Answers to reviews:

Valkoor123113 : Hmm, I'll think about it.

Heban: Thanks.

sniperbro1998: Well, Vergil might not show up for quite a while. This is happening as Devil May Cry 4 is happening, so Vergil is believed to be dead and won't reappear until Devil May Cry 5.

Arch-Angel-Writer: Well, I've brought it back.

Azure Dragon of the East: No.

chanteholland807: Here you go.

ayatoamagiri3425: Thanks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Devil May Cry or Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I only own the OPC Damian Redgrave.

A 14-year old Damian Redgrave exhaled as he leaned against the bus window, leaning his cheek into his left fist while watching people, cars and buildings pass by as the bus took him and his classmates to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of a field trip.

Damian Redgrave had truly grown into a fine young man, had his father's white hair that he kept in a faux-hawk like style, was dressed in a black shirt with a silhouette of a wolf howling before the moon on the front, dark blue jeans, black converse, and a stylish black jacket.

It had been quite a life growing up for Damian, being the son of an expert Demon Hunter who demons wanted to kill or feared, the only annoying side of Damian's life was the fact that he was dyslexic meaning he had difficulty learning things from books and trouble reading since the words would just jumble around in his brain. Not only that but he had ADHD, basically meaning he could not keep still, but he mainly blamed that on his instincts as a Demon Hunter.

Of course, Damian began his training when he was young after demons attacked him at a school. Dante taught Damian how to fight in hand-to-hand combat, how to wield a sword, how to fire a gun, and Damian found himself taking a little much after his old man.

He wielded a sword and carried two guns when it came to their job as Demon Hunters.

It wasn't just Dante who helped train Damian, there was also Damian's adoptive aunts, Trish and Lady. Most of the time, they'd get onto Dante for trying to teach Damian something he wasn't ready for, leading to either an argument or them taking over for a bit and then Dante would continue the training from there. It was how the family dynamic went, playful arguing and fighting, Damian taunting his old man as he grew a mouth on him growing up...

To be fair, his father was Dante, so of course he was going to get his attitude among other things.

There was one thing that Damian hesitated to bring up once to his father before he did so one day... and that was his mother. He couldn't remember much of her, but he could faintly remember seeing silver eyes like his own staring at him lovingly with motherly love. He had asked his father about his mother once, which caused Dante's expression to sadden and say she had to go away due to some family business that needed her attention.

Dante assured his son that she didn't leave because of Damian, or because they had a falling out, and he promised that one day he will see her. Damian knew his father well enough to know he was telling the truth and looked forward to that day... whenever it is.

After he turned fourteen, Damian was enrolled into Yancy Academy by his father and the junior Demon Hunter found himself sharing a dorm with two other boys, which annoyed him a little because he couldn't display his guns or sword which he had to keep hidden at all times unless absolutely necessary.

When Damian met the two boys he would be sharing a dorm with, he befriended them quite easily and quickly. Their names were Percy Jackson and Grover Underwood, and he got along with them brilliantly. Percy was only twelve, two years younger than him, and had black hair and sea green eyes.

Like himself, Percy also had Dyslexia and ADHD which the son of Dante felt was quite the coincidence but if there's one thing he knew it's there were no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidence.

Anyway, Damian and Percy got along and became quick friends, sharing a mutual dislike for school, plus Damian was more of a rebel than Percy as he sometimes talked back to teachers, was a little cocky at times (Which isn't a surprise given who his father is), sometimes he showed off and taunted demons. However, he could also be focused and reasonable.

Dante often said he was like his mother in that regard.

Then there was Grover Underwood, who Damian had to admit did not look like a twelve year old. He looked the same age as him but Grover just said he had trouble in school and was redoing seventh grade. Damian didn't think much of it so he just shrugged it off. Grover had Caucasian skin colour with curly short curly brown hair and brown eyes. But unfortunately his legs were crippled when he was little so he had to have crutches to help him walk. Yet that never stopped him when enchilada day came at the school cafeteria. He could not move any quicker.

