After Chiron ensured I was alright, he asked me if I could summon some Kooni that would spy around the camp for him.
I did as he asked, but I wanted to know why.
"Normally, when a monster is summoned, it has to by me, and IF I deem it alright, I am there for the summoning," Chiron told me as I got the idea and summoned Kooni.
As I got my wind back, I told him about Luke and what I thought about, and he took in the information before he looked at me and sighed before sending me off.
For a few days, the weather had started to become worse, and every one part from Grover and those of us in cabin 3 avoided me.
One night I had one of the worst dreams.
I was running along the beach in a storm.
This time, there was a city behind me.
Not New York.
The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.
About a hundred meters down the surf, two men were fighting.
They looked like T.V. wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long black hair.
Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green.
They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.
I had to stop them.
I didn't know why.
But the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly into the sand.
Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, Give it back; give it back.
Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.
The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt.
I yelled, Stop it; Stop fighting.
The ground shook.
Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice.
"Come down, little hero," the voice crooned, "Come down."
The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth.
My feet slipped, and darkness swallowed me.
I woke up, sure I was falling.
I was in my hammock cabin three.
My body told me it was morning.
Early morning.
I looked out the window to see a storm brewing with thunder rolling across the hills.
Before I could think more about it, I heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold.
"Come in," I said after seeing Mom was no longer in the cabin.
Grover trotted inside, looking worried.
"Grover, you alright," I asked him as he looked at me.
"Mr D wants to see you," Grover told me.
"Why," I asked him as something in my gut told me it was terrible.
"I'd better let him tell you," Grover said as I left with him after getting dressed, making sure not to wake the kids up as we left the cabin.
I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House for days.
And I was waiting for the moment that my uncle found out that I existed.
And it seemed that now was that moment.
Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil.
A hazy curtain of rain was coming was coming in our direction.
This storm was bigger than the others that had been moved around the camp.
At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs.
Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow.
Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense.
They kept their eyes on the storm.
Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House.
Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with a glass of wine.
Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheelchair.
Mom and Hestia were also playing along with Chiron and Dionysus.
"Well, well," Mr D said without looking up, "Our little celebrity," He added as the goddess at the table snorted.
"You have been watching too much Harry Potter, nephew," Hestia said with a smile.
Mr D looked up at her before he turned to me, "Now this, Pedro Johan, Hestia and I were on your side with how things are with my father, but he is wanting your head for something that it seems that you did not do," Mr D told me as I nodded.
"Does this have to do with the storm," I asked him as I pointed at the inky black cloud.
"You got that right, Peter," Mr D said as he looked up at the storm, "My father wants you to burn or get hit by lightning," Mr D said as a net of lightning flashed across the clouds.
Thunder shook the windows of the house.
"I know, I know," Mr D said as he rolled his eyes at the sky, "Anyway, I'm going to have to give you a quest, Perseus Jackson," Mr D said as I nodded.
Chiron then put his cards down, "Sit, Percy, please, you to Grover," He told us as we sat at the table.
"Tell me, Percy," he said as I looked over to him, "What did you make of the hellhound," He asked me as just hearing the name made me shudder.
I had no clue what Chiron probably wanted me to say, 'Heck, it was nothing; I eat hellhounds for breakfast'.
But making sure that I told the truth, "It scared me," I said to him, "I had to move, or it could have hurt or killed someone," I told him as he nodded.
"It's sad to say that you'll meet worse, Percy," Chiron said as I looked at him.
"For worse, before you're done," Mr D added as he looked at his cards again.
"When I'm done with this quest," I asked them as they nodded as Mom did not look happy.
"Yes, that is, of course, if you accept it," Chiron said as I looked at him with a raised brow.
"Um, Chiron," I started as he looked at me, "You haven't told me what I have to do yet," I told him as Hestia sighed.
Chiron grimaced, "Well, that's the hard part, the details," He said as thunder rumbled across the valley.
My mind went to the storms and the raging sea, "Dad and Zeus are fighting over something," I said as Mr D put down his cards once more to look at me, "It was something valuable; that's they're fighting, aren't they," I asked them as Hestia nodded.
"How did you know," Chiron asked me as he sat forward in his wheelchair.
"The weather since Christmas, and remembering our talk back at the museum about the weather, so now I know it's not a storm spirit but now Zeus," I said as Chiron nodded as he looked to have remembered the same conversation, "When I first woke up, Annabeth was watching over me I heard something about a theft, and I've also been having dreams," I told them as they nodded.
"I knew it," Grover said as his eyes lit up.
"Hush, satyr," Mr D said as Grover looked at him before gaining some courage as he looked back at his lord.
