GG, Kronos, But I Have Foresight

Chapter 3 - I Have Fury
It turned out that the day of the week I'd fallen into the Percy Jackson world on had been a Sunday, which was different from that same day back in my world. I found this out after I went to bed that evening. That had taken a whole lot of staring up at the dark ceiling to accomplish, but somehow I'd managed it. Luckily, I didn't have any demigod dreams. Or perhaps, I should've said unluckily? After all, since I definitely knew about the world of gods and monsters, if I'd become a demigod upon falling into Yancy, I should have started getting demigod dreams. But since I didn't, that was a definite clue pointing towards me being a mortal. Which was obviously less than ideal for a number of reasons.

I digress.

Nancy Bobofit woke me up by blowing a fog horn right in my face. "Get up, loser, classes start in ten minutes."

Blearily, I sat up stiffly and glared through my tired, hazel eyes at my bully of a roommate. She grinned and waved the fog horn in front of my face like a pendulum, moving it away from my hand quickly before I could snatch it away. I groaned. Then I realized that yesterday hadn't been a dream, and groaned some more.

"First of all, I'm gonna seriously get you for yesterday," I snarled, taking the ladder to the floor (I didn't want to twist my foot again). "Second of all, why did you wake me up only ten minutes before classes? And third of all, GIVE ME THAT DAMN FOG HORN!"

Nancy deftly dodged my attempts to steal the fog horn from her. She leaped to the side as I jumped up to try and snatch it from her hands, and I tripped over her foot, faceplanting into the soft yellow carpet. She chuckled, twirled the fog horn around her finger (how was she even doing that?), walked over to her closet, and stuffed the noisy object right deep down into her pile of random crap. I wilted as I scrambled to my feet. Yeah, there was no way I was digging around in that mess for a dumb little fog horn.

"First of all," she said in a high and altogether bad impression of my new voice, "in your dreams, second of all, because no makeup can improve your looks, and third of all, nope. See ya in homeroom with Mrs. Dodds!"

My jaw hung open in disbelief as she swaggered out the door, snickering to herself.

"How much of a bitch can one person be?" I asked nobody in particular at last. Man, this school year was going to suck. Groaning to myself about unbearable jerkasses, I pulled off the *shudder* lace-lined, pink pajamas that I'd found in my closet and pulled on one set of my school uniform. It was only when I was half way out the door, with seven minutes remaining, that I realized I had no idea where Mrs. Dodds's classroom was.

Oh. Crap. I really did not want my first experience with the literal Math teacher from hell to be me running late.

Luckily, I found someone in the halls who knew the way, and following their directions, I raced as fast as my current mobility in my new body would allow. I managed to sneak into class and plop down in my seat seconds before the bell rang. I probably looked like crap. My long, flowing hair was still disheveled from my restless slumber, I still had eye boogers that I hadn't quite yet blinked away, my face was kind of broken out, and I was squirming in my seat because I hadn't gotten the chance to go to the bathroom.

Mrs. Dodds narrowed her eyes at me as the bell rang mere moments after I sat down in the only empty desk in the classroom -- clearly mine. No recognition gleamed in those eyes, but something else about her was strange: namely, everything. Her skin was leathery and her feet were like a bird's, with nasty talons sticking out of the toes which were so sharply pointed they looked like they could pierce bones. Attached to her arms were dark wings that reminded me of a vampire's, and her hair was black and scraggly. One long tail curled out from her back.

I drew in a sharp intake of breath, my eyes widening and my face paling. I looked around at the other students in the room desperately -- didn't they see this!? Percy was just grinning and waving at me, and Grover only eyed me nervously. All of the other students were regarding Mrs. Dodds normally, like she was just another person and not a Greek monster. Dammit, the Mist was strong stuff... but then, if I was human, why was I seeing through it more clearly than even Grover?

Something here was off. Something here was very, very off.

"As you all know," said the demon from behind a podium at the front of the room, "today is the day of our field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

Percy perked up and looked at Mrs. Dodds with probably the most attention he'd ever looked at her with before. He didn't say anything, however. He'd probably learned not to talk over demon Math teachers, even if he hadn't yet learned she was a demon.

"You all should have gotten your permission slips signed and turned in by now," she continued, "and from what I see..." She reached into her desk, pulled out a black binder, and flipped to some random page. Her eyes roamed down it, and then she looked back up to me. They narrowed further. Her head tilted back down to the binder, and again up to me.