Not only that, but Damian's heightened senses, such as his good sense of smell, he was able to pick up the smell of goat from Grover while Percy strangely smelled like the sea. He had been confused at first, but shrugged it off, believing they wore some kind of deodorant.

Hell, his father uses that Lynx bullshit and it made Damian's nose wrinkle every time he picked up on it.

With the three sharing a dorm, they soon became inseparable. Damian talked a little bit about his life, not mentioning the part about hunting demons or being a quarter demon himself thanks to his father. He only said it was just him, his dad and his adoptive aunts.

Damian had also been introduced and became fast friends with Percy's mother, Sally Jackson, who he met last Christmas when Damian had to stay over at the Jacksons due to his father going out for a job and Trish & Lady were on the other side of the country at the time, so Damian asked Percy who said it was okay after he spoke with his mother about it.

Sally was an amazing woman, and she made quite a delicious set of cookies, though Damian could never understand Percy's obsession with them being blue. Of course, being in the Jackson household introduced Damian to Percy's stepfather, Gabe Ugliano.

Damian despised him as soon as he looked at him, and it was vice versa.

Anyway, right now Damian was on a field trip with Percy and Grover, going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.

It sounded like torture, but most Yancy Academy field trips were like that. However, Damian had always found the Greek/Roman mythology stuff quite interesting after his dad made him read books about it, and they even watched a couple of films and TV shows involving legendary Greek heroes like Perseus from Clash of the Titans and Hercules from the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys TV show.

There was also Xena: Warrior Princess, and Damian could honestly admit he was interested in girls after watching Xena.

Back to the present, the trip was being led by a man named Mr. Brunner, who was Damian's Latin teacher.

Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let the students play games in class. He also had a awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put Damian or Percy to sleep.

However, something about him made Damian put his guard up. His father always told him to never ignore his instincts, for demons can easily hide in human skin but they always shred them when they smell the blood of Sparda.

And although Mr. Brunner didn't smell like a demon, that did not stop Damian from being wary of the man. After all, he just appeared one day, took over the Latin class and had quite an interest in both Percy and Damian. At first it was only Percy but after a couple of days and a lot of staring at Damian, he began to take an interest in him too.

"I'm bored." Damian sighed as he lightly hit his head against the window.

Percy snorted in amusement next to him. "You're always bored unless there's something interesting going on. Aren't you the one who was quite interested when we learned we'd be going to check out stuff on gods?"

"Yes, but we're on a bus in New York City... and New York's always got it's traffic problems." Damian reminded with a look. "Being on a bus for so damn long... it's annoying and making me bored out of my mind. All I see is people, cars, buildings, rinse and repeat. And when I look on this bus, I see idiots... and Nancy Boba Fett-"

"Bobofit." Percy corrected.

"Whatever her name is." Damian waved him off. "And she's a whole different category of idiocy on her own. Girl needs to work on her hygiene as well. And maybe get the dentist to work on those teeth. She smiles at someone, they'll blow themselves up or something."

Percy snorted. "Like being struck by a lightning bolt of realization."

Damian chuckled before he mock gasped. "Oh my God, this girl is so damn ugly!"

The two boys laughed.

"Guys, don't joke about that!" Grover said in a panicky voice, causing the two to stare at him incredulously. Lately, Grover had been quite panicky a lot. He was either worried about something or he kept drinking way to much coffee.

"Grov, you need to chill and relax." Damian said, leaning back and casually folding his arms behind his head while putting his feet up to press against the seat in front of him. "You act like someone's about to commit murder."

The bus soon arrived at it's destination, which caused Damian to let out a 'finally' before he hopped off the bus with Percy and Grover, whistling in amazement as he stared at the big building that was a museum.

"It's big... but I hear the Smithsonian in Washington is bigger." Damian remarked.

Mr. Brunner, who had managed to get off the bus and into his wheelchair, addressed the students. "Come along, everyone. And stick close. Don't want any of you getting into trouble for wondering off now, do we?" He glanced at Damian and Percy as he said this.

