I accidentally vaporize my Pre-Algebra teacher
Bell took the book from Ouranos. He didn't know why he volunteered, he wasn't even the best reader. He only learned a bit when he left his village so that he wouldn't get lost on the way to Orario.
He just felt…like he hadn't done enough.
When everyone was taken and transported to this godly theater, Bell felt like he should have done more. Instead, other people stepped up while he stayed in the back. He wasn't ashamed to say that he stayed back to protect his Goddess, he still remembered how she almost died to the Silverback during the MonsterPhilia.
But still… a part of him wished that he had done more. To have his voice be the one to reassure everyone that everything was going to be alright and to lead them at the front…just like the heroes in the stories.
So when the chance to read about a real hero, just like the ones his grandpa used to tell him, he jumped to be the first one to do it.
Now that he had to book in his hands though, he started having second thoughts. The book was heavier than he thought. What if he messed up and everyone saw him? What would they think of him? Would they see him as just a little boy, still struggling to read, not fit to be Captain?
Bell looked up. He almost gave the book back, seeing all the expecting faces looking at him. Braver, Nine Hells, Elgram, Perseus, Cyclops, King…Ais, all of them were looking at him waiting for him to read.
Bell gulped. But then he saw his Familia, Welf, Lili, Ryuu, even Syr and everyone from the Hostess, all of them were smiling, encouraging him to do it. Hestia, most of all, she looked so proud.
Taking a deep breath Bell took his seat and flipped the book over.
" Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief."
" OO!. That sounds epic." Tiona interrupted. She was excitedly bouncing up and down on her bag chair with stars in her eyes as she stared at Bell.
" What I want to know is how do you steal lightning," Welf muttered. He turned to Hestia. " Can the gods steal lightning?"
Hestia looked shocked at being asked. " How would I know? I got nothing to do with lightning, those are other Gods. I'm the Goddess of the Hearth and Family. What about you, Hephy you ever heard anything like that?"
Hepheastus rubbed her chin as she pondered the question.
" There are many Gods that deal in lightning and many of them have armaments that were made by lightning, so maybe a weapon was stolen?"
" But who would want to steal a God's weapon, much less one made out of lightning?" Finn asked.
" Maybe if you bastards stopped talking, we would know!" Bete shouted. Bell thought that he still looked angry at what happened earlier, but he wasn't about ot bring it up.
" Hush Bete. No need to be so aggressive. But he does have a point, maybe we'll learn more as we go." Riviera, one of the only ones that could control Bete, turned to scold him before looking back at Bell and nodding her head to continue.
Bell blushed as he hurriedly opened the book to the first chapter.
" You got this, Bell meow." Chloe cheered
Bell cleared his throat..
" Look, I didn't want-"
" Whoah."
" What's that?"
" By the Gods."
Hearing everyone gasp from shock, Bell almost dropped the book, grabbing it at the last second, he looked up to see what everyone was freaking out about. Bell gasped. The black wall was no longer reflecting their image, instead, it showed them a painting of a long yellow carriage on a black road without a horse. Not just that, there were dozens of such carriages, some small others larger, but all of them without a horse to pull it.
In the background was a city like nothing Bell had ever scene, tall buildings with glass so clear it reflected the blue sky above.
"What are those things?" Loki asked.
" I've never seen anything like it," Riviera added.
" To construct a carriage like that… would you be able to do it, Hepheastus-sama?" Tsubaki looked over at Hepheastus, already trying to imagine what it would take to make such a thing. Everyone was ignoring the buildings in the back. While they were impressive, they could make their own if they had the time and money, but these carriages… they had never even thought to make such a thing.
Hepheastus brought out a notebook. " A carriage with a metal body is no problem, the wheels, while not a substance that mortals have created at the moment, are also not a problem. The main thing is what makes the carriage move."
" Bell-sams continue reading, the pictures move as you read." Lili leaned over and asked him.
" Ok." Bell nodded, picking the book up again. Bell started over.
Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood."
"What does that mean?" Yamato asked.
