth asked.

"I want to." Travis said. Annabeth handed him the book. Travis opened the book. "Umm…"

"Don't you want in Greek?" Hera asked.

"No I-I want to try and read it in English…" Travis got up and walked over Athena and sat down beside her feet. "Just to be safe. M-My Mother Teaches me Bullfighting?" Travis looked up at Athena, she bent down and looked.

"Yes you read it right, go on."

"That doesn't sound too good." Poseidon said paling.

We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.

"My kind of driving." Ares grinned.

"And that is why your motorcycle ends up in my shop…" Hephaestus commented.

"And you in my infirmary…" Apollo said.

"Making out with Aph…" Athena said.

"And repeating the cycle all over again. The three chorused. Aphrodite blushed.

Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.

Don't even think about it Conner." Grover said.

"Think about what?" Conner asked innocently.

"You know what."

"Fine."

"Io giuro di non radersi i destini della Grover gal a fare dei pantaloni. What did I just say?"

"I swear by the Fates I won't shave Grover's legs to make pants."

"Done." The fates voices echoed the room.

"Man I just got trick into swearing by the fates." Conner said.

"Nice work." Hermes said.

But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.

All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"

"He does now." Percy said.

Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."

"Stalker." Chris said.

"You know that's not what he meant!" Clarisse said.

"Yeah yeah."

"Watching me?"

"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."

"Now you're my brother you live with me at my house." Percy said.

"I do?" Grover asked.

"Yeah, our house is big so there are rooms for Annabeth, Thaila. While you have separate room and so do Nico you and I to ours self in the basement."

"And we respect each other's privacy." Thalia said.

"You better." Zeus and Athena warned.

"We do we swore to the Fates we would." The four chorused.

"Urn ... what are you, exactly?"

"That doesn't matter right now."

"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"

"Blaa-ha-ha! Goat!" Grover said.

Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"

I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.

"Goat!" he cried.

"Yah Grover doesn't change much." Annabeth said hugging her friend.

"No way." Grover said hugging back.

"What?"

"I'm a goat from the waist down."

"You just said it didn't matter."

"Oh burned." Travis said.

"So how am I doing so far Lady Athena?"

"Good." Athena said as she watched carefully to help if he needed it.

"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"

"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"

"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"

"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"

"Still going on about that?" Athena asked.

"Yeah they really messed with my head saying Mrs. Dodds was not really so I was relieved to hear she was real. " Percy said.

"Of course."

"Then why—"

"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."

"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"

The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.

"What's chasing you?" Poseidon asked paling.

"Um... you'll find out soon enough." Percy said.

"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."

"Safety from what? Who's after me?"

"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."

"HEY!" Hades yelled.

"Sorry, Lord Hades." Grover said.

Who just grumbled in response.

"Grover!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"

"Yes please drive faster." Poseidon begged. While Nico was beginning to pale.

I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.

My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.

"Mmm strawberries." Travis and Katie said and then blushed when they realized that they spoke at the same time.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."

"She did what any mother would do." Hestia said.

"Then explain why Air head here got to be free while the rest of us lived in…" Hades shuddered "Father's stomach."

"Um…"

"Oh I know She said she tried to hide all of you after Hestia but she failed each time until Zeus was born and the whole rock trick." Nico said.

"How do you know this son?" Hades asked.

"She told us and that's all I'm saying." Nico said.

"The place you didn't want me to go."

"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."

"Because some old ladies cut yarn."

"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."

"Whoa. You said 'you.'"

"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"

"You meant 'you.' As in me."

"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."

"Umm what?" Zeus asked.

"I don't really know?" Athena said.

"We were pretty confusing." Percy said.

"I say it and I don't even know." Grover said.

"Boys!" my mom said.

"Yeah boys." Artemis said.

"You know you loves us sis." Said Apollo

"No not really and don't call me sis."

She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.

"What was that?" I asked.

"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question.

"Another mile. Please. Please. Please."

"Pease, please, please." Poseidon continued. Nico was white as a sheet of paper, while leaning on Percy for support.

I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.

Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.

Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded.

"WHAT!" Poseidon and Nico yelled.

I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.

I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."

"Percy!" my mom shouted.

"I'm okay..."

"Poseidon and Nico breathed relief.

I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.

Lightning.

ZEUS!" Poseidon yelled. While Nico gave him his death glare. Which made Hades smile when he was Zeus flinch.

That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"

He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!

Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.

"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.

I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.

Hades and Nico paled and said "Oh no."

"What?" Everyone that didn't know asked.

