A/N Thanks for all the response the last chapter has gotten. I'm sorry this has taken so long, but I've had a hard time writing these past few months. Still, here it is, I hope you enjoy it, and please leave a review to tell me what you think :)

Disclaimer: I do solemnly swear that I am not Rick Riordan and do not own PJO.

Peace out, and enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 2: Fated Socks

As the rest of term flew by, I looked on with an almost permanent raised eyebrow. Seriously, I don't have a clue what made Mrs Dodds disappear from everyone's memory, but it was pretty good stuff, and although I knew I wanted some, I had the feeling Mr Brunner wouldn't teach me, something about 'irresponsible children' or something like that. It was something he would care too much to joke about, and I knew he was at the heart of it. See, I knew Grover remembered Mrs Dodds, because he was a terrible liar, period. Mr Brunner probably would have fooled me, if I hadn't kept the pen-sword, Anaklusmoz... Anaklusmos... something like that, it's not like learning Ancient Greek was part of the syllabus.

I wouldn't have minded too much, but sometimes I would get a feeling and flit through the textbook Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology just to look at the photos of Greek script, or statues with names, or something like that. It was weird, but the Greek made about as much sense to me as the English, which considering my dyslexia wasn't that much of an achievement, but I still had never had any lessons in Greek, other than that one time Mr Brunner made us memorize the alphabet, which the class was moaning about for weeks. It was also the first time I actually did well in class, I didn't see what was so hard. Pity it wasn't graded and was never going to show up on the final, so my first ever academic success went unnoticed. Still, it was a little creepy, looking at the Greek words, I would feel a hint of understanding as I looked at them, and once when I looked at the pen, I could have sworn I heard a voice say 'Riptide' in the back of my mind. It was so creepy that I probably would have thrown it away, if it wasn't an epic as sword I could uncap at a moment's notice.

Still, I had to make a real effort to stay cheerful, as the worsening freak weather would make me angry at a moment's notice, which was weird. Then again, maybe that was partly to do with the fact that a thunderstorm blew out one of the windows in my dorm room. Regardless, sometimes I just felt like I was a bug under this huge microscope, and was being oppressed by this massive presence that was pissed off at me.

My mood took a turn for the worse, as Nancy Bobofit thought I hadn't been punished enough at the museum. She kept gathering her little friends and picking fights with me, and I kept getting sent out into the hall, mainly because I kept winning. Still, it gave her countless opportunities to pull out her 'poor innocent little girl' act on the teachers, so I was the one that got closer and closer to suspension. I honestly don't know how the teachers fall for it though, or even stomach her act, just looking at it makes me want to hurl. I should probably stop telling the teachers that when they break up fights, because no matter how much she asks for it, I don't think it's helping me all that much.

It just keeps getting worse, as the more irritable I get, the more snarky and sarcastic I get, which pisses off the teachers more. Grover isn't able to help most of the time, and all Brunner can do is call it before the sparks flare when he's around, which is only one class out of all school where I don't get punished the second I walk in the door and Nancy throws something, it's probably why I'm still here.

Every day, though, it gets harder and harder to not walk out the front doors of school and just catch a taxi home. Mom would make everything better, but she'd be so disappointed that I didn't stick it out. Also, there was that problem at home, that I could only pray would have disappeared by the time I got back. Seriously, I'm putting myself in denial about it, I just hope he hasn't gotten worse.

Partly because Mr Brunner was so serious at the museum, and partly because I wasn't occupying myself with all the schoolwork I was supposed to be doing, I often thought about what he said. Mr Brunner told me at the museum that his subject was a matter of life and death, and after a couple nightmares about Mrs Dodds lunging at me while I couldn't move a muscle, I started to believe him.

This in itself was a problem, 'cause there was no way I was going to bust my gut trying to read the small script of this big ass textbook only to get the same grades as all the other slackers. I wasn't going to do it, especially since Mr Brunner would look me in the eyes every lesson, and I would shiver at how serious he was, that it really meant something that I was supposed to be better than the rest of the class. It was almost like he was trying to tell me something, as he would only stare into my soul whenever no-one else was around, but acted normally whenever they were. I suppose it creeped me out a little, but there has been more than one occasion where I would wrench my eyes away from him and walk down the hall shaking my head, deciding that he only stared in those moments for the effect of the silence. I told Grover a couple of times, he was my mate after all, but I don't know who he was trying to fool when he would tense if I caught him by surprise, before giving me some half-assed comment about how school was important or something. Please, if that mattered I wouldn't be at Yancy, and all this coming from the guy older than all of us and therefore the worst at school.

