Ok guys, I a so sorry this took so long, I know I mailed my reviewers that I would try to have this up last Monday, but something happened to my computer, and it deleted all my work, so I had to rewrite this chapter and am in the process of rewriting the next 3 chapters.

Also, thanks to Demonic Hope for providing me with the back cover thing (I don't remember what it's called, the summery on the back cover of the book) from last chapter, and also for listening to me talk about the plot and different pairings and all that stuff.

Anyways, I hope you guys like this, I own nothing.

Poseidon stormed through a brightly lit Olympus, and; with more force than necessary, slammed the doors of the throne room open, startling all the other gods who were already there, waiting for him. He took out the Percy Jackson book and angrily threw it onto the circular marble table; normally used for holding food and drinks during the meeting, in the center of the room.

"What is this?" Poseidon snarled at the other gods, "Some sort of sick joke?!"

All the other gods looked confused, except Athena, who had been looking for a fight with Poseidon for a while.

"Well it seems to be a book," Athena said in a voice that said 'You are too much of an idiot to be talking to me', "Not that you should know what that you Poseidon. You see, you need a brain to read a book."

"Thats NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Poseidon yelled; he was not in the mood for Athena's taught and constant verbal attacks right now. "I damn well know what a fucking book is Athena!" Poseidon took a few seconds to calm himself; he needed to explain what was going on. "I was in that bookstore on Fifth Avenue (1), the one with the odd name, and I found this on the shelf, it's a book about a supposed child of mine. Except I have no mortal children right now, at least no living ones, and I have no plans of having any, as you all know, because some insufferable younger brothers just can't stop MURDERING my children! "

"Okay, Poseidon, calm down," Hades walked over to his younger brother, trying to calm him as he had been getting quite agitated again.

While Poseidon was yelling, Hestia had gotten the book to look at. "This book looks interesting. Apollo, do you think it could be something one of your Oracles wrote?"

"I doubt it, the author is a guy, and my Oracle can only be a mortal female. Though it might be something else," Apollo was deep in thought; he had an idea, something so crazy that it might actually be true. "Maybe it's a different universe! I mean, it's possible that they exist, where in one universe you make one choice, and in a different one you make a different or opposite choice!"

"Only way we can know for sure is to read, and I for one am just dying to know what happens. There are sure to be many juicy romances in here," Aphrodite squealed.

"Aphrodite," Athena complained, "These are kids, there isn't going to be any romance, so shut up!"

Aphrodite pouted, put out by Athena's bad mood.

"Just ignore her Aphrodite," Poseidon said, now that he had finally calmed down, "Athena is just being a bitch."

Apollo ran forward and grabbed the book, "Can I read?" He asked.

"We don't even know if we're reading or not yet, dumbass." Hermes said, annoyed that Apollo was acting like a child once again.

"Ok, then let's have a vote," Hades said, ignoring the fact that it should be Zeus calling the shots. "All in favor of reading?"

Poseidon, Apollo, Hades, Demeter, Hestia, Aphrodite, Ares, Hephaestus and Artemis raised their hands.

"Fine, I guess we shall read the book," Zeus sounded quite annoyed that Hades had initiated the vote; he was supposed to be the outcast! "Who will read the first chapter?"

"ME, ME, ME!" Apollo shouted, raising his hand into the air like a young child.

"Fine, Apollo, you may read. But no more of this foolish childishness," Zeus scolded his son.

Apollo grabbed the book and opened it to the first page.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Lightning Thief.

Chapter One: I Accidently Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher.

"What kind of foolish name is that for a chapter," Athena scolded, "This child of yours seems to be more of an idiot than the others, Poseidon."

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

"Ungrateful brat," muttered Zeus.

"Well, I wouldn't want to be a half-blood either," commented Aphrodite.

"Of course you wouldn't Aphrodite," Zeus sounded annoyed, "You're an Olympian."

"I meant, things don't end well for most half-bloods, I'd rather be a mortal, than a half-blood." Aphrodite explained.

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

"Oh great," Athena complained, "There's a child of fish breath giving advice."

close this book right now.

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

"Thats actually not bad advice," Hades commented, "We'd either come get our kids or send someone to get them when they are ready."

"Well this is a different world, how do we know that we would do that in this world?" Athena was getting a bit mad, how dare stupid kid try and show her up, even if it was just in a book, he still must know she would read it!