" Maybe they're half-elf like Eina, I know my people aren't very accepting of them, many of them live harder lives than they should," Riviera said.
" If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now."
" Well, close the book." Tiona went to stand up.
" Meow, does that mean we can go home?" Anya pouted as she puckered her lip with her finger.
Thankfully, Mama Mia shut them down." Shut up, you two, let Bell read."
" Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life. Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. 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."
" This is starting to sound scary." Lefia said.
" Why did he specify 'kid'?" Hermes asked.
Bell was thinking the same thing. And why did they wish they were normal? Bell has never wished to be normal, he always wanted to be the hero ever since he was little. There were too many questions Bell had to keep reading.
" 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. My name is Percy Jackson. I'm twelve years old."
Finally, they got a name. As Bell read, the screen moved inside of the driving carriage, showing them its passengers as well as the person talking.
" Look at all those little brats. Man, I sure would hate to have them at the restaurant." Mami Mia scowled, crossing her arms as she imagined all those kids in her restaurant, making a mess and being rowdy. That's why she hated kids, never know when to sit down.
" Don't be like that, Mama. I think they're cute, like the little ones at the orphanage." Syr smiled, remembering all the little kids that she visits when she has the time. That reminded her its been a while since she's gone. Maybe she can bring Bell again, the kids loved him.
" Percy Jackson, the name of the Hero, I wonder how he'll grow."
" Lord Hermes, he is a child." Asfi quickly turned to glare at her God, angered that he would even consider this kid a hero.
" OH! Just look at those pretty green eyes and that messy hair meow! Isn't he just the cutest meow!" Chloe was wiggling in her seat as she stared at the screen.
"Calm down, you cat in heat before I spray you." Thankfully, May and Lunoire were there to hold her down before she jumped through the screen.
He is a kid, Bell thought, two years younger than him, but those two years were a big deal. If Bell thought about who he was now and who he was two years ago was like night and day. He hadn't even left his village two years ago, still a little kid without Falna.
And now, looking at this green-eyed boy, he could only think about who he used to be.
" Mmm." Freya hummed as she looked at the boy.
" Is there something wrong, my Lady?" Ottar, her ever dutiful servant, asked her.
" Nothing for now." Freya decided to keep what she saw to herself for now.
" 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?"
"Am I a troubled kid, Mama?"
"You're a menace of a Goddess."
" Hephy, what's a school?" Hestia learned past Lili and whispered towards Hepheastus. Too bad Loki still heard her.
"What's wrong, shotstack? Don't know any of these simple things." She taunted, smuggly smiling down at Hestia.
" SHUT UP! I've not been down here long, not loke you gusy that have been here for decades!" Hestia blushed red as tears gathered in her eyes.
Hepheastus sighed. " Hestia it's been over a year, you should know these things. A school is a place of gathering for scholars to learn. Athena built one a while back in another city."
" Yeah. You could say that."
" Ha! Look at that, he even admits it."
" If only you were as honest, lord Hermes."
" Percy explained that things got bad for him during last May when he went to a field trip with twenty-one of his other mental case classmates. They went to a Museum to look at old Greek and Roman stuff."
" I wonder what happened." Gareth wondered.
" What I want to know is what sixth grade is, do these kids go through multiple years of learning, how long have these kids been in this school?" Riviera was interested in these schools, maybe it could be something that she brought back to her kingdom to educate the children.
" Ha! mental-case, that'd describe half the people in this room." Tiona was loving how this kid thought he was so funny.
" What's this Greek and Roman?" Tione asked.
"What's a Museum?"
" They must be taking the children to see ancient historical artifacts, and this Museum must be the place where they store it all, fascinating." Asfi started piecing the puzzle together. Such a thing had never been built before it was a novel idea.
" Hey Ouranos, what if Orario did something similar, maybe a mausoleum for all previous Familias and adventurers. Add in some stuff from the Dark Ages so people would learn." Hermes was quick to see the appeal for such a thing. If they built their own Museum, maybe people could learn more from there predecessors and not make the same mistakes.