"Percy, you are correct," Chiron said as I did not feel any better knowing I was right, "Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries; they are fighting over something valuable that was stolen, to be precise: a lightning bolt," Chiron said as I laughed nervously.
"A what," I asked before I felt a chill come over me, hoping he did not mean what I thought he meant.
"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned me as I felt dread form like an iceberg in my stomach, "Know that I am not talking about a tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play," Chiron said as I saw the smile on Hestia's face.
"I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, a material that can not hurt humans as I would normally joke that they are not special enough, but the truth is that when humans were made, the metal found humans unworthy of it so that they can not touch it and it them, but a demigod," Chiron said as I nodded at him, "Now then, both sides of the cylinder is capped with god-level explosives," He told me as I nodded.
"The master bolt," I said as Mr D and Hestia nodded.
"Zeus's master bolt is his symbol of power, from which all other lightning blots come," Mr D said as I looked at him.
"It was the first weapon made by the cyclopes for the war against my father and his forces, the Titans," Hestia said as I looked over to her and saw that her usual smile was not there, "It was the bolt that blew up the top of Mount Etna and had hurled my father from his throne," Hestia added as I let the information from my goddess friend sink in.
"The master bolt packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers," Chiron finished for the two deities.
"And it was stolen," I asked them; they nodded as I narrowed my eyes, "By who," I asked them.
"By whom," Chiron corrected as I saw the smile on his face; once a teacher, always a teacher, "By you, but that is what Zeus thinks," Chiron said, but my mouth fell open.
"You see, during the last meeting during the winter solstice, both Father and Uncle Poseidon were having an argument, and to be more accurate, Father was trying to have an argument with Uncle Poseidon as he had calmed down a lot over the years," Mr D said as I nodded as I thought about that.
Mom would not get with a guy like that, even if he was a god.
"Father was saying that 'Mother Rhea always liked me better,' or 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera," Mr D rolled his eyes as I nodded along.
"Then afterwards, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing from the throne room under his nose, and as he did, he immediately blamed Poseidon," Hestia said as she rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly-that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws, but Zeus believes your father convinced you to take it," Chiron said as I felt like hitting my head on the table as Undine appeared next to me.
"Percy would never do that," She told him as Chiron nodded.
"I know as when Percy, along with Alumi, was returning to his mother during the Christmas break, I watched them go to the apartment and celebrate the holiday there," Chiron said as Undine nodded but still did not look happy.
"You see, Father thinks he has a good reason," Mr D said as lightning flashed above us, "You know I'm right," Mr D yelled up to the sky.
"Anyway, the forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of Zeus's lightning," Hestia told me as I looked at her, "Now Zeus, in all of his crazy ideas, believes that Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne," Hestia explained to me as I tried to make sense of the crazy information that was given to me.
"And with the information now reaching Father that Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son reaching his ears, he believes that you were the one to seal the bolt for Uncle," Mr D said as he sipped his wine.
I rested my elbows on the table and rubbed my eyes, "Why is my Uncle so crazy," I asked them as Chiron, Mom, and Grover glanced nervously at the sky.
And Apollo's protection was no longer holding up as the clouds didn't seem to be parting.
They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid.
"Er, Percy, we don't use the C-word when describing the Lord of the Sky," Grover said but cringed when he saw the look on my face.
"I'm the son of the sea god, I have a sailor's mouth, and I can say worse words that are fruitier than crazy about my Uncle," I told him as I drilled my eyes into him.
Mom sighed as she knew that was true, as when we found out bout when I was kicked out of my second school for swearing up and down.
Alumi found it funny when I called my P.E. teacher a bitch with half a fucking brain cells that can make a piece of shit look like Albered Einstine when he was three.
That was fun to find out, and from that day onward, I made sure not to swear, or I will say, stuff that sounded funny, degrading, and insulting.
"This is true," Chiron said as I looked at him, "I had witnessed your training with Alumi one day, and to call a chainsaw a 'Revving cunt that can't please its lover in an old life to that it got reborn so that it can be fucked up by the son sea that will make it so that it will turn to fucking slag and then be used for some whore to use as cash,'" Chiron said as I felt my face heat up.
"Percy," Mom said as she looked at me.
"Sorry," I told her as she shook her head, and Hestia smiled at me.
"But the word Paranoid would work better," Chiron said as and as he saw that I was opening my mouth, "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before; I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam," Chiron told me as I remember back.
"Hera's plan to make him a fair ruler with a golden net, right," I asked him as pitchers formed over my eyes, "She wanted him to agree to make sure that he would ask the others, and instead of doing what he wanted he would ask the others first-," I was saying before I suddenly felt like my head was in a vice as Mom, Chiron and Hestia rushed over to me.
