I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry I haven't updated in a long time but I do have a life and it wasn't the best of moments. Nothing too serious but enough that I couldn't focus on Fanfiction. Either way, I did promise I wouldn't abandon any stories just that it may take longer if I want to make them better. Now, I have decided that there will be lemons, I guess, but that doesn't mean they will happen every so often. From time to time yes but that's it. Well enough of my stupidity let's get on to the story.

I do not own PJO or HoO all rights go to Rick Riordan.

"Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks Of Death."

The Fates raised their eyebrows at Percy but he glared back.

"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 sort 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."

"The Mist." Almost everyone said

"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 a psycho."

"Well I wouldn't say psycho. Maybe mentally disturbed." Thalia said.

"It got so I almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed.

Almost."

"It was Grover wasn't it?" asked Hermes.

"Yep" said Percy, Annabeth, Thalia and Nico.

"But Grover couldn't fool me."

Hermes sighed and shook his head. His son's satyrs are horrible liars

"When I mentioned the name Mrs. Dodds to him, he would hesitate, them claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.

Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum."

Athena's instincts are itching to say a retort but Percy makes her future daughter happy and a little because of the power he possesses.

"Percy, when you accept you've gone crazy?" said Annabeth.

"I'm not crazy."

"I didn't have much time to think about it during the day, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat."

The demigods shivered.

"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 was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year."

The gods stared at Zeus then at the four demigods.

"A plane is a flying machine that transports mortals around from one place to another through the sky." said Annabeth, while the gods stared at Zeus in disbelief at killing many mortals.

"I started feeling cranky and irritated most of the time. My grades slipped from D's to F's. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class."

"Oh my... Perseus, forgive me for asking but why?" asked Athena.

To her relief Percy smiled at her, "Let's just say I'm not one to be restrained." The others snorted at the truth in that statement.

"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. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good."

Annabeth held her hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter but not for long as Percy poked her on her belly. "Old sot means old drunk." She said through laughs.

Now everyone busted out laughing and Hermes said, "Hey D, you're an old sot." This caused more laughter to erupt and a beat red wine god.

"The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.

Fine, I told myself. Just fine.

I was homesick."

All the girls and Nico cooed except his and Thalia's was more mockingly and playful.

"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."

"I don't remember Paul being a poker player." said Nico

"This wasn't Paul. One before him" said Percy emotionlessly while the Fates mirrored his features.

"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."

"You are a great friend young one." Hestia said smiling.

"Thank you, Lady Hestia." Percy said smiling back.

"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. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-or-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him."

"Well at least Chiron is helping." said Poseidon.

"The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room."

"PERSEUS JACKSON!" yelled Annabeth, whipping around so fast her hair smacked Percy across the face. "How dare you throw a book!?"

"I have ADHD, don't blame me blame it!" Annabeth sighed and sat on Percy's "little friend," by accident.

"Words started swimming off the page, circling my head, doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes or Polydeuces. And conjugating all those Latin verbs? Forget it."

"What is Latin?" asked Hera.

"Something in the future. Please we can't explain everything." said Thalia.

"'We?'" asked Annabeth raising an eyebrow.

Thalia just shrugged.

"I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt."

The demigods shivered.

"Stupid Stolls." muttered Nico

"I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will only accept the best from you, Percy Jackson.

I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book."

Annabeth pecked Percy on the lips.

"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."

"That's sweet of you Percy." said Piper kissing his cheek.

"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 stretched across the hallway floor.

I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. A voice that was definitely Grover's said ' . . . worried about Percy, sir.'

I froze.

I'm not usually an eavesdropper,"

"Yeah, right Percy and I'm a satyr." snorted Thalia.

"but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult."

"Hah! I knew you had hairy legs!" exclaimed Percy before he got smacked by his girlfriends, Zoë, and the Fates and shocked by Thalia.

"I feel so abused."

"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 him,' Mr. Brunner said. 'We need the boy to mature more'"

"Percy we all know you will never become mature." said Atropos.

"Please I can be mature." The future people held a straight face before they laughed so hard and fell off their seats.

"Please continue."

"'But he may not have much time. The summer solstice deadline-'"

"What will happen then?" asked Athena.

