The sea does not like to be restrained; Poseidon once told Percy.
Percy fully agrees with him, and not just because it gives him a terribly convenient excuse for his own questionable behavior. He is his mom's son and a good son, disappointing his mom is the last thing he wants to do, but he is also his father's child and disaster follows divinity like the tide follows the moon.
Which is to say, he attributes all his best qualities to his mom and the worst ones to his father.
Well, he's not sure which parent to pin this situation with.
On one hand, he did punch an upperclassman flat on their ass. On the other hand, said upperclassman was being a total douche to the scrawny boy with the playing cards and, hey, he's been there before with his own Pokémon cards. When Percy was that age, he wished for someone to stand up for him.
So, point for being a decent person. Still, violence should not be his first instinct.
Through a swelling cheek, "You piece of shit, just wait until Ms. Gottschalk hears about this."
Sure, not ideal, but Percy has been threatened by things far worse than—
"She'll call your mom and get you expelled"
Percy actually feels his knees wobble.
His mom's disappointed yet patient face is a far more potent poison than the Pit Scorpion venom Luke sicked on him after his first year at camp.
He takes a breath, concentrates, and snaps his fingers three times. A breeze seems to flow out his hand, and the sound echoes through the hallway, "You don't need to tell Ms. Gottschalk anything."
Glassy eyes stare back, "I don't need to tell Ms. Gottschalk anything."
"You fell and hurt yourself, and I helped you up."
"I fell and hurt myself, you helped me up."
"You can go about your business, you're welcome."
"I can go about my business, thank you."
"Remember to put some ice on that wound."
"I've got to put some ice on my wound."
"Move along," Percy smiles.
"Move along," the boy blinks, his eyes clearer, and heads down a hall that Percy presumes will take the boy to his dorm.
Crisis averted, thank you Chiron.
"How did you do that!"
Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
Dark, wide eyes stare at him and Percy finds himself unnerved. This little boy's stare is intense.
Still, a clear mind and directive is what Chiron told him he needed to have before he manipulated the Mist on someone.
He snaps three times again, "Forget you saw anything."
Pitch-black eyes stare back, confusion clear as day.
"Why would I forget, that was awesome! How did you make him do that? Can you teach me? Are you a magician? Did you use some kind of hypnosis on him? He wasn't asleep, so maybe it wasn't hypnosis. Do you need to be asleep to do hypnosis? If I could do that, I'd give myself A's on all my spelling tests. Can you tell me? Or can you at least make my teacher give me A's? I'd really appreciate it, my sister would be so proud of me for getting my grades up."
Baffled, Percy can barely manage to handle himself against the Gatling gun that is this kid's mouth. A magician? That's ridiculous. Although, he can totally relate to wanting better grades, especially on spelling tests. Especially wanting a family member proud of you. The kid's got his priorities straight, Percy will give him that.
"Plus, I could totally use that to get more Mythomagic cards for free from the student store."
Right, still a kid.
"Uh," Percy expels intelligently.
Percy tries again, same three snaps, the same echo, the same breeze, "Forget that you saw me here."
The boy is frowning now, "Why would I do that? You were so cool!"
He's looking at Percy like he's the second coming, and just because Percy can walk on water doesn't mean he's okay with it.
Pushing that to the side, Percy is legitimately confused. He is sure he did everything he was supposed to, so why is this hyperactive kid not affected?
"Nico!" A new voice breaks his befuddlement, and Percy thinks Annabeth would be proud of his verbiage.
"Bianca!" The newly anointed Nico calls out to the newly identified Bianca.
A Bianca who is manhandling Nico in a strikingly familiar way, actually.
Oh, and now Nico's ear is being pulled on. In the duo, Percy sees a reflection he did not expect to see.
Percy resolves to IM his mom and tell her how much he loves her as soon as he fixes his current situation.
"Hi," Percy cuts in, partially to draw Bianca's attention and partially to offer some reprieve to poor Nico since he's been in that position before, "my name is Percy." And because his mother did not raise a cretin, "It's nice to meet you."
Bianca finally fixes her attention on him, shockingly dark eyes from underneath an oversized, floppy green hat gaze back suspiciously. Her hands are firmly set on Nico's shoulders the way his own mother used to do when they would walk the crowded streets of New York against tourists. Percy suddenly becomes aware of the fact Nico and Bianca are ever so slightly leaning away. Or rather, Bianca is, Nico is trapped under her iron grip and is forced to follow.