Hades sighed, Athena was being difficult today. "I doubt we would all just leave our kids out in the world to fend for themselves."

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

"And this is why I would rather be a mortal than a demigod," Aphrodite explained.

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 feel 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.

"Well that sounds vaguely ominous," Dionysus commented.

"Sounds like something you'd hear in a horror movie," Poseidon sounded a bit worried, he didn't want his baby growing up in a horror movie.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

"Apollo, I swear, if you say 'You didn't warn us', I will stab you," Ares growled.

My name is Percy Jackson.

Poseidon smiled, such a beautiful name for his beautiful child, he wished he could what he looked like. Poseidon imagined Percy to look like a mini him; long shaggy black hair; bright, sea green eyes; and a lithe build, strong but slim.

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.

"My baby is not a troubled kid," Poseidon huffed.

Am I a troubled kid?

"No," Poseidon muttered.

Yeah. You could say that.

Apollo laughed at the expression on Poseidon's face.

I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it,

Zeus was not happy about reading a book about Poseidon's kid. The kid was probably just trying to get attention by saying that, "His life can't have been that bad, he's probably just being a spoiled brat like most kids."

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 teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.

"That's not so bad, I can think of worse field trips to go on," Aphrodite said, "At least he's not going to a swamp or going camping for a week, some of my kids had to go on field trips like that."

"Aphrodite, most of my kids are Dyslexic and ADHD, most museums make you just stand around and read things, museums and my kids don't go together very well," Poseidon defended.

"No," Athena corrected snottily, "your kids just don't like museums because they are idiot brats."

I know—it sounds like torture.

Athena huffed, clearly not liking the kid.

Most Yancy field trips were. But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.

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.

"That better be Chiron," Poseidon said, "Someone needs to be watching my baby and bringing him to Camp Half-Blood, or better yet Atlantis."

"Poseidon," Demeter asked, "Why do you always insist on having your children in Atlantis, they are half human you know."

"My babies need to be protected," Poseidon said defensively, "and the best place for me to protect them is Atlantis!"

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 awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.

Athena glared; the disrespect of the boy! Falling asleep in class! She was considering if it was worth killing him.

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

Boy, was I wrong.

"What!?" Poseidon squeaked. His baby couldn't get hurt, he may not be from this world, but Poseidon couldn't stand to read a book about the death of another of his children.

See, bad things happen to me on field trips. 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 for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.

Apollo started laughing, "I officially love your son, Poseidon."

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.

Hades, Poseidon, Hermes and Ares joined the laughter.

And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.

By now most of the room was laughing, the only people who weren't were Zeus, Hera and Athena.

This trip, I was determined to be good.

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

"That's disgusting," Aphrodite said, trying not t throw up. Artemis and Demeter had also turned a little bit green.

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. 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.

"Sounds like satyr," Hephaestus commented, looking up from where he was working on his latest project. The project looked a little like a plucked metal chicken with fins.

"Good, my baby should have lots of protection."

You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.

"Yup, definitely a satyr," laughed Aphrodite, agreeing with her husband.

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that 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 by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.

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

"That might be entertaining to watch," muttered Ares, getting rather bored already.

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

"I get why he would like peanut butter, it's delicious," murmured Demeter, "but how can he like it in his hair?"

Artemis signed, "I think he is just trying to calm the boy down, Demeter."

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

"Why would my baby be on probation?" Poseidon asked, completely oblivious to the fact that his kids were usually some of the most destructive demigods.

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

"He should, the girl is obviously a dick," Ares growled.

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

Poseidon looked like he was about to have a panic attack. His baby couldn't get hurt, even if he didn't exist here, Poseidon didn't think he would be able to stand reading about his baby being hurt.

Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.

"Shouldn't they have a tour guide?" asked Athena.

"Well if the horse is really Chiron then he would know more than the guides, really Athena, think before you speak," Hera scolded.

He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey

Athena grumbled, "Thats not a word, you idiot boy," low enough that Poseidon luckily didn't hear.

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.

"You fool, it's much older than that," This time Athena had not been quiet enough to escape Poseidon's notice.

"How DARE you insult my child, Athena! I should blast you to dust!" Poseidon looked like he would continue, or possibly even attack Athena until Hades intervened.

