Heart of the Universe: Discovery

CHAPTER ONE: A CHANGING TIDE

"TURN BACK NOW."                                                                                                                                                                    "Whether you are demigod, troll, changeling, gnome, goblin, gumm-gumm, magician, god, goddess, mortal, or whatever else is out there, stop  reading IMMEDIATELY. This story holds a tale of power beyond imagination, power that no one knows how to use, power that could destroy the universe. Oops. One of you could be a changeling, so of course you would still read. Man, I wish the Mist would work on trolls! I can still try, though. Um... this is a totally boring book called THE HISTORY OF PAVEMENT. 

Did it work? 

I think so. Run along now. Go away. Find something more interesting to read than a book about cement. Let me go back to fighting mo- I mean, let me go back to writing about fighting monsters in peace. I'm writing now! You'd  better be gone by the time I finish this chapter."                                                                                                                                      ( a few minutes later)                                                                                                                                                           "Aw, man, I knew that wouldn't work.

 Here, fine you can read this, but I'll have to give you a total memory wipe afterwards. Oh, yes, I keep Lethe water with me! Or at least, Clovis does, but I'm sure  he'll let me use some. Clovis! Could you come in here?" "Do I have to?" "Clovis, of COURSE you do! Stop whining!" "What is it now? Are you trying to ask for Lethe water so you can 'accidentally' memory wipe Clarisse again?" "Shhh! They're listening! I'm trying to be menacing and- Wait a second, are you falling asleep in the middle of my VERY important warning?" " Haw, Shoo...., haw, shoooo... wait what? Were you  asking me something? Oh, yeah, the Lethe water! Well, the answer is no. I got punished last time for giving it to you." "You can't say that in front of the reader! They have to think I have Lethe water! Oh, well. Read away. Don't blame me if you destroy the world!

Christmas is supposed to be a fun, relaxing, and anti-stress. But for Percy, it was torture. He was visiting Paul's family in New Jersey, which meant leaving Camp Halfblood unprotected. Of course it was technically protected, and it had fared fine before he arrived, but Percy had not left New York in as long as he remembered, and it bothered him that he could not be a call away if danger arrived. Hazel and Frank were in Arcadia, which was a hotspot for monsters, and he was itching to be there with them, especially because Frank had told Percy he planned on proposing there. But on the plus side, Annabeth was going with him, and there had been rumors of strange, stone-skinned creatures in the area, so he got to kill two birds with one stone. At the same time, facing death at Christmastime. How fun. But really, if anything was gonna kill him, it was boredom. Annabeth's dad, Frederick Chase, was driving her, and his ADHD and claustrophobia weren't helping. Percy looked out the window and listened to the tap-tap of the rain on his glass. They were passing a forest. As he stared at the leafy overgrowth, the hair on the back of his neck began to tingle. Percy had learned long ago to trust his gut. He stared harder out the blurry window. Something was moving out there. A great humanoid was standing there, with stone skin that seemed wet, not because it was raining, but because it looked liked as though it had an invisible stream that always ran over it, like river pebbles. Its head looked like a mushroom, and moss grew on the the top of its crown. It had large, pink eyes, and if it sat down in a river, it could easily be just another one of nature's mossy stepping stones you find in river banks. It stared at him like it new exactly what Percy was, but still didn't attack. Then, suddenly, the passed a light post, and he was gone when Percy looked again.