"Thanks for your help, Percy! You were so cool, are you going to teach me that trick now? We can go to my room if you'd like!"
Shockingly dark eyes pierce him like a sword, accusation clear as day emanates from Bianca's eyes.
Damage control. Damage control, Percy. Fix this, now! Bianca is looking like she'll call the cops any second now Percy!
"It's not what you think," he directs this to Bianca, and he wants to say more but the whole situation is just so out of his comfort zone and area of expertise. His skills center more around the sea, monster killing, skateboarding, and a respectably top-5 high score at Galaga at his local arcade. Almost exclusively in that order.
Whatever this interaction is? Not even close.
Mercifully, some type of god must be looking out for him because he hears the most beautiful voice in the world interfere.
"Peeerrcyyy! There you are, man!"
Grover, the best friend in the entire world, enters stage right.
Thank you, Pan, wherever you are.
"Percy, I've been looking everywhere for you! C'mon, they've got enchiladas in the cafeteria, and I don't want to miss..."
Clearly, Grover must understand the severity of his situation because even the mention of lauded enchiladas and all their gravitas falls limply out of his best friend's lips. Percy wonders what the scenario must look like from Grover's perspective, as Bianca is clearly looking ready to bolt any second. If it was anyone else, Percy would have the foreign fear of being considered the bully in the situation. Thankfully he knows Grover would never think the worst of him.
Grover sniffs, eyes wide and looking like a goat caught in the headlights of a speeding monster truck. And since it seems like this is one of the odd moments in the Grover-and-Percy-Power-Hour (patent pending) they aren't able to come to the rescue for each other.
You would think staring down the Lord of the Dead on a perilous quest to the Underworld and coming out relatively unscathed would do wonders for one's self-esteem and composure.
Well, a monster truck of shock might lose to a trainwreck of nerves. A thought experiment for Annabeth when they see each other this summer.
As his savior is lacking in the saving department, might as well wrestle some control of the situation. Grover is staring creepily at both kids and even Percy is becoming unnerved at his best friend.
What was it Chiron said? "He that fights and runs away, may turn and fight another day; but he that is in battle slain, will never rise to fight again."
Percy is all about Stayin' Alive, Bee Gee's be praised.
"Let's go, Grover, I can hear those enchiladas calling out to me too."
Dragging Grover by the arm, he hauls ass out of the situation and gets as far away from the girl with the solidly penetrating gaze and the boy with the youthful exuberance Percy is pretty sure he never had.
Grover is stammering as Percy drags him away, and a quick look down confirms his suspicions of Grover's heels digging into the floor, but demigod strength is no joke and Percy only releases Grover when he sees the double doors that lead to the cafeteria.
"Dude, what was that?"
Grover's chin is quivering, a nervous habit Percy is familiar with since he's been the cause of roughly 75% of that quivering. "What's wrong Grover? You're freaking me out, man."
"Those kids smelled off, Percy."
Now his adrenaline is spiking. Grover is a satyr, and they have heightened senses of smell that allows them to find awesome lifelong friends like Percy, or bloodthirsty monsters who want to skin you alive.
"Monsters?" Percy whispers as they get in line for food.
"No. They smell like the underground, but not exactly like monsters."
Often Percy wondered about the nature of sniffing out demigods. Monsters and other divine creatures often told Percy they could smell him, and yet no matter how many New Car Scent Little Trees he bought and stuffed in his pockets, or how much of his mom's perfume he used, it never helped to get rid of his 'demigod scent.'
"So, they're demigods?"
"Probably," Grover admits, "but scents spread. I need to make sure its them, and if it's not, we need to follow them to find the actual source of the smell."
Percy already has a rap sheet a mile long, what's another count of stalking? Anything for a friend, especially in the interest of protecting a fellow demigod.
"Okay, so what's the plan?"
Grover was the one who found him when he was twelve, Grover is a trained Seeker with an impressive record of finding and guiding two children of the Greek Big Three, so Percy is confident in following Grover's direction.
Grover stands slightly straighter, not even marginally distracted by the chunk of enchilada the lunch lady dropped on his plate. Percy would shed a manly tear of pride in the privacy of his mind for Grover.
Grover smiles, "Let's go make some new friends."