Damian frowned and turned to his friend. "Why did it sound like he was addressing us directly?"

"Well, trouble has a habit of following me and you have a mouth on you." Percy said with a shrug and a small smirk.

Damian snorted. "Says the one who caused his class to take an unplanned swim into a empty shark pool when he was in fourth-grade."

The class made their way into the museum as they walked past the giant pillars at the front of the museum and Damian couldn't help but notice how much Mr. Brunner and surprisingly Grover's face lit up when they saw all the Greek and Roman artefacts.

The first stop on the little tour was to look at a bronze chariot that was enlaced with Ivory. Mr. Brunner went on to explain how the chariot was used and that it was supposedly created by the Greek Gods Athena and Poseidon. Apparently it was Athena who created the chariot but it was Poseidon who supplied the horses.

"Imagine racing around Times Square or Central Park in those." Damian whispered to Percy, who snorted and grinned.

"It would be fun and dangerous." He pointed out, still grinning.

"Exactly." Damian nodded, like that was the lesson to learn, which made Percy chuckle.

Grover, who heard them, looked at them with wide eyes before sighing and shaking his head. 'Gods, those two are going to be the death of me.'

The tour continued with them passing many depictions of stories from Greek mythology, as well as statues of the Greek Gods. Depictions such as Jason and the Argonauts sailing across the ocean, the battle of Troy that was part of the ten-year long Trojan War, the Labours of Hercules with him fending off the Nemean Lion that he eventually used as a cloak.

However, one caught Damian's attention the most and that was the one of Hercules in his third Labour, where he had to capture the Ceryneian Hind, a sacred animal that belonged to Artemis, the Goddess of the Moon and technically Hercules' half-sister given their father was Zeus, the King of the Greek Gods. Damian stared at the image, feeling a surge of anger just as Artemis was described to have when she discovered what Hercules had done, but the demigod had begged the Goddess of the Moon for forgiveness and explained himself, which allowed Artemis to let him go.

Damian didn't know if that was the true story as there was many versions to each of them, but he did know that the Hind escaped in the end to go back to Artemis, and Hercules passed his third Labour.

They scanned through the other labours which included defeating the Erymanthian Boar, Capture the Cretan Bulls, Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons and the rest.

The two moved on from their spot and they walked into a giant room at the centre of the Museum with Mr. Brunner wheeling himself over towards a shrine of sorts.

He gathered all of the students around a thirteen – foot - tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling everyone how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about their age. Damian, Grover and Percy somehow found themselves at the front of the class instead of the back where they usually remain and had to look interested in what Mr Brunner was saying.

Mr. Brunner began to explain what the carvings on the sides meant and actually managed to catch both Damian and Percy's attention because it was actually kind of interesting, but yet everyone else around them was talking and having their own conversations.

Yet when Percy or Damian told them to shut it, they got the evil eye from Mrs Dodds.

Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when the last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.

From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured Percy was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at him and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and Percy knew he was going to get after-school detention for a month.

Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.

Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and Percy finally had enough as he turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"

It came out louder than he meant it to.

The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.

"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"

Percy's face was totally red. He said, "No, sir."

Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele, one depicting a giant man sitting in some kind of chair, a child in hand and his mouth open. It was the picture of when Kronos, the King of the Titans, swallowed five of his six children. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"

Percy looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because he actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"

"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because..."

"Well..." Percy racked his brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"

"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.

"Titan," Percy corrected quickly. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"

"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind Damian.

"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," Percy continued, "and the gods won."

"Correct, Mr. Jackson." Mr. Brunner nodded, pleased. "And afterwards, the world was ruled by the Twelve Olympian Gods, with the most powerful being Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The Big Three. On many occasions, the gods would come down to Earth and... how should I put this?"

"Hooked up because they can't keep it in their pants or know how to pull out." Damian said casually, causing a round of laughter from everyone, including Mr. Brunner and Mrs. Dodds.

