Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief

•°•▪︎◇Chapter 2◇▪︎•°•

Percy accidentally vaporized his Maths Teacher pt.2 & 

Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

How'd she get there so fast? Percy has moments like that a lot, when his brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing he knows he missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left him staring at the blank place behind it. The school counsellor told him this was part of the ADHD, his brain misinterpreting things.

Percy wasn't so sure. He went after Mrs Dodds. Halfway up the steps, Percy glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between him and Mr Brunner, like he wanted Mr Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr Brunner was absorbed in his novel.

Percy looked back up. Mrs Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall. Okay, he thought. She's going to make him buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. But apparently that wasn't the plan.

Percy followed her deeper into the museum. When he finally caught up to her, they were back in the Greek and Roman section. Except for them, the gallery was empty. Mrs Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling. Even without the noise, Percy would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs Dodds.

Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it... 'You've been giving us problems, honey,' she said. Percy did the safe thing. He said, 'Yes, ma'am.' She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. 'Did you really think you would get away with it?' The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. She's a teacher, Percy thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt him. Percy said, 'I'll – I'll try harder, ma'am.' Thunder shook the building. 'We are not fools, Percy Jackson,' Mrs Dodds said. 'It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain.'

Percy didn't know what she was talking about. All he could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy he'd been selling out of his dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized he got his essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away his grade. Or worse, they were going to make him read the book. Gloria wouldn't have minded for sure.

'Well?' she demanded. 'Ma'am, I don't...' 'Your time is up,' she hissed. Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shrivelled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice Percy to ribbons.

Then things got even stranger. Mr Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand. 'What ho, Percy!' he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.

Mrs Dodds lunged at Percy. With a yelp, he dodged and felt talons slash the air next to his ear. Percy snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit his hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword – Mr Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day. Mrs Dodds spun towards him with a murderous look in her eyes. Percy's knees were jelly. His hands were shaking so bad he almost dropped the sword.

She snarled, 'Die, honey!' And she flew straight at him. Absolute terror ran through his body. Percy did the only thing that came naturally: he swung the sword. The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss! Mrs Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan.