Chapter Text
Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants
Despite the tension of the room, laughter bubbled out of everybody. Well, all except Grover who was bright red.
Once he caught his breath Chiron was able to ask, “I assume this is when Percy first sees you are a satyr?”
Grover nodded, still too embarrassed. Percy ruffled his hair good-naturedly, “Don’t worry G-man, you’re our best goat boy.”
At that the satyr glowered but was fighting a smile blooming on his face. He looked to Apollo pleading with him to start reading.
Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.
“Percy!” Many yell.
“He was freaking me out!” Percy cried.
I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering “Why does this always happen?” and “Why does it always have to be sixth grade?”
“Yeah, okay I’d do the same.” Travis agreed.
“Totally.” That was Connor.
Whenever he got upset, Grover’s bladder acted up, so I wasn’t surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.
“Wow, thanks for sharing Perce.” Grover muttered.
“Sorry,” his friend apologized.
Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.
“East One-hundred-and-fourth and First,” I told the driver.
At that address the Stolls perked up quickly getting ideas.
“We don’t live there anymore,” Percy was quick to stop that train of thought.
“Though, if you promise not to do anything you're welcome to visit.” Sally states. “We have many visitors from camp.”
“Really?” Artemis asks.
“Yeah! Sally’s place is kinda like a halfway house to camp.” Thalia says. “The hunters have stayed a few nights when we needed a place to rest between hunts.”
The Huntress smiled at the mother thankful. “I must thank you then.”
“Oh, I just help how I can.” Sally flushed.
Poseidon and Percy were beaming, they loved when Sally was seen as the amazing woman she was.
A word about my mother, before you meet her.
“Perfect.” Percy sighed.
“Amazing.” Annabeth smiled.
“The best.” Nico grins.
“Perfect.” It was Poseidon who whispered that warm eyes watching Sally who was blushing hiding a smile.
Aphrodite was holding in her screams, ‘They still love each other!’
Zeus was looking murderous; they had laws for a reason! He never even noticed how hypocritical he was thinking nor the glare he was receiving from Percy for his look.
Her name is Sally Jackson and she’s the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn’t care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.
“You have lived a difficult life dear.” Artemis says.
“It’s been a rough one, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.” Sally smiles.
“Couldn’t have been an easy life with Seaweed Brain here.” Annabeth chuckles nudging her boyfriend.
“Hey!” that was Percy, although he was smiling at his mother. He knew he was a difficult child to raise.
Apollo smiled looking at the next line.
The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.
Poseidon smiled puffing up his chest, causing a few laughs to break out. Sally pat his hand softly causing him to look to her.
“Tone it down bit, yeah?” she said.
“No need for a big head dad.” Percy snickered. “Mom will get rid of that real quick.”
“Yeah Uncle P.” Hermes laughed. Poseidon playful pouted at him.
I don’t have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn’t like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.
“They never do.” Clarisse sighs with the other demigods nodding in agreement.
See, they weren’t married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.
Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.
“A lie, but not a lie. Very nice.” Hermes said. “Uncle P, you’ve got yourself quite a woman.”
Poseidon grabbed Sally’s hand, with a warning glare to his nephew.
She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn’t an easy kid.
Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.
“That’s how you choose to explain it? Really?” Annabeth asks.
“Unfortunately, that’s pretty accurate.” Sally winced, Grover frantically nodding along.
Athena was starting to see how intelligent this mortal was, question was why would she have chosen Poseidon of all people?
Between the two of us, we made my mom’s life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along…well, when I came home is a good example.
Percy softly exhaled, time for reactions.
I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.
Shudders rake through many at the idea of the room.
Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, “So, you’re home.”
“Where’s my mom?”
“Working,” he said. “You got any cash?”
That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?
“Wait, what?” Sally asked. “Percy?”
Percy rubbed at his neck, "Yeah that happened a lot Mom.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” at that Percy just shrugged leading to concern arising.
Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.
Aphrodite was shaking at the thought of such a man. She was surprised by a hand taking hers in comfort. Turning she was shocked to see it was her husband, Hephaestus, supporting her. Looking over to Ares the goddess was angered to see he wasn’t even giving her the time of day. Maybe it was time to focus on her marriage more.
He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don’t know why he hadn’t been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our “guy secret.” Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.
Silence.
The smell of salt water was getting stronger and deep breaths could be heard being taken. Everybody looked to the Sea God to see his expression murderous and the woman at his side even more enraged.