Still, I had to come up with a way to study. Because Yancy was a boarding school, they had to give us dorms to sleep in. Said dorms looked like two people were arguing about it and both came to a middle ground neither of them wanted. See, they could have given us individual dorms, but apparently that was too much of a luxury for the delinquents of New York. Still, it seems that someone came up with the smart idea that putting to many of us in the same sleeping space would result in bullying and fighting when the teachers weren't around. Worse, we would have enough talent to probably destroy the school buildings if we teamed up, which might have been a plan if it would shut down the school and let us go to wherever we haunt when we have a choice. Instead, they put us in pairs, as apparently two sets of parents should be able to team up and pay for the damage if any of us destroyed a room. This meant I got to have a dorm with just me and Grover, but I also pitied the girl made to sleep with Nancy Bobofit.

One night, I was sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for Grover. Mrs Kerr was a lot nicer than Mrs Dodds ever was, but Grover would have gotten detention from any maths teacher when they saw him eat class pencils when he was nervous and struggled with a question. I just told him not to get splinters in his throat and went to sleep in class. Because everyone hated maths, I could usually get through most of the class asleep as everyone else was causing a ruckus to get out of actually doing anything. Grover limped into the dorm. It always made me sad to see him limp around, but he never acted like he was in pain, or anything like that. He usually deflected questions about the condition of his legs, to the point where he wouldn't shower with anyone nearby. Even I didn't know what they looked like, but I can understand. There are parts of my life that I wouldn't want people to find out about, not even Grover. I was still trying to come up with an answer to how on earth I was supposed to learn Brunner's subject, when Grover sat across from me and asked "You alright man? You know I'm here for you if you need anything." Grover sometimes talked like he was an adult (mind you so do I), but we were still kids fancying ourselves more mature than the bulk of the student body. Still, even when we were complete eggs, we meant what we said to each other. Even though we had talked like this before, and this wasn't the first time we made offers like that to each other, I still had a thought that hadn't occurred to me before, and I looked up at Grover with an epic grin on my face. Grover groaned "Not that look, Percy! Seriously, what are we going to be ending up doing now that I won't like tomorrow morning?" See? Like I said, Best Friend. In response, I just smirked and threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology onto his lap, and he took one look before groaning again.

You know, I sorta had to pity the guy. I mean, sure it was probably going to crash and burn, but still, the fact that I managed to find a way past my dyslexia should be worthy of an award or something. Even so, it didn't do jack all about my lack of attention span, and Grover found out first hand why all of the teachers except Brunner hated me. Brunner didn't count. He actually wanted me to succeed for other reasons than the fact that he's paid to want to and my scores reflect on the school. Still, I blame mental illness for my learning process. Whenever anyone tries to teach me something, I have a built in stream of BS for their efforts. On the other hand, it is very good at telling what my mood is. Making sarcastic comments shows I'm trying to learn the lesson, but me asking endless stupid questions in the most impossible tangent I can think of means I'm losing interest. Me being grumpy and pissy means that I really don't like the lesson, but me sleeping means nothing. I was just tired. Unfortunately most teachers have the idea that sleep means something else when I wake up pissy and uninterested. I'm still claiming that it's not my fault that I can't follow a lesson in my sleep and am snappy when rudely awoken. It's a pity none of the teachers see that's all that matters. It's not my fault or problem that their lesson isn't enough to keep me awake when I'm tired, and I'm pretty sure that it's not a good sign where a student actually manages to fall asleep before the teacher notices.

Grover was my friend, and as such he generally had a thick skin when it came to my mouth. He knew what I was interested in and what I wasn't. But while this was all great in theory, it was still stressful to dump the responsibility on his shoulders, and my mental health certificate didn't seem to make it worth it for him. It also probably didn't help that I antagonize people on principle, especially when they're 'only trying to help me'. I can still tell the difference between douches and the genuine article, but the response is automatic, and I end up enjoying myself anyway so I stop caring. I tried to stop pushing Grover's buttons, though, as the man was the only hope I had of getting good at the only subject I bothered to stay in school for. It was a good thing, then, that I picked the only subject Grover is good at; I still snicker at the image of him trying to tutor me in English or Maths.