"Calm yourself, brother, she is not worth getting banished for," Hades said, as he rubbed Poseidons back, trying to get him to be careful. Zeus had been looking for a way to get rid of Poseidon for a while, and though Hades wasn't always the best brother, he loved Poseidon and would always try his best to protect him. Zeus could go fall off a cliff.

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

All the gods looked a bit sad; usually those markers were for demigods.

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.

"Those kids should be quiet, my baby wants to learn and they aren't letting him," Poseidon was not looking impressed, "The teacher should be stopping them from talking."

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.

"That sounds a bit like Alecto," Hades commented.

"What would your Fury be doing with my child," Poseidon asked.

"Maybe I sent her to make sure your child was ok," Hades said, it was the only explanation he could think of, after all, he would never send a monster to hurt one of Poseidons kids, Poseidon would be devastated.

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

Hades looked confused, if Alecto was sent to protect the boy, then she should have been looking after him, not scaring him.

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.

"Honey?" Ares asked.

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."

"Oh, great," Poseidon said sarcastically, "they sent a useless satyr to protect my child, at least Chiron and Alecto are there."

Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.

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

"Good boy," Ares said, quite happy the kid was standing up for himself.

It came out louder than I meant it to.

"Good, now the teachers will let the kids who want to learn actually LEARN." Poseidon seemed happy.

The whole group laughed.

"I don't get it, whats so funny," Poseidon said.

"Mortals are idiots, there is nothing funny," Hades said, calming his brother before he started thinking all the kids were making fun of his child.

Mr. Brunner stopped his story.

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

"Good, now Percy can tell Chiron that he can't hear what is being said."

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

Poseidon seems confused as to why Percy wasn't telling his teacher that the other kids were to loud.

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

"Good, now my baby can show off his knowledge."

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

Poseidon looked smug that his baby knew the answer.

"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—"

Before anyone could comment, Poseidon said "He's only a id, give him a break, it's not like demigods need to worry about Kronos, he's been gone for thousands of years and he's not coming back."

"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.

"Titan," I corrected myself.

"And look, he knows the answer, anyways; he just needed a minute to figure it out."

"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.

"I always wonder how you could mistake a rock for a child," Hermes said.

"It just proved that our father looked a lot like a rock at birth." Apollo explained.

All the while Hades and Poseidon were murmuring about all the reasons the rock was a better brother than Zeus.

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.

"It was worth it to get out of his stomach," Demeter said.

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

Some snickers from the group.

"Ok, mortals don't seem to understand humor." Apollo said.

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.'"

"There are a lot of careers that you need to learn at least a bit of Greek mythology to have," Athena said, in a snooty voice, like the rest of the gods didn't know that already.

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

"Busted," Grover muttered.

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

"That would be a sight to see," Hephaestus murmured, rather distracted with making his latest...thing.

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

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.

"Which was not fun at all," Hera said, like it wasn't completely obvious.

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?"

"How is that happy?" Poseidon asked.

"I think it was sarcasm, brother." Hades explained.

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

"So the boys were acting like normal then," Artemis said.

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.

"Not quite everything, but close." Hestia said, sadly.

"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."

"He shouldn't have to learn it, I thought demigods were taken to camp and then told these days," Demeter said, sounding confused.

"Maybe it's one of those other world differences," Athena said.

"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."

"Way to put pressure on the poor kid," Ares said, rather annoyed that Chiron seemed to be treating the kid like he was much older than he really was.

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.

"That would be a fun game," Apollo sounded excited.

"To bad you would suck at it Apollo, your too much of an idiot to remember facts," Athena said, she thought Apollo was stupid, he was the god of healing and he didn't even have a doctors licence, he said it was cause he didn't want to get one, but Athena though it ws just cause he knew he would fail the school.

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.

"None of this is his fault, why does he sound upset?" Poseidon asked no one in particular.

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.

"I guess it was a demigod," Demeter said sadly, causing a few of the other gods to bow their heads.

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.

"Thats not safe," Aphrodite said, "One of the ids could just get up and walk away."

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.

"What is Zeus mad about this time?" Hades asked, "Did he fall in love with another mortal that Hera is forbidding him to be with?"

Poseidon just looked confused at why Zeus could be mad, that was too long for him to be mad for just not being allowed to be with someone.

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

"I guess you guys are just fighting again," Demeter sighed.

Nobody else seemed to notice.

Athena looked exasperated, "Of course no one noticed; thats what the mist is for."

