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Howard Lambert wasn't having a good year.
First, he got fired at the University he taught at because he wrote a paper claiming that the Greek and Roman gods actually existed and the entire academic field turned him into a complete joke.
He then, after losing his job, got evicted by his landlord because he couldn't pay his rent in time, making him basically homeless and forcing him to move back with his parents in New York.
Then he found a job at an high school, of all places, where most of the kids in his Ancient Lieterature class were only there because it was apparently considered the 'easy credit' class with his predecessor colleague.
And, last but not least, the thesis that had him fired turned out to be true but, since the university he was working at didn't want to get him back as a professor, he had to keep his job at Goode Highschool where the literal embodiment of his thesis being true was gingerly sitting in his class every week, for multiple hours, not even listening to him.
Since Mr Lambert first started teaching at Goode Highschool, he hadn't been fond of Percy Jackson.
While some of his colleagues didn't like the teenager because, in their completely wrong opinions, his ADHD and Dyslexia certifications were just a way to justify being lazy during class, Mr Lambert would never claim that about a student, especially not one who clearly put in his work to succeed at school and that had never submitted homework late, Percy clearly wasn't lazy.
The problem, in his opinion, was that Percy Jackson had cemented himself as the school's cryptid, an eidetic creature of rumors that flowed through the school every step he took in the populated hallways in the middle of the scholastic day.
It was usual at a school to have rumors flying around about some students, what wasn't normal, in Mr Lambert's humble opinion, was having rumors of terroristic attacks, kidnappings and, for some reason, volcanic eruptions all tied to the imagery surrounding one specific student.
And the worst part about it was that Percy Jackson, when asked about said rumors, only shrugged them off, laughed lightly, told a joke about it and then went back to his little mismatched group of mischivious nerds he hung out with.
The kid even had the audacity to be the best student he ever had without even listening to him in class. Whenever he noticed that Percy wasn't listening, he tried to give him a trick question about something he had just explained just to see his reaction but, not only Percy would answer correctly every time, he would also sometimes correct his pronunciation of mythological names that a young students was probably not even supposed to know aside from class.
And apparently he also fluently spoke Latin and Ancient Greek? Mr Lambert wasn't exactly sure of his fluency in Ancient Greek to be fair since he didn't know much about it but once they were reading and translating Ovid's "Metamorphosis" during class and, when it was Percy's turn to read, not only he read it in perfect Latin but he also translated it so quickly that Mr Lambert wondered if he had a translated copy right there with him.
So, for these incredibly petty reasons, Howard Lambert couldn't really say he was fond of Percy Jackson.
But then something incredible happened.
The Mist, this veil that apparently hid the mythological world, suddenly disappeared.
The streets started to be full of creatures that could only be seen in paintings and movies prior to that day and, on top of the Empire State Building, a giant floating island topped by marble and bronze temples appeared.
Once Howard got the confirmation that he wasn't crazy, his thesis was actually correct and the Gods of old he had studied for years actually existed, he started researching even more.
He read books, scavenged the internet and old records just to find more and more about the topic he was so passionate about.
He tried to get back into an academic career but nothing seemed to give him hope.
Then, on top of that, came another news about two teenagers being named as the special envoys for Olympus. The first envoy, Annabeth Chase, didn't really seem familiar to Howard but he knew the second teen's face way too well for comfort.
Percy Jackson, the kid who always knew more than him about myths and that was perpetually distracted during his class, apparently had a pretty knit tight connection to the Gods.
This news wasn't just mind blowing, it was also, in some way, the answer to every interior conflict Howard Lambert was having in regards of his student.
When news broke out that Percy was actually a demigod, he had to stop himself from completely annihilate his student with questions and inquiries because when will he ever have the chance to have an actual demigod as a student again?
Sadly, he was ethically obliged to not pry too much into his students' lives, especially since the questions he wanted to subject Percy to were probably too invasive.
After this news broke out though, he still had one oddly specific interior conflict to resolve: what's the correct and least subjective grading method for a student that is basically only handing in homework about his own family drama?
Like, sure, Percy had always written incredible essays on myths and their interpretations but wasn't he basically just recalling different point of views of a family anecdote?
After a few weeks since the news about Percy broke out Mr Lambert had to announce the group project that counted as half of that semester's grade so, since he needed time to draw the names of the students that would make up each group, he decided to tell the students at the beginning of a lesson.
"So, as you know, in the next month you'll have to work on a group project that will count as half of your mark." Started Mr Lambert "To not give anyone advantages, I'll draw the names of each group from a bowl I prepared with all of your names and I'll also pick the topic for each group."