The rest of the term passed like that, although Grover got more stressed and alert as time went on. I'm pretty sure it wasn't entirely my fault, but he did look like he expected things to start blowing up soon. We would study each night for as long as we could bear it (which wasn't all that long), but we did have some standards as to how much progress I had to make. It was enlightening too, as there were many things we learned early on that would never have come up in class. Who knew that the Greek stuff would be easier to pick up than the Latin? I discovered this weird process I had of learning it in Greek first, and then learning the Latin counterpart. Apparently Ancient Greece was around before the Romans, and they were the guys that came up with Latin, or something. Grover had this weird tick where he wouldn't say the name of the Titans, Gods, or Monsters, like he was afraid of them. He would try and make me say it, to help with my dyslexia, or something. What Grover didn't know, was that I was looking up the Ancient Greek language when he wasn't around, and it was making a lot more sense than English ever did. I didn't have a teacher, but the feeling that I knew what the words meant grew stronger, like I could hear them in my head. There was this incident where I discovered I was calling Mr Brunner's old pen-sword Riptide in my mind, and I threw it away before I could stop myself. The thing was creepy. I did learn that the pen comes back if you lose it, which really freaked me out until I realized I had an unlosable sword. That was cool.

Grover didn't know that when he showed me the book that I was reading the Greek. The letters stayed in my head and didn't run across the page, so I saw the lessons as being absolutely epic, even if I didn't share it with anybody. From there, once I had the Greek concepts, they seemed to flow into Latin seamlessly, like it was the next sequence, as logical as a river running downstream.

It was definitely weird, but as Grover seemed to get more and more wound up, he would have the weirdest reactions. He would flinch whenever I would ask about a monster or god, and I would almost think he would chicken out and not tell me if it terrified him that much. Then, he would pull himself together, like it was his God-given duty to make sure I learned this stuff. Call me crazy, but I'm starting to agree with him, the weather would always turn foul the more we talked about this stuff. Grover actually bleated like some barnyard animal when I told him that I would only write my answers in Greek and Latin in the exam, and I heard him mutter almost inaudibly about "...he's assimilating faster than I would have thought..." or something like that. Then, in almost the opposite turn of events, he would brighten up whenever I got bored with the mythology and I asked him to help me look up Latin swear words. Apparently that's safer.

There was even this one time when I thought I gave my best bud a heart attack. It was kinda my fault, but I didn't know he would react like that, honest! See, I figured that he remembered Mrs Dodds, but wasn't allowed to say anything by Mr Brunner. I guessed they were in league or something like that. Anyway, we were looking up the Underworld, and I was learning how to spell Charon in Ancient Greek, when I flipped the page and found a picture that I had to show Grover. It showed that Hades, as the lord of the Underworld, had these lieutenants called the Furies, or the Kindly Ones as the superstitious Greeks called them. The first couple of pictures showed women with wings and claws, fine, but the third one had me laughing my ass off. It showed the three as absolutely hideous, and while it reminded me of Mrs Dodds, they were surrounding the Throne of Hades and bowing towards him. I couldn't help myself, so I turned the book around to Grover, pointed to the picture and asked him "Oi! You reckon Mrs Dodds would ever be caught dead doing that?" Poor guy, almost had a heart failure.

As we got closer to the finals, I couldn't help but get worried about how Grover was holding up, or what he was going to do next year, since I was told by the principal in his office that even if I made it to the end of the year without getting suspended, I would not be invited back. Since Grover and Brunner seemed to have this super-secret-spy-duo thing going, I figured I would up and ask Brunner about it. He wouldn't even have to tell me everything, but as Grover's friend I had to look out for the guy. On the night before the exams I grabbed my textbook and went to his classroom, where I heard Grover and Brunner talking. I almost left then; Grover is in good hands with Brunner, the man is unflappable. I would've turned around and walked right then, when I heard them mention my name: they were talking about me.

I, as a matter of fact, am a shameless eavesdropper. Being hated by teachers for years means that they stop telling you stuff, apparently I'm not mature or responsible enough to handle information. So, when teachers would talk about me after I 'left', I would always be amazed by the amount of information they would come forward with if they thought I couldn't hear them. With this in mind, I walked up to the door, put my back up against the frame like I was waiting for an appointment, and relaxed my head so my ear was right up against the crack of the door. Now to hear the good stuff.