" I think that would be a swell idea."
" I don't know, sounds boring." Loki rested her head on her hand, looking bored as she sat cross-legged on the couch.
" I know—it sounds like torture."
" See. Even he agrees and he's a brat."
" Shut up Loki."
" 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"
" This world is fascinating, a moving chair for people with disabilities, such an ingenious invention, I wonder if such a thing could be adapted for adventurers that lost their legs." Hephestuas had not put her notebook down, whenever she saw something new, she had to write it down. When they returned, she was going straight to her forge, and she probably wasn't gonna come out for a while, she was filled with so much inspiration.
."He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. 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."
" Cool, Riviera, why don't you teach us like that?"
" Children shouldn't be going to sleep in the first place. And I teach you guys just fine."
" Those weapons are interesting. I think I saw some of those styles back in Rakia." Welf pointed out.
" Percy wished that he could have a good trip. Past experiences though, showed that he had never had a good field trip. A scene with an old Revolutionary War cannon played across the screen."
" Hahahaha! This kid keeps getting better and better."
" Disregarding how a child was able to do that I'm more interested in this world's weapons, they appear way more advanced than they are."
" A metal ball propelled at such speed could easily take out a minotaur, a few dozen, and we could sweep the top floors."
" 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."
" I think this kid is trying to kill his classmates." Tsubaki couldn't believe the amount of destruction this kid got into. No way that was all an accident.
" Please, those little fish aren't even that dangerous, its those weaklings' fault if they get hurt." Bete scoffed at seeing the little kids scream and panic in the water. If he was there, he would have kicked that shark out of existence.
" Bete, they're children."
" This trip, I was determined to be good."
" Well, at least he's trying." Ryuu muttered.
" 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 a peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich."
" I don't even know what that is but I know it doesn't sound good."
" Desgusting."
" Little brats, always one that doens't respect food."
" 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."
" That poor thing, why would the teachers let her do this too him."
" Why doesn't anyone give him a potion to help him?"
" I don't know, if it's a disease, then probably a potion wouldn't have done anything."
" Hehehe."
" Whats so funny Freya."
" Yeah I didn't think you'd be the kind of person to laugh at something like this"
" Oh, its noting, you'll see it soon I'm sure."
" 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."
" Enchilada, what's that?" May asked
" Don't know, sounds like something from those countries down south," Syr said. She probably heard it from a patron asking her out, but she doesn't remember.
" 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"
" huh, He woudlnt right?'
" What kind of school is this, are they all like that."
" Now it's getting interesting.
" by in-school suspension"
" Oh, thank the Gods."
" Your welcome."
" Che~ jsut when it was getting good."
" if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. "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."
" Such a good boy, he's such a good friend to Percy."
" He sould just deck her."
" Yeah break her knose that'd teach her."
" Bete, Toina we don't teach others to beat up children… no matter how much they deseve it."
"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 wish 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."
" Hmm." Finn was trying to understand what Percy had to do with the story. It's obvious he was going to be the hero they were meant to learn from, but how? What kind of trouble could push a little boy into being its hero?
Finn could see that Rivieria and Gareth were wondering the same thing, but for the life of him, he couldn't see it.
" 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."
" Man, this is boring." Tiona groaned.
" I disagree, this is all very interesting, the things that you mortals leave behind always amaze me by how long they last." That's one thing about mental that Hepheastus loved. It can stay around for thousands of years and still be used by the next pair of hands.
Bell felt the same way. Seeing these pieces of the past still around even today made Bell feel proud in ways that he couldn't describe. Like, he could do the same thing. Leave a piece of history that people could see and touch even after he died.
Hestia looked at Bell and could tell exactly what he was thinking. The stars in his eyes told her everything. Unfortunately, she felt the opposite. Thinking about the future made her sad. As a Goddess, Hestia knew that she would outlast all of her Familia long after they were gone. Just the thought of being all alone, even fifty years from no,w nearly sent her to tears.
