Tempest Eve had been really cool though I was glad it was over.
All the lessons from Mevua'ta and Benthesikyme on how to act were put to use, and I'd even been allowed to pick out the jewelry for it.
It was a bit awkward talking to so many mer I didn't know but Triton helped, and Fetu was by my side for a lot of it so that was nice.
And I got to see Okeanus-ari and Tethys-ran! It was nice to see them again since I hadn't really dreamed of them in a while.
The conversation was reassuring, they were the same as before. Gentle and curious and checking how I was doing. I was glad they didn't hold my choice on the solstice against me. I was still incredibly flattered that they'd wanted to adopt me, but I really did want to stay with my family and get to know them more.
And I definitely didn't want to leave Triton.
They'd left early though. Apparently, they had a lot of work to do preparing for this year's storm season. It was weird, normally they didn't have much to do with it as they were in the deep water.
I wondered what they needed to do this storm season.
But the event was cool, I even got to watch the Uatevi Imote prepare and see Triton give the declaration of peace.
Tempest Eve was a popular day to start wars in the sea, it heralded in the storms; so, wars often start with a large storm then. But whenever there isn't war, the declaration of peace was given.
It was cool to watch Triton do it.
Overall, Tempest Eve went well, and I didn't make a fool of myself. It was very peaceful and honestly, I was kinda excited for the next one.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
Okay so my dreams were weird, I knew that. Like theoretically they were prophetic sorta? Like dream swimming and all.
But sometimes they were clearly just dreams.
I mean the woolly mammoth one was clearly just a dream but this one? This one took the cake.
I was standing on a deserted street in a little beach town. Florida. I'd never been to Florida but as usual my senses in water came to my rescue. It was weird though, I hadn't had that instinct in dreams before, even my dream swimming.
It was storming horribly, wind and rain ripping at the palm trees along the sidewalk. I knew there was a storm in Florida right then, a tropical storm, it was Veruo after all. Apparently, my dream had picked it up.
I was staring into the clouds when I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and found my friend Grover running for his life… with a woolly mammoth beside him.
What?
Why?
I sighed. My dreams were so weird.
He was carrying his human shoes in his hands and moving fast. His hooves loud even with the storm raging around us. My dream self was tugged along after him and the woolly mammoth.
He looked like a wreck. His fur coated in sand and wet, his hair a tangled disaster, and his shirt torn and stained. He was on the run from… something.
The wind bent the trees nearly to the ground as a bone-rattling growl cut through the storm.
I spun to get a look at the source, a shadowy figure I couldn't see clearly through the storm. A lamp burst into a shower of sparks as it swatted it aside.
"Have to get away," gasped as he ran. "I have to warn them!"
Warn them? Who? Of what?
I heard cursing behind me as the ground shook. Grover dashed around a street corner and froze.
A dead end.
There was no time to go back and whatever was following him was getting closer. The woolly mammoth at his side tugged him towards an open door.
ST AUGUSTINE BRIDAL BOUTIQUE
He dashed inside with the woolly mammoth, diving into a display of wedding dresses.
What kind of dream- I gagged at the smell of the creature chasing him. Wet sheep, rotten meat, and a very sour body odor. Was he being chased by a terror?
Grover trembled as the woolly mammoth tugged a veil over his head. The terror's shadow moved past.
There was a long moment where the only thing audible was the rain. And then-
Lightning flashed, a boom sounded, and the front of the store exploded.
"MIIIIIINE!"
I woke up.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I shook off the lingering fear from the dream. It was just a dream, not dream swimming.
Just a nightmare.
A very strange nightmare.
Grover was fine, and not traveling with a woolly mammoth. Honestly, why was that stuck in my head? That was the third dream to include the woolly mammoth.
I ran a hand through my hair and basked for a moment in the morning sun. A shadow briefly covered it.
"Percy, you're going to be late," mom called through the door with a knock.
I shook my head, "Coming!"
I quickly changed, idly double checking my moon earrings to make sure they were in right, before feeding Carl and Hippolyta. Ran curled over my wrist while I did, purring softly. I smiled, gently running my finger over his glass scales, before coaxing him to lay on my pillow.
Morning stuff done, I grabbed my bag and headed out the door.
My thoughts drifted back to the dream as I moved to the kitchen to grab breakfast.
