Daycare Dilemma

Secrets Revealed

  I cleaned up the remnants of the snack and clapped my hands. All of the kids turned to look at me, and I said, "Okay. It's playtime now. Does anyone know where the toys are?" Hazel timidly raised her hand and pointed to the closet in the back of the room. I opened it, confirmed there were toys and said, "Okay kids, free reign!" The small army rushed me, so I stepped out of the way. I sat back in a chair and watched the delightful mayhem unfold.
Frank was trying to play with the plastic animals, but Percy had taken all of the horses and fish. Annabeth was building a very intricate block tower based off of the crayon architectural design in front of her. She pulled out a ruler from who know's where and began to check her measurements. Piper has somehow persuaded everyone, perhaps with her sweet voice, to give her all the pink blocks. Although, Nico surrendered his pretty eagerly. Reyna was playing with two stuffed wolves she had found. I watched as her once serious face melted into a five-year-old's grin as she played. Who would've thought she has a soft spot for wolves?
Jason toddled up to me and said, "Ms. Min? Someone keeps hitting me with bricks." I looked over at Leo who was not-so-stealthily taking aim at Jason's head with another brick. I scooped Leo up and put him in the corner. I also took the brick from him. For some reason, the brick was warm. I looked at it, and discovered singe marks. Weird. I put it in my pocket for future examination. I sat back down in my chair. This day was going to be full of surprises, it seemed.
I looked over at Nico. It looked like he was playing jacks with... What were those? I walked over to him for closer examination. Those were....bones! I made a choking sound. The jacks looked like little, I don't know, mouse bones, and the ball... The ball was a tiny skull! I planted my feet to keep from running out of there. I knelt next to him, took a deep breath, and asked, "Hey, Nico, where'd you find those?" He didn't look at me, he just kept playing, as he pointed to a crack in the floor that I could've sworn had not been there five minutes ago. I walked slowly back to my chair. Hey, if the kid wanted to play with dead things, I wasn't going to stop him. I'd learned not to mess with Nico.
I looked at Hazel. She had sequestered herself under a chair near mine. She appeared to be playing shop, by herself, with yellow bricks and coins. No, those were.... gold! How... I didn't even want to know anymore. I was starting to wonder if maybe Nico hadn't been kidding; maybe they really were demigods!
I glanced at Leo, who has being suspiciously quiet. He was still in a corner, so I took that as a good sign. Piper and Jason were building a block tower, and then another brick hit Jason in the head. I looked at Leo, who quickly, but not fast enough, turned back to face the wall. I walked over to him and said, "Leo, why'd you throw a brick at Jason's head?" He turned his back to me and mumbled. I sighed and said, "I really didn't want to have to do this, but..." I tickled him. He tried to remain grouchy, but soon dissolved into hysterical laughter. I tickled him mercilessly, relentlessly, taunting him with, "You want me to stop? You want me to? Huh? Do you?" Eventually he squealed, "I'll stop! I'll be good! Just stop!" He gasped for breath, and I sat back on my heels, letting him catch his breath. He crawled over to me and said, "If I'm good, can I go play with toys now?" I remembered the singed brick, had that been him? Surely not. I nodded, and he scrambled off. I wondered if this day could get any weirder. If one was to believe Nico, which one would have to be crazy to, these demigods weren't done wrecking my train yet.
As soon as I had said that, Frank disappeared. One second, he was there, tugging on a plastic horse of Percy's, and the next second, he was gone! Just gone! Poof! I ran to the spot where he had been and found a small mouse. Could that be Frank? No, that would be crazy! Normal kids don't just turn into mice! Unless they weren't normal kids... I glanced at Nico, and he gave me a look that could only have said, "See what I'm saying?" I scooped up the mouse and walked over to Hazel, who had been watching the whole thing, and who seemed to know Frank the best. I showed her the mouse and asked, "Do you think this is Frank?" She looked the mouse over and after a minute, nodded solemnly to say, yes, that is Frank. I handed her the mouse and told her to keep an eye on him. I sat back in my chair. Bones, gold, mice... Watching demigods was getting crazier and crazier!
I walked over to Leo and handed him the singed brick and said, "Try not to burn anything else, okay?" His jaw dropped, and he said, "How... What... When?" I just patted him on his curly little head and sat back in my chair, trying not to think about what had just happened. I glanced at my watch, there were only 30 minutes left, what else could go wrong?
The 30 minutes were finally over. I ran my hands through my hair. Leo had set fire to Annabeth, which Percy had doused, along with the rest of the classroom. The fans were still going in an attempt to dry the carpets. Frank had finally turned back into a human, while in Hazel's pocket. The shock was too much and she fainted, causing the room to explode with gold. All the gold, including her "cash register," sank back into the ground eventually. Piper had charmed me into giving her the contents of my wallet, so now I was broke, and she had $30 in her pocket. The day care bus finally arrived to take the kids home. They all waved at me and said they'd see my tomorrow. I gave a silent scream.
I slowly cleaned up all the normal toys, including the singed brick, and then turned to the bones. What was I supposed to do with these? I decided to push them back into the crack from which Nico summoned them. I started to do so when the unthinkable happened. The bones reassembled themselves into a perfect mouse skeleton, and then scampered down into the crack itself! And then the crack closed on its own! I ran out of there as fast as I could, barely remembering to lock the door behind before I ran back to my apartment.
I burst into the room. Shara was there, looking perfectly fine. Mary, thankfully, was not there. Shara took one look at my wild eyes and crazy and pulled me into the room. She shut and locked the door, drew the blinds, and then sat down across from me.
"So," she said, seeming perfectly calm, "how'd it go?"
I ran my hands through my hair again, "They, I, how, demigods, fish, fire, mice!" I laughed hysterically, sounding like I'd finally lost it. The room began to spin. Shara shoved my head between my knees and told me to breathe. The room began to focus again, and I sat up slowly. Shara handed me a glass of water. I drank it slowly. Shara leaned back and said, "It's a lot to take in. Most mortals don't find out every day that their world is full of things from myth." I sat back processing that. "So," I said, "what? You're not mortal?" She nodded. I gaped. "No way!"
"Way. I'm a demigod." She said. My head began to spin again. I listed sideways, and Shara put my head down again. She whispered in my ear, "And you're one, too." That's when I blacked out.