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Grover yelped as Thalia grabbed his hand and led him onto the dance floor.
A
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. It’s just cool to have Thalia back.”
A
“So . . .” I tried to think of something to say. Act natural, Thalia had told us. When you’re a half-blood on a dangerous mission, what the heck is natural? “Um, design any good buildings lately?”
A
She went on to explain how she’d designed this huge monument that she wanted to build at Ground Zero in Manhattan. She talked about structural supports and facades and stuff, and I tried to listen. I knew she wanted to be a super architect when she grew up—she loves math and historical buildings and all that—but I hardly understood a word she was saying.
The truth was I was kind of disappointed to hear that she liked her new school so much. It was the first time she’d gone to school in New York. I’d been hoping to see her more often. It was a boarding school in Brooklyn, and she and Thalia were both attending, close enough to Camp Half-Blood that Chiron could help if they got in any trouble. Because it was an all-girls school, and I was going to MS-54 in Manhattan, I hardly ever saw them.
“Yeah, uh, cool,” I said. “So you’re staying there the rest of the year, huh?”
Her face got dark. “Well, maybe, if I don’t—”
“Hey!” Thalia called to us. She was slow dancing with Grover, who was tripping all over himself, kicking Thalia in the shins, and looking like he wanted to die. At least his feet were fake. Unlike me, he had an excuse for being clumsy.
“Dance, you guys!” Thalia ordered. “You look stupid just standing there.”
I looked nervously at A
“Well?” A
“Um, who should I ask?”
She punched me in the gut. “Me, Seaweed Brain.”
“Oh. Oh, right.”
So we went onto the dance floor, and I looked over to see how Thalia and Grover were doing things. I put one hand on A
“I’m not going to bite,” she told me. “Honestly, Percy. Don’t you guys have dances at your school?”
I didn’t answer. The truth was we did. But I’d never, like, actually danced at one. I was usually one of the guys playing basketball in the corner.
We shuffled around for a few minutes. I tried to concentrate on little things, like the crepe-paper streamers and the punch bowl—anything but the fact that A
“What were you saying earlier?” I asked. “Are you having trouble at school or something?”
She pursed her lips. “It’s not that. It’s my dad.”
“Uh-oh.” I knew A
A
She said this the same way she might say Fields of Punishment or Hades’s gym shorts.
“So he wants you to move out there with him?” I asked.
“To the other side of the country,” she said miserably. “And half-bloods can’t live in San Francisco. He should know that.”
“What? Why not?”
A
“Oh,” I said. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I didn’t want to sound stupid. “So . . . you’ll go back to living at camp or what?”
“It’s more serious than that, Percy. I . . . I probably should tell you something.”
Suddenly she froze. “They’re gone.”
“What?”
I followed her gaze. The bleachers. The two half-blood kids, Bianca and Nico, were no longer there. The door next to the bleachers was wide open. Dr. Thorn was nowhere in sight.
“We have to get Thalia and Grover!” A
She ran through the crowd. I was about to follow when a mob of girls got in my way. I maneuvered around them to avoid getting the ribbon-and-lipstick treatment, and by the time I was free, A
About fifty feet away, lying on the gym floor, was a floppy green cap just like the one Bianca di Angelo had been wearing. Near it were a few scattered trading cards. Then I caught a glimpse of Dr. Thorn. He was hurrying out a door at the opposite end of the gym, steering the di Angelo kids by the scruffs of their necks, like kittens.
I still couldn’t see A
I almost ran after her, and then I thought, Wait.
I remembered what Thalia had said to me in the entry hall, looking at me all puzzled when I asked about the finger-snap trick: Hasn’t Chiron shown you how to do that yet? I thought about the way Grover had turned to her, expecting her to save the day.
Not that I resented Thalia. She was cool. It wasn’t her fault her dad was Zeus and she got all the attention. . . . Still, I didn’t need to run after her to solve every problem. Besides, there wasn’t time. The di Angelos were in danger. They might be long gone by the time I found my friends. I knew monsters. I could handle this myself.
I took Riptide out of my pocket and ran after Dr. Thorn.
* * *
The door led into a dark hallway. I heard sounds of scuffling up ahead, then a painful grunt. I uncapped Riptide.
The pen grew in my hands until I held a bronze Greek sword about three-feet long with a leather-bound grip. The blade glowed faintly, casting a golden light on the rows of lockers.
I jogged down the corridor, but when I got to the other end, no one was there. I opened a door and found myself back in the main entry hall. I was completely turned around. I didn’t see Dr. Thorn anywhere, but there on the opposite side of the room were the di Angelo kids. They stood frozen in horror, staring right at me.
I advanced slowly, lowering the tip of my sword. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”
They didn’t answer. Their eyes were full of fear. What was wrong with them? Where was Dr. Thorn? Maybe he’d sensed the presence of Riptide and retreated. Monsters hated celestial bronze weapons.
“My name’s Percy,” I said, trying to keep my voice level. “I’m going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe.”
Bianca’s eyes widened. Her fists clenched. Only too late did I realize what her look meant. She wasn’t afraid of me. She was trying to warn me.
I whirled around and something went WHIIISH! Pain exploded in my shoulder. A force like a huge hand yanked me backward and slammed me to the wall.
I slashed with my sword but there was nothing to hit.
A cold laugh echoed through the hall.
“Yes, Perseus Jackson,” Dr. Thorn said. His accent mangled the J in my last name. “I know who you are.”
I tried to free my shoulder. My coat and shirt were pi