Sweat rolled down my forehead.

"You all have done so," Mrs. Dodds finished at last, stuffing the binder carefully back in her desk. She didn't break her gaze from me. I swallowed nervously. Just like Grover before her, this Fury knew I wasn't meant to exist in this classroom. My body trembled, and every cell screamed at me to get up and run. But I was too afraid even to do that. This woman's true form was terrifying to look at in real life.

Mrs. Dodds then went over some more rules and regulations -- the basic field trip procedure. Be polite, don't touch anything you're not supposed to, no food or drink on the bus, don't annoy the driver. My eyes fell upon Nancy Bobofit at those last two points. She was leaning back in her chair with her feet resting against her desk, using her bubble gum to blow bubbles without a care in the world. I did notice that she discreetly flipped me off when I turned my gaze back to the demon teacher, however. Of course, Mrs. Dodds didn't bat an eye.

I took a deep breath and calmed my nerves. It's alright, Evan... er, Eve. Calm down. At least you don't have to deal with Trump's presidency anymore.

As per the teacher's instructions, after she was done talking, we got up and waited at the entrance of the Academy for our bus. It arrived a minute later... pretty good timing, I'd say. I remembered my school's buses always arriving at least three minutes late for our activities, but whatever. Chiron joined the group just before the bus showed up. Everyone piled onto the bus, with Mrs. Dodds ushering us all in and looking like she'd much rather be at an all-you-can-eat buffet, with demigods as the food. Despite the nasty image of people getting eaten, that thought had made me realize how hungry I was. It was around eight o'clock, and I'd missed breakfast.

My stomach growled, and I slumped over in my seat. "At least I didn't get dropped in some world without McDonald's, like One Piece," I told my stomach.

I don't think it was very comforted.

Percy, who sat in the aisle seat across from me with Grover to his right, blinked and looked at me. "What?"

"Nothing," I said quickly with a wince. I hadn't realized I'd actually said that aloud. Whoops.

Percy shrugged and turned back to chat with Grover about Chiron's next pen-to-sword quiz.

How had I manipulated things so that Percy and Grover sat next to me, you ask? Upon the bus arriving, I'd shoved my way to the front of my new class. I wanted to be sure to sit down near two of the heroes of the book, for several reasons. I wanted to be able to try and help them when Nancy inevitably threw PB&J's at the back of Grover's head; I wanted to be somewhat protected if Mrs. Dodds and her scathing glare tried anything on me; and really I wanted to just sit by two of my childhood heroes. Even if one of them didn't trust me in the slightest.

I really needed to fix that.

New York City traffic was just as bad as I remembered, even at eight in the morning. The streets were clogged and everything was moving slower than molasses. I had a funny joke about molasses -- no, no, get back on track. Anyway, everyone was getting more than a little impatient as we crawled along the streets and roads. Bored, I decided to bite down and strike up a conversation.

"So, um, Percy?" I said nervously. Dammit, I was never good at knowing what to say to people I'd only just met. Especially when this person was Percy Freaking Jackson. "Grover?" They turned to me curiously, and I paused, swallowing. "Thanks... Thanks for trying to help me out back there. It was fine already... but I appreciate your help."

Grover frowned. "It's... no problem," he said. Yeah, he still didn't trust me.

Percy shrugged. "Felt like the right thing to do," he reasoned. "So, anything you looking forward to on this field trip, Eve?"

Decking Nancy Bobofit in the face for you if she pelts Grover with PB&J's, I thought. "No, nothing really. I think I've been to the Metropolitan before. I forget, though. I've vacationed here in New York several times, and they all kinda blended together."

"I know how that feels," Percy sighed. "ADHD sucks."

"ADD here," I said, jabbing my thumb at myself. "Apparently I'm not hyperactive enough to add an H in."

"No kidding?" Percy chuckled.

Grover narrowed his eyes. "You said you'd vacationed here in New York before? So, the city isn't your home, then?"

"Er..." Crap. I realized I had no idea about what Eve's past was supposed to be.

Percy snapped his fingers. "Ah, now I remember!" he said suddenly. "I remember seeing you on the first day with introductions! You said that... um... you came from Ohio?"

