I am also going to write everything from the third person's pov unless specified, so you might not be told the meaning of modern things. So you would have to assume that they know about it through the hearing devices.

Chapter 15: My mother teaches me bullfighting.

Preview

The other girl stepped up and raised her head, and suddenly she was engulfed in a group hug by the future demigods. Most of them looked extremely happy to see her. Others looked confused. When they separated that the gods understood why. Standing there was none other than Percy Jackson...

Silence filled the room as none of the past gods or demigods knew what to do. The first demigod daughter of Posiedon was standing right in front of them.

" Hey! Can you guys stop staring at me? It is weirding me out. " Everyone came out trance. Many people smiled at her words. She picked up baby Percy who gave her older self a lopsided grin. She passed her to Sally, who looked enchanted to see the older version of her daughter. Older Percy sat next to her mother (A/N I am calling older Percy Percy and younger one Penny to avoid confusion and also because younger one won't gut me if I called her Penny) while everyone else took their seat.

Thalia, Grover and Andrew came to sit next to Percy. " We still need to talk in the break," Andrew muttered in her ears. She nodded back with an easy grin which made him smile. She turned to address everyone in the room. " Ok! So lord Apollo asked me to tell you all that from now on as you will read. Also, I know many of you have thousands of questions in your mind but don't worry! After two or three chapters we all can take a break and you can ask all questions you have. Lastly, the future demigods have been warned. You have spoiled a lot of parts of the story. So no more spoilers. Ok!" They nodded. " Now I would ask lady Amphitrite to start reading."

She smiled at Percy and started reading.

4 My mother teaches me bullfighting.

" When did you travel to Spain?" Nico asked. " Read further and you will know ." Came the retort.

We tore through the night along dark country roads. The wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.

" Mom was driving like a formula one racer!" Percy giggled at her disdainful expression.

Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.

" Did you just smell Goat boy?"Thalia asked. "Hey, I wanted to check whether those were real or not!"

On the other hand, " I want shag-carpet pants too." Shouted Lord Hermes and his sons.

All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."

"Told ya! "

"Watching me?" "Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."

"The best I could get!" Percy smiled at Grover. Andrew huffed silently while lord Pan looked proud.

"Urn ... what are you, exactly?" "That doesn't matter right now." "It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"

"Oh you didn't- You know satyrs can trample you if you call them donkey. " Pan laughed.

Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat."Goat!" he cried."What?" "I'm a goat from the waist down."

"You just said it doesn't matter " lord Posiedon pointed out.

"You just said it didn't matter."

"Like father, like daughter!" Lady Hestia smiled at them.

"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!" "Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"

"Myths? We are so not myths!" Gods exclaimed indignantly.

"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?" "So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!" "Of course." "Then why—" "The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."

"You were not making any sense to me, G-man!" Percy exclaimed rubbing her forehead tiredly.

"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail." Penny," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety." "Safety from what? Who's after me?" "Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."

"What!" Lord Posiedon looked murderously at Lord Hades. Lord Hades in turn looked at Percy and Grover with pleading eyes. Those two hid their smiles and Percy said," Dad! Don't worry, It was not Uncle Hades' fault. " The glare lessened slightly.

"Grover!" "Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination.

" And still you thought Grover was wearing shag carpet pants. " Perseus pointed out amused, making Percy blush.

I could never dream up something this weird.

"Trust us, you can dream weirder stuff!" The future demigods exclaimed at once.

My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.

"You are quite near to the camp!" Katie muttered.

"Where are we going?" I asked."The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you." "The place you didn't want me to go."

"Do you wish to argue with your mother when she is trying to protect you?" Hera and Demeter asked. " In my defence, I had no idea what was going on and no one was giving me straight answers either." She defended making Sally and Grover blush.

"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."

"Because some old ladies cut yarn."

"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."

"Grover, what do we do about you!" The Stoll brothers groaned at the satyr.

"Whoa. You said 'you.'"

"No, I didn't. I said 'someone.'"

"You meant 'you.' As in me."

"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."

"I am getting a headache. I worry about Sally!" Apollo winced while literally, everyone glared at Percy and Grover.

"Kids!" my mom said.

She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.

"What monster was that?" Theseus questioned thoughtfully. " You don't want to know that!" Grover muttered.

"What was that?" I asked.

" Seems like Percy thinks like you!" Andromeda teased lightly.

"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."

Everyone was muttering the same thing as they shifted forward in anticipation.

I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.

Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.

" Now, realise that. You are slow!" Hercules jeered. " I still defeated Mrs. Dodds without any training so it's a win for me." Penny shrugged.

Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom! and our car exploded.

"What?" Everyone shouted. " How can a car explode so suddenly," Hestia asked worriedly.

I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.

Several people winced for Penny.

I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."

Lord Posiedon and his family looked worried.

"Penny!" my mom shouted.

"I'm okay... "

I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded.

"Oh thank Zeus!" Hestia muttered. Amphitrite winced at her statement.

We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.

Lightning.

Several people glared at the king of gods. " You better not be doing that in the future brother." Posiedon eyes flashed angrily. Zeus, maintaining his composure, replied," We will see!"

That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"

Now it was Pan, Hermes and Dionysus's turn to glare at Zeus.

He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!

"That's nice, I think?" Perseus stated.

Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.

Everyone laughed as Grover blushed. " There is always hope when Grover mutters food!" Andrew slapped his back.

"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.

I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.

Theseus paled at the description as he recognized the monster.

I swallowed hard. "Who is—"

"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."

My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.

"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"

"What?"

Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.

"That's meeee" Thalia sang. Everyone looked at her weirdly. " In the book." Came the reply.

"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."