"It seems the Fates want you for something," Hestia said as she looked at me as felt my head feel better.
"Correct," Chiron said as he made sure that I was right along with Mr D as they both looked at me, "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since, of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt," Chiron told me as that made sense to me.
"He even took great offence at the accusation," Chrion added as I nodded once more; the sea does not take lightly to threats, "The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war, and with you here, it is the proverbial last straw," Chrion added as I let out a sight as the ground beneath m shook slightly.
I can make earthquakes.
Have to make sure to keep that under control, I told myself as I looked at Chiron, "As you know, I did nothing, but Dad didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he," I asked him.
Chiron sighed but shook his head, "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style; Hermes, yes, Poseidon, no, but the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that," Chiron said as Mom looked at the lake with narrowed eyes and I for some reason felt fear for Dad even thou he was a god, "Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice, that's June twenty-first, ten days from now and your father wants an apology for being called a thief by the same day," Chrion said but Mr D scoffed.
"Father does not know how to apologise," Mr D said as he gulped down his wine for another wine-filled glass, this time a white wine.
"Anyway," Chiron said as he gave Mr D the stink eyes, "I hoped that diplomacy might prevail and that Hera, Demeter, or even Hestia here would make the two brothers see sense," Chiron said as I turned to Hestia.
"Trust me when I say that the ten days was the diplomatic approach," Hestia said before swiping Mr D's wine and downing it, "But that fool of a brother of mine that is called Zeus would not listen to us when we said have Apollo there so that when the questions are asked the truth could come out," She growled looking angry, and this is why I call her Chipmunk Cheeks.
When she's angry, her cheeks puff out like a chipmunk when their cheeks are full of food.
And it was both hilarious and cute to look at.
Chiron winced at what Hestia said, "I see, and if Zeus does not get his way, then it's going to be a war between the sky and the sea," Chiron said as Hestia nodded.
"So bad, right," I asked them as they nodded.
"Very," Hestia said as she looked sad, "Millions will die because Zeus will not see reason, and it will bring the world into chaos," She added.
I said nothing as Mom put a hand on Hestia's shoulder.
"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath," Mr D told me as I looked deep into his purple eyes and saw that he wanted to help me.
It started to rain.
Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.
I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill.
Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me.
I was furious.
"So I have to find the stupid bolt," I growled as the ground shook under me as I glared at the sky, "And return the fucking thing to Zeus," I added, not caring that I just cursed in front of my mother.
"What better peace offering," Chiron said as he eyed me, waiting for me to explode, "Than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus's property," He said as he was ready to run for cover.
"So if Dad and Uncle Hades dose did not have the bolt, then who does," I growled as Chiron, Mom, Grover and Mr D looked shocked by what I said.
"Why do you rule out Hades," Chiron said as he looked at me.
I looked at him as I stopped my earthquake, "Uncle Hades has to deal with death every second, so why would he want something like that," I said as Chiron nodded slowly.
"That is not to forget that Hades and Poseidon get along with each other," Hestia said as Chiron looked over before he looked like something reminded him of something.
"What about the Fury, Hellhound and Minoutar," Grover asked me as I looked at him.
"The Hellhound was summoned," I told him as he nodded, "And I think that the Fury and Minoutar were sent to get me and bring me to Uncle Hades to talk with me about something, and I hope I'm wrong," I told them as everyone's eyes shot wide.
"You don't think a second symbol of power was taken," Mr D said as I nodded grimly.
Mom looked shocked before looking back at the rain, "Who is brave enough to steal two symbols of power from the gods," She asked as no one had the answer.
Chiron looked to Mr D as they had a silent conversation before they looked at me, "Percy, I hope you are wrong, but we need to know, so we will need to know if you are going to accept," Chiron told me.
I took a deep breath before I nodded, "I'll do it," I told them as Grover smiled.
"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said as I saw a hint of regret on his face when he said the word Oracle, "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic, and when you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more," He told me as I nodded and got up and walked into the big house.
I walked up four flights, and the stairs ended under a green trapdoor.
I pulled the cord.
The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.
The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else...a smell I remembered from biology class.
Reptiles.
The smell of snakes.
The attic was filled with stuff from old Greek demigod heroes: armour sands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCES'S ISLE and LAND OF THE AMAZONS.
One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things - severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, and various other parts of monsters.
A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth.
The plaque read: HYDRA HEAD NO.1, WOODSTOCK, NY, 1969.
Sitting on a wooden tripod stool by the window was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy.
Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shrivelled to a husk.
