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‘Everyone evacuate! Quickly! And try not to panic!’
Alarms blared. Hundreds of students swarmed through the corridors, their feet splashing in the water on the floor. I tried to stop myself getting carried along by the tide of bodies. Maybe I could try directing the water to the drains. I tried going back the way I’d come and bumped into my Math teacher, Miss Kennedy.
‘Where are you going, Mr Jackson?’
‘Er – nowhere,’ I replied, trying to work out my plan in my head.
‘You need to stick with your class and make your way outdoors like everyone else,’ she said with a stern undertone. ‘I think a pipe has burst somewhere.’
‘Uh-huh,’ I said, only half listening. I knew full well a pipe had burst because I had felt it happen. In fact, I had made it happen. ‘Sure, Miss.’
Knowing there was no point arguing, I followed the other students. I would have to make my getaway when I got another chance.
I cursed myself in a mix of English and Ancient Greek. I’d left class to go to the bathroom and gotten angry at some bullies who’d been trying to give swirlies to the younger kids. I’d blown up the plumbing and now the school was flooded. I was going to be expelled for sure. I felt the familiar sinking feeling in my stomach when I realized I was going to have to tell my mom what had happened. Again.
She wouldn’t be mad. She’d never been mad when I’d been expelled. She didn’t blame me for who I was. It was just that disappointment, knowing we’d have to somehow get me into another school, one that had never heard my name before. Unfortunately, due to my habit of causing destruction everywhere I went (or being followed by monsters that did) that was never easy.
Annabeth would be fairly understanding. After all, she was a demigod; she had ADHD and had been kicked out of her fair share of schools too. I knew she’d call me a stupid Seaweed Brain for losing control of my powers. But she wouldn’t be mad. And as for Paul, my mom’s new fiancé, he didn’t even know who I really was. He’d be a bit disappointed because he was the one who had got me into this school in the first place. But he couldn’t really tell me off. He wasn’t my stepdad yet.
I spotted my chance to get away when we passed a broom closet. When no-one was looking, I slipped inside. I waited until the voices had died down. The water was now around my ankles. Luckily, I could prevent my feet from getting wet. The water was very cold, and I didn’t envy all the students and teachers who were walking around with squelchy wet socks.
When everything was silent and I was sure the coast was clear, I slipped out and assessed the situation. Fortunately, the water seemed to be running in the direction of the drains. I knew and could sense exactly where these were, and the sewers beneath. Yeah, I know – being a Big Three kid is super fun and glamorous, right? All I needed to do was speed up the flow of the water. I held out my hands and used my willpower to speed things along. Things were going great, until…
‘Percy?’
I spun round, losing my concentration. Paul Blofis was standing in the middle of the corridor, looking uber-confused.
‘What are you doing here, Percy? Why haven’t you gone outside with everyone else?’
Good question.
‘Uhhh…’
He looked me up and down.
‘Why were you standing with your arms out?’
I bit my lip, not knowing what to do. I’d promised my mom that at some point I’d tell Paul the truth. Someone, be it the gods, the Fates, or whoever else, seemed to have decided that time was now. Paul and my mom were engaged – I was going to have to do it sooner or later. If he couldn’t handle it, he wasn’t right for our family.
I took a deep breath.
‘I was trying to make the water go away.’
He just looked even more confused.
‘What?’
‘This flood is my fault.’
‘Percy…you mustn’t blame yourself. How can the flood possibly be your fault?’
I gave him a grim smile. Thankfully, part of this job was already done for me.
‘You remember my dad, right?’
‘Your dad…’ His brows furrowed. ‘The guy who called himself Poseidon?’
‘That’s him.’
There was an awkward silence for a few moments. Then I blurted out:
‘I’m a demigod!’
Yeah…I’m gonna blame my ADHD.
Paul closed his eyes and sighed deeply.
‘Percy. I hardly think this is the time for jokes.’
I stood there feeling awkward. I could hardly blame him for reacting like this. The only way was just to show him.
