𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

chapter thirty-seven. ☄︎. *. ⋆

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I'M PRETTY SURE I fell in love with Sally Jackson during the eight hour drive from New York to Maine.

Annabeth, Thalia, and I hadn't seen Percy in months, but between the blizzard and the thought of what we were about to do, we were all too nervous to talk and catch up. So Ms. Jackson took the reins—she shared many embarrassing stories from Percy's childhood; stories that I tucked away in a deep part of my brain for future reference. Percy was beet red with humiliation by the time we reached Westover Hall. 

Thalia wiped the fog off the car window and peered out. "Oh, yeah, this'll be fun," she said. I didn't know her well enough to know if she was being sarcastic, but either way, I disagreed. We all climbed out of the car.

Westover Hall looked like an evil knight's castle. It was all black stone, with towers and slit windows and a big set of wooden double doors. It stood on a snowy cliff overlooking this big frosty forest on one side and the gray churning ocean on the other.

"Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" Percy's mom asked.

"No, thanks, mom," Percy told her. "I don't know how long this will take. But we'll be okay."

"But how will you get back?"

I peeked my head back into the car and grinned. "It's okay, Ms. Jackson. We'll keep him out of trouble."

     That seemed to calm her down a bit. Even though Percy didn't accept it, Ms. Jackson had grown to love me over the eight hours we'd spent in the car together. I'd met her once before, but it was a brief introduction, and I was on the verge of passing out when we stopped by her home. Even though I hadn't said much on this car ride, she seemed to really warm up to me, which was good since I'm planning on marrying her soon.

     "All right, dears," Ms. Jackson said. "Do you have everything you need?"

     "Yes, Ms. Jackson," Thalia said. "Thanks for the ride."

     "Extra sweaters? You have my cell phone number?"

     "Mom—"

     "Your ambrosia and nectar, Percy? And a golden drachma in case you need to contact camp?"

     "Mom, seriously! We'll be fine. Come on, guys."

     I gave her one last smile and resisted the urge to tell her to call me. The moment she drove off, I turned to Percy, grinning. He gave me a sharp look. "Don't."

     "Oh, but Percy, weren't you so cute in your little bathtub with your little turtle hat and your little belly button?" I cooed, sticking out my lower lip. Annabeth and Thalia laughed, but Percy rolled his eyes.

     He punched my shoulder. "Come on. Let's go find Grover."

     The oak doors to Westover Hall fit perfectly in with the rest of the castle—big, dark, and scary looking. They groaned open. We stepped into the entry hall with a whirl of snow.

     "Okay," I said. "Now what?"

     None of us really knew what to do. Grover had sent us a distress call, but he didn't give us any insight as to what had gone wrong, so we were pretty lost. All we knew what he'd been sent here to look after a demigod, but that was it.

     All of us could sense it though—a fight was coming. Percy's hand went to his pocket, where he kept Riptide. Thalia rubbed her silver bracelet. Annabeth's hand crept toward her back pocket, but I wasn't sure if she was going for her invisibility cap or her dagger. I gripped my bow.

     Faintly, music was coming from down the hall. It sounded like dance music. Percy and I shared a skeptical look. We started down the hall toward where the music was coming from, but we didn't make it very far before a man and a woman marched out of the shadows to intercept us.

     They both had short gray hair and black military-style uniforms with red trim. The woman had a wispy mustache, and the guy was clean-shaven, which seemed kind of backward to me. They both walked stiffly, like they had broomsticks taped to their spines.

     "Well?" the woman insisted. Her voice was rough. "What are you doing here?"

     Percy froze. I shared a sideways glance with Annabeth. We'd spent so much time worrying about what Grover could possibly need, we hadn't considered anyone stopping to question four kids sneaking into the school at night. We probably looked a little sketchy, admittedly. Percy said, "We were jus—"

     "Ha!" the man snapped, which made us jump. "Visitors are not allowed at the dance! You shall be eee-jected!"