She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair.
The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.
Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty-thousand snakes.
I stood still as the trapdoor behind me slammed shut, but my mind was not on that; it was on what Chiron told me.
Not a single living thing was up here.
So that mean this Oracle was dead, but the spirit was still here.
Or a different spirit.
Inside my head, I heard a voice slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain, "I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of Phoebus Apollo, Slayer of the mighty Python, Aoreoach seeker and ask," The spirit said as I walked over to it.
I had wanted to say, No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom.
But I forced myself to take a deep breath.
The mummy wasn't alive.
She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist.
But its presence didn't feel evil, like Ifit, my demonic maths teacher Mrs Dodds, or even the Minoaur.
It felt like the Three Fates: ancient, powerful and definitely not human.
But not particularly interested in killing me, either.
I got up the courage to ask, "What is to come."
The mist swirled thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with the pickled monster-part jars and into the attic's rafters.
The mist started forming into four people, and as their faces became clear, I saw that they were shaman I had met.
The first was Silva, floating above in the rafters, "You shall go west, and face the god who has turned," The spirit said as it spoke of him.
The next was a tall man with a black foot-long pompadour dressed in a white suit with a purple top, "You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned," The spirit said next.
The next made me clench my fist as I looked at the figure.
It was a man with waist-long dark brown hair, a half-buttoned white shirt with oversized collars and cuffs, "You go from four to six with the children of the dead lord," The spirit said once more before I turned to the last one.
The last one was the man I knew was the twin of the man who came before him.
He was dressed in a black vest, trimmed shorts with an orange lining, and wrap-up sandals, "You shall be betrayed, by the thief in the end," He told me.
The figures began to dissolve.
At first, I was too stunned to say or do anything, but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithered back into the mummy's mouth.
My audience with the Oracle was over.
I shook my shock off, bowed to the mummy, and returned to the others.
"Wel," Chiron asked me as I returned to the others.
I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table, "She said I would retrieve what was stolen," I told them as Mr and Chiron sighed with relief.
Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can, "That's great," Grover said as but his tin can down.
"What else did the Oracle say exactly," Chiron told me as I looked at him.
"I'll tell you the four lines if that's alright," He said as Chiron nodded happily, "You shall go west, and face the god who has turned; that was the first line," I told them as Chrion and Mr D looked at each other before back to me.
"You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned, was the second line," I said as Grover smiled once more, "You go from four to six with the children of the silent lord, third line," I told them as Mr D looked shocked and I heard him mutter silent lord.
"The last line was, you shall be betrayed, by the thief in the end," I said as the smiles that were everyone's faces were washed off.
"So the thief will betray you," Hestia said as she looked off into the camp.
"I do not know, m'lady, but I think that it was the one to summon the Hellhound if we are still removing Hades as the suspect," Chiron said as both Hestia and I nodded.
"Ok then, the first thing is who is the god who has turned," I asked them as no one had the answer.
"If we are thinking logically here," Chrion said after a little while, "Something has been hidden in the underworld, as that is in the west, Los Angeles to be exact," Chiron said as I nodded.
"And for the god that has turned, you would have to think how they were turned," Mr D said as we turned to him, "And if we think that, then the thief is indeed working with a god, but let us hope that it is a minor god who dislikes the rule of the father," Mr D said as we all nodded.
"What about someone who would gain power from this war," I said as Chiron looked at me with Mr D nodding.
But the look on his face told me everything that I needed to know.
"Another thing, the Oracle told him that his part of four will turn to six with the children of the silent lord," Hestia said as she gained a look in her eye before it vanished.
"And while it is unusual for four to be picked, you have to pick three people, Percy," Chiron said as he looked at me, and I looked back with a flat look.
"The first two are Grover and Alumi," I said as Grover whooped for joy, and Mom rolled her eyes.
"So you have two, and it seems another has already volunteered if you will accept her help."
"Gee," I said, feigning surprise, and I heard the grass not that far crunch, "Who would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this," I asked with a dead toan.
The air shimmered behind Chiron.
Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.
Before she could open her mouth, Alumi swooped down from the air and landed next to me, "So, us four will go to the underworld to see if something has been hidden there," Alumi said, stopping Annabeth from talking.
"That is if seaweed brain wants me along," Annabeth said as I looked at her before nodding.
"She's in," I said as I turned to Chiron.
"Excellent," Chiron said, looking over to the man with many eyes, "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan, and after that, you are on your own," He told us grimly.
Lightning flashed.
Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.
"No time to waste," Chiron said as he looked at the weather, "I think you should all get packing," He told us as we all walked off.
