Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series. I am simply doing this for fun and not profit.

The Olympian Gods were arguing. It was the usual site on Mount Olympus but the argument was far from the ordinary ones that usually took place. The center of the argument was Gaea's rising and Hera's risky exchange of Percy Jackson and Jason Grace. The two boys' fathers were furious. Though Hera was Zeus's wife, not even that could stop him from being furious at her for endangering his son. Poseidon was possibly worse. Every god on Olympus knew how much he cared for his son Percy. The fact that it was not just Hera's jealousy over Zeus having another demigod child didn't calm either of them down.

"Hey guys I just got these awesome books from the Muses!" The gods that were not fighting looked at Apollo, who had just come bounding eagerly into the throne room in the middle of the argument like he was crazy. Artemis sighed at her twin brother's stupidity, while even Hermes shook his head. Hades sighed and got up, Athena with him. They looked at each other as if coming to an agreement.

"They're about Percy Jackson and Jason Grace!" At that the argument fell silent and the whole throne room stared at Apollo stunned.

"What about my son?" Poseidon asked, making his way to his fisherman's throne and sitting wearily in it followed by Zeus and Hera who sat down in their thrones as well. Hades and Athena followed soon after.

"Well, the first five books are about Percy's adventures and the Second Titan War while the sixth one is about Jason and two other half-bloods." Apollo held up a book with Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero written on the front. He snapped his fingers and the book disappeared to be replaced by a different one. "This is the first book, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief."

"Why do most of these books have to be about that ungrateful half-blood?" Zeus muttered irritably. Most of the gods just sighed but Poseidon glared at Zeus.

"That 'ungrateful half-blood' is my son. Have you perhaps forgotten so soon brother that it is because of him that the Titans were defeated and Olympus saved?" Poseidon's eyes flashed and a storm started to form somewhere over the Atlantic. Poseidon and Zeus glared at each other.

"Father, Uncle, stop it, we do not want another repeat of the fight you two had in the first book. I suggest we read it. It is wise to know what mistakes were made in the war so that we are better prepared in the future." She stared at all of the gods as she said this, reminding them that history was repeating itself right at this very moment.

"I agree." It was the soft spoken Hestia who agreed first, followed surprisingly by Hades and Dionysus. Poseidon agreed next followed by Hermes, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Demeter, Ares, and Persephone. All the minor gods in attendance agreed. Finally only two were left. All eyes turned to Zeus and Hera. Nobody would read the books without the King and Queen of the Gods' permission.

It was Zeus who relented. He sighed and said "Very well." Hera glared at him but said nothing. Apollo grinned and bounded up to his throne. He took a seat and opened the book.

Chapter 1: I Accidently Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher.

Poseidon glared at Hades and Zeus who looked guiltily away from him. Hera huffed in disgust. Half-bloods were nothing but trouble.

Apollo and Hermes grinned. "I always knew there was something I liked about that kid," Apollo said. Artemis rolled her eyes at her brother.

Look I didn't want to be a half-blood.

All of the gods but Hera and Hestia looked guilty at this. Hestia looked solemn and understanding. Apollo looked at her and knew she was the true representation of family, not Hera; she was the goddess of the hearth and the home. He smiled at her warmly before continuing to read.

If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:

Dionysus snorted. "This won't end well."

close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.

Poseidon closed his eyes and sighed. Athena looked at him sympathetically. It was obvious that Poseidon loved his son and that his biggest regret was that Percy was always in danger and could never live a normal life, especially as the son of one of the Big Three. It was also obvious that he cared for Percy's mother very greatly.

Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.

Poseidon gripped the edge of his seat. Zeus and Poseidon looked at him worriedly. The rest of the gods were mourning their lost children, or children of other gods that they had watched over. Even the minor gods were mourning all the children they had lost in the war with Kronos.

If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.

But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you fell something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

"No amount of warning can protect them son," Poseidon said solemnly. Athena frowned, remembering Percy's fatal flaw. This was definitely a sign of that.

"He's a really good kid," Areadne, Dionysus's wife said. Everyone nodded. Percy was a true hero.

My name is Percy Jackson.

Dionysus snorted. "No, it's Peter Johnson." But even then he said it quietly and without as much heart as he usually did.

I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.

Am I a troubled kid?

Poseidon chuckled half-heartedly. "Yeah. You could say that."

"Most demigods are." Athena said in her all-knowing voice.

Yeah. You could say that.

Everyone chuckled or grinned at that.