      He had an accent—French, from what I could tell. He pronounced his J like in Jacques. He was pretty tall, with a hawkish face. His nostrils flared when he spoke, which made it really hard not to stare up his nose, and his eyes were two different colors—one brown, one blue—like an alley cat's.

     I figured he was about to toss us into the snow, but then Thalia stepped forward and did something very weird.

     She snapped her fingers. The sound was sharp and loud. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt a gust of wind ripple out from her hand, across the room. It washed over all of us, making the banners rustle on the walls.

     "Oh, but we're not visitors, sir," Thalia said. "We go to school here. You remember: I'm Thalia. This is Annabeth, and Theo and Percy."

     The male teacher narrowed his two-colored eyes. I didn't know what Thalia was thinking. Now we'd probably get punished for lying and thrown into the snow. But the man seemed to be hesitating.

     He looked at his colleague. "Ms. Gottschalk, do you know these students?"

     The woman blinked, like someone had just woken her up from a trance. "I... yes. I believe I do, sir." She frowned at us. "What are you all doing away from the gymnasium?"

     Before we could answer, I heard more footsteps, and Grover ran up, breathless. "You made it! You—" He stopped short when he saw the teachers. "Oh, Mrs. Gottschalk. Dr. Thorn! I, uh—"

     "What is it, Mr. Underwood?" said the man. His tone made it clear that he detested Grover. "What do you mean, they made it? These students live here."

     Grover swallowed. "Yes, sir. Of course, Dr. Thorn. I just meant, I'm so glad they made... the punch for the dance! The punch is great. And they made it!"

     I watched the one Grover called Dr. Thorn very closely. There was something off about him. He met my eyes with a glaring gaze, so a death stare so piercing that he looked like he wanted to pitch us off the castle's highest tower. I thought we were done for, but then Ms. Gottschalk said dreamily, "Yes, the punch is excellent. Now run along, all of you. You are not to leave the gymnasium again!"

     We didn't have to be told twice. We left down the hall with a bunch of "Yes, ma'am"s and "Yes, sir"s and a couple of salutes because it seemed like the right thing to do. When we were halfway down the hallway, I turned over my shoulder and said, "About the punch—my mom made it! Childhood recipe. I'll tell her you like it!"

     Grover hurried us to a door that had GYM written on the glass. Even with my dyslexia, I could read that much.

     "That was close!" Grover said. "Thank the gods you got here!"

     I gave Grover a huge hug. I missed the little guy during the semester. "Grover, dude, I've got so much to tell you," I said. "Like, listen to this, I have a—"

     "What's the emergency?" Percy asked, giving me a look like Now is not the time.

     Grover took a deep breath. "I found two."

     "Two half-bloods?" Thalia asked, amazed. "Here?"

     Grover nodded. Finding one half-blood was rare enough. This year, Chiron had put the satyrs on emergency overtime and sent them all over the country, scouring schools from fourth grade through high school for possible recruits. These were desperate times. We were losing campers. We needed all the new fighters we could find. The problem was, there just weren't that many demigods out there.

     "A brother and a sister," he said. "They're twelve and fourteen. I don't know their parentage, but they're strong. We're running out of time, though. I need help."

     "Monsters?"

     "One." Grover looked nervous. "He suspects. I don't think he's positive yet, but this is the last day of term. I'm sure he won't let them leave campus without finding out. It may be our last chance! Every time I try to get close to them, he's always there, blocking me. I don't know what to do!"

     We all looked at Thalia for instruction. It felt weird, but she was the oldest out of us, even though she looked like she was the youngest. And her dad was Zeus. That kinda gets you pretty far in life, I guess.

     "Right," Thalia said. "These half-bloods are at the dance?"

     Grover nodded. I shrugged my shoulders. "Then let's dance."

     "Who's the monster?" Thalia asked Grover as we entered the gym.

     "You just met him," Grover replied. "The vice principal, Dr. Thorn."