While it did not take me long to gather my things, I knew that I could not bring a bokken with me, so I told Hyōrinmaru to stay behind and be the soldier while I was gone and to keep an eye on things in the camp and report to Chiron with anything that seems out of place.
Alumi ensured she had all her totems before she nodded at me as we exited.
As we made our way out of cabin three, we told the kids to listen to Hyōrinmaru before making our way to the camp store, which lent us one hundred dollars and twenty golden drachmas.
These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.
The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chrion told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold.
Chiron said that the coins might come in handy with something called an Iris Message and some other nonmortal transactions - whatever that means.
He gave Annabeth and me each a flask of nectar and an airtight bag of ambrosia squares to be used only in emergencies if we were seriously hurt.
Chiron reminded us that it was the food and drink of the gods.
It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals.
Too much of it would burn us up, literally.
Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored and a long bronze knife hidden in her shirt sleeve.
I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector.
Grover wore his fake feet and trousers to pass as human.
He wore a green rasta-style cap because when it rained, his curly hair flattened, and you could see the tips of his horns.
His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on.
In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.
We waved goodbye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-blood Hill to the tall pine tree that was Thalia, daughter of Zeus.
As I got there, I felt the faint spirit of her.
Chiron waited for us in his wheelchair.
Next to him stood the surfer dude I'd seen when I was recovering in the sick room.
And he was the one with the hundreds of eyes coving his body.
But today, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, and I could only see extra peepers on his hands, feet and neck.
"This is Argus," Chiron told Alumi and me as we looked at the man, "He will drive you into the city and, er, well, keep an eye on things," He joked, hoping to see a smile.
All I heard was a cricket.
I heard footsteps behind us.
Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes, "Hey," He panted as he reached us, "Glad I caught you," Luke said as I looked at the shoes.
Annabeth blushed the way she always did when Luke was around.
"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me, but I still felt something off about him, "And I thought . . . um, maybe you could use these," He said as he handed me the sneakers, which looked pretty normal.
They even smelled kind of normal.
Luke said, "Maia," and white bird's wings sprouted out of the heels and started to flap in my hands, and as Grover and Annabeth looked at them, I saw something dark in Luke's eye.
"Awesome," Grover said with excitement on his face.
The wings folded up and disappeared as Luke smiled at them, "Those served me well when I was on my quest years ago," Luke said as his face lost the smile and he held a dark look, and it seemed that he had hidden the look form most of the people around me, "Gift from Dad, of course, I don't use them much these days...," He told me as he tried to look sad.
But I saw past it, but I expected the gift.
"Thank you," I told him as he smiled at me.
"Listen, Percy, a lot of hopes are riding on you, so just make it back alive," Luke said as he looked uncomfortable, "Kill some monsters for me, okay," He asked me as I nodded.
We shook hands.
Luke patted Grover's head between his horns, then gave a goodbye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out.
After Luke was gone, I told her, "You're hyperventilating."
"Am not," She scoffed as I looked at her.
"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you," Alumi asked her as she walked over.
I could tell she was enjoying the digging into Annabeth.
"Oh...why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy," Annabeth growled at me.
She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road.
Argus followed, jingling his car keys.
I looked back at the shoes and had a sudden bad feeling, "I won't be able to use these, will I," I asked as I looked over to Chiron.
He shook his head, "He meant well, Percy, but taking to the air would not be wise for you," Chiron told me as I looked at Alumi and Grover and got an Idea.
"Hey, Grover, you want a magic item," I asked him as his eyes lit up.
"Me," He asked me.
I nodded, and pretty soon, we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.
Silver Wing even saluted him with his wing.
"Maia," Grover shouted.
He got off the ground alright, but then fell over sideways, so his backpack dragged through the grass.
The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.
"Practice," Chiron called after him as Alumi laughed as she followed him down, "You just need practice," He yelled down to the flying goat man.
"Aaaaa," Grover yelled as he went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.
Alumi was still laughing at him as she descended the hill.
Before I could follow, Chiron caught my arm.
"I should have trained you better, Percy," he said as he looked at me, "If only I had more time, Hercules, Jason - they all got more training," He said, but I smiled at him.
"That's alright," I told him as Undine formed next to me.
Chiron then looked shocked before slapping his head, "What am I thinking," Chiron cried as he reached into his jacket pocket, "I can't let you get away without this," Chiron told me as he pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, and a removable cap.
I looked shocked at the sword as I felt it call to me, and I knew it was the sword he had at the museum.
"Percy, I was given this by your father many years ago and told to keep it for the right moment," Chiron told me as I looked at the pen he handed me.
