Alvie went back to school a month after the quest. He hated sitting around at home and he was running out of books to read. Normally, he would have gone to the library, but, for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to do that, fearful of monsters or terrors after his guts.

He got endless questions as to where he had been for the past month and a bit, but he just said he had been ill for a short while and then away with his family.

Crystal was glad Alvie was back, finally having her psychic partner to help in her twisted plans of terrorising teachers.

She had all plans to greatly unnerve the music teacher- Mr. Blackmore, a seriously dim-witted loser- and she had told Alvie to be at lesson five minutes early. She was the surprised one though, walking into the classroom to see Alvie playing the piano.

"I didn't know you could play the piano." Crystal frowned, moving forward and sitting on the stool next to him.

"I didn't either." He told her. She stared at him incredulously. He played the piano so easily and so casually- he wasn't even looking- and there was such a mastered skill behind it all, anyone else would have thought he had been playing the piano since birth.

Alvie was smiling though, seemingly pleased with himself. Crystal smiled and listened to the melodic symphony spiralling from the instrument.

"Hey, do you think Apollo's got anything to do with it?"

"He might do." Alvie agreed quietly. "He is the god of music…"

"Then probably it is his doing." She gasped excitedly and grabbed his arms. He froze and looked at her, wide-eyed and cautious. "Do you think you could play other instruments too?" He gradually relaxed and stared at her disbelievingly, a relieved smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "What?"

"You scared the life out of me." Crystal laughed.

"Oh gods… that was an accident that time, I swear." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "Keep playing. No, wait!" Her face lit up and Alvie could tell she had an idea. "Sit over there and then get the piano to play by itself! Oh, that's classic!" Alvie took his hands from the keys and stared at them, frowning slightly in concentration. Crystal watched as the white shards appeared in his eyes and the piano gave a resounding D-note, the key sinking for a second as if pressed by an imaginary hand.

Then it was playing on its own, slowly and clumsily at first, but getting increasingly better and more harmonious. "This is perfect!" Crystal jumped up, grabbing his arm and dragged him to the other side of the room. The piano stopped playing as he lost his concentration. A minute later the class filed in. Crystal and Alvie were sat at their table in the far corner, Crystal teaching Alvie patty-cake.

Mr. Blackmore stumbled in. He was a portly man in his late twenties, but he looked older and wearier. He wore thick-rimmed glasses and his curly hair was combed mostly flat. He wore a suit, a blue tie tucked into a knitwear jumper under the blazer and shiny black shoes. He shuffled when he walked, talking in a flat monotone and getting annoyed at ridiculous things, such as breathing on an instrument. He was probably the most boring teacher here and that was saying something.

And this is exactly why Crystal had asked Alvie to do his thing.

It took ten minutes for the teacher to settle his class into their seats and further five to get silence. Most of the students weren't trusted with the instruments, so he started handing out worksheets. They had the rest of the lesson to fill in the sheet or he would issue lunch detentions to those who didn't.

Alvie looked at the sheet. Music worksheets never made any sense to him, but they did now, which confused and terrified him. This was definitely Apollo's doing.

"Ugh, bored!" Crystal exclaimed, dragging out the word and making sure her voice carried across the classroom to the teacher. Alvie nudged her, smiling. "Do the piano thing now, please." She begged quietly.

"In a minute." He told her. She got another surprise from him as he pulled a pen from his bag and started filling in the worksheet.

"Apollo." She mumbled. "I'm copying you." She declared.

"OK." He finished the sheet in record time, much to the shock of Blackmore. He knew Alvie used his lessons to either read or attempt to sleep, so it was amazing that the worksheet had been done. And all the answers were right as well.

"Piano. Now." Crystal hissed as soon as the teacher was out of ear shot. Alvie nodded and stared at the table surface.

Nobody noticed the first key sounding, but when the piano started playing on its own, a hush fell over the students and they were all staring at it in terror or incredibility.

Mr. Blackmore was truly stunned. He closed the lid of the piano, as if that would help, but Alvie only willed it to play faster. Crystal held his hand, trying not to grin excitedly. She was trying to match her expression to that of her classmates.

The piano stopped as suddenly as it had started and whispers sprung up. Blackmore was checking the piano over, looking more and more confused with each minute that passed.

Crystal looked at Alvie. He looked dazed, but there was a proud glimmer in his eyes. Thankfully, no nosebleed.

"There's a drum kit in the back room. Want me to do that?"

"You're awesome." She told him, squeezing his hand.

The lesson finished early, Blackmore thoroughly freaked out by the self-playing instruments. Crystal had Alvie ring Tobias and his parents and tell them of his latest escapade. Percy and Tobias couldn't breathe through laughter while Annabeth was torn between laughing and scolding him for interrupting the lesson.

"Honestly, Alvie, you're turning into a little mischievous rascal lately."

"That's 'cos I'm such a great influence!" Crystal beamed.

"Yes, an amazingly great influence."

"Was that sarcasm?"

"No, of course not."

"That was sarcasm too." Annabeth laughed softly.

"OK, OK. Crystal, it's great you've got Alvie out of his shell, but try not to get him into too much trouble, OK?"

"He does that all by himself. We're going to scare our Science teacher next."

"Oh gods…" Annabeth sighed. "Well, off you go then. I'll talk to you two later."

"Bye Mom." Annabeth cut off. Crystal laughed happily and hugged him tightly.

"You're the best boyfriend ever." She grinned. Alvie hugged her back, smiling. Now that was a nice thing for her to say. She always made him feel better. "Ooh, I just remembered. We're getting an exchange student." She pulled back slightly, her arms around his neck. He looked curious. "All I know is that he's French and he's called Francis."

"Does Nico know?"

"I don't know. But I've always wanted to learn French. Maybe this Francis guy could teach me."

"Not Ancient Greek?"

"Well, I'm trying. It's so confusing! I mean, it's OK for you- both of your parents are demigods and they naturally read that. I haven't got any Ancient Greek reading skills from Nico." She pulled a face, sulking.

I had this idea of Alvie suddenly able to play the piano, but the exchange student- that is an idea I've had for a while now and hopefully I can work with that. This chapter is mainly a filler.

Review!

And oh my gods, only three or four of you got the reference- PAGE THREE HUNDRED AND NINETY FOUR. SNAPE. HARRY POTTER. THAT ONE!