It had felt so real but really, a woolly mammoth? I've seen some crazy things in dreams and in person, but woolly mammoths were long extinct. How could Grover find one? If not for that… well that was just silly.
What would be chasing Grover like that anyways? He was a seeker and that was dangerous but surely, he wouldn't be on the run in Florida in a wedding boutique with a woolly mammoth in a hurricane.
That was ridiculous.
Must've just been a dream.
"It's your last day, Percy," Mom said as she put my plate in front of me. "Are you excited?"
I smiled, digging into my breakfast.
"Yeah, me and my friends are gonna grab ice cream after. And of course, I'm going back to camp tomorrow. I'm really excited to see everyone again."
Her smile faltered slightly, "Ah yeah. About that…"
"What?"
She wrung the dishcloth in her hand, studying my breakfast of blue waffles and blue eggs.
"Khiron called me last night and well…"
My heart sank as I put down my fork, "Did something happen?"
He wouldn't have contacted us if it wasn't important. He hadn't contacted us all year after all.
"He thinks that… well, it might not be safe at camp right now. We may have to postpone."
I stared for a moment, completely baffled. "How could camp half-blood not be safe? It has a barrier and everything? Did something happen? Have you told Triton?"
She shook her head. "Not yet. They've been having some problems at camp and…"
The clock chimed the half-hour.
My mom shook her head, "We can talk about it this afternoon, okay?"
I reluctantly nodded but my mind was racing. What was going on at camp? Did Triton hear about it yet? What was so worrisome for mom?
I'd just have to wait till that afternoon.
"Have fun at school," Mom said, kissing my forehead. "We'll do an offering of thanks to Apollo and Athena tonight okay?"
"Okay," I gave her a quick hug. "I'll see you this afternoon."
I grabbed my bag and headed out. I wanted to stay and find out more, but I needed to meet up with Tyson.
My thoughts drifted to my dream again. Could these problems be related? But no. It was just a dream. Wasn't it?
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
English was, as usual, a pain. We were reading Lord of the Flies which was… interesting.
Annabeth mentioned that it was based entirely on rich upper-class white boys, and that any other group wouldn't do anything even remotely similar.
She was correct of course. It was entirely the rich upper-class white boys in the class that made us pass the final by acting exactly like the book describes.
I wasn't sure why our final exam comprised of us being put in the yard for an hour without adult supervision but… it ended in a massive wedgie contest between the boys of the different classes, two pebble fights, a full-tackle basketball game (don't ask), and my friends and me hiding on the climbing area.
Unsurprisingly it was Matt Sloan leading most of the activities. For once he also wasn't shooting Klara wary looks. It was probably because of the extra half a dozen, very big, students with him. I didn't recognize them, but I knew the school did programs for students in need (like the one Tyson was in on) so maybe they were with that?
He still avoided us mind you, but that was fine with me. I didn't want to be near him anyways.
"Why do they pull up underwear?" Tyson wondered.
"They're loud idiots," Nikola muttered, laying as comfortably as he could on the edge of the climbing area.
"They like feeling strong?" Klara offered.
"I've been studying their behavior all year and I think it's because they think beating people up makes them cool," Kai said with a nod.
Acantha laughed.
Tyson nodded solemnly, "They are strange."
"Extremely," I agreed.
By the time class was over we'd discussed plans for meeting up next year even if we didn't all attend the same school (Nikola was probably transferring, we weren't sure where Tyson would be, and Klara, Acantha, and Kai weren't sure about their next year) and had determined that at the very least we could keep in contact via letters.
I'd talk to mom about getting Tyson a PO box with our Lotus card if I couldn't get Metua to do something for him.
Our English teacher, Mr. de Milo, came out to inspect the class and determined that we all understood Lord of the Flies perfectly. We had all passed his course with flying colors and would never ever grow up to be violent people.
Zoey and I shared a look and held back laughs.
Our next exam was science. Mrs. Tesla told us we had to mix chemicals until something exploded and well… my partner was Tyson.
We made things explode without even trying.
Suffice to say it took us less than thirty seconds to cause an explosion. And a suspicious orange mushroom cloud in the trash. And got the entire room evacuated.
We got an A though, and special commendation for being the quickest to ever pass her exam. The hazardous waste removal squad coming in gave her the side eye.
I settled into my Social Studies classroom next.
The messes of morning exams were very helpful for taking my mind off of the stuff from the morning. But my mind still drifted to my conversation with my mom.