But that's what she was going to cherish every moment that she had with them. Hestia reached out her hand. Holding Touching Bells' arm reassured her that he was still here. Smiling at him when he turned to look at her she nodded her head to keep reading.
" 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. Percy wanted to listen, but people kept talking, he tried to tell them to be quiet, but Mrs. Dodds would constantly glare at him."
" Dugsting," Freya sneered at the screen. The sight of this creature's soul… she wouldn't say that it was the worst one she had seen, but in all of her years down on Gekai, she could without a doubt say that it was up there in terms of cruelty and sadism.
People murmured in agreement. In a city like Orario, they knew that you can't discriminate against people's appearance. But looking at this, Mrs. Dodds, none of them could think of a nice thing to say about her.
Ais especially felt the need to draw her blade. She didn't get it, her instincts were telling her to cut down this woman at all costs…as if she were a monster.
" 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."
" No way that was a coincidence, if the lady didn't make that happen, I'll throw out all of my wine," Loki said.
" She's putting herself in a place near the kid. She knows that he'll be important." Finn theroised.
" But how? He's just a little kid. He hasn't done anything yet." Lefiya was horrified at the thought that someone would target a kid, even going so far as to cause a poor woman to go insane just to get closer.
" More than likely it's the brat's parents. Gods do the same thing. They watch famous adventure's kids and if they seem to be skilled, they swoop in and snatch them." Mama Mia said.
" From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get afterschool detention for a month."
" That's not so bad, right? If she's just making him do that, then she can't be evil, right?" Haruahime looked around the room, hoping that someone would agree with her.
" That might not be the case, she could just be biding her time, making sure that no one else is watching him." Ryuu's words were like cold water being poured on Haruhime's head. Tears gathered in her eyes, she hoped against all odds that nothing bad would happen to little Percy.
" 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."
" Do you think Grover is the one watching Percy, he seems to know what this Mrs. Dodds is." Riviera leaned over to ask Finn.
" I don't know, let's keep watching, I feel like there's more, Mrs Dodds is too dangerous for just one crippled teen to handle, look at my thumb." Finn's thumb was twitching. It was a quirk that he had where he could tell how dangerous something is just by hw hard his thumb was twitching. Right now, it felt like he was facing a boss monster on the twentieth floor.
"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?"
" Finally, he said something, I don't know if I would have held out so long." Welf sighed.
" Then Welf-sama would have gotten in trouble as well."
" What?"
" Watch." Lili pointed to the screen where Mr. Brunner had just turned around.
"It came out louder than I meant it to. The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story. "Mr. Jackson," he said, "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?" I looked at the carving and felt a flush of relief because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"
" Hestia?" Bell felt something was wrong with Hesti. She looked afraid.
" W-what is it Bell?"
"...You're shaking."
Hestia looked down at her hands. She hadn't even realized that her hands were shaking. "Sorry, I don't know what's happening, just that name…"
Bell looked at Lili. Nodding her head, she reached around and held onto Hestia, pulling her in.
" Guys, I'm ok. I'm just a little shaken up. As the Goddess of Family, hearing that a mortal would eat their child just…shook me, I guess."
" Ok if you're sure." Bell didn't know if he was comfortable reading the rest if this was how Hestia was reacting.
"It's noting, keep reading."
Off to the side, another God was feeling something similar.
" Ouranos, are you ok?" Fels saw how his God tensed at the name.
" I…don't know, just hearing that name made me feel something."
" What was it?"
Ouranos looked at the engraving on the screen. Seeing this..Kronos stirred something in him, something, but he didn't know what.
" Nothing, let's continue."
"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?!" Everyone screamed.
"You're telling me that this thing that eats children is a God?" Yamato couldn't believe her ears. Gods were supposed to be noble and just not …evil. That was the work of demons, not Gods.
" Do you guys know any God named Kronos?" Finn had to ask Loki. If such a God existed, it was in their best interest that they found them. Or at least made sure that they never descended from Tenkai.
