Chapter Text
I’m going to kill her,” Penny Jackson mutter, throwing a glare over her shoulder. Nancy Bobofit just smirks at her, tearing another piece of her peanut butter and ketchup sandwich and throwing it at her best friend. But Grover quickly duck down, avoiding having another chunk of it clinging to his curly brown hair.
“Don’t,” he warns her, “You’re already on probation. You know who’ll get blame if anything happens,” Grover reminded her before he smiles at her, “Anyway, I like peanut butter,”
“But in your hair?” Penny mutters before she slumps in her seat, “If this wasn’t to the Greek and Roman section of the museum and it was anyone else beside Mr. Brunner guiding us… I would just had stayed at the school.”
“Come on Penny,” Grover tries to assure her, “This will be fun. No books, no homework. Just a chill day,”
“You don’t get it Grover,” Penny mutters, “Me and field trips? Something bad always happen to me on field trips.” she looks out the window of the bus as it rolls into the heart of the city, “Like at my fifth grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had an accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn’t aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth-grade school, we took a behind scene tour of the Marine World shark pool, I swear I was told to pull this one specific lever but I got kick out because when I did, my class and I took an unplanned swim… not like the sharks were actually going to hurt us.” Penny shakes her head, “But you get the idea.”
“Well this time, I’m sure nothing is going to go wrong,” Penny shot Grover a look but sighs as the bus pulled to a stop and Mrs. Dodds, the other teacher chaperone, calls out to them to settle down. Penny couldn’t help but frown as she stares at their math. She was supposedly from Georgia and was always wearing a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She also had a particular smell of sulfur, blood and pomegranates clinging to her. Mrs. Dodds had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when their last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.
From her first day, Mrs. Dodds had thought that Penny was something nasty she had stepped in with her brand new designer shoes. She would point at Penny with her crooked finger and say, “Now honey,” real sweet, and Penny knew was going to get after-school detention for a month. One of those detentions consisted of Penny erasing answers out of old math textbooks until midnight. When she met Grover in homeroom the next day, exhausted, she told Grover that she didn’t think Mrs. Dodds was human.
He had looked at her, real serious and said, “You’re absolutely right.”
But Penny pushed those thoughts out of her mind, stepping off of the bus and joining the others to crowd around Mr. Brunner. He was a middle age man in a motorized wheelchair. He had dark brown hair that fell to his shoulders and curled at the ends with a few strands that were white. Across his face were a few scars and a scruffy beard. He wore a frayed tweed jacket and he always smelled like a mix of coffee, herbs and strangely of horse. He was one of Penny’s favorite teachers, especially with his collection of Greek and Roman armor and weapons.
Leading them through the museum entrance, Mr. Bunner guided them towards the Greek and Roman section, “What you see here. They are not fictions. They are not fantasies. What you see here are the truest and deepest parts of yourselves. Friends, the Gods, the monsters, the heroes you see here in this room, are reminders of what we are capable of.” Mr. Brunner informs them as he rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding them through the big echoey galleries. Penny pulls out her drawing pad, quickly sketching a bit as they walk past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black and orange pottery.
“Really blows my mind that this stuff have survived for more than two thousand, three thousand years,” Penny though as they gather around a thirteen foot tall stone column with a big spinx on the top. “This is a stele,” Mr. Brunner explains, gesturing at the carvings on the side, “it is mostly use as a monument for various purposes, primarily as a decorative gravestone. This one was use for a girl about your age.”
Penny narrows her eyes feeling her anger rising as she hears Nancy giggling about something with a few other girls. Trying to ignore it and listen to Mr. Brunner, Penny couldn’t help but let out a small growl as Nancy all but shriek about the naked man on the stele. Turning to her, Penny snaps at her, lips curling, “Can you actually shut up for once in your life, you harpy?!”
Nancy glares at her and opens her mouth when Mr. Brunner coughs. Flinching, Penny turns to him, “Miss. Jackson, do you have a comment?” he asked raising an eyebrow at her.
Grimacing, Penny felt her face grow hot, clutching to her drawing pad close to her chest, “No sir…” she mutters, feeling her mouth go dry.
Pointing to one of the carvings, his gaze never leaving her green eyes, “Then, perhaps you can tell us what this picture represents?”
Turning her gaze, Penny couldn’t help but shiver a bit as she recognizes the figure. It was a man, holding a baby upside down over his head, mouth open wide. Swallowing, Penny takes a deep breath to calm her nerves, “That’s Kronos, eating one of his children…”
“Where are we going Popo?
“Somewhere secret… you’re… you’re going to stay in here until Mom finds you ok? So I need you to close your eyes...yes! Just like that Zeus… now remember, don’t come out until Mom finds you.
“5TH BORN! WHERE IS HE?! WHERE IS THE SIXTH?!”