"I'm worried about Percy, sir." Poor Grover, I don't think he ever knew what to do with me.

"Yes, the lad does seem to be untamable." I could feel the amusement dancing in Brunner's eyes, and the confusion that would be pouring off Grover. Just hearing Grover sputter proved my point, and I imagined Brunner would bask in the moment before either putting Grover out of his misery or changing the subject.

"This isn't because of what happened last time, is it?" How did I know he would go for deflection? Grover wouldn't remember the untamable comment until a long time after the conversation here finished, that was just how Brunner rolled.

"No, sir," Grover actually chuckled. "Even if it was at first, Percy's just too much his own character. I'm not even old and I'm sure he's given me some gray hairs." His tone turned serious. "No, it's just that with his personality, it's going to be almost impossible to prove he didn't do it. He'd probably fess up just for kicks! And then he'd have the gall to tell them to lighten up about the whole thing!" I was smirking up a storm, but I had to withhold a chuckle. That sounded exactly like something I would do. I'll file that information away for when I find out who's blaming me this time, the more important they are, the more I'll tell them to go stuff it where the sun don't shine. The further up that scale I go, the more it seems like I have a death wish, now that I think about it...

Grover was still talking, "And he might have found out about us! Grr, I can't read him, more often than not he's either laughing his ass off or self-satisfied, what am I supposed to do with that? Did you see the joke he made about the Kindly Ones!?" How does he know my emotions, not that I hide them, but he seems to know what they are even when I'm not showing or telling him... "He's the bane of Satyrs everywhere!"

The air turned still then. Brunner's either silently laughing or is glaring at Grover for his slip-up. No-one's supposed to be around, so it's probably the former. Still, Grover's talking about Satyrs as if he's one of them, which means Greek Mythology is real... huh. Well that would explain his walking problem, if he's got Goat Legs under there, and if Mrs Dodds was a Fury...shame on that bitch.

Brunner finally found his voice again "He'll be safe as long as he doesn't know what he is. Besides, he kept my gift for him, and although I hadn't planned on him receiving it this early, it will keep him safe. You have nothing to worry about, I've seen his reflexes, he'll definitely live long enough to get to camp." He chuckled again, I swear he gets his kicks from confusing the hell out of kids, maybe he's like an uber-teacher from Greek Mythology, like that guy Charon? Chiron? Chiron. I'm sure it's Chiron... I think. Either way, it didn't matter to me if Brunner was some ancient teaching deity from Greek Mythos or not, but that could explain how he knows what kids are thinking. Chiron's taught enough of them, and he was heralded as wise for as long as mythology records. I wondered why they were all interested in me, was there a reason why I was so different?

Brunner seemed to be musing me as well. Maybe they were drawn to me the same way Mrs Dodds was, but they don't know the specifics of who I am either... "Hmm, untamable and unreadable, yet highly volatile..." Yep, he had me down to a T, "What do you think that describes, Grover?"

"The sea... by the Gods, Chiron you can't be serious!" Grover seemed to have worked me out. I was figuring that I can't be unique, since there was a camp mentioned earlier, but the legendary Chiron wouldn't go out and find every one of... whatever I was. Meh, Grover's a Satyr, so maybe they're sent out to find 'us' as it were. He can apparently read my emotions so that would fit. Grover's inability to lie is probably all him, though, and he did give out Chiron's name, though I wonder how he fit in the wheelchair. The whole 'by-the-gods' thing means Grover believes in some Pantheon or other, which fits, the only thing missing is me. Thinking back to the myths I'm suddenly really glad I studied, the most common human people were heroes. Heracles, Achilles, the first Perseus, Theseus, Bellerophon, Hippolyta, Atlanta, etc... Wait. Most of the heroes were demigods. There were heaps of them because the Gods couldn't help themselves and fell in love with mortal after mortal. They think I'm a demigod... I think my dad's a jerk.

