GG, Kronos, But I Have Foresight (Percy Jackson SI)

Chapter 4 - Your Friendly Neighborhood Horseman

Punching Nancy so hard that I broke her nose was very, very cathartic for all of two seconds. Then my hand smarted terribly, and I pulled back to shake it off with a yelp. I heard Percy gasp, and I looked over to see his jaw touching the floor. Well, not really, but it was hanging so far it might as well have been. The water was also now flowing normally, although the rim of the fountain was now slightly wetter than it had been before.

"You..." Percy searched desperately for words. "You just punched Nancy Bobofit in the face. And broke her nose."

I looked back at Nancy, who was so shocked it seemed like her brain had stalled. Hey, been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Blood ran out of her nostrils, and some of it stained my fingers. I casually wiped this off on my school uniform. "Why, yes, yes it appears I have."

Percy gaped. "Okay," he decided, blinking rapidly, "Eve, you are out of your mind."

"Welcome to Yancy, kid," I said with a shrug. I considered that statement and amended it. "Actually, welcome to New York City."

Unfortunately, I didn't get any further chance to trade sarcastic remarks with my new friend, because I could feel Mrs. Dodds's glare on me. Nancy also chose that time to shake out of her shocked stupor, clutch her broken nose, and scream. I winced. My poor ear drums! Yes, she was a girl, but did her scream have to be thathigh-pitched, especially when it was being done barely a foot from my ears?

"Eve punched me!" Nancy bellowed, her voice warped from lack of a proper nose.

Talons crunched cement as Mrs. Dodds swept over to us, about as calm as your average neo-Nazi. "Eve," she said, the word twisting in her throat in a way that made my spine shudder. This wasn't going to end well. "Come with me. Now!"

"Wait!" Percy said, leaning forward and reaching out like he wanted to go in my place, but I shook my head.

"You're on probation with the school, remember, Perce?" I said. "Don't try anything. I'll be fine on my own." No, I won't. Send help!

Percy blinked in confusion. I turned and walked up to the demonic form of our Math teacher, not wanting to wait for her to draw closer. If I was going into the lion's den, it would be on my own time! Or something like that. Trembling, biting my lip, I made my way up to Mrs. Dodds, whose stern, terrifying eyes glowered down on me like I was a glass of curdled milk she'd just tried to drink. Nancy looked at Percy, then at me, and finally ran off quickly, rubbing her broken nose and crying like a baby the whole way.

Then again, I would probably have some tears in my eyes if I'd just felt my nose get broken.

"Come with me," said the Fury, and she grabbed my arm so tightly I swear it almost cracked my bone. It took all I had not to scream out in pain, and I limply struggled to keep up with her as she stomped to the museum and yanked me inside it. She took me to the bust of Kronos eating his children, which was ridiculously disturbing, by the way, and shoved me against it.

"Ow!" I cried. "Watch it!"

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Mrs. Dodds snarled. "Are you the thief? Or are you an accomplice? Tell me!"