I removed the cap, and the pen changed to a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs; the blade was shaped like a leaf, and the hilt had an upwards bend to it.
"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told me as I gave a few test swings in the air, and it felt perfect in my hands, "Its name is Anaklusmos," Chiron told me.
"'Riptide,'" I translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.
"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case," Chiron told me as I nodded.
"Is it because it is a weapon forged from divine materials," I asked him as he nodded.
"You got it in one; that sword is made from celestial bronze, forged by the cyclopes, so that means you can use it," Chiron told me as I nodded, "Tempered in the heart of Mount Trna, cooled in the River Lethe, it's deadly to monsters and any other creature from the underworld," Chiron explained to me.
"But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion; they simply are not important enough for the blade to kill," Chrion added but making sure that Alumi was by the car and let out a sigh seeing that she was, "But I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons, you are twice as vulnerable," He told me as I nodded and felt sweat form on the back of my neck.
"Good to know," I told him.
"Now put the cap back on it," Chiron told me as I touched the pen cap to the sword tip, and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again, "If you repeat the same process with the cap, but on the pommel, it will turn into a normal writing pen with celestial bronze ink," Chiron added as I tucked it into my pocket, a little nervous, because I was famous for losing pens in school.
"You can't lose the pen," Chiron said as if he read my mind, "It is enchanted; it will always reappear in your pocket, try it," He told me.
I was wary, but I threw the pen as far as I could down the hill and watched it disappear in the grass.
"Now, it may take a few moments," Chiron said as I looked down the hill, "Now check your pocket," He told me after a few seconds.
And sure enough, the pen was there.
"Okay, that's cool," I admitted as a smile formed on Chiron's face, "And the Mist will hide Riptide," I asked him as he nodded.
"Yes, you read The Iliad," He asked me as I shook my head.
"No, Alumi told me when Spirits, Gods and Monsters elements mix, they create something called Mist that obscures the vision of normal humans," I said as Chiron nodded.
"That is right," Chiron said as I saw pride in his eyes.
I put Riptide back in my pocket.
For the first time, the quest felt real.
I was actually leaving Half-Blood Hill.
I was heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, and not even a cell phone (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one, it would be worse than sending up a flare).
"Good luck Percy, keep a clear head and hold on to your beliefs, and that will get you thou this quest," Chiron told me as I walked down, holding his bow high in salute.
Argus drove us out of the countryside and into western Long Island.
Alumi sat in the passenger seat as Grover and Annabeth sat next to me as if we were regular kids.
"Hey, Percy," Grover said as I turned to him.
"Yea, G man," I asked him.
"What was that thing you and Undine did during Capture the Flag," He asked me.
"It's called Over Soul," I told him as he nodded, "And the basic answer is that it's a metaphysical construct," I told him.
"Metaphysical construct," Annabeth asked me.
"It allows the shaman to integrate a spirit into a medium, allowing them to access the spirit's hopes and dreams and use them as an execution of themself much better than a normal integrate would do," Alumi explained as Annabeth looked interested, "But only elemental or animal spirits have the batter chance for an Over Soul," She added as I rolled my eyes.
"Why is that," Grover asked me.
"It's the ego, you see, goat boy," Silver Wing said as he manifested.
"Ego," Annabeth asked him.
"You humans have big egos that do not see past your physical body and can not easily accept a change in your form," Wing said as Annabeth nodded, "And when a shaman has a medium that the spirit has a connection to, it would be better or the next best thing, something that represents them," Silver Wing added.
"So why was Undine able to your bokken," Annabeth asked me.
I looked at her with a raised brow, "Undine is a spirit of water, and so long as I use something that has a connection to the water, I can use Over Soul with her," I explained.
"Oh," Annabeth said as she then returned to her book, and I rolled my eyes, "Oh and don't think that I hate you," She said as I rolled my eyes one more.
"You don't," I asked her as she looked at me and looked into my eyes, "And don't try the bull with your Mom and my Dad crap as that was not me," I told her as she opened her mouth, but Alumi cut her off.
"And did you know that after talking with Chipmunk Cheeks, we found out that she drugged Percy's old man," Alumi said as Annabeth looked over to the passenger seat.
"Lady Hestia told you that," Grover asked as Annabeth's eyes shot wide; she must not have known about the nickname that Alumi and I had for the goddess.
"Yea, she said that when Dad got back to Olympus, Hestia found a drug that was made by Cerce and was given to him that made him be driven by lust, and Medusa made sure that it was Athena's temple so that she could show Athena hate that she had for her," I told Grover as he winced.
