Chapter 131: Enter Perseus Jackson

[Percy Jackson's PoV] 

My mother suddenly took me on a trip after the crazy day I just had. Luckily, the trip was to my favorite place: a cabin by the beach at the edge of Long Island.

We started by casually walking on the beach, feeding the seagulls blue corn chips, while I also ate some of the blue goodies my mom brought from her work. Did I mention I really love blue food?

As it began to get dark, we started a fire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. My mom shared stories about her younger days.

I then asked her about my father. Although I've heard the story a thousand times, I still enjoy listening to it again. 

Mom finally revealed that he wasn't even there when I was born. I couldn't help but feel a little bit of anger and resentment hearing that.

"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"

"I don't know, honey," she said with a heavy tone as she pulled her marshmallow from the fire. "But we'll have to do something…"

"Do you even want me around?" I instantly regretted asking as her eyes turned watery and she squeezed my hand.

"Of course I do, Percy. More than anything. But I have to do this; it's for your own good."

"Because I'm not normal?" I retorted, a bit more sarcastically than I intended.

"Being normal isn't always a good thing, you know. You just don't realize how important and special you are. I finally thought we were far away enough, that you'd be finally safe."

"Safe? Safe from what?" I asked. Memories of what occurred today surfaced in my mind—battling my math teacher, those grannies I saw, which just gave me the creeps. I knew I should tell her, but it didn't feel like the right moment.

And that was just today. Every time something strange or weird happened around me, we were suddenly forced to move.

My mom then told me that my dad wanted to send me to some special school.

"Not a school, a summer camp," she corrected me.

What? Why? I had so many questions but looking at her expression, I knew if I asked any more, she would start crying. Which isn't something I wanted, so I decided to drop it.

Later that night, I had a strange dream. There were two beautiful animals fighting each other, a white stallion and a golden eagle, on a stormy beach. The ground beneath them let out a chuckle, but it was far from amused; it was angry. As if it had enough of the two animals fighting, the ground split open and from the crevice, a beautiful black owl appeared. As the owl emerged, it let out a loud, ear-piercing screech that shook me awake.

I couldn't help but hold my ears in pain. There was thunder roaring outside, accompanied by heavy rain, as if the sky was falling on us.

What followed was the sound of heavy banging on the door, which woke my mom up. She hurried to the door, confused, and when she opened it, I was surprised to see Grover, except it wasn't really Grover.

"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking!?"

Mom looked at me in horror, not because of Grover, but because of why he'd come. "Percy! What happened in school? Why haven't you told me!?"

I stuttered to get my words out as I was still distracted because of Grover. Why, you might ask? BECAUSE THE GROVER I KNOW DOESN'T HAVE GOAT LEGS.

"Percy!" my mom shouted, which caused me to explain what happened: how I had to fight my math teacher who turned into this scary bat-woman, and seeing three grannies who were just staring at me.

Mom quickly put something over her nightgown and grabbed her purse. "Come on, we have to go," she said anxiously.

Grover and I followed her, getting drenched in the rain. Grover wasn't exactly running, more like trotting. It all made sense now about his supposed disability. Well, I don't know if I would count having goat hooves as a disability.

We quickly got into my stepfather's Camaro. It wasn't long before we were on a country road, the wind and rain hitting heavily, with the occasional loud sound of thunder.

I kept looking at Grover. "So, how long have you known my mother?"

"We don't exactly know each other. She just knew I was watching you," he said, shifting nervously in his seat.

"Watching me?"

"Keeping track of you, making sure you're alright. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he hastily added. "I AM your friend."

Even through all this, I still didn't know what he was, so I asked him if he was part donkey, which seemed to offend him.

He explained that he was a Satyr, like those beings from Mr. Brunner's story, my homeroom teacher. Looking at Grover, I'm now beginning to wonder if Mr. Brunner was also really disabled or if he was just another animal from the waist down.

I began asking him a lot of questions, like about my math teacher and why everyone just acted as if she didn't exist, and many more.

After the sounds of destruction kept getting louder, my mother interrupted those questions. "Percy, we don't have time. We have to get you to safety quickly."

"Safety? Safety from what? From who?"

"Oh, you know, not much, just the Lord of the Dead with a few of his blood-thirstiest minions!"

"Grover!" Mom yelled out in a warning tone.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Jackson. Can you please drive a little faster?" Grover said, slouching in his seat slightly. 

We passed a sign on a white fence that read: Pick Your Own Strawberries!

The sound of trees being tumbled down got eerily closer behind us. I couldn't help but ask where we were going, and she told me about the summer camp she didn't want to send me to, the summer camp my father wanted me to go to.

And all this because of some old ladies with yarn, which Grover quickly explained only appear when someone's going to die. That someone was me, wasn't it?

We soon got into an argument about it until Mom interrupted us by shouting, "Boys!" She pulled the steering wheel to a sharp turn, causing me to get a good look at the figure she tried to avoid, which I assumed was the one chasing us.

Its giant flicking shape in the stormy night was only visible due to the flash of lightning.

"What was that!?" I couldn't help but exclaim.

My mother ignored my question as she focused all her attention on the road, her hands gripping tightly on the steering wheel. "Please, please, please," she muttered, her foot heavily on the gas pedal. "Just another mile."

Before I could open my mouth to ask another question, the car exploded. Glass shards went flying everywhere as I began feeling crushed and weightless all at the same time. My limbs moved out of control as we tumbled.

