I knocked on Percy's door. "You're gonna be late, man." Percy immediately opened the door and pointed at the window.

"What am I supposed to look at?" I asked.

"There was a shadow," Percy said. "I could've sworn something was there."

Now that he mentioned it, there was a shadow that left as soon as I had my eyes on it. But Percy still looked rattled.

"Something still bothering you?" I asked.

"I had a dream," he said. "About Grover. I think he's in trouble."

"We'll talk about it at breakfast," I said. "Today's the last day of school. No attacks there all year."

"Just don't jinx it," he muttered as he got up and went to the bathroom. I went to the kitchen and took a seat.

"How is he?" Sally asked.

"He had a dream about Grover," I replied. "He thinks that he's in trouble." Sally passed me my purple pancakes. After I ate through half of them, Percy sat down at the table. He wasn't dogging his pancakes like usual, so Sally stopped washing the dishes and looked at him. "Percy, are you all right?"

"Yeah...fine." Sally dried her hands and sat down across from us. "School, or..." She didn't need to finish.

"I think that Grover's in trouble," he said. He then told us about his dream.

Sally pursed her lips. "I wouldn't be too worried, dear," she said. "Grover is a big satyr now. If there was a problem, I'm sure we would've heard from...from camp..." Her shoulders tensed as she said the word camp.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"Nothing," she said a bit too quickly. "Tell you what. This afternoon we'll celebrate the end of school. I'll take you, Lazarus, and Tyson to Rockefeller Center-to that skateboard shop you like."

"Wait a minute," I said. "I thought tonight we were packing up for camp."

Sally twisted her dish rag. "Ah, dear, about that...I got a message from Chiron last night."

"What did he say?" Percy asked.

"He thinks...it might not be safe for you two to go to camp just yet. We might have to postpone."

"Postpone? Mom, how could it not be safe? We're half-bloods! It's like the only place safe for us on earth!"

"Usually, dear. But with the problems they're having-"

"What problems?" I asked.

"Percy, Lazarus, I'm very, very sorry. I was hoping to talk to you guys about it this afternoon. I can't explain it all now. I'm not sure even Chiron can. Everything happened so suddenly."

Percy looked like he was gonna say something, but the kitchen clock chimed.

"Seven-thirty, dears. You should go. Tyson will be waiting."

"But-"

"Percy, we'll talk about it this afternoon. Go on to school."

Percy's eyes betrayed his true feelings, but I took a look at Sally. She looked fragile, like she would cry if we pushed her too hard.

I clapped Percy on the back. "Let's go. Tyson's scared of traveling underground alone."

Percy and I gathered our stuff, but Percy stopped at the door. "Mom, this problem at camp. Does it...could it have anything to do with my dream about Grover?"

She wouldn't meet his eyes. "We'll talk this afternoon, dear. I'll explain...as much as I can."

"Well, good-bye, Mom," Percy said reluctantly.

I walked outside and looked at the brownstone across the street. There was a dark shape in the morning sunlight-a human silhouette against a brick wall, a shadow that belonged to no one.

"You seeing this?" I asked Percy.

He nodded. "Yeah. Probably nothing. Let's go." Then we ran to the 2 train station.