Camp was having trouble.
None of my friends had told me about problems at camp. I knew that some people were mad about the stuff with Luke… was that what it was? Where campers mad about the Luke situation and Chiron didn't think it was safe for me to return?
I shook my head, pushing those concerns away. That wouldn't help right now I should focus on something else.
I dug out my mythology notebook while I waited for the teacher to be ready for the exam. I ran my finger over my notebook inner cover where I had pictures of my friends there, smiling out at me. Annabeth at the Washington monument, Acantha, Kai, and Klara eating ice cream for the first time (their old home didn't even have ice cream??), Nikola draping an arm over Zoey while she held up a sketch of him napping, Tyson skateboarding.
It was reassuring to see.
I'd never many (any really) friends before and now I had lots. It was nice.
I closed it after a moment and pulled out my pencil and ruler for the map drawing.
My gaze drifted around the room while I waited, landing briefly on Klara who was doing a last minute look over her notes.
Probably smart, this wasn't exactly my best class. But I'd already spent ages studying and didn't feel like looking at it again right now.
Sloan was goofing off with the unknown kids. They were definitely visiting, maybe joining next year, because they had those HI! MY NAME IS: name tags. I couldn't see the names from where I was though.
Sloan saw me looking and shot me a nasty smile, his friends following his gaze to grin dangerously at me.
I frowned and looking back at the front just in time to see the teacher standing up.
He moved to the front and called the class to order (or as close as the class would get) and handed out the exam.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I thought I heard someone call my name as I left class, but when I looked around no one was looking at me. Before I could double check the crowd rushed by and I went along to P.E. Last class before lunch, then I had my Portuguese exam.
I was actually looking forward to that exam. I'd been studying a lot with Fetu in the ocean (even though the teacher insisted that that wasn't proper Portuguese grammar and stuff… It was still fun) and with Kai, Nikola, and Zoey on land. It was fun to try and figure out how to say everything with them.
But first, P.E.
All my friends but Klara had P.E. with me, which was nice but also sad because she was great at physical stuff apparently and we mainly did team activities. And also, I enjoyed chatting with her.
I reached the locker room and quickly got changed, ignoring the malicious grin Matt was sending the group of us. He looked excited.
The gym uniform was sky-blue shorts and tie-dyed T-shirts, which looked ridiculous on most everyone. It clashed with my hair too (or at least Zoey said it did).
Once I finished Tyson shyly looked at me.
"Um, Percy… will you… uh…"
He was standing by the weight-room door, clutching his clothes.
I nodded quickly, "Yeah sure, no problem."
He slipped in to change.
He never liked changing around others, which was understandable. He had a lot of big scars and I got questions about the dark one on my palm from the pit scorpion. I couldn't imagine he'd enjoy getting all the questions with his being so much worse.
Nikola and Kai waited with me until Tyson was ready and then we headed out.
When we got into gym the coach, Coach Nunley, was sitting at his little desk reading Sports Illustrated. He was very old, shriveled, and moved less than the Oracle at Camp. I wasn't sure why he was in charge of gym.
Zoey and Acantha joined us just as Matt moved over to the coach.
"Hey Coach," Matt said boldly. "Can I be captain?"
"Eh?" Coach Nunley looked up for a moment. "Yeah… mm-hmm."
Matt grinned and, unfortunately, took charge of things.
I was made the other teams captain, which was weird he hadn't targeted me in ages.
It didn't really matter that I was captain 'cause everyone picked their sides quickly, and I'd long earned a reputation as a disaster in gym (though I did improve through the year a lot!). Most of the jocks, popular kids, and anyone that wanted to win went over to Matt's side, plus the visiting students.
The six of them were as tall and strong-looking as Tyson, which didn't bode well for my side.
I had my friend group, but Nikola never tried, and Zoey wasn't good at throwing the dodge balls. Acantha, Kai, and Tyson were good at this, and I was alright, but with the six visitors? We were outnumbered.
The rest of my side was made up of the 'nerd' students and those that just didn't care.
I winced as Matt spilled a cage full of balls in the middle of gym and two students whimpered and fled. It appeared no one on my side wanted to face Matt's team.
"Scared," Tyson mumbled. "Smells funny."
"It's okay!" Zoey chirped, slowly sliding behind Tyson. "We'll kick their butt."
I blinked, "What smells funny?"
