Percy Jackson and the Art of Gacha

And today was the night. The night I would do the awesomest prank of all. Also a lesson on why Grover should never listen to Chiron if he wanted his seeker license. Because here is something I learned recently.

My scent, the one I usually keep suppressed I some capacity at all times, more specifically my monster scent, was now it's own, original scent. Only monsters like Medusa and other Gorgons would ever detect the kinship I had with them. The scent had mixed with the one from all the small or bigger nightmares I have had up until now. Some had been about me turning into a monster or being born one. Most were recorded and archived in both my skill: Wardrobe (as a template) and in my Book of Stories (Created in Chapter 29, I didn't name it then. Consider it named now.)

Over the past few months my nightmares had grown more and more in intensity and the eyebag I had were designer by now. I knew that it was a real possibility for them to become permanent if I wasn't both a demigod and a monster, both of which had low requirements for sleep and faster recovery and healing. But back to the scent.

Nowadays it was entirely unique and overwhelming. I wouldn't be surprised if Chiron and Grover were going to be stressed out after this prank, but I was determined to go through with it.

So, once Grover had left the dormitory, claiming that he was going to talk with Mr. Brunner about some of the questions his lessons had brought up with, I snuck after him,after I had activated Scent Suppression at full force.

The hallways were empty, just as the yard was. Grover was very calm when he was walking and soon the limping he had been displaying most of the time, had faded. At first I wondered if the fake feet he was supposed to be wearing didn't hurt him as much as it was stated in the books but the reason for his missing limp was soon revealed when a lantern shone onto the pair of shoes he was carrying in his hand.

Once Grover had left the grassy part of the school yard behind and entered the actual school building, the hard clacking of hooves on hard floor was heared. It echoed through them, giving the illusion of more than one pair of hooves hitting the floor.

I followed silently behind him. The soft sound of each of my footsteps covered by an actual illusion. It practically eradicated any noise I could accidentally cause.

Soon we had reached our homeroom, where most of our classes, including Latin, were taught.

Grover entered and I stayed outside. My hearing alone would allow me to listen in on their conversation, even if I hid in a classroom close by.

I waited for a bit before I heard the all to familiar words of: "... worried about Percy... A kindly one at school..." at which point I began to start my plan.

First I took on the form of The Rivers' Child and, still without making a noise, heated up my right hoove before letting it slowly sink into the ground, creating a print in the floor.

This would make the two of them aware that there was another monster hiding in school, since satyrs tended to recognize each other pretty quickly and both Grover and Chiron knew that there wasn't one besides Grover here.

Then I slowly but surely allowed my scent suppresion on my monster scent to lower. Before finally letting it out at full power. I myself didn't smell it but I knew, once the two of them left the scent would hit them like a five meter wave. It would most definitely stay in their mind for a while.

Luckily the scent didn't go through the door and the small slits between the doorframe and the door itself or I was certain that Chiron would have tried to turn me into a pin cushion.

Then I slowly backed off before activating Human Form and making a small noise. Before I quickly brought up my scent suppression and threw myself into an unlocked classroom, leaning against the door and breathing shallow.

Their conversation stopped immediately. I heard the door slowly open before the clopping of a horse was to be heard, followed by a goats hooves. They stopped between in the hallway, between their classroom and the one I was inside, probably because they saw the hooveprint, still glowing from the heat, in the ground. I had made it halfway between the classroom.

Chirons unmistakable shadow soon covered the window of the door I was hiding below. As in, the window was above me but didn't allow someone to see me.

His bow was definitely half draw. Ready to shoot at a the slightest indication of something moving.

"Grover.." Chrion mumbled, "... keep a close eye on Percy. I think the time to introduce him to camp might be closer than I had hoped."

At which Grover had worriedly replied: "But sir, wouldn't it be better to go as soon as possible? I mean, there aren't t many monsters with burning or hot hooves and I don't recognize that scent at all. I really don't want to put Percy in more danger than he already is."

"Mr. Underwood, we will not. Let Percy enjoy his ignorance for a few more days. Let him spend a few more days just being a child. In the meantime, you will keep close to Percy and make sure the monster doesn't get to him. I will try to find out what it is."

I could hear Grover accept it, even though he was very open about his disagreement.

That made me feel kind of bad about having done this less than harmless prank, as it would likely keep him up at night. But then again, a bit of Karma never hurt anyone. Besides, the most stressful part of their plan was going to be on Chirons side, as his only lead was a hooveprint of a goat burned into the ground. Grover would have it easier. He just had to stick close to me. And since I wasn't going to do anymore pranks of him, it might increase his paranoia but considering in the kind of world we live in, that might be more healthy than not.

But Chiron, and I knew I meant well with his decision, would be getting a lot more visits from me. I think I will, over the time of the last few weeks of this school year, make more and more hooveprint coming closer and closer to Chirons sleeping quarters.

Yeah, I know. This is no longer an actual prank and more likely a form of psychological terror but let's take a second and consider that he just decided to gamble with my life, even after accepting the fact that there might be an unknown monster with unknown intentions, intelligence and powers on campus. Honestly, in my eyes, the small little pranks I had played on him before weren't fit to compensate for that utterly stupid decision.

I recognized that this was one of the few things that the fates had designed that way, but that didn't mean that Chiron wouldn't be able to fight against it or literally chose to do something different.

The Fates rarely wove their stings in only one way. This was meant to allow people the right to chose. Only keypoints were set in stone, such as the Broken oath of both Poseidon and Zeus. Sure, the fates could have just used or named either Nico or Bianca as the children of prophecy, but since both of them were currently not positioned in a way that would allow them to take on that Mantle, the three of us, Thalia, Jason and me were born. With this there was atleast one child of each of the big three, which would allow the fates to weave and cut the strings as they unraveled. They were no longer heavily involved with managing the fate of every person on the planet. They only made choices regarding the true impacts on a mortal - and sometimes even of an immortal - live. They didn't care on which side of the road you walked on Tuesday, but on Wednesday you will walk on the right one so that you may meet your first or maybe second love. Or you might meet your killer.

They realy didn't care for much but important events had to happen.

Chirons decision was not one of them.