“He’s gone… and you will never find him, father!”
“Oh… such a wrong choice… and the fact that I named you my heir… you would had done great things, Poseidon… but I will never allow the prophecy that Ouranos to come to pass…”
Penny closes her eyes, trying to block out the sounds of the wails and screams that rang in her ears, almost hearing Mr. Brunner’s voice, “Yes,” he said, obviously not satisfied, “And he did this because?”
“Because Kronos was the King of the Gods. But he became King after overthrowing his father, Ouranos, the Protogenoi of the Sky. But before he did so, Ouranos warned him that his own children shall do the same. So when him and his sister/wife, Rhea had kids,” she ignores the sound of disgust coming from her classmates and carried on, “He would swallow each one. Except that made Rhea upset so when she gave birth to their sixth child, Zeus, she tricked Kronos into eating a rock and she had Zeus grow up in secret. When Zeus was born, he went undercover as a cupbearer and earning Kronos’ loyalty and trust. It was easy for him to mix Kronos’ drink with mustard which force the Titan King to hurl up Zeus’ brothers and sisters, who being Gods grew up undigested in their father’s stomach. With the six together they free their aunts and uncles, the Hundred-Handed Ones and the Elder Cyclopes, who forged them weapons and declared war on the Titans. After ten years of fighting the six Gods won, their father chopped into many tiny pieces which were then thrown into Tartarus.” Penny trails off, realizing that she had gone on more than she probably should have. Her face heats up and she looks at the ground.
Nancy scoffs, “What a freak,” she mutters to one of her friends, “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?’”
“And why, Miss. Jackson,” Mr. Brunner calls out a bit more loudly than usual, his eyes landing on Nancy, “to paraphrase Miss. Bobofit’s excellent question, does this matter in real life?”
“Busted,” Grover sang lowly, as Penny smirks.
Nancy’s face glows red, brighter than her hair and she throws a glare at Grover who flinches, “Shut up,” she hisses.
Penny hums, biting her lip as she thought of the question, “It tells us… to break the cycle? Kronos chopped his dad into pieces because of Ouranos’ abuse and the Gods did the same to him. If Kronos had raised his kids then they wouldn’t had overthrown him… he acted on his fear of losing power which then guaranteed his own downfall… sometimes the hardest path might be the best one instead of taking the easy one…”
Mr. Brunner stares at her, “Full credit, Miss. Jackson. But on that note, its time for lunch. 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. Penny was about to follow but she stops, starring up at a marble statue of a woman, holding a very unique bow in her hand. “Queen Penelope of Ithaca,” Penny jumps and turns towards Mr. Brunner as he rolls his wheelchair up towards her, “A very brave woman. She waited 20 years, an extra ten more for her husband to return. She used cunning to fend off numerous suitors who all pressure her to remarry…”
“My mom name me after her,” Penny remarks, “If I was a boy she was either going to name me Perseus or Odysseus… because those two out of all the Greek myths, against all odds they made their way to a happy ending. The same for Penelope…” Penny then smiles, “She is also hoping I find someone who loves me like Odysseus loved his wife,”
“Oh he loved her,” Mr. Brunner remarks, “He killed every single suitor when he returned, especially after they started making plans on killing his son and raping her.”
“For twenty years I suffer every punishment and pain. From the wrath of Gods and monsters to the screams of comrades slain. I come back and find my palace desecrated, sacked like Troy. Worst of all, I hear you dare to touch my wife and hurt my boy! I… have… had… enough.”
Penny closes her eyes, as more screams rang through her ears… pleads and begs for mercy making her want to slam her hands onto her ears, wanting to block the sounds that were playing in her head. “Miss. Jackson,” opening her eyes, Penny turns to Mr. Brunner, “When you’re ready to hear, what the Gods have in store for you, they’ll tell you,”
“No offense, Mr. Brunner… but sometimes what the Gods plan… isn’t happy,” Penny remarks dryly.
Mr. Brunner stares at her, “Just remember, what you learn from me is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Penny Jackson.”
Penny frowns, a part of her wanting to get angry at the way Mr. Brunner always pushes her. She will admit that he was one of the best teachers she have had in the six years she had started school. Not only with his tournament days where he dresses up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: “What ho,” challenging them 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 worshiped. But its like he expected more from her even though Penny has dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Even though Penny works hard to never get below a C-. It was frustrating to her that the man didn’t expect her to be as good as everyone else who doesn’t have her learning disabilities, but expected her to be better.
Shaking his head in disappointment, Mr. Brunner glances at the stele, his eyes darkening in sadness as if he been at the girl’s funeral. Before he waves Penny away to go and eat her lunch.