     Weird thing about military schools: the kids go absolutely nuts when there's a special event and they get to be out of uniform. I guess it's because everything's so strict the rest of the time, they feel like they've got to overcompensate or something.

     There were black and red balloons all over the gym floor, and guys were kicking them in each other's faces, or trying to strangle each other with the crepe-paper streamers taped to the walls. Girls moved around in football huddles, the way we always do, wearing lots of makeup and spaghetti-strap tops and brightly colored pants. Every once in a while they'd surround some poor guy like a pack of piranhas, shrieking and giggling, and when they finally moved on, the guy would have ribbons in his hair and a bunch of lipstick graffiti all over his face. Some of the older guys looked uncomfortable, hanging out at the edges of the gym and trying to hide, like any minute they might have to fight for their lives.

     "There they are." Grover nodded to a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers. "Bianca and Nico di Angelo."

     The girl wore a floppy green cap, like she was trying to hide her face. The boy was obviously her little brother. They both had dark silky hair and olive skin, and they used their hands a lot as they talked. The boy was shuffling some kind of trading cards. His sister seemed to be scolding him about something. She kept looking around like she sensed something wrong.

     Annabeth said, "Do they... I mean, have you told them?"

     Grover shook his head. "You know how it is. That could put them in more danger. Once they realize who they are, their scent becomes stronger."

     He looked at me, and I nodded. I never really understood what half-bloods "smell" like to monsters and satyrs, but I knew that your scent could get you killed. And the more powerful a demigod you became, the more you smelled like a monster's lunch.

     "So let's grab them and get out of here," I said.

     Percy started forward, but Thalia put her hand on his shoulder. The vice principal, Dr. Thorn, had slipped out of a doorway near the bleachers and was standing near the di Angelo siblings. He nodded coldly in our direction. His blue eye seemed to glow.

     Judging from his expression, I guessed Thorn hadn't been fooled by Thalia's trick with the Mist after all. He suspected who we were. He was just waiting to see why we were here.

     "Don't look at the kids," Thalia ordered. "We have to wait for a chance to get them. We need to pretend we're not interested in them. Throw him off the scent."

     I figured that was easy enough when we were in a huddle of four half-bloods—two of which being children of the Big Three—and a satyr. Thalia told us to act natural. Dance. Mingle.

     Thalia drove Grover off, and they began to dance awkwardly. Annabeth was swept off by some good-looking military school kid. I turned to Percy.

I guess I'd always been taller than him, but he'd grown a lot over the semester and now we were about the same height. I wondered how guys could just grow like that. Like, they wake up one day and suddenly they're just... tall.

Percy was looking at me, like, super hard. I shifted under his gaze and avoided meeting his eyes. "So."

"So," he said, nodding slowly and awkwardly. "Anything happen at camp while I was gone?"

I swallowed. "Nothing.. nothing too big," I said, though it was pretty much a straight lie. I crossed my arms. "I guess, maybe, there was som—"

"Hey!" Thalia called to us. She was slow dancing with Grover, who was tripping all over himself, kicking Thalia in the shins, and looking like he wanted to die. Thalia didn't seem to be perturbed. She was glaring at us. "Dance, you guys! You look stupid just standing there."

Percy glanced at me, then trailed his eyes over to the gaggle of girls who were roaming the gym.

"Well?" I said.

"Who should I ask?" he asked, looking at the group of girls fearfully.

I rolled my eyes and took him by the hand, dragging him over to the dance floor. We passed Annabeth and her military boy—they actually seemed to be having some fun together, shockingly. We got to the middle of the dance floor. Percy's hand was sweaty. I gave him a flat glare, then took his hand and put it on my waist.

Percy wasn't a bad dancer, per se, but he was all nervous and kept stepping on my toes. He wouldn't meet my eyes. I guess I could understand that, seeing as our faces had never been this close before. I was suddenly hyperaware of the lack of distance between our bodies.

"Haven't you ever been to a dance before?" I grumbled when he stepped on my toes again.