“Percy, please tell me he didn’t.” Sally tried to calm her breathing.
“Mom…” Percy started.
“Honey…”
“We don’t have to deal with him anymore anyway Mom,” Percy muttered. “I just wanna forget about it. He got what he deserved in the end anyways.”
“Well, I’m gonna enjoy that again more the second time apparently.” Sally growled.
Poseidon had finally been able to calm down some and was hugging his son. He could feel Percy’s stuttering breaths into his chest, clearly trying not to cry. The god motioned to Apollo to continue on, anything to get the focus off of Percy.
“I don’t have any cash,” I told him. He raised a greasy eyebrow. Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should’ve covered up everything else.
“You took a taxi from the bus station,” he said. “Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?”
Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. “Come on, Gabe,” he said. “The kid just got here.”
“At least one of them is decent.” Artemis sneered. Men were so disappointing.
“Am I right?” Gabe repeated.
Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.
“Ugh, disgusting.” Aphrodite gagged. Hephaestus kept stroking her hand in solidarity.
“Fine,” I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. “I hope you lose.”
“Consider it done, Pedro.” Dionysus grants. Looking up he’s annoyed to see all eyes on him. “What? Just because I don’t like the brats doesn’t mean he deserves that!”
“Thanks, Mr. D.” Percy muttered slowly coming out of his father’s chest.
“Your report card came, brain boy!” he shouted after me. “I wouldn’t act so snooty!”
I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn’t my room. During school months, it was Gabe’s “study.” He didn’t study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.
I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.
Apollo had to pause his reading, “Can I just say that I absolutely love your sarcasm, Percy.”
“He does share it at some pretty great moments.” Grover says.
“And some of the worst.” Annabeth adds.
“What can I say? Sarcasm just flows out of me.” Percy says giving a small smile. The demigods grin seeing their leader getting back to his usual self.
Gabe’s smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady’s shears snipping the yarn.
But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover’s look of panic—how he’d made me promise I wouldn’t go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.
“They were getting worse, huh?” Grover comments.
“Yeah, sucked.” Percy says.
Then I heard my mom’s voice. “Percy?”
She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.
“Aww!” Aphrodite coos. “Family love is the best!”
Hera may not like demigods, but even she had to admit the bond between this mother and son was one she longed for. Her own children didn’t even try and connect with her, haven’t for millennia.
My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She’s got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it’s like she’s seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I’ve never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.
Sally had taken over holding Percy who was looking far more content than any of the demigods had ever seen him be. His mother was just glad she was able to do something for her son in the crazy world he was a part of.
“Oh, Percy.” She hugged me tight. “I can’t believe it. You’ve grown since Christmas!”
Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She’d brought me a huge bag of “free samples,” the way she always did when I came home.
“Aww man, your thoughts are making me hungry, Percy!” Connor whined.
“Me too!” his brother followed.
“How about we take a break in a chapter or so?” Hestia offered. A break would probably do some good for everyone.
Sounds of agreement were heard.
We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn’t put in my letters. She didn’t mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn’t seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?
I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.
From the other room, Gabe yelled, “Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?”
I gritted my teeth.
So did everyone in the room. Well excluding a few (Ares and Zeus) who didn’t seem to care.
My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should’ve been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.
“Like a god?” Hermes chuckled.
Percy shrugged, “Would’ve been better.”
Poseidon sighed at that, if not for the laws his son and lover’s life would have been so much better.
For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn’t too down about the expulsion. I’d lasted almost the whole year this time. I’d made some new friends. I’d done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn’t been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn’t seem so bad.
Until that trip to the museum…
“What?” my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. “Did something scare you?”
“No, Mom.”
I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.
“You should have told her, boy.” Athena deadpanned.
“Well, sorry for thinking I was going crazy.” Percy replied.
“Yes, in this scenario the Mist wasn’t very helpful, was it?” Chiron asked.
“The Mist has never been on my side, Chiron.” Percy said.
“That’s true, your luck is the worst.” Annabeth said remembering their first quest.
She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn’t push me.
“I have a surprise for you,” she said. “We’re going to the beach.”
My eyes widened. “Montauk?”
“You still go?” Poseidon asks awed.
Sally was blushing, “Every chance we get. It’s the easiest way to be close with you, for both of us.”
The Sea God couldn’t stop the smile brightening his face.
“Three nights—same cabin.”
“When?”
