The Riptides: Percy's Sister (Percy Jackson And The Olympians)

Book Two, Chapter One 2.1

Sometimes, I enjoy my brother's well enunciated sleep talking. Other days, I hate it. Take today for instance...

"Have to get away." He whimpered. "Have to warn them!"

"Percy," I shook him. "Barnacle Boy, wake up."

"MIIIIINE!"

He sat bolt upright, shivering, as we smacked heads.

I rubbed my forehead. "Oww..."

Morning sunlight filtered through the bedroom window.

I thought I saw a shadow flicker across the glass- a humanlike shape. But then my mom busted in like the Kool Aid Man. "Is everything all right? No one seriously injured?"- and the shadow at the window disappeared.

"No mom." I answered.

It must've been my imagination. A fifth story window with a rickety old fire escape... there couldn't have been anyone out there.

"Come on," my mother called. "Last day of school. You should be excited! You've almost made it!"

"Coming," Percy managed.

He felt under his pillow, pulling out a ballpoint pen he always slept with. He studied the Ancient Greek writing engraved on the side: Anaklusmos. Riptide.

"Don't even think about uncapping it." I told him. "Remember? We're not supposed to use deadly weapons in the house."

Our mom had that rule put in place when Percy and I were practicing sword fighting in the apartment. Percy pressed me a bit too hard and I crashed into our mom's china cabinet. The damage wouldn't have been as bad if it was just me who crashed, but I had my shield out which took out the whole thing.

Percy placed the pen on his nightstand as I dragged him out of bed.

He made a three fingered claw over his heart and pushed outward, I did the same- an ancient gesture we'd learned last year for warding off evil.

He grabbed his clothes and dashed to the bathroom to change. I went to the kitchen for breakfast. Trying not to think about the shadow at the window.

Have to get away. Have to warn them!

What was he dreaming about?

Last day of school. My mom was right, we should've been excited. For the first time in our lives, my brother and I almost made it an entire school year without getting expelled. No weird accidents. No fights in the classroom. No teachers turning into monsters trying to kill us with poisoned cafeteria food or any exploding homework. Tomorrow, we'd be on our way to one of our favorite places in the whole world- Camp Half Blood.

Only one more day to go. Surely even we couldn't mess this up.

As usual, I had hoped for too much.

Our mom made blue waffles and blue eggs for breakfast. She's funny that way, celebrating special occasions with blue food. I think it's her way of saying anything is possible. Percy and Molly can go a school year without expulsion. Waffles can be blue. Little miracles like that.

We ate while our mom washed dishes. She was dressed in her work uniform- a starry blue skirt and a red and white striped blouse she wore to sell candy at Sweet on America. Her long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail.

Waffles, amazing as usual, but brother dear wasn't digging in, which is unusual. Our mom looked over and frowned. "Percy, are you all right?"

But she could always tell when something was bothering us. She dried her hands and sat across from him. "School, or..."

She didn't need to finish. We knew what she was asking.

"I think Grover's in trouble," he said and he told us his dream.

She pursed her lips. We didn't talk much about the other part of our life. We tried to live as normally as possible, but our mom knew all about Grover.

"I wouldn't be too worried, dear," she said. "Grover is a big satyr now. If there were a problem, I'm sure we would've heard from... from camp...." Her shoulders tensed as she said the word camp.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I'll tell you what. This afternoon we'll celebrate the end of school. I'll take you and Tyson to Rockefeller Center- to that skateboard shop you both like."

Oh, man, that was tempting. We were always struggling with money. Between our mom's night classes and our private school tuition, we could never afford to do special things like shop for skateboards. But something in her voice bothered me.

"Wait a minute," I said. "I thought we were packing up for camp tonight."

She twisted her dishrag. "Ah, dear, about that... I got a message from Chiron last night."

My heart sank. Percy and I looked at each other. Chiron is the activities director at Camp Half Blood. He wouldn't contact us unless something serious was going on.

"What did he say?" Percy asked.

"He thinks... it might not be safe for you to come to camp just yet. We might have to postpone."

"Postpone?" I said. "Mom, how could it not be safe? We're half bloods! It's like the only safe place on earth for us!"

"Usually, dear. But the problems they're having-"

Percy leaned forward. "What problems?"

"I'm very, very sorry. I was hoping to talk to you about it this afternoon. I can't explain it all now. I'm not even sure Chiron can. Everything happened so suddenly."

My mind was reeling. How could we not go to camp? I wanted to ask a million questions, but just then the kitchen clock chimed the half hour.

My mom looked almost relieved. "Seven thirty. You should go. Tyson will be waiting."

"But-"

"We'll talk this afternoon. Go on to school."

That was the last thing I wanted to do, but our mom had this fragile look in her eyes- a kind of warning, like if we pushed her too hard she'd start to cry. Besides, she was right about our friend Tyson. We had to meet him at the subway station on time or he'd get upset. He was scared of traveling underground alone.

We gathered our stuff, but Percy stopped at the doorway. "Mom, this problem at camp. Does it... could it have anything to do with my dream about Grover?"

She wouldn't meet his eyes. "We'll talk this afternoon, dear. I'll explain... as much as I can."

Reluctantly, we told her goodbye. We jogged downstairs to catch the Number Two train.

I didn't know it at the time, but we would never get to have that afternoon talk.

In fact, we wouldn't be seeing home for a long, long time.

As we stepped outside, we glanced at the brownstone building across the street. Just for a second I saw a dark shape in the morning sunlight- a human silhouette against the brick wall, a shadow that belonged to no one.

Then it rippled and vanished.