Nyctophobia | Apollo

The Friday before winter break, my mom packed me an overnight bag and a few deadly weapons and took me to a new boarding school. We picked up my friends Annabeth, Amalthea and Thalia on the way.

Amalthea smirked, "Not your sister, Plunger?"

Percy groaned at the nickname. It stuck with him since the bathroom incident when he first came to camp.

"Well I'm sorry, I wasn't in the right state of mind!" He said, not admitting that he was pouting in any way.

Amalthea looked at him in amusement, "Then what state of mind were you in?"

She left Percy stuttering and spluttering as the screen played again.

It was an eight-hour drive from New York to Bar Harbor, Maine. Sleet and snow pounded the highway. Annabeth, Thalia, Amalthea and I hadn't seen each other in months, but between
the blizzard and the thought of what we were about to do, we were too nervous to talk much.

Except for my mom. She talks more when she's nervous. By the time we finally got to Westover Hall, it was getting dark, and she'd told Annabeth, Amalthea and Thalia every embarrassing baby story there was to tell about me.

"She talks just like you" Thalia muttered.

"Not as an insult though" she quickly said, noticing the looks she was given.

Thalia wiped the fog off the car window and peered outside. "Oh, yeah. This'll be fun."

Amalthea snorted, "Fun would be the nice version of it"

Westover Hall looked like an evil knight's castle. It was all black stone, with towers and slit windows and a big set of wooden double doors. It stood on a snowy cliff overlooking this big frosty forest on one side and the gray churning ocean on the other.

Haden smirked, "This reminds me of the Slytherin mansion"

Mattheo, Annabeth and Amalthea smiled at the mention of one of their favourite homes.

"But it's more welcoming and homey" Annabeth pointed out.

"Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" my mother asked.

"No, thanks, Mom," I said. "I don't know how long it will take. We'll be okay."

"But how will you get back? I'm worried, Percy."

I hoped I wasn't blushing. It was bad enough I had to depend on my mom to drive me to my battles.

"It's okay, Aunt Sally." Amalthea smiled reassuringly. Her red hair was tied into a ponytail and her emerald eyes were looking like the ocean. "We'll keep him out of trouble."

"Aww, you called her aunt Sally" Clarisse fake pouted, making Amalthea scoff.

"She's my cousin's mother, ofcourse I would call her Aunt Sally"

My mom seemed to relax a little. She thinks Amalthea and Annabeth were the most levelheaded demigods ever to hit eighth grade.

She's sure Amalthea often keeps me from getting killed. She's right,
but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

"All right, dears," my mom said. "Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes, Ms. Jackson," Thalia said. "Thanks for the ride."

"Extra sweaters? You have my cell phone number?"

"Mom—"

"Your ambrosia and nectar, Percy? And a golden drachma in case you need to contact camp?"

Amalthea cut in before Percy could snap, "Take a deep breath, Sally. I will have Percy under control. I mean, it's not everyday you have an assassin cousin that actually likes you"

I for once felt grateful that Amalthea wasn't trying to embarrass me along with my mum.

Amalthea cleared her throat, her eyes glinting mischievously, "I remember that one time Percy wa-"

"NO!" Percy cut off, his face red from embarrassment.

If my mom told one more story about how cute I looked in the bathtub when I was three years
old, I was going to burrow into the snow and freeze myself to death.
Annabeth and Thalia followed me outside. The wind blew straight through my coat like ice daggers.

Once my mother's car was out of sight, Thalia said, "Your mom is so cool, Percy."

"She's pretty okay," I admitted. "What about you? You ever get in touch with your mom?"

As soon as I said it, I wished I hadn't. Thalia was great at giving evil looks, what with the punk clothes she always wears—the ripped-up army jacket, black leather pants and chain jewelry, the black eyeliner and those intense blue eyes. But the look she gave me now was a
perfect evil "ten."

"If that was any of your business, Percy—"

"Thalia-" Amalthea starts off, making Thalia's face soften.

"-he didn't know" she finished off, making Thalia nod and look ahead. Amalthea squeezed out hands.

"We'd better get inside," Annabeth announced. "Grover will be waiting."

Thalia looked at the castle and shivered. "You're right. I wonder what he found here that made him send the distress call."