"That's a... pretty accurate way to put it, Mr. Redgrave." Mr. Brunner chuckled. "And of course, this led to the birth of the gods' children. Do you know the term for these children, Mr. Redgrave?"

"Half-bloods, or demigods." Damian said. "Half mortal, half god."

"Good. Can you name some of these demigods?" Mr. Brunner asked him again.

"There's Hercules and Perseus, both sons of Zeus, Dionysus before he was made the god of wine. There was also Theseus, son of Poseidon."

"Excellent, I see someone knows their mythology." Mr. Brunner said with a pleased smile.

However they heard snickers coming from the class behind them and Nancy Bobofit saying, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids or name a demigod."

"And why, Mr. Redgrave," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

Damian frowned. That was a good question, but he didn't know the meaning of it nor what kind of question that was, nor did he have an answer to it.

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"Mr. Jackson, how about you?" The Latin teacher looked at the sea green-eyed boy but got the same answer. Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "I see. Well, half credit to both Mr. Jackson and Mr. Redgrave. And to finish the story, Mr. Jackson, Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"

The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.

'Men...' Damian shook his head before he blinked. 'The hell did that come from?'

He shook it off and looked around for Percy, but saw him talking to Mr. Brunner so figured he'd meet him outside.

As they got halfway down the hallway, there was a small split in the side of one of the walls that led into another room. Curiosity getting the better of him, Damian walked in and looked at what was there.

When he entered he stopped and marvelled at the sight of a well preserved Greek statue that was stood in the centre of the room.

The statue was of a woman who wore a dress that stopped just above the knees, was barefoot and her hair was in a sort of bun. She carried a bow in one hand and a arrow in another. a quick of arrows strapped to her back. And at her side was a wolf.

Damian tilted his head as he stared at the statue. He could tell, from the features of the woman, that she was incredibly beautiful but he was not sure who she was. Looking at the name on the plaque, Damian frowned and cursed when he was unable to make the words out thanks to his dyslexia.

"Artemis." A voice said behind him, causing the junior Demon Hunter to turn in surprise and see Mr. Brunner wheeling into the room. "The Goddess of the Moon, Hunt, Childbirth, Archery, Maidenhood and Wilderness. One of the three Virgin Goddesses next to her sister Athena and their aunt Hestia."

"I'm sorry for straying from the group, but I saw this room and I..." Damian looked back at the statue of Artemis. "I couldn't help but be drawn to it."

Mr. Brunner stared at him as if trying to figure him out, or something out about him, before he shook his head. "That's quite alright, my boy. It is good to see a young man like yourself interested in history. And quite an interesting Goddess to be interested in, given she is known to hate men."

"Because of something that happened between her and a man named Orion, right?" Damian asked, looking at the Latin teacher.

Mr. Brunner shrugged. "Well, there's been quite a few different versions of the story. Some say Orion was Artemis' lover, and his death pained her so much she wore an oath to remain a virgin and never show romantic interest in men. Other stories say she mistook him for an animal and killed him, or that she was tricked into killing him by her brother, Apollo. And one even says Orion betrayed her, killed or raped some of her Hunters. Others say she never loved Orion to begin with, that she had sworn her oath long before she met him. Only one who could tell us the true story is Artemis herself."

"You say that like she's real, but she isn't." Damian said with a snort of amusement.

"Oh, all stories have a form of truth to them." Mr. Brunner said with a wink. "Besides, where do you think the stories come from? So maybe, thousands of years ago, the Greek gods did exist at some point in ancient times. Now, it is lunch and I'm sure your friends are wondering where you are."

Damian nodded and followed the man, but couldn't help but take another glance back at the statue of Artemis. He shook his head and then followed Mr. Brunner out of the room.

The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where they could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.

Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than any Damian had ever seen over the city. Damian had to admit, the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. They've had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes.