She smiled. “As soon as I get changed.”
I couldn’t believe it. My mom and I hadn’t been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn’t enough money.
Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, “Bean dip, Sally? Didn’t you hear me?”
I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom’s eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.
“I was on my way, honey,” she told Gabe. “We were just talking about the trip.”
Gabe’s eyes got small. “The trip? You mean you were serious about that?”
“I knew it,” I muttered. “He won’t let us go.”
“Of course he will,” my mom said evenly. “Your stepfather is just worried about money. That’s all. Besides,” she added, “Gabriel won’t have to settle for bean dip. I’ll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works.”
“Bribery, nice.” Hermes approved.
Gabe softened a bit. “So this money for your trip…it comes out of your clothes budget, right?”
“Clothes budget!” Aphrodite screams, “How dare he!”
“Don’t worry dear, I don’t think the mortal woman cares.” Hephaestus mutters.
The Love Goddess looks to the woman for confirmation. Seeing her nod the goddess lets out a breath leaning back into her seat.
“Yes, honey,” my mother said.
“And you won’t take my car anywhere but there and back.”
“We’ll be very careful.”
Gabe scratched his double chin. “Maybe if you hurry with that sevenlayer dip…And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game.”
Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.
“Do it!” Ares and Clarisse say both for different reasons though. Clarisse was angered at the pig’s treatment of Percy’s mother. The War God on the other hand was just wanting some action, he was getting bored.
But my mom’s eyes warned me not to make him mad.
Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?
“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I’m really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now.”
Gabe’s eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.
“I’d be surprised if he even knew what sarcasm was.” Thalia snarled.
“Yeah, whatever,” he decided.
He went back to his game.
“Thank you, Percy,” my mom said. “Once we get to Montauk, we’ll talk more about…whatever you’ve forgotten to tell me, okay?”
For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I’d seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.
But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.
An hour later we were ready to leave.
Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom’s bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his ’78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.
“Not a scratch on this car, brain boy,” he warned me as I loaded the last bag. “Not one little scratch.”
“Like he’d be driving,” Nico said. “He’s twelve!”
Apollo laughed at the statement.
Like I’d be the one driving. I was twelve.
“Ah, I knew I was rubbing off on you, cousin!” Percy laughed.
“No, no. I can’t be a kelp head!” Nico fake whined.
“Of course not.” Thalia says. “Your Death Breath.”
“Yay! Wait a minute!” Nico cries.
The demigods are left fighting for breath with laughter. Most of the gods and goddesses were neutral to the interaction, but a few were enjoying the scene. Hades and Poseidon were pleased to see their children interacting, the Lord of the Underworld especially satisfied with the others being so welcoming of his son.
But that didn’t matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he’d find a way to blame me. Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can’t explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I’d seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he’d been shot from a cannon.
“How did you do that?” Hermes asks the boy.
“Huh?” the ever-intelligent response from Percy.
“That’s satyr magic,” the Messenger God explained, “You shouldn’t have been able to do that.”
“Oh, um Grover?” Percy looked to his friend, hopeful for a reason.
The satyr pondered an answer, “It could be possible we had the beginning of our empathy link. I mean it developed really quickly once I thought of making it.”
A few nods at the idea, Chiron hypothesized as well, “Add in how powerful Percy is could also explain how he could tap into your link easily.”
That unnerved some of the gods, it was rare to hear of such a powerful demigod and usually it never ended well.
Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn’t stay long enough to find out.
I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.
“Only way to ride.” Ares smiled.
“Mhmm, and then you end up in my infirmary.” Apollo grins.
“And your bike in my shop.” Hephaestus sniggered.
“Oh, shut up!” the War God yelled.
Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.
“Huh?”
“I don’t get it…” the Stolls muttered very confused not noticing the others rolling their eyes.
I loved the place.
“Ah, there it is.” The brothers cheer, “Wasn’t making sense since Percy never shuts up about Montauk when he gets started.”
We’d been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she’d met my dad.
The pair of ex-lovers were smiling, lost in old memories.
As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.
We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin’s windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.
“What’s with all the blue?” Chris asked not as close to Percy as the others.
Apollo read the next line:
I guess I should explain the blue food.
“Yes please,” the Stolls reply as if Apollo was the one speaking.
See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn’t totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.
“Percy, you live a rebellious life. There’s no way it’s just a streak with you.” Annabeth chuckles.
