The Sea of Monsters

have been excited. For the first time in my life, I’d almost made it an entire year without getting expelled. No weird accidents. No fights in the classroom. No teachers turning into monsters and trying to kill me with poisoned cafeteria food or exploding homework. Tomorrow, I’d be on my way to my favorite place in the world—Camp Half-Blood.
    Only one more day to go. Surely even I couldn’t mess that up.
    As usual, I didn’t have a clue how wrong I was.
    My mom made blue waffles and blue eggs for breakfast.
    She’s funny that way, celebrating special occasions with blue food. I think it’s her way of saying anything is possible. Percy can pass seventh grade. Waffles can be blue. Little miracles like that.
    I ate at the kitchen table while my mom washed dishes. She was dressed in her work uniform—a starry blue skirt and a red-and-white striped blouse she wore to sell candy at Sweet on America. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail.
    The waffles tasted great, but I guess I wasn’t digging in like I usually did. My mom looked over and frowned. “Percy, are you all right?”
    “Yeah . . . fine.”
    But she could always tell when something was bothering me. She dried her hands and sat down across from me. “School, or . . .”
    She didn’t need to finish. I knew what she was asking.
    “I think Grover’s in trouble,” I said, and I told her about my dream.
    She pursed her lips. We didn’t talk much about the other part of my life. We tried to live as normally as possible, but my mom knew all about Grover.
    “I wouldn’t be too worried, dear,” she said. “Grover is a big satyr now. If there were a problem, I’m sure we would’ve heard from . . . from camp. . . .” Her shoulders tensed as she said the word camp .
    “What is it?” I asked.
    “Nothing,” she said. “I’ll tell you what. This afternoon we’ll celebrate the end of school. I’ll take you and Tyson to Rockefeller Center—to that skateboard shop you like.”
    Oh, man, that was tempting. We were always struggling with money. Between my mom’s night classes and my private school tuition, we could never afford to do special stuff like shop for a skateboard. But something in her voice bothered me.
    “Wait a minute,” I said. “I thought we were packing me up for camp tonight.”
    She twisted her dishrag. “Ah, dear, about that . . . I got a message from Chiron last night.”
    My heart sank. Chiron was the activities director at Camp Half-Blood. He wouldn’t contact us unless something serious was going on. “What did he say?”
    “He thinks . . . it might not be safe for you to come to camp just yet. We might have to postpone.”
    “ Postpone ? Mom, how could it not be safe ? I’m a half-blood! It’s like the only safe place on earth for me!”
    “Usually, dear. But with the problems they’re having—”
    “ What problems?”
    “Percy . . . I’m very, very sorry. I was hoping to talk to you about it this afternoon. I can’t explain it all now. I’m not even sure Chiron can. Everything happened so suddenly.”
    My mind was reeling. How could I not go to camp? I wanted to ask a million questions, but just then the kitchen clock chimed the half-hour.
    My mom looked almost relieved. “Seven-thirty, dear. You should go. Tyson will be waiting.”
    “But—”
    “Percy, we’ll talk this afternoon. Go on to school.”
    That was the last thing I wanted to do, but my mom had this fragile look in her eyes—a kind of warning, like if I pushed her too hard she’d start to cry. Besides, she was right about my friend Tyson. I had to meet him at the subway station on time or he’d get upset. He was scared of traveling underground alone.
    I gathered up my stuff, but I stopped in the doorway. “Mom, this problem at camp. Does it . . . could it have anything to do with my dream about Grover?”
    She wouldn’t meet my eyes. “We’ll talk this afternoon, dear. I’ll explain . . . as much as I can.”
    Reluctantly, I told her good-bye. I jogged downstairs to catch the Number Two train.
    I didn’t know it at the time, but my mom and I would never get to have our afternoon talk.
    In fact, I wouldn’t be seeing home for a long, long time.
    As I stepped outside, I glanced at the brownstone building across the street. Just for a second I saw a dark shape in the morning sunlight—a human silhouette against the brick wall, a shadow that belonged to no one.
    Then it rippled and vanished.

TWO

I PLAY DODGEBALL WITH