Damian jokingly wondered if the Apocalypse had come, that this was a sign of the Four Horsemen, or the Almighty Himself was just angry. He wasn't religious, he was just being joking after all. it's ironic, he wasn't religious and yet he slayed demons that clearly came from Hell... yet they call it the Demon World.

Anyway, nobody else seemed to notice the strange weather. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers, which made Damian shake his head at how humanity can abuse Earth's little creatures. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.

Damian, Grover and Percy sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. They thought that maybe if they did that, everybody wouldn't know they were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.

Seeing Nancy Bobofit trying to steal, Damian picked up a stone and tested it with a toss in the air and caught it. Smirking, he threw it with amazing speed and watched as it struck Nancy right in one of her ass cheeks.

"Ow!" The girl squeaked and looked around for whoever threw that, while Damian acted like nothing had happened.

"Nice one." Percy whispered to the white-haired teen.

"I do try." Damian said with a smirk. "So, what did Mr. Brunner want you for?"

"Detention again?" Grover asked knowingly.

"Nah," Percy said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."

"Well, you're not Sherlock." Damian shrugged, causing his friend to punch him in the shoulder.

Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when Percy thought he was going to give him some deep philosophical comment to make him feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"

Damian raised an eyebrow. "There's something called the magic word."

Grover shot him a look even as Percy handed him the apple.

Damian looked around while taking a bite out of his sandwich, raising an eyebrow when he saw Mr. Brunner had parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.

'That's handy, I suppose.' Damian thought, putting his sandwich down to grab his water bottle when he noticed Nancy Bobofit approaching with her equally as ugly friends. "Oh bloody hell..."

Before anything could be said, Nancy had dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.

"Oops." She grinned with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.

Percy looked ready to do something but Damian held him down with a hand on his shoulder. "Don't. you've gotten into enough trouble, you don't need this being added to the rep sheet because of her. She'll get what she deserves, don't worry."

Percy, who did not look very convinced, sat back down but his eyes didn't look away from Nancy Bobofit.

That's when something very unexplained happened.

As Damian was sitting down, Nancy suddenly fell into the water fountain making a loud and audible splash which caught the attention of everyone, including the teachers with Mrs Dodds making her way over.

Damian blinked, wondering what the hell just happened. He sure so sure that, out the corner of his eye, he saw tentacles made of water reach out and pull Nancy into the fountain. Looking at Percy, he could tell Percy was just as confused and didn't know what was going on.

"Percy pushed me!" Nancy screamed.

Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"

"—the water—"

"—like it grabbed her—"

As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on Percy. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if he'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"

"I know," Percy grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."

That wasn't the right thing to say.

"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.

"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."

Damian looked at him with a small frown while Percy stared at him, stunned. He couldn't believe he was trying to cover for him. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.

She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.

"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.

"But—"

"You—will—stay—here."

Grover looked at Percy desperately.

"It's okay, man," Percy told him. "Thanks for trying."

"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at him. "Now."

Damian and Grover watched as Percy followed Mrs. Dodds back into the museum, which made Damian wonder why she was taking him inside the building when the other teachers were around. He turned to Grover.

"Why were you trying to take the fall? We all know you were sitting down." Damian said with slightly narrowed eyes.

"I... I..." Grover stuttered as he tried to think of something to say while Damian stared at him, raising an eyebrow to him. "W-Well, wouldn't you have tried to take the fall for him?! He's gotten into enough trouble, remember!"

"Yes, but you were sitting down in plain view of everyone, so there's no way you could've gotten up and pushed her and she didn't see you." Damian pointed out, causing Grover to look a little more nervous. Damian shook his head. "Nevermind I'm going to go to the bathroom then I'm going to find Percy... maybe tell Mrs. Dodds to piss off."

"Wait-!" Grover started but Damian was already making his way towards the museum. Grover groaned before he looked over to Mr. Brunner, trying to get his attention.

"Why can there not be a map of these places in every floor, in every room, showing where everything is?" Damian grumbled as he walked through the corridors and hallways of the museum, trying to find the bathroom but it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack because there was no map or sign to point him to the bathroom.