Such a being would not be welcomed among humans.
" I've never heard of anyone like that. What about you guys?" Loki crossed her arms as she scanned her fellow Gods. She knew that some Gods tried to keep their sorrid past away from mortals. But she never knew a one that ate their kids.
Everyone shook their head. They had never heard the name before.
"God?" Mr. Brunner asked. "Titan," I corrected myself. "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—"
" Ok, now I know that this is fake." Loki signed in relief.
" What do you mean Loki-sama," Lefiya asked.
" Gods don't have parents or children, we came into this world as we are, nothing made us." Hermes cut in, explaining to Lefiya what Loki was saying.
" But what is a Titan?" Ryuu asked.
" Nothing, there's never been a race called the Titans on our world," Ouranos answered that question.
"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me. "—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won." 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.'"
" Humph, stories probably not even real. A God probably just told a lie to some portals and they believed it, probably did it to make themselves seem more important." Hermes had seen it dozens of times. Gods embellishing their stories to get more people into their Familia only for them to later realise that their God wasn't who he said he was.
" My bets on Zeus being the one." Loki whispered
"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. 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. 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.
" I wonder who the other five Gods were in the story meow," Anya asked.
" What does it matter, it's just a story, it's not real," May said.
" Hestia-sama, is that really how Gods get sick?" Lili wonders if that would work in a certain wine God, maybe she could put it in his next patch.
" Anyone would get sick from that." Hestia deadpanned.
"Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?" 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?"
" Is he gonna get in trouble?" Lefiya asked Ais.
" N-No, he's just talking to him, nothing bad will happen." Ais tried to be reassuring, but she didn't know what to say. She's had bad experiences with teachers, so she was expecting Percy to get hit over the head. Or at least thrown in the water with weights tied to his legs.
That's what Riveria would have done at least.
" 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. "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."
Riviera was glad that someone was finally putting into words. Everyone thinks that she was a harsh, cruel person, but she was just trying to teach these kids how to survive. Looking at her Familia, hoping ot see them looking to her in understanding and apologising for their harsh words.
Instead, she found most of them drifting off to sleep, while others refused to even look at her. Even her Captain Finn wouldn't look her in the eyes. Fine, she mumbled, I'll show them what a harsh teacher I am next time.
Everyone in the Loki familia felt a harsh chill run straight down their spine. They looked around, trying to find the sourc,e but there was nothing.
"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."
"That looks fun meow." Chloe exclaimed
" Riviera, why can't you dress up like that when you teach us." Tiona pouted as she stared at Riviera.
" Humph, I shouldn't have ot degrade myself just to get you fools to learn simple maths and writing."
" 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."
" What's dyslexia and attention deficit?" Yamato asked.
" And what does it have to do with this C- minus thing?"
Freya answered. " I know this, it's something a few wisdom Gods have been studying in their free time. Dyslexia, as they started calling it is when the brain has trouble identifying the order of words while attention deficit is what they call mortals that have a hard time sitting still."
" Whoa Freya didn't know that you talked to wisdom Gods." Hermes seemed impressed by what she was saying.
" Oh, they all love to talk about their little projects when they come to see me." Freya giggled behind her hand, but everyone knew what she meant.
Bell blushed, he wasn't good with such topics. Better to keep his head down and finish reading. There were only a few pages left in the chapter.
" 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."
" What's his deal?" Tione didn't like the feel of this teacher, it felt like he was holding back.
" He's just thinking about all guy things, they're always getting lost in their memoirs." Tiona, on the other hand, didn't see anything wrong, just an old guy looking at old things.
" 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. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in."
" Is the weather supposed to be acting like this." Syr asked.
" No.. It isn't." Loki focused on the screen. The way the winds moved and the water climbed up. None of it was natural.
"It's a God." Hestia realized.
" Some God in Heaven is throwing a hissy fit. They're causing all these storms and messing up the natural order." Hepheastus explained to everyone.