"Yeah..." I said slowly. That was right, for sure, but how had Eve ended up here, then? I was just gonna make something up off the top of my head and roll with it. Memories of things Nancy's friends had said in the laundry room came to mind. "For some reason, I can't help but see monsters everywhere. It terrified me, and my parents had been beside themselves trying to figure out what to do. A friend of a friend of a friend mentioned Yancy and its good reputation with 'troubled kids.'" Here, I made air quotes with my fingers. "And the rest, as they say, is history."

The sea god's friend blinked as something dawned on him. He leaned over Percy. "Do you see any monsters now?" he asked under his breath.

Percy frowned at him. "Hey, what? I thought you were better than that. Don't tease the poor girl about it."

"I'm not!" Grover blushed. Okay, I will admit it. The goat boy was cute when he was embarrassed, in the way that a little kid is cute when they're pouting. "It was an honest question!"

"It's fine, Percy," I said quietly, leaning across the aisle. Thoughts bounced around in my head. Could I prevent Percy from beginning to realize who he was, and keep him safe for a little while longer? I pointed up the bus to where Mrs. Dodds, the bat-winged monster, sat. "Her."

In spite of what he'd just said, Percy cracked a smile. "I always knew she was inhuman," he quipped, and Grover smacked him lightly on the head.

"Not funny, dude." Grover turned back to me carefully. "What do you see when you look at her?"

I opened my mouth --

SPLAT. My head jerked forward in surprise as I felt something soft and squishy smack into it. I quickly reached up and grabbed the offending object as it fell, and growled. It was a PB&J sandwich. Percy frowned at the torn off piece of food in my hand, and we both turned around. Two seats back from the demigod and satyr sat Nancy, who was grinning cheekily at me. Her hand flashed in an arc--

I ducked quickly. Another piece of PB&J splatted into the window. I glared at her, dropping the piece of sandwich I was holding on the floor and running my non-dirtied hand through my hair. Blast it all, now I had flicks of peanut butter in my hair.

"No food on the bus, Nancy," I said with a glare.

She smirked. "What are you gonna do about it, bitch?"

"Hey, watch it!" Percy said. "She's your roommate! Shouldn't you at least be nicer to her?"

"Nope." Nancy popped the 'p.'

Sea green eyes flashed with annoyance, and Percy growled under his breath, "I'm gonna punch her."

"Don't!" Grover yelped, pulling his friend back down. The boy had been standing up, getting ready to go back there and deck the bully. "Mrs. Dodds will be furious."

Furious. How ironic. In spite of everything, I snorted. I always did love a good pun, even if it was an accidental one. "You're a pretty funny guy, Grover," I said mirthfully, the humor making me forget my anger towards Nancy. I faced forward again and slumped down below the back of my seat to avoid being an easy target. Unfortunately, this left Grover open to the next piece of unusual ammunition. He followed my example along with Percy.

"What do you mean?" asked Grover, genuinely confused.

I looked back at Mrs. Dodds. "Bat wings. Leathery skin. Big tail. Humanoid. Looks like she never got out into the light. She kinda looks like a demon."

Grover's and Percy's eyes followed my gaze. Percy blinked. "Nope, sorry. I still see a Math teacher."

"Yeah," Grover said, confused. "And what does that description have to do with puns...?" He blinked, and then his eyes widened in sudden terror. "Wait..." He looked at Percy and immediately closed his mouth, his face like a ghost's.

I sighed inwardly in relief. Thank the gods, he understood. Maybe now he could get Chiron alone and talk over it with him, and then take care of Mrs. Dodds quietly without Percy ever getting pulled away from the main group. And maybe I was also far too optimistic about my future-changing abilities. Yeah, the latter option was far more likely. Still, though, if it meant keeping Percy safer, this was the far better option. Hell, if his status as son of Poseidon was kept secret longer, Hades might not even send the Minotaur after them -- Percy's mom might not be captured!

Or I could fail altogether.

Yeah, there was also that very high possibility. I very sincerely hoped Murphy's Law did not pride itself on being a large playing factor in this world.

~o~

Spoiler alert: It did pride itself on that, apparently. And very, very highly so at that.