She stared at Amalthea in shock, "How are you not cold?"

"Talent" Amalthea shrugged.

The red head shrugged, "I was in Russia of all countries. What do you expect?"

"And that too" she added.

Thalia shrugged as an answer and walked along.

I stared up at the dark towers of Westover Hall. "Nothing good," I guessed, answering Annabeth's long forgotten question.

The oak doors groaned open, and the three of us stepped into the entry hall in a swirl of snow.
All I could say was, "Whoa."

"Woah indeed" Amalthea muttered, looking around the place.

The place was huge. The walls were lined with battle flags and weapon displays: antique rifles, battle axes, and a bunch of other stuff. I mean, I knew Westover was a military
school and all, but the decorations seemed like overkill. Literally.
My hand went to my pocket, where I kept my lethal ballpoint pen, Riptide. I could already sense something wrong in this place. Something dangerous. Thalia was rubbing her silver bracelet, her favorite magic item. I knew we were thinking the same thing. A fight was coming. Amalthea held her ring in realisation. It seemed that we all came to the same conclusion.

Annabeth started to say, "I wonder where—"

The doors slammed shut behind us.

"Oo-kay," I mumbled. "Guess we'll stay awhile."

Amalthea looked around and squeezed Annabeth's hand in warning, making the younger blonde realise that there was a monster.

Amalthea squeezed Annabeth's hand, looking at Percy and back at her, wiggling her eyebrows.

The redhead stifled her laugh when Annabeth's face went red.

Mattheo looked from next to them with a protective look on his face. He really wanted to strangle Jackson right now.

I could hear music echoing from the other end of the hall. It sounded like dance music.

We stashed our overnight bags behind a pillar and started down the hall. We hadn't gone very far when I heard footsteps on the stone floor, and a man and woman marched out of the shadows to intercept us.

They both had short gray hair and black military-style uniforms with red trim. The woman had a wispy mustache, and the guy was clean-shaven, which seemed kind of backward to me.

They both walked stiffly, like they had broomsticks taped to their spines.

"Well?" the woman demanded. "What are you doing here?"

"Um…" I realized I hadn't planned for this. I'd been so focused on getting to Grover and finding out what was wrong, I hadn't considered that someone might question four kids sneaking into the school at night. We hadn't talked at all in the car about how we would get inside. I said, "Ma'am, we're just—"

"Ha!" the man snapped, which made me jump. "Visitors are not allowed at the dance! You shall be eee-jected!"

Thalia snorted and mocked the man, "You shall be e- e- ejected"

He had an accent—French, maybe. He pronounced his J like in Jacques, He was tall, with a hawkish face. His nostrils flared when he spoke, which made it really hard not to stare up his nose, and his eyes were two different colors—one brown, one blue—like an alley cat's.

I figured he was about to toss us into the snow, but then Thalia stepped forward and did
something very weird.

She snapped her fingers. The sound was sharp and loud. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt a gust of wind ripple out from her hand, across the room. It washed
over all of us, making the banners rustle on the walls.

"Oh, but we're not visitors, sir," Thalia said. "We go to school here. You remember: I'm Thalia. And this is Annabeth, Amalthea and Percy. We're in the eighth grade."

The male teacher narrowed his two-colored eyes. I didn't know what Thalia was thinking. Now we'd probably get punished for lying and thrown into the snow. But the man seemed to be hesitating.
He looked at his colleague. "Ms. Gottschalk, do you know these students?"

Despite the danger we were in, I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. A teacher named Got Chalk? He had to be kidding.

"Yeah" Draco mused, "Even worse than Dolores Umbridge"

If looks could kill, Draco would still be living because she thought she looked scary enough to master a glare.

The woman blinked, like someone had just woken her up from a trance. "I… yes. I believe I do, sir." She frowned at us. "Annabeth. Thalia. Percy. Amalthea. What are you doing away from the gymnasium?"

Before we could answer, I heard more footsteps, and Grover ran up, breathless. "You made it! You—"

He stopped short when he saw the teachers. "Oh, Mrs. Gottschalk. Dr. Thorn! I, uh—"

"What is it, Mr. Underwood?" said the man. His tone made it clear that he detested Grover. "What do you mean, they made it? These students live here."