He sighed, about to give up when he heard a scream come from down the hall causing him to halt in his tracks.

"Oh, I'd know that girly scream anywhere!" Damian said and rushed off in the direction the scream came from. "Percy!"

He came to the Greek and Roman section of the museum, and found Percy being attacked by some kind of demon. It's eyes glowed like barbecue coals. It's fingers were long enough to be talons. It had large, leathery wings. It was some kind of bat demon with huge bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs.

'Now this is becoming a party!' Damian couldn't help but think with a smirk as he watched the demon bat dive in to attack Percy, only for Damian to run in and dropkick the demon right in the face, sending it crashing into the wall.

"Back off, ugly." Damian taunted the thing.

"D-Damian? Where did you come from?" Percy asked, shocked to see his friend suddenly appear.

"Well, I was going to take a piss, when I heard you screaming like a girl and came running." Damian said casually, getting a glare from Percy for the 'screaming like a girl' part. "Anyway, what's this thing?"

"I don't know! Mrs. Dodds turned into it!" Percy shook his head.

Damian blinked and looked at him in disbelief. "That thing is Mrs. Dodds?!"

Mrs. Dodds snarled as she flew back into the air and screeched at the two. Damian just rolled his eyes, reached behind him and underneath his jacket before he pulled out a pair of pistols.

The pistols resembled the Desert Eagle pistol. The metal of both guns was painted black, the words 'Mors Daemonium' etched into the slides that were painted a dark red.

The Latin phrase translating to 'Demon Killer'.

These guns were named Dawn and Dusk, just like his father had Ebony and Ivory.

Without hesitation, Damian opened fired on the transformed Mrs. Dodds who flew around to avoid the bullets while Percy gaped at his friend, shocked that he had guns on him and didn't even notice.

"Percy! Get your head in the game!" Damian snapped, seeing his friend distracted.

Percy was startled out of his staring and looked around. "Well, what do you want me to do?!" Percy retorted, pointing out the fact he didn't have anything to defend himself with.

Then things got even stranger.

Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.

"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.

Mrs. Dodds lunged at the boys, but the gunfire from Damian's pistols forced her to rethink and fly around them again.

Percy snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit his hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.

Mrs. Dodds spun toward the boys with a murderous look in her eyes.

She snarled, "Die, honeys!"

And she flew straight at them.

Damian smirked and closed one eye before he fired off two more shots, striking Mrs. Dodds right in the wings which made her screech in pain and fall to the floor, sliding along towards them. Percy did the only natural thing he could... he swung the sword.

The blade sliced through Mrs. Dodds' shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water.

Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching the boys.

"That was dramatic." Damian remarked, twirling his guns on his fingers and placed them back in the holsters on the back of his waist underneath his jacket, which did a good job in covering them from view.

The two boys looked around, seeing Mr. Brunner was gone when he had just been there a few seconds ago.

"W-What was that?" Percy asked as they made their way out. "Why do you have guns?"

"Long story." Damian sighed.

When they got outside, they saw it was starting to rain.

Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw Percy, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

Percy frowned, as did Damian, "Who?"

"Our teacher. Duh!" Nancy said like it was obvious.

Damian and Percy shared a look, still very much confused because they didn't have a teacher named Mrs. Kerr.

"Who the hell is that?" Damian asked Nancy.

She just rolled her eyes and turned away.

Percy asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.

He said, "Who?"

But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at them, so Percy thought he was messing with them.

"Not funny, man," Percy told him. "This is serious."

Thunder boomed overhead.

They saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.

They went over to him.

He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."

Percy handed Mr. Brunner his pen. He hadn't even realized he was still holding it.

"Sir," he said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"

He stared at them blankly. "Who?"

"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher." Damian said, frowning as he tried to figure out what was going on with everyone.

Mr. Brunner frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, Damian, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"

Damian and Percy shared a look, both wondering the same thing.

What the hell is going on?

And that's it for this chapter. Hope you liked it.