craving |PERCY JACKSON| [book 1] UNDER EDITING

II

SELENA CONTINUED TO HANG OUT with Nancy Bobofit and her groupies to draw attention away from herself and Percy. When she saw Percy in the hallways, she would walk in the opposite direction. She couldn't take the 'Mrs. Dodds' references. He knew that she knew about what was going on and was trying to get her to mess up.

 Well, it wasn't going to work.

Soon, other bad things started to happen. There were crazy thunderstorms and tornadoes and more and more planes were going missing in the Atlantic. The Gods were more than upset. 

They were furious.

There was a change in Percy, too. He was more irritable and continued to fight with Nancy during class. Selena, who sat near Percy in nearly every class, was able to see the grades on his tests. They began dropping. Not to mention he was always sent out into the hallway in almost every single class due to being rude to the teacher or other students.

"Miss Madison, would you please read the passage on page 48?" Mr. Nicoll asked. She was currently in English class, where they were reading some book. Selena, like most other demigods, had dyslexia, therefore reading for her was difficult.

Selena looked up nervously, "Um, sir, I can't-"

"I didn't realize you can use your disability as an excuse, Miss Madison, to not participate in this class." Mr. Nicoll responded and Selena glared up at him as kids laughed quietly around her.

She looked down at her book and tried to concentrate on the words that mixed around on the page, "Crooks possessed s-several..." Selena sighed in frustration, "Sir-"

"Sir, if you wouldn't be such an old sot, you could see that she has issues reading. I would recommend choosing someone else."

Her head snapped over to him. They had only conversed a handful of times, could barely be considered acquaintances, and Selena never would have thought that Percy Jackson would stand up for her.

Mr. Nicoll glared at Percy before sending him to the headmaster's office. After class, Selena quickly grabbed her books before rushing to find Percy. She found him leaving the office, his head hung low,

"Percy!" She ran over to him, "You didn't have to do that. You could have gotten-"

"Fucking expelled? I did." He muttered, walking around her,

She followed him down the hallway, "What do you mean? You're not coming back to Yancy next year?" 

Thank fuck, she hated this place.

Percy nodded, "I should have fucking seen it coming. The past few weeks haven't been the greatest." He stated,

"I'm so sorry, Percy." Selena grabbed his arm and he threw it off,

"Leave me the fuck alone." He snapped before going to his dorm.

That night, Grover and Selena went down to Chiron's office to speak to him about Percy. He was in his centaur form when the kids entered, "I don't want to leave him alone this summer." Selena paced, "I mean, there was a fucking Kindly One, in the fucking school!"

"Language, Selena." Chiron told her,

"Now that we know for sure, they know too-" Grover began but Chiron interrupted him,

"We would only make matters worse by rushing him." He stated, "We need the boy to mature more."

"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-"

"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can." Chiron said,

Selena shook her head, "Sir, he saw her-"

"His imagination." Chiron insisted, "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."

Grover let out a bleat, "Sir, I... I can't fail in my duties again. You know what that would mean."

"You haven't failed, Grover." Chiron replied kindly, "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-"

Outside the office, there was a thud. Everyone in the room froze. Selena slid her dagger from her sleeve and gripped the handle tightly in case there was another monster on the other side of the door. The trio entered the hallway and looked around for anyone that could have been listening, "Nothing." Chiron spoke, "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."

"I don't think anyone's has." Selena commented before looking at Grover, "We should head back. We have exams tomorrow."

"Don't remind me." Grover mumbled as the two sauntered back to their dorms.

THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL came around and Chiron ordered Selena to go back to camp with him while Grover stayed with Percy.

Selena wasn't happy about it, but she followed orders.

Days went by, and Selena began to worry. No word from Grover.

Selena tried to keep busy. She continued to train, building up her skills to be ready for the inevitable. She conferred with Annabeth, going over the school year and the incident with the Kindly One.

They both agreed on one thing.

Something was coming. 

After a week of silence, it finally came.

While everyone was sleeping, there was a commotion outside the camp boundaries. Selena sensed it. She snuck out of the Hermes cabin with her dagger in hand, making sure to slip on her bunny slippers before heading through the woods.

Near the camp's entrance, Selena found a barely conscious Percy holding up a sleeping Grover, "Percy! Grover!" She called out, running over to him as he collapsed onto the ground. 

Selena kneeled next to him, "Stay awake, Percy." She mumbled before glancing over her shoulder, "Help! Someone!" She turned back to Percy and spotted a minotaur horn on the ground next to the twelve-year-old boy.

"Mom?" Percy mumbled before falling to the ground, his eyes closed.

"Percy?" Selena hissed quietly, slapping his cheeks lightly as an attempt to wake him while Grover moaned about food.

Selena heard footsteps and hooves behind her and saw Chiron, Annabeth, and a few of the Apollo kids approaching, "Chiron! It's Percy!" The brunette exclaimed, "I think... I think he killed the fucking minotaur."

Annabeth stood next to Selena and stared down at the new demigod, "He's the one. He must be."

"Silence, Annabeth." Chiron stated, "We must bring him inside the camp before more creatures show up."

The Apollo children gathered the two boys onto stretchers and headed towards the infirmary. Annabeth grabbed the Minotaur horn from the ground, running her fingers over it, "What the hell happened out here?"