All I felt was pain as my head pressed against the driver's seat. "Ow," I groaned out.

"Percy!" I heard my mother calling out.

"I'm okay!" I responded. I was still feeling disoriented and had a large headache. I was sure I also felt blood. The car hadn't really exploded; we flew into a ditch. Rain was pouring in through the rooftop, which was cracked open like an eggshell.

I turned to look at Grover worriedly. There was blood running down the side of his face, but he was muttering and groaning about food, so I knew he couldn't be that hurt.

"Percy! Get out of the car!" she said, deadly serious. She tried to open her door, but it was stuck in the mud, so I tried mine as well, and it was the same.

"Climb out from the passenger side! Percy, you see that giant hill in the distance, the tallest one?" she asked hurriedly.

Before I could ask, a flash of lightning illuminated the area bright enough to see which hill she was referring to.

"Just over that is the property line! You will see a big farmhouse. I need you to run towards it and get to safety. The people there will keep you safe!"

"You're coming too, Mom!" I shouted. I wasn't going to leave her behind.

The figure I saw walked towards us in an imposing manner. As he got closer, I began to take a good look at his figure. He was hairy... No, it appeared more like fur covering his arms and face, with two large horns on the side of his head.

"He doesn't want me, he wants you!" she shouted. "Besides, I can't cross over the property line. We don't have time, please, Percy!"

I wasn't just going to abandon her. I climbed over Grover and opened his side of the door into the rain. "Come on, Mom! Help me with Grover! Don't even begin to think I'm leaving you behind!" I wasn't giving her a chance to protest.

We quickly got out of the car with a limp Grover over our shoulders. The furry thing that was chasing us was moving deliberately slow, almost like a bull.

We began stumbling over the high, wet grass. I looked back and got a real good look at the monster. It was seven feet tall with strong muscles, like a bodybuilder. The top half belonged to a bull, while the bottom half belonged to a man. A minotaur.

"That's—"

"Pasiphae's son. I wish I knew how badly they wanted to kill you," my mother said.

"But that's a mi—"

"Don't say its name. Names have power," she quickly advised.

The minotaur was loitering around the cars, smelling the air. I asked why he was back there, and Mom informed me that it had terrible sight and hearing but a good sense of smell. The rain was masking our scent, but not for long.

My mother then began giving me instructions on how to fight it. Her knowledge of it was pretty weird, in my opinion. When I asked her about it, she told me she prepared for everything if we were ever attacked.

The minotaur bellowed in rage as it began charging at us. It picked up our scent. We were a few meters away from the hill, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.

As it closed in on us, Mom told us to separate. I didn't want to, but I feared she might have been right; it was the only thing to do.

We went the opposite way. When I turned to take a look, I saw that it was right on my tail, its head lowered, its horn aimed right towards me.

Although fear grappled my heart, I turned to face it. When it charged closer, I followed my mother's advice and quickly rolled to the side away from its charging momentum.

The bull ran past me like a speeding train and began to turn, but it wasn't towards me; it was towards my mother, who was setting Grover on the ground.

Just over the hill, I saw the place my mother was talking about. The bull kept an eye on my mother as she began running back down towards the road, trying to distance herself from Grover.

"RUN, PERCY! I can't go any further! Get to safety!"

All I could do was freeze in fear as I watched it charge towards my mother. My mother tried to do what she had instructed, but the bull had learned its lesson. It shot out its hand and began lifting her up by the neck. She struggled and began pummeling and kicking the air.

"MOM!" I couldn't help but cry out.

"Go," she choked out before the minotaur squeezed her neck and she began turning into golden dust.

"NOOOO!" My anger took over my fear. I charged with newfound strength towards the minotaur and reached into my pockets.

I pulled out the pen Mr. Brunner had given me and uncapped it, revealing a bright gold sword, the same one I used to take down my supposed math teacher.

The bull angrily bellowed once more and began charging at me with its horns aimed right towards me again.

Time seemed to slow down as it charged towards me. As it got closer, I grabbed its horn and used it as a handle to swing around towards its head.

It began shaking around, trying to shake me off, not giving me a moment to adjust myself. I began hitting it with my sword, but its skin was difficult to get through.

So I quickly made up another plan. I began hitting the horn I was holding on top of. As it began to crack, it threw its head back strongly, causing me to lose my grip and fall off, hitting my head hard on the ground.

Groaning, I heard the minotaur charging towards me once more. I instinctively rolled out of the way and quickly jumped to my feet.

As it tried to grab me, I used its extended arms as a springboard and maneuvered myself to its neck. I locked my legs around its thick neck to secure myself and continued hitting its horn.

As it reached over for my legs, angrily mooing, the cracks on its horn grew large enough for me to rip it off.

It had a hand on my legs, but I tightened my grip. It let out a choked bellow as it lifted its head back once more to throw me off.

But I just screamed angrily for what it did to my mother. "AHHHHHHHHH!" I yelled, channeling all my fury and impaled the horn right through its forehead.

Blood splashed everywhere as it let out a soft and reluctant moo and began turning into golden dust, just like my mother. I ended up falling and hitting my head on the ground once more.

I felt my strength leaving me, and as I closed my eyes, the last thing I saw was a boy with red glowing eyes squatting down, looking at me.

He let out a whistle as he moved his wet hair from his face. "Talk about something else, managing to take down a minotaur without any training."

I didn't have a chance to retort as I lost consciousness…

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