How Do You Say Gods- Sea of Monsters

19: THE CHARIOT RACE ENDS WITH A BANG

"Buses weren't good enough for you anymore, huh Percy?" Jason grinned as he read the new chapter. "Had to escalate to whole circuits of races."

"Who said I blew it up?" But there was no real protest in Percy, he knew it probably was his fault.

...Not the kind of dad you invited to school for career day.

"I'll bet the firefighter's and cops could at least use him as a bad example," Thalia said with twitching lips, mostly for the adorable mental idea of baby Chiron holding a blanky surrounded by desks. He still had the beard and tweed jacket too.

... Latin for "really-big-lizard-with-breath-that-blows-stuff-up").

"How many dragons are out there?" Magnus demanded. First the one on the ship, now this, even the mist had to have limits hiding these things away. Right?

He got no answer, and he really wished somebody would pretend just once there were no more deadly things a head.

 ...The Apollo cabin had been working overtime performing first aid.

Will gave a shaky, exhausted sigh at just the mention of that. It had been great practice at least. He and Katie had spent a lot of time together and he hadn't even gotten a chance to enjoy how easy it was to work with her, the things she could do with those herbs. It had been the first time he'd been allowed in the thick of it all...but they'd lost one Athena kid he hadn't even known the name of...

"You okay?" The impulsive question had just slipped right out of Nico's mouth seeing Will's mouth twitch into a frown like that. He didn't regret it though, it was the least he could do after Will had been so nice to him.

"Mm," he agreed quietly. "Just old memories." Tantalus's leaving had really been the only thing to smile at those two weeks. They'd spent every day and night racing around camp trying to keep monsters away while their 'activities director' kept trying to distract them, and even undermine them with useless suggestions. If they hadn't gotten back when they did, he wasn't sure how many more times they would have woken up to their home existing.

He cheered himself slightly by telling everybody, "Connor won a running bet though, no chores the rest of that summer for him because Clarisse came back alive. Nobody won the grand pot of no more chores for life though because the option for Clarisse coming back alive with the fleece never got a wager," he finished with a grin at Percy.

"Thank you, thank you," Percy gave a mock bow.

... he'd place an ad in Olympus Weekly right away.

Magnus opened, then closed his mouth because he wasn't really sure he wanted to know.

Alex blurted out, "you can hire monsters in ads!"

"Sure, why not," Thalia shrugged.

... if they admitted we'd snuck out of camp to do the quest, they'd have to expel us.

"Have to is a little strong," Will gave a cheerful laugh again, "maybe we would have just to get some peace and quiet."

"Could just suspend him for the summer," Jason smirked, "not everything has to be the full 9's with him."

"Like Chiron would ever," Percy scoffed. "He'd have to prove we were gone while he was, and as far as I know I never left my bunk unattended," he finished with the most foolishly innocent smile.

I didn't want any more attention. It felt good to be just one of the campers.

Percy laughed in agreement with that now, it was what he'd been really longing for this whole time in this world. A sense of peace and belonging that had always evaded him because of Poseidon or Tyson, now he strode among his home with both labels.