"Athena, the boy isn't aware of his heritage, he doesn't know about the mist," Hades explained.

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.

"She better not be your child, Hermes, because she will die, demigod or not!" Poseidon threatened.

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.

"MY BABY IS NOT A LOSER OR A FREAK!" Poseidon yelled, daring anyone to question him.

"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."

"Got that right," Athena muttered under her breath.

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?"

"Well, it's better than nothing," Aphrodite offered.

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

"Thats so sad, he should get to see his mom more," Hestia decided.

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,

"Well she's a good mother then," Hera stated, "she can't just do what her kids want."

"Thats not a good mother," Demeter countered, "She should have Percy enrolled in a school close to home if he misses her so much."

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.

Demeter did not look happy; a mother shouldn't send their kids off to boarding school, especially a child Percy's age or younger. It was possible that Poseidon saw Percy more than the boy's mother saw him.

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.

Hephaestus looked vaguely interested at the idea, he was considering making one later.

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.

Many of the gods looked appalled at this girls manners.

"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 looked ready to throw up, "Even I can't make that look good."

I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper."

"Good, try to calm down, baby" Poseidon said, everyone was starting to wonder whether Poseidon thought his son was really here, or if not, who Poseidon was talking to.

But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.

"Well I guess that didn't work," Dionysus drawled.

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—"

"Wow, you must have quite a powerful child, Poseidon, and he doesn't even realise what he did." Hades looked impressed.

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

"It's ok baby, it wasn't your fault," Poseidon was starting to creep a few of the gods out.

"Poseidon," Hades asked his brother, "You do realise that Percy isn't actually here, he doesn't even exist in this world."

"Of course I realise that," Poseidon was looking at Hades rather oddly, "Why would I not?"

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 looked really confused, that sounded like Alecto wanted to hurt Percy, but his minions would never hurt the children of him little brother, Zeus's kids were fine for them to eat though.

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

"You shouldn't guess your punishment," Hermes sounded annoyed, "you'll only make it worse, plus it makes you sound rude."

"My baby is not rude!" Poseidon growled, "he is just upset and confused, he doesn't even realize he did anything."

That wasn't the right thing to say.

"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.

Hades was looking really nervous now, his servant should not be acting like this, did she think the boy was a child of Zeus?

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

"A nice effort, satyr, but it is not enough."

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

She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.

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

"But—"

"You—will—stay—here."

Grover looked at me desperately.

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

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

"Whats with the 'Honey' thing?" Ares asked the question many were thinking.

Nancy Bobofit smirked.

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

"Is an 11 year olds glare supposed to be scary?" Dionysus asked.

"I'm sure to another 11 year old it would be quite scary," Artemis said.

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.

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.

"It's not that, baby," Poseidon murmured.

I wasn't so sure.

I went after Mrs. Dodds.

Poseidon was getting nervous for some reason, but Alecto wouldn't hurt Percy, Percy was his kid, and Hades would never have his servants attack one of Poseidons kids.

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.

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.

Poseidon probably would have freaked if he didn't know that Chiron was outside and this was one of Hades servants, not just a monster.

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...

Everyone was getting confused and worried by now, Alecto was loyal to Hades, she wouldn't betray him, would she?

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

"What problems? Percy hasn't done anything that our council would have a problem with." Demeter said, looking worried.

"I have a problem with him existing," Zeus supplied.

"I meant the council as a whole, Zeus."

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?"

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

People were starting to figure out that something was seriously wrong; Alecto wouldn't betray Hades, so why was she attacking Percy? Even if Hades and Poseidon were fighting they agreed never to hurt the others kids in their fights unless the kids interfered.

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

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

"I don't think that will help, makes it sound like you will try harder to do whatever it is you did wrong," Hermes said, looking exited, he had gotten into a fight with Poseidon a while ago, and now he wanted revenge.

Thunder shook the building.

"Apparently Father finds this importuned as well," Athena commented, silently hopping the child died.

"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.

"My baby is being accused of something he didn't do? Why do I get the feeling YOU are behind this Zeus." Poseidon sounded mad, he was rather overprotective of his kids.

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.

"I doubt thats it," Apollo said, he was worried about Poseidon's kid, Poseidon was quite nice to him.

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.

"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.

"NO!" Poseidon shouted. "Hades, what is the meaning of this?"