The sea... Mom always told me that Dad wasn't dead, but lost at sea. She knew. She knew my dad's the Greek God Poseidon, I'm not sure whether or not to hate him for that. There's no doubt in my mind that he could have hidden his identity from her if he wanted to, but by telling her he abandoned her to a life where she would pine for him, but know he was out of reach.. A loud peal of thunder cracked through the sky, shocking me out of my reverie and making me drop my book. I hurriedly picked it up and started backing away from the door, suddenly getting caught now means more to me than getting caught at any other time. I heard a creaking of metal before it hit the ground. I hope that's not what I think it is. I was groaning silently as I heard the tell-tale clip-clop of hooves. Another flash showed a shadow of a centaur holding a bow. I picked up the pace going back to the dorm, my only thought being I so called that!

When I made it back up to the dorm, Grover was waiting for me, lying across his bed with a textbook like he had been there all evening. I sat down on my bed, I so had to get someone to teach me how to move that fast. Maybe it was some form of teleportation, as Grover didn't pull me up on where I was, so he obviously didn't pass me on his way here. Still, I thought of all I had learnt this evening, and before I knew it, I was smirking up a storm again. Grover examined my face closely, I guessed that since I was still sorting my emotions out when I entered the dorm and saw him lying on his bed, so he might be concerned. He huffed right when the smirk appeared, so apparently he can't tell what causes my emotions. He covered himself with a follow-up, "Sheesh Percy, you look like that time you broke into the English room and stole all the pens. What is it this time?" He tried to sound like he was angry at me, but I could see through him. Because I didn't have all the answers to what I had just heard (a small part of my mind was still unwilling to accept it as fast as my exterior did) but I knew Grover had kept this from me, I decided to let him stew. "Oh, nothing happened, I'm just in a good mood." My voice was unusually cheerful, I could feel Grover's anxiety, "How about we ditch tonight's lesson, I'm really tired, and cramming before a test is never good." Over-exaggerated yawn, "I'm tired, goodnight!" Turning my light off, I got changed into my PJ's and got into bed. Grover's disturbed feeling was palpable. Whenever I acted in a way that's different to me normally, it's not a good sign. When I act like I'm actually a responsible, balanced child, it's an uncharted territory that has a tendency to lead to the craziest stuff that happens to me. The last time I acted like this I was convincing the museum tour guard that in order to have a proper appreciation of historical artefacts, he had to let me close enough to touch the war cannon. The school bus didn't survive.

Scene Break

I walked out of the exam smiling, and the bags under Grover's eyes told me he hadn't reacted well to my sudden change n behaviour... good. It was only on the way to the exam that I remembered that the questions would be in English, and understanding them would be as difficult as ever. I answered what I could, and when the question was too complicated for me to read, then I entertained myself by insulting the examiners in Latin and Ancient Greek in the margins. I might not have the exact grammar of the language down, but I knew the subject, and that was the important thing.

I was stopped from leaving and celebrating when Mr Brunner called me back into class. Shrugging to Grover, I went back in, wondering what he was going to tell me and what tact he would take.

"Percy..." Well he was off to a good start, but I was in a playful mood and cut him off.

"That's me. You wanted to see me sir." I actually managed to school my features into perfect innocence, I was on a roll today.

Brunner simply glared lightly, he obviously had something planned out that he wanted to get out of the way.

"Yes, well, try not to be too discouraged about leaving Yancy. The principal has made it clear you are not to return, and I hope you don't feel too disheartened."

That burned. Brunner sucked at this. He should spend a few centuries teaching English or Social Studies, maybe that would help him relate to people.

"Yeah, it's fine. Besides, I don't want to be charged with my teachers' shrink bills if they have to have me in their class for another year. You're welcome to rearrange teaching positions around what school I will be going to next year if you care that much though, feel free." I was definitely on a roll today.

Some of the students still in the exam were snickering quietly at the conversation, they could all hear us. Mr Brunner definitely could've chosen a better time and place to do this. He seemed uncomfortable, like this was an unpleasant topic that he felt he needed to address, and nothing was coming out right. Then again, that could be exactly what's happening.

"I mean... Percy, Yancy was never going to be the place for you. It was only a matter of time before that became clear." Brunner was really, really, bad at this.

Looking over the class of students that weren't even trying to hold back their laughter now, I piped up, "You know, I'm going to have to agree with you on that one. The kids here were never destined to be able to live up to my level of awesome. You're right, it was only a matter of time." While my words and tone were perfect, my expression was telling him in no uncertain terms you're in a shit-hole, stop digging. I actually don't know a less vulgar way to put that.