Most students groaned, probably annoyed to not be able to be in the same group as their friends for the project.
Some of them, noted Mr Lambert, were very clearly looking towards an incredibly bored Percy Jackson who was desperately trying to stay awake, probably tired due to the amount of responsibilities he currently had.
"I'll start drawing the groups now." Said Mr Lambert "So the first group is made of Lucy Brown, Jasper O'Brian and Alice Rossi. You'll have to work on myths regarding Hermes."
The three students didn't look too happy about working with each other but they still moved closer to be able to start planning their project.
"The second group is made of Freddy Shawn, Maya Bones and Percy Jackson." As the teacher announced the last name the class gave a little upset groan "Yeah yeah, you all wanted to be in Jackson's group. Anyways, this group will have to research myths on the goddess Hera."
This time, to Mr Lambert's surprise, it was Percy Jackson's turn to look utterly upset, which made him incredibly curious about what was up with Percy's relationship with the goddess.
Once every group was created, each of them sat around a desk to organize their work but, walking in quick strides, the demigod walked over to Mr Lambert's desk followed by Freddy Shawn, one of his group mates.
"I'm not changing your group." Said the teacher without even looking at his students' reactions.
"I don't care about that." Boomed Percy, his stern voice sending a shiver down the spine of every person that was currently in the class "I just need to change the topic of our research. There's so many gods, why do I have to do it on her?"
"Who cares about that!" Stated the other student, complaint coating his words "I will not work with this freak of nature!"
As he said so he took a step away from Percy with a disgusted face which Mr Lambert addressed by scolding him, saying: "I will not tolerate disrespect towards your peers, go to your seat Mr Shawn."
"But..."
"Now."
As the student visibly rolled his eyes and stomped over to his chair Mr Lambert looked at Percy and asked: "Don't you think this work is already easy enough for you?"
"Well, first of all it's not like I know their myths that well, I just know how they are as people and trust me they aren't that pleasant." He answered, as the clear sky rumbled with thunder that Percy dismissed "But out of them all my a... the goddess of marriage is definetely the worst."
"Look Percy, I understand the frustration of having to work on one of your relatives on this research, really, but you have to know that it's also hard to make your marks fair compared to the rest of your classmates considering... well..." Mr Lambert left the end of the sentence unsaid but Percy nodded, seemingly understanding his teacher's point of view.
"I... okay so this is going to sound insane." Started Percy again, fidgeting with his hands "But there's probably going to be consequences if I do this project on her."
Mr Lambert's face turned sour, and, stunned by his student's words, he asked: "Are you threatening me?"
"No no, I would never!" Answered Percy quickly to rectify his wording mistake "It's just that, look, she hates my a... she doesn't like me very much, and it's an understatement to say so. Please spare me from what's coming for me."
Mr Lambert was at a loss of words. He was totally aware that Percy had a close relation with the gods, he knew his father was one of them so he also logically knew that, like in every family, there was going to be some drama but hearing his student so blantantly acknowledge that was still shocking.
Obviously he didn't want Percy to have a hard time with them, not because of this project, but he still couldn't change the fact that this was the only way to make the results fair for everyone.
"I understand Percy but my hands are tied." Answered at last the teacher "It was already hard to make this project well balanced since you have previous knowledge that can't be dismissed but giving you such favoritism would be unfair. I'm sorry."
Percy nodded, letting go of a heavy breath he wasn't really holding before returning to his spot next to his friend Maya who was bickering with their other project mate.
The rest of the lesson went by smoothly, and so did the days and then weeks before the week of the presentation.
Well, at lest as smoothly as it all could go with the current state of the world.
Every once in a while, for example, a random teacher would come into his class while Percy Jackson was there because a monster had been seen roaming around the school and someone had to get rid of it before it attacked someone.
At first sending their very underage student out to fend off a monster to protect the school gave every teacher a terrible feeling in the pit of their stomach, as if they were responsible for these situations in any way but at some point, after another student had been attacked, it became clear that sending Percy to take care of these situations was the most efficient way of solving them.
It didn't happen often but it did happen enough to have everyone accostumed to it.
So, when a teacher came in asking for Percy Jackson everyone knew he would come back covered in glittery dust and with a smile on his face due to the break he was able to take.
In true Percy Jackson fashion though, he never seemed tired after a little monster hunt, he just looked even more energized than before and ready to take on the next few classes in better spirits and with way better focus on the classes' topics.
The day of the presentation finally came and the students looked all jittery and anxious about their projects but one of them in particular seemed too fidgety even for his standards.
Percy Jackson was playing with the hem of his blue shirt, his eyes were scanning the room frantically as if someone was going to appear out of thin air in the middle of nowhere and he looked ready to jump on his feet and sprint away from the classroom at any given moment.
