Wooo! New story. Enjoy.

Percy was sort of early to breakfast. But he couldn't help himself. To know that somehow you've gone back in time and are going to spend a couple weeks in that time period reading a bunch of books-with Annabeth, that was the best part- even if the books were about him he didn't mind.

Yesterday, after the gods had finally ripped Aphrodite off of Ares, to spare whatever remained of his face from the attack he'd received from her nails, Hermes had called the gods and they had all met Percy. Of course he couldn't have helped himself when he'd seen his dad and had jumped into his arms screaming, "Daddy!" But Poseidon didn't seem to mind. He just seemed happy that Percy was fine and not in a bag full of weasels floating down the little Tiber.

The gods were already in the throne room by the time the demigods came in. There were two extra chairs on the floor. One near the door, away from Annabeth, and one right next to Annabeth. So of course, to Athena's dismay, Percy sat right next to Annabeth and held her hand.

Zeus grunted. "Alright who's reading now?"

"Let Percy read." Hermes suggested. "He's the only one who hasn't read yet...since he wasn't here."

Zeus shrugged and tossed the book to Percy.

"My Best Friend Shops for a Wedding Dress." Percy read.

Everyone stared at Percy and Annabeth in disbelief.

"Not Annabeth-I mean she's my best friend but not that best friend-I mean-" Percy started.

"Oh no," Poseidon said, a smile on his face. "Don't try to explain yourself son. At the rate you're going you might just give Athena a coronary." Then he added as an afterthought. "Hermes, I hope you're filming this."

Everyone turned to Athena to see her spasmodically grasping the holds on her chair, the color completely gone from her face. She didn't even bother to glare at Poseidon.

"Wait," Nico furrowed his eyebrows. "Does this mean you're dreaming of Annabeth shopping for wedding dresses? If you are and this is a demigod dream then doesn't that mean that-"

"Read Percy!" Annabeth shouted.

Percy hastily started to read while Poseidon tried to stop his laughing fit.

My nightmare started like this.

"Oh great."

Apollo looked thoughtful. "I wonder if you'll be in a straitjacket this time?"

Percy shook his head. "Not all of them start out like that. Just most of them."

I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing. Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned.

Florida, I thought.

Apollo smiled fondly. "Ah, Florida."

Hermes rolled his eyes. "You're like, obsessed with Florida. You shine the sun there all the time. Why?"

Hephaestus snickered. "It's because he likes watching the girls at Miami beach. Just stands in the sun all the time and stares at them. People always think that the sun stays in the sky around noon. That's completely true."

Hades smiled. "That's also why the equator was created-as an excuse so Apollo will have to shine the sun there a lot. He's always watching the beaches for girls. Why do you think his cabin's so full?"

By the time Hepaestus and Hades finished Apollo was beet red and embarassed from the snickering going around the room and the glares from the godesses.

Though I wasn't sure how I knew that. I'd never been to Florida.

Then I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and saw my friend Grover running for his life.

Athena visibly sighed in relief.

Yeah, I said hooves.

Katie sighed. "Here we go again with the explanations."

Grover is a satyr. From the waist up, he looks like a typical gangly teenager with a peach-fuzz goatee and a bad case of acne.

"Gangly..." Nico mused. "I like that word too, along with neorealism."

"Nico?"

"Yeah Perce?"

"That was completely unecessary."

Thalia sighed. "That's what I said last time."

He walks with a strange limp, but unless you happen to catch him without his pants on (which I don't recommend),

Almost everyone had trouble keeping their breakfast down.

you'd never know there was anything un-human about him. Baggy jeans and fake feet hide the fact that he's got furry hindquarters and hooves.

Leo swallowed hard. "You know? You don't have to make such an emphasis on that description."

Percy shrugged. "I don't know why this is here. It looks like it's written for a mortal to read."

Everyone seemed to consider this for a while.

"Huh," Thalia said. "That would explain why you had so many explanations in the first book."

Grover had been my best friend in sixth grade. He'd gone on this adventure with me and a girl named Annabeth to save the world, but I hadn't seen him since last July, when he set off alone on a dangerous quest—a quest no satyr had ever returned from.

Some of the counselors smiled knowingly. "That's our goose boy."

Anyway, in my dream, Grover was hauling goat tail, holding his human shoes in his hands the way he does when he needs to move fast. He clopped past the little tourist shops and surfboard rental places. The wind bent the palm trees almost to the ground.

Poseidon whistled. He'd finally stopped his laughing fit. "What's wrong with you Zeus?"

Zeus grimaced at the look on Hades' face. "Why do I not like the look on your face?"

Hades grinned. "Zeus didn't like Apollo hogging the view of the girls on Miami beach so he decided to visit because he was tired of Hera's constant nagging, but the girls left when the storm came so he got pissed and told Poseidon to send a hurricane there."

Nico nodded, "That makes perfect sense."

Demeter sighed. "Like father like son."

Hades ignored the look on Zeus' face and told Percy to keep reading.

Grover was terrified of something behind him. He must've just come from the beach. Wet sand was caked in his fur. He'd escaped from somewhere. He was trying to get away from ... something.