"Sorry mom you'll have to just read." said Annabeth.

Athena raised an eyebrow but nodded.

"'Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can.'

'Sir, he saw her...'

'His imagination,' Mr. Brunner insisted. 'The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that.'

'Sir, I...I can't fail in my duties again.' Grover's voice was choked with emotion. 'You know what that would mean.'"

Thalia sighed, "Did he really think that?"

Annabeth nodded her head. "I'm going to have a talk with him."

"About what?" asked Apollo.

"Nothing." said Thalia emotionlessly.

"'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.

Mr. Brunner went silent."

"Well, there goes his chances at being a master thief." Hermes said. "Maybe there's still time."

"You already give me lessons." Percy said.

"Nice."

"My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall."

"Yes, there's still time." Hermes said "mysteriously."

"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.'"

"Why is Chiron in centaur form?" asked Athena.

"Maybe he thought Percy was a monster." said Annabeth.

"Well considering he has that stick he might as well be." said Lachesis and the others nodded.

"Please I'm only like that to my enemies." said Percy looking quickly at some gods.

"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.'

'Mine neither,' Grover said. 'But I could've sworn...'

'Go back to your dorm,' Mr. Brunner told him. 'You've got a long day of exams tomorrow.'

'Don't remind me.''

The light's 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 ok?'

'Just...tired.'

I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed."

"You know satyrs can read emotions right?" asked Hermes.

"I know that now." Percy said.

"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."

"Danger may as well be his middle name considering how much he gets into." said F. Aphrodite, oblivious to Poseidon paling and worry filling his eyes. He calmed down to Sally's touch.

The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, 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.'"

"That's...not good." said Piper, wincing.

"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 and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips."

"I mumbled, 'Ok, sir.'

'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.'"

"And you took it the wrong way." said Annabeth, while patting Percy's cheek.

"My eyes stung."

Annabeth sighed

"It wasn't of the best of times for me." said Percy placing his head on top of Annabeth's shoulder.

"Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the whole class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me that I was destined to get kicked out.

'Right,' I said, trembling."

"Chiron must really work on his tact." said Hera, smiling down at Percy surprising numerous gods.

"It's ok. He really tried." said Percy smiling back, making Hera smile wider.

"'No, no,' Mr. Brunner said. 'Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say...you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-'

'Thanks,' I blurted. 'Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.'

'Percy-'

But I was already gone.

On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcases.

The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a vacation 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. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies."

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call myself a nobody, eh, son?" said Poseidon smiling at his son but Sally smacked him on the head.

"Dad I wasn't aware I was your son." he said smiling back

"They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city."

"Well, at least they are nice." said Piper.

"What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine descriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.

'Oh,' one of the guys said. 'That's cool.'

They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed."

"Nevermind."

"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."

"You know, I think Grover has the capabilities of a full on stalker." said Nico and everyone laughing.

"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 nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.

Finally I couldn't stand it anymore

I said, 'Looking for Kindly Ones?'"

"I bet you gave Grover a heart attack." laughed Thalia.

"Maybe." Percy said laughing as well.

"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...not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?'

He winced. 'Look, Percy...I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers...'

'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.'"

"Couldn't of said it better myself." said Hermes.

"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,"

"Dyslexic?" asked Athena.

"We were meant for Greek." Annabeth said

"but I finally made out something like:

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

'What's Half-'

'Don't say it aloud!,' he yelped. 'That's my, um...summer address.'

My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.

'Okay,' I said glumly. 'So, like, if I want to visit your mansion.'"

"Only you would think it's a mansion." Annabeth chuckled.

"I haven't seen the Big House before." Percy rolled his eyes.

"He nodded. 'Or...or if you need me.'

'Why would I need you?'"

"A little mean don't you think Perseus?" asked Hestia.

"Yeah, it was."

"It came out harsher than I meant it to."

"At least he doesn't mean it." offered Demeter.

"Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. 'Look, Percy. the truth is. I-I kind of have to protect you.'

I stared at him.

All year long, I'd gotten into fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me."

All the females smiled at Percy's will to protect his friends.

"And here he was acting like he was the one who was protecting me.

'Grover,' I said, 'What exactly are you protecting me from?'

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."

"Percy?" asked Nico.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you have all the disgusting smells on your head?"

