Chapter 1: My best friend shops for a wedding dress

The next morning everyone woke up and made their way into the dining hall. Hermes and his children were the first ones to arrive, giggling to themselves. Athena and Annabeth game in next, both sporting grey hair.

"Hermes!" Athena yelled.

"Yes, Athena?" The God asked innocently.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing." He answered honestly. Travis had been in charge of that particular duo.

"Well then what did your spawn do?"

"Hey." The Stolls protested.

"Reverse it." Annabeth demanded.

"We can't. It lasts for twelve hours." Chris grinned. Just then Ares and Clarisse walked in with blood red hair.

"HERMES!" Ares shouted.

"Wasn't me." He smirked. Chris grinned. He had drawn the short straw as nobody really wanted to get caught dying the War God's hair. Or Clarisse's for that matter. Slowly, the rest of the group arrived. Percy, Thalia and Poseidon had green hair that matched the two sea people's eyes while Zeus and Hera had blue hair. Nico and Hades were now white haired and both of them looked incredibly unhappy about this fact. Those who had slept in the guest rooms, including Chiron were all sporting rainbow coloured hair while Frank seemed quite upset with but the others found it rather amusing. Dionysus and Dakota were now purple haired while Aphrodite and her kids had hot pink hair. Piper was very upset, she headed straight towards the Hermes kids who all dived behind their father.

"Reverse this!" She screamed.

"We can't. It won't wear off for twelve hours." Travis explained.

"I'm going to kill you!"

"Calm down, Pipes." Jason moved forwards to take her hand. She looked at him, anger fading into surprise when she saw his rainbow coloured hair. Then Apollo and Will arrived, sporting silver hair. Chris had figured that gold hair really wouldn't do much to the two blondes. Demeter had escaped the prank, as had Artemis and Hestia. Hephaestus and his kids had red hair but a brighter shade than Ares and Clarisse. Leo seemed quite pleased with his hair. Beckendorf was less impressed but after seeing the various other colours in the room he felt better. Once everyone had finished eating they moved to the throne room. They sat in the same seating arrangements as the day before, although Thalia moved back to sit with Percy rather than Annabeth. The Stolls sat on either side of their father while Chris sat at his feet.

"Who will read?" Chiron asked.

"I haven't read yet." Frank spoke up. Chiron smiled and handed him the book with the number two on the spine.

"My best friend shops for a wedding dress."

"What? This is definitely starting as strangely as the last one." Leo commented. Grover let out a quiet groan as he figured out what this was about. Percy shot him a smirk.

"Is Grover getting married?" Reyna asked in bemusement.

"No." The Satyr yelled in embarrassment.

My nightmare started like this.

"Oh great. Percy's nightmares are never good." Poseidon groaned.

I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing. Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned. Florida, I thought. Though I wasn't sure how I knew that. I'd never been to Florida. Then I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and saw my friend Grover running for his life.

"Running for your life and you stop to shop for a wedding dress?" Thalia asked in amusement.

"Don't you?" Grover asked sarcastically.

Yeah, I said hooves. Grover is a satyr.

"We know?" Nico frowned.

"Maybe the book recaps in case you didn't read the first one?" Leo suggested.

"Why would you not read the first one?" Athena asked in horror.

"Especially given that these books were sent back for us to read. We would obviously read them all." Annabeth frowned. Everyone just shrugged.

From the waist up, he looks like a typical gangly teenager with a peachfuzz goatee and a bad case of acne. He walks with a strange limp, but unless you happen to catch him without his pants on (which I don't recommend),

Grover glared at Percy while everyone else sniggered.

you'd never know there was anything unhuman about him. Baggy jeans and fake feet hide the fact that he's got furry hindquarters and hooves. Grover had been my best friend in sixth grade. He'd gone on this adventure with me and a girl named Annabeth to save the world, but I hadn't seen him since last July,

"You didn't check in for almost a year?" Jason asked.

"I didn't have much chance." Grover said.

when he set off alone on a dangerous quest, a quest no satyr had ever returned from. Anyway, in my dream, Grover was hauling goat tail, holding his human shoes in his hands the way he does when he needs to move fast. He clopped past the little tourist shops and surfboard rental places. The wind bent the palm trees almost to the ground. Grover was terrified of something behind him. He must've just come from the beach. Wet sand was caked in his fur. He'd escaped from somewhere. He was trying to get away from…something.

"Descriptive." Percy snorted at his own thoughts.