"Them," Tyson said pointing at Matt's new buddies. "Smell funny."
I stared at Tyson for a moment, before my gaze snapped to the visitors. Tyson was a Kyklopes. Kyklopes could smell demigods and… and-
Matt blew the coach's whistle and the game started.
The other team ran for the center line while on my side another kid bolted from the room and one hid behind the wall mat to hide.
"Tyson," I said. "What do-"
A ball slammed into my gut with all the force of a hippocampi kick. I sat down hard on the floor, wheezing. I coughed hard, blinking back tears.
Oh dear.
"Percy!" Acantha cried.
"Percy duck!" Tyson yelled.
I rolled to the side and another dodgeball whistled past my ear.
Whoom!
It hit the wall mat and the kid hiding there yelped.
Smells funny. No human could throw that hard with a dodge ball. My ribs were hurting.
Smells funny. They weren't human. They were-
Areo.
"Hey!" Zoey yelled. "You could hurt someone with those throws-" she yelped as Tyson knocked a dodgeball away from her.
The visitors laughed, "I hope so."
They were no longer looking so human.
Avero, I'd gotten so used to my senses over the last few years- but my necklace cut them off. I'd missed the signs.
The visitors were grinning at me with sharp yellowed teeth. They were over two meters with bulky muscles and tattooed arms.
They were terrors.
Matt dropped his ball. "Whoa! You're not from Detroit! Who…"
Zoey rubbed her eyes and Nikola made a strangled noise.
"Uh… what's up with them?" she asked weakly.
I faltered, they couldn't see through the mist. I had no idea what the mist was showing them.
"Monsters," Kai muttered. "Laistrygones."
I jerked to stare at him in surprise. "What?"
The other kids started screaming around us, trying to flee. But the newly determined Laistrygones didn't allow that, sending a ball streaking to the door with deadly accuracy. The door slammed shut like magic (it probably was).
The kids screamed and banged on the doors, but they didn't budge.
I snatched at my trident charm, stepping forward.
"Let them go!"
Zoey hissed at me to get back and Nikola made another strangled noise.
One of the Laistrygones leered at me, "And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We aren't just playing for your death today, we want lunch!"
He waved his hand and summoned a new batch of dodgeballs on the center line. These were not red rubber balls though, they were bronze, the size of cannon balls, and had holes like whiffle balls but with bubbling fire.
"Son of the Sea God?" Zoey muttered in confusion.
Nikola turned baffled eyes to me.
"Get out of here," I told them, ignoring the knot of anxiety in my stomach.
I didn't want them learning about my Godly heritage like this. Or at all really. But right now I had to focus.
The other students were staring at the Laistrygones in terror and frankly I was really wondering what they were seeing through the mist, but now wasn't the time.
"Run, get out through the other exit!"
Most of the class ran for the locker room but Nikola and Zoey hesitated. Acantha and Kai didn't even pretend to go that way.
One of the giants waved his hand and the locker room doors slammed shut, sealing us in with a sense of finality.
"No one leaves unless you're out!" He roared. "And you're not out until we eat you!"
Kai was looking around with a frown and Acantha was studying the water fountain. Their lack of real concern for the situation made my mind drift back to all the strange things about them.
I pushed my questions for them to the side for now (my necklace felt heavier than normal around my neck in the wake of these realizations). We had threats to handle.
My trident was in my hand and Zoey was staring at my hand in complete confusion and wariness that ached just a little. I steadied into a fighting stance I remembered learning at camp. It felt weird after fighting so long in the ocean, my legs felt awkward and tense and my trident heavier than in the ocean. I had a bad feeling that I should've practiced more on land.
Another giant launched a fireball at the class, causing my teammates to scatter as it blasted a crater in the gym floor. My ears rang from the explosions.
"What in the name of Athena is going on?" Zoey cried as she pulled Nikola (still making strange noises) away. Good, they were going to be alright.
I tried to dart forward but had to dive to the side as another fire ball came right at me. The explosion scorched my shirt.
"Flesh!" Roared one giant.
"Hero flesh for lunch!" grinned the other.
They both took aim at me as I scrambled to move.
"Percy!" Tyson cried as he jumped in front of me and planted his feet.
Water exploded from the water fountain and Tyson caught the fireballs.
"Tyson!" I called, pushing up.
The heat scorched my skin from being so close to them. Tyson was Kyklopes, he was fire resistant, but I still worried.
