Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the lightning thief by Rick Riordan Page A

minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, You killed a minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that. Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."
    Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.
    "So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"
    "Not Mr. Brunner," the ex—Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."
    "Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"
    Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."
    "Oh. Right. Sorry."
    "I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."
    "House call?"
    "My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."
    I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.
    "You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.
    Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."
    "Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"
    "Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.
    "You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.
    "I'm afraid not," I said.
    "I'm afraid not, sir ,"he said.
    "Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.
    "Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."
    "I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.
    "Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun—Chiron—why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"
    Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."
    The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile. Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me to have the right answer.
    "Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'
    "She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."
    "Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"
    "What?" I asked.
    He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.
    "I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."
    "Orientation film?" I asked.
    "No," Chiron decided."Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know"—
    he pointed to the horn in the shoe box—"that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods—the forces you call the Greek gods—are very much alive."
    I stared at the others around the table.
    I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr. D