Normal POV:
Zeus began reading "Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death. "
I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip-had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas. "Gotta love the Mist" Apollo mused.
Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho. I knew it happened but no one would confess. I started feeling like I was something more than a regular mortal. I thought that since Mrs. Dodds was clearly not either.
"20 Drachmas that it's Grover" Hermes challenged Apollo. "You're on!" Apollo said. "Idiots!" Artemis mumbled and Hestia nodded her head in agreement..
But Grover couldn't fool me.
"Pay up!" Hermes said and Apollo handed him 20 drachmas while Artemis and Hestia shook their heads..
When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying. "Satyrs suck at lying" Dionysus said. "I'm surprised you're paying attention" Zeus said and Dionysus shrugged. But, something happened at the museum and it was like shock but not scary at all. "Uh no duh!" Thalia said and earned a glare from Percy which she trembled in return.
I had weird dreams that might have scared others like me but I wasn't scared at all. Mrs. Dodds ,in the dream, would attack me at I would just shift into the shock reality of school.The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.
"You guys are pissed!" Ares said and earned a smack on the head by Hestia. "OW!" Ares complained. "Watch your language" Hestia said. "Sorry" Ares said though he did sound sorry a lot.
I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from A+s to A-s.
Athena looked shocked while Annabeth just scoffed. "I told you all she was stupid. You just didn't believe me." Athena looked shocked at her daughter. Aunt Hestia said to Annabeth "Ohh really then why did you never even go to school and boss people around Miss. Bitchpants." Percy just snuggled into Leo's arms suddenly feeling tired. Athena noticed and said "We will have a 2 hour break. Do whatever you want but, it has to be outside." Percy smiled and cuddled into Leo's chest deeper while resting her feet on Nico who rubbed her ankles. Zeus continued.
I got more bets on with everyone and bided high. Some guys asked me out but I said no cause I didn't want more fights at the school. Also, I wanted to meet 'the one' and people said that you know it coming to the right one. Hera for once smiled at Percy who was about to go to sleep. Percy helped out her family.
I was cranky of all the lies and the teachers though. Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot which means the Greek god of wine. Everyone laughed. Even, the Greek god of wine himself smiled at Percy. "Only you Seaweed Brain" Annabeth said harshly. Dionysus snarled at the girl. When she trembled he said "It is like a pray to me unworthy girl of Athena. You are not smart or wise in any form."
The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy for my mouth. I shut my mouth because I admit I have a very hard time not using curse words. It all was from my step-father. I hated him but, I'll get to that later. Percy shifted in her seat. The others besides Leo ,who looked murderous, all looked at her weirdly.
Fine, I told myself. Just fine. I was homesick. I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties. "Paul's not bad" Nico said. "This was the one before Paul" Percy said. "I remember him!" Grover said and looked at Percy with sympathy.
And yet… there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me. "Thanks Percy" Grover said. "Any time G-man" Percy said. I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well. As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for longer than 3 hours. "Good girl" Thalia said. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd knew it was already true.
The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. "Why?!" Athena asked. Percy motioned the 'the book will tell later' symbol. Words had started swimming off the page, "Swimming?" Athena asked. Percy shrugged "I guess I relate a lot of stuff to water." circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, "Now you do" Travis and Conner said. "What do you mean 'Now you do?" Poseidon asked losing color. "Well he's been to the Underworld more than once...the first time she went there we went through Charon" Travis said and people gasped. "Percy?" Athena asked. "Yeah?" Percy replied. "How are you still alive?" Athena asked and Percy shrugged. "I don't really know at all really. I already have the worst luck" Percy replied. or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Easy. But, spelling was a different story. "That is hard" Conner said.
I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. "I get that feeling when I read" Travis said. I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his hundreds of thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. "How about being the best at sword fighting?" Nico asked and Poseidon raised an eyebrow. "My daughter is good at sword fighting. That is very good" Poseidon said. "Good?!" Nico said. "How about the best?" all of CHB said. Percy blushed a little. "Yeah I'm pretty good except when I'm pregnant or just had a kid" Percy said.
I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book. I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried. I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.
I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "… worried about Percy, sir." I froze. I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult. I inched closer. "… alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-" "We would only make matters worse by rushing her," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the girl to mature more." "But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline- " "What's the summer solstice deadline?" Zeus asked interrupting his reading. The people from the future just shook their heads. "Will have to be resolved without her, Grover. Let her enjoy her ignorance while she still can. Also, an angry Poseidon is not a happy world at all. It is true that he is the strongest and most powerful god right now." "Sir, she saw her… ." "Her imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince her of that. And, no daughter no storm sucking humans away." "Sir, I … I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean. Also, um is Poseidon really honestly going to be that upset?" Thalia, while Percy nodded, put a comforting hand on Grover's shoulder. "I made the choice" she said and Grover nodded. "And I survived own my own so far Grover" Percy added. "You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-" The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.
"NO!" Apollo and Hermes yelled in unison. "What?" Athena asked. "Never get caught while sneaking away" Hermes said while Apollo nodded.
Mr. Brunner went silent. My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall. "Good" Hermes said and Percy looked happy. A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow. "He's in Centaur form" Jason said.I opened the nearest door and slipped inside. A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on. A bead of sweat trickled down my neck. Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice." "What happened?!" Artemis asked. Future people shook their heads."Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn …" "Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow." "Don't remind me. The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office. I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.
Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night."Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?" I didn't answer. "You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?" "Just… confused." I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing. But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.
The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, Apollo and Hermes screamed. "What is it now?" Zeus asked. ""THREE HOURS!" they duo cried "THAT'S TORTURE!" "Hey idiots!" Artemis yelled "I want to read the book." "Don't call us idiots" Apollo said "Cause you know you love us little sis." An arrow whizzed right pass Apollo's ear and he caught it. "Nice try" Apollo said and shot it back into Artemis' quiver, which was in her room...at least a mile away. my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside. For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.
"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's … it's for the best."
His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me. "I hate that talk" was heard all around the room.I nodded and said cheerfully understanding his words "Me too." "I mean …" Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time." "You took that the wrong way didn't you?" Annabeth said. "No" Percy said. My eyes were filtered with sparkles. I wanted to leave this damn school.
"Wimp" Ares said and was doused with icy salt water. "Hey Kelp Breath! I'd like to stay dry" he yelled to a laughing Poseidon. "It wasn't me...it was Percy" Poseidon said between laughs. Ares glared at Percy. "Where did you get the water from?" Athena asked. "That was me but not me." Percy said. She turned to Leo. "Well it happened again. Just a wonderful meeting about what the kids did." Leo laughed and nodded. He then explained "Chiron just had a bad idea of making Blackjack stay in his stable. When Percy found out she just shrugged and turned away. Chiron then went to tell Percy that Blackjack was roaming free and he got splashed. Percy didn't do it. We later found out that the twins did it." Everyone bust out laughing at that. "Cool" Apollo said.
Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out. I knew from the start about that and nodded. He was such a horrible lecture person. I smiled and left when he said I could go.
On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase. The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. That meant I got rich. I ended up with about $7,500. That was a ok price. I have had higher amounts. Everyone turned to Percy. "What I had to have a nice house. Also, right now my house is the best to prove it." Everyone nodded. Percy continued "I'm also like the best designer for everything for everything." The people from her time smiled and nodded besides Annabeth who huffed.
They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. "They seem nice" Annabeth said.
I told them that I would be modeling and going to top-talent shows and beauty pageants and maybe if I win to St. John, Canada. "Oh," one of the guys said. "That's awesome." They went back to their conversation and included me. It was really fun. The guys all gave Percy thumbs up to show they agreed. They all watched most of her pageants and model shows. She won first place on all of them.
The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city. "Coincidence" someone said.
During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was something bigger. I was pretty sure that I was about to find out.
Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?" "Oh great Percy!" Thalia said "Just give your best friend a heart attack!" Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?" I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam. Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?" "Oh … most of it all. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"
He winced. "Look, Percy … I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers …" "Grover" Travis said putting his hand on one shoulder "You suck at lying." "Which is why we're giving you lessons" Connor said and put a hand on his other shoulder. "Grover turned his head to each side to look at each of them, a look of pure terror on his face. "Grover-" "And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and …" "Grover, you're a really, really bad liar." "Your best friend agrees with us" Travis said. "Thanks Perce" Grover said sarcastically. "Sorry about that G-man" Percy said yawning. His ears turned pink. From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.
The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:
Grover Underwood
Keeper
Half-Blood Hill
Long Island, New York
(800) 009-0009
"Why do you do that to the poor demigods?" Athena asked Dionysus. "I think its funny watching them try and read it" Dionysus replied. "No!" Zeus said "From now on the cards you make will be in fine bold print." "Yes father" Dionysus mumbled.
"What's Half-" "Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um … summer address." My heart was flying. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy. That proves that rich people could be nice.
"Okay," I said happily. "So, like, if I want to come visit your um.. summer camp." He nodded. "Of course." There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. "Bad luck" Apollo said.
After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat was an old-fashioned fruit stand. The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.
Leo looked at his wife hurt and scared. "You saw the FATES and never told us?" he asked and smacked his hands in his face. CHB and the gods looked at Percy worriedly. "Percy," Clarisse said of all people "why didn't you tell us?" Percy just mumbled "Whatever the string was for someone else. Yes, it was his. Also, the fates are like cool with me right now I think. They even pity me and they said they never pitied anyone before." "That's important need-to-know information" Leo, Nico, Conner, Travis, and Clarisse said and hugged her.
I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. When they looked at me I knew I meet the Fates.
No one wanted to interrupt this part.
I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching. "Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-" "Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?" "Yeah. Weird, huh? You think that they are gonna cut my sting?" "Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all" he said deadly serious The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath. "We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on." "What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there." "GO!" Poseidon yelled all color gone from his face."Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. "Again I ask" Athena said "How are you still alive?" This time Percy just shrugged. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-me or someone I was going to meet pretty soon.
At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life. The passengers cheered. "Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!" Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. "No, no, no, no, no," Poseidon said.
Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. "Grover?" "Yeah?"
"Where they the Fates?" He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, yes." His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the Fates were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw." "The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn." He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older. He said, "You saw her snip the cord." "Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal. "This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time." "What last time?" "Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth." "Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?" "Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me." This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could. "Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked. No answer. "Grover-that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?" He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.
"End of Chapter," Zeus said. "Ok," Athena started "demigods pick any room. Also, yes you may go with you marriage partner." The demigods nodded and picked out there room. All the pregnant wife's and their husbands into their room. All they wanted was a nice long nap. The non- pregnant people and the boys went outside with all the gods. They all were happy at last from reading and long tittles.