Annabeth said nothing as I saw that the information was slowly trickling into her mind, "So she hates your father because of a misunderstanding," Annabeth asked me, and as I nodded, she looked down, "Where is the wisdom in that," She asked with a quiet voice.
"It's not what you think," I said as Annabeth looked over at me, "I think that it has something to do with my half-brother," I told her as she looked confused before she looked like she was going through my family line.
"Triton," Annabeth asked as I nodded as we fell quiet once more.
In the diver seat, Argus smiled.
He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at me.
Traffic slowed us down in Queens.
By the time we got into Manhattan, it was sunset and starting to rain.
Argus dropped us at the Upper East Side Greyhound Station, not far from home.
Argus unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, and then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.
We got restless waiting for the bus as Alumi pulled out an apple and started to play some Hacky Sack.
She then passed it to Annabeth, who was unbelievable.
She could bounce the apple off her knee, elbow, shoulder, whatever.
I wasn't too bad myself.
The game ended when I tossed the apple toward Grover, and it got too close to his mouth.
In one mega goat bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared — core, stem, and all.
Grover blushed.
He tried to apologize, but Annabeth, Aluymi and I were too busy cracking up.
Finally, the bus came.
I tossed the second apple I held towards Annabeth, who caught it at the last second as it came close to hitting her face.
And for some reason, her face became red, and Alumi smiled; that frightened me to Hades.
"Game time," I told them as Alumi stopped me, so I pulled up my arm with the prayer beads and started muttering under her breath; as my beads glowed slightly before the light faded, and all three of us walked on.
As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favourite school cafeteria delicacy — enchiladas. "What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know," He said tensely.
He was about to say more, but Alumi cut him off, "Keep an eye out," She told us as we both nodded, and I got ready to keep out things save in a shadow.
You see, when we got on the bus, sat at the back together, and we had stowed our backpacks, I went thou two hand movements called hand seals.
The first seal was I laid my left hand's fingers on top of my right and had my thumbs toughing before my right hand made a fist while the left was flat on my knuckles.
I felt my shadow stretch out to the places that held our backpacks as Alumi nodded at me.
Annabeth Keot slapped her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh, and as the last passengers got on, Annabeth clapped her hand onto my knee, "Percy," She told me as I looked over.
It was an old lady who had just boarded the bus.
She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face and carried a big paisley purse.
Her black eyes glittered when she tilted her head up, and my eyes narrowed.
It was Mrs Dodds.
Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face.
But there was something different about her other than the look.
It was the fact that she was looking around.
I scrunched down in my seat.
Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat.
Otherwise, they looked exactly like Mrs Dodds — same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses.
Triplet demon grandmothers.
But like Mrs Dodds was looking around.
"They can't see or smell me," I said quietly as Alumi cursed under her breath.
"The protection on the beads must be going like it did a few years," Alumi said as I nodded.
I bet you're wondering about that.
Silva contacted someone before he died and made prayer beads that hide my demigod smell.
But because I have the Cused Blue Flames always under my skin, the blessing that allows me to be unseen and the curse that is the flames fight each other, and the blessing weakens over time and has us to replace it.
"How long do we have," Gover asked as he looked at Mrs Dodds with nervous eyes.
I looked down at the prayer beads, seeing that they were almost black instead of the green they should be, "Half an hour," I told him as Alumi swore once more.
"So we have half an hour before the Furys, all three of them, and the worst monsters in the Underworld attack us," Annabeth said as I could see a plan forming in her eyes, "Back windows," Annabeth asked as Gover checked but shook his head.
"They don't open," Grover moaned as Alumi got ready for a fight.
Annabeth looked nearby before she shook her head, "No back exit either," She muttered as I got Riptide ready.
But it would not have mattered as when we got into the traffic; our time was up.
I that when the beads turned entirely black, Mrs Dodds's head shot up and turned to me, and it looked like it was the first time she saw me and turned to the other two old ladies that were with her, and they looked over to me as well.
By that time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel things happened.
The three of them talked as the four of us did the same, "Percy take my hat," Annabeth told me as I looked at her, shocked.
"What," I asked her as we were almost at the Lincoln Tunnel, "I'm not leaving you three," I told her as she looked at me.
"There's a chance that they are only after you, and f you disappear, they will leave the three of us alone," Annabeth said as I gritted my teeth and looked at Grover and Alumi, who nodded.
My hands trembled.
I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees cap and put it on.
When I looked down, my body wasn't there anymore.
I started creeping up the aisle, and simultaneously, the demonic grandmothers decided to make their way to the back.
I managed to get up ten rows, then duck into an empty seat just as the Furies walked past.
Mrs Dodds stopped, sniffing and looked straight at me.