Mr Brunner seemed to get the message, but he wouldn't stop trying to salvage whatever was left of his talk with me. "I didn't mean it like that... confound it all Percy, I'm just saying that you're not normal, and it's nothing to be ashamed of..." He trailed off as I held out my hand in a shushing gesture. I was shaking my head at the same time.

"Just... wow." That was the only thing I could say. "Is it so hard to say I'm special, or whatever it is that you're trying to tell me?" Mr Brunner's expression told me that was exactly what he meant. "Well if I'm special, so are you. How many times can a normal person mess up communicating something that simple? It has got to be less than what just happened." Still shaking my head, I walked out.

I could only shrug to Grover when he asked what that was all about, because really, what can you say to that? "It was... more complicated than it needed to be." Grover caught on that I didn't want to talk about it, and we went to lunch while I muttered about stupid teachers and bad communication. My good mood was completely ruined, good job Brunner.

Scene Break

I was packing quickly on the last day of term. I was sick to death of Nancy Bobofit, stupid teachers, and Yancy Academy in general. There were things I'd miss, and I knew the issues that would come from being kicked out of another school, but I couldn't bring myself to be sad about leaving Yancy. In the earlier grades, I used to get upset that I would get kicked out, no matter how hard I tried to be like all the other kids. Then they told me that I had dyslexia and ADHD, which were serious mental illnesses. They also told me to research them, so I begged mom to while inwardly cursing the stupidity of shrinks. They either think that now that you know you'll be able to push past your issues, or there's nothing you can do and they prep you for life in a straightjacket. Mom knows I'm a good kid, and I try to do right by people, but I stopped caring about the people who couldn't see me struggling but trying. Brunner saw, and now I know his subject. That's more than the other teachers can say about me.

We were all sitting outside after getting out, it was a rare beautiful day, and I had a sense of foreboding. The other guys were out there, and they had all congregated into a little group. They were going to go all over various parts of the world for vacation, as heaps of them were rich juvenile delinquents, and are mostly attention seekers trying to have a relationship with a parent that works harder at their job than at their relationship with their children. God I've been around too many shrinks. Yancy was expensive, and I hoped I had learned something that made the year worthwhile. I didn't even misfire a WW2 cannon into this one's school bus. That's gotta be a plus.

I mentally scolded myself for thinking like that. Mom didn't have the spare money to fix up the school if I did something like that this year.. We weren't dirt poor or anything like that, but mom made barely enough for a comfortable lifestyle. In past years whenever she was brought to the school when I had an accident, she would cry and play the 'poor-but-helpless-mom-with-a-delinquent-son-that-she-can't-afford-to-have-institutionalized' role. Even though she winked at me when no-one was looking, it still broke my heart to see her act like that. Still, the amount of discounts I manage to get for her almost make up for her having to swallow her pride. Almost. But nothing could change the fact that my family weren't supported by a rich parent, and my dad wasn't even in the picture. If he's who I think he is, than would it have been so much to ask for a child support check?

The other kids didn't care about me, and I didn't really care about them. I was moderately surprised when one of them asked me what I had planned for the summer. The city wasn't all that exciting, s I replied snobbishly "I will be contributing to my family finances." They looked shocked, but quickly went back to their conversation. They definitely didn't want anything to do with me now; is it my fault people get confused when it comes to me? I would have to start early, or else all the good summer jobs would be gone. It was harder being twelve, but I could make a couple of bucks. I hope we can find a new school for next year, but maybe I can run away for a part of the summer. School interviews tend to go worse when I'm there, maybe I should say I have Tourettes Syndrome, or at least be diagnosed for my lack of self-control when it comes to antagonizing people, I spend enough time with shrinks as it is, but I would first have to somehow get them to stop thinking that it's just me being childish because of a lack of attention.

I was a little sad about saying goodbye to Grover, but if what I'd overheard was any indication, he wouldn't be letting me out of his sights because of a little thing like school ending. I smirked up a storm when he just happened to have a ticket into Manhattan on the same Greyhound I was taking. It was just as funny to see his confusion and frustration at my emotions, which just made me smirk all that much more. I briefly lamented that I was never ever ever going to convince him I was innocent of anything for the rest of my life. Ah well.

