After Time

Three

Andromeda

I sat in the back of Mom's car, squished uncomfortably between Annabeth and Thalia. Percy had somehow ended up in the front seat. As a respectable twin sister, I argued that he hadn't called shotgun, but Mom had just shot me a look and let him sit in the passenger seat. "He needs to move his elbows to sign properly," she told me. Percy smirked at me. I glared at him. "Percy, stop taunting your sister."

The son of Poseidon stared ahead blankly. I chuckled. I think Annabeth was laughing too.

In retaliation, Percy asked Mom about embarrassing stories about me from our childhood, and promptly fell asleep to take a nap. I glared at his still form as Mom rambled on and on. 

Eventually, I got tired of it and kicked Percy awake. He glared at me but didn't argue. 'Truce? 'he asked.

I smiled. 'Sure,' I signed back. 

Mom finally stopped telling stories and looked ahead. "We're here. Westover Hall," She looked at me seriously. "Don't ever let me send you here, okay?" I nodded with a smile.

We all got out of the car, and Mom drove off. "Perce, there'll probably be monsters. Will you be okay?"

He made a circle with his thumb and index finger and showed it to me. I didn't need sign language to know what it meant. 'A-ok.'

Thalia scoffed behind me, "Don't destroy this place, yeah?" I thought she was just mocking me, I rolled my eyes. Percy seemed to have a different understanding of her words. He started signing furiously at her. "What's he saying?" She asked. Annabeth had picked up sign language, much to my delight, but she seemed to be having trouble keeping up. 

I translated, "He said; 'I don't care if you like me, but I would appreciate it if you judged me based on my actions, and not your preconceived notions of my siblings.'"

Thalia rolled her eyes and walked into the building. Percy shot me a look that said later and followed after her. Annabeth shrugged, and together we walked into Westover Hall.

Westover was a boarding school in Maine. The building as a whole was ominous and freaky, like a dark castle. Grover had found a pair of Demigods here, a boy and a girl. Apparently, a monster had already found them, so he asked us to help protect them and bring them to camp. 

There was a man and a woman standing in the lobby. The woman was wearing a long red dress, and the man was in a suit with sunglasses. I could hear music nearby. Grover had told us it was a school dance that day. The woman was mortal, but the man, Dr. Thorn, was definitely a monster. "Who are all of you?" The lady asked hotheadedly. 

Thalia snapped her fingers in front of the woman's face. A light breeze swept through the room and the lady's eyes rolled to the back of her head. "We're students here," Thalia explained simply. 

In her dazed state, the woman agreed easily. The trick obviously hadn't worked on Thorn, but he went along with it as Grover rushed down the nearby stairs. "You made it!" He exclaimed. When he noticed Thorn, he froze. "You brought the Punch!"

That was enough to get the woman off our backs, and Grover led us away. I looked at Thalia. "What did you do to her?"

She raised an eyebrow, "I manipulated the Mist," She said. "Didn't Chiron teach you that?"

I shook my head. "No, he didn't." Chiron had taught that to her, and not me? I looked at Percy in question. He was scowling deeply. I guess he hadn't taught Percy, either.

The five of them did their best to fit in at the school. Thalia had decided it would be a good idea to make her way around the room by dancing with Grover. I smiled as they bumped into everyone in the gymnasium without fail. Annabeth placed her hand on my shoulder as Percy walked off on his own.