Grover swallowed. "Yes, sir. Of course, Dr. Thorn. I just meant, I'm so glad they made… the punch for the dance! The punch is great. And they made it!"

I could see Amalthea giving Grover a deadpan stare, making him look slightly ashamed.

"He needs lying lessons" Hermes grumbled.

Amalthea smiled sweetly, "Already done it"

Hermes and Amalthea glared at each other with no heat, until Apollo snapped his fingers Infront of their faces. They both pointed their glares at him, making him raise his hands up in surrender.

Dr. Thorn glared at us. I decided one of his eyes had to be fake. The brown one? The blue one? He looked like he wanted to pitch us off the castle's highest tower, but then Mrs. Gottschalk said dreamily, "Yes, the punch is excellent. Now run along, all of you. You are not
to leave the gymnasium again!"

We didn't wait to be told twice. We left with a lot of "Yes, ma'ams" and "Yes, sirs" and a couple of salutes, just because it seemed like the thing to do.

Grover hustled us down the hall in the direction of the music.

I could feel the teachers' eyes on my back, but I walked closely to Thalia and asked in a low voice, "How did you do that finger-snap thing?"

"You mean the Mist? Hasn't Chiron shown you how to do that yet?"

An uncomfortable lump formed in my throat. Chiron was our head trainer at camp, but he'd never shown me anything like that. Why had he shown Thalia and not me?

Amalthea noticed and came to me and whispered, "I'll teach you later. Promise"

She locked out pinkies, making me slightly smile. She let go and held Annabeth's hand.

"One thing I appreciate about you" Percy muttered but lifted his head only to be met by Amalthea smirking.

"Only one thing? Or are there more?"

Grover hurried us to a door that had GYM written on the glass. Even with my dyslexia, I could read that much.

"That was close!" Grover said. "Thank the gods you got here!"

Annabeth and Thalia both hugged Grover. Amalthea, still in the deadpanned mood after Grover's bad lying just stared at him, making him shift his hooves. I gave him a big high five.

It was good to see him after so many months. He'd gotten a little taller and had sprouted a few more whiskers, but otherwise he looked like he always did when he passed for human— a red cap on his curly brown hair to hide his goat horns, baggy jeans and sneakers with fake feet to hide his furry legs and hooves. He was wearing a black T-shirt that took me a few
seconds to read. It said WESTOVER HALL: GRUNT. I wasn't sure whether that was, like, Grover's rank or maybe just the school motto.

"So what's the emergency?" I asked.

Grover took a deep breath. "I found two."

"Two half-bloods?" Thalia asked, amazed. "Here?".

Rebekah hummed, "Is it them?"

Amalthea nodded, "Yep, your favourites"

Grover nodded.

Finding one half-blood was rare enough. This year, Chiron had put the satyrs on emergency overtime and sent them all over the country, scouring schools from fourth grade through high school for possible recruits. These were desperate times. We were losing campers. We needed all the new fighters we could find. The problem was, there just weren't that many demigods out there.

"A brother and a sister," he said. "They're ten and twelve. I don't know their parentage, but they're strong. We're running out of time, though. I need help."

Amalthea hummed, she had a hunch that they were hers.

"My hunch is always right and nobody can change my mind about that" Amalthea boasted, making her cousins facepalm at her humongous ego.

"Monsters?"

" One." Grover looked nervous. "He suspects. I don't think he's positive yet, but this is the last day of term.

I'm sure he won't let them leave campus without finding out. It may be our last chance! Every time I try to get close to them, he's always there, blocking me. I don't know
what to do!"

Grover looked at Thalia desperately. I tried not to feel upset by that. Used to be, Grover looked to me for answers, but Thalia had seniority. Not just because her dad was Zeus. Thalia had more experience than any of us with fending off monsters in the real world. While Amalthea had experience with creepy humans that follow us around to steal our non existent money.

Grover winced and sank down in his seat.

"It's alright, G-man. I was stuck up then" Percy confessed, feeling bad about his thoughts.

Grover looked ashamed and shrugged, "It's not your fault, Perce"

"Right," she said. "These half-bloods are at the dance?"
Grover nodded.

"Then let's dance," Thalia said. "Who's the monster?"