I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan—twenty-eight mental-case kids and two kids on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.

"Sounds like torture," Poseidon said and Apollo laughed causing everyone in the room to stare at him like he was crazy, which was nothing new.

I know—it sounds like torture.

Everyone laughed at this.

"Like father, like son," Athena said smiling.

Most Yancy field trips were.

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.

Dionysus lifted his head up from the game in his head. "Yes, it's Chiron," he said, answering the questioning looks most people were sending him.

You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class, He also had this collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.

Athena rolled her eyes at this and muttered something about spawn.

I hoped this trip would be okay. At least I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.

Poseidon shook his head and chuckled. "Not going to happen, son," he said warmly.

Boy, was I wrong.

Poseidon just sighed and smiled despite knowing that Percy would be facing a Fury on that trip. He knew he would be overprotective when it got to that part, but right now he reminded himself that a Fury wasn't the worst thing Percy had faced. That thought didn't help his nerves and he frowned.

See, bad things happen to me on field trips.

"Not just on field trips son," Poseidon corrected the absent Percy.

Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming at the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.

Everyone laughed. Apollo and Hermes grinned at each other and Hera glared at them.

And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that… Well, you get the idea.

"Your son is so cool Uncle," Hermes said in between bouts of laughter.

This trip, I was determined to be good.

Athena sighed and shook her head. "Not going to work."

All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.

"Disgusting!" "Eww!" The goddess all gagged at that. Even the gods looked disgusted. Dionysus's eyes darkened.

Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.

"Don't let Grover hear you say that," Dionysus said chuckling but there was a dark edge to it that made everyone lean away from him, remembering that he was the god of madness.

He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.

Dionysus huffed. "What was he thinking, almost blowing his cover like that," he muttered.

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death

"What!" The sound of a tidal wave could be heard from Olympus as Poseidon's shout filled the throne room, one hand gripping an arm of his throne, the other his trident.

by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.

"Oh," Poseidon looked sheepish, blushing as he loosened his grip on his throne and his trident, but not totally. Everyone else laughed.

"Whose being the dramatic one now Poseidon? And you said I should have been the god of theater," Zeus said through his laughter.

"You have to admit all three of us have a tendency to be dramatic," Hades chuckled.

"I have a feeling whatever happens is going to be very good, especially with the chapter title," Hermes said, grinning at Apollo who grinned back.

"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.

Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."

He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.

"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.

"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."

Looking back on it, I wished I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.

In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.

Poseidon sighed. "And yet that was nothing compared to the rest of the trouble you get yourself into."

Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.

He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.

It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.

"Longer than that," Athena corrected.

He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big stone sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age.

There was silence for a moment in the throne room.

He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.

Poseidon glared at Hades and Zeus who looked guiltily away again.

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 our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.

Hades grinned madly, remembering what had happened to that teacher.

From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was the devil spawn.

Apollo chuckled. "No, that would be Hades' son.

She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.

One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."

Dionysus huffed.

Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.

Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele and I turned around ans said, "Will you shut up?"

It came out louder than I meant it to.

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

"Aww come on, it was a good story!" Apollo exclaimed sarcastically.

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

My face was totally red. I said, "No sir."

Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"

"Why do I have a feeling that this picture is important?" Poseidon asked.

Apollo smirked and kept reading.

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

Everyone but Apollo was stunned.

"Well if that isn't foreshadowing I don't know what is," Poseidon muttered. It just had to be that picture.

"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied.

"And he did this because…"

"Well…" I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god and—"

"GOD!" Zeus's fury rivaled that of when he was arguing with Hera before the book.

"He was only twelve at the time Zeus," surprisingly Athena defended, "and if he didn't know then he certainly does now."

"god?" Mr. Brunner asked.

"Titan," I corrected myself. (Athena smirked and Poseidon relaxed) "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 me.

"That doesn't even begin to describe it," All five eldest gods that had been eaten said together. Poseidon and Hades glared at Zeus who ignored them, lost in memory. A few minutes later after the eldest gods had calmed Apollo continued reading.

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

Dionysus snorted. "Well that just summed up both the First and Second Titan Wars in less than a sentence."

Some snickers from the group.

Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "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.'"

"Well you never know," the goddess of wisdom said.

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

Busted," Dionysus muttered.

"Busted," Grover muttered.

Everyone laughed.

""Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter than her hair.

"Eww!" Aphrodite exclaimed.

At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.