Acantha threw her hands towards another giant and Tyson threw the balls back at the ones who threw them.
He was fine.
The water surged to surround a giant's head.
I was back on my feet as the two giants Tyson hit with the bronze fire balls exploded into twin columns of flame and the watery one fell to his knees, clawing at his throathisthroat.
I snatched at the water still spewing from the water fountain with my power and readied myself to shield us from the fireballs.
"My brothers!" One of the cannibals wailed. He flexed his muscles with a snarl, fireball in hand. "You will pay for their destruction!"
He wound back his arm and threw with a roar.
I lashed out with a shield of water, hardening it to ice just as the fireball reached it, but it shattered immediately.
I stumbled back even as Tyson swatted the fireball aside, it landed in the stands just behind Coach Nunley with a huge KA-BOOM!
They shattered my shield like it wasn't even there-
"Look out," Kai called as he tugged me out of the way of another ball.
Tyson caught another fireball, the other two giants hefting their balls.
The one Acantha had been drowning finally crumbled to dust.
I sent a surge of water towards one of the giants, copying Acantha's move. Tyson sent the ball back at it's owner, making another fiery column appear, scattering dust once more. I wrapped the water around the fifth giant's head, forcing it down his throat and ignored his thrashing.
Kai dodged a fireball himself, shoving Zoey and Nikola back further.
Tyson charged towards the last one.
An explosion rocked the floor as the final one threw at Tyson and missed.
My eyes narrowed as Tyson punched him in the face.
The one I was drowning staggered, trying to grab another fireball to throw and I struggled to pull his head away.
Tyson smashed his opponent's face into the ground and gained another dust pile.
I startled as the one I was drowning suddenly went rigid, his expression shifting to pained surprise.
Right where his belly button would've been, his T-shirt ripped open and something came out.
The tip of a blade.
He gurgled in the water and then exploded into flame, leaving behind a final dust pile.
Standing in the dust was my friend Annabeth. Her face was grimy and scratched and she had the bag we got on our quest slung over her shoulder. Her eyes were wild as she looked me over.
Matt Sloan, who'd barely moved since the start and somehow wasn't dead, gaped.
I finally looked around, taking in the scene.
The gym was in flames with craters all over. Zoey and Nikola were still gaping at me (and at Kai, Acantha, Tyson, and Annabeth). Kids were running around screaming and tugging at the doors. Sirens were wailing in the background and the intercom could be heard making noise above.
Through the glass window of the exit doors I could see a crowd of teachers, with the headmaster at the front tugging at the doors.
Well I knew that wasn't active shooter protocol.
"Hey, Percy," Annabeth said stopping in front of me.
I blinked, "Annabeth… how long have you been following me?"
She coughed, "Pretty much all morning. I was trying to find a good time to talk to you…"
"There!" A woman screamed, and the doors burst open.
"Meet me outside," Annabeth said. "And I guess bring him."
She shot Tyson a look of distaste that made me stiffen. Yeah, he was a Kyklopes but that was no reason to be mean.
She shoved her hat on her head and vanished.
"Persi-aia," Kai started.
I shook my head, looking around the burning gymnasium. Oh, how fun there was a big hole in the wall. Must've been blasted out by one of the fireballs.
"Zoey Arrow," Mr. Bonsai started. "What… how…"
Zoey and Nikola blinked owlishly, and Mr. Bonsai turned to me.
"Percy Jackson-"
Tyson stumbled over to my side.
"It was Percy!" Matt cried to the teachers baffled looks. "Percy blew up the gym! Set the building on fire and everything!"
"What- that's preposterous-"
"Just ask Coach Nunley," Matt insisted.
"Now hang on," I said. "I didn't-"
"He had nothing to do with this," Kai said firmly.
"Back off Matt," Acantha snapped.
"Eh? Yeah. Mm-hmm," Coach Nunley said.
The other adults looked around, but I could see their looks, and the way they eyed the hand holding my trident.
They wouldn't believe me about this, they never did. Plus, I had no idea what my trident was looking like, and Coach Nunley was no help.
"Go," Kai muttered. "We'll handle this."
I stared at him for just a moment before nodding.
They were from the ocean, called me Persi-aia. They were probably here to keep me safe or something. They could probably handle this.
I shrunk my trident and grabbed Tyson.
"Come on," I said, leading the way as I jumped out the gaping hole in the side of the building.