"A monster?"

"The sea?"

"The screaming hot babes who are scared of Zeus' storm?"

"Ramone?"

"Dude, why do you keep saying that?" Travis asked.

"I don't know." Connor replied.

"Will you two stop already?" Katie hissed.

A bone-rattling growl cut through the storm. Behind Grover, at the far end of the block, a shadowy figure loomed. It swatted aside a street lamp, which burst in a shower of sparks.

Travis snapped his fingers. "A giant porpoise that got carried away from the sea with the hurricane Poseidon sent?"

Connor gaped at him for a split-second before nodding. "I didn't even think about that."

Everyone ignored them except Demeter. "Oh great. Now Nico's disease is spreading to you two."

Grover stumbled, whimpering in fear. He muttered to himself, Have to get away. Have to warn them!

"Not a porpoise!" Thalia said, just in time to stop the Stoll brothers. "A monster. Mon-ster. M-o-n-s-t-e-r."

"Jeez Thalia." Connor said. "We weren't going to say a porpoise."

Travis nodded. "We were going to say a banana."

"Oh gods." Percy muttered. "Maybe Nico really has gotten to you two."

I couldn't see what was chasing him, but I could hear it muttering and cursing. The ground shook as it got closer. Grover dashed around a street corner and faltered. He'd run into a dead-end courtyard full of shops. No time to back up.

Dionysus stiffened a fraction of a degree on his throne.

The nearest door had been blown open by the storm. The sign above the darkened display window read: ST. AUGUSTINE BRIDAL BOUTIQUE.

"Oh."

Grover dashed inside. He dove behind a rack of wedding dresses.

"Oh." Nico said in realization. "So then, Annabeth isn't trying on wedding dresses to get married to Percy-"

Poseidon fell off his throne laughing at Athena's expression. Percy blushed a little but he didn't let go of Annabeth's hand. He continued reading.

The monster's shadow passed in front of the shop. I could smell the thing—a sickening combination of wet sheep wool and rotten meat and that weird sour body odor only monsters can have, like a skunk that's been living off Mexican food.

Percy rolled his eyes at the looks he got around the room. "I know, I know. Emphasis on descriptions. It's not necessarily my fault. Unless you want a book that goes straight to the point with no description or setting."

That wiped off the looks on their faces immediately.

Grover trembled behind the wedding dresses.

"Wedding dresses." Leo muttered. "Very macho. 100% effective when it comes to protecting a satyr."

"I know." Nico shook his head disbelievingly. "So powerful."

He didn't seem to notice the weird looks he was sent from across the room.

The monster's shadow passed on.

Silence except for the rain. Grover took a deep breath. Maybe the thing was gone.

"Nope."

Then lightning flashed. The entire front of the store exploded, and a monstrous voice bellowed: "MIIIIINE!"

I sat bolt upright, shivering in my bed.

There was no storm. No monster.

Hades rolled his eyes. "Of course there isn't. It's not Miami. Zeus won't be in New York."

"You're both just lucky Hera isn't here right now." Hermes shook his head.

Morning sunlight filtered through my bedroom window.

I thought I saw a shadow flicker across the glass—a humanlike shape.

Percy glanced at Annabeth knowingly.

But then there was a knock on my bed room door—my mom called: "Percy, you're going to be late."—and the shadow at the window disappeared.

It must've been my imagination. A fifth-story window with a rickety old fire escape ... there couldn't have been anyone out there.

"Yes there can." Nico smirked.

Percy frowned. He remembered the numerous times Nico had shown up on his fire escape while shadow traveling.

"Come on, dear," my mother called again. "Last day of school. You should be excited! You've almost made it!"

Clarisse frowned. "She's going to jinx it."

"Coming," I managed.

I felt under my pillow. My fingers closed reassuringly around the ballpoint pen I always slept with.

Demeter sighed. "And I thought Nico was crazy."

brought it out, studied the Ancient Greek writing engraved on the side: Anaklusmos. Riptide.

I thought about uncapping it, but something held me back.

"What?" Poseidon asked alarmed. "Why? Don't tell me you're going to be put into danger already. It's the first chapter."

Athena smirked at the turn of events. Now who was worrying and who was laughing? "Why not? He got into danger the first chapter of the first book. Who says this will be any different?"

I hadn't used Riptide for so long….

Besides, my mom had made me promise not to use deadly weapons in the apartment after I'd swung a javelin the wrong way and taken out her china cabinet.

Hermes tsked. "If you had shown her how to swing the javelin then maybe she would have allowed you to use riptide."

"That makes no sense."

"What's your point?"

I put Anaklusmos on my nightstand and dragged myself out of bed.

I got dressed as quickly as I could. I tried not to think about my nightmare or monsters or the shadow at my window.

"So of course, you'll think about them." Thalia said.

"Yup."

Have to get away. Have to warn them!

What had Grover meant?

I made a three-fingered claw over my heart and pushed outward—an ancient gesture Grover had once taught me for warding off evil.

The dream couldn't have been real.