He seemed to relax, almost as if comforted by my continued smugness. Still, his eyes were darting around more and I could see his body tensing. It was this weird tick he had whenever we left Yancy, (or left Yancy without Brunner, because he wasn't tense like this on our last field trip) and I just had to tease him. He probably had a good reason that had to do with the conversation I overheard, so I suppose he had a reason. I still couldn't let it fly, though, "C'mon man, if there was a Kindly One on this bus that was as ugly as Mrs Dodds, we would know by now. Besides, if you want to be a paranoid little goat, you can just let yourself be shielded by my aura of awesomeness." Grover promptly jumped out of his skin, and then glared at me so fiercely that I knew I was going to regret my goat comment. I didn't let that stop me though, as I assumed my 'awesome pose' that I use whenever I reference to my natural awesomeness. I would promptly hold it until I was sufficiently shocked out of the mood.

Grover took awhile to reign himself in from his unholy wrath, but I was slightly disturbed by the look in his eyes when he just hissed "How?" And what happened to my meek little friend?

"Dude, I know you've been onto me since that Fury picture, and besides, I know we never talk about it but I've seen you run for those enchiladas you love so much, I also saw what happened that trashcan after they didn't have the shipment of enchiladas that day. Seriously man, you've got some seriously strong legs in those pants." Grover's eyes regained that weird look, and I almost faltered, this was not going to be pleasant.

"So, you overheard me and Mr Brunner talking." The dude was way too calm, so my nod was a little shaky.

"And now you think you're a part of some secret conspiracy that makes you some sort of superhuman, yes?" My smirk returned and I puffed up, but there was still a little voice in my head that was ringing alarm-bells. I idly wondered if it was my self-preservation instinct, and if so, it was really quiet.

"Why don't we test that theory?" That evil best friend of mine only gave me that much warning before stamping the hell out of foot, along with all life in it. This once, I screamed like a little girl, and no-one turned a hair. Damn New Yorkers.

Anyway, it was Grover who was smirking while I clutched my foot and swore like all those sailors I heard about. He made sure no-one was watching as he pulled out a business card with fancy-ass italicized writing that's impossible to read. I glared at him before spending the next ten minutes sussing it out when it was obvious he wasn't going to read it out to me.

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

I wanted to punch him, all that for ten odd words? Hell no. Still, I held in my breath with my new anger management technique 'Don't Get Mad, Get Even' and smirked. "So, you're a keeper huh?" I was sarcastic, smirking, and waggling my eyebrows, so it wasn't long before he cracked, blushed, started to stutter, and all was right in the universe once again.

Said Universe hates me, I decided all of two seconds later, when the bus broke down and started filling up with smoke that smelt like a Yancy Assembly on laxatives. As the driver pulled the Greyhound over and started tinkering with the engine I leaned over to Grover and whispered "Oi, this Long Island place of yours is where you take people like me, right? It's not some super-secret summer mansion that you forgot to tell me about at school, right? Because if it is, then we will be having issues." Grover just grinned and shook his head, which made me feel better. I figure that Grover doesn't think my attention span is long enough for me to remember the first part of my question, but I defend its honor since my short attention span and my tendency to go off on tangents is the source of my best ideas. Once again I was forcibly shocked from my thoughts, this time by the fumes that had thickened to the point where I actually gasped for air, before sprinting after the people I just now noticed were being shown off the bus by the driver.

Well, I thought, isn't this just generic. The Greyhound had broken down in the middle of nowhere out on the deserted country road. It was one of those countless places that looks exactly like everywhere else on the road. If it wasn't for the fact that the heat today was sweltering, and the broken bus smelled like shit, then I probably would've had heaps of things to say about the current situation. As it was, I just hooked up with Grover again and looked for anything to hold my attention out here while the Greyhound was being fixed. Strangely enough, there was this really old-fashioned fruit stand to break up the monotony.

It was weird. Really weird. And old too. I knew we probably shouldn't, especially with Grover quivering like that, but it sounded like an awesome idea to go and check out the place. It shouldn't have mattered; we were having the first fine day in ages (even if the heat was a bit much), and I even told the bus driver where we were going, as there was no indication of the amount of time it would take to get the trip home back underway. Maybe that was the problem, things were too good at the moment.

I was halfway across the road when I noticed the food. There was really fresh fruit gleaming in the sun that just begged to be eaten. I was never much of a fruit-n-veg type person, but I swear, sweating like a pig out in the middle of nowhere makes you thirsty enough that anything looks wonderful. I was so wrapped up in the plump, juice-filled fruits that I nearly didn't notice the three creepy old ladies.