"..Can a God here do that?" Welf nervously asked. Seeing this was a shock for everyone. Even though they lived with their Gods, they had never seen a God's actual power. But seeing this put it in perspective, they were like ants before them.
" No." Ouranos calmed them down, though. " Multiple Gods in Heaven work to preserve the natural order, if one were to do something like thi,s then others would flock to stop them. No sole God has the power to act how they want."
" T-Then what's happening there?" Lefiya asked.
"...I don't know."
" 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. 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."
Lili scoffed. That girl's technique was too amateurish. She could steal better than that when she was five. If she kept it up, someone was going to catch her.
Mama Mia grumbled in the corner as she watched all the rowdy kids make a mess fo everything around them. She remembers the last time brats like this caused problems in her pub. In fact.
Mama Mia turned to glare at Bell. It was him and those Apollo brats that made a mess. Bell refused to turn around. He could feel Mama Mia's eyes on the back of his head. Better he just keep reading.
"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." 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?"
Lili rolled her eyes. " What a good friend."
"Come on Lil'Lili, friends share food, nothing wrong in that." Welf teased her as he rubbed her head.
"It's that he can't even notice when his friend is feeling bad. And don't call me Lil."
" Percy didn't mind so he gave him his apple. Percy was too busy thinking about his mom. HE wanted to see her so bad but he knew that she'd want him to finish out the school. Even if she loved him and even if he was probrally going to be kicked out at the end of the year she would have wanted him to see it out."
" She sounds nice." Haruhime said.
Bell wondered if his mom would have been the same. He didn't know either of his parents, both dying before he knew who they were. It had just been him and his grandpa for the longest time before he too died. Bell thanks the Heavens every day that he found Hestia, or else he might still be who he was before.
"Mr. Brunner sat eating his lunch under a red umbrella. Then Nancy showed up. She got bored messing with tourists and came over to spill her lunch all over Grover."Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth."
"What a disgusting child." Freya said, covering her mouth her hand. The amount of pettiness and jealousy in her soul was disgusting. It reminded her that for every beautiful soul there were more that weren't worth looking at.
" Someone should really show that girl the outside of their fist." Tsubaki muttered.
" Ugly." Ais said.
" I tried to stay cool. But I was too mad. A wave roared in my ears. 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!"
No one could understand what they saw. To them watching from the screen it looked like a hand of water reached out and grabbed Nancy.
" Whoa."
" What was that?"
" Did he use magic."
" No. That wasn't magic." Riviera's voice cut through the noise. " No one can perform magic without Falna. Even elves can't do something like that without decades of dedicated training."
" Butt Riviera… this is a different world." Lefiye said.
"It's his blood." Finn said. " He himself called himself a halfblood. Whatever it is, it gave him control over water."
"Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—" "—the water—" "—like it grabbed her—"Percy was confused. HE didn't know what happened but he knew that he was in trouble."
Ais gripped her sword harder. Something was wrong with that lady. She wasn't right.
" Too fast," Ryuu muttered, watching as Mrs. Dodds moved. She was moving too fast for a regular human. She was moving at almost level 3 speeds. And Ryuu could tell that wasn't even her best.
" Watch her."Finn said. He too noticed that Mrs. Dodds wasn't all who she said she was.
"Mrs. Dodds turned on me. She was happy, thrilled that she had got him. "Now, honey—" "I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks." That wasn't the right thing to say. "Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said. "Wait!" Grover tried to defend him."
" What is it, why is he so afraid." Lunoire asked. Her years as an adveutre told her to be ready but she didn't know why.
"At least his friend is trying to help him." Haruhime said. For years she had been used to people seeing the hell that she was in in the Ishtar Familia, but none of her "sister" did anything. Willing to let it all go just to please their Goddess.
" 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."
" She wants to get him alone." Gareth realized. " She's taking him where no one can see them."
" What does she want?" Syr asks.
" I don't know, but she wants it bad enough that she's doing this in broad daylight."
"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."
" Whoa. That's terrifying." Tiona said.
" Kid's actually got it in him, I'm impressed." Loki praised.
" Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was already at the museum steps. How'd she get there so fast? Percy thinks back to how his brain skips sometimes and he misses some things. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things. I wasn't so sure."
" That's not it, kid." Mama Mia said. She was starting to see what everyone else was seeing. That thing is moving too fast for it to be human.
"Don't follow her Meow!"
" Meow! Get out of there Percy-tan."
Anya and Chlow were screaming at the screen hoping that Peryc could hear them.
" 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."
" Come on. See something. He needs you." Haruhime was crying. He was about to be attached, and the one person that was supposed to be there for him wasn't seeing a thing.
" Percy followed Mrs. Dodds into the Museum. Past the gift shop, he thought that he would be forced to buy Nancy a new shirt, and back into the Greek and Roman section. Mrs. Dodds stopped in front of a Greek God's stature and let out a sound from deep within her throat that sounded like a growl."
" What is that?" Bete was getting frustrated trying to figure out what was happening. That thing made his hairs stand on end. Ever part of his instinct was telling him danger.
" That's not human." Ais said. No matter what her eyes were tellign her she refused to believe that she was human. She was a monster.
" And now they're all alone," Asifi said.
" Percy was getting concerned. Being alone with a teacher was weird enough, but Mrs. Dodds looked like she wanted to break that statue over her knee . . . "You've been giving us problems, honey," she said."
" Why does she keep up with the 'honey' business. She's already throwing her cover out the carriage, what's the use now?" Tione couldn't help but ask.
"It's because she likes it." Thankfully, Hermes answered. " She knows that she doesn't have to hide, but she does it anyway. She loves the feeling of fear the boy is giving off. Drawing out the lie is just so she can savour it some more."
" 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. Percy was getting scared. "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am." Thunder shook the building. "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."
" She's not here for him." Finn came to the cold realization. " Someone, probably the God making the storms, thinks he did something and is now sending someone to punish him."
" But what could he have done that warrants her. He's just a kid." Riviera felt like she was missing a piece to a puzzle. Why Percy?
"...I don't know," Finn said, defeated.
" Percy didn't understand. He tried to think back to what Mrs. Dodds could be talking about. The Candy he was selling out of his dorm maybe they found out that he never read Tom Sawyer and cheated, and now they were going to make him retake the test."
" HAHa! I know this is serious, but you've got to admit the kids got hustle." Hermes couldn't help but laugh.
" Making an illegal candy ring to sell to desperate kids is not something that I would praise a child on." Hestia disagreed, though. " That's halfway to actually criminal activity."
" Lili doesn't know Hestia-sama. It's not that bad if you think about it. The kids want some candy and Percy-sama can give it to them, so what if he takes a little bit of money, it's a good business strategy." Lili wished she had thought to do something similar back in Lili's thieving days. Of course, then Lili would have had to pay for protection, product, as well as the occasional territory dispute with other sellers…On second thought, maybe it's better that Lili didn't. Too much work for Lili.
" Or worse, they were going to make me read the book."
" Stupid boy, stop worrying about the blasted book." Riviera angrily muttered. Is it so hard for kids to do as they're told? What's wrong with reading?
Bell kept reading. Even though he agreed with Peryc, reading is hard, but he wasn't about to say that. Better to keep his head right where it is.
"Well?" she demanded. "Ma'am, I don't . . ." "Your time is up," she hissed. Mrs. Dodds shed her human skin, changing into a monster. Leather wings, talons, and yellow beady eyes that stared into Percy's soul."
" MONSTER!" Ais screamed. Leaping from her chair, Ais dashed at the screen, bringing her sword to bear, she went in for a stab. But just as she was about to hit the screen, she was pulled back by an invisible force.
< Damage to the Theater will not be permitted> The Watcher's voice sounded out from nowhere.
" What kind of monster is that?" Lefiye fearfully looked at the screen as she helped Ais to her feet.
" I don't know some kind of bat." Tsubaki tried to guess.
" It almost looks like the birds we see at the Great Fall," Garteth suggested.