"Mom, you're coming too."

Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.

"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."

"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.

Now, most were glaring at the poor Satyr who shifted in his seat from embarrassment.

The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns ...

Everyone recognized the monster at the same time. Posiedon paled and started sweating remembering how he was the reason Minotaur was created and now his first demigod daughter was in danger.

"He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."

" Why can't they cross the boundary line? Shouldn't there be a haven for the demigod's mortal parent to stay?" Hestia asked. "I agree. We will talk more about it later." Zeus replied thoughtfully. Several future demigods smiled.

"But..."

"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."

I got mad, then—mad at my mother

"Oh don't get mad at your mother. She is only trying to help you." Demeter admonished.

, at Grover the goat

"But he was just trying to protect you." Pan cried.

, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.

"Now, that is something to get mad at!" Clarisse said rubbing her hands.

I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."

"I told you—"

"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."

"You get that from your father!" Sally told Percy, shaking her head. " Hear, hear!" Amphitrite, Hestia and Demeter agreed. Posiedon pouted at them.

I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.

Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.

Demeter and Katie frowned at that.

Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine—

"You have read muscle man magazines?" Andrew raised his eyebrow at Percy He knew how Penny defeated the minotaur so he wasn't that worried. At his comment, Percy blushed while Sally and Posiedon looked scandalized. "Two words- smelly Gabe. He stored them in my room when I was in a boarding school."

bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear—I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—

Many people smiled at her description of one of the scariest monsters.

which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.

His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.

"Seems like someone hasn't changed in all these years," Theseus muttered.

I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.

"I stood corrected," Penny replied.

I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"

"Don't say their names, it has powers," Andromeda said mechanically.

"Pasiphae's son," my mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."

"Who wanted to kill her?" Posiedon asked.

"But he's the Min—" "Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."

Many smiled at Sally's warning. looks like the first daughter of Poseidon's mother is also something. They thought.

The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least. I glanced behind me again. The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away."Food?" Grover moaned."Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"

"No like most monsters, he finds his victims using his smell as his eyesight and hearing are very poor. Y-" " We get it, Athena, All of us have fought enough monsters to know that and some people look like they would hear more about the demigod instead of the monster." Artemis cuts her off, pointing at The sea family, Sally and Perseus who looked close to hyperventilating.

"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded. Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying. Oops.

The tension in the room was released and many couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"

And the tension was back.

"How do you know all this?" "I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."

"A mother is not selfish-" "Shhh, stop talking start listening " Everyone shushed Dementer.

"Keeping me near you? But—"Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill. He'd smelled us. The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.

"Is that your way of saying, I am heavy?" Grover asked jokingly making all the past people frown. He snorted back and said, " I am not worried about Percy, I have seen her go through worse." "Yeah, fighting while having a curse of not being able to fight, fighting while having amnesia, fighting a monster that has never been defeated before, fighting titans, gods, giants. Yeah! we are not worried at all." Andrew shrugged while future demigods nodded along with him but they looked excited to read more about their friend.

Percy, on the other hand, replied" Dam, I never thought I would say this but I seriously need a break. How about Montauk after this, guys." "Done" "Hopefully you will not push us into the water this time." Yeah, and we can visit Sally too on the way." Came the reply.

The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us. My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—

"Sally is always right!" Thalia stated.

it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.

"His smell was almost as unbearable as Gabe's " Percy commented.

He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest. The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.

Poseidon stood up from his seat, went to sit in between Percy and Andrew and hugged her tightly, saying" I will most certainly not leave you for the duration of this book." Percy laughed silently.

The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.

"Oh no, not her!" Several goddesses cried.

We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side, I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it. The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover."Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her.

"Wimp! "Ares and Herakles muttered.

She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air."Mom!"She caught my eyes and managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.

"What just happened? Humans don't die like that!" Nico asked confused and slightly worried about Sally. Grover and Percy looked at each other and shouted "Spoilers!" Everyone else groaned.

"No!" Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons. The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.

"He better not dare to do that!" Pan looked murderous.

I couldn't allow that. I stripped off my red rain jacket."Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"

"Yay! Go angry Percy, show him who is the boss!" Future demigods shouted.

"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists. I had an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.

"I have a feeling that is not going to happen!" Bellerophon muttered.

But it didn't happen like that. The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge. Time slowed down.

"Wait, what?" Andrew said looking at Percy who shook her head and replied, "it is not what you are thinking. "

My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.

"How did you do that?" Everyone was looking at her in astonishment. "What! I was angry. And I can do stupid stuff when I am angry." She defended.

How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.

Thalia winced, as it was because of her, Percy was hurt.

The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils. The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.

"Good conclusion, bad timing!" Triton commented.

Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off."Food!" Grover moaned.

Cue glares were thrown at the satyr.

The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage-filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backwards with all my might.

"Not gonna happen, kid!" Ares replied, eager to see the demigoddess becoming bull -food.

The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, and then—snap!

His eyes widened." You were saying something, Ares!" Artemis looked smug.

The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife. monster charged. Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage. The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart. The monster was gone.

Cheers rang around the hall as Posidon rubbed her shoulder.

The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open.

Zeus winced as he knew what that felt like.

I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.

Oh, poor Percy, Hestia thought.

The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a cute boy

"Cute boy! Eeee, He must be your boyfriend." Aphrodite squealed excitedly as Percy blushed.

, his blond hair curled at his nape. They both looked down at me, and the boy said, "She's the one. She must be."

"She is the one... Seriously that guy must be dead by now!" Jason told Piper.

"Silence, Andrew," the man said. "She's still conscious. Bring her inside."

Everyone's jaw dropped.