"Oh no I'm telling." Was their response.

I swallowed hard. "Who is—"

"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."

My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.

"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"

"Hey that's me." Thalia said frowning.

"What?"

Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.

"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."

"Mom, you're coming too."

"I wish she could." Poseidon said.

Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.

"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."

"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.

"Okay shutting up would be good now." Travis said. Grover just glared at Travis.

"Sorry dude but true."

The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns …

"The Minotaur." Ares said.

"Oh no." Poseidon said.

Nico began muttering. "He's still alive, since he's here".

"Don't look at me." Hades said rising his hand in defenses.

"He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."

"But..."

"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."

I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat,

at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.

I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."

"I told you—"

"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."

"So sweet he loves his mom." Hera said.

"Of course I do." Percy smiled.

I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.

Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.

"You should cut that and make it easier for the children." Demeter said.

Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except under wear—

"Did it just say under wear?" Hestia asked.

"Yes." Travis said.

"Okay just checking I heard you right."

I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms

Everyone laughed.

—which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.

His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.

"Nice way of saying their sharp." Hermes said.

I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.

"oh it's real." The demigods said.

I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"

"Pasiphae's son," my mother said.

"Smart woman." Athena said.

"I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."

"But he's the Min—"

"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."

"Very smart." Dionysus said.

"Wow you're listening?" Conner asked.

"Of course I am Travis."

"Um I'm Conner sir."

"Whatever."

The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.

I glanced behind me again.

The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the win dows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.

"He's smelling." Athena said.

"Oh." Everyone who didn't know.

"Food?" Grover moaned.

"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"

"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."

As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.

Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying.

Everybody just growled, remember the memories they saw of Percy. Nico tightened his grip while holding his hand, he just wanted to kill Gabe himself for what he put his boyfriend though. 'Nobody messes with the son of Hades.'

Oops.

"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"

"How do you know all this?"

"She smart." Annabeth said.

"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."

"Not selfish that would be Poseidon." Travis joked.

"I get it son, good job." Hermes commented

"Hey!" Everyone laughed.

"Keeping me near you? But—"

Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.

He'd smelled us.

The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.

The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.

"Oh no." Poseidon said paling.

My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."

I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Katie said.

"No sick." Travis said. Katie laughed and smiled at Travis.

He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.

The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never out run this thing.

"Smart move." Annabeth said.

So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.

"Nice." Clarisse said.

The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.

We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.

"Don't think like that please don't." Poseidon said.

"Sorry Dad."

The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.

"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"

But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.

"NO!"

"Mom!"

She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"

Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.

"NO!" Percy was crying not liking this chapter but he knew she was okay. He put his head in Nico's chest, who wrapped one of his arms around him, while the other was rubbing his back to comfort him.

"No!"

Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.

The room was silent so Travis continued.

The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.

I couldn't allow that.

I stripped off my red rain jacket.

"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"

"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.

I had an idea

"Oh boy." Thalia said.

"Hey my stupid ideas work sometimes," Percy's voice was muffled since his head was till buried in Nico's shirt.

—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all.

I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.

But it didn't happen like that.

The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.

Time slowed down.

My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.

"How'd you do that?" Clarisse asked.

How did I do that?

"Oh great now I'm thinking like him." Clarisse said.

I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.

The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.

Demeter and Katie looked a little green.

The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might.

"Yeah right." Clarisse and Ares said.

The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap!

"You were saying?" Athena asked.

"Shut up."

The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.

"Sweet points for killing with its own horn." Ares said.

The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish.

Hades eyes widen and walked up human sized to Poseidon and Athena being careful of Travis on the floor.

"Poseidon get up for one minute." Hades said. Poseidon got up.

"One solid punch, I think I took the boy's mother away." Poseidon punched Hades in the noise making it bleed.

"I'm sorry." Hades went back to his thrown where he held a tissue to his noise.

"You're forgiven sorry if I broke your nose.

"I deserved it."

I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm house. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.

"It's okay, we got her back and that's all I'm saying." Percy said. While leaning into Nico.

The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.

"Princess?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah." Percy said. And snuggled closer to Nico.

They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."

"Not anymore, Nico's definitely the one for me." Percy said. Then gave Nico a kiss on the lips.

"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."

Travis marked the page and closed the book.

"How'd I do?" Travis asked looking up at Athena.

"You did perfectly." Travis ran up to Katie hugged her and swilled in a circle.

"Did you hear that I read it perfectly!" Travis said.

"I heard!" Katie laughed while blushing the deepest red. "Who's next?' Athena asked.