Reincarnated

Chapter 6

Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.

 I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends - I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.

 "Oops." She grinned at me and Percy with her crooked teeth.

I saw Percy getting mad beside and moved to try and stop him from doing anything bad when the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"

Oh, no. Alecto- sorry Mrs. Dodds is going to attack us. Good thing I know how to use a sword from the classes I've been taking after school.

Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. 

Some of the kids were whispering: 

"Did you see-" 

"-the water-" 

"-like it grabbed her-"

Wait a minute! Why did the mist not cover that up? Maybe because it already has been working overtime to cover up the weather that it allowed something small to go through. 

As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on us. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, he'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-" 

"I know," Percy grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks." That wasn't the right thing to say. You never are supposed to guess you're punishment. It always is worse than what you guessed. I gave Percy a hard look hoping that it conveyed that. I knew he got it when I saw him gulp. A month erasing workbooks is bad what could be worse?

"Come with me, both of you," Mrs. Dodds said. What? Why me. Oh, wait I know the answer to that. She wants to attack both of us after pre-attack negotiation.

 "Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."

She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled."I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said. She is not about to let us go, is she?

"But-" 

"You-will-stay-here." 

Grover looked at us desperately. 

"Thanks for trying," I said.

"It's okay, man," Percy told him. 

"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at us. "Now." 

Nancy Bobofit smirked.

I gave her my deluxe glare - the one that is pretty much reserved for people who annoy me or are about to kill me. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on. How did she get there so fast? Do monsters have some way of teleporting? I mean hellhounds can shadow-travel, so why can't kindly-ones teleport?

I glanced at Percy. He seemed as confused, but he wasn't thinking about the monster part because he doesn't know about the mythological world yet. Duh.

We went after Mrs. Dodds. 

Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Chiron, no Mr. Brunner, and Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between us and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel. Oh, please get there on time. I don't feel like breaking into a museum to get a sword to kill a kindly-one.

I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall. 

I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section. Except for us, 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, I would've been nervous. Maybe because, I don't know, I know she's going to be attacking us at any moment.

"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said. 

Percy 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. And I did not like it one bit. Come on Chiron!

"We'll - we'll try harder, ma'am," I say.

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." Oh great. She must be targeting Percy because I am a girl and in ancient times, girls couldn't do anything great, get fame, or have and impact on their community. They had to do menial tasks and play the role of damsel in distress. She's targeting Percy and Percy doesn't know a thing about what she was talking about.

"Well?" she demanded.

 "Ma'am, I don't..." Percy tried.

"Your time is up," she hissed. And with that, she came out of disguise and started stalking towards Percy.

Finally, Chiron who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding Riptide in his hand. 

"What ho, Percy!" he shouted and tossed the pen through the air. Oh, great. Am I invisible or something? I'm glad that I haven't change what happens in the future so far but still. I want to be acknowledged as a demigod at the least.

I intercepted the throw just as Mrs. Dodds lunged at Percy yelling "Die, honey!". I quickly got into my fighting stance I learned and once Percy dodged, I swung the sword. It was right after her lunge so she wouldn't have any time to dodge the attack. The blade swung right through her shoulder and she disintegrated into gold dust.

The next moment, Chiron was gone as well as Mrs. Dodds and Riptide was back in pen form. I pretended to be confused and looked at Percy. He seemed to be just as confused as I am pretending to be.

We went back outside. It had started to rain. 

Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw us, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt." 

Percy asked, "Who?"

 "Our teacher. Duh!" 

I decided to step in. "Sorry about my brother, he really lost it when Mrs. Kerr punished him." Then I drag my brother back to where Grover was sitting. "Now who in the world is Mrs. Kerr?" I ask under my breath.

"Hey Grover, where is Mrs. Dodds?" I asked.

He said, "Who?"But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at us. Grover is a very bad lier. At least right now. 

"Not funny, man," Percy told him. "This is serious." 

Thunder boomed overhead. I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book as if he'd never moved. We went over to him. He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson." 

Percy handed Mr. Brunner his pen. "Sir," he said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?" 

He stared at me blankly. "Who?" 

"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher," I elaborated, although I already knew what his answer to Percy's question was going to be.

He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, Diana, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you two feeling all right?"