"Sure, I have," he said, rolling his eyes. He wet his lips. "So, what were you saying earlier?"

     My breath caught in my throat. I decided maybe now wasn't the best time to talk about what had happened over the semester. I shook my head. "It's nothing," I said quickly. "How's school?"

     He frowned. "You sound like a mom."

     I rolled my eyes. "Answer the question."

     "It's okay." He shrugged. "Did you decide to stay at camp? Or did you go home?"

"I tried to go home," I admitted, frowning. "But I couldn't deal with geometry and my aunt at the same time, so I went back to camp on Halloween."

     "She hasn't gotten any better?" Percy furrowed his eyebrows. We'd talked about my rocky relationship with Carrie briefly before Percy left at the end of the summer, and I told him she might have been improving, but that was a lie to get him to leave faster.

      I shook my head to tell him to drop it. "And camp... gods. Barely anybody is staying year-round anymore. When we left, it was us three, Connor and Travis, and maybe six others. Chiron's stressed, like, twenty-four-seven."

"But the camp's fine!" Percy said angrily. "We got the Fleece—we healed the tree! The borders are strong. Camp's still safe!"

I pursed my lips, nodding. "I don't—" Suddenly, my eyes landed on the bleachers where we'd left the di Angelos. They were empty. The door next to them was wide open. Dr. Thorn was nowhere in sight. I cursed. "They're gone."

     Percy turned over his shoulder. He tensed. "We have to find them."

     "Let's get the others and sort out a plan," I said, tugging on his hand to lead him towards where Annabeth was dancing with her military boy. Percy stayed put. I turned back to him, confused.

     "No time," he said, his expression set. I faltered. Percy took me by the hand, and I had no choice—we dashed out the back door of the gym.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

WHEN WE FOUND THEM, Bianca and Nico di Angelo were cowering in the entrance hall. Dr. Thorn was nowhere in sight, but I got the feeling that he wasn't far—like this was a trap. Still, I lowered my bow as Percy and I knelt in front of the siblings.

     "My name's Percy," he said quietly. I could hear the effort he was making to keep his voice level as to not scare them. He nodded to me. "This is Theo. We're going to take you somewhere safe."

     Bianca's eyes widened. She clenched her fists. It only took me a split second to realize—she wasn't scared of us. She was warning us.

     Percy whirled around, but a huge hand slammed him into the wall. I could barely even react before a second hand flew into my torso and I hit the cement next to Percy. The wind was knocked out of my lungs. I coughed, but the hand didn't let up. I got the feeling this monster didn't care if he killed us on accident—and those were the worst kinds of monsters.

     "Yes, demigods," Dr. Thorn said. His accent was more prominent than ever. "I know who you are."

     I didn't care who knew who we were. Lots of people did. It didn't make him special.

     I could feel Percy struggling next to me. I peered at what was holding me in place; I'd thought it was Dr. Thorn's hands, but the sharp blade glinting next to my shoulder and trapping my coat against the wall told me I was wrong. The razor-sharp edge of the blade was glistening with a green film. I knew that nasty color—poison. I glanced over at Percy again. The knife had slashed through his shoulder. Depending on what kind of poison it was, he probably didn't have long.

     He looked like he was on the verge of passing out. I tried to send him brainwaves to tell him not to.

     A dark silhouette now moved toward us. Dr. Thorn stepped into the dim light. He still looked human, but his face was ghoulish. He had perfect white teeth and his brown/blue eyes reflected the light of Percy's sword.

     "Thank you for coming out of the gym," he said. "I hate middle school dances."

     Percy tried to swing his sword again, but he was just out of reach.

     WHIIIISH! A second projectile shot from somewhere behind Dr. Thorn. He didn't appear to move. It was as if someone invisible were standing behind him, throwing knives.

     Next to me, Bianca yelped. The second thorn impaled itself in the stone wall, half an inch from her face.

     "All of you will come with me," Dr. Thorn said. "Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if a single arrow is shot or a sword slashed, I will show you just how accurately I can throw."