"Oh," Grover said, and looked around nervously. "You just met him. The vice principal, Dr. Thorn."

Weird thing about military schools: the kids go absolutely nuts when there's a special event and they get to be out of uniform. I guess it's because everything's so strict the rest of the time, they feel like they've got to overcompensate or something.

There were black and red balloons all over the gym floor, and guys were kicking them in each others faces, or trying to strangle each other with the crepe-paper streamers taped to the walls. Girls moved around in football huddles, the way they always do, wearing lots of makeup and spaghetti-strap tops and brightly colored pants and shoes that looked like torture
devices.

Amalthea looked like she was going to have a panic attack with the colours. Annabeth, Thalia and I stayed close to her incase anything happened to her. Even if she was the assassin, we were still her cousins and we'd do anything to protect her.

Apollo put an arm around Amalthea, making the redhead slowly sink in to his chest and sigh at the warmth and love that she felt at his gesture.

Every once in a while girls would surround some poor guy like a pack of piranhas, shrieking and giggling, and when they finally moved on, the guy would have ribbons in his
hair and a bunch of lipstick graffiti all over his face. Some of the older guys looked more like me—uncomfortable, hanging out at the edges of the gym and trying to hide, like any minute they might have to fight for their lives. Of course, in my case, it was true…

Amalthea looked like she couldn't breathe but took deep breaths and felt better.

"There they are." Grover nodded toward a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers. "Bianca and Nico di Angelo"

The girl wore a floppy green cap, like she was trying to hide her face. The boy was obviously her little brother. They both had dark silky hair and olive skin, and they used their hands a lot as they talked. The boy was shuffling some kind of trading cards. His sister seemed to be scolding him about something. She kept looking around like she sensed something was wrong.

Annabeth said, "Do they… I mean, have you told them?"

Grover shook his head. "You know how it is. That could put them in more danger. Once they realize who they are, their scent becomes stronger."

He looked at me, and I nodded. I'd never really understood what half-bloods "smell" like to monsters and satyrs, but I knew that your scent could get you killed. And the more powerful a demigod you became, the more you smelled like a monster's lunch.

"So let's grab them and get out of here," I said.

I started forward, but Thalia put her hand on my shoulder. The vice principal, Dr. Thorn, had slipped out of a doorway near the bleachers and was standing near the di Angelo siblings. He nodded coldly in our direction. His blue eye seemed to glow.

Hades looked at the screen with furrowed eyebrows, "I wonder who it could be..."

Amalthea and Nico shared a look that yelled out 'oh sh*t'.

Judging from his expression, I guessed Thorn hadn't been fooled by Thalia's trick with the Mist after all. He suspected who we were. He was just waiting to see why we were here.

"Don't look at the kids," Thalia ordered. "We have to wait for a chance to get them. We need to pretend we're not interested in them. Throw him off the scent."

"How?"

"We're four powerful half-bloods. Our presence should confuse him. Mingle. Act natural. Do some dancing. But keep an eye on those kids."

"Dancing?" Annabeth asked.

Thalia nodded. She cocked her ear to the music and made a face. "Ugh. Who chose the Jesse McCartney?"

Grover looked hurt. "I did."

"Oh my gods, Grover. That is so lame. Can't you play, like, Green Day or something?"

"Thalia, so emo" Amalthea mused, making Thalia mock glare at her.

"Green who?"

"Never mind. Let's dance."

"But I can't dance!"

"You can if I'm leading," Thalia said. "Come on, goat boy."

Grover yelped as Thalia grabbed his hand and led him onto the dance floor.

Annabeth smiled.

Amalthea shrugged and dragged us to the dance floor.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's just cool to have Thalia back."

Annabeth had grown taller than me since last summer, which I found kind of disturbing.

She used to wear no jewelry except for her Camp Half-Blood bead necklace, but now she wore little silver earrings shaped like owls—the symbol of her mother, Athena.

She pulled off her ski cap, and her long blond hair tumbled down her shoulders. It made her look older, for some reason.

"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?"

Annabeth's eyes lit up, the way they always did when she talked about architecture. "Oh my gods, Percy. At school, we get to choose our own electives and I chose Care Of Magical Creatures and in my free time I'm able to do architecture!"