"Because I'm special." Percy joked but if you saw closely you could see a pain in his eyes.

"The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

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 right there. On our side of the highway there 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 bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice."

"Mmmm fruit sounds well right about now..." Demeter trailed off.

"Just continue before she rambles on." said Hades.

"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.

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 bandanas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses."

The gods stared at the Fates and they nodded their heads. Now they stared at Percy wondering how he's still alive.

Percy merely raised an eyebrow back.

"Aren't the rest of you-?" Artemis was cut off.

"Surprised?" asked Annabeth, Artemis nodded. "Of course when Percy introduced us to the Fates."

"What?" asked a couple of gods.

"That's a story for another time." said Percy.

"Um I think someone doesn't bode well with this info." Thalia said pointing to Zoë, who was as still as a board. Percy got Annabeth off of him and walked up to Zoë. Waving his arm in front of her face, she didn't react. Snapping his fingers? Nothing. So what he was about to do was stupid but necessary.

"Lady Artemis, forgive me for what I am about to say but it maybe the only way to make her snap out of it."

Artemis nodded.

Percy took a deep breath and said, "Zoë I'm going to kiss your mistress!"

Instantly Zoë's hand whipped out and smacked Percy hard on the face.

"Ow fuck my fucking-oh what is your hand made out of!" Percy screamed as he rubbed his cheek hard before healing himself only to get slapped again.

"Ow! Motherfucker what was that for?!"

"YOU MET THE FATES?!" Zoë screamed back.

"Yeah." Percy said healing himself again.

"H-" Percy cut her off.

"I'm here Zoë. Remember that. I'm here and I'm fine." Zoë slowly nodded her head and sat down.

"The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.

I looked at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching."

"Honestly seeing Grover like that we wanted to laugh." Clotho said and her sisters nodded.

"Remember when he saw you again during...that time." Percy said staring at Zeus then turning quickly. Luckily no one saw.

"Yes, that was very amusing." said Lachesis.

"What?" asked Apollo.

"Nothing." said Atropos, much to Apollos annoyance since it's been done many times to him.

"'Grover?' I said. 'Hey, man-'

'Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?'

'Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?'"

"Really Percy? You actually thought we'd make socks for you?" asked Atropos, raising an eyebrow.

"Considering I couldn't walk up to you three, yeah." Percy said. The Fates shook their heads in amusement.

"'Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all'

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."

"That wasn't my string." said Percy looking at his father and the gods that like him.

"'We're getting on the bus,' he told me. 'Come on.'

'What?' I said. 'It's a thousand degrees in there.'

'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. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla."

They raised their eyebrows at Percy but he only shrugged while everyone else laughed.

"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.

Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

'Grover?'

'Yeah?'

'What are you not telling me?'"

"Everything." Thalia, Nico, and Thalia said amusingly.

"He dabbed his forehead with his shirtsleeve. 'Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?'

'You mean the three old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like...Mrs. Dodds, are they?'

His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds.'"

"Oh we are soooo much worse than her." Lachesis said with an evil smile mirrored by her sisters and sending shivers up the most spines.

"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.'"

"Very observant, even at a young age. Very resourceful." Athena said.

"He said, 'You saw her snip the cord.'

'Yeah. So?' But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal."

"Very big deal." said Hades.

"'This is not happening,' Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. 'I didn't want it to be like last time.'"

Thalia sighed again.

"'What last time?'

'Always sixth grade. They never get passed sixth grade.'"

"He was freaking me out at that point." Percy commented.

"'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 in my coffin."

"That's the last of it." Sally said as she closed the book.

"Maybe we should stop here seeing as it is late already." said Hestia.

Many looked towards the glass and saw the night sky ablaze with stars.

"Hermes show them where they can stay." said Zeus. Hermes nodded and waved for everyone to follow him.

End of another chapter. Honestly I believe this chapter was kinda shit but hey I am a shit writer so yeah no harm done. And I didn't think people still be reading this considering my break. Either way I'd like to say again how sorry I am for the long wait and hopefully I'll be able to keep writing. As for my other stories, I won't abandon them ever. So yeah what do you guys think good bad horrible I should kill myself? Thank you guys for your time and patience this is EternalFear signing off.