𝒊𝒊. 𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝒊.

Noelle had been having some pretty concerning dreams lately. Mostly about Thalia's tree dying and the camp borders failing. Other dreams just didn't make sense. What was Noelle supposed to do with the image of a turtle standing on two legs with a suit on?

Anyway, she'd been out of school for one week (If you were wondering, her school year went fabulously. Monster attacks here and there, but nothing she couldn't handle). The first few days of her summer vacation she told her dad and stepmom she had to get back to camp immediately.

"Are you sure?" her father asked.

"Yeah, Dad." Noelle kissed her father's cheek. "I'll Iris-message you when I get there."

She hugged her stepmother, Emily. Her stepmom was a better mom than her real one. She had blond hair and green eyes. She was a little less than a foot shorter than Noelle's dad, making Noelle feel tall when she stood next to her, being about two inches taller than Emily.

Noelle looked at the two-year-old boy in her father's arms. He had his mother's green eyes and his father's chestnut brown hair. He also had freckles like Noelle.

"You promise to keep this house safe?" Noelle asked her baby brother Oliver.

"Promise, Ellie," he said.

He had trouble saying Noelle, so he called his sister Ellie.

Noelle kissed his forehead. "Good. I have to go now. I love you."

"Love you, too, Ellie."

Noelle smiled, her dimple in her right cheek popping out. She walked to the door and said a few more farewells. Then she left.

Even though a drive from Providence to New York would only take a few hours, Noelle couldn't drive. She had to teleport all the way to New York, which took a few days at a time, seeing as she needed moonlight to teleport more easily and swiftly. She could teleport during the day, but not large distances and she would tire quicker. She would also need rest between teleporting as to not wear herself out and melt into a puddle of moonlight.

When she did get to New York, she went straight to Percy's apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She climbed the fire escape to what she knew by heart as his window. She got to his window right as he bolted up in his bed. He was shivering.

Noelle was hidden from his eye and was thinking about coming out, but Percy's mother called out, "Percy, you're going to be late!"

Noelle had completely forgotten that Percy wasn't done with school. She quickly went back down the fire escape and stayed in the alleyway. She waited until Percy passed the alley she was in before following him on his way to school. On the way he acquired a friend— a cyclops.

Personally, Noelle didn't have a vendetta against cyclops. She'd never come across them before, and, by the looks of it, the one with her boyfriend was a friendly baby cyclops.

When Percy and his friend got to school, they walked in like they were meant to be there. Mostly because they were. For Noelle, she had to use a trick with the Mist that Chiron had taught her. She played it off like she'd talked with administration before and she was here to see how the school was like. She told them if she liked what she saw, she'd come to Meriweather Prep next year, her fabulously wealthy family might even make a donation.

Of course, that was total crap, but the mortals believed her with help from the Mist.

By the time she was done having a chat with the principal, she had missed all the morning periods and lunch. Noelle could hardly believe that, but she didn't have time to think on it. She saw Percy rushing past the main office with his cyclops friend after the bell rang. She slipped out of the office undetected and followed him to his Social Studies class.