Percy failed on Chiron's pop quiz as expected. I took pity on him and covered for him, answering the question about the origin of the gods with flying colors. Chiron's eyes were on me the whole tour; Grover had evidently warned him about me yesterday, and he hadn't had any time to update his opinion to the wheelchair bound centaur. Therefore, the grizzled half-man trusted me even less than Grover had before my talk with him.

A very sarcastic thanks to you, Grover.

The head of Camp Half-Blood was definitely a very cool dude. I could easily see why Percy liked him so much. He was kind and gentle, handling each of the Yancy Academy students with warm care as one might expect a grandfather to do with his grandchildren. Percy was also right about the constant smell of coffee that hung around Chiron omnipresently. One could smell it even from ten feet away. At least it was that, though, and not smoke. I could handle the somewhat pleasant aroma of coffee, but if it had been smoke, I would've likely stayed as far away from the centaur as possible. Nothing against smokers; I just did not want that stink on my clothes.

Ahem.

After some time, we went on a break from the tour so that we could get lunch, and my stomach growled in delight. I dug around in my pockets desperately, hoping beyond hope that the girl version of me had money on her, and -- relief. I pulled out a twenty. Oh, sweet, greasy hamburgers, come to daddy! Er... mommy? Okay, you know what, no. I am never saying that again. That's just... too weird.

I ordered some food from the museum cafeteria. I hadn't even realized that the museum had had a cafeteria, but I wasn't questioning it. While everyone else dug into their packed lunches that they'd brought, the cheap saps, I chowed down on a very tasty crispy chicken salad. Yum. While I ate, I walked back out the museum to regroup with the other students, and sat down next to Percy on the fountain.

Percy grinned. "You know, I sat here to avoid contact with other life-forms."

"Earthling, I am here to steal your sandwich," I snarked back, taking another bite of my salad. He smirked back, patting the edge of the fountain next to him. An obvious invitation to scoot closer; I'd sat down about five feet from him.

I scooted closer.

"You wouldn't want my sandwich," Percy told me, unwrapping it and showing me the contents. "Corned beef."

I wrinkled my nose. "Yuck. You're right, I'll pass on that." I looked past him to his other side. Grover was nowhere to be found. "So, Pinky, where's The Brain?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Grover wanted to talk with Mr. Brunner about something. They're in the museum. I don't know where, though."

I raised my eyebrow at that. I almost asked who Mr. Brunner was, but then remembered that it was Chiron's stage name, so to say. So Grover was actually convincing Chiron about things. They must've re-entered the museum while I'd been ordering my food, though -- I hadn't seen them come in. I looked up at the sky. It looked like a mother of all storms was gonna brew up soon -- damn war between gods. Thinking things over while I ate my salad, I asked him, "So, then, ever read Harry Potter?"

"You think I could read that?" The kid snorted. "Nah, man, I'm dyslexic."

Oh, right, I'd forgotten about that. Man, that would suck. That was another point towards me being a human, though: I'd definitely been able to read all words and lettering I'd come across so far. No headaches or dancing letters at all. Things were not looking up for my chances of survival in this world. I sighed and leaned back as far as I could without falling into the fountain.

"Man, that sucks. You'd probably love it. The main character is kinda like you, actually. He has black hair and green eyes and everything."

"You don't say?" Percy hummed, moving to take a bite of his lunch.

And that was when I felt sloppy, messy spaghetti splatter all over my pants. I gasped in surprise and anger. I stood up so quickly I almost fell backwards into the fountain, and stared furiously at the perpetrator as noodles and sauce slowly slipped off of my pants. "Nancy!" I snarled, setting my plastic bowl of salad on the floor. I stabbed the fork I'd been given by the nice cash register lady in the middle, and stomped forward until I was inches from her face. "Really!?"

"Oops," said Nancy. She grinned a mouthful of braces and annoying self-pleasure.

I saw Percy shaking with anger out of the corner of my eye. I gulped and looked behind me. The water was starting to swirl unnaturally. I glanced back to Mrs. Dodds, who was standing near the Metropolitan Museum of Art's front doors, and who was watching our group carefully. Then I turned back to Nancy and narrowed my eyes.

Okay. I had two options here -- let Percy wash her out, or deck her in the face and stop him from getting attacked by Mrs. Dodds. I knew that from how she'd been looking at me all day, the Fury was very likely to attack me instead if I chose the latter.

I sighed. Gods, my life was screwed.

I punched Nancy Bobofit in the face.

Notes