‘Check this out. And try not to freak out.’ I held my hands out again.
‘Percy, this really isn’t funny. Now will you please come with me and…’
He trailed off when he saw what I was doing. I pushed and pulled the water back and forth, forming small waves. I decided to start small. I didn’t want to freak the guy out too much.
He gaped at me, open-mouthed.
‘How…how are you doing that?’
I grinned, enjoying myself despite the circumstances.
‘I can manipulate water.’
He slowly raised his hands and cupped them over his mouth.
‘Oh my God. So that guy I met was really…’
‘Yep.’
‘Wait, so…the Greek gods are real? All of them?’
‘You’re taking this pretty well.’
He shook his head in disbelief.
‘So your mom…’
‘Is completely normal,’ I interrupted. I didn’t want this to ruin things between them. I liked Paul and it was obvious how happy he made my mom. ‘Well, she’s got this ability…she can see through the Mist. But apart from that, she’s normal.’
‘The Mist. The Mist is real too?’
‘Yeah. That’s why you don’t see monsters and stuff.’
He was silent for a while. I could tell he was processing it all. The only sound was the water gurgling along, which Paul seemed to have forgotten about.
‘Look, I get it if you don’t believe it all straight away. I didn’t.’
‘No, I…’ he pursed his lips. ‘I’m not sure, to be honest.’
‘That’s okay.’
‘I want you to tell me everything. And I need to hear Sally’s side of the story too.’
That’ll be fun, I thought. I decided I was going to get as far away as possible when they had that conversation.
‘Tell you what,’ I said. ‘Why don’t we go to the beach after school? I can explain everything and show you some more of my powers. We can text Mom to meet us there later.’
He considered it for a moment.
‘All right, Percy. Now we really do need to get out of here.’
Everyone was sent home early because of the flood. Paul texted Mom and told her we were headed to Montauk. I would have done it myself, but it’s a bad idea for demigods to have cell phones. Even sending a text is like sending out a message to all nearby monsters saying Who ordered dinner to go? Mom texted back and agreed to come and meet us after she was done working on her book. Knowing her, she’d probably guessed what was going on, and knew I’d need some backup.
We walked along the beach. Paul had a lot of questions.
‘So this camp you go to…’
‘Camp Half-Blood. It’s a camp for demigods.’
‘And that’s where you met Tyson? I’m guessing he’s a demigod too?’
‘Ah…no. Tyson’s my half-brother. But he’s a Cyclops.’
Paul whistled.
‘A Cyclops.’
‘Yeah. It’ll look like he has two eyes to you, because of the Mist. But he has one. We didn’t quite meet at camp…’
I told him the story about how Tyson and I had met, how Annabeth and I had taken him to camp and how he’d been claimed. Which led us onto the subject of Annabeth.
‘She’s a daughter of Athena.’
‘A daughter of Athena?’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘And you two actually get along?’
I grinned. Being a teacher, he was well up on his Greek mythology, which saved me a lot of time. He knew all about our parents’ rivalry.
‘Yeah. She hated me at first. She calls me ‘Seaweed Brain.’ And I don’t think her mom likes me too much. But now we’re pretty good friends.’
‘Friends, huh?’ I knew what he was thinking, and I wasn’t in the mood to discuss that. Things had gotten so complicated with Annabeth, and Rachel, not to mention Calypso…I decided to change the subject.
I talked about the activities we did at camp; monster fighting lessons, Capture the Flag, singalongs. He was especially interested to hear about Chiron and Mr D.
‘That’s the Chiron from the myths? And Dionysus is banned from alcohol?’
I laughed out loud at this part. I hated Mr D and found it hilarious that he was banned from alcohol.
‘Yeah, by Zeus. Some incident with a wood nymph.’
‘Zeus.’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘Percy, I…’
‘Don’t believe it all. I get it. It’s hard. But if you’re going to marry my mom and be my stepdad, you have to at least know.’
He nodded.
‘I understand.’
I noticed a figure making its way down the beach towards us. Mom was here.