“What can I say? The sea doesn’t like to be contained.” Percy smirked.
When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.
Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom’s eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.
“He was kind, Percy,” she said. “Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes.”
Everyone looks to the father and son to see.
“You know? He’s a mini–Uncle P.” Hermes says.
“Interesting.” Hades murmurs, all of his brother’s previous demigod children only had a few of his traits. This one was almost his clone, apparently, he had his father’s power levels as well.
“It’s fascinating since the gods don’t exactly have DNA. And monster children obviously only get powers from the gods not looks and…” Annabeth rambles before Percy clamps a hand over her mouth.
She glares at him, “You were droning on, Wise Girl. I’m sure the gods would like to make some progress before we take a break.” Percy hesitantly says.
Annabeth nods at that holding in her thoughts to think on later and motions for Apollo to keep reading.
Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. “I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud.”
“I am.” The Sea God whispers in his son’s ear. He may not know of what his son has accomplished, but just seeing the man he was now? How could he not be proud?
I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.
“How old was I?” I asked. “I mean…when he left?”
She watched the flames. “He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin.”
“But…he knew me as a baby.”
“No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born.”
I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember…something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.
“You broke one of our sacred laws!” Zeus boomed.
“He’s my son! Of course, I would see him at least once.” Poseidon countered. “Don’t tell me you have never visited, even if it was only one time.”
Thalia had to support her uncle on this point, especially since she herself hated the no interference law.
“You know, I did have a younger brother. Mom mentioned he was fully related to me.” She drawled waiting for the fallout.
Hearing that tidbit revealed Zeus gulped going pale.
“You cheated on me twice! With the same woman!” Hera screamed with rage.
Her husband hunched down in his seat knowing it would be pointless to try and defend himself.
Thalia was rather neutral at the byplay; her father had never really done anything for her, so she felt no real need to defend him.
I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I’d felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he’d never even seen me…
I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He’d left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.
Poseidon looked to his son with worry.
“Don’t worry Dad, I don’t feel that way anymore. It’s just… hard to accept, especially when you find out about all the rules against it.” Percy assures.
“Percy’s right, a lot of campers really struggle with accepting the distance between campers and gods.” Annabeth said. “It’s gets really hard on those who never get claimed by their parent. Once they realize they’re basically never going to be claim they just stew in the hatred before they decide to leave camp.”
“The laws were actually a huge factor in the war.” Chris added. “Those who were unclaimed or those who were the children of minor gods that never got the recognition they deserved were quick to join the enemy. I personally was gaslighted by the enemy until I was injured and saved by Clarisse who was able to tell me the truth. Even then I was only claimed at the end of the war.”
Hermes looked shocked at his son, “I never claimed you?”
Chris shook his head, “I had been at camp close to two years before I left.”
“You expect us to believe you, after you willingly told us you were with our enemy?” Zeus sneered.
“Yes, there is a reason I was brought here by the Fates. Even then, my injuries had me down for weeks if not months before I recovered. Anytime then I could have been dealt with, but I told them everything I knew, because I was clearly nothing more than a pawn for the enemy. Although I can’t confirm if we demigods aren’t the same for the gods.” Chris sneered. Yes, he was still very bitter, he may have forgiven his father, but everyone else could beg for all he cared.
Zeus’ eyes couldn’t get any colder. How dare this child speak to him like this? Of all the insolent things! He was stopped by his eldest brother cutting off his train of thought.
“Maybe we should just continue? After all the faster we get through these books, the faster we can go.” Hades reasoned.
Zeus exhaled heavily, still angered, but nodded glaring at his son to keep reading.
“Are you going to send me away again?” I asked her. “To another boarding school?”
She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.
“I don’t know, honey.” Her voice was heavy. “I think…I think we’ll have to do something.”
“Because you don’t want me around?” I regretted the words as soon as they were out.
My mom’s eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. “Oh, Percy, no. I—I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away.”
Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.
“Because I’m not normal,” I said.
“What even is normal?” Travis questioned.
“Who cares? Normal is boring.” Connor jumped in.
“You say that as if it’s a bad thing, Percy. But you don’t realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you’d finally be safe.”
“Safe from what?”
She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I’d tried to forget.
During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.
The gods sent Poseidon a look of ‘really?’
“What? I wasn’t directly involved.” Poseidon argued smirking. “Loopholes are your best friend.”
Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I’d somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.
“Just like Hercules.” Zeus boasted.