"I seriously doubt it, horses ears maybe," Poseidon said chuckling.

I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."

"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, 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?"

"Yes, that was a really happy story," Artemis said sarcastically.

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

Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."

I knew that was coming.

I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"

Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.

"Observant," Athena admitted, "but maybe not everything."

"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.

"About the Titans?"

"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."

"Well, he did learn it," Poseidon said sadly.

"Oh."

"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."

I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.

I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.

But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.

I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.

Everyone nodded sadly. He probably was.

He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.

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

Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.

Zeus blushed.

We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.

This time Poseidon joined Zeus in blushing. The gods who didn't know looked at the two of them curiosly.

Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.

Poseidon glared at Hades again.

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

Detention?" Grover asked.

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

"That's true," Athena muttered.

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

Dionysus chuckled and shook his head fondly.

I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.

I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.

Poseidon smiled warmly at the mention of Sally.

Mr. Brunner 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.

I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.

Poseidon smirked. "Never mess with a son of the Sea God's friends."

Athena frowned, another piece of evidence towards his fatal flaw.

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

Aphrodite shuddered.

I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"

Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.

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

"—the water—"

"—like it grabbed her—"

Everyone laughed.

"Cool!" Apollo exclaimed.

Poseidon grinned.

I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.

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 me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"

Hades rolled his eyes. "She still uses that."

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

Hermes huffed. "Never guess your punishment."

That wasn't the right thing to say.

"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.

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

I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.

Hades chuckled darkly making Dionysus glare at him.

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 me desperately.

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

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

Nancy Bobofit smirked.

I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.

Hades shuddered making everyone stare at him questioningly? "It's a lot scarier than you think," he muttered, shuddering once again. Poseidon grinned and everyone laughed.

Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.

How'd she get there so fast?

I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.

I wasn't so sure.

Athena huffed. "Of course it isn't."

I went after Mrs. Dodds.

Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.

Poseidon groaned, clutching his trident and the arm of his chair tighter.

I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.

Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.

But apparently that wasn't the plan.

"Of course not," Poseidon groaned.

I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.

Except for us, the gallery was empty.

Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.

Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...

"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.

"And he continues to do so to this day," Zeus muttered making Poseidon glare at him.

I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."

She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"

Poseidon's glared at both Hades and Zeus with such a fury that it made the two tremble.

The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.

She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.

"That's exactly what she wants to do son." Poseidon trembled.

I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."

Thunder shook the building.

Poseidon glared at Zeus again.

"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."

I didn't know what she was talking about.

All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.

"That's definitely not it son." Poseidon was shaking in his throne. Athena stared at him worriedly. She knew how worried he was about Percy.

Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.

Athena rolled her eyes and huffed.

Well?" she demanded.

"Ma'am, I don't..."

"Your time is up," she hissed.

Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.

Those who didn't know she was a fury gasped.

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.

"Chiron, you don't toss a sword to someone who has never even held one before," Athena groaned.

Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.

With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my 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 me with a murderous look in her eyes.

My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.

She snarled, "Die, honey!"

And she flew straight at me.

Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.

The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!

Poseidon sighed and relaxed slightly, relieved it was over.

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 me.

I was alone.

There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.

Poseidon sighed again. Percy had still let the Mist affect him after that.

Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.

My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something

Athena rolled her eyes at this but Hermes and Apollo grinned at each other mischievously.

Had I imagined the whole thing?

I went back outside.

It had started 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 me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

I said, "Who?"

"Our teacher. Duh!"

I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.

She just rolled her eyes and turned away.

I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.

He said, "Who?"

Dionysus chuckled. "Grover cannot lie to save his life."

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

"See."

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

Thunder boomed overhead.

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

I 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."

"Now Chiron can lie."

I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.

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

He stared at me blankly. "Who?"

"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."

He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, 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?"

"And that is the end of the first chapter," Apollo said. "Who wants to read next?"

"I will," everyone turned in shock at the familiar person who had somehow gotten into Olympus.

A.N.: Yeah, I know I'm evil. Who was able to get into Olympus while it was locked down? You can guess, but only I know the answer. Well truthfully I'm still thinking on that one. It could be one person or it could be a group of people. Whichever way I go this won't be the only time people drop in unexpectedly. Please review. This is the first reading the books story that I have posted so any advice or criticism would be greatly appreciated. No flames though. If you think any of the characters are being portrayed as OOC please give me advice to fix that. Any advice as to how you think certain characters would act or what characters I should bring in would be very helpful.