" No, she's too strong for the 20th floor. She feels almost level 3 to 4." Finn tried to classify whatever Mrs. Dodds was, but it was hard doing it behind the screen.
" Well, whatever she is, Peryc needs to get out of there. He can't fight that." Ryuu desperately wanted to help but there was nothing she could do.
" 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. 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."
" Now you show up, what about earlier?" Tione cied.
" Please, Mr. Bruner, do something." Haruhime desperately prayed that Percy would be saved. He was too young.
"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air."
" What ho?"
" A PEN! What's a pen going to do. He needs a sword." Welf wished he had something to give to Percy, but there was nothing.
" What can he do? Neither of them can fight." Lefiye asked.
" As terrible as it is, if he wants the boy to live, then he's going to need to act as a distraction." Loki coldly said.
Bell wished there was another way, but so far, that was the best that they had.
" 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."
" Whoa!"
"What's that!"
" The pen turned into a sword."
" Is it a magic sword?"
Everyone erupted into chater as Percy miraculously got a sword at the best of times. No one could have seen this happening. Not even the Gods.
" Hepheastus, could you make something like that?"
" A transforming sword isn't anything difficult, the tricking thing is making it change into something that small. Maybe if I had use of my full Arcanum, but otherwise it would take a lot of work." Though even though she was saying that she was busy sketching ideas of how to do just that. Having a weapon like that would make traveling through the dungeon way safer.
Teams of Familai could travel with dozens, hundreds more weapons than before. Even if they weren't as strong or sturdy as other weapons, they would still save lots of lives.
Welf, on the other hand, couldn't believe his eyes. A magic weapon that didn't break was his dream. And seeing this sword on the screen inspired him. Even though this sword didn't have an attack magic, it was still a magic weapon in his eyes.
And through Percy's memories, they could see that Mr. Brunner had had that sword for years. And it still wasn't broken.
" 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."
" Don't drop it!" Tiona yelled.
" Fuc- Hold on tight to your sword weakling." Bete screamed. This child was making him so angry. If he had been there, he would have kicked that old hag's head straight off.
But everyone was shocked as they saw Percy start to fight.
" Natural? How could that be natural?"
" I don't know, but if that's natural, then the boy is a prodigy. Look at how he's swingin' it." Ottar watched as Peryc swung his sword. It was done by a novice, and clearly, he had a lot of work to do. But the talent that was there shocked even him.
" He's going to do it." Haruhime cheered.
" Mrs. Dodds couldn't dodge the fast swing. Dying, she turned into a pile of golden sand with a loud HISSS. Alone in the Museum, Pecy didn't know what happened. Mr. Brunner was gone, and the only thing that Percy had that reminded him that this was real were the memories of the yellow eyes. He could still feel them as he walked out. Nancy saw him and came over, saying that she hoped Mrs. Kerr really got him."
" He did it!"
" On his first try to."
" But happened to the monster." May asked.
" She just turned into sand. Where's the Monster stone or drop items?" Lili was confused. Monsters don't just turn to dust, she should know. Supporters have to work hard and carefully to extract monster stones without damaging them. Not only that, but drop items are worth a lot of money, sure they don't always appear, but a monster like that would surely drop something.
" Maybe that's what monsters do in their world, they just turn to dust."
" Wait, where's Brunner. Did he just leave him there?"
" Who's that?" Tiona asked, not knowing who this Kerr was.
" 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?" But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.
"What's happening?"
"Why's he lying?" Bete growled.
" Dear Gods, if someone is gonna tell that kid to lie at least make sure that he can." Hermes couldn't take the terrible lying. As a God, he had seen many people trying to lie to him, but this must be the worst that he had ever seen.
" That is just sad." Loki shook her head.
"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." 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?"
" What's the big idea?"
"Yeah why are they lying to him."
Bell didn't understand. Why lie to a kid taht just got attacked by a monster. Obviously Grover and Brunner were the ones watching him but why keep him in the dark?
" That was the last chapter. Who wants to read next?"