“Don’t EVER compare me to that jerk!” Percy yelled causing Zeus to scowl once again and Artemis’ eyes to widen in surprise.
“Ah, right, Percy greatly dislikes being compared to Hercules so I would limit doing so.” Annabeth explains. “I’m sure it’ll eventually be explained, but none of us here care for that particular ‘hero’.”
At that Zeus’ scowl deepens. ‘All these brats should be delighted to be compared to my son!’
Apollo cleared his throat at the tension and began reading.
In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.
I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn’t make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn’t want that.
“You should have told me, honey.” Sally chided.
“I don’t think much would have changed Mom. I’m sure it would have always been a difficult night.” Percy groaned.
“Still didn’t help that I had no idea where you guys were.” Grover muttered.
“Sorry, man.”
“I’ve tried to keep you as close to me as I could,” my mom said. “They told me that was a mistake. But there’s only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just…I just can’t stand to do it.”
“My father wanted me to go to a special school?”
“Not a school,” she said softly. “A summer camp.”
My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn’t even stayed around long enough to see me born—talk to my mom about a summer camp?
And if it was so important, why hadn’t she ever mentioned it before?
“I’m sorry, Percy,” she said, seeing the look in my eyes. “But I can’t talk about it. I—I couldn’t send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good.”
“For good? But if it’s only a summer camp…”
She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.
That night I had a vivid dream.
“Ugh, demigod dreams are the worst.” Clarisse whines.
“Are they truly that bad?” Artemis asks. Her hunters who had once been demigods have gone so long without dreams, she’s never had to experience them first-hand.
“They can get pretty bad, but Percy’s dreams are regrettably worse than others.” Annabeth says.
It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse’s muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagle’s wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.
The Gods look to Zeus and Poseidon. It was obvious the pair was fighting over something.
However, the Lightning God had turned to glare at his eldest brother. Hades must be trying to take over.
I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse’s wide eyes, and I screamed, No!
I woke with a start.
Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.
With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, “Hurricane.”
“Uncle P, why you so upset?” Hermes asks.
“Well apparently I’m fighting my brother over something.” The Sea God said, glaring at his brother. It was clear that he was getting blamed for something; his younger brother never fought him unless he was blaming him.
I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.
Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice— someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.
My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.
Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn’t…he wasn’t exactly Grover.
“I bet that was a weird sight to see in the middle of the night.” Connor snickers.
“You’re telling me. Threw me for a loop.” Percy smirked.
“Searching all night,” he gasped. “What were you thinking?”
My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he’d come.
“Percy,” she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. “What happened at school? What didn’t you tell me?”
I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing.
“O Zeu kai alloi theoi!” he yelled. “It’s right behind me! Didn’t you tell her?”
“It certainly took you a while to snap out of it, huh Perce?” Grover sniggered.
“Oh, like if you were in my position, you’d do different?” Percy pouted.
I was too shocked to register that he’d just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I’d understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn’t have his pants on—and where his legs should be…where his legs should be…
“Spit it out already!” Travis cried.
My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she’d never used before: “Percy. Tell me now!”
I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.
“Lightning?” Nico asked.
“These two were still fighting.” Percy gestured to the pair of brothers.
She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, “Get to the car. Both of you. Go!”
Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn’t running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.
Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.
“Took you long enough, Perry.” Dionysus deadpans.
Percy shrugged not really caring about the comment.
Zeus sneered, “Well apparently I’m worrying about the wrong brother.”
Hades groaned, “You can’t honestly believe that was me laughing? I have no want to rule! The Underworld alone is too packed and don’t even get me started on the paperwork!”
Nico was nodding his head at the mention of the Underworld. The Gods were surprised to see Annabeth, Percy, and Grover nodding as well.
“Why do you three know that?” Poseidon asks worried.
“Um… spoilers?” Percy grimaced.
“We can confirm that it’s not Lord Hades you should be worrying about.” Annabeth interjected.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t learn that until later so sorry for the upcoming blame game on you, my Lord.” Grover rambles.
“It’s fine, as long as I’m not blamed in the end.” The Silent One waved the satyr off.
“Okay!” Apollo yells. “Who’s next?” he asks waving the book around.
“Give it here, Sunny.” Hermes motioned to his friend.
“Sure, Wings. The Sun god tosses him the book nailing him in the face in retaliation for the nickname.
“Oof, rude.” Hermes grumbled opening the book.