Our Gifted Class is Whaat?!?-A Percy Jackson Fanfic

Sixteen-We take a trip to New York

16

We take a trip to New York

Nellie began to bounce on my bed at six in the morning, attempting to raise me from my paradisiacal slumber as sunlight streamed in through the window. I'm not a morning person at all, so I just groaned and buried my face in the fluffy pillow. She probably still thought that I was asleep. In my sleep, I thrashed violently and kicked people often. So in my supposed slumber, I aimed a kick for Nellie's stomach. I could tell that I had hit my target through shut eyelids, as she keeled over and muttered, "Ouch. She kicks hard."

            My sleep combat did not impede my best friend from trying to rouse me. Perseveringly, she yelled things into my ear and continued to buck up and down, and reluctantly, I finally gave in to her childish procedure at waking people up. "What is it?" I half-moaned, half-snapped.

            "We need to get to Olympus! C'mon! Let's go!"

            "Well, you're peppy for six in the morning," I retorted. "And why so early?"

            "Remember?" stated Nellie, like what she was about to say was totally ostentatious. "We've got a problem--with a certain goddess of discord that involves the work of Nemesis? Yeah. If you-know-who catches us before we reach the gods, we're like a bunch of Oreos with a hungry Collin. Well, Collin's always hungry-but what I'm trying to say is we're dead meat if we don't get there in time."

            Her analogy made a lot of sense to me, and overall, Nellie was very right about the situation. We'd be toast if Eris caught us. I wondered why she wasn't using the goddess's name, so I asked, "Why aren't you using Eris's name?"

            "Katie told me that it puts you in danger when you use the gods' names, so I just decided to refer to them otherwise."

            Ohhhh. It was like Voldemort from Harry Potter, where all of the wizards had to call him "You-Know-Who" so they wouldn't be endangered. I, of course, had read the entire series three times, being the bookworm that I am. That's why I knew that weird piece of trivia.

            I had no more time to think about books, since I was dragged out of my cabin after I had dressed. Slinging my pack over my shoulder, I hugged several of my siblings goodbye, and headed out the door.

            *           *           *           *           *           *           *           *

At our rendezvous point, the Big House, I spotted Nellie and Grant already standing on the worn porch. Nell had sprinted ahead of lazy me, so I had lagged behind by plenty of steps.

Chiron trotted out from the door on the porch and began to wish us well, giving a thorough lecture on staying safe near the gods. I had zoned out during his speech. "...and you aren't going alone, just for safety purposes. Take Annabeth with you, and also bring Dean. Every other demigod from your gifted class has embarked on a quest as well, except for a select few, which includes him." Tori and a few others were gone from camp. I prayed to Hermes that they would travel safely.

Oh crap. Grant grinned, as he was glad not to be the only boy on the quest anymore. Dean was very dexterous and cunning, but I did not want the prankster with us. Of course he was crafty; he was a son of Hermes. He was sure to pull a fast one on me. I groaned out loud.

"Oh, he's not that bad," Grant replied to my audible sigh.

"Trust me. He's going to trick me somehow. I just know he will! Dean's just like that. Don't get me wrong, he is my friend. I just don't want to be pranked."