Last day of school. My mom was right, I should have been excited. For the first time in my life, I'd almost made it an entire year without getting expelled. No weird accidents. No fights in the classroom. No teachers turning into monsters and trying to kill me with poisoned cafeteria food or exploding homework.

Everyone looked at Percy with an incredulous looks on their faces.

He shrugged. "It's happened a couple times before. Monsters have great imaginations."

Athena turned Hermes' camera so it was focused on Poseidon. She wasn't going to miss a second of his torture.

Tomorrow, I'd be on my way to my favorite place in the world—Camp Half-Blood.

Only one more day to go. Surely even I couldn't mess that up.

Thalia shook her head, "So of course you'll find a way to mess it up."

Percy just merely sighed.

As usual, I didn't have a clue how wrong I was.

Thalia smiled.

My mom made blue waffles and blue eggs for breakfast. She's funny that way, celebrating special occasions with blue food. I think it's her way of saying anything is possible. Percy can pass seventh grade. Waffles can be blue. Little miracles like that.

"Umm," Clarisse started. "Percy passing the first grade was a miracle in itself."

"Hey!"

I ate at the kitchen table while my mom washed dishes. She was dressed in her work uniform—a starry blue skirt and a red-and-white striped blouse she wore to sell candy at Sweet on America. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

Poseidon stopped worrying briefly to think about Sally.

The waffles tasted great, but I guess I wasn't digging in like I usually did. My mom looked over and frowned. "Percy, are you all right?"

"Or your mom just really knows you." Piper said.

"Yeah ... fine."

But she could always tell when something was bothering me. She dried her hands and sat down across from me. "School, or ..."

She didn't need to finish. I knew what she was asking.

"I think Grover's in trouble," I said, and I told her about my dream.

She pursed her lips. We didn't talk much about the other part of my life. We tried to live as normally as possible, but my mom knew all about Grover.

"I wouldn't be too worried, dear," she said. "Grover is a big satyr now. If there were a problem, I'm sure we would've heard from ... from camp..." Her shoulders tensed as she said the word camp.

"She knows something?" Hephaestus asked.

Apollo sighed. "For the fiftieth time... don't ask them. They won't tell you anything or they'll act mysterious."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I'll tell you what. This afternoon we'll celebrate the end of school. I'll take you and Tyson to Rockefeller Center—to that skateboard shop you like."

Hermes smiled. Ah, bribery in it's many forms and ways.

Rachel smiled. "Tyson's there?"

"Yeah." Percy said. Then he and Annabeth exchanged a glance. They remembered what they had first thought about Tyson. This was going to be a long story.

Oh, man, that was tempting. We were always struggling with money. Between my mom's night classes and my private school tuition, we could never afford to do special stuff like shop for a skateboard. But something in her voice bothered me.

"Wait a minute," I said. "I thought we were packing me up for camp tonight."

She twisted her dish rag. "Ah, dear, about that ... I got a message from Chiron last night."

My heart sank. Chiron was the activities director at Camp Half-Blood. He wouldn't contact us unless some thing serious was going on.

Thalia sighed.

"What did he say?"

"He thinks ... it might not be safe for you to come to camp just yet. We might have to postpone."

"Postpone? Mom, how could it not be safe? I'm a half-blood! It's like the only safe place on earth for me!"

Jason smiled. "Supposedly. Supposedly the only safe place."

"Usually, dear. But with the problems they're having—"

"What problems?"

"Percy ... I'm very, very sorry. I was hoping to talk to you about it this afternoon. I can't explain it all now. I'm not even sure Chiron can. Everything happened so suddenly."

My mind was reeling. How could I not go to camp? I wanted to ask a million questions, but just then the kitchen clock chimed the half-hour.

My mom looked almost relieved.

"Saved by the bell."

"Seven-thirty, dear. You should go. Tyson will be waiting."

"But—"

"Percy, we'll talk this afternoon. Go on to school."

That was the last thing I wanted to do, but my mom had this fragile look in her eyes—a kind of warning, like if I pushed her too hard she'd start to cry.

Nico knit his eyebrows. "Don't make your mom cry Percy."

Besides, she was right about my friend Tyson. I had to meet him at the subway station on time or he'd get upset. He was scared of traveling underground alone.

"He has every right to be." Nico girmaced. After the labyrinth quest he didn't like traveling underground either. Unless it was in the Underworld or with Hazel.

I gathered up my stuff, but I stopped in the doorway. "Mom, this problem at camp. Does it... could it have anything to do with my dream about Grover?"

She wouldn't meet my eyes. "We'll talk this afternoon, dear. I'll explain ... as much as I can."

Reluctantly, I told her good-bye. I jogged downstairs to catch the Number Two train.

I didn't know it at the time, but my mom and I would never get to have our afternoon talk.

Poseidon sighed exasperatedly.

In fact, I wouldn't be seeing home for a long, long time.

An even longer sigh this time.

As I stepped outside, I glanced at the brownstone building across the street. Just for a second I saw a dark shape in the morning sunlight—a human silhouette against the brick wall, a shadow that belonged to no one.

Then it rippled and vanished.

Percy looked up from the book. "Who's reading next?"

'Til next weekend. Review if you feel like it.

Erudite19