A bone-rattling growl cut through the storm. Behind Grover, at the far end of the block, a shadowy figure loomed. It swatted aside a street lamp, which burst in a shower of sparks. Grover stumbled, whimpering in fear. He muttered to himself, Have to get away. Have to warn them! I couldn't see what was chasing him, but I could hear it muttering and cursing. The ground shook as it got closer. Grover dashed around a street corner and faltered. He'd run into a deadend courtyard full of shops. No time to back up. The nearest door had been blown open by the storm. The sign above the darkened display window read: ST. AUGUSTINE BRIDAL BOUTIQUE. Grover dashed inside. He dove behind a rack of wedding dresses.

"I'm not sure a shop with no other exits is a good hiding place." Beckendorf frowned.

"Yeah. I found that out." Grover sighed.

The monster's shadow passed in front of the shop. I could smell the thing, a sickening combination of wet sheep wool and rotten meat

Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Clarisse all grimaced. They could all recall that smell very well.

and that weird sour body odor only monsters have, like a skunk that's been living off Mexican food. Grover trembled behind the wedding dresses. The monster's shadow passed on.

"I'd say good but it wouldn't be a nightmare if it was that easy." Nico frowned.

"It'll be coming back." Beckendorf agreed.

Silence except for the rain. Grover took a deep breath. Maybe the thing was gone. Then lightning flashed. The entire front of the store exploded, and a monstrous voice bellowed: "MIIIIINE!"

"That's pretty creepy." Percy noted.

"Try actually living it." Clarisse muttered. Everyone who didn't know what happened gave her strange looks.

I sat bolt upright, shivering in my bed. There was no storm. No monster. Morning sunlight filtered through my bedroom window. I thought I saw a shadow flicker across the glass, a humanlike shape.

Percy glanced over at Annabeth who had gone a little red.

But then there was a knock on my bedroom door, my mom called: "Percy, you're going to be late" and the shadow at the window disappeared. It must've been my imagination. A fifth-story window with a rickety old fire escape…there couldn't have been anyone out there.

Percy smirked over at Nico.

"Unless you shadow travel."

"You sneaked into Percy's room through his window?" Hades raised an eyebrow at his son. Nico blushed.

"I needed to speak with him and I didn't want to be seen." Nico tried to explain.

"How did that work out for ya?" Percy asked with a chuckle.

"That was your fault." Nico reminded him. Apollo and Will both watched the exchange with very similar frowns.

"Come on, dear," my mother called again. "Last day of school. You should be excited! You've almost made it!"

"Almost being the operative word." Percy muttered to himself.

"Coming," I managed. I felt under my pillow. My fingers closed reassuringly around the ballpoint pen I always slept with. I brought it out, studied the Ancient Greek writing engraved on the side: Anaklusmos. Riptide. I thought about uncapping it, but something held me back. I hadn't used Riptide for so long.

"Why would you need it now?" Poseidon asked.

"I was still unsure about the shadow at the window." Percy said.

Besides, my mom had made me promise not to use deadly weapons in the apartment after I'd swung a javelin the wrong way and taken out her china cabinet.

Everybody laughed again.

"Why were you swinging a javelin inside anyway?" Chiron raised an eyebrow.

"Practise?" Percy offered.

"Swords are one things but javelins aren't quite another." Chiron told him.

I put Anaklusmos on my nightstand and dragged myself out of bed. I got dressed as quickly as I could. I tried not to think about my nightmare or monsters or the shadow at my window. Have to get away. Have to warn them! What had Grover meant?

"Well, I'm guessing that he wanted to warn you something is coming. Whatever was chasing him." Reyna said.

"Maybe." Gwen frowned.

I made a three-fingered claw over my heart and pushed outward, an ancient gesture Grover had once taught me for warding off evil. The dream couldn't have been real. Last day of school. My mom was right, I should have been excited. For the first time in my life, I'd almost made it an entire year without getting expelled. No weird accidents. No fights in the classroom. No teachers turning into monsters and trying to kill me with poisoned cafeteria food or exploding homework.

"Exploding homework?" Poseidon smirked at his son.

"Yep." Percy nodded. "Although that may not have been supernatural."

"What did you do?" Leo asked eagerly.

"Science project gone wrong." Percy admitted.

Tomorrow, I'd be on my way to my favorite place in the world, Camp Half-Blood. Only one more day to go. Surely even I couldn't mess that up.

"Well you just jinxed it." Thalia sighed.

As usual, I didn't have a clue how wrong I was. My mom made blue waffles and blue eggs for breakfast. She's funny that way, celebrating special occasions with blue food. I think it's her way of saying anything is possible. Percy can pass seventh grade. Waffles can be blue. Little miracles like that.

"I love how your mom thinks blue food is as much of a miracle as you going a whole year without being expelled." Annabeth laughed.

"She really should know better than to celebrate even a day before the year is over." Grover added.

I ate at the kitchen table while my mom washed dishes. She was dressed in her work uniform, a starry blue skirt and a red and white striped blouse she wore to sell candy at Sweet on America. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. The waffles tasted great, but I guess I wasn't digging in like I usually did. My mom looked over and frowned. "Percy, are you all right?"

