Mist at work

Mrs  O’Leary  is  my  pet  hellhound.  She’s  a shaggy  black  monster  the  size  of  a Hummer,  with  razor  fangs,  steel-sharp  claws  and  glowing  red
eyes.  She’s  really  sweet,  but  usually  she  stays  at  Camp  Half-Blood,  our  demigod  training  camp.  I was  a litde  surprised  to  see  her  on  stage,
trampling  over  the  Christmas  trees  and  Santa’s  elves  and  the  rest  of  the  Winter  Wonderland  set.

Everyone  looked  up.  I was  sure  the  other  kids  were  going  to  panic  and  run  for  the  exits,  but  they  just  started  snickering  and  laughing.  A
couple  of  the  girls  said,  ‘Awww,  cute!’

Our  English  teacher,  Dr  Boring  (I’m  not  kidding;  that’s  his  real  name),  adjusted  his  glasses  and  frowned.

‘All  right,’  he  said.  ‘Whose  poodle?’

I sighed  in  relief.  Thank  gods  for  the  Mist  - the  magical  veil  that  keeps  humans  from  seeing  things  the  way  they  really  are.  I’d  seen  it
bend  reality  plenty  of  times  before,  but  Mrs  O’Leary  as  a poodle?  That  was  impressive.

TDF pg.77