Project Percy (Kotlc Meets Percy Jackson)

Chapter 27

"Everyone excited for midterms?" Magnate Frederick asked.

Percy felt like he would pass out.

"Your thinking caps are in your lockers, and remember, anyone found without one for the rest of the day will be disqualified for cheating. Is that clear?" He waited until everyone nodded. "Good. Have fun with midterms."

The chorus of groans echoed through the air as Magnate Frederick flashed away and everyone left for exams.

"Come on," Annabeth said as she pulled him with her to the atrium. "Will you relax? We've been practicing nonstop for a week. You're ready."

He nodded.

He slipped on the thinking cap from his locker. The white cloth wrapped around his head and hung in a point. He glared at his reflection. "I look like a Smurf."

The thick fabric consisted of an amalgam of metals, made to dull abilities and preserve the integrity of the exams.

"Well...here goes nothing." He forced a smile and headed off to his first exam.

He wrote an extensive essay on the human betrayal for elvin history, named over a hundred stars in the Universe, purified iron using ruckleberries and then turned it to bronze, and created a replica of Cerulean Stables out of water. Kym was so amazed he didn't lose control that, five minutes in, she gave him an automatic 100 percent.

But his harder exams were after lunch, and elementalism was up first. Thinking about it made his stomach twist in ways that couldn't be natural.

Sir Frank allowed last-minute studying in detention, so Percy spent the time mentally repeating Annabeth's cloud bottling tips.

"Will you chill?" Connor asked.

The bells chimed the end of lunch.

Percy squared his shoulders and ordered his legs to move.

Lady Alecto was still setting up when he entered the room. Percy's heart stalled when he saw the nimbostratus cloud hovering over the desk. Lady Alecto had chosen the easiest discipline, but she certainly hadn't given him an easy project.

"You must catch the cloud using only the items on your desk. You have fifty-five minutes. I suggest you get started."

Percy raised the bottle. He felt the cloud in his mind, dark and angry. He took a deep breath and ordered himself not to panic.

Bottling clouds was easy enough if they were calm. Aggressive storm clouds were much harder.

He hastily MacGyvered a bait out of a bottle of lightning and a rusty key. He held it up, carefully to hold the bottle at an angle so the lightning didn't shoot out. He carefully approached the cloud before hastily tipping it up, catching the cloud as it drew closer to the lightning. He bit his lip as lightning crackled onto his finger. Lady Alecto's face was unreadable as she collected the slightly cracked bottle, but she glared at his lightly charred finger. Points would be deducted.

Percy finished the day with a decent essay on ogres for multispeciesial studies and a mediocre performance in his last two exams. His channeling went well in phys. ed. until Sir Frank ran back and forth through the walls and broke his concentration. And he managed to win the mind-over-matter debate with Sir Parmenides in metaphysics, just barely.

Completely exhausted, he trudged back to the atrium to meet the others.

"Well, that was brutal," Leo whined, slamming his locker closed. "How'd it go for you?"

"Not good."

"I'm going to fail everything," Annabeth fretted.

"No way you won't," Piper assured her.

"I totally will. And then Mom will be so mad and then-"

"Oh come on," Jason said. "If you don't get at least 90 in everything, I'll kiss a muskog."

"You're going to regret saying that."

"Annabeth." Piper put a hand on Annabeth's shoulder, and her voice took on a sugary sweet tone. "Calm down. You said this about our Level One midterms, didn't you? And our finals? And you did amazing. You'll do just as amazing here."

The words weren't intended for him, but their effect still washed over Percy, and he relaxed. He hadn't failed epicly in elementalism. Alchemy had gone great. Metaphysics wasn't too bad. The entire atrium seemed to calm down, and Percy realized just how powerful Beguilers were.

Annabeth exhaled. "Did you just Beguile me?"

"Don't tell Lady Suadela."

"Are you staying home?" Leo asked as they walked towards the Leapmasters.

"Nope. Sally, Poseidon, and Kym are taking me shopping."

"Whoa. That'll be the first time they've gone out in public together since...you know."

He did know. They hadn't left the house together since Triton died. Percy told them they didn't have to, but Poseidon insisted. Foxfire tradition held that at the end of midterms all the prodigies hung their thinking caps upside down from hooks on their lockers. The next day everyone filled each other's hats with presents and opened them while their parents met with their mentors to find out their grades.

"Are you going shopping tonight?" he asked Leo.

"Yup. I've already made your present, though."

"You made me a present?" At first he was touched, but then he thought about it. "Wait. You're not giving me a shocker-laced hairbrush, are you?"

Leo flashed an evil grin. "I guess you'll have to wait and see."

Sally and Poseidon took Percy to Eternalia. He hadn't been there since the day Athena and Annabeth had brought him. The day his human life ended. He still hadn't figured out how to feel about any of that. He'd been with the elves for a little more than three months now, and he'd come a long way.  But he still had a long way to go.

Passing his midterms was the biggest obstacle.

He glared at his burned finger. How many points would he lose for that mistake? And how many more for the cracked bottle?

"Don't stress," Poseidon said. "We're here to have fun, not worry about grades."

He forced a smile. "It's fine. You guys look more stressed than I do." It was true. Sally and Poseidon's shoulders were rigid, their jaws set. Kym was the only one who looked remotely comfortable, if glaring at the Councillors' castles counted as comfortable.

It took seven stores to find suitable gifts for all his friends, and with each store Sally and Poseidon looked more strained. The worst was the jewelry store. The woman who ran it remembered them. Apparently they used to come in all the time to buy new charms for a charm bracelet, which had obviously belonged to Triton.

Percy took Sally's hand.

Sally jumped. Then her eyes welled with tears and she squeezed Percy's hand and didn't let go. Poseidon took Percy's other hand, and Kym took his, and they walked that way for the rest of the night.

When they got home, Poseidon stopped him on his way to his room. "I'm glad you came to live with us, Percy. It's..." His mouth formed a word, then changed it to a different one. "It's nice."

"I'm glad I live here too."

Poseidon cleared his throat. "Big day tomorrow. Better get some sleep."

"Good night, Poseidon."

He fell asleep believing that everything was going to be ok.