After the first group's presentation, Percy, Maya and Shawn got up from their spots and got next to Mr Lambert who, worried about the weird tension in the demigod's features, asked softly: "Percy are you okay?"
He nodded, gulped and answered in a hushed voice: "Yeah it's nothing. It's just... consequences, as I said."
Mr Lambert did remember the ominous words that the student had given him before, he didn't really mind them too much, dismissing them as simply a way for Percy to chose what to do his project on but, the current state of anxiety that Percy was in, alerted him more.
When a student who's regularly going around slaying monsters easily and who's talking to important politicians every other week looks so scared you can't really ignore it.
Mr Lambert, scared for his students' well being, asked: "Should you not give this presentation? Are... are they watching?"
The teacher gulped, for the first time awkwardly aware of what that could intel. If a god was watching them what could happen?
Percy shook his head, let a breath go and answered: "It's nothing dangerous, really, I'm just being dumb."
He took a pause, looked right outside of the window where the cloudy sky was increasingly becoming more and more sunny to the point where the temperature in the class was quite clearly rising, then he looked at Mr Lambert and said: "It's just my cousin he... well, he'll humiliate me about this."
His cousin, the literal personification of the sun. The Sun. Mr Lambert's legs trembled in... fear?
No it wasn't fear, it was anticipation. He wanted to meet him, he wanted the god to show up, as a direct proof of everything he had always believed in even before the Mist fell.
"Okay, we can begin." Said Maya after pulling the Power Point presentation on the projector.
They took their time, giving their presentation in turns and clearly doing a really good job at it and, when Percy ended his presentation, a loud echoing clapping sound came from the back of the classroom.
How had Mr Lambert not noticed that person?
He was a young man, probably in his early twenties, with long blong hair tied in a messy bun on top of his head, honey sun-kissed skin tinted with thousands of freckles that almost seemed to glitter under the light from the window that was hitting him and a pair of mirror sun glasses covered his eyes.
He looked clearly amused by what he had just seen, looking straight at Percy when he loudly said: "Bravo! Bravo! Oh, how lovely of a presentation you gave about my bovine step-mommy, truly a work of art."
Percy looked at him annoyed and rolled his eyes answering: "Very mature and funny, 'Pollo. Next time refrain from showing up in one of my classrooms."
"Are you not saying please to me?" Asked the blond man (God, supplied Mr Lambert's mind) back "It is the most polite thing you can do after I showed you my support over your scholastic career."
Percy, clearly mortified about the whole situation, just shook his head and stated, looking was more scary than he ever had before "Go away before I call her."
"You wouldn't..." Murmured the god, his face morphing in pain, clearly fearing whoever Percy was threatening to call.
"I would, you know your sister weirdly likes me." Said the demigod with a victorious grin on his face.
"Fine." Stated the god, getting up from his seat and going towards where Percy was, the students all trying to get away from him while he passed through the desks, scared he could do something to them.
He put a hand on the demigod's shoulder, smiled to him one last time then, towards the class, he said: "Well, bye kids, it was good to see my cousin's dear classmates. Good luck!"
"Close your eyes everyone!" Exclaimed Percy alarmed, shielding his eyes with his left arm as quickly as he could.
His classmates and Mr Lambert, scared by the urgency in Percy's voice, followed his instructions and, as soon as they opened their eyes again, the god had vanished, leaving behind just a small vase of Narcissuses sitting on the teacher's desk with a little card written in elegant golden pen.
Percy shook his head exasperated and told the teacher: "I'm sorry Mr Lambert, he meddles so much lately, I hope he didn't scare anyone."
Mr Lambert couldn't say he wasn't scared. He knew the magnitude of power these beings held, he knew they could destroy and reshape reality if they really wanted to and he knew that, although it had now been clear to everyone that the Gods of Olympus actually existed, seeing one in the flesh was not the same thing as distantly knowing about them.
"I-I suppose it's not y-your fault, don't worry." Answrred Mr Lambert to Percy's apology before saying: "So, g-group number 3, it's your turn."
The lesson kept going serenely and the rest of the groups were able to deliver their presentations well even after the godly interference.
As for Mr Lambert though, he was shook by the encounter.
He reached for the card that still sat unread on the flower vase on his desk, he picked it up and, carefully and out loud, read:
"I read your old dissertation on the gods, congratulations you were mostly right! Good job, keep it up! - Apollo"
Mr Lambert would never admit it but, if someone could read his mind, they would know that Howard Lambert's worst year yet had just turned into the most amazing and life-changing year to date.