"I don't know brother," Hades said, trying not to sound as scared as he was, "this is a different world, maybe I thought he was a child of Zeus? Or maybe he did something unknowingly?"

This did not seem to calm Poseidon down.

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.

"How on earth is a pen supposed to help," Poseidon asked, quite mad.

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

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.

"How is my baby supposed to use this, he probably doesn't know sword fighting, Chiron should have just killed the thing." Poseidon was getting more and more mad, either Chiron had no wish to help his child, or demigods were just dispensable there.

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.

"The boy is a wimp, he doesn't deserve to live," Zeus said, only to get punched in the nose by a very angry sea god.

"Don't you dare insult my son, Zeus," Poseidon growled.

She snarled, "Die, honey!" And she flew right at me.

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

"Very talented child," Hades said, with Ares nodding along in agreement.

The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body like it was made of water.

Poseidon looked relieved.

Hiss

"Interesting sound affects there," Ares said in amusement.

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.

"Well that is creepy," Apollo said, shivering a bit.

I was alone.

Just then Zeus's phone rang. He answered it, and was talking to the person on the other line for a few minutes. "I'll have to be leaving, something has come up, I shall be back in a few weeks." Zeus said, rather abruptly.

It was odd, Zeus wasn't usually like that, and everyone just assumed Zeus wanted an excuse not to have to read the books, except Hera, who knew the truth.

"Hera, darling, if you could come with me?" Zeus and Hera left the throne room, and the rest of the council went back to the books.

There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.

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

"Chiron should have stayed and looked after my baby, Poseidon said, annoyed.

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

"Are there such things?" Apollo asked Demeter.

"I believe so, though they are quite rare, and most are also poisonous."

Had I imagined the whole thing?

"No baby, it was real, now we just need Chiron to take you to Camp Halfblood and you'll be safe," Poseidon cooed.

I went back outside.

It had started to rain.

"At least that will help make him stronger," Hades said, trying to cam Poseidon.

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."

"Who," Poseidon asked.

I said, "Who?"

"I guess the kid is as much of an idiot as you are," Athena said.

"Neither my son nor I am not an idiot, and don't deny that you were thinking the same thing."

"Our teacher. Duh!"

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

"Oh, it's just the mist baby," Poseidon murmured softly.

She just rolled her eyes and turned away.

I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.

He said, "Who?"

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

"That satyr does not seem to be being very useful," Poseidon grumbled.

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

Thunder boomed overhead.

"Wow, Zeus is agreeing with Poseidons kid, never thought I'd see the day," Apollo joked

"Technically you haven't SEEN the day; you've read about the day." Athena corrected.

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."

"Why is Chiron not explaining things to my baby, he should be explaining things and then taking my baby to camp." Poseidon was starting to get agitated again.

Hades was not looking forward to all the dead that would be accumulating in his kingdom if this story continued on like this. "I'm sure Chiron just needs to keep the ruse up while they are in public, he can't exactly explain things in front of a class of school children."

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?"

"That doesn't sound like he is going to explain things later." Poseidon sounded quite mad, monsters could find Percy, so why wasn't he going to camp? Why was Chiron making him think he was insane?

"Well," Apollo said, "thats the end of the chapter. I take it we are continuing the book?"

"Of course we are," Poseidon said, he wanted to know about his child, even if the child was from another world.

Just then Triton walked in, "Father, Mother is unhappy. She says you need to calm down; you've caused 2 typhoons, 4 minor earthquakes, and 2 major earthquakes. The mermen are..." And then Triton was cut off by a crack of thunder coming from a black crack in the ceiling and something large falling on him.

(1)Yes there really is a bookstore on Fifth Avenue; it's called M D Publish. Not sure what kind of books it sells though, never been there, only know it from seeing it while on vacation.

I had to devote a few days of writing time to reading House of Hades, so I am a bit behind on the rewriting. For those of you that read House of Hades also, didn't you love it? Though a bit to much Percabeth for me. I'm not a big Percabeth fan, I prefer Percy with Luke or Apollo or Triton or Nico.

It will most likely be a week or two before I get the next chapter up, I will guarantee that it will be up by Halloween at the latest.

Anyways, please review, and in your reviews tell me what you think of House of Hades and who you think just crashed into Triton, and I'll give you a hint, it isn't Percy.

I also have a poll open on what pairings you guys like, so let me know what pairings you guys like.

Talk to you all soon

Elan