She reached us, and it was clear from the look on her face that she’d sussed out what had happened. She looked nervously at Paul.
‘Hi, Sally.’ He was looking at her like he was seeing her in a new light. But not in a bad way. I don’t think.
‘Um, hi, Paul. I take it you two have been…talking?’
The tension was so thick you could cut it with Riptide. I sensed they might need some time alone.
‘Uh…I’m just gonna…go for a walk. On my own.’
‘Okay, honey.’ Mom smiled appreciatively. ‘Don’t go too far.’
‘I won’t.’ I set off along the beach, leaving them alone together.
‘So…it happened here?’ Paul asked gently.
Sally nodded, smiling sadly.
‘Yes.’
‘Sally…’ He took her hand. ‘I had no idea. I mean…I knew you’d been through a lot, having Percy and having to raise him all on your own, but…’ He shook his head. ‘God…no wonder you looked so shocked when he showed up at the apartment.’
‘Because he’s a god,’ Sally gave a tiny laugh.
‘I thought it was because…’ Paul broke eye contact.
‘Because I still loved him? I won’t lie to you…maybe somewhere, deep down, I do. But that was a different kind of love. It wasn’t a healthy relationship. It was over-indulgent. We both knew it could never last. We felt like we had to make the most of every moment. That was why…’ She blushed a little. ‘Why Percy came along.’
Paul put an arm round her.
‘It won’t be like that with us, Sally. We’ll take things at our own pace. We’ll have children if and when we want, and when we’re both ready.’
She rested her head on his shoulder, her soft brown hair blowing in the wind.
‘I will tell you everything. Before the wedding. But not right away. Not while Percy’s here.’
He nodded.
‘Of course.’
I strolled along the beach, concentrating on the sensation of the waves going back and forth. They were particularly calm tonight, and there was a warm sea breeze even though it was getting on for winter. The tide didn’t seem to be coming in too quickly either. I had a sneaky suspicion my dad knew what was going on. He did tend to notice stuff that happened on beaches.
When I got back, they were sitting gazing out to sea, Paul with his arm round my mom. They stood up and smiled when I walked over. Mom mouthed Thank You.
‘So…’ I wasn’t quite sure what to say. I hoped I’d given them enough time.
From both their expressions, I could tell things were okay. It might take time for the news to sink in, but it was okay. He believed, and he hadn’t run for the hills, which is always a good sign. Mom just walked over and took my hand, looking happier than I’d seen her in a long time.
‘Let’s go home.’
A few days later, we were sitting on the sofa in the living room when Paul got off the phone from the principal at Goode High.
‘Good news and bad news, Percy,’ he said. ‘The good news – you’re not expelled. It’ll take them a few weeks to replace all the equipment that was damaged, but there’s no way anyone could have known it was your fault. And let’s face it…’ His mouth twitched in a slight smile. ‘I don’t think they’d believe you if you told them.’
Mom and I heaved a huge sigh of relief. I wasn’t expelled! And I didn’t have to go to school for a few weeks! I couldn’t wait to Iris-message Annabeth and tell her the good news.
‘What’s the bad news?’ my mom asked.
Paul grinned.
‘You still have to do classes online. And do all your homework.’
My face fell and I made a noise like a Laestrygonian giant getting stabbed. Mom giggled.
‘Well, you did flood the school, dear,’ she said. ‘You’re not getting off that easily.’
I pouted, accepting defeat.
‘Okay. How do online classes work anyway?’
‘We’re trying this new software called ‘Zoom’. And I can give you your English classes in person!’ His eyes twinkled. I sighed.
‘Can’t wait,’ I said sarcastically.
Mom laughed again, rubbed my shoulder, and got up and went to make a start on dinner. Paul and I made eye contact, and we both smiled, despite my begrudging feelings about the online classes. Suddenly I couldn’t wait for them to get married. Paul was a massive improvement on Smelly Gabe (even though that wasn’t exactly hard). He and my mom were perfect for each other. She’d finally found who she was meant to be with.