Spark [Rick_Riordan]_The_Titan's_Curse_(Percy_Jackson_an | Seite 5

Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
3
3
We didn't wait to be told twice. We left with a lot of "Yes, ma'ams" and "Yes, sirs" and a
couple of salutes, just because it seemed like the thing to do.
Grover hustled us down the hall in the direction of the music.
I could feel the teachers' eyes on my back, but I walked closely to Thalia and asked in a low
voice, "How did you do that finger-snap thing?"
"You mean the Mist? Hasn't Chiron shown you how to do that yet?"
An uncomfortable lump formed in my throat. Chiron was our head trainer at camp, but he'd
never shown me anything like that. Why had he shown Thalia and not me?
Grover hurried us to a door that had GYM written on the glass. Even with my dyslexia, I
could read that much.
"That was close!" Grover said. "Thank the gods you got here!"
Annabeth and Thalia both hugged Grover. I gave him a big high five.
It was good to see him after so many months. He'd gotten a little taller and had sprouted a
few more whiskers, but otherwise he looked like he always did when he passed for human—a red
cap on his curly brown hair to hide his goat horns, baggy jeans and sneakers with fake feet to hide
his furry legs and hooves. He was wearing a black T-shirt that took me a few seconds to read. It
said WESTOVER HALL: GRUNT. I wasn't sure whether that was, like, Grover's rank or maybe just
the school motto.
"So what's the emergency?" I asked.
Grover took a deep breath. "I found two."
"Two half-bloods?" Thalia asked, amazed. "Here?"
Grover nodded.
Finding one half-blood was rare enough. This year, Chiron had put the satyrs on emergency
overtime and sent them all over the country, scouring schools from fourth grade through high school
for possible recruits. These were desperate times. We were losing campers. We needed all the new
fighters we could find. The problem was, there just weren't that many demigods out there.
"A brother and a sister," he said. "They're ten and twelve. I don't know their parentage, but
they're strong. We're running out of time, though. I need help."
"Monsters?"
One." Grover looked nervous. "He suspects. I don't think he's positive yet, but this is the last
day of term. I'm sure he won't let them leave campus without finding out. It may be our last chance!
Every time I try to get close to them, he's always there, blocking me. I don't know what to do!"
Grover looked at Thalia desperately. I tried not to feel upset by that. Used to be, Grover
looked to me for answers, but Thalia had seniority. Not just because her dad was Zeus. Thalia had
more experience than any of us with fending off monsters in the real world.
"Right," she said. "These half-bloods are at the dance?"
Grover nodded.
"Then let's dance," Thalia said. "Who's the monster?"
"Oh," Grover said, and looked around nervously. "You just met him. The vice principal, Dr.
Thorn."
Weird thing about military schools: the kids go absolutely nuts when there's a special event
and they get to be out of uniform. I guess it's because everything's so strict the rest of the time, they
feel like they've got to overcompensate or something.
There were black and red balloons all over the gym floor, and guys were kicking them in
each others faces, or trying to strangle each other with the crepe-paper streamers taped to the
walls. Girls moved around in football huddles, the way they always do, wearing lots of makeup and
spaghetti-strap tops and brightly colored pants and shoes that looked like torture devices. Every
once in a while they'd surround some poor guy like a pack of piranhas, shrieking and giggling, and
when they finally moved on, the guy would have ribbons in his hair and a bunch of lipstick graffiti all
over his face. Some of the older guys looked more like me—uncomfortable, hanging out at the
edges of the gym and trying to hide, like any minute they might have to fight for their lives. Of
course, in my case, it was true…
"There they are." Grover nodded toward a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers.
"Bianca and Nico di Angela"