I got ready to attack, but apparently, she didn't see anything.
She and her sisters kept going.
I was free.
I made it to the front of the bus.
I was about to press the emergency stop button when I heard wailing and screaming from the back of the bus.
I turned to look and found that the Furies had returned to their normal form, with leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and claws from hands and feet while their handbags turned into firey whips.
And with the people cowing and screaming, it seemed that the Furies did not want to hide who they were.
"He's not here," Annabeth yelled at the demon woman who snarled at her, "He's gone," She added as the Furies raised their fire whips.
Annabeth drew her bronze knife.
Alumi pilled out her Patch Handcraft Knife, which had some celestial bronze on the edge.
Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.
What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should've been named ADHD poster child of the year.
The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was happening in his rearview mirror.
Still invisible, I grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left.
Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I hoped was the sound of three Furies smashing against the windows. "Hey," The driver yelled as he tried to control the bus, "Hey— whoa."
We wrestled for the wheel.
The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal and throwing sparks a mile behind us.
I then heard a cheer from behind me, along with the sound of a monster disintegrating as I looked to see one of Mrs Dodds's sisters turned to golden dust.
I turned to see that it was Alumi that killed the Fury.
I turned back to the road just as we careened out of the Lincon Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars ploughed aside like bowling pins.
It seems that the diver found the exit.
We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barrelling down one of these New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York.
There were woods to our left, the Hudson River to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.
Another great idea: I hit the emergency brake.
The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees.
The emergency lights came on.
The door flew open.
The bus driver was the first one out, don't worry, I got his name so he can get reported, with the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him.
I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.
The two remaining Furies regained their balance.
They lashed their hips at Annabeth, but Alumi was in front of her with Silver Sheild in an Over Soul on her arm, as the whip did nothing while Annabeth waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to get back.
Grover thre in cans.
Forgetting about the open door, I pulled off Annabeth's hat as I uncapped Riptide and held my hand out as Undine formed next to me.
"Hey," I yelled out as the Furies turned to me as I integrated Undine with Riptide, "O.S. Sword of Fathoms AS," I said as barnacles formed on both sides of the flat of the sword with water constantly dripping out of the barnacles onto my hand.
As she used to do in class, Mrs Doods stalked up the aisle, about to deliver my F- maths test.
They don't even exist.
She flicked her whip, and the flames danced across the barbed leather.
Her ugly sister hopped on top of the seat on her right side and crawled towards me like a huge nasty lizard.
"Perseus Jackson," Mrs Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia, "You have offended the gods; you shall die," She told me as I raised a brow at her.
"I liked you better as a math teacher," I told her.
She growled.
Annabeth, Alumi and Grover cautiously moved up behind the Furies, looking for an opening.
"Submit now," she hissed as I eyed up the whip in her hands, "And you will not suffer eternal torment," She added with something akin to a smile.
"Nice try," I told her as her smile became a snarl.
"Percy, look out," Annabeth cried as Mrs Dodds lashed her whip around my sword hand while Mrs Dodds's sister lunged at me as Mrs Doods lashed her whip around my sword hand.
But thanks to the water constantly dripping from the Over Soul, I did not feel the heat as I stuck the lunging Fury with the hilt of my sword and somehow managed to pull the whip out of Mrs Dodds's hand.
Mrs Dodds stumed forward as I took hold of the whip's handle; as it landed in my hand before slashing at the Fury that I knocked down, she screamed and exploded into dust.
Annabeth got Mrs Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backwards while Alumi got her knife ready.
She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs Dodds's legs tied up with some of the seatbelts of the bus.
"Zeus will destroy you," She promised me as her eyes locked onto mine, "Hades will have your soul, you filthy shaman," She yelled.
"Braccas meas vescimini," I yelled back at her, not knowing where the Latin came from.
I know it meant, "Eat my pants," Thunder shook the bus.
The hair rose on the back of my neck.
It seems that my uncle is being a petty bitch.
"Get out," Annabeth yelled at us as we ran out, but Alumi Mrs Dodds thought, "Now," She cried as if I did not need any encouragement.
On the way out, I managed to recap Riptide as we made it out with the other passengers.
A Hawaiian-shirted tourist grumped that he could not take a picture as the other passengers argued with the driver or ran around in circles, yelling, "We're going to die."
"Our bags," Grover said, but Alumi stopped him.
"Percy got them," She said, but before she could explain.
BOOOOOM.
The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover.
Lightning shredded a massive crater in the roof.
"Run," Annabeth said as I nodded.
I did not want to become an open target for my trigger and lightning-happy uncle.
We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, and nothing but darkness ahead.