"Yeah, Percy not eating is a big indicator something isn't right." Thalia nodded.

"Yeah…fine." But she could always tell when something was bothering me.

"Not eating and saying he's fine. You don't need to be a mind reader to know something is up." Apollo scoffed lightly.

"It is fairly obvious." Annabeth agreed.

She dried her hands and sat down across from me. "School, or…" She didn't need to finish. I knew what she was asking. "I think Grover's in trouble," I said, and I told her about my dream. She pursed her lips. We didn't talk much about the other part of my life. We tried to live as normally as possible, but my mom knew all about Grover. "I wouldn't be too worried, dear," she said. "Grover is a big satyr now. If there were a problem, I'm sure we would've heard from…from camp.…"

"Yeah. Maybe." Percy muttered. He recalled not being told about a couple of things going wrong at camp.

Her shoulders tensed as she said the word camp. "What is it?" I asked. "Nothing," she said. "I'll tell you what. This afternoon we'll celebrate the end of school. I'll take you and Tyson to Rockefeller Center, to that skateboard shop you like." Oh, man, that was tempting. We were always struggling with money. Between my mom's night classes and my private school tuition, we could never afford to do special stuff like shop for a skateboard. But something in her voice bothered me. "Wait a minute," I said. "I thought we were packing me up for camp tonight."

"Why would Percy not go to camp?" Reyna frowned.

"Because there was stuff going on." Chiron sighed.

"Well then surely you would want Percy there?" Jason said.

She twisted her dishrag. "Ah, dear, about that…I got a message from Chiron last night." My heart sank. Chiron was the activities director at Camp Half-Blood. He wouldn't contact us unless something serious was going on. "What did he say?" "He thinks…it might not be safe for you to come to camp just yet. We might have to postpone."

"But Camp is the only...one of the only safe places." Poseidon said, correcting himself with a glance at the Romans.

"Postpone? Mom, how could it not be safe? I'm a half-blood! It's like the only safe place on earth for me!" "Usually, dear. But with the problems they're having—" "What problems?" "Percy…I'm very, very sorry. I was hoping to talk to you about it this afternoon. I can't explain it all now. I'm not even sure Chiron can. Everything happened so suddenly."

"So camp is in so much danger that Chiron thinks Percy shouldn't go and yet his mom won't explain." Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"He has school." Annabeth pointed out.

"Yes, I'm sure he'll be completely focused on school." Will scoffed.

My mind was reeling. How could I not go to camp? I wanted to ask a million questions, but just then the kitchen clock chimed the half-hour. My mom looked almost relieved. "Seven-thirty, dear. You should go. Tyson will be waiting."

Percy smiled slightly while Annabeth cringed, recalling her initial reaction to meeting Tyson.

"But—" "Percy, we'll talk this afternoon. Go on to school." That was the last thing I wanted to do, but my mom had this fragile look in her eyes—a kind of warning, like if I pushed her too hard she'd start to cry. Besides, she was right about my friend Tyson. I had to meet him at the subway station on time or he'd get upset. He was scared of traveling underground alone.

"Tyson? Afraid of the underground?" Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. He was afraid of a lot of things to begin with." Percy said with another fond smile.

I gathered up my stuff, but I stopped in the doorway. "Mom, this problem at camp. Does it… could it have anything to do with my dream about Grover?" She wouldn't meet my eyes. "We'll talk this afternoon, dear. I'll explain…as much as I can."

"That's still not very comforting." Connor muttered.

"Yeah, well, Camp wasn't in a good state that year, was it?" Travis muttered to his brother.

Reluctantly, I told her good-bye. I jogged downstairs to catch the Number Two train.I didn't know it at the time, but my mom and I would never get to have our afternoon talk.

"That sounds about right." Poseidon sighed.

In fact, I wouldn't be seeing home for a long, long time.

"It wasn't that long." Percy frowned. "Just a regular summer."

As I stepped outside, I glanced at the brownstone building across the street. Just for a second I saw a dark shape in the morning sunlight—a human silhouette against the brick wall, a shadow that belonged to no one.

Everyone frowned and then turned to Annabeth.

"What?" She asked.

"You're the only one who knows Percy that can turn invisible." Nico pointed out.

Then it rippled and vanished.

"Chapter's over." Frank announced. "That was really short."

"Lucky you." Clarisse muttered.

"I'll read next." Jason offered. Frank handed over the book.

A/N: Sorry I was taking so long to upload the story. I have been very busy with school and not sure when the next chapter will come out but I am continuing this story. You can all read the original story from Lorixjake on Ao3. All credit goes to Lorixjake.