The class was gathered on the front steps of the museum, where most were watching the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. Looking around, Penny spotted Grover sitting alone on the dge of the fountain. Walking over, Penny looks up ot see a huge storm brewing, clouds blacker than she had ever seen over the city. But this have been the normal lately. The weather across the Ne York state had been weird since Christmas, with massive snow storms, floods, wildfires from lightning strikes…
Sitting down beside Grover, Penny pulls out the paper bag lunch she had been giving and opens it, “Detention?” Grover asked, looking at her in concern.
“Nah,” she shakes her head, pulling her sandwich apart and grabbing the cheese holding it out to Grover while taking the slices of ham he hands out to her, “Not from Brunner at least. I just wish he’d lay off me sometimes… or at least Nancy gets in trouble more,” she throws a glare at the girl, who was trying to pickpocket from a lady’s puse and of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn’t seeing a thing.
“There are all sorts of schools of thought about what drives that kind of bullying,” Grover remarks, trying to calm her down “Childhood trauma, feelings of inadequacy…”
“Look, I get that Nancy has issues, I’m just tired of her taking it out on us,” she takes a bite of her sandwich, and grimaces at the dryness, “I feel like… maybe its time to do something about it. Like throwing her in the dumpster,”
“Penny, no,” Grover pleads in dismay, shaking his head rapidly, “If there’s one thing I know about bullies, it is that you never ever stand up to them.”
Raising an eyebrow, Penny frowns, “That doesn’t sound right,”
“Look,” Grover looked into her eyes, “I know this place is hard for people like us. But we’re not gonna be here forever. There are better places out there,” Penny felt her eyes sting with tears at this and she quickly rubs at them before any of their classmates could notice.
It felt nice that she had someone other than her mother who cared for her. For years it just had been her and her mother (Penny did not count her stepfather, never) against the world. For as long as Penny knew… she saw things. Not only when she was awake, but in her dreams. All of it was blurry and just for a few seconds… but she could hear them, loud and clear. Screams… prayers… begging… declarations of war and love. When you say you see or hear something like that… you get lots of doctor visits where they tell you, “Good new, there’s nothing to worry about. Its all in your imagination. But if it happens again make sure to tell someone.” Which unfortunately for Penny, it happens again a lot.
Many people thought she was crazy. Seeing and hearing impossible things that felt like they walked out of the stories her mom always told her. It was so real one minute and then the next… well Penny never had any friends because of it. All of them thinking that it was just a matter of time before Penny snap and was thrown away into a padded cell so she wouldn’t hurt somebody… Penny didn’t have anyone but her mother who told her she was just… gifted… who saved money for her so Penny will had drawing pads and notebooks so Penny can have something to draw or write down what she sees and hear.
And then she met Grover here at Yancy. They had a lot in common… kinda. Mostly being on the bottom of the school’s food chain… but Grover never thought Penny was a freak… that she was crazy. He helped her. He made sure he always had a water bottle on hand and some tylenol when what she sees and hears was too much. He distracted her by talking about plants… and he even introduce her and taught her how to play Mythomagic. It always felt good to talk about these things with Grover… it made Penny almost believe they were all imaginary. Weird… but harmless.
“But that’s not true is it,” Penny thought with a frown when Nancy appeared in front of them with her ugly friends… apparently she had gotten bored of trying and failing to steal from tourists. Much to Penny’s anger, she drops her half-eaten lunch in Grover’s lap.
Penny stands up, hands balling into fists as Nancy turns to her. “Oops,” she mocks, grinning with her crooked teeth as she throws a slice of cheese at Grover, it slapping against his cheek.
Penny let out a growl, making Nancy step back in fear. But Penny paid no mind to it as a wave roars in her ears and her vision when dark.
“Get in the water,”
“Penny push me!” blinking, Penny stares down at Nancy who was shrieking in rage as she sat on her but in the fountain. She looks at her hand, frowning, “But I didn’t even touch her!”
Mrs. Dodds though materialized next to them, kneeling down to make sure poor little Nancy was okay before turning toward Penny with triumphant fire in her eyes. Penny couldn’t help but shiver, feeling like she seen that look before...”Now honey,”
But Grover, to Penny’s shock stood up, standing in front of her. His legs were trembling and Penny could tell that he was scared but he stood his ground, “Wait… it was me. I was the one who pushed Penny,”
“Now Mr. Underwood, we know that is a lie,” Mrs. Dodds gives him an amuse look, “Miss. Jackson will be coming with me,”
Penny patted Grover on his shoulder, making him jump a bit, “Its alright,” she whispered, “Thanks for trying,”
“But…” Grover trails off but Penny shakes her head, turning to face Mrs. Dodds. But she wasn’t there, instead she was now standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing for Penny impatiently to come on. Blinking at this, Percy went to follow, ignoring the mutters of her classmates, though she did throw Nancy a deluxe, I’ll-kill-you-later stare. Halfway up the steps though, Penny glances back at Grover. His eyes were frantically looking between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel, happily munching on some celery without a care in the world.