Mattheo looked at his twin in adoration and put an arm around her. Annabeth smiled at the gesture and put her head on his shoulder.

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—"

Amalthea put a comforting hand on Annabeth, "He didn't mean it. He just wants company. We're here n—"

"Amalthea, always the peacemaker" Blaise joked, making Amalthea look at him.

"Har Har" She said dryly, looking back at the screen expectantly.

"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 Annabeth, then at the groups of girls who were roaming the gym.

"Well?" Annabeth said. "Um, who should I ask?"

She punched me in the gut. "Me, Seaweed Brain."

"Oh. Oh, right."

Amalthea snorted, "You guys dance, I'll talk to the Di Angelo's"

Me and Annabeth looked confused.

"But wouldn't that catch attention?" I asked.

Amalthea sighed, "We have the same scent, Percy. He won't even notice"

Our eyes suddenly widened in realisation, they were one of her's.

"Because we're amazing like that" Amalthea bragged, making Hades smile smugly.

Annabeth nodded and told Amalthea to go. Once she left, we went onto the dance floor, and I looked over to see how Thalia and Grover were doing things. I put one hand on Annabeth's hip, and she clasped my other hand like she was about to judo throw me.

"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 Annabeth was taller than me, and my hands were sweaty and probably gross, and I kept stepping on her toes.

"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."

I looked at her in confusion, "Didn't you say that he's the best dad in the world?

Annabeth nodded with an adoring smile, "He really is. But you see how he's the "dark lord"? Well he has a bunch of followers who don't know that me and Amalthea are related to him and they seem to want to taunt us and it pisses me off because they think they're superior"

Haden stood up and walked over to his children and niece, "And who are they?

Annabeth shrugged, "You kind of already killed some so..."

I shrugged, "So just ignore them, if you know that they're wrong, ignore them"

Annabeth ACTUALLY SMILED AT ME. I felt my cheeks heat up, which went unnoticed by her as she started talking again.

Amalthea wolf whistled, making Annabeth and Percy's cheeks redden.

"It's not that easy. Because we have to hide our true identity, we're often on the other side of their fists and hexes"

Suddenly she froze. "They're gone."

"What?"

I followed her gaze. The bleachers. The two half-blood kids, Bianca and Nico, AND AMALTHEA were no longer there. The door next to the bleachers was wide open. Dr. Thorn was nowhere in sight.

"Shit" we both muttered.

"We have to get Thalia and Grover!" Annabeth looked around frantically. "Oh, where'd they dance off to? Come on!"

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, Annabeth had disappeared. I turned a full circle, looking for her or Thalia and Grover. Instead, I saw something that chilled my blood.

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.

Amalthea pouted, "I missed ten year old Nico"

She turned to her younger older brother, "Why are you so emo now?"

I still couldn't see Annabeth, but I knew she'd be heading the other way, looking for Thalia and Grover.

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 WHI1ISH! I looked Infront of me to see Amalthea trying to attack Dr Thorn.

"Hit him Thea!" Theodore and Blaise yelled out, looking like soccer mom's who cheered for their children.

Amalthea shook her head and leaned back in Apollo's chest.

I slashed with my sword but there was nothing to hit.

A cold laugh echoed through the hall.

"Yes, Perseus Jackson and Amalthea Potter" Dr. Thorn said. His accent mangled the J in my last name. "I know who you both are."

Amalthea tried stepping forward but was pinned to the wall by a knife. She looked weak and in pain. Shoot, I instantly realised. Poison.

"Thank you for coming out of the gym," he said. "I hate middle school dances."

Klaus smiled, that reminded him of when he was evil.

I tried to swing my sword again, but he was just out of reach.

WHIIIISH! A second projectile shot from somewhere behind Dr. Thorn. He didn't appear to move. It was as if someone invisible were standing behind him, throwing knives.

Next to me, Bianca yelped. The second thorn impaled itself in the stone wall, half an inch from her face.

"All four of you will come with me," Dr. Thorn said. "Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if you call out for help or try to fight, I will show you just how accurately I can throw."

Everyone in the hall winced.

"You're alright, right?" Apollo looked at her shoulder in fear as if there would be a bloodied and wounded scar.

Amalthea rubbed his arm in comfort and kissed him on the cheek, "I'm here now, aren't I?"