At the first glance, I would rather look at the apples and cherries than these ladies. The second glance told me exactly the same thing. They looked ancient, like some sort of living fossil or something, and they were knitting. I shuddered, I can't stand senile old people, but hopefully these guys will be alright. I tactfully ignored the fact that they were staring at me, not even looking at what they were doing. Perhaps it was my fault that they didn't notice that they had socks the size of sweaters. Nah.

I idly wondered what these ladies were, since they had Grover so scared he refused to come with me. Funny, I told him to trust me and he flipped from being scared of what those ladies might do to being scared to what I might do. My best friend has no faith in me, seriously. Then again, these were creepy old ladies that were commissioned by Godzilla to keep his talons warm in the winter, so maybe he was on to something there.

I was just going to ask them about the fruit, honest, when they started to speak.

"You should not be here-"

"-You should not stand before us-"

"-You should not ask of us."

Huh, that was strange. Ah well.

"Hey, um, maybe you three don't know me that well. 'Cause you see, I'm not all that good at following what I should be doing, I do my own thing."

Creepy stalkers.

"He defies us-"

"-He must not know-"

"-He must pay."

This was getting weirder and older by the minute.

"Uh, calm down? I was just here for some fruit, you know, to quench my thirst and all that."

I looked around, but the stand had disappeared. There was nothing there except for the ladies, who had transformed into even older versions of themselves in Greek outfits. The socks the two on the ends were knitting had turned into tapestries, and the basket in the center had become a loom. They were still staring at me, but their weaving of the threads had become decidedly more menacing. My mind superimposed a Greek image from my textbook over the ladies, and my mind whispered "The Fates".

My world came to a grinding halt, but not because of them. I had a decision to make. I could draw my sword of awesomeness and risk fucking up not just my fate but everyone else's in the tapestry (if I could even cut the Fates or their threads), I could back away slowly and run back to the bus and have nightmares for the rest of my life, or I could take the unimaginably stupid option and push my luck to the level of seeing if I could fuck with Fate and get away with it. Choices. Hmm.

"You know, I find it kind of creepy that you girls have been stalking my life," They blinked, and then started hissing, which I figured wasn't a good sign, but I wasn't here to make friends with them. "So I can't really be sorry for the fact that I seem to be screwing up your perfect pattern," Now they looking more and more hostile, " But hey, I prefer to weave my own destiny, just go with the flow, where my current takes me. So I'll wave goodbye now, we may or may not sea each other later."

I think I managed to shock them, because they didn't try to stop me from leaving. I wondered how often they came across a being as impudent as me, since in all the legends around them I can recall usually some Mortal, God or Titan try to change their fate, and failing. I was certainly not trying to curry favor from them, so I had the idea that they might not know how to handle me. Looking back as I was crossing the road, I saw them arguing with each other over what looked like a rather large knot in the threads, which hopefully meant I was too important to snip right now. Arriving back at the Greyhound (which was billowing a lot less smoke than when I left, I sought out Grover with a wicked smile on my face. I had a feeling he was going to love this.

Grover was looking faint when I found him again, he had turned his back from he probably thought was going to be my death. Tapping him on the shoulder I watched his eyes bug out, especially after looking across the road to where the Fates were still arguing. As he was just staring blankly, I took the liberty of filling him in with the details of the encounter. I had just thought I had broken him when he snapped out of it and started dragging me back onto the bus. He kept looking at me while shaking his head, his expression somewhere between fear, rage, awe, concern, frustration, and just plain glaring at me. He leant his head close to mine and said, "Percy, you do know that I'm supposed to be you're protector until you arrive on camp, so how are you supposed to make it if you keep drawing the attention of those as powerful as who you just saw?"

"Grover, man, um protector? That's new. Also why are you being so vague? You of all people know they're the-" I couldn't finish as Grover clamped my mouth shut with his hand and literally hissed in my ear. "Names have power, idiot! Do you want to bring every monster you've ever read about straight to you?" I was about to express my confusion, when suddenly I felt lightheaded. Looking out the window, I saw all three ladies smirking at me as they raised a pair of shears to a thread and snipped. The world started spinning before I realized that I was swaying in my seat, and I vaguely noticed Grover trying to hold me up while shouting something. The pounding in my head worsened, until I tipped forward and the ground came to meet me.

I blacked out.