Feeling dread welling up inside her, Penny followed Mrs. Dodds all the way inside. They didn’t stop until they walk past the gift shop and into the Greek and Roman section. Mrs. Dodds stopped in front of the big marble frieze of the Greek Gods, arms cross as she glowers at the frieze. As if she wanted to shatter it.
She spins on her heels, turning her glower in Penny’s direction, “We’re not fools, Penny Jackson,” she sneers, thunder shook the building and Penny couldn’t help but take a step back. Though a small part of her mind told her a teacher wouldn’t hurt her… something else… something was screaming loudly in her that Mrs. Dodds would. “It was only a matter of time before we found you out” she tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket, “Confess and you will suffer less pain,”
“Confess?” Penny swallows, looking at her in confusion, “Mrs. Dodds… I don’t know what your talking about…” she mumbles in confusion even as her head throbbed in pain. She shakes its, grimacing as she sees a hand reaching out towards a helm before it switches to what Penny thought was a bolt of lightning.
Mrs. Dodds shot her a look fill with pure evil, “Your time is up,” she hissed as her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons, her jacket melting away, fusing into her body to become large leathery wings. Penny scrambles back in horror, her eyes wide at the sight of the living nightmare.
The nightmare she has had since she was seven.
“Luke… take Annabeth…”
“No...no Thalia! Please! We’re almost there!”
“If I don’t stand my ground then none of us are going to make it! Its me they want… and I will not… I will not be hunted like an animal…. Just… just promise me… promise me you take care of Annabeth. That you be there for each other…”
“Thalia! Thalia!”
“Luke… promise me!”
“I promise!”
The nightmare of a girl with short spikey black hair that fell to her shoulders with the brightest blue eyes, like they were electric. She was wielding a spear tightly in her hands as she glares down at Mrs. Dodds and two others that look like her. Like shriveled hags with bat wings and mouth full of yellow fangs.
“What ho, Penny!” blinking, Penny turns her head over her shoulder to stare at Mr. Brunner, who had been out in front of the museum a minute before. Wheeling his chair into the doorway, he throws a pen in the air towards her. Penny stares at him, stupidly, wondering what a pen would do.
But she didn’t have much time to think of it as Mrs. Dodds lunges towards her. With a yelp, Penny dodges, feeling talons slash the air next to her ear. Snatching the ballpoint pen out of the air, but to Penny’s shock it was not a pen but a sword. A bronze sword that Penny recognizes as the one Mr. Brunner uses on tournament days.
Mrs. Dodds screeches, spinning towards Penny with a murderous look in her eyes. “Die, honey!” she snarls as she flies towards Penny. Legs shaking as her knees felt like jelly, Penny grips the sword tighter as absolute terror fills her. Doing the only thing that was natural in this situation, she swings the sword. The metal blade hits Mrs. Dodds’ shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she was made of water. Slowly, like a sand castle in a power fan, Mrs. Dodds exploded into powder, vaporizing on the spot and leaving nothing but her scent that soon faded away.
But her screech still rang in her ears, making Penny tremble in place. She was alone, Mr. Brunner wasn’t there anymore...nobody was there but Penny. Looking down at the sword, Penny couldn’t help but blink as the sword changes, not into a pen but a necklace. A golden chain with a beautiful sapphire in the middle. Perplex and not knowing why, Penny places the necklace around her neck.
“Was my lunch contaminated with magic mushrooms or something?” Penny thought as she head back outside. It had started to rain, Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain and grumbling to her friends.
When one of the pointed towards her, she spins around and sneers, “I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt!”
Penny stares at her, the name catching her off guard “Who?”
Nancy rolls her eyes, “Our teacher, duh.” she turns away, now facing her friend, “She’s such a freak,”
Flinching, Penny turns to Grover, whispering to him frantically, “Grover, where’s Mrs. Dodds?” she asked, gripping tightly onto the necklace.
Grover’s eyes darted to the side and turning her head over her shoulder, she sees that Mr. Brunner was watching them, “Who’s Mrs. Dodds, Penny?”
Snapping her head back to him, Penny stares at Grover with wide eyes, “You know who I’m talking about,” she whispers, pleading at him, “Mrs. Dodds was our math teacher… since after Christmas..”
Grover pauses, before he shakes his head, “No… that’s Mrs. Kerr… Penny maybe we should talk to Mr. Brunner…”
Head reeling back, Penny shakes her head and sits down, making sure to not look at Grover. Hurt and betrayal fills her. Grover… Grover has always believed her.. but why… why now. Confusion fills her, churning her stomach and she grips the necklace tighter.
“What is going on?”