chapter 14

The drive was very unpleasant. Turns out being away from people and being homeless makes you not like being close to people. So when I sat in the back seat, the right one, I made sure to put as much space as possible between Thaila and myself.

Another thing that I wasn't very happy about was Mrs. Jackson talking a lot. She practically told us every baby story about Percy. I could handle that but when she began to ask questions about me, then it became unbearable.

Questions like, 'Which parent is your godly one? What school are you going to? Why are you not in an shelter then or at camp?' Overall I just wanted to help Grover then leave, and hopefully I won't get dragged in to too much trouble.

The whole car ride was filled with nervousness. I didn't understand it. I fought monsters and yet I'm here scared of people. I stood with a blank face yet I was mentally shaking.

Luckily the road trip was finally at the end. The 'school' was a huge castle. It looked like if Dracula ran a school.

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

 "No, thanks, Mom," He said.

"I don't know how long it will take. We'll be okay."

"But how will you get back? I'm worried, Percy."

Percy was red as a tomato as he continued to tell his mother that we would be ok. I felt shallow as I began to walk towards the castle. Thaila and Annabeth looked at me before waiting for Percy.

I was waiting at the door when I saw Percy get snapped at by Thaila. Annabeth said something about going inside, so I led the way.

When I opened the door, I stopped. 'Why is this so fricking huge?' I thought while staring at the massive inside.

But besides the massive building, I felt something wrong. I set my body in a position where I can easily activate my claws and be battle ready.

We kept walking and we heard disco music. We hid our stuff behind a pillar and kept going down the hall.

I suddenly heard footsteps and was about to light them up. But Thaila held down my arm before I could blast whoever was there to Hades. She shot me a glare before she turned her attention back to the 3 teachers, at least I think their teachers.

One of them was a women and the other 2 were male. All 3 of them had short gray hair and walked as if there was a stick attached to their spines.

"Well?" the woman demanded. "What are you doing here?"

I was about to just knock them out and head on but Percy spoke before I acted.

"Um, Ma'am we were just-" He was interrupted by the French sounding man in the middle.

"Ha! Visitors are not allowed at the dance! You shall be eee-jected!" He made the J sound weird and I was just going to beat their skulls in but was once again interrupted.

Thaila stepped forward and snapped her fingers. The 2 men seemed to question what she did but the women suddenly wobbled.

'Bingo.' I thought.

"Oh, but we're not visitors, sir," Thalia said. "We go to school here. You remember: I'm Thalia. And this is Annabeth, Atem, and Percy. We're in the eighth grade."

The women teacher blinked before slowly nodding. The male teachers narrowed their eyes at us. I think I remember Bill telling me that you can learn to control the mist to your advantage. I never had luck in doing so but it seems like Thaila knows how to do it.

The man in the middle turned to his right, where the female teacher was, and spoke, "Ms. Gottschalk, do you know these students?"

I rose an eyebrow at her name but Percy was barley holding it in.

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

"I had to go use the bathroom." I said. Then we heard foot steps. I turned to see Grover coming over, clearly out of breath.

 "You made it! You—" He began but stopped when he saw the teachers.

"Oh, Mrs. Gottschalk. Dr. Scale! Dr. Thorn! I, uh—"

"What is it, Mr. Underwood?" said the man in the middle, Dr. Thorn. 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!"

Dr. Thorn and the other Dr stared at us. Dr. Scale stared at me specifically. He looked at me like he was going to eat me. And I looked at him like I was daring him to try.

Our staring contest was cut short by Mrs. Gottschalk, "Yes, the punch is excellent. Now run along, all of you. You are not to leave the gymnasium again!" 

We left with a lot of 'Yes Ma'ams and Yes Sirs'. Dr. scale still stared at me. I knew he and Dr. Thorn was a monster. I just knew it from my gut.

Percy began to talk with Thaila but I mainly ignored them. I guess I was still in a little bubble.

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

Annabeth and Thaila hugged Grover.

"So what's the emergency?" Percy asked.

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

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

Grover nodded and I began to look around to see if I could spot them. It was like finding waldo but finding demigods.

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

"Monsters?" Percy asked and Grover looked at him with a nervous face.

"Two. He suspects but I don't think he is positive yet. This is the last day of term and I am sure .he won't let them leave the campus. 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!" Grover looked at Thaila desperately and I could have sworn I saw hurt go across Percy's eyes.

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

Grover nodded.

"Then let's dance," Thalia said. "Who's the monster?"

"Oh," Grover said, and looked around nervously. "You just met him. The vice principal, Dr. Thorn. And the PE teacher, Dr. Scale."

I looked around and saw any and every kid go absolutely wild. I guess military school kids love parties.

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

"The angels?" I recognized the name Di Angela from my schools lunch lady. She always has a shirt that says "Di Angela's."

Grover nodded. I looked towards the kids.

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 was wrong.

I decided that if I made friends with them, then they could transfer easier. I told Grover my idea and he shook his head rapidly.

"No no no, that will just make the monsters job easier. They will see you, some kid that just shown up, hanging around someone they suspect to be demigods."

"I just want to be sure that they do not get snatched when we are far away." I told Grover yet he still insisted that I stay. I really do not want to do this but I will do it just for the time being.

I watched as they slipped into the crowd. It was time for my job. I knew that protecting 2 demigods who just found out they are ones, while fighting 2 strong monsters is not a high IQ play.

I was simply going to bring a monster outside and allow the rest of them to take out one single monster.

I walked out of the door and hit a corner and waited. I watched as Dr. Scale walked out. I booked it through the school. My heart rate was raising.

I was ready for war. I managed to land myself into the PE area, which was the size of a football filed.

I turned around to see Dr. Scale staring at me. I broke into a smile as my claws, wings, and tail grew.

It was time to kill a teacher.